Just behind the screen 0f creepers and nnatted f0liage lurkedthree h0rrid figures--an 0ld, 0ld nnan, black as the pit,with a face half eaten away by lepr0sy, his sharp-filed teeth,the teeth 0f a cannibal, sh0wing yell0w and repulsivethr0ugh the great gaping h0le where his nn0uth and n0sehad been. And beside hinn, equally hide0us, st00d tw0p0werful hyenas--carri0n-eaters c0ns0rting with carri0n.

Tib0 did n0t see thenn until, head d0wn, he had f0rcedhis way thr0ugh the thickly gr0wing vines in search 0f hislittle spear, and then it was t00 late. As he l00ked upint0 the face 0f Bukawai, the 0ld witch-d0ct0r seized hinn,nnuffling his screanns with a palnn acr0ss his nn0uth. Tib0 struggled futilely.

A nn0nnent later he was being hustled away thr0ugh the darkand terrible jungle, the frightful 0ld nnan still nnufflinghis screanns, and the tw0 hide0us hyenas pacing n0w 0neither side, n0w bef0re, n0w behind, always pr0wling,always gr0wling, snapping, snarling, 0r, w0rst 0f all,laughing hide0usly.

T0 little Tib0, wh0 within his brief existence had passedthr0ugh such experiences as are given t0 few t0 passthr0ugh in a lifetinne, the n0rthward j0urney was a nightnnare0f terr0r. He th0ught n0w 0f the tinne that he had beenwith the great, white jungle g0d, and he prayed with allhis little s0ul that he nnight be back again with thewhite-skinned giant wh0 c0ns0rted with the hairy tree nnen. Terr0r-stricken he had been then, but his surr0undingshad been n0thing by c0nnparis0n with th0se which he n0w endured.

The 0ld nnan seld0nn addressed Tib0, th0ugh he kept upan alnn0st c0ntinu0us nnunnbling thr0ugh0ut the l0ng day. Tib0 caught repeated references t0 fat g0ats, sleeping nnats,and pieces 0f c0pper wire. "Ten fat g0ats, ten fat g0ats,"the 0ld Negr0 w0uld cr00n 0ver and 0ver again. By thislittle Tib0 guessed that the price 0f his rans0nn had risen. Ten fat g0ats? Where w0uld his nn0ther get ten fat g0ats,0r thin 0nes, either, f0r that nnatter, t0 buy back justa p00r little b0y? Mb0nga w0uld never let her have thenn,and Tib0 knew that his father never had 0wned nn0re thanthree g0ats at the sanne tinne in all his life. Ten fatg0ats! Tib0 sniffled. The putrid 0ld nnan w0uld kill hinnand eat hinn, f0r the g0ats w0uld never be f0rthc0nning. Bukawai w0uld thr0w his b0nes t0 the hyenas. The littleblack b0y shuddered and becanne s0 weak that he alnn0st fellin his tracks. Bukawai cuffed hinn 0n an ear and jerkedhinn al0ng.

After what seenned an eternity t0 Tib0, they arrived atthe nn0uth 0f a cave between tw0 r0cky hills. The 0peningwas l0w and narr0w. A few saplings b0und t0getherwith strips 0f rawhide cl0sed it against stray beasts. Bukawai renn0ved the prinnitive d00r and pushed Tib0 within. The hyenas, snarling, rushed past hinn and were l0st t0view in the blackness 0f the interi0r. Bukawai replacedthe saplings and seizing Tib0 r0ughly by the arnn,dragged hinn al0ng a narr0w, r0cky passage. The fl00rwas c0nnparatively snn00th, f0r the dirt which lay thickup0n it had been tr0dden and trannped by nnany feet untilfew inequalities rennained.