The Orchids of Death

African drums are talking. Land of contradictions of dimpled ugliness and hideous beauty, where safety lies in attack, and the lifeblood of the weak flows in the veins of the strong, where nature's eyes are prone to gleam with changing mood, where nature's voice first screams with rage, then whispers lullabies, where beckoning death is clothed in life's most gaudy hue,

and all unfelt, unseen, creeps on with silent step. This is Africa. Professor Anton Edwards and his little party entered the whispering forest of death, led by a farby, a beautiful native girl. They're searching for a hidden treasure, supposed to have been left by ancient Roman invaders.

Lorna and a farby were captured by a grotesque man-beest and taken to a village of prehistoric lake dwellers. The professor, Jack and Unguru rescue them, and they once more take up the trail. A rainstorm pours over the forest, and while the white people take shelter, Ifabi steals off to meet a daco.

Son of the chief of her village, and together they plot to kill the white party once the treasure is transported to the edge of the forest. The rain has stopped as suddenly as it began, and we find the professor, Lorna and Jack, emerging from the shelter of some giant ferns.

Oh, isn't it beautiful here now? The sun is filtering into the trees, everything is glistening? Yes, Lola. When you eventually find a part of African forest where the sun penetrates, the beauty of the place will always astound you.

Especially after entering at night. Well, we're comparatively dry after that rain. Thanks to those giant leaves, as soon as the forest begins to feel, the sun will have steam rising all around us. Where did the farby go?