CHAPTER XI

_The Sacrificial Altar_ "I am off the trail," Harkness admitted. "Towahg guided me before; I wish he were here to do it now." They had pushed on for another short day, Harkness leading, and Chet bringing up the rear and casting frequent backward glances in a vain effort to catch a glimpse of some other moving figure. Smothered at times in a dense tangle of vegetation, where they sweated and worked with aching muscles to tear a path; watching always for the flaming, crimson buds on grotesque trees, whose limbs were …