[Illustration: THE UNCONSCIOUS MR. REED.] Mr. Reed continued calmly to arrange his specimens. Two men from the hunting party at once rushed forward upon the peninsula, and fired upon the crocodiles. It was quite time, for two of the foremost ones had reached the land. They rolled over into the water, and all of the great beasts at once disappeared under the surface of the river. The shots did arouse Mr. Reed’s attention, or else he had finished his work; for he looked up, and said to his companions, who now surrounded him: “I have found one of the rarest of plants—the _Iscodextiana_—and it has twelve stamens, just as I have always maintained.” “I wonder if it would have agreed with the stomach of a crocodile!” said one of the hunters. Mr. Reed was so alarmed at the account of the peril to which he had exposed himself, that it was a long time before he again wandered from the caravan. The party had then formed a camp on what was considered good hunting ground—that is in a forest frequented by wild beasts. The hunters were successful in killing a good many of these, and enjoyed the dangerous sport very greatly. Meanwhile Mr. Reed continued his peaceful hunting of the wild flowers, which grew all around in the most lavish profusion. There were always some men left in the camp to guard it. One day, when the hunters had returned, and were gathering around the supper table, they missed Mr. Reed. On questioning the men who had had charge of the camp, they could not remember when they had last seen him. It was evident that he had wandered off to a distance. If he got into one of his fits of abstraction there was no knowing when he would ever find out he was lost, and try to get back again. Hastily swallowing some supper, a party of men went out in search of the lost botanist, but were obliged to return to the camp without him, for night came on, and the darkness was intense, and they could not continue the search. They retired to rest with heavy hearts, for they greatly feared their very troublesome but very pleasant companion would fall a prey to some wild beast. The sentinels on guard kept peering out into the black forest, hoping to see the figure of their missing companion. They kept up great fires as beacons to guide him to the camp. In the middle of the night the whole camp was aroused by the cries of the sentinels. The forest to the south of them was on fire. The wind was high, and as there were many dead trees, and a great deal of dry wood lying on the ground, the flames spread with great rapidity. The hunters were not afraid that it would come their way, as the wind blew it in an opposite direction. So they enjoyed the grand spectacle.