onclusion that they were three of the "tivo" dancers, and as we watched
their bare brown backs disappear in the creepers we observed something
which our position on the previous evening had prevented us from seeing.
The backs of the three were tattooed, not with the common line
tattooing, but with short scars that ran down the spine, making a ridged
representation of a centipede, and as they passed I remembered that the
Professor, when taking a photograph of the stone table on the previous
morning, had commented on the same peculiar pattern which he had
discovered upon one of the huge supporting pillars.

"They've come to tell Leith that we have escaped," whispered Holman.

"And they'll be on our trail the moment they give him the news."

"All right, we'll be ready for them. How much ammunition have you?

"Three cartridges," I replied.

"And I have four. We must make those seven--look out! There's another
beggar coming!"

We dropped quickly out of sight and peered through the leaves. Holman
was right. Some one else was coming along the path, but the newcomer was
exercising much more prudence than the three dancers. Judging by the
little intervals of silence that followed the slight noises made by the
breaking of twigs, he was investigating each yard of the way.

A woolly head at last appeared through the network, and our nerves
relaxed at the big brown eyes that rolled fearfully. The timorous
stranger was Kaipi!

The Fijian was shaking with fear when we dragged him into the bushes. In
halting words he told the story of his experiences of the night, and
Holman and I listened. Kaipi had waited upon the ledge till a few hours
before the dawn, and then he had made for the camp. With much better
luck than we had struck, he reached there before daylight, but fearful
of the happenings which would follow in the wake of the devil dance, he
had taken up a post of observation in a neighbouring tree and awaited
events.

Leith, according to the Fijian, had arrived at dawn, accompanied by Soma
and the one-eyed white man, and the big brute had immediately
interviewed the Professor. Kaipi's actions, as he mimicked the elderly
scientist, convinced us that the interview was not pleasant to the
archaeologist, and it was evident that it was at that moment Leith had
declared himself as Barbara Herndon stated in her note.

"He kick up plentee big row," explained Kaipi. "He kick porter men an'
make damn big noise outside missee ten