"Well, then," he answered, "the whole thing is true."

"I don't see at all that that follows," I answered. "We knew this head
was here: your father saw it. Very likely it is not the same head that
the writing talks of; or if it is, it proves nothing."

Leo smiled at me in a superior way. "You are an unbelieving Jew, Uncle
Horace," he said. "Those who live will see."

"Exactly so," I answered, "and now perhaps you will observe that we are
drifting across a sandbank into the mouth of the river. Get hold of your
oar, Job, and we will row in and see if we can find a place to land."

The river mouth which we were entering did not appear to be a very wide
one, though as yet the long banks of steaming mist that clung about
its shores had not lifted sufficiently to enable us to see its exact
measure. There was, as is the case with nearly every East African river,
a considerable bar at the mouth, which, no doubt, when the wind was on
shore and the tide running out, was absolutely impassable even for a
boat drawing only a few inches. But as things were it was manageable
enough, and we did not ship a cupful of water. In twenty minutes we were
well across it, with but slight assistance from ourselves, and being
carried by a strong though somewhat variable breeze well up the harbour.
By this time the mist was being sucked up by the sun, which was getting
uncomfortably hot, and we saw that the mouth of the little estuary was
here about half a mile across, and that the banks were very marshy, and
crowded with crocodiles lying about on the mud like logs. About a mile
ahead of us, however, was what appeared to be a strip of firm land, and
for this we steered. In another quarter of an hour we were there, and