I stumbled out on the clearing in a half stupor. The arrival of the
long-expected confirmation of our suspicions had the same effect upon me
as a blow from a sandbag. Leith was apparently everything that Holman
and the girls had suspected him of being, and as I looked around at the
nearly impenetrable jungle growth upon which the night had come down
with that appalling swiftness of the tropics, I understood the helpless
condition in which we were placed. Soma and the other five carriers were
evidently tools of the big bully; the person or persons to whom the note
was addressed would also stand behind him in a fray, and against this
little army there was Holman, Kaipi, the two sisters, and myself. The
Professor's insane craving for a sight of the antiquities would probably
make him a partisan of the big brute till his devilish tricks were laid
sufficiently bare to allow the childish mind of the scientist to see
through them. The situation was pitiful to contemplate, and sick with
terror at thoughts of the fate of the two girls, I found Holman and
pulled him out of the circle of light thrown by the fire which Kaipi was
tending.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I've got proof!" I cried. "Soma dropped a note that Leith sent him off
with when we halted. Kaipi found it and brought it to me."

I recited the few words that were now pounding madly through my brain,
but the mere recitation would not satisfy Holman. He wanted to see the
words--to stare at them, so that his eyes might confirm the information
which his ears had gathered, and together we dived deeper into the
creepers till it was safe for him to light a match by which he could
view the scrawl.