with the everyday noises of the jungle, came sounds of
murmuring voices and the tramp of feet from around a bend in the trail
ahead.

"Probably warriors from Sephar, hunting game," Tamar said. "Let's join
them; they may have news for us."

Jotan frowned. "Hunters don't go blundering about so carelessly," he
reminded. "Hide in the undergrowth until we can make sure."

A moment later, six human figures appeared in the path. Five were
fighting-men of Sephar--all well armed. The sixth was a girl in a
close-fitting tunic that emphasized the lithe softly-curved body it
covered. Her face was set in determined lines as she moved on, looking
neither to the right nor the left.

Tamar, lying next to Jotan behind a screen of vines, nudged his friend.

"Alurna!" he breathed. "What can she be doing here?"

"Looks as though Fordak was telling the truth," Jotan whispered. "She
_is_ mixed up in this. He must have got free and gone to her with the
story.

"Well, let her go to Rydob's house. She'll find little there to please
her!"

As soon as the princess and her escorts were out of sight, Jotan called
his men from their hiding places and they took up their interrupted
progress toward Sephar.

CHAPTER XI

From Jungle Depths

Urb, the Neanderthal, was beginning to tire. He and his five hairy
companions had been on the march since Dyta had risen, and even now the
sun was hunting a new lair for the night. From the frequency with which
those behind him were stumbling, he judged they, too, were tiring.

But the mountains were close, now. He and his men were almost certain to
reach them before darkness came. There they might find caves near
grasslands rich in game. Urb's mouth watered and he was aware of being
very hungry.

A faint breeze, blowing lightly against their backs, changed its course
suddenly and came whipping in from the west. As it flicked across their
faces the six Hairy Ones came to an abrupt halt, standing stiffly as
though turned to stone.

Urb sniffed in short rapid inhalations, his unkempt visage twisted in a
ferocious scowl.

"Men!" he grunted. "The hairless ones! It has been long since we have
found such. Hide!"

With a degree of soundlessness surprising in such clumsy bodies, the six
Neanderthals faded into the mazes of undergrowth at either side of the
path.

* * * * *

Hardly were they hidden, when Alurna and her five companions came into
sight. They were