The road was so rough as to be almost as difficult as the thicket. Winding in and out through the dense jungle, sometimes completely covered by the interlacing trees and vines, it seemed as if it might run on forever.
“But there must be some house along it!” the man muttered grimly. “If I can only find somebody to direct me to the mines!”
The sun rose until at last it was beating down fiercely upon the traveler. It was long after high noon when at last he made out the first sign that he had gained anything by his mountain journey. There came one hill much higher than the rest; as he reached the summit and glanced around him, he saw a slender column of smoke rising from the midst of the dark trees.
“A house at last!” he cried, and set swiftly forward.
He kept his wits about him, however, not forgetting that he was in the midst of a strange country. As he descended the hill the smoke passed out of sight, and he did not again observe it until he was almost upon the house from which it proceeded.
He took the precaution to turn from the road and make his way through the thicket, where the tropical vegetation was so dense about him that he could see nothing in front of him even, when various sounds led him to believe that he was almost upon the house. And so it was that suddenly, without the slightest warning, he came to the end of the bushes, and the building rose before his very eyes.
From a spot a few yards to one side the road still stretched onward, but it had broadened out into a smooth avenue, lined on either side with great forest trees. Beneath them was a well-kept lawn, and perhaps a hundred yards beyond at the end of the avenue was a building, a great mansion, three stories high, and built of handsome stone.
A single glance at it, and the American staggered back with a gasp. It was the house of his recent adventure!
VI
Roberts’s first impulse was to spring back into the bushes and crouch down to prevent his being observed. There he lay peering out and watching the scene.