us."
"Well, we can't do any high-class tracking in this country," said theyoungster grimly. "If we stray six feet from the trail we are lost. Wehad better trust to fortune and go ahead."
It was impossible to do anything else. The route by which the carriershad marched from the camping ground was perfectly clear while wefollowed their footsteps, but if we diverged ever so slightly the thickveils of verdure hid the path from our eyes. To follow the party wewould have to hold to the trail and take the chances of an ambush whichLeith would certainly prepare for us the moment he knew we had escapedfrom the Cavern of Skulls. It would be easy for him to set his one-eyedwhite partner to shoot us down as we staggered along the trail whichSoma or one of the carriers had blazed with an axe.
"They cannot have more than three hours' start of us," cried Holman."Give me your arm, Verslun. Now let us move as fast as we can."
"But this is puerile," I protested. "We'll be running our heads into thenoose."
"I don't care if we do. I want to get near Leith."
"But we'll never get near by running after him in this fashion. If wecould find some way to get in front of him and wait."
"But what will happen to the girls?"
"Will our death prevent it?" I snapped. "If we rush after him in theopen we'll throw our chances away."
I am a sailor, absolutely ignorant of jungle knowledge, but I had senseenough to know that Leith would not leave his rear exposed for a momentafter he had received word from the cave. I tried to recall stories ofextraordinary trailing feats as we stumbled forward, but I becameconvinced that all the marvellous performances I had ever read of hadbeen accomplished under conditions that were altogether different fromthose that confronted us upon the Isle of Tears. An open piece ofcountry would have been a sight of joy to our eyes that were weary ofthe everlasting mesh of green which encompassed us like the tentacles ofa malignant fate. The green, sweaty leaves, the fat, bloated pods, andthe lengths of pythonesque runners produced a mental nausea. Thevegetation appeared to us to be vicious. Its very luxuriance producedthat fear of the wild which grips one in tropical countries but which isnever felt in lands situated in the temperate zones.
We had not covered a hundred yards of the path when Holman pounced upona strip of white bark that waved to us from the thorn of a lawyer-vinecrossing the track. A few pencilled words covered the smooth side of thestrip, and we absorbed them in a single glance.
"'We're prisoners now,' muttered Holman, reading the few words in awhisper. 'The brute has declared himself. Barbara.'"
The boy turned to me, his face all blood-smeared and haggard, and for amoment we stared at the strip of bark. There had been no doubt in ourminds concerning Leith's intentions from the time that Kaipi brought usthe message which Soma had dropped, but the knowledge that the brute haddeclared himself to the Professor and the two girls brought us a mosthorrible feeling. In my own case I had never experienced such asensation. The strange rites connected with the "tivo" in the long cavehad laid a foundation upon which my imagination piled skyscrapers ofhorror. If I could have fixed my mind upon a definite fate that would betheirs if they were not rescued from the big brute's clutches, I wouldhave found relief, but my inability to do that left me a victim tothoughts that were enough to deprive one of his reason. We looked uponthe island as the ceremonial place for rites that were stamped out inthe groups where the missionary had pushed himself, and the message fromBarbara Herndon became a mental piledriver to ram home a thousanddoubts that had obtained a footing in our minds.
"Come on!" cried Holman. "If we don't catch up with him I'll go mad!"
He turned to hurry along the narrow path, but out of the silence behindus came a shout that caused us to dive promptly into the bushes. Thewhoop came from the direction of the camping ground, and we had hardlycrouched in the undergrowth when a nude native crashed through the vinesand raced past our hiding place. He was followed by two more, the threerunning at top speed, heads forward, and their chests heaving in amanner that suggested they had come some distance.
In the glimpse we caught of them as they dashed past we came to theconclusion that they were three of the "tivo" dancers, and as we watchedtheir bare brown backs disappear in the creepers we observed somethingwhich our position on the previous evening had prevented us from seeing.The backs of the three were tattooed, not with the common linetattooing, but with short scars that ran down the spine, making a ridgedrepresentation of a centipede, and as they passed I remembered that theProfessor, when taking a photograph of the stone table on the previousmorning, had commented on the same peculiar pattern which he haddiscovered upon one of the huge supporting pillars.
"They've come to tell Leith that we have escaped," whispered Holman.
"And they'll be on our trail the moment they give him the news."
"All right, we'll be ready for them. How much ammunition have you?
"Three cartridges," I replied.
"And I have four. We must make those seven--look out! There's anotherbeggar coming!"
We dropped quickly out of sight and peered through the leaves. Holmanwas right. Some one else was coming along the path, but the newcomer wasexercising much more prudence than the three dancers. Judging by thelittle intervals of silence that followed the slight noises made by thebreaking of twigs, he was investigating each yard of the way.
A woolly head at last appeared through the network, and our nervesrelaxed at the big brown eyes that rolled fearfully. The timorousstranger was Kaipi!
The Fijian was shaking with fear when we dragged him into the bushes. Inhalting words he told the story of his experiences of the night, andHolman and I listened. Kaipi had waited upon the ledge till a few hoursbefore the dawn, and then he had made for the camp. With much betterluck than we had struck, he reached there before daylight, but fearfulof the happenings which would follow in the wake of the devil dance, hehad taken up a post of observation in a neighbouring tree and awaitedevents.
Leith, according to the Fijian, had arrived at dawn, accompanied by Somaand the one-eyed white man, and the big brute had immediatelyinterviewed the Professor. Kaipi's actions, as he mimicked the elderlyscientist, convinced us that the interview was not pleasant to thearchaeologist, and it was evident that it was at that moment Leith haddeclared himself as Barbara Herndon stated in her note.
"He kick up plentee big row," explained Kaipi. "He kick porter men an'make damn big noise outside missee tent. They come out speakee him, heslap big missee in face, drive 'em off."
Holman was crashing through the bushes before Kaipi had finished hisrecital, and I followed him, with the excited Fijian bringing up therear. Leith was rushing the Professor and his daughters toward the blackhills and we had to do something immediately.
For over an hour we stumbled along the track, making no effort to keepunder cover in case Leith should have prepared an ambush. It was uselessto argue with Holman, and my own feelings were such that I preferred totake the risks of the route which Soma's axe had cut, to the delayswhich the task of forcing our own passage through the labyrinth wouldbring upon us. Prudence was thrust into the background by the intensehate we entertained for the devil who had entrapped us.
It was near midday when our pursuit met with an interruption. A revolvercracked in a clump of wild ginger directly in front, and we took coverimmediately. The bullet had whizzed close to Holman's head, and as welay panting in the ribbon-grass we congratulated ourselves on the factthat we had been met with a single shot instead of a volley. We hadtaken a big chance and had come off lucky. It was impossible for Leith'sparty to be very far ahead, and as we watched the ginger clump wewondered how we could circumvent the sharpshooter.
After about five minutes of absolute quiet Kaipi turned his head andpointed to the rear, and Holman and I listened intently. The Fijian'ssharper ears had detected slight sounds behind us, and as we strainedthe silence we came to the conclusion that the enemy had stealthilyworked their way around us, and were now creeping like snakes throughthe maze with
the hope that they would take us unawares.
We started to worm our way to the right, and our hatred of the infernalisland, where we were reduced to the condition of burrowing moles,increased. Our eyes were practically useless. We had to depend uponhearing alone, and when a white man pits his ears against those of anative he finds that he has been suffering from partial deafness withoutbeing aware of the fact. A dozen times we shifted ground on a signalfrom Kaipi, whose head was continually to the earth, and that game ofhide and seek drove us frantic. Leith was hurrying toward the hillswhile we were crawling backward and forward through the undergrowth toescape a few natives who pursued their tactics with a persistency thatwas maddening. The fact that the pursuers had the advantage put a
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