knocked up with the heavy outward march, and it was the evening of the
fifth day when, carrying the head of Zero, they reached Equatoria. No
amount of persuasion would induce the old Mormon to part with this
ghastly trophy, which he declared he would carry back to Salt Lake City
to the Holy Three, in order that no doubt might arise as to the
successful accomplishment of his mission.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

LOST AND FOUND.

The victorious band marched triumphantly into Equatoria as the shades of
night were falling; but their joy, alas! was quickly changed to wailing.

Nowhere was there a soul to be seen in or about the town. Leigh was
missing, with his wife and child, the Atagbondo guards, and the whole of
Zero's plunder divisible amongst the three bands--all, everything was
gone.

On carefully searching the public building, however, the whole of the
"People of the Stick" were found tightly bound in the condemned cell,
which was fastened from outside. The poor creatures were almost dead
with thirst and starvation, having been locked up for over four days.
They soon, however, revived under friendly treatment, and then, calling
up the interpreter, our anxious friends listened to their moving tale.

As a matter of fact, however, these men had very little to tell beyond
saying that the very night the main body had left Equatoria they had
been visited by an ancient man, the biggest Forest Fetish in those
parts, and called by him to a "great dance" in the common hall, which
was well lighted by priests holding torches in their hands.

He had delivered a long harangue to the "People of the Stick" regarding
the gifts they were to send him from their own country, and after this
the unfortunate audience heard no more, their senses gradually leaving
them under the subtle influence of the smoke from the torches, which
made the air heavy with a curious pungent odour. But though the men
could neither move nor exercise the faculties of sight or hearing, each
realised that he was being fettered and carried away, whilst he
gradually yielded to an overpowering desire to sleep. Naught knew they
of the Fetish beyond the fact that his habitation was somewhere in the
dense and tangled forest of the east, into whose dark avenues no mortal
man dare venture, for they were the home of ghosts and spirits, and the
haunts of snakes, and wolves, and many evil things.

It was, of course, too late to make any move that night; so, after