"Come on, all of you," Naida said to them, and, including Kirby in her glance, added, "We may as well go to the caciques now, and have it over with." CHAPTER IV It was with Naida at his side and the other girls grouped about them, that they started their journey to the "caciques," whoever they might be, "to have it over with," whatever that might mean. As they strode along in silence, Kirby did what he could to straighten out in his mind the many curious things which had happened since he sat testing his rope in the upper world this morning. In final analysis, it seemed to him that, extraordinary as his experience had been, there was nothing so much out of the way about it, after all. The only unusual thing was the existence of this inhabited pocket in the earth. For the rest, the strange colors to which he could not put a name, were simply some manifestation of infra-reds and ultra-violets. And then the startling effect of his single shot at the ape-men--that was simply the old story of savage creatures running from a new weapon and a new enemy; naturally the shot had sounded loud in this enclosed cavern. Lastly, the pull of gravity down here seemed upset somehow. But why should it not seem so, at this distance within the earth? The American was no scientist; the conclusions he reached seemed very reasonable to him. All told, the last thing Kirby found he needed to do was pinch himself to see if he was awake. A place of indefinite extent, the cavern seemed to be exactly what he had already judged it--a giant pocket within the earth. The ceiling, or the sky, was of some kind of natural glass--no doubt the same kind which was crackling on his clothes now--and from it emanated the brilliant, many colored glow which lighted the cavern. Radium? Perhaps it was that. Perhaps the rays were cast off from some other element even less understood than mysterious radium. As for the plant and animal life with which the cavern teemed, it was amazing. * * * * * But Kirby did not give himself up to silent observation any longer. "Will you finish telling me," he asked of Naida, "about the task I am to perform for you here?" Naida, walking with lithe strides along a path jungle-hemmed on both sides, smiled at him. "You are to be our leader." "Yes?" Now both Naida and the other girls became sober. "You will lead us in a revolt." "Ah!" Kirby whistled softly. "In a revolt against the caciques--the wise men--whose kind have governed the People of the Temple since the beginning." Her statement was received with acclaim by the whole troop, who crowded close around, the while they smiled at Kirby. "You mean I am to lead a revolt," he asked, "against these same caciques whom we are going now to face?" Naida nodded emphatically. "Yes, if revolt proves necessary. And it probably will." "Hum." Kirby scratched behind his ear. "You'd better tell me what you can about it." * * * * *