It was evident that the difference of their dialect was sufficient to make the pigmy reply from time to time with eager questions, which made his companion repeat himself with some show of annoyance, frowning angrily, till the pigmy nodded his head quickly, showing that he grasped his companion's meaning. This lasted pretty well ten minutes, after which the pigmy picked up his weapons, Mak repossessed himself of his spear, and then turning to those who had been intently watching him all through, he gave them a heavy nod and then marched off without a word. "Well, ought we to clap our hands?" said Mark. "No, don't," said Dean. "Look there; Pig's going off too;" for the little fellow took a couple of steps towards him, nodded his head, and then followed Mak. "I say, all of you, what does this mean--that Mak has been trying to show little Pig that the rifle has been stolen, and that he is going to try and find it and get it back?" said Mark. "I don't know enough about these people to say, sir," replied Buck. "Sometimes I seemed to make out that that was what it meant; at other times it looked as if he was only making a fool of himself, just capering about like a dancing doll in a show. What do you say, Dan?" "Same as you do, messmate. I just got a bit here and there." "That's right," said Brown, with one of his usual sighs. "He has been telling Pig, as you call him, that a rifle has been stolen, and that they have got to get it back." "Do you feel sure he means that?" asked Mark. "Quite," said Brown confidently, "and we shan't see them again till they have got it." "Then you think they will get it?" Brown shook his head, and was silent for a few moments. "If they get it we shall see them again; if they don't, we shan't." "Ashamed to show their faces eh, messmate?" asked Dan. "No--the others too much for them." "Then we may be sending them to their death. Here, I don't like this, Dean. I am sure father would rather that we lost the rifle. Here, let's call them back. Come on!" CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR. A TERRIBLE SLIP. The two boys hurried off in the direction taken by the blacks, hastening through the ruins in the full expectation of coming upon them at any moment, till the mazy wilderness of stones and trees closed in and farther progress was checked. "We can't have passed them, can we?" asked Mark. "No; impossible." "Well, then, where are they?" For answer Dean gave a shout, and another and another, the two boys standing awestricken as they listened to the strange, hollow echoes that multiplied and magnified the hail till it slowly died out in whispers. But there was no reply. "I say, they must have managed to top this wall in some way, or known of some passage by which they could get outside into the further ruins." "I don't know," said Dean, in a whisper. "I say, this place seems to grow more strange and weird the more you wander about it. Doesn't it to you?"