6 RUBBER 



Yes, certainly we will follow this interesting dis- 

 coverer, but first we must ask Mother Witch to borrow 

 for us some of those magic cloaks which render the 

 wearer invisible ; for, as I have told you, were yon son 

 of the wilds to see us, one way or another our adventures 

 might be brought to an untimely end. 



CHAPTER II 



THE EOMANCE OP RUBBER — Continued 



Our leader seems to be pursuing a haphazard course 

 as we shadow him about the forest. Nevertheless, it 

 is not many months ago since he wandered this same 

 way, and only a few weeks have gone by since a little 

 party of the tribe rebeat with their footsteps this path, 

 which was originally designed and cleared by remote 

 ancestors as a cut to a good fishing stream. But fresh 

 vegetation springs up with mushroom growth in this 

 land of tropical luxuriance, and to-day the trail has 

 been wellnigh hidden from view by a new tangle of 

 undergrowth. There is no fear, however, of our leader 

 losing himself in the maze ; he has the tribal instinct 

 for finding his way through the forest ; the scenery, 

 which seems to us so hopelessly bewildering, reveals to 

 his trained eye many a signpost, and the thickest 

 covering of shrubs, creepers, fallen leaves, broken 

 branches, and storm-strewn trees cannot lead him 

 astray from a path which he has roamed again and again 

 ever since he was quite a little boy. Although he seems 

 to be forcing a passage at random, he is following a 

 trail which is as familiar to him as are the highways 



