annot see it. The little people give him a wide berth, and a pig
might come along once a year."

"Such is your wisdom, little great one. But, see, in the trees above
there is a roadway, and on the ground below there are other paths
for the things of the forest who neither fly nor climb. These trees
lie in the way of such a road. On the ground, if you had looked you
would have seen the spoor of the red pig and other things of the
forest."

"By Jove, yes!" and the boys stared at the unfamiliar spoor of
animals. "But why do they use this particular part of the forest?"

"That we shall see, for our way lies now along this ground-path. The
little people have done their tracking. The man-eaters are near."

CHAPTER XV

FIGHT WITH A GORILLA

"The man-eaters," said Venning, blankly. "I had forgotten about
them."

"And there is another thing you have forgotten," said Mr. Hume,
sternly, "you and Compton. You have forgotten to obey orders. My
orders were to descend from the tree. You both kept on, and by so
doing ran a very great risk. Understand now, that you will do
exactly what I wish."

Compton looked rebellious, and opened his lips.

"Not a word!" said the hunter, in a roar, with a hard look in his
eyes, that gave a fierce expression to his face.

The two boys stared at him dumfounded.

"You understand?" he said.

"I do, sir," replied Compton, gravely; for, high-spirited as he was,
he was in the wrong, and had the courage to admit it.

That night they saw the fires of the man-eaters, who had encamped on
a knoll comparatively free from trees and entirely bare of
underwood. Beyond the knoll was the gleam of water, and at the same
time they heard the familiar trumpeting of the mosquito hosts, whose
attentions they had been free from ever since they left the river.
They anointed their faces and hands with an ointment that contained
eucalyptus oil, while Muata and the river-man went off to scout.
Then they stood in the shadow of a great tree and watched the weird
scene in the thick of the forest. There were several fires, and
about each squatted a ring of wild black men. Their skins glistened
like ebony from the fat they had liberally rubbed in, and their
teeth and eyes gleamed in the reflection of the fires. Their hair,
fizzled out in mops, had the appearance of fantastic Scotch bonnets;
but apparently all their vanity had been lavished on their heads,
for of dress they wore nothing but anklets and a strip