which we encountered here and there; but these huge
plants looked so picturesque and beautiful that we found it hard to
believe that they could taint the air so frightfully.

"It's rather odd," said Skelton doubtfully, "that where these giant
spiky lilies grow there is always an open space clear around, as if
nothing could live in their presence."

"Ah, mon!" howled Mac at that moment, sniffing the ether in disgust.
"Could onybody believe---- A'll gang an' investeegate this meenit. Come
on, Stewart."

They rushed off at once, and we followed hastily, for the evil
exhalations were overpowering, and we meant to trace the cause. Sure
enough one of the cacti, with wide-spreading leaves which trailed on the
ground for several yards, proved to be the seat of the virulent fumes.
None of us had ever met such a plant before. A vast bulb was suspended
on a thick stem, which rose from the heart of the leathery leaves, and
this we prepared to examine intently, though we were all but overcome by
the foul gases given off.

"It's a big an' a bonnie flooer," muttered Stewart, extending his hand,
and thrusting it into the massive blossom. Then he emitted a yell that
would have done credit to a full-grown grizzly bear. "It's living!" he
bellowed, "an' it's biting me. Cut its heid aff! Quick! Ough!"

"A carnivorous plant!" cried Skelton, decapitating the stem with one
stroke of his axe; and Stewart hurriedly drew back his hand with the
clinging flower attached. It was indeed a carnivorous plant, and when we
had rescued our companion from its clutches, we held our nostrils and
examined the depths of the odoriferous flower.

"No wonder it smells," said Phil, as the carcasses of birds and insects
innumerable were tumbled out.

"What a grand thing it would be for Cheeniemen!" commented Mac.

"Let's go on, boys, for mercy's sake," implored the Captain. "I'd rather
meet a tiger any day than one of these vile vegetable traps."

Stewart's wrist had been squeezed so tightly that it was some time
before he could move it freely. "It would hae nippit ma hand clean off
if you hadna beheided it sae quick," said the sufferer gratefully to
Skelton as we resumed our march; and I think he was not far wrong.

Our progress now became slower and slower, and our first intention of
reaching the mountain-range beyond the forest was in a similar degree
growing less definite. I could not see how we were to gain our
objective, judging by the myriad obstr