Yams and guavas, with wild passion fruit, made a breakfast and dinner as we clawed our way in pursuit.  At midday we judged that we were hot upon the trail, unless Leith had changed his course, but the black cliffs were close to us at that moment, and the recollections of the gloomy caverns made us silent as we pushed through the matted jungle.  We could see no trace of the path which Leith would be compelled to cut to enable the two girls to get through, and we heard no sounds.  A lone parrakeet startled us with its harsh cry as it rose from a maupei tree, and the bird even seemed to recognize that it had committed a breach in sending its unmusical cry out upon the awful quiet of the place.

Kaipi climbed a tall tree in the vain hope of catching sight of Leith’s party as it crossed the small cleared spaces in the middle of the impenetrable growth, but nothing except the green plain of bushy tops and parasitical creepers was visible.  As we waited beneath the tree the “ticking” of a wood bug sounded like hammer blows in the tremendous quietude, while the bursting of a pod reminded one of the beginning of a Fourth of July celebration.  We had lost all trace of Leith, and now, immediately in front, rose the cliffs, and we saw a menace on their dark, forbidding front.

The base of the hills presented the same nearly perpendicular formation that we had met when endeavouring to reach the long gallery, and we held a council to decide on what would be the best course to pursue.  Maru was confident that Leith was heading for this particular point at the moment that Barbara’s bribe caused the Raretongan to desert, and it was reasonable to think that the ruffian had retired to some hiding place to nurse his wound and decide upon the fate of the Professor and his two daughters.  From the scraps of conversation which we had overheard before Holman interrupted the argument between Leith and the scientist, we thought it probable that the old man would visit the centipede upon the big table if he did not sign the papers that Leith required, while we shuddered at the probable fate of the two girls unless Providence directed us as to the manner in which we could effect a rescue.

“We must divide,” said Holman.  “I’ll take Kaipi and go north, you take Maru and go in the opposite direction.  If you find the trail, camp near it and send Maru on the run back to us.  I’ll do the same if I strike the spoor of the big devil.”

It was about two o’clock, as nearly as we could judge, when we separated.  We agreed to keep as close as possible to the rocky wall so that a messenger from one would have less difficulty in locating the other, and Maru and I found, before we had gone a hundred yards, that the nearer we could get to the cliff the quicker we could get along.  The lianas found it difficult to get a grip upon the rocks, and we could worm our way without much trouble.

We had travelled about three quarters of a mile when the native dropped upon his knees and I immediately followed his example.  The ordinary Polynesian is not to be compared with the Australian black fellow or the American Indian in his knowledge of the forest, but Maru was an exception.  His sight and hearing were abnormally keen, and he examined the grass carefully.