g with a languor, a relaxation, a pleasant
enervation which it seemed well not to throw off. Outside on the
prairie the sun burned harshly; within, the scented shadows shielded
away the sun and wrapped round one a drugged warmth all its own. The
path and the open spaces beneath the stubby trees permitted sufficient
circulation of air so the effect was not stifling; but no winds swept
through there; the perfumes lay heavily in the air, old and potent, and
breathing a mystic, sensuous lure.

Payne bent forward, peering into the mystic recesses of the growth,
susceptible to its magic thrall in spite of his hardheadedness.
Higgins, the engineer, kicked deeply into the black dirt of the bridle
path.

"Muck. Good enough. If your stuff's like this you're a rich man."

"Don't you notice anything else about this place?"

"What do you mean?" Higgins, less sensitive than his employer,
required more time to feel the jungle's spell.

"It seems to me like the air is perfumed with poison somehow; and the
poison is very easy to take."

"It's the lotus effect," said Higgins presently. "I know it. I got a
taste of it down in Yucatan once. It makes you want to sit down
against the roots of a tree and have a woman bring you drinks. It's
bad medicine when you've got work to do. I feel it now. The old lotus
effect. _Poco tiempo_! Man, we're nearer the tropics than the maps
show."

"There's somebody coming."

It was a young negress crossing the path round a turn. Swaying
indolently she went her way, with drooping eyes and listless steps,
seeing no one, lost in the mysterious dreams which brought a sensuous
smile to her heavy lips. She vanished down a footpath leading from the
roadway to a cabin, which could be discerned a short distance in the
trees. A bull-like male voice of her race greeted her with lazy
laughter from the cabin, and with soft, sensuous laughter of elation
and relief she replied. Then the woods were silent once more, save for
the omnipresent twitter of the birds.

Tiny trails deviated from the bridle path at intervals, weaving their
way out of sight into the drugged depths of the plantations. Flaming
red cardinals flew to and fro before the intruders, and a small green
parrakeet clung upside down to a moon vine and whistled as they went
past.

Roger, who was in the lead, stopped abruptly. Down one of the bypaths
a strutting peacock had caught his eyes. A glimpse of water showed
beyond the ga