ng the easiest route to the base of
the cliffs, and an hour afterward Kaipi managed to attract my attention,
and he indicated by signs that he had information to impart. I seized a
chance to help him with the small tent which sheltered the two sisters,
and as we tugged at the knots he slipped a small piece of paper into my
hand.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Soma drop it," he explained nervously. "I follow him just little way
think get good chance kill him, but no chance come. He drop little piece
of paper from his belt; me pick 'em up. I no know what it say; you
read."

I crammed the note into my pocket as Leith approached, but at the first
opportunity I dived into a thicket of leaves and opened it with nervous
fingers. It was brief, exceedingly brief, but no number of words could
have produced the same cold chill of dread which took possession of me
as I glanced over the scrawl upon the paper. The note read:

"Five babies for kindergarten. Arrange everything. Meet at the Long
Gallery."

I stumbled out on the clearing in a half stupor. The arrival of the
long-expected confirmation of our suspicions had the same effect upon me
as a blow from a sandbag. Leith was apparently everything that Holman
and the girls had suspected him of being, and as I looked around at the
nearly impenetrable jungle growth upon which the night had come down
with that appalling swiftness of the tropics, I understood the helpless
condition in which we were placed. Soma and the other five carriers were
evidently tools of the big bully; the person or persons to whom the note
was addressed would also stand behind him in a fray, and against this
little army there was Holman, Kaipi, the two sisters, and myself. The
Professor's insane craving for a sight of the antiquities would probably
make him a partisan of the big brute till his devilish tricks were laid
sufficiently bare to allow the childish mind of the scientist to see
through them. The situation was pitiful to contemplate, and sick with
terror at thoughts of the fate of the two girls, I found Holman and
pulled him out of the circle of light thrown by the fire which Kaipi was
tending.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I've got proof!" I cried. "Soma dropped a note that Leith sent him off
with when we halted. Kaipi found it and brought it to me."

I recited the few words that were now pounding madly through my brain,
but the mere recitation would not satisfy Holman. He wanted to see the
words--t