our hands are tied. The Professor is simply crazy with delight over the
things that the brute is going to guide him to, and all our suspicions
don't amount to much when you put them together. You see we've got
nothing definite to go on at present. All we can do is to watch and
wait, and be ready to act when the moment comes. Soma and his five mates
are Leith's pets, you can bet your life on that, but we have one ally in
your friend Kaipi."

The path of the preceding day was smooth compared to the ground we
climbed over that morning. There was no trail as far as we could see.
Soma, who was in the lead, found his way by occasional marks that could
only be visible to the eye of a native. Barbara Herndon remarked on one
occasion that there was danger of our getting lost, but Leith grinned at
the remark.

"Soma has been here more than once," he replied. "What he doesn't know
about this place isn't worth knowing."

The path continued to ascend, but the thick tropical growth did not
lessen during the tramp of the morning. Leith walked with the
Professor, who appeared to be in a state of joy bordering upon hysteria,
while Holman and I in the rear tried to assist the two girls over the
roughest sections of the road. I thought as we scrambled through
impenetrable scrub and crawled over rocky piles that it was the
strangest expedition that had ever set forth. If Leith was the wicked
devil that we suspected him to be, four persons were risking their lives
to gratify the whim of a half-crazy scientist who was dying for
notoriety. He would not be turned aside from his pursuit of the
specimens which Leith had told him of; his daughters would not desert
him, and their resolve had brought Holman and myself. We were blind