s a good idea, Tom!"
It was carried out with much success, and thereafter they traveled
better.

But even at the best it was not easy work, and more than once Tom's
friends urged him to turn back. But he would not, ever pressing on,
with the strange land for his goal. They had long since passed the
last of the native villages, and they had to depend on their own
efforts for food. Fortunately they did not have any lack of game,
and they fared well with what they had with them in the packs.

Occasionally they met little bands of native hunters, and, though
usually these men fled at the sight of our friends, yet once they
managed to make signs to one, who, informed them as best he could,
that giant land was still far ahead of them.

Twice they heard distant sounds of native battles and the weird
noise of the wooden drums and the tom-toms. Once, as they climbed up
a big hill, they looked down into a valley and saw a great conflict
in which there must have been several thousand natives on either
side. It was a fierce battle, seen even from afar, and Tom and the
others shuddered as they slipped down over the other side of the
rise, and out of sight.

"We'd better steer clear of them," was Tom's opinion; and the others
agreed with him.

For another week they kept on, the way becoming more and more
difficult, and the country more and more wild. They had fairly to
cut their way through the jungle at times, and the only paths were
animal trails, but they were better than nothing. For the last five
days they had not seen a human being, and the loneliness was telling
on them.

"I'd be glad to see even a two-headed giant," remarked Tom
whimsically one night as they made their camp.

"Yes, and I'd be glad to hear someone talk, even in the sign
language," added Ned, with a grin.

They slept well, for they were very tired, and Tom, who shared his
tent with Ned, was awakened rather early the next morning by hearing
someone moving outside the canvas shelter.

"Is that you, Mr. Damon?" he asked, the odd gentleman having a tent
adjoining that of the boys.

There was no answer.

"Rad, are you getting breakfast?" asked the young inventor. "What
time is it?"

Still no answer.

"What's the matter?" asked Ned, who had been awakened by Tom's
inquiries.

Before our hero had a chance to reply the flap of his tent was
pulled back, and a head was thrust in. But such a head! It was
enormous! A head covered with a thick growth of