CHAPTER XXIII.

UTOPIA IS LEFT BEHIND.

As soon as Van saw that his shot had not been wasted he hurried to the side of Joe, who was now lying on the ground, with his head resting on Jack Howard's arm.

The wounded boy was breathing heavily, and a single glance told our hero that he had but a few minutes to live.

"Loosen his shirt collar and give him some air," said Dr. Pestle. "The knife has touched a vital spot, and it is only a question of a very few minutes before the little fellow will die."

Jack at once unbuttoned Joe's shirt.

As he did so he turned as pale as death and a strange cry came from his lips.

"What is the matter?" exclaimed the doctor, springing to his side.

"Joe is a girl!" came from Jack's pallid lips.

His startling words seemed to bring the wounded one to consciousness, for at that moment the large eyes opened.

"Yes, I am a girl," came from the feeble lips, which were fast turning blue. "Mr. Howard, promise me that you will not hate me for following you in this guise when you think of me in after life! I followed you because I was left alone in the world, and because I--I--I loved you!"

"Great God!" exclaimed Jack. "Surely you are not Masie Langford, the girl we met almost at the commencement of our trip?"

"I am, Mr. Howard. I--I----"

Jack Howard's companions were forced to turn their heads.

The emotion the young Englishman displayed was something awful.

He had frequently spoken of Masie Langford as the only girl he had ever met who would suit him for a wife, and now she lay, dying in his arms.

What Howard whispered to the dying girl will never be known, but whatever it was it caused her face to light up with a heavenly smile, then the lips of the two met, and Masie Langford, alias Joe, fell back dead.

The discharge of Van's rifle had caused a large crowd to gather, and when the city officer's friends saw him lying dead upon the ground murmurs of rage went up from their lips.

But as no assault was made upon them, our friends did not notice them much.

Poppet, who had been with the party since they started out to examine the city, and who was an eye-witness of all that had taken place in the past few minutes, dispatched a couple of men for a litter.

The necessary article was procured in a very few minutes, and the body of the slain girl being placed on it, the party set out for the president's house.

But few words were exchanged on the way, and when they reached the house, a gloom seemed to have settled upon all hands.

As soon as Van's father learned of what had taken place, he was for leaving the city at once.

"There is yet an hour before darkness," said he, "and I will have it announced that the friends of the murdered girl--or rather boy, as they think--desire the body to be buried outside the wall. Then those who are going to leave can take to the boat and leave the city behind them forever."

"That is true," returned Van; "but I have not seen Metha Arundel yet."

"I have, if you have not. Her father says they are ready to go at ten minutes' notice."

"Very well, then. I will go after them at once."

The distance to the house of the Arundels was not great, and Van soon reached it, finding what his father had said to be true.

Arundel was an Englishman, and as he was a sworn friend of Vincent's, he was ready to stick to him in anything he undertook.

His daughter had really fallen in love with Van, and, of course, she was only too glad to go.

The father and daughter mounted their horses, taking what few things they could carry, and then Van led them to the door of his father's house, where the funeral procession had already formed.

When the elder Vincent saw that all were on hand he gave the order to start.

About fifty of the Utopians accompanied them to witness the burial.

There was a gate at the eastern wall similar to the other one, and when our friends passed through this they saw a broad river in front of them.

A large, flat-bottomed boat was moored to the shore not over a hundred yards away.

A number of the Utopians promptly set to work to dig a grave in the spot selected by Jack Howard.

When it was ready Prof. Drearland repeated a short prayer, and the body of the brave girl, who had shared the dangers and hardships of the explorers, was tenderly laid to rest.

Jack was the last to leave the grave, and, when he did so, he noticed that his friends had already gathered upon the boat.

The Utopians who came with them to witness and assist in the burial of the girl, were standing at the gate waiting for them, thinking that the strangers were merely examining the boat.

It was fast growing dark, and casting a last look at the grave of Masie Langford, Jack Howard led his horse down to the water's edge and boarded the scowlike craft.

He had scarcely done so when he felt the boat moving.

There was ample cause for this, since all hands had seized poles and were pushing with all their might.

Five minutes later the boat was in the middle of the stream, while the Utopians, who had been left standing at the gate, were running up and down the river bank in a state of wild excitement.

But darkness and the swift current of the river soon lost them to view.

Van's father, though his left leg was missing from the knee down, was quite spry, and he insisted that he should have charge of the boat during the night.

He was allowed to have his own way, and when the sun arose the next morning they were nearly a hundred miles from the African Utopia.

The current of the river was swift and steady, and when two days had slipped by the boat entered a large body of water, which the elder Vincent said was Lake Tanganyika.

We will not dwell on the voyage down the lake, but suffice it to say that it was really the body of water they supposed it to be, and in due time they arrived at the town of Ujiji, which was the nearest to anything like civilization they had seen since they started on their journey, barring the African Utopia, of course.

They were lucky enough to meet a party of Englishmen at this place, who were just about to start for Zanzibar.

One of them happened to be an acquaintance of Jack Howard's, and that made things satisfactory between the two parties, so they formed into one and set out for the coast.