usted after the terrific emotions and scanty food of
yesterday. Summerlee was still so weak that it was an effort for him
to stand; but the old man was full of a sort of surly courage which
would never admit defeat. A council was held, and it was agreed that
we should wait quietly for an hour or two where we were, have our
much-needed breakfast, and then make our way across the plateau and
round the central lake to the caves where my observations had shown
that the Indians lived. We relied upon the fact that we could count
upon the good word of those whom we had rescued to ensure a warm
welcome from their fellows. Then, with our mission accomplished and
possessing a fuller knowledge of the secrets of Maple White Land, we
should turn our whole thoughts to the vital problem of our escape and
return. Even Challenger was ready to admit that we should then have
done all for which we had come, and that our first duty from that time
onwards was to carry back to civilization the amazing discoveries we
had made.

We were able now to take a more leisurely view of the Indians whom we
had rescued. They were small men, wiry, active, and well-built, with
lank black hair tied up in a bunch behind their heads with a leathern
thong, and leathern also were their loin-clothes. Their faces were
hairless, well formed, and good-humored. The lobes of their ears,
hanging ragged and bloody, showed that they had been pierced for some
ornaments which their captors had torn out. Their speech, though
unintelligible to us, was fluent among themselves, and as they pointed
to each other and uttered the word "Accala" many times over, we
gathered that this was the name of the nation. Occasionally, with
faces which were convulsed with fear and hatred, they shook their
clenched hands at the woods round and cried: "Doda! Doda!" which was
surely their term for their enemies.

"What do you make of them, Challenger?" asked Lord John. "One thing is
very clear to me, and that is that the little chap with the front of
his head shaved is a chief among them."

It was indeed evident that this man stood apart from the others, and
that they never ventured to address him without every sign of deep
respect. He seemed to be the youngest of them all, and yet, so proud
and high was his spirit that, upon Challenger laying his great hand
upon his head, he started like a spurred horse and, with a quick flash
of his dark eyes, moved further away from the Prof