"Pardon me, sir," said Canaris quickly, "but from what I have been able to learn this river reaches the Juba at a point, I have heard stated, midway between Bardera and the coast."
"Bardera!" cried the colonel sharply. "Why, Bardera is only two hundred miles from the sea. According to that, we have a journey before us of nearly eight hundred miles—a journey underground and on unknown waters. Who can tell what dangers lie before us?"
"We will never get out alive," groaned Sir Arthur. "Never in the world, Carrington. What a blawsted idiot I was to let the government send me to that beastly hole!"
"And is it impossible to escape by land?" asked the colonel, unheeding this interruption.
"You forget that we have destroyed our only communication with the outer world," ventured Forbes. "The river is our sole hope."
"Yes, I had forgotten it, it is true," replied the colonel.
"And were the communication now open," exclaimed Guy, "escape would still be hopeless. This river is navigable, and the existence of those canoes proves what I say. I have been in tight places like this before, and if you will trust to my guidance I will do my best to bring you through in safety. If we fail, it shall be through no fault of mine."
CHAPTER XXII.
AN UNWELCOME VISITOR.
Guy's stirring speech was just what was needed to rouse the flagging spirits of the party, for the colonel's graphic description of the contemplated journey had produced a very depressing effect.