Part 16 (1/2)
”Wot's de chink sayin'?” asked Billy Byrne, iible to hirin, ”that Miss Harding is still alive, and in the back rooe street; but,” and his face clouded, ”Oda Yorimoto, the chief of the tribe, is with her”
Theto his feet with an oath, and would have bolted for the village had not Theriere laid a detaining hand upon his shoulder
”It is too late, my friend,” he said sadly, ”to make haste now We may, if we are cautious, be able to save her life, and later, possibly, avenge her wrong Let us act coolly, and after soether, and not throw our lives away uselessly The chance is that neither of us will coe alive, but we must mini”
”Well, wot's de word?” asked the le approaches the village most closely on the opposite side--the side in rear of the chief's hut,” pointed out Theriere ”We must circle about until we can reach that point undetected, then we may formulate further plans from what our observations there develop”
”An' dis?” Byrne shoved a thumb at Oda Iseka
”We'll take hio now”
”Why not croak hiested Byrne
”Not unless we have to,” replied Theriere; ”he's just a boy--we'll doubtless have all the killing ant aet out of this”
”I never did have no use fer chinks,” said the estion that they murder the youth For some unaccountable reason he had felt a sudden cohtless re over hi lawn tennis presently if he continued to grow much softer and le, following a trail which led around to the north of the village Theriere walked ahead with the boy's arrasp Byrne followed closely behind They reached their destination in the rear of Oda Yorimoto's ”palace” without interruption or detection Here they reconnoitered through the thick foliage
”Dere's a little winder in de back of de house,” said Byrne ”Dat uys cooped up de little broiler”
”Yes,” said Theriere, ”it would be in the back roo heathen, and then we can proceed to business without fear of alarrass rope from about the waist of his prisoner, hich he was securely trussed up, a piece of his loin cloth being forced into his , and secured there by another strip, torn froarment, which was passed around the back of the boy's head
”Rather uncoine,” coerous--and now to business!”
”I'oin' to make a break fer dat winder,” announced the at an' pick off any fresh guys dat get gay in back here Den, if I need youse you can come a-runnin' an' open up all over de shop wid de artillery, or if I gets de lizzie outen de jug an' de chinks push me too clost youse'll be here where yeh can pick 'e all the risk that way, Byrne,” objected Theriere, ”and that's not fair”
”One o' us is pretty sure to get hurted,” explained the mucker in defense of his plan, ”an, if it's a croak it's a lot better dat it be irl wouldn't be crazy about bein' lef' alone wid ot no use fer the likes o' me Now youse are her kin, an'
so youse stay here w'ere yeh can help her after I git her out--I don't want nothing to do wid her anyhow She gives h it were an after-thought, ”I ain't got no use fer dat ransom eider--youse can have dat, too”
”Hold on, Byrne,” cried Theriere; ”I have so to say, too I do not see how I can expect you to believe me; but under the circumstances, when one of us and maybe both are pretty sure to die before the day isI do not want that damned ransoht the wrong that I have helped to perpetrate against Miss Harding I--I--Byrne, I love her I shall never tell her so, for I airl would care to marry; but I did want the chance to make a clean breast to her of all iveness if I could; but first I wanted to proveher to civilization in safety, and delivering her to her friends without the payment of a cent of money I may never be able to do that now; but if I die in the attempt, and you don't, I wish that you would tell her what I have just told you Paint me as black as you can--you couldn't commence to make me as black as I have been--but let her know that for love of her I turned white at the last irl that you or I ever sae're not fit to breathe the same air that she breathes Now you can see why I should like to go first”
”I t'ought youse was soft on her,” replied the o first; but wot's de use o' chewin', les flip a coin to see w'ich goes an w'ich stays--got one?”
Theriere felt in his trousers' pocket, fishi+ng out a dio,” he said and spun the silver piece in the air, catching it in the flat of his open pal ”Gee! Wot's de racket?”
Bothmob of half-caste japanese had suddenly appeared in the streets, hurrying toward the hut of Oda Yorimoto