Part 22 (1/2)
For three weeks they never left the little island except to gather fruit which grew hard by on the adjacent mainland Byrne's wounds had troubled him considerably--at ti
His tehts, and for a whole night Barbara Harding had sat beside his as far as it lay within her power to do; but at last the wonderful vitality of the h and neither of theht it safe to atteained his old-tiive them alarm Twice they had seen natives on the n of pursuit had developed Those whom they had seen had been pure-blood Malays--there had been no sae, warlike appearance had warned the two against revealing their presence
They had subsisted upon fish and fruit principally since they had come to the island Occasionally this diet had been relieved by messes of wild fowl and fox that Byrne had been successful in snaring with a primitive trap of his own invention; but lately the prey had become wary, and even the fish seemed less plentiful After two days of fruit diet, Byrne announced his intention of undertaking a hunting trip upon the mainland
”A mess of venison wouldn't taste half bad,” he reirl, ”I'h I could almost eat it raw”
”I know that I could,” stated Billy ”Lord help the deer that gets within range of this old gat of Theriere's, and you ry I'll probably eat it all, hoof, hide, and horns, before ever I get any of it back here to you”
”You'd better not,” laughed the girl ”Good-bye and good luck; but please don't go very far--I shall be terribly lonely and frightened while you are away”
”Maybe you'd better coested Billy
”No, I should be in the way--you can't hunt deer with a gallery, and get any”
”Well, I'll stay within hailing distance, and you can look for me back any time between now and sundown Good-bye,” and he picked his way down the bank into the river, while from behind a bush upon the mainland ticked, black eyes watched his irl on the shore behind hihtly upon a heavy war spear, and steeland the swift throw
The girl watched Billy Byrne forging his way through the swift rapids
What a th and endurance he was! What afound herself ad the very brutality that once had been repellent to her She saw hihtly to the opposite bank, and then she saw a quick movement in a bush close at his side She did not knohathad caused it, but her intuition warned her that behind that concealing screen lay er to the unconsciousfrom her lips involuntarily ”In the bush at your left--look out!”
At the note of warning in her voice Byrne had turned at her first word--it was all that saved his life He saw the half-naked savage and the out-shooting spear arht-for-the-head in the squared circle of his other days, he ducked now, side stepping to the right, and the heavy weapon sped harrowl of rage, drew his sharp parang, leaping to close quarters Barbara Harding saw Byrne whip Theriere's revolver froe; but to her horror the cartridge failed to explode, and before he could fire again the warrior was upon hiirl saw the white man leap to one side to escape the furious cut aiility of a panther and spring to close quarters with the wild man Byrne's left arht fist he rained blow after blow upon the brown face
The savage dropped his useless parang--clawing and biting at the hty creature in whose power he found himself; but never once did those terrific, relentless blows cease to fall upon his unprotected face
The sole witness to this battle priht of the fierce, brutal ferocity of the white th he exhibited Slowly but surely he was beating the face of his antagonist into an unrecognizable pulp--with his bare hands he hadan armed warrior It was incredible! Not even Theriere or Billy Mallory could have done such a thing Billy Mallory! And she was gazing with admiration upon his murderer!
CHAPTER XV THE RESCUE
AFTER Byrne had dropped the lifeless forround he turned and retraced his steps toward the island, a broad grin upon his face as he cliuess I'd better overhaul this gat,” he said, ”and stick around home
It isn't safe to leave you alone here--I can see that pretty plainly
Gee, supposin' I'd got out of sight before he showed hiht
The girl had not spoken and the man looked up suddenly, attracted by her silence He saw a look of horror in her eyes, such as he had seen there once before when he had kicked the unconscious Theriere that time upon the Halfmoon
”What's the matter?” he asked, alarmed ”What have I done now? I had to croak the stiff--he'd have got ot you, too I had to do it for your sake--I'm sorry you saw it”
”It isn't that,” she said slowly ”That was very brave, and very wonderful It's Mr Mallory I' of O Billy! How could you do it?”
The ive ain, for your sake I kno that you loved him, and I've tried to do all I could to atone for what I did to him; just as I tried to play white with Theriere when I found that he loved you, and intended to be on the square with you He was your kind, and I hoped that by helping hiht help to wipe out what I had done to Mallory