The weird howling of the enraged monkeys outside their shelter made them tremble even now, lest their cunning foes should find some other entrance to the cave and come pouring in to indulge in massacre.
But as time passed and they remained unmolested in their retreat, while the awful howling of the monkeys died down to a mere jumble of sound, they began to take courage and hope that all would still be well with them.
Bomba had feared at first that the cave might be the lair of some wild beast of the jungle.
But the fact that the stone was so near the mouth of the cave and was evidently intended to block up the entrance seemed to argue human occupation. Some native, perhaps, had become an outlaw from his tribe and had chosen the cave as his home.
When it became certain that the monkeys had tired of their quest and were straggling off again into the jungle, Bomba ventured to make a cautious tour of the cave to make sure that his guess had been correct.
Even then he was afraid that at any moment his fingers might touch something warm and alive but not human.
However, the cave was a small one, and he soon found, to his great relief, that, save for Ashati, Neram and himself, it was unoccupied.
Tired beyond words, but jubilant at their escape, Bomba returned to the two, who still squatted on the ground close to the stone that guarded the entrance to the cave.
Ashati was inclined to indulge in prophecy.
“The Spirit of the Jungle is good,” he stated, as Bomba threw himself down beside them. “Twice it has saved the life of Bomba. The captives of the wicked Nascanora and his half-brother Tocarora will be spared. Bomba will live to seek out Sobrinini, and find from her the secret that the poor old white man cannot tell. It is for that that the Spirit of the Jungle has twice saved the life of Bomba.”