Part 21 (1/2)
”One of our Indians Other ones beat him and take away his pay He co”
To take a letter! Why not? Perhaps hehelp; but in any case he would ensure that our lives were not spent for nothing, and that news of all that we had won for Science should reach our friends at ho I would spend the day in writing a third, which would bring my experiences absolutely up to date The Indian could bear this back to the world I ordered Za, and I spentht before I also drew up a note, to be given to any white merchant or captain of a stea them to see that ropes were sent to us, since our lives must depend upon it
These docu, and also ns These were to be given to the Indian, and he was promised twice as much if he returned with the ropes
So now you will understand, my dear Mr McArdle, how this communication reaches you, and you will also know the truth, in case you never hear again froht I am too weary and too depressed to make my plans To-morrow I must think out some way by which I shall keep in touch with this camp, and yet search round for any traces of ht which I shall Never Forget”
Just as the sun was setting upon that ure of the Indian upon the vast plain beneath me, and I watched him, our one faint hope of salvation, until he disappeared in the risingsun, between the far-off river and me
It was quite dark when I at last turned back to our stricken caleaht in the orld below, as was his faithful presence in my own shadowed soul And yet I felt happier than I had done since this crushi+ng blow had fallen upon ood to think that the world should knoe had done, so that at the worst our nao down to posterity associated with the result of our labors
It was an aweso to sleep in that ill-fated cale One or the other it must be Prudence, on the one hand, warned uard, but exhausted Nature, on the other, declared that I should do nothing of the kind I cliko tree, but there was no secure perch on its rounded surface, and I should certainly have fallen off and broken ot down, therefore, and pondered over what I should do
Finally, I closed the door of the zareba, lit three separate fires in a triangle, and having eaten a hearty supper dropped off into a profound sleep, fro In the early , a hand was laid upon le and ave a cry of joy as in the cold gray light I saw Lord John Roxton kneeling beside me
It was he--and yet it was not he I had left hi, correct in his person, pri as he breathed like one who has run far and fast
His gaunt face was scratched and bloody, his clothes were hanging in rags, and his hat was gone I stared in arabbing at our stores all the ti fellah! Quick!” he cried ”Every moment counts Get the rifles, both of theather Fill up your pockets Now, soht! Don't wait to talk or think Get a move on, or we are done!”
Still half-awake, and unable to i h the wood, a rifle under each ared in and out through the thickest of the scrub until he caardless of thorns, and threw hi me down by his side
”There!” he panted ”I think we are safe here They'll make for the camp as sure as fate It will be their first idea But this should puzzle 'eot my breath ”Where are the professors? And who is it that is after us?”
”The ape-men,” he cried ”My God, what brutes! Don't raise your voice, for they have long ears--sharp eyes, too, but no power of scent, so far as I could judge, so I don't think they can sniff us out Where have you been, young fellah? You ell out of it”
In a few sentences I whispered what I had done
”Pretty bad,” said he, when he had heard of the dinosaur and the pit
”It isn't quite the place for a rest cure What? But I had no idea what its possibilities were until those devils got hold of us The man-eatin' Papuans had me once, but they are Chesterfields compared to this crowd”
”How did it happen?” I asked
”It was in the early mornin' Our learned friends were just stirrin'
Hadn't even begun to argue yet Suddenly it rained apes They came down as thick as apples out of a tree They had been assereat tree over our heads was heavy with theh the belly, but before we knehere ere they had us spread-eagled on our backs I call them apes, but they carried sticks and stones in their hands and jabbered talk to each other, and ended up by tyin' our hands with creepers, so they are ahead of any beast that I have seen in my wanderin's Ape-men--that's what they are--Missin' Links, and I wish they had stayed missin' They carried off their wounded co--and then they sat around us, and if ever I saw frozenas a ray eyes they have, under red tufts, and they just sat and gloated and gloated Challenger is no chicken, but even he was cowed He le to his feet, and yelled out at theone a bit off his head at the suddenness of it, for he raged and cursed at them like a lunatic If they had been a row of his favorite Pressed them worse”
”Well, what did they do?” I was enthralled by the strange story whichintoin every direction and his hand grasping his cocked rifle
”I thought it was the end of us, but instead of that it started theether Then one of the fellah, but 'pon ht have been kinsmen I couldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes This old ape-er, with every one of our friend's beauty points, only just a trifleshoulders, the round chest, no neck, a great ruddy frill of a beard, the tufted eyebrows, the 'What do you want, daue When the ape-er and put his paw on his shoulder, the thing was cohed till he cried The ape-hed too--or at least they put up the devil of a cacklin'--and they set to work to drag us off through the forest They wouldn't touch the guns and things--thought theerous, I expect--but they carried away all our loose food Suh handlin' on the way--there's my skin and h the braer was all right Four of theh, and he went like a Ro noise in the distance not unlike castanets
”There they go!” said es into the second double barrelled ”Express” ”Load the to be taken alive, and don't you think it! That's the row theyto excite them if they put us up The 'Last Stand of the Grays' won't be in it 'With their rifles grasped in their stiffened hands, s Can you hear them now?”