It was the despairing question wrung from the heart of the parent, with
a grief that was no keener than that of Jack Everson himself. Here was
another instance of the appalling suddenness with which tragedies began
and were completed in this infernal country. A band of half a dozen
was cut off within the space of a few minutes, and now, in still less
time, a young woman vanished as if she had never been.

Jack did not dare trust his voice in the effort to speak, but when his
eyes met those of the parent he shook his head, saying by the gesture:

"God have mercy, I cannot answer."

But strong men do not remain dazed and helpless in the presence of a
shuddering calamity. If any one thing could be set down as certain it
was that Miss Marlowe had left the place by fleeing deeper into the
jungle. She could not have approached them without being observed:
therefore they must seek her by taking the same direction.

The energy of the man more than threescore under the spur of his
anguish was like that of the athlete of one-third of his years. He
still led the way, and, after the brief halt under the fearful blow, he
rallied and compelled Jack Everson to keep upon a trot to save himself
from falling behind.

A hundred paces from the opening they reached a point where the trails
forked. They stopped, the parent being the first to do so.

"Jack," said he, using the less formal name, for under the awful shadow
they had drawn nearer to each other, "we can't afford to make any