EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
winding lanes or passages leading in all directions throughout the marsh.
As von Harben and Gabula stood looking out across this (to them) new and mysterious world, the black warriors in the dugout watched them attentively. The strangers were still so far away that the blacks were unable to identify them, but their leader assured them that these two were no demons.
“How do you know that they are not demons?” demanded one of these fellows.
“I can see that they are men,” replied the other.
“Demons are very wise and very powerful,” insisted the doubter. “They may take any form they choose. They might come as birds or animals or men.”
“They are not fools,” snapped the leader. “If a demon wished to descend the great wall he would not choose the hardest way. He would take the form of a bird and fly down.”
The other scratched his head in perplexity, for he realized that here was an argument that would be difficult to controvert. For want of anything better to say, he suggested that they go at once and report the matter to their masters.
The first few steps that von Harben took onto the grassy meadow land revealed the fact that it was a dangerous swamp from which only with the greatest difficulty were they able to extricate themselves.
Floundering back to solid ground, von Harben reconnoitered in search of some other avenue to more solid ground on the floor of the canyon, but he found that upon both sides of the river the swamp extended to the foot of the lowest terrace of the cliff, and low as these were in comparison to their lofty fellows towering far above them, they were still impassable barriers.
Possibly by reascending the gorge he might find an avenue to more solid ground toward the west, but as he had no actual assurance of this and as both he and Gabula were well-nigh exhausted from the physical strain of the descent, he preferred to find an easier way to the lake shore if it were possible.
He saw that while the river at this point was not swift, the current was rapid enough to suggest that the bottom might
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