Part 23 (1/2)
But the old man's soft weeping stopped presently and in a firmer voice he said:
”My wife and my sons? Can you tell me anything of them?”
As a newspaper man Billy recollected very clearly the s.p.a.ce that had been given some five years before to the death, at a ripe old age, of the wife of George Desmond the lost explorer.
”She is dead,” he said gently.
They heard the castaway sigh, and then he asked in a voice he strove to render firm, but which trembled in spite of itself:
”And my sons?”
”They are all alive and in business in New York,” said Billy. ”Your wife died believing to the end that you would come back. They placed her chair so that she could face the east. She died at daybreak with her eyes turned toward the sea beyond which lay Africa.”
”Africa!” echoed the tired, disused voice. ”Africa! it has cost me everything I had.”
There was silence for some time after this. Neither of the boys wanted to intrude on the silent grief of the explorer so strangely found, though each was dying to ask him a host of questions. It was the aged man himself who broke the silence at length.
”But I am selfish,” he exclaimed. ”I should have thanked you before this for saving my life. The priests were determined that, as I was old and useless, my life should be offered to the Sun-G.o.d to appease a sickness that has of late carried off hundreds of the Flying Men.
They are a dying race, young men. As a man of science, I predict that in five years or less there will not be a single one of the once numerous tribe alive. I have studied them closely and can predict their extinction.”
”Then you have not been a prisoner always?” asked Billy.
”No, my young friend, I have not. When first I came here I was received warmly and was paid high honors. I was allowed to record my observations in writing--fortunately I carried a supply of ink and paper.”
”You still have the ma.n.u.script?” gasped Billy, with the reporter's instinct to the fore.
”I have,” sighed old Mr. Desmond, ”in the cell that I so long called home then, the pages still lie. But I have neglected them for many years. I had no more writing materials when I used up my slender supply and I never thought to regain civilization.
”But now did you ever get here?” asked the amazed Billy.
”That is a long story,” replied the captive, ”but briefly told, it is as follows: In the season of 1870, as you perhaps know, my ill-fated expedition left Grand Ba.s.sam. My avowed object was to collect specimens and data for the Smithsonian Inst.i.tute, but my real and secret desire was to find the tribe of Flying Men of whose existence I had heard in a fragmentary way on previous expeditions to the West Coast. I have found them--” he went on with a heavy sigh--”but at what a cost--at what a cost!”
There was silence for a few minutes and then the old voice went on, gaining in strength as he proceeded, and resumed acquaintance with words to which his tongue had been long unused.
”My expedition, as you know, was never heard of again. The reason was this. In some way the Arab slave-traders--who were thick in this district then and plied their nefarious trade almost openly--gained the belief that my expedition was a pretense for a plan of espionage on them and they attacked my camp one night and slaughtered every man in it but myself. Why they did not kill me I do not know, unless it was because of the intercession of a young Arab, a mere youth and the son of the chief. I have never forgotten his name or his kindness.”
”What was his name?” asked Billy, who was deeply interested and wanted to get every detail of the extraordinary story.
”Muley-Ha.s.san!” was the amazing reply.
”Muley-Ha.s.san,” echoed Billy, ”why, he is the most cold-blooded fiend in the slave-trade to-day.”
”Perhaps,” answered the old man, ”but he was good to me when he was a young man and I have never forgotten it.”
”Well,” he went on, picking up his narrative, ”it was not long before retribution overtook the Arabs. One night their camp was attacked by a tribe whose village they had raided and sacked some time before and only a few of them escaped, among them must have been Muley-Ha.s.san, though, till you told me of him, I believed him dead. The savages, seeing that I was not one of the Arab race took care of me and I fared well at their hands. But a great longing to see civilization--to clasp my wife in my arms, to see my children and America once more, was always with me, and one night I escaped from their village. I wandered half-delirious from fever and starvation for many days after that, for I lost my way in the forest, and, as I had no compa.s.s, wandered aimlessly seeking a river by which I might follow down to the coast. One night such a sharp attack of fever overtook me that I was-stricken unconscious. I gave myself up for dead before I lost my senses and only recollect awaking in this village. From that day to this, although I have repeatedly endeavored to escape I have never been able to do so.
The ladder is guarded day and night,”--(this information dashed a half-formed hope in Billy's mind of escape by that way,) ”and it would be suicide to attempt to penetrate the great jungles on the other side. I thought to end my days here, but I never dreamed till the other day that my life was destined to end as it would have, had it not been for your brave intervention.