the subject of their plotting. The prahu was gliding
through a stretch of comparatively quiet and placid
water where the stream spread out into a little basin
just above a narrow gorge through which they had just
forced their way by dint of the most laborious
exertions on the part of the crew.

Virginia watched the two men near her furtively.
They were deeply engrossed in their conversation.
Neither was looking in her direction. The backs of the
paddlers were all toward her. Stealthily she rose to a
stooping position at the boat's side. For a moment
she paused, and then, almost noiselessly, dove overboard
and disappeared beneath the black waters.

It was the slight rocking of the prahu that caused
Barunda to look suddenly about to discover the reason
for the disturbance. For a moment neither of the men
apprehended the girl's absence. Ninaka was the first
to do so, and it was he who called loudly to the
paddlers to bring the boat to a stop. Then they
dropped down the river with the current, and paddled
about above the gorge for half an hour.

The moment that Virginia Maxon felt the waters close
above her head she struck out beneath the surface for
the shore upon the opposite side to that toward which
she had dived into the river. She knew that if any had
seen her leave the prahu they would naturally expect
to intercept her on her way toward the nearest shore,