ow and then by the prowling wild beasts
which threatened attack more than once, and by the sight of enormous
serpents, some in trees and some on the ground, Fred Ashman's thoughts
naturally went forward, and he speculated as to what was the result of
the attack on his friends the preceding night in the village.

He could comprehend the frightful situation in which they were placed
by the enmity of the king, and it seemed incredible that any, or at
least all of them, could have extricated themselves from their peril.
Gladly would he have risked everything in their defence, but, as has
been shown, that was beyond his power at any time.

The young American shrank from firing his gun, through fear of the
report reaching the ears of the Murhapas. If that should take place,
it would be sure to excite their suspicions, and prompt an
investigation which the fugitives dreaded.

Once a jaguar became so threatening, that he leveled his weapon
convinced that he must fire or be attacked, but the snarling beast
finally withdrew, after sneaking behind them for a long distance.

The sun had passed the meridian when the wanderers caught the gleam of
water among the trees in front. They hastened forward, and a moment's
survey of the stream convinced them that they had reached the Xingu
beyond all question.

Ashman recognized several features along the banks which he had noticed
on his way up the river. Ariel was equally positive, so they dismissed
the question from their minds.

Both were nearly exhausted, for they had had a tiresome tramp, during
all of which they were under a severe mental strain. They felt that,
at last, they could sit down and rest themselves before resuming their
journey.

"The next thing to be done," said Ashman as he imprisoned the hand of
Ariel and drew her head upon his shoulder, "is to find some boat in
which we can float down stream. It will be less work than we had in
ascending it."

"I suppose," she replied, "that there are people all the way along the
river until you reach the end of it."

"There are; but we found most of them unfriendly long before we struck
the region of the Aryks."

"Are they likely to attack us?" she asked, raising her head and looking
at her lover with an alarmed expression.

"We had little difficulty, so long as we kept in the middle of the
stream, and one discharge from our guns was generally enough to drive
them away."

"And for how far does this prevail?"

"T