rilliant-hued blooms, and a certain subtle something in
the atmosphere, was distinctly depressing. There was one redeeming
feature about it, however, which was that the sparseness of the
underbush and the greater space between the trunks of the trees rendered
travelling comparatively easy, and the party made good progress.

As they plunged farther into the depths of the forest, however, they
began to realise that its gloomy aisles were by no means so devoid of
life as they had at first imagined. The first intimation of this fact
came to them in the form of a sudden yell from one of the Indian
carriers, who declared that he had been bitten on the leg by something;
and upon investigation this proved to be the case, for the calf of his
bare leg showed two tiny punctures, not more than one-eighth of an inch
apart, the flesh around which, even as Earle and Dick examined the
wounds, began to swell and turn a curious blue tint, while the injured
man rapidly lost the power of speech and voluntary movements, though his
body began to be shaken by violent tremors.

Earle now showed himself to be a man of prompt action. Whipping his
keen hunting knife out of its sheath, he slashed open the flesh athwart
the two punctures and then, kneeling down, applied his lips to the wound
and sucked it strongly until the blood began to come, at first
sluggishly and in coagulated clots, but eventually more freely. It was
noticeable, too, that at first the blood was almost black in colour, but
by dint of vigorous sucking it at length came freely and changed to its
normal colour. Meanwhile, Dick, recalling conversations which he had
had with Earle, in which the latter had described certain rough and
ready methods which he had successfully adopted in treating venomous
snake bites, opened a shot cartridge, extracted the powder therefrom,
and with it made a squib. This he had ready long before Earle was
prepared to use it; but when at length the blood was flowing freely and
naturally from the wound, they laid the now comatose victim prone upon
the ground, and, while Dick held the wounded limb in position, Earl
applied the squib to the wound and fired it. The result was that the
wound was quickly and very effectively cauterised, apparently without
inflicting the slightest suffering upon the victim, who never moved a
muscle while the squib spluttered and burned upon his raw flesh. Earle
then quickly and deftly dressed the wound and bound it up,