Remounting, Garth now directed his course almost at right angles to the former path, the rest of the party following him closely. As the last man passed the spear he withdrew it, dismounting for the purpose of stamping down the hole in the earth. Gerald was the only one of the three Englishmen who witnessed this act, which was performed with stealth, and he resolved to tell Reeves about it at the first opportunity. But the correspondent kept his eyes well in front of him, striving to detect some leading marks for the new direction. Presently he gave vent to a gentle chuckle. Garth was keeping the left side of an immense baobab tree in line with a small cleft in the cliffs that bordered the treacherous plain on three sides. "Now, sirs, you are free to ride together," exclaimed the Croixilian, as he wheeled and rode past, towards the men forming the rearguard, in order to recover his spear. Though they were still on the sun-baked plain, Reeves had no hesitation in taking advantage of the permission. The idea of treachery seemed out of the question. Had the Croixilians wished to take advantage of them, they would have done so ere this; but Reeves could not help wondering where the soft crust ended and the firm ground began, since there were no signs that there was such a place. "We should have been properly sold if we had attempted to cross the plain on our own account," said Hugh. "I shouldn't have attempted it," rejoined Reeves. "Stick to the river would have been my plan." "I hope we won't have to find our way back by ourselves," remarked Gerald. "I saw that the fellow who picked up Garth's spear seemed mighty careful to cover up his tracks." "How?" asked the correspondent, and Gerald told him. "H'm! Perhaps the caution was necessary, though not on our account," he observed. "However, I think I can find the path if we are put to it. But here is another remarkable freak of nature." He pointed to the gap in the cliffs, which now assumed the appearance of the letter Z turned slightly askew. Hitherto a portion of this had been hidden by the great baobab, but now the opening of the gorge was fully revealed. "Don't make a noise, as you value your lives!" exclaimed Garth, who again returned to lead the cavalcade. "A shout would bring rocks about your heads." Owing to the peculiar formation of the gorge, it was impossible for direct light to enter from above, but the gloom was by no means so intense as in the tunnel on the other side of the river. The floor, too, was composed of soft sand, so that the horses' hoofs made little or no noise. Here and there the travellers had to avoid huge boulders that had fallen from above, showing that the Croixilian's caution had not been unnecessary. Throughout the length of this formidable pass the path ran steeply for more than a mile; then the walls of rock began to diverge, so that the sunlight streamed uninterruptedly upon the ground.