Hercules, while
taking great steps, consoled him as well as he could.
"Do not be afraid, little Jack," he repeated. "If the thunder comes
near us, I will break it in two with a single hand. I am stronger than
it!"
And, truly, the giant's strength reassured Jack a little.
Meanwhile the rain must soon fall, and then it would in torrents,
poured out by those clouds in condensing. What would become of Mrs.
Weldon and her companions, if they did not find a shelter?
Dick Sand stopped a moment near old Tom.
"What must be done?" said he.
"Continue our march, Mr. Dick," replied Tom. "We cannot remain on this
plain, that the rain is going to transform into a marsh!"
"No, Tom, no! But a shelter! Where? What? If it were only a hut--"
Dick Sand had suddenly broken off his sentence. A more vivid flash of
lightning had just illuminated the whole plain.
"What have I seen there, a quarter of a mile off?" exclaimed Dick
Sand.
"Yes, I also, I have seen--" replied old Tom, shaking his head.
"A camp, is it not?"
"Yes, Mr. Dick, it must be a camp, but a camp of natives!"
A new flash enabled them to observe this camp more closely. It
occupied a part of the immense plain.
There, in fact, rose a hundred conical tents, symmetrically arranged,
and measuring from twelve to fifteen feet in height.
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