“We shall die,” asserted Ibrahim, solemnly. “Oh, why did I ever come?” “To have some fun. Wait, and we will see what they mean to do.” The savages got so close that our heroes were compelled at times to dodge the fans of arrows, which threatened to mar the beauty of their faces, they were so near. “It is time to stop this,” said Max, drawing his old-fashioned revolver--a weapon which must have been one of the first ever made, so primitive was its construction. It had been given to Max by Sherif el Habib, who believed it to be the most wonderful weapon ever invented. Max happened to catch sight of a monkey jumping from tree to tree, so he put back his revolver and raised his rifle, a more modern and more reliable weapon. The savages stood still. Surely this must be some magician or medicine man who had come among them. That must have been the burden of their thoughts, for they stood watching and waiting. But each man held his fan of arrows ready for use. Carefully taking aim, Max fired. The savages screamed as they heard the report, and the monkey dropped dead. As if by the stroke of a magician’s wand the arrows were gathered together and held under the left arm. “You conquered them,” said Ibrahim. “It seems so; but I don’t know how we are going to escape.” “No, nor I. What are they up to now?” The chief had said something to the tribe, and instantly the naked, ugly representatives of the genus man, as known in the petrified forests of Lybia, disappeared, leaving only the chief and perhaps a dozen to guard the white explorers. A few minutes elapsed, and again the forest was alive; every man had brought a woman with him. The women were more repulsive looking than the men. Their backs were gashed and scarred in every direction, while all over their bodies deep furrows had been plowed out of the flesh. At a signal all began dancing. The men at every movement struck the women with their spiked bracelets, and soon the black bodies of the females were dripping with blood. But the women made no effort to escape, but laughed heartily when they managed to escape a more than usually vicious blow from their loving husband’s spiked bracelet. “Can’t we stop it?” asked Max. “I am afraid not.” “I would like to kill the savages.” “So would I; but we can’t, and so must endure it----” “Or run away.” “Let us try.” No sooner suggested than attempted. The dance was stopped, and the men and women alike rushed after the runaways, capturing them easily, and holding them firmly until the dance was finished. When the dancing was concluded, the chief gave another command. An aged woman, toothless and haggard-looking, with only a few hairs on her head, was brought from some mysterious place and placed against one of the stone trees. Then the chief, by pantomimic action, showed that he wanted Max to shoot her.