ring an appalling cry of
horror, he fell head first into the roaring furnace! We flung ourselves
upon our faces and tried to shut out that weird scream of terror; then
Denviers, prone as he was, worked his body forward upon a loose,
overhanging rock, and stared down into the red sea of fire below.

"The sahib is mad! Come back, come back!" cried Hassan, excitedly;
whereupon the savages, looking more like demons than men, as their faces
were lighted up by the glow of the lambent flames, seized hold of my
companion and dragged him from threatening death.

"He has not fallen right in," said Denviers to me, calmly, as though his
own danger had been a mere nothing; "the man is clinging to a projecting
crag just above the flames. Hassan," he cried to our guide, "tell these
savages if they will unbind me I think I can save him."

Half stupefied with fear and horror, our captors unbound the long rope
which held my companion's arms to his sides, and at once he made a loop
at one end of it and advanced again upon the projecting rock. Quickly
the rope was lowered and, leaning right over, Denviers managed to reach
the almost senseless man, for we saw him hauling the rope slowly in, and
finally the head of the savage appeared before us, while the loose rock
which upheld rescuer and rescued swayed ominously upon the solid mass
which supported it. Scarcely were the two of them dragged back from the
rock when over it went, and again a fierce shower of fire shot up, from
which with much difficulty we protected ourselves.

The savage lay scorched and motionless for several minutes, then,
struggling to his feet, he took one of the knives which another
proffered and cut Hassan's bonds as well as my own. Again we moved
forward and, conscious that this unexpected rescue of their companion
had won for us the goodwill of all, we passed on, hoping that when we
faced Wimpai, their chief, it would be turned to good account. Freed
from our bonds so unexpectedly, we went on with more confidence than
before, and at last saw another huge cavern facing us, upon entering
which we found ourselves in the presence of the savage chief.

III.

We were not able to observe what the entire number of the savages was,
since the cave into which we went led to several others where we caught
glimpses of many of the wild tribe. We estimated that those among whom
we were amounted to about five hundred, more than a half of whom were
female warriors. Our appear