You can walk on
confidently, for there is no chance of any of these prickly creepers
running across the path. When you see the trees are getting thinner,
or that there is an opening before you, stop and send back word to
us, so that we can shut up the lantern before joining you."
The lieutenant headed the party now, followed by Dick. He held the
lantern close to the ground; the bottom was, like all jungle paths,
worn perfectly smooth by the passage of the barefooted natives.
"Nothing could be better," he said in a low voice to Dick. "We ought
to be able to haul the guns along here at a trot; and the opening
is wide enough on each side for a gun carriage to be carried along
without any difficulty."
In ten minutes one of the men ahead came back.
"We have got to the end of the path, sir; it ends on the bank of
that pool we saw ahead."
The lantern was now extinguished, and the party hurried forward.
On reaching the bank they found that the path ended, as they had
expected, just opposite the village. The prahus lay somewhat to
the right.
"It could not be better," the lieutenant whispered. "Now let us
see whether we can find a suitable place for the guns."
This was much easier than they had expected, for the trees were
cleared, probably to furnish firewood, for a distance of some fifteen
yards from the bank; between this cleared place and the water was
a fringe of thick bushes.
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