oon after ve set sail--ant, zen, ve
made a straight line for zis port, w'ereas you possibly crossed over,
ant zen push down zee coast."

"Exactly so, and that accounts for your overtaking us," said the hermit.
"Is that the lad Baso I see down there with the crew of the prau?"

"It is. You must have some strainch power of attracting frondship, Van
der Kemp, for zee poor yout' is so fond of you zat he beg ant entreat me
to take him, ant he says he vill go on vit zee traders if you refuse to
let him follow you."

"Well, he may come. Indeed, we shall be the better for his services, for
I had intended to hire a man here to help to carry our things. Much of
our journeying, you see, must be done on foot."

Baso, to his great joy, thus became one of the party.

We pass over the next few days, which were spent in arranging and
packing their provisions, etc., in such a way that each member of the
party should carry on his shoulders a load proportioned to his strength.
In this arrangement the professor, much against his will, was compelled
to accept the lightest load in consideration of his liability to dart
off in pursuit of creeping things and "bootterflies" at a moment's
notice. The least damageable articles were also assigned to him in
consideration of his tendency at all times to tumble into bogs and
stumble over fallen trees, and lose himself, and otherwise get into
difficulties.

We also pass over part of the journey from the coast, and plunge with
our travellers at once into the interior of Sumatra.

One evening towards sunset they reached the brow of an eminence which,
being rocky, was free from much wood, and permitted of a wide view of
the surrounding country. It was covered densely with virgin forest, and
they ascended the eminence in order that the hermit, who had been there
before, might discover a forest road which led to a village some miles
off, where they intended to put up for the night. Having ascertained his
exact position, Van der Kemp led his followers down to this footpath,
which led through the dense forest.

The trees by which they were surrounded were varied and
magnificent--some of them rising clear up seventy and eighty feet
without a branch, many of them had superb leafy crowns, under any one of
which hundreds of men might have found shelter. Others had trunks and
limbs warped and intertwined with a wild entanglement of huge creepers,
which hung in festoons and loops as if doing their best to