It was decided that the halt should be made at once. Mrs. Weldon, as it had been anticipated, urged nothing against it, being preoccupied by her immediate attentions to Jack, who was lying in her arms, suffering from a decided attack of fever. The shelter of a large thicket had just been selected by Dick as a suitable resting-place for the night, when Tom, who was assisting in the necessary preparations, suddenly gave a cry of horror.
"What is it, Tom?" asked Dick very calmly.
"Look! look at these trees! they are spattered with blood! and look here! here are hands, men's hands, cut off and lying on the ground!"
"What?" cried Dick, and in an instant was at his side.
His presence of mind did not fail him; he whispered,-
"Hush! Tom! hush! not a word!"
But it was with a shudder that ran through his veins that he witnessed for himself the mutilated fragments of several human bodies, and saw, lying beside them, some broken forks, and some bits of iron chain.
The sight of the gory remains made Dingo bark ferociously, and Dick, who was most anxious that Mrs. Weldon's attention should not be called to the discovery, had the greatest difficulty in driving him back; but fortunately the lady's mind was so engrossed with her patient, that she did not observe the commotion. Harris stood aloof; there was no one to notice the change that passed over his countenance, but the expression was almost diabolical in its malignity.
Poor old Tom himself seemed perfectly spell-bound. With his hands clenched, his eyes dilated, and his breast heaving with emotion, he kept repeating without anything like coherence, the words,-
"Forks! chains! forks! ... long ago ... remember ... too well ... chains!"