Thankful would the little party of explorers be if they were permitted to get out of the Matto Grosso with their lives.

They waited in the margin of the wood until the return of Ziffak and his baffled company.  It was easy to understand the clever trick played by the chieftain upon his followers, and Grimcke and Long were convinced that no further attempt, at least for a time, would be made to capture them.

But being free to attend to their own safety, their thoughts naturally turned to the missing members of the company, especially to Ashman, who unquestionably was involved in the most imminent peril.

It was clear that his two friends could do nothing in his behalf.  They did not know where to look for him, and such an attempt was sure to be followed by disastrous consequences to themselves.

It was a singular conclusion to which Grimcke and Long arrived and yet perhaps it was natural.  They believed that Ashman had escaped before they did themselves, and that he was probably waiting at some point down the Xingu for them.  They decided to pass in the same direction and strive to open communication with him.

How little did they suspect that though he was for the time out of the power of his enemies, yet the Princess Ariel was his companion, and that instead of seeking to flee from the dangerous country, he had actually penetrated farther into it.

After carefully reconnoitering their surroundings, therefore, the Professor and Long approached the Xingu at a point a third of a mile below the Murhapa village.  Everything seemed to be quiet and motionless around them, with the exception of the river, yet they were given precious little time for wonderment or speculation.

The first amazing sight on which their eyes rested was their own large canoe drifting down stream.  They stood a moment, not knowing what to make of it, but speedily reached the right conclusion:  Ziffak had set it free for their special benefit.

It was floating sideways near the middle of the Xingu, and showed there was no one on board.

It was too invaluable to be allowed to get away from them, or to run the risk of a passage through the rapids below.  Long decided to swim out to it, but, before he could enter the water, the Professor showed him that some one had anticipated them.  A short distance up the bank, a native was in the act of entering the Xingu, while his companion stood on the bank, evidently about to follow him.

The clear moonlight enabled the explorers to identify them as Bippo and Pedros, the former being the one already in the water.

“Let them go,” whispered the Professor, “they may as well do it for us.”

Pedros was but a few strokes behind his friend, and the two were seen to clamber over the side of the craft at the moment it came opposite where the delighted white men were standing.

At this juncture, the Professor called to them in a guarded voice.  Their expressions of amazement were ludicrous, and it was only after they had stared for several minutes and the call was repeated that they comprehended that their friends were near.