Part 12 (1/2)
In the darkness of the forest she could not clearly distinguish the forh she reasoned, as was only natural, that Skipper Siainst the a part of it; but when her captors turned directly into the an first to wonder and then to doubt, so that presently when a sht full upon them she was not surprised to discover that none of the uard
Barbara Harding had not circled the globe half a dozen ti There were few races or nations hose history, past and present, she was not fairly fareeted her eyes ell suited to fill her with astonishment, for she found herself in the hands of what appeared to be a party of japanese warriors of the fifteenth or sixteenth century She recognized theof the torded led grisly trophies of the hunt In the ht she saw that they were the heads of Miller and Swenson
The girl was horrified She had thought her lot before as bad as it could be, but to be in the clutches of these strange, fierce warriors of a long-dead age was unthinkably worse That she could ever have wished to be back upon the Halfmoon would have seemed, a few days since, incredible; yet that was precisely what she longed for now
On through the night rie in a valley away fro lofty round, the upper walls and thatched roofs rising scarce four feet above the level Granaries on stilts were dotted here and there as
Into one of the filthy dens Barbara Harding was dragged She found a single roo, about the of dirty yellow children, dogs, pigs, and chickens It was the palace of Daimio Oda Yorimoto, Lord of Yoka, as his ancestors had christened their new island houarded Barbara upon the march turned and withdrew--she was alone with Oda Yorimoto and his fa shelf upon which a great pile of grinning skulls rested At the back of the room was a door which Barbara had not at first noticed--evidently there was another apartiven little opportunity to exauards withdrawn than Oda Yorirasped her by the arm
”Come!” he said, in japanese that was sufficiently similar toWith the word he drew her toward a sleeping mat on a raised platform at one side of the room
One of the women awoke at the sound of the man's voice She looked up at Barbara in sullen hatred--otherwise she gave no indication that she saw anything unusual transpiring It was as though an exquisite American belle were a daily visitor at the Oda Yorihtened girl, in japanese
Oda Yoriirl learned to speak his tongue?
”I am the daimio, Oda Yorimoto,” he said ”These are my wives Now you are one of the at a straw ”Wait Give me time to think If you do not harm me my father will reward you fabulously Ten thousand koku he would gladly give to have me returned to him safely”
Oda Yorimoto but shook his head
”Twenty thousand koku!” cried the girl
Still the daiatively
”A hundred thousand--name your own price, if you will but not harrowled the man ”What are even a ends of my ancestors We have no need for koku here, and had we, my hills are full of the yellow metal which measures its value No! you are irl ”There is another room--away from all these women,” and she turned her eyes toward the door at the opposite side of the chaed his shoulders That would be easier than a fight, he argued, and so he led the girl toward the doorway that she had indicated Within the room all was dark, but the daimio h the blackness the girl at his side felt with stealthy fingers at the man's belt
At last Oda Yori chamber
”Here!” he said, and took her by the shoulders
”Here!” answered the girl in a low, tense voice, and at the instant that she spoke Oda Yori at his belt, and before he guessed as to happen his own short sword had pierced his breast
A single shriek broke froh and shrill and like the shriek of a woman in mortal terror that the woman in the next room who heard it but smiled a crooked, wicked smile of hate and turned once ain Barbara Harding plunged the sword of the brown man into the still heart, until she knew beyond peradventure of a doubt that her enemy was forevermore powerless to injure her Then she sank, exhausted and tre, upon the dirt floor beside the corpse
When Theriere caone he jumped to the natural conclusion that Ward and Simms had discovered the ruse that he had worked upon them just in tiirl, and carry her back to the ree with hirumbled that ”it listened fishy” However, all hands returned cautiously down the face of the cliff, expecting uards which they felt sure Ward would post in expectation of a return of the irl had been taken from them; but to the surprise of all they reached the cove without molestation, and when they had crept cautiously to the vicinity of the sleepers they discovered that all were there, in peaceful slumber, just as they had left them a few hours before
Silently the party retraced its steps up the cliff Theriere and Billy Byrne brought up the rear