“That’s the stuff!” cried Tom, jumping up from behind the rocks, and swinging his hat.  “We’ve turned them.”

“And just in time, too,” added Ned, as he joined his chum.  Then all the others leaped up, and the sight of the human beings completed the scare.  The stampeding animals swung off more than before, so that they were nearly doubling back on their own trail.  The others thundered off, and the ground was strewn with unconscious though unharmed animals.

“One mule gone!” cried San Pedro, hastily counting the still tethered animals which were wildly tugging at their ropes.

“Never mind,” spoke Tom, “it’s the one with some of that damaged bartering stuff I intended for trading.  We can afford to lose that.  Rad, is your animal all right?”

“He suah am, Massa Tom.  Dish yeah mule am almost as sensible as Boomerang, ain’t yo’?” and Eradicate patted the big animal he was leading.

“I’ll send a man down the trail, and maybe he can pick up the missing one,” said San Pedro, and while the other natives were quieting the restless mules, one tall black man hastened in the wake of the retreating horses.

He came back in an hour with the missing animal, that had broken its tether rope and then, after running along with the wild horses had evidently dropped out of the drove.  Aside from the loss of a small box, there had been no damage done, and the cavalcade was soon under way once more, leaving the motionless horses to recover from the effects of the electricity.

“Bless my saddle pad!” cried Mr. Damon.  “I don’t think I want to go through anything like that again.”

“Neither do I,” agreed Tom.  “We are well out of it.”

“How much you take for one of them rifles?” asked San Pedro admiringly.

“Not for sale,” answered Tom with a laugh.

They camped in a fertile valley that night, and had a much-needed rest.  As yet Tom had made no inquiries as to the location of giant land from any of the natives of the villages or towns through which they passed.  He knew as soon as he did begin asking questions, his own men would hear of it, and they might be frightened if they knew they were in an expedition the object of which was to capture some of the tall men.

“We’ll just go along for a few days more,” said Tom, to Ned, “and then, when I do spring my surprise, they’ll be so far from home that they won’t dare turn back.  In a few days I’ll begin making inquiries.”

They traveled on for three days more, ever heading north, and coming more into the warmer climate.  The vegetation began to take on a more tropical look, and finally they reached a region infested with many wild beasts and monkeys, and with patches of dense jungle on either side of the narrow trail.  Fruits, tropical flowers and birds abounded.

“I think we’re getting there,” remarked Tom, on the evening of the third day after his talk with Ned.  “San Pedro says there’s quite a village about half a day’s march ahead, and I may learn something there.  I’ll know by to-morrow whether we are on the right trail or not.”