“Ay,” returned the Ayuti, “but the jungle is full of monstrous beasts, terrible to look upon, and your fire-weapons, ye say, are useless. Think well ere ye decide, for it is a perilous journey. Once only have I been, yet I have not forgotten the track.” “Have you no weapons you could lend us?” the baronet asked. “I have but the spears taken from the wolf-people,” was the king’s reply; “to them ye are welcome. I would I could supply ye with worthier weapons, but I have none save my own.” “The spears will do,” cried Seymour; “they are deadly enough tools in the hands of a determined man.” “Ye speak truly,” Chenobi answered, “yet they are scarce the weapons for such warriors as ye. Howbeit, since we have no other, they must needs do.” And so the perilous expedition was decided upon. Little the explorers thought, as they made ready for their trip, of the perils they were soon to face, or they would scarcely have gone about their preparations so light-heartedly. Ere the sunlight had flashed again upon the eye of Ramouni they had left the city, and were making their way over the plain on which it stood towards the distant gleaming line that marked the beginning of the great jungle. Chenobi was mounted upon the back of the great elk, and behind him rode Wilson, his limb being still somewhat stiff, though healing rapidly. The air of the underworld seemed to have a peculiarly beneficent effect upon wounds. Beside the track the four great hounds ranged, nose to ground, occasionally giving voice to a deep-throated bay as they struck the trail of some wild animals. But the well-trained brutes never strayed beyond their master’s call, a word from him bringing them to heel in a moment. The ground gradually rose as the party advanced, until they topped a low ridge, on the crest of which they paused a while to rest. Scarce three hundred yards away, like a wall of light, arose the towering growths of the jungle. The vast size of the fungi amazed the adventurers. Those they had already seen on the other side of the fire gulf were but pigmies compared with these. “Say,” the Yankee drawled, “I reckon some of them fellows ’ud make good lighthouses.” “Excellent,” returned Mervyn; “but I am afraid they would not take kindly to the climate of the upper world. The sunlight would shrivel them up directly.” “No chance to float a company, you see, Silas,” said the baronet laughing, “were you thinking of starting a ‘Luminous Fungi Supply Syndicate’?” “Wal, scarcely,” the Yankee returned; “I guess a mushroom business ain’t exactly in my line. Say, I wonder if we’re goin’ to knock up against any of Nordhu’s crowd this trip? I reckon it ’ud be kinder awkward if they jumped us in the jungle there.” “We’ll give ’em a stiff fight for their money if they do,” rejoined Seymour, his fingers tightening upon the haft of his spear as he spoke.