The ground, as I have said, was not difficult to climb, since the surface was not quite perpendicular, and besides being rough and broken, was thickly covered with vegetation; so that without any great exertion I soon reached the top of the cliff, and landed on to a nearly level space, which I took to be the summit of a hill. From this point the view was very extensive in the one direction, although it was cut off in the other by the forest which clothed the summit. Looking back--that is, in the direction in which the cliff faced--my eye ranged over the ocean-like expanse of forest, out of which, at a distance of about three miles, rose a solitary, conical hill, while nearer--in fact, quite near--could be seen a river of some size, which I took--erroneously as it turned out--to be the Tano. Following the edge of the summit, I walked on, each few hundred yards bringing into view a new vista, until I had gone half a mile; when I could tell, from the direction of the shadows, that I had reached the opposite side of the hill. Here I could see below me a village of some pretensions immediately at the foot of the hill, and this I guessed to be the abode of the fetish-men, while at a distance of less than a mile another village was visible, which, by the large silk-cotton tree in the middle of an open space, I identified as the one to which I had been first taken--indeed, on looking carefully, I thought I could make out the very hut in which I had been confined. Having thus made clear the position of our hiding place, I struck off across the middle of the summit, guiding myself towards my starting point by watching my shadow. I had travelled about half way when I came to a rather deep hollow occupying, as I judged, nearly the centre of the summit; and, as it lay directly in my path, I commenced to descend, and had nearly reached the bottom when I was brought up with a start by the sound of voices. Instantly I crouched down among the thick herbage and listened. There seemed to be several persons talking, but although the voices sounded near, I could not for a time make out the direction from which they came; and a peculiar hollow but muffled quality in the sounds puzzled me not a little. Presently one of the speakers laughed--a strange, hollow laugh that reverberated as if it came from the bottom of a well--and then I perceived that the noise proceeded from underground. On this I crept forward cautiously, and after crawling a few yards, saw before me a large hole in the earth. I lay down flat on my face and drew myself softly to the edge of the chasm, and putting my head into a mass of fern, peered down between the stems. As I had expected, I looked down into the chamber that I had recently left--and left none too soon; for it was now occupied by a party of six fetish-men, all armed with long knives and guns, and provided with a stinking palm oil lamp.