o did not return, and they began to glance
about. At this time he was on the opposite side of the chamber, so that
the medicine men were between him and the mouth of the cave.

A half dozen of them had arisen, and John stepped forward with his gun
in position. In a stentorian voice John shouted:

"I am the Great White Chief. Go to the door of the cave. If any refuse
he will die. Go!"

It might be stated that before leaving for the cave Uraso had fully
instructed John how to use the above phrases. His sudden apparition on
the side opposite the mouth of the cave was most startling to them. Not
a word was uttered by either.

"Go!" again shouted John. They seemed to be paralyzed. By a common
impulse they moved toward the entrance, and as they marched out and saw
the party there waiting to receive them, together with their own chief,
the consternation was most marked on the faces of all.

Addressing the chief, John said: "Here are your wise men. The Great
Spirit is not there. They have lied to you."

It was now apparent from the actions of the chief why he was considered
such a power and a terror to his own people and to the tribes. He was
every inch a chief. He strode forward, and would have crushed them with
his own hands, but John interposed.

"We shall take care of them. They will never again lie to the great
chief Oroto." And so saying they were ordered bound, and Uraso
instructed to take them to the village and carefully guard them.

"You may take the wagon with you, Uraso, as the boys and I want to
attend to some matters on our own account, and we shall soon follow
you."

When the cavalcade passed from their sight, John said: "I suppose we
shall now have an opportunity to examine the place. Have you any
candles?"

Harry had not forgotten them, and the boys smiled as John also drew
forth several, and thus they entered the cave. John marched direct to
the place where the wise men had their quarters, and their lamps were
still burning.

"By the way, we came in too soon. Two of them are outside, or are
somewhere in the cave. We want them as well as the others. If they find
us here, they will be likely to get away. But we are here now, and we
must find out what we can, and as quickly as possible." The lights at
the habitable part of the cave were left burning and the three plunged
into the passageway which led to the east.

"This is the cave noted in the chart. How fortunate it is. You will note
that this,