rought the foolish old scientist and his daughters
into a place of terrors. Treachery had been apparent from the start. It
was only the confidence of the old antiquarian that had blinded our eyes
to a score of incidents that should have convinced us that the brute had
some ulterior motive in view. During that mad race through the night the
big sallow-faced giant appeared to us as a devil, a fiend that was
connected with some sort of horrible practices that had continued to
exist in this remote islet long after all trace of such things had been
lost in those islands that were visited by traders and missionaries.
Kaipi connected the dance with death, and the same conclusion had come
to us before we had heard the words of the frightened Fijian.

Holman slackened speed, and we dodged through a mass of boulders that we
judged were in a direct line with the crevice through which we had
witnessed the happenings in the cave.

"We should be near the place if there is an entrance to it on this
side," he muttered. "This pile of rocks looks from--oh, Gee! here's a
path!"

It was a path, sure enough. It wound in and out among the rocks, a
narrow beaten trail, singularly white against the black surroundings.

Holman stopped and took up a handful of the dust. "They coat it with
coral lime to make it plain in the darkness," he growled. "Come on,
Verslun, the wriggly batch must be straight ahead."

I pulled the army Colt from my pocket and ran softly abreast of the
youngster. The corrosive terror of the earlier part of the evening had
fled then, and my nerves had taken up a sort of dare-devil attitude
toward all happenings that the future might hold in store. Besides, the
more I thought of Leith, the greater his villainy appeared to be, and to
save Edith Herndon from the slightest contact with the ugly ruffian was
a task that would give the greatest coward in the world the courage of a
warrior.

The white path wound in and out of the boulders, which became thicker
as we advanced, and suddenly it dived through a dark passage into the
side of the hill. We felt that we were at the mouth of the burrow by
which Leith and his dancers had entered, and we moved into the shadow to
reconnoitre. Leith had informed the Professor that he would not return
to the camp till the following morning, so the chances were that the
treacherous scoundrel was still assisting at the ceremonies that we had
witnessed.

"Shall we go in?" whispered Holman.