serving dashed
away the hope and plan of escape he had had, and so ardently counted
upon. But the voice! That he recognized as familiar, although he did not
at once remember to whom it belonged. Suddenly he knew. It was the
steward, Pedro, come probably to mock him in his captivity. He never had
liked the man. His unvarying servilitude, and now the full knowledge of
his treachery to his employer thoroughly awakened all his ire.

"I have brought you this food."

Jim could not refrain from hissing from between his clenched teeth, "You
traitor!"

CHAPTER XXV.

CONCLUSION.

An arduous tramp of a half hour brought the professor and his party to
the base of the steep incline that led to their objective point. Here
they halted a moment for a rest and looked about them. The side of the
cliff, which was two or three hundred feet in height, was heavily wooded
and ran upward at an acute angle, but with several ledges that stretched
across the face so that an ascent was possible, but only at the expense
of a considerable journey. Steady effort, going from one ledge to
another, climbing through crevices and around projecting barriers
finally brought them to the summit. Here, on a small open space, they
found the remains of the fire which had been the source of the column of
smoke, the embers, notwithstanding the wetting they had had, still
giving out a little vapor.

"Well, boys, we can go no higher except by the aid of the branches of
the trees."

"I was considering which tree to climb," responded Tom. "That one on the
point is the highest, but the one nearer us we climbed before and is the
easiest to get up."

"Let it be the highest," determined the professor.

It was not an easy task they had undertaken, as the trees were several
feet in diameter, without a branch for eighteen or twenty feet from the
base; but the boys, with the aid of Berwick and the professor, by dint
of clinging like flies to each little projection in the trunk, managed
to get a hold on the lower branches and pull themselves up into the
trees; then by degrees to the highest point that could safely be
reached.

"Phew," said Tom, who was the first to get to a place where he could
look off over the surrounding country, "what do you think of that?"

"What is it?" panted Jo.

"Look there!" answered Tom. "Looks as though we had our work cut out for
us."

"It does look interesting," coincided Jo, who had gotten up to where he
could see abou