pped Holman or me around the throat, the fiends found great fun
in straining upon the rope till the wire-like creepers gave way.

We suffered unbearable torture. Hour after hour we were jerked over the
ground. Our clothes were stripped from our backs, our faces were torn
and bloody from the thorns, and our tormented flesh protested through
every nerve against the treatment. Once Holman put a question in a
hoarse whisper.

"Where are they taking us?" he asked.

"God knows," I gasped.

"It's my fault, Verslun."

"Why?" I groaned.

"I missed him! I missed him! I----"

His voice died away in a choking sob, and I imagine he swooned away. As
we were being towed by the legs, I guessed that Holman was suffering
excruciating pain from the limb that he had injured by the fall from the
maupei tree, and the lapse into unconsciousness came as a blessed
relief. To me the rush through the jungle seemed a superlative
nightmare. My mind played tricks with me. I thought that the three black
forms, leaping along in front, were a trinity of devils who were ordered
to torture me for my stupidity in allowing Edith Herndon and her sister
to leave the yacht. Every creeper became a whip wielded by a mocking
phantom, and I am forced to confess that I have a vivid recollection of
crying to heaven for pardon for my criminal negligence. Every horror
that the happenings of the previous forty-eight hours had germinated
within my brain sprang into lusty being as my mind trembled upon the
abyss of insanity, and Edith Herndon was the person that the legion of
horrors threatened.

I came to my proper senses to find that our towing trinity had called a
halt. Holman was repeating a question over and over again, and I
endeavoured to moisten my dry throat so that I could answer.

"Where are we?" he groaned. "Where are we? Are you dead, Verslun? Open
your eyes and take a look around; my peepers are bunged up."

I managed to open my eyes, but I could see nothing but the encompassing
jungle. For a few minutes I thought that we were alone. Then I made out
the three figures crouched in front of us upon the grass. Their heads
were turned away from us, and they were facing the east, where the faint
luminous glow of the rising moon was just beginning to appear in the
sky.

The three were motionless. They were squatting upon their hams, and
their attitude seemed uncanny when I compared it with the mad film of
action which my mental machinery had recorde