triumph of science!"

"That letter said something 'bout there bein' a plan in his watch-case,
Gen'ral," spoke up Jack. Schoverling nodded, and turned to the hut. A
moment later he came out, a smashed and bent gold watch in his hand.
This they managed to pry open with a knife, and the explorer pulled out
a tiny, many-folded map of onion-skin paper. The tracings were made in a
brown ink, with marks that meant nothing to the boys.

"Arabic," explained Schoverling briefly. "Evidently it was supplied to
Mowbray by Selim ben Amoud. From what I can make out, it is a plan of
the chain of lakes Mowbray mentions. Here is one off by itself to the
south, named Quilqua. Well, this does us no good. Let's get down to
cases."

"One thing is sure," said Charlie as the explorer paused. "That is, that
our march will lie just about due north."

"Yes. Now, Mowbray speaks of an island with a slaver's stronghold. That
would account for the desolated country--that and the rogue elephant.
Probably some Arab settled down there years ago and ran off slaves until
he and all his men were swept out in one of the terrible and mysterious
plagues that sometimes sweep this country. That would explain the rumors
among the natives. Probably Selim heard the story and fancied the place
might be worth finding, so went into partnership with Mowbray. The
latter evidently found a good store of ivory planted away."

"I guess you've doped it out," said Charlie. "How long will we stay
here, General?"

"Two days. That will give the horses and cattle a good rest. The three
of us ought to bring in a lot of game, and we'll make some real
northwoods pemmican to take us on. First, let's see if the Masai will go
with us."

The explorer called to Bakari and the Masai leader came over grinning.
Slowly they explained what lay before them, the terrors of the
mysterious lake, and the desert journey, and asked if Bakari and ten of
his men would accompany them. The unabashed warrior grinned.

"Me go! Him men go, very fierce. No 'fraid."

Satisfied that he had understood, Schoverling dismissed him, and turned
to the boys.

"Pemmican for ten Masai and Bakari, us four, and three gun-bearers. The
rest will stay here. We'll take one wagon and six oxen; they can go for
two or three days without any water easily enough. We have one thing to
do before we go on the hunt, though."

What this duty was all knew well enough. The body of Mowbray was brought
out and sewed in th