CHAPTER XIX
FRIENDS IN NEED
They were not kept long in suspense. After being assured that theirattention was attracted, the voice that had made the hissing signalwhispered through some aperture of which the boys had no knowledge:
"Listen to me, white boys, and you, too, old man, you can escape ifyour hearts are stout."
Stunned by the suddenness of this joyful news the boys sat silent.
"Are you listening, white boys?" said the voice impatiently.
"Yes--yes," whispered Billy eagerly.
"Then when a man comes in a short time to you with food and drink donot touch it, for it is poisoned with a deadly drug; but curb yourappetite. In a short time the same man will come back to see if youhave yet become insensible. Then you must be of stout heart andleap upon him and kill him. After that leave your cell and I willshow you how to gain freedom."
The boys had recognized the voice at once as that of their friendlyguide, though why he should have taken such a risk to aid them didnot manifest itself till he whispered:
"And as a reward, I ask of the fat white boy with the glass eyes hisfire-weapon which assuredly contains a great fetish and of thered-headed one some of his hair for a fetish also. Of the old man Iwould have the round box containing the strange god that says by dayand by night 'tick-tick'."
"He means my watch," answered the old man, "it was a present from mydead wife to me on our wedding day, but he shall have it."
The boys also promised their "fetishes."
There was a guttural sound of satisfaction from outside the cell asthe bargain was struck and then all was silent.
How they passed the time till the door swung open and the man whomtheir friend had foretold would bring them food and drink appeared,they never knew; but somehow it went. The new comer set the stuffdown without a word and then stuck the flaming torch he carried in aniche in the wall so that they might have light to eat by. He madeseveral gesticulations intended, apparently, to signify that what hehad set before them was very good.
"Hum," said Billy when he had gone, "I'd as soon eat a mess of toadsas touch any of this stuff--although it smells mighty good," headded regretfully, "and I'm hungry enough to gobble up a crocodile,claws and all."
But they all abstained from touching it and spent the time betweenthe second promised visit discussing whether they would carry outthe instructions of the friendly savage.
"But we can't kill the fellow," objected Lathrop.
"Certainly not," replied Billy; "but, now that we have a light, Isee that there is a nice convenient chain fastened to the wall overthere. There would be no objection to our gagging him, to preventany outcry, and then hitching him up with it."
"But he is a pretty husky-looking customer," objected Lathrop;"suppose we can't overcome him?"
"We'll have to take our chances on that," said Billy decisively."Now what I propose is, that when he comes back we all he stretchedout as if the drug had overcome us and then, when I give the word,we all jump on him."
He looked doubtfully at the old man as he spoke. There was noquestion that in such a struggle the explorer would be worse thanuseless. Mr. Desmond himself agreed with Billy and it was arrangedthat while the two boys grappled with the negro that the old manshould pull the door to--in the event of its being left open--sothat no noise of the struggle might penetrate into the passageoutside.
The little party immediately spread themselves out on the floor inwell simulated insensibility and waited with hearts that beatuncomfortably quick for the decisive moment to arrive.
Failure meant death but, as Billy had put it, they were due to dieanyhow it seemed and they owed it to themselves to make as brave aneffort as possible to escape such a fate.
At last they heard a fumbling at the door and the man who hadbrought them the drugged food entered the cell. He scrutinized themwith a grunt of satisfaction and going up to each one shook him bythe shoulder to see if they were only asleep or really insensible.Apparently he was satisfied from their inertness that the drug hadworked, for he muttered to himself rapidly in the unknown tongue ashe concluded his examination.
Then he turned to pick up the earthen dishes, stooping over with hisback to Billy Barnes as he did so.
It was Billy's move!
Like a flash the young reporter--who had earned an enviable recordon the gridiron and crew at Columbia University--was on the savage'sback while Lathrop rushed at the fellow as he straightened up andgave him a low tackle. As Billy leaped he had dug his fingers intothe fellow's windpipe to choke any outcry, and when Lathrop seizedhim by the legs he toppled over like a felled ox without uttering asound. Billy rolled from under him as he fell backward and theman's head struck the stone floor with a terrific crash.
He was knocked insensible by the fall. The moment to escape hadarrived!
Rapidly the boys tore a strip off Billy's shirt and formed it into agag. With other strips they tied the insensible man's hands behindhis back and manacled his legs.
"He won't come to for quite a while after the crack he got,"remarked Billy; "but in case he does, he won't be able to attractattention for a long time."
Then, as cautiously as though stepping on eggs, they tiptoed outinto the passage--after extinguishing the torch--and the next minutewere startled to be suddenly halted by a form that ran right intothem in the blackness.
The next minute, however, their anxiety was relieved. It wasUmbashi who had collided with them and accompanying him was Aga, theman who killed the rogue elephant. It appeared that the two hadagreed to divide the fetishes their captives were to give them inreturn for their freedom. And Aga at once, with a stone knife, cutoff two generous locks of Lathrop's hair.
"But how are you to get my gun," objected Billy, "the priests tookit from me?"
"I already have it, Boy-of-the-eyes-of-glass," replied the engagingcliff-dweller. "I stole it from the old head-priest while he slept.But you must give it me of your own free will, or it will not begood 'fetish.'"
Of course Billy willingly "gave."
To get the watch they had to traverse what seemed to Billy andLathrop in their feverish excitement miles and miles of passages.But apparently the cliff-dwellers all went to bed early and sleptsound for they encountered no one, and their guides did not seem tobe in any anxiety over the possibility of discovery. Once they gota chill of horror when just before they left the cell door Aga, whocarried a sharp knife--the same with which he had dispatched theelephant and cut Lathrop's hair--signified his intention of cuttingthe unconscious meal-bringer's throat. It was with great difficultythat the boys dissuaded him from this barbaric act, the horror ofwhich did not seem to appeal either to him or his savage companion.
Once in old Desmond's cell it did not take long to get the watch--anaged gold key-winder--and present it to the delighted savages. Butseveral precious minutes were lost in showing the two how to wind itup. They regarded the key with quite as much veneration as thewatch. The boys saw the old man's eyes filled with tears as hehanded it over and Billy, as he saw the inscription on it, in aquaint, old-fashioned script, realized why.
"To my dear husband, George Desmond, on our wedding day, May 24th1874;" it read. With the signature "Mary Desmond."
Before they left the place that had been his home for the majorityof his long life, the old man carefully drew from beneath the palmfiber covering of the niche that served him as a bed a pile ofyellowed paper, covered closely with fine writing in a clear, boldhand. The pages had been written many years before old age hadseized their author's hand and paralyzed his strength.
Billy realized with a thrill that these papers contained, theimperishable record of the long-lost scientist's observations andcommentaries on the mysterious Flying Men.
But it was no time to linger in speculations.
Hastily thrusting the papers into the bosom of his shirt the agedman signified to his guides that he was, ready, and they left thechamber that had housed him for so many years
--without regret on hispart you may be sure.
Silently as cats they slipped down the corridor and, after about aquarter of an hour of traversing its smooth floor, they foundthemselves at the hole which gave egress to the outside world andfrom which hung the rope-ladder by which they were to descend tofreedom.
Aga and the other savage gave grunts of pleasure and even laughedsoftly as the boys' with a horrified start, almost stumbled over arecumbent figure.
It was that of the guard of the ladder.
He lay as if dead--his body right across the narrow entrance. Themoonlight from the outside that flooded the entrance showed that hismouth was open and his eyes closed.
A sudden rage filled Billy as he looked on the victim of what seemedto him to have been a wanton murder.
"You have killed him," he said raising his voice imprudently in hisanger.
"Hush, boy-with-the-glass-eyes," exclaimed Umbashi, "he is notdead. In a few hours he will be as well as you or I, but he willrecollect nothing. We have given him the sleeping root that bringsoblivion."
And now it was time to take the final step.
"A canoe with food and a jar of water is at the foot of the ladder,"whispered their guide, "and the current will carry you down towardthe coast. It will not be a hard journey except for the Tunnel ofthe Roaring Waters. Only a few men have navigated that and escapedalive, but you will be compelled to traverse it to reach the coast."
"Can we not leave the canoe and go overland round the tunnel?" askedBilly rightly conjecturing that their guide referred to a placewhere the river ran underground when he spoke of the Tunnel of theRoaring Waters.
"That cannot be done," was the African's reply. "The swamps wherethe sleeping death (the sleeping sickness) lies are all about it.Only by way of the Tunnel of the Roaring Waters can you escape."
"There is one other way," began Aga, "but that lies through theforest."
"We will take it rather than risk navigation in such a torrent asyou describe," decided Billy after the remark of Aga had beentranslated to him.
But before the two savages could say more there came a distantbooming borne down the rocky tube of the corridor.
It was the far-off confused sound of excited voices.
"Quick! glass-eyes, your escape has been discovered; you haven't amoment to lose!" cried Umbashi.
It was only too evident that he spoke the truth. The roar of thesearchers' angry voices was rapidly ringing louder.
"Take this, white boys, and defend yourselves to the death ratherthan be recaptured," said their friend as he thrust a stone knifeinto Billy's hand.
The old man and Lathrop were already half-away down the swayingladder.
"Be careful, for the river is swollen with the melting snows of themountains and runs as if a million demons were in its soul to-night,"warned Umbashi.
With a quick "Good-bye" to the men who risked their lives to rescuethem, Billy took his place on the swinging ladder and followed theothers down.
They were not a second too soon.
Even as they took their places in the canoe and Billy prepared toslash the grass-rope that held it, the clamor drew close to themouth of the tunnel.
From the foot of the cliff the chums and their aged companion sawtorches glowing and could perceive Aga and the other pointing atthem and evidently explaining to the tribesmen that they had triedto stop their flight. Billy was glad to see that apparently theirexplanations were accepted and they were not suspected of havingaided the escaping prisoners.
With a quick slash of his flint knife, the young reporter severedthe rope at which the canoe was straining till it was taut as apiano wire. There were several other canoes lying alongside andbefore he cast loose Billy cut the detaining ropes of these also.
"Now they'll have to swim if they want to get us!" he exclaimed asthe canoe, released from its bondage, shot forward on the boilingcurrent at a dizzy rate.
But he had reckoned without the flying men. Dozens of them haddropped from their holes and having gained the opposite bank startedin pursuit of the boys and the old explorer, who lay as if overcomeat the bottom of the canoe. Many of the strange beings carried bowsand arrows and they sent their shafts whizzing in a shower at thecanoe. One pierced its side and Billy had to stop the hole with astrip torn from his already ripped-up shirt.
But fortunately, except for a slight scratch on Billy's forearm,none of the arrows did much harm to the voyagers themselves, andborne on the swift current the canoe soon outdistanced her pursuers.
As the sound of their shouting grew faint behind them, Billy andLathrop grasped the paddle with which they strove to keep the boaton a straight course--there was no need to propel her.
The young reporter realized that three lives--his own, Lathrop's andthat of the long missing explorer depended alone now on their skilland grit.
Boy Aviators in Africa; Or, an Aerial Ivory Trail Page 19
