cided the matter, and the rest of the
day on which they were spoken was devoted to a reconnaissance made by
the boys and their captain, several of the nearest kopjes being ascended
and the glasses they had with them brought to bear. But nothing was
seen till the last kopje was ascended prior to journeying back to the
waggons, when Dean in sweeping the sides of a slope half a mile away
suddenly gave the alarm.

"There they are!" he cried.

The doctor snatched out his glass, focussed it upon the indicated spot,
and closed it again with a laugh.

"Yes, there they are," he cried. "Look, Mark."

"I am looking," replied the boy, who was focussing the objects that had
startled his cousin.

"Well, do you see them?" said the doctor.

"Yes, dozens of them, with their old women behind them carrying their
babies. Oh, I say, Dean, you are a fellow! Monkeys--baboons."

"No! Are they?" cried Dean, twiddling the focussing nut of his glass
with trembling fingers. "Why, so they are!"

That night careful watch was kept, and the following day and those
succeeding were devoted to research after research among the wonderful
ruins, the men--who were not troubled by the doctor's misgivings, of
which they were kept in ignorance--working most enthusiastically; and
scarcely a day passed without spade and shovel laying bare some records
of the ancient inhabitants of the place.

Gold was not found, in quantity, but they constantly came upon traces.
In one place shut in by walls there were the remains of a smelting
furnace, and with it old crucibles that showed patches of glaze with
traces of gold still within them.

Moulds too were found, into which molten gold had been evidently poured.
These the doctor declared to be formed of the mineral known as
soapstone, and pointed out in them specks of gold still adhering to the
glaze.

On other days fresh attempts were made to explore the ruins. Cautious
descents were accomplished down holes which had evidently been excavated
to the water, of which a pretty good supply was found, proving that the
adjacent river made its way right beneath the ruins; and the more the
bushes and overgrown vines were cleared away the more the tired party
returned to their kraal ready to declare that their task would prove
endless, Mark saying that the more they found the more there was to
find; and in the evening, while Sir James dozed off to sleep in the soft
darkness after a weary day, the doctor would a