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A blazing flash rent the heavens and Piang caught sight of Ganassi Peak frowning and lowering in the clouds. Ganassi! If he only knew! No, it was too late. The falls roared hungrily, and nothing could keep the island from plunging to destruction. Slowly Piang rose to his full height, and, folding his arms, determined to die bravely.
Gently the wise man laid his hands on Piang's head; softly he muttered a few words; then something dropped around the boy's neck. "You may rise, Piang. You are now invincible!" Bounding to his feet, Piang clasped the charm. "I cannot see it, Ganassi. May I unclasp it to behold its beauty and splendor?" Keenly the old man looked into the face of the boy, measuring him, studying him.
Papita's eyes were fastened on Piang, on the charm that dangled from his necklace of crocodile teeth; Piang was lost in Ganassi Peak. His eyes were filled with a divine awe as he silently faced his beloved peak, where dwelt his wonder man, the Hermit Ganassi.
Piang uttered a low cry. "So, my little pet, you have frightened Piang, the charm boy! You must not do that." The snake, responding to the voice, stuck its head through the foliage and slipped from sight. The voice! The voice! It had called him the charm boy! Piang's fear abated, and he said tremblingly: "O great Ganassi, will you not show yourself to me, Piang?" Breathlessly the boy listened.
Turning to the two boys, he addressed them directly: "The mountain where he dwells has been named after him, Ganassi Peak, and friends through the hills will direct you toward it. You shall both start at the same time, but by different routes. One leads through the jungle, over the hills; the other follows the river to its head-water, the lake.
"Up, up with you, sleepyhead!" called Ganassi. "The sun will catch you napping if you do not hurry." Piang sleepily rubbed his eyes and sat up. Horror and fright seized him as he beheld the body of the python curled up beside him and the packda contemplating him with indifference. From the doorway Ganassi smilingly watched him.
The fawn paused, looked gravely into the boy's eyes, and with stately mien, walked into the tree. "Thank you, my little friends, for bringing Piang to Ganassi," said the voice from within. Ganassi! So this was the haunt! This lovely natural dwelling, the dread Ganassi's home! Expectantly, Piang waited. Was Ganassi a man, or was he only a voice, the heart of this banian-tree?
Dato Kali Pandapatan rode in silence. Occasionally he gazed down into the deep valleys or off in the direction of Ganassi Peak, but the sorrowful, patient expression never left his face. Where was Piang? For three days the boy had been missing, and Kali guessed only too easily what had taken him away in such haste. A few days before little Papita had mysteriously disappeared.
The joy of freedom thrilled Piang; the intimacy with nature and its mysteries stirred within him a desire to know more, feel more, and he gazed at the distant peak where his fortune awaited him, wondering if the old hermit, Ganassi, was in reality watching for his coming.
Like a dirty piece of canvas, one cloud balanced itself on Ganassi's shoulder and rapidly spread itself around the peak. It seemed to sap the very life from Ganassi, as it enveloped it in a chilling embrace. Slowly the cloud loosed its hold and bounced along on the lower hills. In its center it seemed to bear a restless, struggling mass, and the passengers on the Sabah watched it nervously.
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