ad managed to shoot the thrower. Then he had lost
his revolver while extricating himself from a swamp into which he had
sunk waist-deep; and thus that most helpless object on earth, an unarmed
man, and badly wounded into the bargain, had taken refuge in the
deserted village to die.

"And precious hard dying you intended to make of it, old chap," had been
Haviland's comment. "Why, it was the finest thing I ever saw in my
life, the way you were laying about you with those old shin-bones. Make
a fine subject for one of those groups of sculpture. The Berserk at
Bay, one might call it. Eh?"

Well, it was no laughing matter at the time, they all agreed. But the
worst of it was, Oakley had explained, that the ruffians who had
surprised his camp had, of course, seized everything, including the
whole of the specimens he had collected during this expedition, which
latter would, therefore, be so much time, trouble, and expense
absolutely thrown away. As for his bearers, such of them as had not
been massacred had, of course, been seized as slaves, and his property
as loot; but it was just possible that the marauders, finding the
botanical specimens utterly valueless to themselves, might have left
them on the ground, in which event they could be recovered.

If, in their heart of hearts, Haviland and the doctor were not exultant
over this idea, it is hardly astonishing; for, at the rate they had
travelled while bearing the injured man in their midst, to return to the
scene of the tragedy would mean about a fortnight's march, and that not
merely of a retrograde nature, but one which would take them very near
an exceedingly dangerous belt of country. But here was a brother
scientist, the fruits of his toil and risk, the reward of his
enterprise, thrown away, with just a chance remaining of saving them.
It was not in these two, at any rate, to let that chance go by, merely
at the cost of an extra fortnight's march and a certain amount of
potential danger.

Well, the march had been effected, and here they were at last on the
site of Oakley's ravaged camp. A ghastly spectacle met their gaze.
Many of the bearers had been massacred, and the ground was literally
strewn with bones, either clean-picked by the ravenous carnivora of the
surrounding wilderness, or with mangled tatters of flesh and sinew still
depending. Skulls, too; in many cases with the features yet remaining,
but all showing the same hideous distortion of the ter