With a cry of anguish I started to my feet and was about to rush away towards the village when a dazzling flash of lightning made me pause for a moment.

When it vanished I turned a last look on the girl, and her face was deathly pale, and her hair looked blacker than night; and as she looked she stretched out her arms towards me and uttered a low, wailing cry.

"Good-bye for ever!" I murmured, and turning once more from her, rushed away like one crazed into the wood.
But in my confusion I had probably taken the wrong direction, for instead of coming out in a few minutes into the open border of the forest, and on to the savannah, I found myself every moment getting deeper among the trees.

I stood still, perplexed, but could not shake off the conviction that I had started in the right direction.

Eventually I resolved to keep on for a hundred yards or so and then, if no opening appeared, to turn back and retrace my steps.