Tarzan and the Castaways t-23

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

  "I don't know as to that," replied the ape man, "but these Mayans are not the only people here. At the northern end of the island, there is a settlement of what Itzl Cha calls 'very bad people.' The history of the island, handed down largely by word of mouth, indicates that survivors of a shipwreck intermarried with the aborigines of the island, and it is their descendents who live in this settlement; but they do not fraternize with the aborigines who live in the central part of the island."

  "You mean that there is a native population here?" asked Dr. Crouch.

  "Yes, and we are camped right on the south-western edge of their domain. I have never gone far enough into their country to see any of them, but Itzl Cha says that they are very savage cannibals."

  "What a lovely place fate selected for us to be marooned," remarked Patricia, "and then to make it all the cozier, you had to turn a lot of lions and tigers loose in it." Tarzan smiled.

  "At least we shall not perish from ennui," remarked Janette Laon.

  Colonel Leigh, Algy, and Bolton sauntered up, and then de Groote joined the party. "Some of the men just came to me," said the Dutchman, "and wanted me to ask you, Colonel, if they could try to break up the Saigon and build a boat to get away from here. They said they would rather take a chance of dying at sea than spending the rest of their lives here."

  "I don't know that I can blame them," said the Colonel. "What do you think of it, Bolton ?"

  "It might be done," replied the Captain.

  "Anyway, it will keep them busy," said the Colonel; "and if they were doing something they wanted to do, they wouldn't be complaining all the time."

  "I don't know where they would build it," said Bolton . "They certainly can't build it on the reef; and it wouldn't do any good to build it on shore, for the water in the lagoon would be too shallow to float it."

  "There is deep water in a cove about a mile north of here," said Tarzan, "and no reef."

  "By the time the blighters have taken the Saigon apart, " said Algy , "and carried it a mile along the coast, they'll be too exhausted to build a boat."

  "Or too old," suggested Patricia.

  "Who's going to design the boat?" asked the Colonel.

  "The men have asked me to," replied de Groote; "my father is a shipbuilder, and I worked in his yard before I went to sea."

  "It's not a bad idea," said Crouch; "do you think you can build a boat large enough to take us all?"

  "It depends upon how much of the Saigon we can salvage," replied de Groote. "If we should have another bad storm soon, the whole ship might break up."

  Algernon Wright-Smith made a sweeping gesture toward the forest. "We have plenty of lumber there," he said, "if the Saigon fails us."

  "That would be some job," said Bolton .

  "Well, we've got all our lives to do it in, old thing," Algy reminded him.

  Chapter XIX

  When two days had passed and Chuldrup had not returned, Schmidt drove another Lascar into the forest with orders to go to Tarzan's camp and get information about the guns and ammunition.

  The Lascars had made a separate camp, a short distance from that occupied by Schmidt, Krause, Oubanovitch, and the Arab. They had been very busy, but none of the four men in the smaller camp had paid any attention to them, merely summoning one of them when they wanted to give any orders.

  The second man whom Schmidt had sent in the forest never returned. Schmidt was furious, and on the third day he ordered two men to go. They stood sullenly before him, listening. When he had finished they turned and walked back to their own camp. Schmidt watched them; he saw them sit down with their fellows. He waited a moment to see if they would start, but they did not. Then he started toward their camp, white with rage.

  "I'll teach them," he muttered; "I'll show them who's boss here—the brown devils;" but when he approached them, fifteen Lascars stood up to face him, and he saw that they were armed with bows and arrows and wooden spears. This was the work that had kept them so busy for several days.

  Schmidt and the Lascars stood facing one another for several moments; then one of the latter said, "What do you want here?"

  There were fifteen of them, fifteen sullen, scowling men, all well armed.

  "Aren't you two men going to find out about the guns and ammunition so that we can get them?" he asked.

  "No," said one of the two. "You want to know, you go. We no take orders any more. Get out. Go back to your own camp."

  "This is mutiny," blustered Schmidt.

  "Get out," said a big Lascar, and fitted an arrow to his bow.

  Schmidt turned and slunk away.

  "What's the matter?" asked Krause, when Schmidt reached his own camp.

  "The devils have mutinied," replied Schmidt, "and they are all armed—made bows and arrows and spears for themselves."

  "The uprising of the proletariat!" exclaimed Oubanovitch. "I shall join them and lead them. It is glorious, glorious; the world revolution has reached even here!"

  "Shut up!" said Schmidt; "you give me a pain."

  "Wait until I organize my glorious revolutionaries," cried Oubanovitch; "then you will sing a different song; then it will be 'Comrade Oubanovitch, this, and 'Comrade Oubanovitch, that.' Now I go to my comrades who have risen in their might and cast the yoke of Capitalism from their necks."

  He crossed jubilantly to the camp of the Lascars. "Comrades!" he cried. "Congratulations on your glorious achievement. I have come to lead you on to greater victories. We will march on the camp of the Capitalists who threw us out. We will liquidate them, and we will take all their guns and ammunition and all their supplies."

  Fifteen scowling men looked at him in silence for a moment; then one of them said, "Get out."

  "But!" exclaimed Oubanovitch, "I have come to join you; together we will go on to glorious-"

  "Get out," repeated the Lascar.

  Oubanovitch hesitated until several of them started toward him; then he turned and went back to the other camp. "Well, Comrade," said Schmidt, with a sneer, "is the revolution over?"

  "They are stupid fools," said Oubanovitch.

  That night the four men had to attend to their own fire, which the Lascars had kept burning for them in the past as a safeguard against wild beasts; and they had had to gather the wood for it, too. Now it devolved upon them to take turns standing guard.

  "Well, Comrade," said Schmidt to Oubanovitch, "how do you like revolutions now that you are on the other side of one?"

  The Lascars, having no white man to command them, all went to sleep and let their fire die out. Abdullah Abu Nejm was on guard in the smaller camp when he heard a series of ferocious growls from the direction of the Lascar's camp, and then a scream of pain and terror. The other three men awoke and sprang to their feet.

  "What is it?" demanded Schmidt

  "El adrea, Lord of the Broad Head," replied the Arab.

  "What's that?" asked Oubanovitch.

  "A lion," said Krause; "he got one of them."

  The screams of the unfortunate victim was still blasting the silence of the night, but they were farther from the camp of the Lascars now, as the lion dragged his prey farther away from the presence of the other men. Presently the screams ceased, and then came an even more grisly and horrifying sound—the tearing and rending of flesh and bones mingled with the growls of the carnivore.

  Krause piled more wood upon the fire. "That damn wildman," he said—"turning those beasts loose here."

  "Serves you right," said Schmidt; "you had no business catching a white man and putting him in a cage."

  "It was Abdullah's idea," whined Krause; "I never would have thought of it if he hadn't put it into my head."

  There was no more sleep in the camp that night. They could hear the lion feeding until daylight, and then in the lesser darkness of dawn, they saw him rise from his kill and go to the river to drink; then he disappeared into the jungle.

  "He will lie up for the day," said Abdullah, "but he will come out again and feed."

&n
bsp; As Abdullah ceased speaking, a foul sound came from the edge of the jungle, and two forms slunk out; the hyenas had scented the lion's kill, and presently they were tearing at what was left of the Lascar.

  The next night, the Lascars built no fire at all; and another was taken. "The fools!" exclaimed Krause; "that lion has got the habit by now, and none of us will ever be safe again here."

  "They are fatalists." said Schmidt; "they believe that whatever is foreordained to happen must happen, and that nothing they can do about it can prevent it."

  "Well, I'm no fatalist," said Krause. "I'm going to sleep in a tree after this," and he spent the next day building a platform in a tree at the edge of the forest, setting an example which the other three men were quick to follow. Even the Lascars were impressed, and that night the lion came and roared through empty camps.

  "I've stood all of this that I can," said Krause; "I'm going back and see that fellow, Tarzan. I'll promise anything if he'll let us stay in his camp."

  "How are you going to get there?" asked Schmidt. "I wouldn't walk through that jungle again for twenty million marks."

  "I don't intend to walk through the jungle," said Krause. "I'm going to follow the beach. I could always run out into the ocean if I met anything."

  "I think El adrea would be kinder to us than Tarzan of the Apes," said the Arab.

  "I never did anything to him," said Oubanovitch; "he ought to let me come back."

  "He's probably afraid you'd start a revolution," said Schmidt. But they finally decided to try it; and early the next morning, they set out along the beach toward the other camp.

  Chapter XX

  Chand, the Lascar, watched Krause and his three companions start along the beach in the direction of Camp Saigon . "They are going to the other camp," he said to his fellows. "Come, we will go too;" and a moment later they were trailing along the beach in the wake of the others.

  In Camp Saigon , Tarzan was eating his breakfast alone. He had arisen early, for he had planned a full day's work. Only Lum Kip was astir, going about his work quietly preparing breakfast. Presently Patricia Leigh-Burden came from her hut and joined Tarzan, sitting down beside him.

  "You are up early this morning," she said.

  "I am always earlier than the others," he replied, "but today I had a special reason; I want to get an early start. "

  "Where are you going?" she asked.

  "I'm going exploring," he replied, "I want to see what is on the other side of the island."

  Patricia leaned forward eagerly, placing a hand upon his knee. "Oh, may I go with you?" she asked. "I'd love it."

  From the little shelter that had been built especially for her, Itzl Cha watched them. Her black eyes narrowed and snapped, and she clenched her little hands tightly.

  "You couldn't make it, Patricia," said Tarzan, "not the way I travel."

  "I've hiked through jungles in India ," she said.

  "No;" he said, quite definitely; "traveling on the ground in there is too dangerous. I suppose you've heard it mentioned that there are wild animals there."

  "Then if it's dangerous you shouldn't go," she said, "carrying nothing but a silly bow and some arrows. Let me go along with a rifle; I'm a good shot, and I've hunted tigers in India ."

  Tarzan rose, and Patricia jumped to her feet, placing her bands on his shoulders. "Please don't go," she begged, "I'm afraid for you," but he only laughed and turned and trotted off toward the jungle.

  Patricia watched him until he swung into a tree and disappeared; then she swished around angrily and went to her hut. "I'll show him," she muttered under her breath.

  Presently she emerged with a rifle and ammunition. Itzl Cha watched her as she entered the jungle at the same place that Tarzan had, right at the edge of the little stream. The little Mayan girl bit her lips, and the tears came to her eyes—tears of frustration and anger. Lum Kip, working around the cook fire, commenced to hum to himself.

  Chal Yip Xiu, the high priest, was still furious about the theft of Itzl Cha from beneath the sacred sacrificial knife. "The temple has been defiled," he growled, "and the gods will be furious."

  "Perhaps not," said Cit Coh Xiu, the king; "perhaps after all that was indeed Che, Lord Forest ."

  Chal Yip Xiu looked at the king, disgustedly. "He was only one of the strangers that Xatl Din saw on the beach. If you would not arouse the anger of the gods, you should send a force of warriors to the camp of the strangers, to bring Itzl Cha back, for that is where she will be found."

  "Perhaps you are right," said the king; "at least it will do no harm," and he sent for Xatl Din and ordered him to take a hundred warriors and go to the camp of the strangers and get Itzl Cha. "With a hundred warriors, you should be able to kill many of them and bring back prisoners to Chichen Itza ."

  Tibbett, with a boatload of sailors, was rowing out to the reef to continue the work of salvaging lumber from the Saigon , as the other members of the party came out for their breakfast. Itzl Cha sat silent and sullen, eating very little, for she had lost her appetite. Janette Laon came and sat beside de Groote, and Penelope Leigh looked at them down her nose.

  "Is Patricia up yet, Janette?" asked the Colonel

  Janette looked around the company. "Why, yes," she said, "isn't she here? She was gone when I woke up."

  "Where in the world can that girl be?" demanded Penelope Leigh.

  "Oh, she must be nearby," said the Colonel, but, as he called her name aloud, it was evident that he was perturbed.

  "And that creature is gone too!" exclaimed Mrs. Leigh. "I knew that something terrible like this was going to happen sooner or later, William, if you permitted that man to remain in camp."

  "Now, just what has happened, Penelope?" asked the Colonel.

  "Why he's abducted her, that's what's happened."

  Lum Kip, who was putting a platter of rice on the table, overheard the conversation and volunteered, "Tarzan, she, go that way," pointing toward the northeast; "Plateecie, him go that way," and pointed in the same direction.

  "Maybe Pat abducted him," suggested Algy.

  "Don't be ridiculous, Algernon," snapped Mrs. Leigh. "It is quite obvious what happened—the creature enticed her into the jungle."

  "They talked long," said Itzl Cha, sullenly. "They go different times; they meet in jungle."

  "How can you sit there, William, and permit that Indian girl to intimate that your niece arranged an assignation in the jungle with that impossible creature."

  "Well," said the Colonel, "if Pat's in the jungle, I pray to high heaven that Tarzan is with her."

  Pat followed a stream that ran for a short distance in a northeasterly direction, and when it turned southeast, she continued to follow it, not knowing that Tarzan had taken to the trees and was swinging rapidly through them almost due east toward the other side of the island. The ground rose rapidly now, and the little stream tumbled excitedly down toward the ocean. Pat realized that she was being a stubborn fool, but, being stubborn, she decided to climb the mountain a short distance to get a view of the island. It was a hard climb, and the trees constantly shut out any view, but the girl kept on until she came to a level ledge which ran around a shoulder of the mountain. As she was pretty well winded by this time, she sat down to rest.

  "I should think some of you men would go out and look for Patricia," said Mrs. Leigh.

  "I'll go," said Algy, "but I don't know where to look for the old girl."

  "Who's that coming along the beach?" said Dr. Crouch.

  "Why it's Krause and Schmidt," said Dolton . "Yes, and Oubanovitch and the Arab are with him." Almost automatically the men loosened their pistols in their holsters and waited in silence as the four approached.

  The men about the breakfast table had all risen and were waiting expectantly. Krause came to the point immediately. "We've come to ask you to let us come back and camp near you," he said. "We have no firearms and no protection where we are. Two of our men have gone into the jungle and never returned, and two hav
e been taken right out of camp by lions at night. You certainly must have a heart, Colonel; you certainly won't subject fellow men to such dangers needlessly. If you will take us back, we promise to obey you and not cause any trouble."

  "I'm afraid it will cause a lot of trouble when Tarzan returns and finds you here," said the Colonel.

  "You should let them remain, William," said Mrs. Leigh. "You are in command here, not that Tarzan creature."

  "I really think it would be inhuman to send them away," said Dr. Crouch.

  "They were inhuman to us," said Janette Laon bitterly.

  "Young woman," exploded Penelope, "you should be taught your place; you have nothing to say about this. The Colonel will decide."

  Janette Laon shook her head hopelessly and winked at de Groote. Penelope saw the wink and exploded again. "You are an insolent baggage," she said; "you and the Indian girl and that Tarzan creature should never have been permitted in the same camp with gentlefolk."

  "If you will permit me, Penelope," said the Colonel stiffly, "I think that I can handle this matter without assistance or at least without recrimination."

  "Well, all that I have to say," said Penelope, "is that you must let them remain."

  "Suppose," suggested Crouch, "that we let them remain anyway until Tarzan returns; then we can discuss the matter with him—they are more his enemies than ours."

  "They are enemies to all of us," said Janette.

  "You may remain, Krause," said the Colonel, "at least, until Tarzan returns; and see that you behave yourselves."

  "We certainly shall, Colonel," replied Krause, "and thank you for letting us stay."

  Patricia got a view of the ocean from the ledge where she was sitting, but she could see nothing of the island; and so, after resting, she went on a little farther. It was far more open here and very beautiful, orchids clung in gorgeous sprays to many a tree, and ginger and hibiscus grew in profusion; birds with yellow plumage and birds with scarlet winged from tree to tree. It was an idyllic, peaceful scene which soothed her nerves and obliterated the last vestige of her anger.