Part 19 (2/2)
”I'o?”
I pointed to the irls, and Holman limped forward
”But we can't follow this fashi+on,” I protested
”Why not?”
”We'll be shot down before we get within half a mile of them Leith cannot know that we have escaped from the cavern or he would have left soh-class tracking in this country,” said the youngster grimly ”If we stray six feet froo ahead”
It was i else The route by which the carriers had round was perfectly clear while we followed their footsteps, but if we diverged ever so slightly the thick veils of verdure hid the path from our eyes To follow the party ould have to hold to the trail and take the chances of an ambush which Leith would certainly prepare for us the moment he knee had escaped from the Cavern of Skulls It would be easy for him to set his one-eyed white partner to shoot us down as we staggered along the trail which Soma or one of the carriers had blazed with an axe
”They cannot have more than three hours' start of us,” cried Holman
”Give me your arm, Verslun Now let us move as fast as we can”
”But this is puerile,” I protested ”We'll be running our heads into the noose”
”I don't care if we do I want to get near Leith”
”But we'll never get near by running after hiet in front of hiirls?”
”Will our death prevent it?” I snapped ”If we rush after him in the open we'll throw our chances away”
I ae, but I had sense enough to know that Leith would not leave his rear exposed for a moment after he had received word from the cave I tried to recall stories of extraordinary trailing feats as we stumbled forward, but I became convinced that all the marvellous performances I had ever read of had been accoether different from those that confronted us upon the Isle of Tears An open piece of country would have been a sight of joy to our eyes that eary of the everlasting reen which encoreen, sweaty leaves, the fat, bloated pods, and the lengths of pythonesque runners produced a etation appeared to us to be vicious Its very luxuriance produced that fear of the hich grips one in tropical countries but which is never felt in lands situated in the temperate zones
We had not covered a hundred yards of the path when Holman pounced upon a strip of white bark that waved to us fro the track A few pencilled words covered the slance
”'We're prisoners now,'the feords in a whisper 'The brute has declared himself Barbara'”
The boy turned to ard, and for a moment we stared at the strip of bark There had been no doubt in ourLeith's intentions froe which Soe that the brute had declared hiht us aIn my own case I had never experienced such a sensation The strange rites connected with the ”tivo” in the long cave had laid a foundation upon which ination piled skyscrapers of horror If I could have fixed my mind upon a definite fate that would be theirs if they were not rescued fro brute's clutches, I would have found relief, but hts that were enough to deprive one of his reason We looked upon the island as the cereroups where the e from Barbara Herndon became a mental piledriver to ra in our minds
”Coothe narrow path, but out of the silence behind us came a shout that caused us to dive promptly into the bushes The whoop caround, and we had hardly crouched in the undergrohen a nude native crashed through the vines and raced past our hiding place He was followed by twoat top speed, heads forward, and their chests heaving in a ested they had coht of them as they dashed past we came to the conclusion that they were three of the ”tivo” dancers, and as atched their bare brown backs disappear in the creepers we observed so had prevented us fro
The backs of the three were tattooed, not with the co, but with short scars that ran down the spine, ed representation of a centipede, and as they passed I reraph of the stone table on the previous , had commented on the same peculiar pattern which he had discovered upon one of the huge supporting pillars
”They've come to tell Leith that we have escaped,” whispered Holman