第 17 页

Bunbury dropped first and alighted without injury. Roden was equally fortunate, and both pushed through the crowd to Arthur's side.

The prisoners were robbed of their revolvers, and then for nearly an hour they were kept on exhibition, while every man, woman and child in the village came forward and inspected them curiously.

It was not a pleasant ordeal, for there was a sort of wolfish, hungry look on every face. The negroes were of medium size, and their greasy bodies were naked, except for waist-clouts of untanned skins.

Their hair was very black and long and straight; their features were of the lowest and most degraded type, and each man wore a huge copper ring either in his nose or underlip.

Finally, to their great relief, the prisoners were thrust into an empty hut, and left to themselves. Through the narrow door, which was left open, they saw the crowd gradually disperse.

All the fires were permitted to die out except one before the hut, and around this squatted guards.

"Well, our voyage has come to an end at last," said Bunbury, "and unless I am greatly mistaken, we are at the very place we wanted to reach."

"Do you mean that this is the tribe of cannibals — the Karibegs?" exclaimed Arthur.

"I think so, lad, but of course we can't be sure."

"I don't believe it," said Roden. "If our father was the king we would have seen him."

"Not necessarily," replied Bunbury. "An African tribe always has many villages, and this is certainly not the royal kraal. It may lie many miles away."

The boys were put in better spirits by this explanation, which was very plausible. They easily reasoned themselves into the belief that their captors were the Karibegs, and that the king of the tribe would prove to be their long-lost father.

"I don't believe we will be prisoners for more than a few hours," said Arthur. "We will either be taken to the king, or he will hear of our capture and send for us."

"I hope so," replied Bunbury, in a peculiar tone.

"One thing is certain — that these negroes are really cannibals. There's no mistaking the greedy way in which they eyed us."

The boys shuddered at the thought, and began to feel rather less secure and confident.

"We won't borrow trouble," said Bunbury. "Let's eat what food we've got, and then try to sleep. The situation may look brighter in the morning."

They emptied their pockets of the hard biscuits and after sharing them equally, they devoured every crumb. Then they stretched themselves side by side on the straw- covered floor of the hut.

"If Godfrey were only with us," said Arthur sadly. "Do you think he could possibly have escaped?"

Bunbury slowly shook his head.

"The brave fellow is dead," he replied. "There is no hope."

After that there was silence, and presently; the weary prisoners were wrapped in deep and merciful slumber.

The long hours of the night slipped by, and at the first flush of dawn the village was astir. Some one screened the door of the hut with a leopard skin, so that the prisoners could see nothing of what was taking place out side.

Soon after they awoke, food was shoved in — plantains, rice and strips of dried meat. They ate all but the meat; that they shrank from with loathing, since they could not tell what it was.

For the next hour they heard footsteps passing and repassing, and the sound of many voices.

"I hope they won't keep us here all day," said Arthur impatiently. "I have half a mind to crawl out."

"Don't do it," warned Roden. "You can't tell what will happen."

Bunbury crawled across the floor, and lifted the leopard skin sufficiently to let him peep under. He dropped it quickly, and came back to his companions.

"Have patience," he said. "The negroes are assembling, and it looks as though they were going to take us somewhere."

"To the king, of course," cried Roden eagerly.

"Very likely," assented Bunbury. "Before we start I ought to dig a hole here, and bury these two bombs. They will possibly explode if I am roughly handled."

"I forgot you had them," said Arthur. "It's a wonder they didn't blowup when you dropped from the balloon last night."

Just then the leopard skin was roughly jerked away, admitting a flood of light, and Bunbury hastily stuffed the deadly canisters back into his pocket.

The next instant four burly negroes entered the hut.

After binding Bunbury's hands behind his back with cords made of woven palm-husks, the negroes turned to Arthur and Roden, and served them in the same way.

* * *

Chapter XXVI

The prisoners submitted quietly, believing that these precautions were merely to prevent them from escaping while on the journey.

Then they were taken outside, where they found a great crowd assembled. The sun shone brightly down on the village, and monkeys and parrots were chattering in the surrounding jungle.

The balloon swayed to and fro from the branches of the euphorbia tree, and Arthur remarked that it did not appear to be much torn.

"It is not," replied Bunbury. "The foliage has only ripped it a little. It is made of stout material, and in its present situation it can defy the elements for several months. It may do us good service in the future."

"Yes; if the natives let it alone," said Roden.

"I am satisfied that they will," Bunbury answered. "They evidently regard it with veneration and fear."

Here the conversation ended, for the captives were marched forward in single file, guarded front and rear, by a dozen of the largest and strongest negroes in the village. Each carried a long knife and a huge "knob- kerry," or knotted club.

With clamorous shouting, a horde of men, women and children followed the procession, pressing closely on both sides, in spite of the angry gestures of the guards.

"I suppose they intend to accompany us part of the way," remarked Arthur.

"Yes," assented Roden; "it's a guard of honor."

Bunbury said nothing, nor did his companions notice the look of frozen horror that had suddenly appeared on his face.

On and on went the noisy crowd, winding through narrow avenues, lined with conical huts. The village was an extensive one, but they came at last to a broad gateway in a wall of prickly thorn bushes.

Passing through, they entered a jungle path, and after traversing it for fifty yards, the vegetation fell suddenly away.

It was a glorious scene that burst upon the view of the prisoners — a level plateau of hard, bare rock, that terminated on the verge of the lake.

For miles straight ahead extended this inland sea of blue waters, gleaming like molten silver in the sun light. The opposite shore was only a faint purplish streak on the horizon.

To right and left, the view along the beach was cut off by jutting headlands, covered with vegetation of the most vivid green.

The peaceful beauty of the lake reminded the boys that Godfrey was buried in the blue depths. The thought dimmed their eyes with tears, and they stumbled blindly forward over the rock.

"The king's kraal must be somewhere along the shore," said Roden. "I suppose they are going to take us there by water."

"But I don't see any boats," replied Arthur, pointing ahead to where the sloping base of the rock met the water.

Just then the guards turned to one side, and led the prisoners to a higher part of the plateau, that dropped almost sheerly into the lake, from a height of ten feet. The boys were still looking out on the water with tearful eyes, and consequently they saw nothing else, until Bunbury uttered a low, sharp cry.

Then, when they looked about them; the blood almost congealed in their veins with horror.

They saw in front of them a great, square slab of stone stained a deep red; they saw blotches and dried pools of the same color all over the surrounding rock; they saw heaps of firewood, and a great number of skulls and other bones lying here and there in heaps.

They saw all in a quick glance, and swiftly the awful truth flashed upon them. They had been brought here to be butchered and eaten — to provide a human feast for their cannibal captors!

They tried to speak, but their tongues stuck fast; no sound came from their parched throats. Their feet trembled under them, and Arthur leaned heavily against his brother.

"God help us!" cried Bunbury. "We had better have perished in the lake last night."

Then, in a fit of desperation and rage, he struggled hard to free his arms. Failing in this, he tried to throw himself into the lake, but he was quickly seized and overpowered.

The boys looked mutely on, knowing that resistance or appeal would alike be useless. They were sick and faint with horror, and their blood ran cold when the hungry cannibals swarmed close around them, yelling and hallooing, and showing their keen white teeth.

The guards made forcible use of their clubs to drive the mob back, and when a little circle was cleared about the slab, they lit two fires, and piled on wood until the flames and smoke rose high toward the heavens.

Then there was a brief and awful pause. The prisoners looked at one another's ghastly faces, not observing that they themselves were being keenly scrutinized by the guards.

The ravenous crowd lost patience, and began to hoot angrily. An instant later they were screeching like exultant fiends, for two huge negroes had pounced upon Arthur, and taken him by each arm.

The lad hung limply in their grasp, as they dragged him toward the bloody slab, where three other negroes were waiting with drawn knives and clubs.

For the moment he was stupid with fear of the terrible fate that awaited him. He glanced back, and saw his companions struggling to get to him.

"Good-by, lad," cried Bunbury. "It will be painless — only one blow."

Roden tried to speak, but could utter only a hoarse, inarticulate sound. He fought like a madman with the negroes who had hold of him.

Now Arthur was at the slab, and for an instant his captors straightened him up preparatory to putting him into position for the deathblow from the knob-kerry and the cut of the knife.

In that brief second the lad made a discovery that brought back his nerve and courage with a rush, and spurred him to a mad determination to escape his fate.

The cord about his wrists had become unknotted!

"I must do it," he reflected, setting his teeth hard. "If I get a little headway perhaps the whole crowd will pursue me, and give Bunbury and Roden a chance to slip away. And if I fail — well, I'll have a chance to die fighting."

Like a flash, the words passed through his mind, and that quickly he jerked his hands out of the loose cords.

A second jerk freed him from his captors, and at the same time he intercepted and grabbed a knob-kerry that was about to descend on his head.

With a hoarse cry he mounted the slab, sprang down on the other side, and dashed at the crowd of negroes, singling out a point where the line was thinnest.

At sight of the frenzied lad, swinging his club, there was a panic and stampede. Men, women and children bolted right and left, and one plucky negro who tried to rip open the fugitive with a knife, was rewarded by a blow from the knob-kerry that bowled him over with a cracked skull.

It was Arthur's intention to swerve to one side or the other, but he quickly saw that the cannibals were running in both directions to intercept him.

This left him no choice but to take to the lake, where he knew that he must eventually be drowned.

"Better that than to be butchered and eaten," he muttered.

A quick, backward glance gave him a glimpse of his companions, and showed him also that the negroes were almost at his heels.

"Good-by, Roden!" he cried, and dropping the club, he ran forward a few feet, and dived head first off the sheer brink of the rock...

The water was fortunately deep, and he went far under. When he came to the surface his first act was to squirm out of his boots, which proved less difficult than he had anticipated.

Then he swam desperately on, without looking back. Behind him he heard splash after splash, and a blended yell from scores of throats.

The nearest jutting headland was less than a quarter of a mile to the right, and it occurred to him that he might reach it, and find safe shelter there.

But on glancing over his shoulder, he saw that which compelled him to abandon the intention. A dozen of the cannibals were running alongshore toward the headland, meaning to cut him off if he landed. A dozen more were swimming after him, with lusty strokes, and with gleaming knives between their teeth. So Arthur swam straight on, knowing that the only goal awaiting him was a grave on the bottom of the lake.

He thought of many things in that brief time. All the events of his life seemed to pass in review before him — long-forgotten incidents of childhood and youth.

His breath came shorter and faster, and strength began to fail him. He could hardly lift one arm above the other. There was water in his ears and throat, and the yelling of the cannibals was like a faint, far-away murmur.

He looked weakly back, and saw the bobbing black heads within ten feet of him. A tremor ran through him as he saw, in imagination, the knives sinking deep in his body — the gory feast that would follow.

With a hope of sinking beyond the reach of his pursuers, he concluded to give up the struggle. He stopped swimming, and was just about to go under when an unexpected thing happened.

Looking toward the headland he saw a long narrow canoe shoot suddenly into view — then a second, and third. Each contained a dozen negroes, and each man was paddling with eager haste.

It was a noise behind him that gave Arthur the first clew to the situation. Gazing back he saw the canni bals swimming madly for the shore, where also there was visible excitement and alarm.

The lad comprehended that the strangers were com ing with hostile intent. That meant either safety or a reprieve for him and his companions, provided the latter were not slain in the meantime.

A determination to live took the place of his despair, and infused fresh strength into his tired limbs. In stead of sinking, he swam, slowly and painfully, toward the canoes.

Just in time the foremost one — whose occupants saw him — slackened speed and hove alongside. Willing arms pulled the lad over the gunwale, and then the canoe went swiftly on with the others.