Rod could see but one explanation of their failure.

Somewhere near the cataract John Ball and the Frenchmen had found a rich pocket of gold, and they had worked it out, probably before the fatal tragedy in the old cabin.
"But how about the mad hunter and his golden bullets ?" insisted Wabi, in another effort to brighten their prospects.

"The bullets weighed an ounce each, and I'll stake my life they came from this chasm.

He knows where the gold is, if we don't!" "Come back soon!" grunted Mukoki.

"Watch heem.