He found what he believed was Harding’s trail. It led through the tall grasses, and in some soft mud he found the imprint of a boot-heel.
Some distance into the jungle Frank followed the trail.
Then he lost it.
He had been prepared for any horrible sight, even to seeing Harding’s blood-stained body lying in the reeds.
But instead he made his way through a thick belt of grasses and came to higher land.
At this point the jungle was not one hundred yards from the brow of the defile which led to the cave.
Frank followed Harding’s trail to this point. Then he saw where it terminated with a startled thrill.
Trailing vines and grasses covered the mouth of a deep pit.
Into this Harding had unwittingly stepped and sank to unknown depths, possibly to death.
For a moment Frank stood appalled.