ng,
hideous blasts from trumpets made of burnt clay, and the pounding of
drums made from hollowed sections of trees, created a deafening din that
lasted from early dawn until far into the night. On the ninth day this
state of things reached its climax, for the din lasted all through the
night without intermission, raging with especial fury in the great
square, in the centre of which an enormous fire was kindled, round which
multitudes of people, mostly naked, danced furiously, shouting and
yelling themselves hoarse, while the trumpeters and drummers seemed to
vie with each other in the effort to drown all other sounds.

"I guess," yelled Earle into Dick's ear, when the babel of sound was at
its height--"this is the eve of some great festival; and before
twenty-four hours more have passed, you and I will know our fate. Now,
there is just one thing that I want to say, Dick. You and I have done
our level best to devise some scheme by which we might save the lives of
not only ourselves, but also of Inaguy and the rest of our followers;
and we have failed.

"Now, if the worst should come to the worst, there will be no sense in
throwing away our own lives because we can't save those of the others--
that would be carrying sentiment to a perfectly ridiculous extreme;
therefore, in the last extremity, and if all other efforts should fail,
you and I must endeavour to break away, make a sudden dash for the hut
where all our belongings are stored, and get hold of a weapon or two.
And if we should succeed in that, we must then be guided by
circumstances, fight our way out, if there is a ghost of a chance; and
if not, shoot ourselves rather than go tamely to the torture stake. How
does that strike you?"

"I'm with you," shouted Dick in reply. "I shall watch for your signal,
and act directly you give the word."

"Good!" returned Earle. And with a grip of the hand the two parted and
made their way to opposite corners of the hut where, seating themselves,
each in his own way proceeded to prepare himself for the anticipated
tremendous ordeal of the morrow.

That ordeal seemed very near when, about an hour after dawn, the door of
the hut in which Dick and Earle were confined was flung open, and a
gigantic Indian, fully armed, and arrayed in a gorgeous mantle composed
of the skins of brilliant plumaged birds, and with a narrow band of gold
around his head, clasped to which, one above either ear, was a great
scarlet and black wi