The note read:
"Five babies for kindergarten. Arrange everything. Meet at the Long
Gallery."
I stumbled out on the clearing in a half stupor. The arrival of the
long-expected confirmation of our suspicions had the same effect upon me
as a blow from a sandbag. Leith was apparently everything that Holman
and the girls had suspected him of being, and as I looked around at the
nearly impenetrable jungle growth upon which the night had come down
with that appalling swiftness of the tropics, I understood the helpless
condition in which we were placed. Soma and the other five carriers were
evidently tools of the big bully; the person or persons to whom the note
was addressed would also stand behind him in a fray, and against this
little army there was Holman, Kaipi, the two sisters, and myself. The
Professor's insane craving for a sight of the antiquities would probably
make him a partisan of the big brute till his devilish tricks were laid
sufficiently bare to allow the childish mind of the scientist to see
through them. The situation was pitiful to contemplate, and sick with
terror at thoughts of the fate of the two girls, I found Holman and
pulled him out of the circle of light thrown by the fire which Kaipi was
tending.
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