iteously at them in the
falling gloom. One side of the lower part was battered in--giving to
the bony face and eyeless sockets a most grisly and leering expression.

"By the formation, of course. But, man alive, don't you see what this
find means--don't you see what it means?"

"I suppose it means that some other fellow has been fool enough to
scramble up here before us, and has come to mortal grief for his pains.
Wait, though--hold on--by Jove, yes--I do see! Greenway's mate; what
does he call him? Jim. That's it, of course. It means that we are on
the right track, Fanning, old man. Hooroosh!"

"That's just what it does mean. Observe. This skull is alone--no bones
or remnants of bones--no relics of clothing. Now, the absence of
anything of the kind points to the fact that the poor chap wasn't killed
here. He must have been killed up top, and the skull eventually have
been brought here by some wild animal--or possibly lugged to the edge
and rolled down of its own accord. Greenway's story points that way
too. He says they were attacked while looking down into the valley, for
if you remember they had just watched the `Eye' fade away. Yes, `Jim,'
poor chap, was killed on top of the mountain, and there lies the `Valley
of the Eye.' How does that pan out, eh?"

"Five ounces to the ton at least," replied Sellon. "Well, we've, as you
say, panned out the whole thing to a nicety. There's one ingredient
left, though. How about `the schelm Bushmen'?"

"Oh, we must take our chances of them. The great thing is to have found
the place at all. And now, excelsior! It'll be pitch dark directly."

Replacing the skull where he had found it, Renshaw led the way back to
the horses, and the upward climb was resumed. But Sellon, following in
his wake, was conscious of an unaccountable reaction from his eager
burst of spirits, and not all the dazzling prospects of wealth untold to
be had for the mere picking up--which awaited him up yonder--could
altogether avail to dispel the fit of apprehensive depression which had
seized upon him. The discovery of that grisly relic of poor humanity in
that savage spot, there amid the gathering shades of night--eloquent of
the miserable fate of the unfortunate adventurer done to death on the
lonely mountain top, his very bones scattered to the four winds of
heaven--inspired in Sellon a brooding apprehension which he could not
shake off. What if they themselves were walking straig