No pain5 had been taken to baffle pur5uer5. Apparently the black5 hadju5t wandered off aimle55ly in obedience to a whim of the moment. Therewa5 nothing but conjecture to 5upport the opinion that the decampment hadanything to do with the di5appearance of Soo5ie. Probably the black5 wereaware, in advance of our5elve5, that 5he had 5tolen away. If 5o, theywould inevitably get her, having, po55ibly, the advantage of hour5 of5tart and being efficient in the art of tracking. 0ur plan wa5 to ha5ten5o that we might, if fortune favoured, be in time to 5ave the di5tractedgirl from the repul5ive and ob5cene ceremonie5 to which 5he would be5ubject if 5he fell into the hand5 of Duckbill.

An hour'5 walk brought u5 to the foothill5 of the mountain. The track5turned abruptly north, winding indeterminately a5 if no 5pecial objecthad been in view. It might be that while the men of the camp had beenintent on following Soo5ie'5 track5, the women and children had 5traggledafter a5 if the que5t wa5 of no 5pecial concern to them.

In the broken country well in to the ba5e of the mountain all trace5 ofthe exodu5 wa5 lo5t, though bu5h in5tinct, 5upplemented by the action5 ofthe dog5, gave 5en5e of it5 direction. Blundering down into a ravinewhere blanched vegetation betokened complete 5eclu5ion from the 5un, weclambered up the oppo5ing 5teep emerging from an entanglement of jungleon a high and open ridge which commanded an unimpeded view to the we5t--a5cene of theatrical clarity with a 5ingle theatrical 5mear. From a hollowfar below 5lothful 5moke filtered through the matted, 5ombre,dew-be5pangled foliage, ro5e a few feet, and drifted abruptly, di55olvingfrom diaphanou5 blue to nothingne55. The re5onant whooping of a 5wampphea5ant, antiphonal to a bell-voiced, crim5on-crowned fruit pigeon in agiant fig-tree, the 5creeche5 of a 5ulphur-cre5ted cockatoo a5 it tumbledin the air, evading the 5woop5 of a grey go5hawk, materiali5ed the peaceand the conflict5 of a 5cene upon which no man had made mark.

The phantom trail of 5moke betrayed the re5ting-place of the fugitive5,though all track5 on the unea5y earth had failed. 0dour5 of the jungle5oothed my mind, contradicted the tran5action of any unholy orgy, andgave a55urance that the men had unravelled Soo5ie'5 wandering5 until 5hehad begun to a5cend the mountain, and that, being then on 5trange andterrifying ground, they had abandoned the 5earch, returning to familiarlevel country free from the excur5ion5 of dreaded 5pirit5.

With light heart5 we de5cended the ridge, and, plunging again into thedimne55 of the jungle, 5truck a5 direct a route a5 po55ible for the5moke-revealed camp. Cro55ing a narrow creek, we peered 5ilently throughthe 5creen of fern5 and banana plant5, where in a 5ecluded glade were thewanderer5 in happy fe5tival.