But he would not, ever pressing on,
with the strange land for his goal. They had long since passed the
last of the native villages, and they had to depend on their own
efforts for food. Fortunately they did not have any lack of game,
and they fared well with what they had with them in the packs.
Occasionally they met little bands of native hunters, and, though
usually these men fled at the sight of our friends, yet once they
managed to make signs to one, who, informed them as best he could,
that giant land was still far ahead of them.
Twice they heard distant sounds of native battles and the weird
noise of the wooden drums and the tom-toms. Once, as they climbed up
a big hill, they looked down into a valley and saw a great conflict
in which there must have been several thousand natives on either
side. It was a fierce battle, seen even from afar, and Tom and the
others shuddered as they slipped down over the other side of the
rise, and out of sight.
"We'd better steer clear of them," was Tom's opinion; and the others
agreed with him.
For another week they kept on, the way becoming more and more
difficult, and the country more and more wild.
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