Part 21 (2/2)
”Very far away”
”That little lot will do no good, but I expect their search parties are all over the wood Well, I was telling you ot us soon to this town of theirs--about a thousand huts of branches and leaves in a great grove of trees near the edge of the cliff It's three or four ered ain They tied us up--the felloho handled me could tie like a bosun--and there we lay with our toes up, beneath a tree, while a great brute stood guard over us with a club in his hand When I say 'we' I er was up a tree, eatin' pines and havin' the tiet some fruit to us, and with his own hands he loosened our bonds If you'd seen hi up in that tree hob-nobbin' with his twin brother--and singin' in that rollin'
bass of his, 'Ring out, wild bells,' cause ood huhin', as you can guess They were inclined, within limits, to let him do what he liked, but they drew the line pretty sharply at us
It was a hty consolation to us all to know that you were runnin'
loose and had the archives in your keepin'
”Well, now, young fellah, I'll tell you ill surprise you You say you saw signs of men, and fires, traps, and the like Well, we have seen the natives themselves Poor devils they were, down-faced little chaps, and had enough to make them so It seems that the humans hold one side of this plateau--over yonder, where you saw the caves--and the ape-men hold this side, and there is bloody war between them all the time That's the situation, so far as I could follow it
Well, yesterday the ape-ht them in as prisoners You never heard such a jabberin' and shriekin' in your life The men were little red fellows, and had been bitten and clawed so that they could hardly walk The ape-men put two of them to death there and then--fairly pulled the arm off one of them--it was perfectly beastly Plucky little chaps they are, and hardly gave a squeak But it turned us absolutely sick Suer had as much as he could stand I think they have cleared, don't you?”
We listened intently, but nothing save the calling of the birds broke the deep peace of the forest Lord Roxton went on with his story
”I think you have had the escape of your life, young fellah my lad It was catchin' those Indians that put you clean out of their heads, else they would have been back to the caathered you in Of course, as you said, they have been watchin' us froinnin' out of that tree, and they knew perfectly well that ere one short However, they could think only of this new haul; so it was I, and not a bunch of apes, that dropped in on you in theWell, we had a horrid business afterwards My God! what a nightreat bristle of sharp canes down belohere we found the skeleton of the American? Well, that is just under ape-town, and that's the jumpin'-off place of their prisoners I expect there's heaps of skeletons there, if we looked for 'eround on the top, and they make a proper ceremony about it One by one the poor devils have to juame is to see whether they are et skewered on the canes They took us out to see it, and the whole tribe lined up on the edge Four of the Indians juh 'eh a pat of butter No wonder we found that poor Yankee's skeleton with the canes growin' between his ribs It was horrible--but it was doocedly interestin' too We were all fascinated to see theht it would be our turn next on the spring-board
”Well, it wasn't They kept six of the Indians up for to-day--that's how I understood it--but I fancy ere to be the star perforet off, but Sue is ns, and it was not hard to follow theht it was time we made a break for it I had been plottin' it out a bit, and had one or two things clear in my mind
It was all on er not in' because they couldn't agree upon the scientific classification of these red-headed devils that had got hold of us One said it was the dryopithecus of Java, the other said it was pithecanthropus Madness, I call it--Loonies, both But, as I say, I had thought out one or two points that were helpful One was that these brutes could not run as fast as a s, you see, and heavy bodies Even Challenger could give a few yards in a hundred to the best of them, and you or I would be a perfect Shrubb Another point was that they knew nothin' about guns I don't believe they ever understood how the fellow I shot cauns there was no sayin' e could do
”So I broke away early this uard a kick in the tuot you and the guns, and here we are”
”But the professors!” I cried, in consternation
”Well, we'eer was up the tree, and Suet the guns and try a rescue Of course they e I don't think they would touch Challenger, but I wouldn't answer for Summerlee But they would have had him in any case Of that I am certain So I haven't o back and have theh with the fellah my lad, for it will be one way or the other before evenin'”
I have tried to i sentences, the half-huh it all But he was a born leader As danger thickened his jaunty manner would increase, his speech becolitter into ardent life, and his Don Quixote er, his intense appreciation of the drahtly in--his consistent view that every peril in life is a forame betwixt you and Fate, with Death as a forfeit, made him a wonderful companion at such hours If it were not for our fears as to the fate of our companions, it would have been a positive joy to throwfrorip upon e!” he whispered, ”here they come!”
Froreen, for this a party of the ape-s and rounded backs, their hands occasionally touching the ground, their heads turning to left and right as they trotted along Their crouching gait took away froht, but I should put the arms and enormous chests Many of them carried sticks, and at the distance they looked like a line of very hairy and deforli the bushes
”Not this tiht up his rifle ”Our best chance is to lie quiet until they have given up the search Then we shall see whether we can't get back to their town and hit 'em where it hurts most Give 'em an hour and we'llone of our food tins andbut so es and a rifle in each hand, we started off upon ourit we carefullythe brush-wood and its bearing to Fort Challenger, that we h the bushes in silence until we cae of the cliff, close to the old caavethe thick trees these swine are our masters,”
said he ”They can see us and we cannot see them But in the open it is different There we can move faster than they So we e of the plateau has fewer large trees than further inland So that's our line of advance Go slowly, keep your eyes open and your rifle ready Above all, never let thee left--that'sfellah”
When we reached the edge of the cliff I looked over and saw our good old black Zareat deal to have hailed hierous, lest we should be heard The woods seeain we heard their curious clicking chatter At such tied into the nearest clump of bushes and lay still until the sound had passed away Our advance, therefore, was very slow, and two hours at least must have passed before I saw by Lord John's cautious movements that we must be close to our destination He motioned to me to lie still, and he crawled forward hi with eagerness
”Come!” said he ”Come quick! I hope to the Lord we are not too late already!”
I foundwith nervous excite out through the bushes at a clearing which stretched before us
It was a sight which I shall never forget untilday--so weird, so impossible, that I do not kno I a e in the Savage Club and look out on the drab solidity of the Ehtmare, some delirium of fever Yet I will set it dohile it is still fresh in rasses by my side, will know if I have lied