The San Francisco call., 1898-02-20

(Synopsis of preceding chapters. Harry Os- Binnies father. Kemona and Koti, have ar rived In the great valley where the white klns of the Afarkise lives. They marched through the woods until they came to a lofty table mountain that overlooked the valley on the mountain Harry Ostend found plants growing the leaves of which stout as leather He caused a large quantity of these leaves to be cut and then fastened them together with the gum of the glue tree. He had now four huge sheets of cloth-like substance Baskets were made, each capable of carrying three men, and. with ropes, four great parachutts were completed. In these parachutes the whlJe w men made a sensational descent into the val ley. which was surrounded by perpen3niculaI neIlI mountains. Only by a trick did HarrY CstelIu save his party from instant death at the hdhus of bowling savages. He made the saNageS think that he was about to set ire to the WorlQ and the black horde fled. but the situation or the white was still very perilous)
 CHAPTER XVII.
 Harry Ostend at once set about find ing a place for a camp, for 1t was not safe or wise to go into the savages' village then. Koti had interpreted all that the witch doctor had said about the white men having come to carry away the white king. The witch doc tor had awakened the black men to such fury that a visit to the village by any white man would have ruined the whole enterprise, and might have led to the death of Harry Ostend and of all his followers.
 A small grove, which was almost sur rounded by thick hedge Of br1ars- such a hedge as Kemona had found on the river bank above the great WaterfalI-was selected. Pineapple and cocoanut trees and melon vines abound ed in the grove, and through it ran stream which was well stocked with fish.
 The first care was to place the para chutes in a place of safety. Looking at the perpendicular walls of the noun tains around all sides of the valley, Mir Ostend saw that, unless some eX- traordinary plan was devised by him, his party was in a trap from which 1t must be very difficult, if not lmposSi- ble to escape. He therefore began to think about fire balloon of great size, capable of carrying three or four men.
 It was necessary that he should have some light but very durable fuel, capa- ble of producing an intense heat and sure to burn in a gale, even should rain fall upon it. This he secured by mixing the gums of two very resinous trees One mass of this, he learned by experiment, would burn fiercely two hours The shells of enormous snails furnished him the vessels in which to safely carry the blazing masses of gum. Mr Ostend was now overjoyed, for the parachutes had enough cloth to cover a great balloon-one of the size needed.
 By night as well as by day Kemona and Koti acted as sentinels that the party might not be surprised. But no savage came near the camp until after the balloon had been completed In fact a trial had been made, and it had been found that the balloon would cas- ily carry three men. The white men now had way to escape, in install ments. but how were they to get pos session of the white king ?-for he was jealously guarded.
 When the savages came near the grove, 1t appeared that the greater part of the nation must be there. Harry Ostend had celebrated the success of the balloon by exploding powder, which he had buried in a mine. This caused a quaking Of the ground in the village of the savages and excited their fears anew.
 Their witch doctor had told them to go to the white men and beg that they would not shake the earth to pieces. Harry Ostend had foreseen that the savages would be alarmed, and his pur- pose was to force them to come to him.
 The tribes came with the sound of