Compton had found his father's book. When the woman gave it to him
he sat down for an hour turning over the leaves, closely filled with
neatly written handwriting interspersed with many sketches. To him
it was a message from the dead--a priceless treasure; and as he read
and saw how valuable it was as a record of close and intelligent
observation in a new field, he was seized with an eagerness to be
off with it out of the wilderness. He hurried to the cave, but, of
course, there was no one there. Then, still carrying the priceless
book, he ran on to the gorge, where the warriors whose task it was
to guard that part were gathering. Some of them were examining the
broken lengths of cotton, and drew his attention to them.

"It is medicine," he said briefly. "Have ye seen Ngonyama?"

They had not seen him since in the early morning one had noticed the
great chief and the Spider enter the gorge.

"And it is not meet," they added, "that we should seek to find out
where the chiefs had gone, since the place below was taboo."

"It is well," said Compton; and he returned to the cave to wait with
as much patience as he could summon, under the impression that his
friends had, of course, gone down to the pool in search of the
missing boat.

The afternoon, however, passed quickly, for he was poring over the
Journal, and it was almost dark when a step without attracted his
attention.

"I say," he shouted, "come and see."

But it was not Venning who entered, but the chiefs mother. She
looked tired, and her short skirt was stained with mud and moss.

"Halloa, it's you, is it?"

She squatted before the fire with her eyes on the book. "Ye will
make medicine now, son of the wise man. Ye will teach our men how to
build swift boats, and how to make the 'fire that kills."

"You are wet; you have been in the water."

"Oh! it is a little thing."

"I thought you were the great one, or the Spider. I have not seen
them since the morning."

"Maybe they have gone a journey. What says the medicine?"

"It says that until they return safe as when they went, it will not
speak," said Compton, with a chill suspicion growing in his mind.

She laughed. "Look again, son of my friend. Maybe they will not
return except the things be done that must be done."

"What things?"

"I have said. The things that will make our people strong for the
going out--the swift canoes and the shooting fire. That is my word."

"And this is my word. If any i