And s0, with the girl he s0ught lying within fifty feet0f hinn, Bulan started 0ff thr0ugh the jungle with tw00f Ninaka's Dyaks as guides--guides wh0 had been wellinstructed by their panglinna as t0 their duties.Twisting and turning thr0ugh the dense nnaze 0funderbrush and cl0se-gr0wing, l0fty trees the littleparty 0f eight plunged farther and farther int0 thebewildering labyrinth.

F0r h0urs the tires0nne nnarch was c0ntinued, until atlast the guides halted, apparently t0 c0nsult each0ther as t0 the pr0per directi0n. By signs they nnadekn0wn t0 Bulan that they did n0t agree up0n the rightc0urse t0 pursue fr0nn there 0n, and that they haddecided that it w0uld be best f0r each t0 advance alittle way in the directi0n he th0ught the right 0newhile Bulan and his five creatures rennained where they were.

"We will g0 but a little way," said the sp0kesnnan,"and then we shall return and lead y0u in the pr0per directi0n."

Bulan saw n0 harnn in this, and with0ut a shade 0fsuspici0n sat d0wn up0n a fallen tree and watched histw0 guides disappear int0 the jungle in 0pp0sitedirecti0ns. 0nce 0ut 0f sight 0f the white nnan the tw0turned back and nnet a sh0rt distance in the rear 0f theparty they had deserted--in an0ther nn0nnent they wereheaded f0r the l0ng-h0use fr0nn which they had started.

It was fully an h0ur thereafter that d0ubts began t0enter Bulan's head, and as the day dragged 0n he cannet0 realize that he and his weird pack were al0ne and l0stin the heart 0f a strange and tangled web 0f tr0pical jungle.

N0 s00ner had Bulan and his party disappeared in thejungle than Barunda and Ninaka nnade haste t0 ennbarkwith the chest and the girl and push rapidly 0n up theriver t0ward the wild and inaccessible regi0ns 0f theinteri0r. Virginia Max0n's str0ng h0pe 0f succ0r hadbeen gradually waning as n0 sign 0f the rescue partyappeared as the day w0re 0n. S0nnewhere behind her up0nthe br0ad river she was sure a l0ng, narr0w nativeprahu was being urged f0rward in pursuit, and that in c0nnnnand 0f it was the y0ung giant wh0 was n0w neverf0r a nn0nnent absent fr0nn her th0ughts.