454 DICK SANDS, THE BOY CAPTAIN. ■ barrier was he'/m asunder, and the light craft resumed the cbannel. It must be owned that ît was wilh a sensé of reluctancc tliat Bcncdict fclt the boat was again beginning to movc fonvard; the whole voyage appeared to him to bc pcrfcctiy unintcrcsting and unnecessary; not a single iiisect had he obscrved sînce he left Kazonndé, and his most ardent wish was that he could rcturn there and regain possession of his invaluable tin box. But an unlooked-for gratification was in store for him. Hercules, who had been his pupîl îongenough to havc an cye for the kind of créature Benedict was ever trying to sccure, on coming back from his exertions on the grass- barrier, brought a horrible-looking animal, and submitted it to the sullen cntomologist. '■ Is ihis of any use to you?" The amateur lifted it up carefully, and having almost poked it into his near-sighted eyes, uttered a cry ol" delight, — ■ " Bravo, Hercules! you are making amendsforyourpast mischicf; it is splendid I tt is unique!" " Is it really very curions .' " said Mrs. Weldon. " Ycs, indeed," answered the enraptured naturalist; "it is really unique; it bclongs to neither of the ten orders; it can be classed neither with the coleoptcra, neuroptera, nor to the hymenoptera: if it had eight legs I should knowhow to classify it; I should place it amongst the second section of the arachnida; but it is a hexapod, a genuine hcxapod; a spider with six legs; a grand discovery; it must be entered on the catalogue as ' Hexapodes Bencdictus.' " Once again mounted on his hobby, the worthy enthusiast continued to discourse with an unwontcd vivacity to his indulgent if not over attentive audience. Meanwhile the canoë was steadily threading its way over the dark waters, the silence of the nîght broken only by the rattle of the scales of some crocodiles, or by the snorting of hippopotamuses in the neighbourhood. Once the travcHcrs were startled by a loud noise, such as might
