Music lost its power to some extent over the king at length, and latterly it was but rarely he sent for his musician to play. Nor had 'Ntango much of an ear for melody, for Kenneth manufactured a score of "chanters" out of pieces of cane, and taught a score of savages to make an unearthly kind of noise in all kinds of keys; and this pleased the king quite as much as the flute. Archie thought of a plan at last to get a brief holiday. The first intimation of it was given the king by Essequibo. All the white men, he told him one morning, were ill and dying, and nothing would cure them but permission to explore the country to the nor'-west, the land where gold lay. The king graciously gave his permission, and the expedition, well guarded, started to prospect for gold. After days and days of toil and travel they reached the El Dorado. Disappointment and nothing else. Gold there was, but not for the gathering; it was deeply imbedded in veins of quartz, and the strongest machinery would be needed to work it. Diamonds there were none. Their gloom increased now. Their hopes of finding fortune had been but a youthful dream, and had ended in making them prisoners to a wild and despotic savage. If there was any one ray now to illuminate their darkness and despair, it lay in the fact that their visit to the land of darkness had not been quite in vain; they had sowed the seeds of righteousness, and who could say what fruit these might not bear in after-times? They tried now to make the best of their position, and take things as they came, determined, however, if a chance should arise, to seek safety in flight at all hazards. The river was not far away, and their boat and spare ammunition still lay intact and handy. Nearly two years passed away. One night they had retired to their bungalow early. It was Archie's birthday, and they were going to have a big talk about home. It was long past twelve o'clock before they thought of lying down. Ere they undressed they went for a walk as usual in their garden, to breathe the odour of the flowers, which the dews of evening never failed to draw out. The moon was high in the heavens, looking like a little burnished shield in the blue sky, and dimming the light of the thousand twinkling stars. Suddenly from every direction there arose a muttering startled cry, which presently increased to a yell. Smoke, too, began to roll across the sky, increasing every moment, while tongues of flame leaped higher and higher. They listened thunderstruck. "Logobo--Logobo--Logobo!" That was the terrible cry. "Heaven be praised!" cried Kenneth. "Now, boys, now, _men_, our time has come for freedom or for death. Follow me!" He grasped his rifle as he spoke, and rushed out. The sentries had fled. The whole village was in flames, and in the lurid glare, hand to hand in deathly combat, struggled two tribes of savages.