Part 19 (1/2)
Quick! For the love of God, quick!”
I gripped his shoulders and he ht The dawn came with tropic suddenness at thatfroht temple, while he limped painfully as I helped him across a s,” he cried, ”but I'et to the camp If I fall, Verslun, I want you to lend me a hand Promise to help me, will you? She--Miss Barbara, you know, oldto me Give me a hand if I tuvines that tripped us up as we tried to fight our way forward
If we had thought on the night before that the quarter mile of country that lay between the caotiate, ere more than doubly certain of its iht had coh it in the darkness was a mystery that we tried to solve as we attempted to make our way back The place was a rowth, laced and bound with vines that were as strong as wire hawsers The lianas appeared hu upon our faces whenever we tried to quicken our speed Thorns of a strange fishhook variety drove their barbed points into us, and each yard of the tortuous path that we cut through the devilish vines wasthorns seemed to wave aloft as an easped Holman ”I'm all in, Verslun; that fall has finished me”
”Keep at it!” I said ”We must be near the camp by now”
”We've walked three miles,” muttered Holman ”We've lost our way”
”No, we haven't!” I cried ”We've struck a bad patch, but we'll get there soon”
The youngster clenched his teeth and endeavoured to forget the agony of his leg, but the effort taxed his courage
”We'll do it,” I said ”Don't let the brute beat us”
”I--I won't!” he sta! Verslun!”
He fell on his face, and I helped hiain he collapsed
The injured limb made it iet ahead,” he cried hoarsely ”Leave ain,” I protested
”Yes, you would! I'll crawl out after a few hours' rest Run to the camp, and shoot--shoot the devil the lance at the ed us in on all sides Holes of exhaustion, and I reasoned quickly If I left hile that encompassed us, it would be utterly iain, and he would probably perish fro hi the island alive did not look too bright at thathis de hiripped hied to lift him upon led beneath him He kicked like a madman when he understood what I intended to do, but I held him in spite of his protests
”Leave me here!” he screa ,” I ers out of les ceased then, and his head fell backward The pain of his leg had ster swoon away, and with a prayer upon ain at the bulwark of vicious creepers
I have a very vague recollection of the remainder of that trip In le with a jungle that was alive, of a fight with thorny creepers that pursued us I became convinced that those vines were alive, because the saain in our path and waved the scraps of bloody clothing that they had torn from Holman and myself
At last, half insane with anxiety for the safety of the girls and our own struggles, we staggered blindly into the patch of cleared land upon which the ca It was i fire were still s and we stared with sweat-blinded eyes at the place where the girls' tent had been standing e rushed off with Kaipi to investigate the light in the hills But there was no trace of the girls or the Professor Leith had got ahead of us, and the big brute had rushed the crazy scientist and his two daughters toward the hills that stood up black and defiant above the sea of green vegetation
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XV
A DAY OF SKIRMIshi+NG
We lay for a few rass, then Hol of cold water and bathed the wound upon his te The water revived hiot to his feet and stared at the festooned trees that surrounded the spot