7
THE BULL WHIP
As von Horn and Virginia Maxon walked slowly beneath the dense shadowsof the jungle he again renewed his suit. It would please him more tohave the girl accompany him voluntarily than to be compelled to takeher by force, but take her he would one way or another, and that, thisvery night, for all the plans were made and already under way.
"I cannot do it, Doctor von Horn," she had said. "No matter how muchdanger I may be in here I cannot desert my father on this lonely islewith only savage lascars and the terrible monsters of his own creationsurrounding him. Why, it would be little short of murder for us to dosuch a thing. I cannot see how you, his most trusted lieutenant, caneven give an instant's consideration to the idea.
"And now that you insist that his mind is sorely affected, it is onlyan added reason why I must remain with him to protect him so far as Iam able, from himself and his enemies."
Von Horn did not relish the insinuation in the accent which the girlput upon the last word.
"It is because I love you so, Virginia," he hastened to urge inextenuation of his suggested disloyalty. "I cannot see you sacrificedto his horrible mania. You do not realize the imminence of your peril.Tomorrow Number Thirteen was to have come to live beneath the same roofwith you. You recall Number One whom the stranger killed as the thingwas bearing you away through the jungle? Can you imagine sleeping inthe same house with such a soulless thing? Eating your three meals aday at the same table with it? And knowing all the time that in a fewshort weeks at the most you were destined to be given to the thing asits mate? Virginia, you must be mad to consider for a moment remainingwithin reach of such a terrible peril.
"Come to Singapore with me--it will take but a few days--and then wecan return with some good medical man and a couple of Europeans, andtake your father away from the terrible creatures he has created. Youwill be mine then and safe from the awful fate that now lies back therein the camp awaiting you. We can take your father upon a long tripwhere rest and quiet can have an opportunity to restore his enfeebledmentality. Come, Virginia! Come with me now. We can go directly tothe Ithaca and safety. Say that you will come."
The girl shook her head.
"I do not love you, I am afraid, Doctor von Horn, or I should certainlybe moved by your appeal. If you wish to bring help for my father Ishall never cease to thank you if you will go to Singapore and fetchit, but it is not necessary that I go. My place is here, near him."
In the darkness the girl did not see the change that came over theman's face, but his next words revealed his altered attitude withsufficient exactitude to thoroughly arouse her fears.
"Virginia," he said, "I love you, and I intend to have you. Nothing onearth can prevent me. When you know me better you will return my love,but now I must risk offending you that I may save you for myself fromthe monstrous connection which your father contemplates for you. Ifyou will not come away from the island with me voluntarily I considerit my duty to take you away by force."
"You would never do that, Doctor von Horn!" she exclaimed.
Von Horn had gone too far. He cursed himself inwardly for a fool. Whythe devil didn't that villain, Bududreen, come! He should have beenalong to act his part half an hour before.
"No, Virginia," said the man, softly, after a moment's silence, "Icould not do that; though my judgment tells me that I should do it.You shall remain here if you insist and I will be with you to serve andprotect both you and your father."
The words were fair, but the girl could not forget the ugly tone thathad tinged his preceding statement. She felt that she would be gladwhen she found herself safely within the bungalow once more.
"Come," she said, "it is late. Let us return to camp."
Von Horn was about to reply when the war cries of Muda Saffir's Dyaksas they rushed out upon Bududreen and his companions came to themdistinctly through the tropic night.
"What was that?" cried the girl in an alarmed tone.
"God knows," replied von Horn. "Can it be that our men have mutinied?"
He thought the six with Bududreen were carrying out their part in amost realistic manner, and a grim smile tinged his hard face.
Virginia Maxon turned resolutely toward the camp.
"I must go back there to my father," she said, "and so must you. Ourplace is there--God give that we be not too late," and before von Horncould stop her she turned and ran through the darkness of the jungle inthe direction of the camp.
Von Horn dashed after her, but so black was the night beneath theoverhanging trees, festooned with their dark myriad creepers, that thegirl was out of sight in an instant, and upon the soft carpet of therotting vegetation her light footfalls gave no sound.
The doctor made straight for the camp, but Virginia, unused to jungletrailing even by day, veered sharply to the left. The sounds which hadguided her at first soon died out, the brush became thicker, andpresently she realized that she had no conception of the direction ofthe camp. Coming to a spot where the trees were less dense, and alittle moonlight filtered to the ground, she paused to rest and attemptto regain her bearings.
As she stood listening for some sound which might indicate thewhereabouts of the camp, she detected the noise of a body approachingthrough the underbrush. Whether man or beast she could but conjectureand so she stood with every nerve taut waiting the thing thatfloundered heavily toward her. She hoped it might be von Horn, but thehideous war cries which had apprised her of enemies at the encampmentmade her fear that fate might be directing the footsteps of one ofthese upon her.
Nearer and nearer came the sound, and the girl stood poised ready tofly when the dark face of Bududreen suddenly emerged into the moonlightbeside her. With an hysterical cry of relief the girl greeted him.
"Oh, Bududreen," she exclaimed, "what has happened at camp? Where ismy father? Is he safe? Tell me."
The Malay could scarce believe the good fortune which had befallen himso quickly following the sore affliction of losing the treasure. Hisevil mind worked quickly, so that he grasped the full possibilitiesthat were his before the girl had finished her questioning.
"The camp was attacked by Dyaks, Miss Maxon," he replied. "Many of ourmen were killed, but your father escaped and has gone to the ship. Ihave been searching for you and Doctor von Horn. Where is he?"
"He was with me but a moment ago. When we heard the cries at camp Ihastened on to discover what calamity had befallen us--we becameseparated."
"He will be safe," said Bududreen, "for two of my men are waiting toguide you and the doctor to the ship in case you returned to campbefore I found you. Come, we will hasten on to the harbor. Yourfather will be worried if we are long delayed, and he is anxious tomake sail and escape before the Dyaks discover the location of theIthaca."
The man's story seemed plausible enough to Virginia, although she couldnot repress a little pang of regret that her father had been willing togo on to the harbor before he knew her fate. However, she explainedthat by her belief that his mind was unbalanced through constantapplication to his weird obsession.
Without demur, then, she turned and accompanied the rascally Malaytoward the harbor. At the bank of the little stream which led down tothe Ithaca's berth the man lifted her to his shoulder and thus bore herthe balance of the way to the beach. Here two of his men were awaitinghim in one of the ship's boats, and without words they embarked andpulled for the vessel.
Once on board Virginia started immediately for her father's cabin. Asshe crossed the deck she noticed that the ship was ready to sail, andeven as she descended the companionway she heard the rattle of theanchor chain about the capstan. She wondered if von Horn could be onboard too. It seemed remarkable that all should have reached theIthaca so quickly, and equally strange that none of her own people wereon deck to welcome her, or to command the vessel.
To her chagrin she found her father's cabin empty, and a moment'shurried investigation disclosed the fact that von Horn's was unoccupi
edas well. Now her doubts turned quickly to fears, and with a littlegasp of dismay at the grim possibilities which surged through herimagination she ran quickly to the companionway, but above her she sawthat the hatch was down, and when she reached the top that it wasfastened. Futilely she beat upon the heavy planks with her delicatehands, calling aloud to Bududreen to release her, but there was noreply, and with the realization of the hopelessness of her position shedropped back to the deck, and returned to her stateroom. Here shelocked and barricaded the door as best she could, and throwing herselfupon the berth awaited in dry-eyed terror the next blow that fate heldin store for her.
Shortly after von Horn became separated from Virginia he collided withthe fleeing lascar who had escaped the parangs of Muda Saffir's headhunters at the same time as had Bududreen. So terror stricken was thefellow that he had thrown away his weapons in the panic of flight,which was all that saved von Horn from death at the hands of the fearcrazed man. To him, in the extremity of his fright, every man was anenemy, and the doctor had a tough scuffle with him before he couldimpress upon the fellow that he was a friend.
From him von Horn obtained an incoherent account of the attack,together with the statement that he was the only person in camp thatescaped, all the others having been cut down by the savage horde thatoverwhelmed them. It was with difficulty that von Horn persuaded theman to return with him to the campong, but finally, he consented to doso when the doctor with drawn revolver, presented death as the onlyalternative.
Together they cautiously crept back toward the palisade, not knowing atwhat moment they might come upon the savage enemy that had wrought suchhavoc among their forces, for von Horn believed the lascar's story thatall had perished. His only motive for returning lay in his desire toprevent Virginia Maxon falling into the hands of the Dyaks, or, failingthat, rescuing her from their clutches.
Whatever faults and vices were Carl von Horn's cowardice was not one ofthem, and it was without an instant's hesitation that he had elected toreturn to succor the girl he believed to have returned to camp,although he entertained no scruples regarding the further pursuit ofhis dishonorable intentions toward her, should he succeed in saving herfrom her other enemies.
As the two approached the campong quiet seemed to have again fallenabout the scene of the recent alarm. Muda Saffir had passed on towardthe cove with the heavy chest, and the scrimmage in the bungalow wasover. But von Horn did not abate his watchfulness as he stole silentlywithin the precincts of the north campong, and, hugging the densershadows of the palisade, crept toward the house.
The dim light in the living room drew him to one of the windows whichoverlooked the verandah. A glance within showed him Sing and NumberThirteen bending over the body of Professor Maxon. He noted thehandsome face and perfect figure of the young giant. He saw the bodiesof the dead lascars and Dyaks. Then he saw Sing and the young man liftProfessor Maxon tenderly in their arms and bear him to his own room.
A sudden wave of jealous rage swept through the man's vicious brain.He saw that the soulless thing within was endowed with a kindlier andmore noble nature than he himself possessed. He had planted the seedof hatred and revenge within his untutored heart without avail, for heread in the dead bodies of Bududreen's men and the two Dyaks the storyof Number Thirteen's defense of the man von Horn had hoped he wouldkill.
Von Horn was quite sure now that Virginia Maxon was not within thecampong. Either she had become confused and lost in the jungle aftershe left him, or had fallen into the hands of the wild horde that hadattacked the camp. Convinced of this, there was no obstacle to thwartthe sudden plan which entered his malign brain. With a single act hecould rid himself of the man whom he had come to look upon as a rival,whose physical beauty aroused his envy and jealousy; he could remove,in the person of Professor Maxon, the parental obstacle which mighteither prevent his obtaining the girl, or make serious trouble for himin case he took her by force, and at the same time he could transfer tothe girl's possession the fortune which was now her father's--and hecould accomplish it all without tainting his own hands with the bloodof his victims.
As the full possibilities of his devilish scheme unfolded before hismind's eye a grim smile curled his straight, thin lips at the thoughtof the fate which it entailed for the creator of the hideous monstersof the court of mystery.
As he turned away from the bungalow his eye fell upon the tremblinglascar who had accompanied him to the edge of the verandah. He must berid of the fellow in some way--no eye must see him perpetrate the deedhe had in mind. A solution quickly occurred to him.
"Hasten to the harbor," he said to the man in a low voice, "and tellthose on board the ship that I shall join them presently. Have all inreadiness to sail. I wish to fetch some of my belongings--all withinthe bungalow are dead."
No command could have better suited the sailor. Without a word heturned and fled toward the jungle. Von Horn walked quickly to theworkshop. The door hung open. Through the dark interior he strodestraight to the opposite door which let upon the court of mystery. Ona nail driven into the door frame hung a heavy bull whip. The doctortook it down as he raised the strong bar which held the door. Then hestepped through into the moonlit inner campong--the bull whip in hisright hand, a revolver in his left.
A half dozen misshapen monsters roved restlessly about the hard packedearth of the pen. The noise of the battle in the adjoining enclosurehad aroused them from slumber and awakened in their half formed brainsvague questionings and fears. At sight of von Horn several of themrushed for him with menacing growls, but a swift crack of the bull whipbrought them to a sudden realization of the identity of the intruder,so that they slunk away, muttering and whining in rage.
Von Horn passed quickly to the low shed in which the remainder of theeleven were sleeping. With vicious cuts from the stinging lash he layabout him upon the sleeping things. Roaring and shrieking in pain andanger the creatures stumbled to their feet and lumbered awkwardly intothe open. Two of them turned upon their tormentor, but the burningweapon on their ill protected flesh sent them staggering back out ofreach, and in another moment all were huddled in the center of thecampong.
As cattle are driven, von Horn drove the miserable creatures toward thedoor of the workshop. At the threshold of the dark interior thefrightened things halted fearfully, and then as von Horn urged them onfrom behind with his cruel whip they milled as cattle at the entranceto a strange corral.
Again and again he urged them for the door, but each time they turnedaway, and to escape the whip beat and tore at the wall of the palisadein a vain effort to batter it from their pathway. Their roars andshrieks were almost deafening as von Horn, losing what little remainedof his scant self-control, dashed among them laying to right and leftwith the stern whip and the butt of his heavy revolver.
Most of the monsters scattered and turned back into the center of theenclosure, but three of them were forced through the doorway into theworkshop, from the darkness of which they saw the patch of moonlightthrough the open door upon the opposite side. Toward this theyscurried as von Horn turned back into the court of mystery for theothers.
Three more herculean efforts he made before he beat the last of thecreatures through the outer doorway of the workshop into the northcampong.
Among the age old arts of the celestials none is more strangelyinspiring than that of medicine. Odd herbs and unspeakable things whenproperly compounded under a favorable aspect of the heavenly bodies arepotent to achieve miraculous cures, and few are the Chinamen who do notbrew some special concoction of their own devising for the lesser illswhich beset mankind.
Sing was no exception in this respect. In various queerly shaped,bamboo covered jars he maintained a supply of tonics, balms andlotions. His first thought when he had made Professor Maxoncomfortable upon the couch was to fetch his pet nostrum, for thereburned strong within his yellow breast the same powerful yearning toexperiment that marks the greatest of the profession to whose mysterieshe aspired.
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Though the hideous noises from the inner campong rose threateningly,the imperturbable Sing left the bungalow and passed across the northcampong to the little lean-to that he had built for himself against thepalisade that separated the north enclosure from the court of mystery.
Here he rummaged about in the dark until he had found the two phials hesought. The noise of the monsters upon the opposite side of thepalisade had now assumed the dimensions of pandemonium, and through itall the Chinaman heard the constant crack that was the sharp voice ofthe bull whip.
He had completed his search and was about to return to the bungalowwhen the first of the monsters emerged into the north campong from theworkshop. At the door of his shack Sing Lee drew back to watch, for heknew that behind them some one was driving these horribly grotesquecreatures from their prison.
One by one they came lumbering into the moonlight until Sing hadcounted eleven, and then, after them, came a white man, bull whip andrevolver in hand. It was von Horn. The equatorial moon shone fullupon him--there could be no mistake. The Chinaman saw him turn andlock the workshop door; saw him cross the campong to the outer gate;saw him pass through toward the jungle, closing the gate.
Of a sudden there was a sad, low moaning through the surrounding trees;dense, black clouds obscured the radiant moon; and then with hideousthunder and vivid flashes of lightning the tempest broke in all itsfury of lashing wind and hurtling deluge. It was the first great stormof the breaking up of the monsoon, and under the cover of its darknessSing Lee scurried through the monster filled campong to the bungalow.Within he found the young man bathing Professor Maxon's head as he haddirected him to do.
"All gettee out," he said, jerking his thumb in the direction of thecourt of mystery. "Eleven devils. Plenty soon come bung'low. Whatdo?"
Number Thirteen had seen von Horn's extra bull whip hanging upon a pegin the living room. For answer he stepped into that room and took theweapon down. Then he returned to the professor's side.
Outside the frightened monsters groped through the blinding rain anddarkness in search of shelter. Each vivid lightning flash, andbellowing of booming thunder brought responsive cries of rage andterror from their hideous lips. It was Number Twelve who first spiedthe dim light showing through the bungalow's living room window. Witha low guttural to his companions he started toward the building. Upthe low steps to the verandah they crept. Number Twelve peered throughthe window. He saw no one within, but there was warmth and dryness.
His little knowledge and lesser reasoning faculties suggested nothought of a doorway. With a blow he shattered the glass of thewindow. Then he forced his body through the narrow aperture. At thesame moment a gust of wind sucking through the broken panes drew openthe door, and as Number Thirteen, warned by the sound of breakingglass, sprang into the living room he was confronted by the entirehorde of misshapen beings.
His heart went out in pity toward the miserable crew, but he knew thathis life as well as those of the two men in the adjoining room dependedupon the force and skill with which he might handle the grave crisiswhich confronted them. He had seen and talked with most of thecreatures when from time to time they had been brought singly into theworkshop that their creator might mitigate the wrong he had done bytraining the poor minds with which he had endowed them to reasonintelligently.
A few were hopeless imbeciles, unable to comprehend more than therudimentary requirements of filling their bellies when food was placedbefore them; yet even these were endowed with superhuman strength; andwhen aroused battled the more fiercely for the very reason of theirbrainlessness. Others, like Number Twelve, were of a higher order ofintelligence. They spoke English, and, after a fashion, reasoned in acrude sort of way. These were by far the most dangerous, for as thepower of comparison is the fundamental principle of reasoning, so theywere able to compare their lot with that of the few other men they hadseen, and with the help of von Horn to partially appreciate thehorrible wrong that had been done them.
Von Horn, too, had let them know the identity of their creator, andthus implanted in their malformed brains the insidious poison ofrevenge. Envy and jealousy were there as well, and hatred of allbeings other than themselves. They envied the ease and comparativebeauty of the old professor and his assistant, and hated the latter forthe cruelty of the bull whip and the constant menace of the ever readyrevolver; and so as they were to them the representatives of the greathuman world of which they could never be a part, their envy andjealousy and hatred of these men embraced the entire race which theyrepresented.
It was such that Number Thirteen faced as he emerged from theprofessor's apartment.
"What do you want here?" he said, addressing Number Twelve, who stood alittle in advance of the others.
"We have come for Maxon," growled the creature. "We have been pennedup long enough. We want to be out here. We have come to kill Maxonand you and all who have made us what we are."
"Why do you wish to kill me?" asked the young man. "I am one of you.I was made in the same way that you were made."
Number Twelve opened his mismated eyes in astonishment.
"Then you have already killed Maxon?" he asked.
"No. He was wounded by a savage enemy. I have been helping to makehim well again. He has wronged me as much as he has you. If I do notwish to kill him, why should you? He did not mean to wrong us. Hethought that he was doing right. He is in trouble now and we shouldstay and protect him."
"He lies," suddenly shouted another of the horde. "He is not one ofus. Kill him! Kill him! Kill Maxon, too, and then we shall be asother men, for it is these men who keep us as we are."
The fellow started forward toward Number Thirteen as he spoke, andmoved by the impulse of imitation the others came on with him.
"I have spoken fairly to you," said Number Thirteen in a low voice."If you cannot understand fairness here is something you canunderstand."
Raising the bull whip above his head the young giant leaped among theadvancing brutes and lay about him with mighty strokes that put toshame the comparatively feeble blows with which von Horn had been wontto deal out punishment to the poor, damned creatures of the court ofmystery.
For a moment they stood valiantly before his attack, but after two hadgrappled with him and been hurled headlong to the floor they gave upand rushed incontinently out into the maelstrom of the screamingtempest.
In the doorway behind him Sing Lee had been standing waiting theoutcome of the encounter and ready to lend a hand were it required. Asthe two men turned back into the professor's room they saw that thewounded man's eyes were open and upon them. At sight of NumberThirteen a questioning look came into his eyes.
"What has happened?" he asked feebly of Sing. "Where is my daughter?Where is Dr. von Horn? What is this creature doing out of his pen?"
The blow of the parang upon the professor's skull had shocked hisoverwrought mind back into the path of sanity. It had left him with aclear remembrance of the past, other than the recent fight in theliving room--that was a blank--and it had given him a clearerperspective of the plans he had been entertaining for so long relativeto this soulless creature.
The first thought that sprang to his mind as he saw Number Thirteenbefore him was of his mad intention to give his daughter to such amonstrous thing. With the recollection came a sudden loathing andhatred of this and the other creatures of his unholy experimentations.
Presently he realized that his questions had not been answered.
"Sing!" he shouted. "Answer me. Where are Virginia and Dr. von Horn?"
"All gonee. Me no know. All gonee. Maybeso allee dead."
"My God!" groaned the stricken man; and then his eyes again fallingupon the silent giant in the doorway, "Out of my sight," he shrieked."Out of my sight! Never let me see you again--and to think that Iwould have given my only daughter to a soulless thing like you. Away!Before I go mad and slay you."
Slowly the color mounted to the neck and face of the gian
t--thensuddenly it receded, leaving him as ashen as death. His great handgripped the stock of the bull whip. A single blow was all that wouldhave been needed to silence Professor Maxon forever. There was murderin the wounded heart. The man took a step forward into the room, andthen something drew his eyes to a spot upon the wall just aboveProfessor Maxon's shoulder--it was a photograph of Virginia Maxon.
Without a word Number Thirteen turned upon his heel and passed out intothe storm.
The Monster Men Page 7
