CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. MURDER!
CHAPTER II. A PLUCKY CHASE.
CHAPTER III. CARRIED TO SEA.
CHAPTER IV. ON THE CONGO RIVER.
CHAPTER V. THE EXPLORING PARTY.
CHAPTER VI. A SLIGHT ADVENTURE.
CHAPTER VII. VAN'S PERIL.
CHAPTER VIII. A WOMAN'S PARADISE.
CHAPTER IX. ESCAPE FROM THE AMAZONS.
CHAPTER X. DOWN THE RIVER.
CHAPTER XI. THE DWARFS.
CHAPTER XII. A HORRIBLE FATE.
CHAPTER XIII. SEARCHING FOR JACK AND JOE.
CHAPTER XIV. IN A PERILOUS POSITION.
CHAPTER XV. THE BAND OF HORSEMEN.
CHAPTER XVI. A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY.
CHAPTER XVII. WHAT BEFELL DOC CLANCY.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE AFRICAN UTOPIA.
CHAPTER XIX. DOC CLANCY'S CONFESSION.
CHAPTER XX. OUR HERO FINDS A FATHER.
CHAPTER XXI. DIVERSE MATTERS.
CHAPTER XXII. THE EXECUTION AND WHAT FOLLOWED.
CHAPTER XXIII. UTOPIA IS LEFT BEHIND.
CHAPTER XXIV. CONCLUSION.

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No. 109

IN THE DEPTHS OF
THE DARK CONTINENT
—— OR ——
The Vengeance of Van Vincent

By
THE AUTHOR
of "THE WRECK OF THE GLAUCUS"

The next minute they were blazing away at the crab-like creatures. Jack noticed that every time a bullet hit one of their claws, it would immediately drop from the creature's body.

Issued Weekly. By Subscription $2.50 per year. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1905, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress. Washington, D. C. Street & Smith, 238 William St., N. Y.

IN THE DEPTHS OF THE DARK CONTINENT;

OR,

The Vengeance of Van Vincent.

By the author of "The Wreck of the 'Glaucus.'"

CHAPTER I.

MURDER!

The little village of Edgewater was covered by the inky pall of night.

The big clock on the steeple of the town hall had just tolled the hour of twelve.

Ever since night set in the clouds had been heavy and threatening, and as the midnight hour arrived the storm burst forth in all its fury.

The wind arose to a perfect hurricane, and the rain came down in torrents.

Van Vincent, a bright, handsome youth of eighteen years, who is to figure as the hero of this story, was awakened from his slumber by the creaking of the beams and timbers in the old-fashioned house he called his home.

Van was an orphan, as far as he knew, and lived with an uncle, who was reported as being very wealthy, though the house he lived in and his everyday appearance would not lead anyone to think so.

The last Van had ever heard of his father he had gone to Africa with an exploring party.

That was fifteen years before, and up to this time none of the party had ever returned.

Ralph Vincent, the uncle of Van, had given the boy a good education, and obtained for him the situation of bookkeeper in the largest store in Edgewater.

Consequently Van loved and respected his uncle, who had often declared that the boy should inherit what little he possessed in earthly goods.

As Van was awakened by the violence of the storm on the night upon which our story opens, he felt rather uneasy.

He had been aroused from a bad dream, and it took him several