, which, aided as it was by the little
picture, was as simple as it was lucid.

CHAPTER FIVE.

THE SECRET OF THE PASS.

The secret of the place, as revealed by the tell-tale photograph,
existed simply in the perfect natural "blind" provided by the presence
of the road _through_ the pass, whilst the slaver's secret way was
defined on the picture by a narrow wavy line, which absolutely wormed
its way along the apparently unbroken face of the precipitous cliff
itself, this way being primarily gained by climbing over the large,
loose boulders which were freely strewed about just inside the entrance
to the kloof. Gradually rising, and painfully zig-zagging up the giant
wall of the rock, the narrow pathway could be clearly traced until it
pierced the dark patch of brushwood which thickly crowned the summits of
the towering cliffs, and was thenceforth lost to view. Deferring to
Leigh's anxiety regarding his cousin, the pair left the camp as soon as
the moon rose that night, and found, to their surprise, that they could
easily climb the slaver's rocky road, and that what looked like a mere
pathway for a goat, was in reality a well-worn track of a uniform width
of from two and a half to three feet, and this being positively hollowed
out to the depth of nearly a yard, made travelling perfectly safe, if
not very fast. Human hands, at least in Central Africa, could never
have accomplished such a stupendous task as this, and it was quickly
evident to our friends that a small stream, running and zig-zagging down
the cliff through the ages of bygone years, had gradually worn for
itself a deep channel in the soft sandstone rock, and the lynx-eyed
slaver had doubtless seen the value of the position, and on winning his
way to the summit, in an abnormally dry season, had turned the stream
into some other, and possibly more useful channel.

Proceeding with the utmost caution, and expecting every instant to
receive the contents of a rifle through his ribs, Kenyon led the way up
this strange ascent and in about forty minutes' time the pair had
entered the dark and heavy patch of trees and brushwood which thickly
crowned the cliffs, and which served, in some degree, to mask their true
and enormous proportions. Arrived there, progress became of necessity
slow, for it was only in places that the moonlight penetrated the
interlaced tropic foliage, and threw ghostly patches of light and shade
across the path of the adventurers, who dr