284 TROPIC DAYS 



it parted into patches of luminous fluff which floated 

 up and dissolved into crystalline air, and the great 

 lumbering rock stood naked and bold in the sunshine. 



Then it was that the apex of a splintered peak beyond 

 the Sentinel glittered, and that Chutter-murra Wylo, 

 the one survivor of the truculent natives, told once more 

 of the wonderful stone for which many had ventured, 

 which had caused the disappearance of several, which 

 decoyed man and beast, and stored their bones close to 

 the awful hole whence issued the smoke which made 

 the rain, and the dread lightning, and the thunder. 



None ever ventured there now ; but sometimes in the 

 early morning the stone twinkled for a moment like a 

 malignant sprite, watchful all night, but abashed yet 

 impudent to the authoritative sun. 



Chutter murra Wylo had so often indicated the exact 

 locality of the stone, and had described its dire influence 

 with such sincerity that, when it twinkled, a resolution 

 which had been long in the back of my mind became 

 wilful and imperative. He said that it was " on top, 

 along oo-nang-mugil" a gloomy place among rocks 

 and that the old men of the country had been wont to 

 say that this particular "oo-nang-mugil" was the 

 favourite resort of the "debil-debil," to whose arro- 

 gance and awful deeds the bones of man and beast 

 bore terrifying testimony. 



Between the Sentinel and a spur to the south is a 

 narrow ravine, from which in the rainy season mist 

 rises like jets of steam, and this was the very spot whence 

 the lightning and thunder ranged when the " debil- 

 debil" lifted the mighty stone which blocked the en- 

 trance to the cave of the winds. All about was fantastic 

 ground, peopled by evil spirits who resented the intrusion 

 of human beings and inflicted upon trespassers peculiar 

 punishments. Ill befell everyone who invaded that 



