What this strange method of injection might mean the comrades could not tell. Sufficient for them to know that the Ayuti was doing all in his power to give back life to their friend. They felt that this was Chenobi’s last effort. If it failed, Mervyn was lost. With bated breath they watched for some movement from the silent form at their feet. Even the great hounds seemed to be aware of the nearness of death, for they lay quiet, only occasionally giving voice to a low whine. Each of the three comrades passed through a lifetime of suspense during the few moments that Mervyn’s fate trembled in the balance. The engineer, dismounting from Muswani, had drawn close in, and now stood beside Seymour. Slowly the minutes dragged by, until, of a sudden, a cry came from Chenobi. “He lives!” Rapidly the baronet interpreted the joyful news to his friends, and a thankful prayer went up from each man’s heart as they saw that the words were true. All too slowly for them the life came back into Mervyn’s enfeebled frame, and it was not until two hours had passed that he was anything like himself again. Even then he was very shaky, and Wilson insisted on him riding behind Chenobi when he felt well enough to proceed. Nothing the scientist remembered of his experience. He knew naught of what had taken place since the king had lowered him to the ground. The action of the venom had been painless, and, but for Chenobi’s prompt surgery, Mervyn would have drifted away over the Borderland into the Great Silence. His hand trembled as he gripped that of his saviour, and murmured a few stammering words of thanks, to which Chenobi replied with a quaint Ayuti proverb, whereat the others, when Seymour had translated, laughed uproariously. The inevitable reaction after the suspense had set in, and each man felt ready to sing for joy that their beloved chief had been restored to them. Ere long, with the scientist mounted in Wilson’s place, the party were again on the move, Haverly and Seymour beguiling the journey with many a jest. Deeper and deeper they plunged into the jungle, the sound of their own advance being all that broke the silence which brooded over all things. The ground grew marshy beneath them as they went on, their feet sinking deep at every step into the mire. It was evident to all that they were approaching a watercourse. Soon the ripple of water came to their ears, and, splashing through several shallow pools, they stood at length upon the bank of a sluggish river.