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On the first trip to the cliff top eight men carried heavy burdens, Divine alone

remaining to guard Barbara Harding. The second trip was made with equal

dispatch and safety. No sound or movement came from the camp of the enemy,

other than that of sleeping men. On the second trip Divine and Theriere each

carried a burden up the cliffs, Miller and Swenson following with Barbara

Harding, and as they came Oda Yorimoto and his samurai slunk back into the

shadows that their prey might pass unobserving.

Theriere had the bulk of the loot hidden in a rocky crevice just beyond the cliff's

summit. Brush torn from the mass of luxuriant tropical vegetation that covered

the ground was strewn over the cache. All had been accomplished in safety and

without detection. The camp beneath them still lay wrapped in silence.

The march toward the new camp, under the guidance of Divine, was immediately

undertaken. On the return trip after the search for water Divine had discovered a

well-marked trail along the edge of the cliffs to a point opposite the spring, and

another leading from the main trail directly to the water. In his ignorance he had

thought these the runways of animals, whereas they were the age-old highways of

the head-hunters.

Now they presented a comparatively quick and easy approach to the destination

of the mutineers, but so narrow a one as soon to convince Theriere that it was not

feasible for him to move back and forth along the flank of his column. He had

tried it once, but it so greatly inconvenienced and retarded the heavily laden men

that he abandoned the effort, remaining near the center of the cavalcade until the

new camp was reached.

Here he found a fair-sized space about a clear and plentiful spring of cold water.

Only a few low bushes dotted the grassy clearing which was almost completely

surrounded by dense and impenetrable jungle. The men had deposited their

burdens, and still Theriere stood waiting for the balance of his party--Miller and

Swenson with Barbara Harding.

But they did not come, and when, in alarm, the entire party started back in

search of them they retraced their steps to the very brink of the declivity leading

to the cove before they could believe the testimony of their own perceptions--

Barbara Harding and the two sailors had disappeared.

The Mucker