f a hill.

"Let us go and see," answered Leonard; "we can follow it for a while and
camp."

They climbed down the hill. At its foot Otter cast backwards and
forwards among the bushes like a hound. Then he held up his hand and
whistled.

"I thought so," he said, as the others drew near; "the path is still the
same. Look, Baas."

As he spoke he broke down the branches of a creeping bush with his
strong foot. Among them lay the mouldering skeleton of a woman, and by
her side that of a child.

"Not long dead," said Otter phlegmatically, "perhaps two weeks. Ah! the
Yellow Devil leaves a spoor that all may follow."

Soa bent over the bones and examined them. "One of Mavoom's people," she
said; "I know the fashion of the anklets."

Then they marched on for two hours or more, till at length they came to
a spot where the trail ran to the edge of the water and stopped.

"What now, Otter?" said Leonard.

"Here the slaves are put on boats, Baas," the dwarf answered. "The boats
should be hidden yonder," and he pointed to some thick reeds. "There too
they 'weed the corn,' killing out the weakly ones, that they may not be
burdened with them. Let us go and look."

They went, Otter leading the way. Presently he halted. "The boats are
gone," he said, "all except one canoe; but the 'weeds' lie in a heap as
of old."

He was right. Piled in a little open space lay the bodies of some thirty
men, women, and children recently dead. In other spaces close by were
similar heaps, but these were of bleached bones on which the moonlight
shone brightly--mementoes of former sacrifices. Quite close to the first
pile of dead was a mooring-place where at least a dozen flat-bottomed
boats had been secured, for their impress could yet be seen in the
sand. Now they were gone with the exception of the canoe, which was kept
there, evidently to facilitate the loading and launching of the large
boats.

Nobody made any comment. The sight was beyond comment, but a fierce
desire rose in Leonard's heart to come face to face with this "Yellow
Devil" who fattened on the blood and agony of helpless human beings, and
to avenge them if he might.

"The light is going, we must camp here till the morning," he said after
a while.

And there they camped in this Golgotha, this place of bones, every one
of which cried to heaven for vengeance.

The night wind swept over them whispering in the giant reeds, fashioning
the mists into fantastic shapes that thre