"Enough, comrades; the task, after all, is a trivial one. You remain here; I will go," Graham answered; and pushing the block aside as he spoke, he scrambled out into the evening gloom, and we heard his cautious footsteps sounding fainter and fainter as he went his way. He picked a path down the steep hillside, and struggled through the thickets, every now and then stopping to listen. In half an hour he reached the lake; but, owing to the darkness, he had mistaken the path and gone nearly a mile to the east of the spot where our camp had been. Perhaps it was fortunate that he did so; for across the water he saw the blazing fires of a great encampment, and dusky figures passing to and fro before them. So the troops of Edos had not given up the search so readily; and Perodii, evidently, was determined on revenge. Cautiously Graham made a detour, and reached the big rock where we had eaten our last meal; and there to his joy he found our knapsacks by the side of the blackened ashes of the fire. Strong man as he was, he did not feel able to carry the four heavy packages. He therefore hid two under a heap of pumice stones, and trudged off back up the hill with the rest. He experienced great difficulty in getting back again, and even more in finding the block of stone that concealed our retreat. Indeed, it is doubtful if he ever would have found it at all, had we not heard him stumbling about the stones, and guided him to the cave by our signal whistles. We were glad Graham had got back safely, and to see that he had brought so much of our belongings; but the news that he had seen the camp-fires of our enemies sank like cold despair into our hearts. We had a bitterly relentless foe to deal with, and our situation seemed growing more and more hopeless. "I am very glad you brought my knapsack, Graham," said the Doctor, "as it contains my electric lamp. We will now go further into the cave, as it is important that we should know the extent of our resources when the hour of need comes."