Chapter XII
The Black Flier
The girl was almost crushed by terror and disappointment. To havebeen thus close to safety and then to have all hope snatched awayby a cruel stroke of fate seemed unendurable. The man was disappointed,too, but more was he angry. He noted the remnants of the uniformsupon the blacks and immediately he demanded to know where weretheir officers.
"They cannot understand you," said the girl and so in the bastardtongue that is the medium of communication between the Germans andthe blacks of their colony, she repeated the white man's question.
Usanga grinned. "You know where they are, white woman," he replied."They are dead, and if this white man does not do as I tell him,he, too, will be dead."
"What do you want of him?" asked the girl.
"I want him to teach me how to fly like a bird," replied Usanga.
Bertha Kircher looked her astonishment, but repeated the demand tothe lieutenant.
The Englishman meditated for a moment. "He wants to learn to fly,does he?" he repeated. "Ask him if he will give us our freedom ifI teach him to fly."
The girl put the question to Usanga, who, degraded, cunning, andentirely unprincipled, was always perfectly willing to promiseanything whether he had any intentions of fulfilling his promisesor not, and so immediately assented to the proposition.
"Let the white man teach me to fly," he said, "and I will take youback close to the settlements of your people, but in return forthis I shall keep the great bird," and he waved a black hand inthe direction of the aeroplane.
When Bertha Kircher had repeated Usanga's proposition to theaviator, the latter shrugged his shoulders and with a wry facefinally agreed. "I fancy there is no other way out of it," he said."In any event the plane is lost to the British government. If Irefuse the black scoundrel's request, there is no doubt but whathe will make short work of me with the result that the machine willlie here until it rots. If I accept his offer it will at least bethe means of assuring your safe return to civilization and that"he added, "is worth more to me than all the planes in the BritishAir Service."
The girl cast a quick glance at him. These were the first words hehad addressed to her that might indicate that his sentiments towardher were more than those of a companion in distress. She regrettedthat he had spoken as he had and he, too, regretted it almostinstantly as he saw the shadow cross her face and realized thathe had unwittingly added to the difficulties of her already almostunbearable situation.
"Forgive me," he said quickly. "Please forget what that remarkimplied. I promise you that I will not offend again, if it doesoffend you, until after we are both safely out of this mess."
She smiled and thanked him, but the thing had been said and couldnever be unsaid, and Bertha Kircher knew even more surely than asthough he had fallen upon his knees and protested undying devotionthat the young English officer loved her.
Usanga was for taking his first lesson in aviation immediately. TheEnglishman attempted to dissuade him, but immediately the blackbecame threatening and abusive, since, like all those who areignorant, he was suspicious that the intentions of others werealways ulterior unless they perfectly coincided with his wishes.
"All right, old top," muttered the Englishman, "I will give youthe lesson of your life," and then turning to the girl: "Persuadehim to let you accompany us. I shall be afraid to leave you herewith these devilish scoundrels." But when she put the suggestionto Usanga the black immediately suspected some plan to thwarthim--possibly to carry him against his will back to the Germanmasters he had traitorously deserted, and glowering at her savagely,he obstinately refused to entertain the suggestion.
"The white woman will remain here with my people," he said. "Theywill not harm her unless you fail to bring me back safely."
"Tell him," said the Englishman, "that if you are not standing inplain sight in this meadow when I return, I will not land, but willcarry Usanga back to the British camp and have him hanged."
Usanga promised that the girl would be in evidence upon theirreturn, and took immediate steps to impress upon his warriors thatunder penalty of death they must not harm her. Then, followedby the other members of his party, he crossed the clearing towardthe plane with the Englishman. Once seated within what he alreadyconsidered his new possession, the black's courage began to waneand when the motor was started and the great propeller commencedto whir, he screamed to the Englishman to stop the thing and permithim to alight, but the aviator could neither hear nor understandthe black above the noise of the propeller and exhaust. By thistime the plane was moving along the ground and even then Usanga wasupon the verge of leaping out, and would have done so had he beenable to unfasten the strap from about his waist. Then the plane rosefrom the ground and in a moment soared gracefully in a wide circleuntil it topped the trees. The black sergeant was in a veritablecollapse of terror. He saw the earth dropping rapidly from beneathhim. He saw the trees and river and at a distance the little clearingwith the thatched huts of Numabo's village. He tried hard not tothink of the results of a sudden fall to the rapidly receding groundbelow. He attempted to concentrate his mind upon the twenty-fourwives which this great bird most assuredly would permit him tocommand. Higher and higher rose the plane, swinging in a wide circleabove the forest, river, and meadowland and presently, much to hissurprise, Usanga discovered that his terror was rapidly waning, sothat it was not long before there was forced upon him a consciousnessof utter security, and then it was that he began to take notice ofthe manner in which the white man guided and manipulated the plane.
After half an hour of skillful maneuvering, the Englishman roserapidly to a considerable altitude, and then, suddenly, withoutwarning, he looped and flew with the plane inverted for a fewseconds.
"I said I'd give this beggar the lesson of his life," he murmured ashe heard, even above the whir of the propeller, the shriek of theterrified Negro. A moment later Smith-Oldwick had righted the machineand was dropping rapidly toward the earth. He circled slowly a fewtimes above the meadow until he had assured himself that BerthaKircher was there and apparently unharmed, then he dropped gentlyto the ground so that the machine came to a stop a short distancefrom where the girl and the warriors awaited them.
It was a trembling and ashen-hued Usanga who tumbled out of thefuselage, for his nerves were still on edge as a result of theharrowing experience of the loop, yet with terra firma once moreunder foot, he quickly regained his composure. Strutting aboutwith great show and braggadocio, he strove to impress his followerswith the mere nothingness of so trivial a feat as flying birdlikethousands of yards above the jungle, though it was long until hehad thoroughly convinced himself by the force of autosuggestionthat he had enjoyed every instant of the flight and was alreadyfar advanced in the art of aviation.
So jealous was the black of his new-found toy that he would notreturn to the village of Numabo, but insisted on making camp closebeside the plane, lest in some inconceivable fashion it should bestolen from him. For two days they camped there, and constantlyduring daylight hours Usanga compelled the Englishman to instructhim in the art of flying.
Smith-Oldwick, in recalling the long months of arduous training hehad undergone himself before he had been considered sufficientlyadept to be considered a finished flier, smiled at the conceit ofthe ignorant African who was already demanding that he be permittedto make a flight alone.
"If it was not for losing the machine," the Englishman explained tothe girl, "I'd let the bounder take it up and break his fool neckas he would do inside of two minutes."
However, he finally persuaded Usanga to bide his time for a fewmore days of instruction, but in the suspicious mind of the Negrothere was a growing conviction that the white man's advice was promptedby some ulterior motive; that it was in the hope of escaping withthe machine himself by night that he refused to admit that Usangawas entirely capable of handling it alone and therefore in no furtherneed of help or instruction, and so in the mind of the black thereformed a determination to outwi
t the white man. The lure of thetwenty-four seductive wives proved in itself a sufficient incentiveand there, too, was added his desire for the white girl whom hehad long since determined to possess.
It was with these thoughts in mind that Usanga lay down to sleepin the evening of the second day. Constantly, however, the thoughtof Naratu and her temper arose to take the keen edge from his pleasantimaginings. If he could but rid himself of her! The thought havingtaken form persisted, but always it was more than outweighed by thefact that the black sergeant was actually afraid of his woman, somuch afraid of her in fact that he would not have dared to attemptto put her out of the way unless he could do so secretly whileshe slept. However, as one plan after another was conjured by thestrength of his desires, he at last hit upon one which came to himalmost with the force of a blow and brought him sitting uprightamong his sleeping companions.
When morning dawned Usanga could scarce wait for an opportunity toput his scheme into execution, and the moment that he had eaten,he called several of his warriors aside and talked with them forsome moments.
The Englishman, who usually kept an eye upon his black captor,saw now that the latter was explaining something in detail to hiswarriors, and from his gestures and his manner it was apparent thathe was persuading them to some new plan as well as giving theminstructions as to what they were to do. Several times, too, hesaw the eyes of the Negroes turned upon him and once they flashedsimultaneously toward the white girl.
Everything about the occurrence, which in itself seemed trivial enough,aroused in the mind of the Englishman a well-defined apprehensionthat something was afoot that boded ill for him and for the girl.He could not free himself of the idea and so he kept a still closerwatch over the black although, as he was forced to admit to himself,he was quite powerless to avert any fate that lay in store forthem. Even the spear that he had had when captured had been takenaway from him, so that now he was unarmed and absolutely at themercy of the black sergeant and his followers.
Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick did not have long to waitbefore discovering something of Usanga's plan, for almost immediatelyafter the sergeant finished giving his instructions, a number ofwarriors approached the Englishman, while three went directly tothe girl.
Without a word of explanation the warriors seized the young officerand threw him to the ground upon his face. For a moment he struggledto free himself and succeeded in landing a few heavy blows amonghis assailants, but he was too greatly outnumbered to hope to morethan delay them in the accomplishment of their object which hesoon discovered was to bind him securely hand and foot. When theyhad finally secured him to their satisfaction, they rolled himover on his side and then it was he saw Bertha Kircher had beensimilarly trussed.
Smith-Oldwick lay in such a position that he could see nearly theentire expanse of meadow and the aeroplane a short distance away.Usanga was talking to the girl who was shaking her head in vehementnegatives.
"What is he saying?" called the Englishman.
"He is going to take me away in the plane," the girl called back."He is going to take me farther inland to another country wherehe says that he will be king and I am to be one of his wives," andthen to the Englishman's surprise she turned a smiling face towardhim, "but there is no danger," she continued, "for we shall bothbe dead within a few minutes--just give him time enough to getthe machine under way, and if he can rise a hundred feet from theground I shall never need fear him more."
"God!" cried the man. "Is there no way that you can dissuade him?Promise him anything. Anything that you want. I have money, moremoney than that poor fool could imagine there was in the wholeworld. With it he can buy anything that money will purchase, fineclothes and food and women, all the women he wants. Tell him thisand tell him that if he will spare you I give him my word that Iwill fetch it all to him."
The girl shook her head. "It is useless," she said. "He would notunderstand and if he did understand, he would not trust you. Theblacks are so unprincipled themselves that they can imagine nosuch thing as principle or honor in others, and especially do theseblacks distrust an Englishman whom the Germans have taught them tobelieve are the most treacherous and degraded of people. No, it isbetter thus. I am sorry that you cannot go with us, for if he goeshigh enough my death will be much easier than that which probablyawaits you."
Usanga had been continually interrupting their brief conversationin an attempt to compel the girl to translate it to him, for hefeared that they were concocting some plan to thwart him, and toquiet and appease him, she told him that the Englishman was merelybidding her farewell and wishing her good luck. Suddenly she turnedto the black. "Will you do something for me?" she asked. "If I gowillingly with you?"
"What is it you want?" he inquired.
"Tell your men to free the white man after we are gone. He cannever catch us. That is all I ask of you. If you will grant himhis freedom and his life, I will go willingly with you.
"You will go with me anyway," growled Usanga. "It is nothing tome whether you go willingly or not. I am going to be a great kingand you will do whatever I tell you to do."
He had in mind that he would start properly with this woman. Thereshould be no repetition of his harrowing experience with Naratu.This wife and the twenty-four others should be carefully selectedand well trained. Hereafter Usanga would be master in his own house.
Bertha Kircher saw that it was useless to appeal to the bruteand so she held her peace though she was filled with sorrow incontemplating the fate that awaited the young officer, scarce morethan a boy, who had impulsively revealed his love for her.
At Usanga's order one of the blacks lifted her from the ground andcarried her to the machine, and after Usanga had clambered aboard,they lifted her up and he reached down and drew her into the fuselagewhere he removed the thongs from her wrists and strapped her intoher seat and then took his own directly ahead of her.
The girl turned her eyes toward the Englishman. She was very palebut her lips smiled bravely.
"Good-bye!" she cried.
"Good-bye, and God bless you!" he called back--his voice the leastbit husky--and then: "The thing I wanted to say--may I say it now,we are so very near the end?"
Her lips moved but whether they voiced consent or refusal he didnot know, for the words were drowned in the whir of the propeller.
The black had learned his lesson sufficiently well so that themotor was started without bungling and the machine was soon underway across the meadowland. A groan escaped the lips of the distractedEnglishman as he watched the woman he loved being carried to almostcertain death. He saw the plane tilt and the machine rise fromthe ground. It was a good take-off--as good as Lieutenant HaroldPercy Smith-Oldwick could make himself but he realized that it wasonly so by chance. At any instant the machine might plunge to earthand even if, by some miracle of chance, the black could succeedin rising above the tree tops and make a successful flight, therewas not one chance in one hundred thousand that he could ever landagain without killing his fair captive and himself.
But what was that? His heart stood still.
Tarzan the Untamed Page 12
