“Tomorrow,” announced Mr. Hampton, as they sat about the camp fire that night, “we shall descend into the plain. There are numerous villages down there, and on the very slopes of the great volcanoes, inhabited by warlike natives, so we must go prepared to cope with trouble, should the natives prove hostile.
“Mr. Ransome,” he added, looking to the other for confirmation, “believes we shall find some trace of The Prophet amongst those natives, as it is in this region he is reputed to be stirring up trouble. I may as well tell you fellows now as later that our friend intends, if possible, to capture The Prophet and spirit him out of the country. With his twelve trusted men that may not be impossible of accomplishment. And as innocent takers of pictures and hunters of big game, we shall be able, perhaps, to turn aside suspicion and cover his tracks.
“Of course,” he added, “in setting out on this expedition, we had no intention of being drawn into a political situation. But finding that we can be of vital service, the only decent thing we can do is to proffer our aid. And I’m glad to see from the way you fellows nod your heads that you agree with me.
“Mr. Ransome,” he continued, “already has despatched two of his most trustworthy men, with orders to make their way down the mountainside and into the plain and to the nearest village. Their object is to find out if possible where The Prophet has his headquarters at present. And Mr. Ransome tells me that from conversations between his men and the inhabitants of the last village through which we passed earlier today, there is reason to believe this disturber of the peace is not far away, perhaps in the very village to which he has sent his spies. If the men report early tomorrow that such is the case, Mr. Ransome intends to have a try at his capture. Have I stated matters correctly?” he concluded, glancing toward the tall, thoughtful-faced Englishman whose fortitude and constant good spirits had endeared him to the boys.
“Righto,” responded the latter, knocking out his straight-stemmed briar pipe, from which seemingly he was inseparable, and gazing thoughtfully into the bowl. “But you haven’t yet told the lads what part they will be asked to play, if they will.”
“I was coming to that,” said Mr. Hampton. Then turning toward the interested trio, he resumed: “Two things will be vitally necessary to the successful execution of our plans, once The Prophet is located. Both involve you fellows. What they are you will gather as I go along.
“In the first place The Prophet undoubtedly has secured whatever hold he has on the superstitious natives of these regions by playing upon those very superstitions. That he is a white man and a scientist, or at least possessed of scientific information, is deductable from the way in which he has set about winning the awed regard of the natives, according to the reports obtained at our last stop today.
“By that I mean that he knows the way of volcanoes and has drawn upon that knowledge to predict events which have come to pass.
“His first appearance was just prior to the beginning of the recent volcanic eruptions, overflows of lava which have since continued at intervals. And the way in which he appeared to the natives, as we got the story today, was descending the slope of Mount Muhavura afoot at dusk and surrounded by a nimbus of flame. That is easily accounted for in our eyes. Undoubtedly, he had rubbed himself with phosphorus.
“But as he came seemingly from the cloud-wreathed summit of Muhavura, where the natives believe heaven to lie, his statement that he was an immortal from the company of the gods won wide belief. He prophesied that Muhavura, long silent except for occasional faint rumblings, would overflow in three days. And, behold, it came to pass. Now we know that a man of science, if he had managed to obtain observations of the rise and fall of lava in the crater over a period of days, could predict accurately when the overflow would come. Doubtless, this fellow had taken such observations, and then had utilized his knowledge to further his own ends. For he predicted this would come to pass as a punishment upon the natives for permitting the whites to encroach upon their domain.