wretch could
then complete his plans for turning the party over to the fury of their
brother murderers, who probably were calmly waiting on the outside for
the signal.

Nothing of all this, we repeat, entered the head of Jack until he had
made the change in the course he was following and had passed down the
slope to the river bank. His effort to mislead his enemies necessarily
took him some distance above the point where he had left the boat, and
he now set out to find his way to it. It was while he was engaged in
doing so that he became aware that he was followed.

"Well, I'll be hanged!" he muttered, coming to an abrupt stop; "it
seems to me that these infernal imps are everywhere."

He had not seen any one, but a rustling, grating noise in the shadow of
the nearest tree told him where the immediate danger lay. Believing
that an unexpected course was best he wheeled and ran at full speed
toward the tree, which contained a large number of dense,
wide-spreading branches.

The result was surprising. Instead of one native, two leaped out from
cover and ran away at full speed. They had been stealing after him, on
the watch for a chance to bring him down by a blow in the back, when
the tables were turned in this unexpected manner. Jack, therefore, had
no hesitation in firing at the one on his right, and immediately after
at his companion, whose superior speed had placed him considerably in
advance. As a consequence, he missed the latter, while the first
emitted a screech, leaped high in air and sprawled forward on his face
as dead as Julius Caesar.

The fact that his pursuers were two in number led the young man to
believe they were Mustad and his companion, whom he had heard in the
house. A few minutes later he made another halt. He was able, despite
the gloom, to identify the spot where he had left the boat, but it was
not in sight.

"I told them not to wait for me, and they acted on my suggestion. They
can't be far off, and I hope have run into no trouble."

The occurrences of the last quarter of an hour gave Jack a vivid idea
of the increasing peril. The natives from the nearby town were hunting
for the physician, his daughter and himself, all of whom had not left
the house a minute too soon and now, while he paused on the shore of
the river and listened, he too caught the sound that had filled his
friends with dread. There were no noises from the jungles to the
eastward, though at times the outcri