the tentacles of
a malignant fate. The green, sweaty leaves, the fat, bloated pods, and
the lengths of pythonesque runners produced a mental nausea. The
vegetation appeared to us to be vicious. Its very luxuriance produced
that fear of the wild which grips one in tropical countries but which is
never felt in lands situated in the temperate zones.

We had not covered a hundred yards of the path when Holman pounced upon
a strip of white bark that waved to us from the thorn of a lawyer-vine
crossing the track. A few pencilled words covered the smooth side of the
strip, and we absorbed them in a single glance.

"'We're prisoners now,' muttered Holman, reading the few words in a
whisper. 'The brute has declared himself. Barbara.'"

The boy turned to me, his face all blood-smeared and haggard, and for a
moment we stared at the strip of bark. There had been no doubt in our
minds concerning Leith's intentions from the time that Kaipi brought us
the message which Soma had dropped, but the knowledge that the brute had
declared himself to the Professor and the two girls brought us a most
horrible feeling. In my own case I had never experienced such a
sensation. The strange rites connected with the "tivo" in the long cave
had laid a foundation upon which my imagination piled skyscrapers of
horror. If I could have fixed my mind upon a definite fate that would be
theirs if they were not rescued from the big brute's clutches, I would
have found relief, but my inability to do that left me a victim to
thoughts that were enough to deprive one of his reason. We looked upon
the island as the ceremonial place for rites that were stamped out in
the groups where the missionary had pushed himself, and the message from
Barbara Herndon became a mental piledriver to ram home a thousand
doubts that had obtained a footing in our minds.

"Come on!" cried Holman. "If we don't catch up with him I'll go mad!"

He turned to hurry along the narrow path, but out of the silence behind
us came a shout that caused us to dive promptly into the bushes. The
whoop came from the direction of the camping ground, and we had hardly
crouched in the undergrowth when a nude native crashed through the vines
and raced past our hiding place. He was followed by two more, the three
running at top speed, heads forward, and their chests heaving in a
manner that suggested they had come some distance.

In the glimpse we caught of them as they dashed past we came to the
c