Joe introduced Mr. Seabury to the naturalists and then told of how he and his chum had found the missing man.
“Good for you, boys,” praised Mr. Holton. “If you hadn’t found him, perhaps he wouldn’t have been found.”
“I wonder if I am dreaming,” said Mr. Seabury. “If I am, I never want to wake up.”
The youths’ fathers spent the remainder of the day in telling of their experiences since leaving Mombasa and in listening to Seabury’s.
But the next morning all were up early preparing for an extensive hunt for specimens. Bob and Joe with their cameras, and the scientists with their rifles, left camp and headed southward, with several of the bearers following.
They had not gone far when they became aware of a deep drumming noise, which seemed to roll along the ground.
“What’s that?” asked Bob, becoming worried. “Savages?”
Mr. Seabury, who was with them, nodded.
“I have often heard the noise,” he said, “and I believe it is made by natives. But they are probably a great distance off. I don’t believe we are in any danger.”