The Jungle Fugitives: A Tale of Life and Adventure in India
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CHAPTER IX.
SCOUTING.
Had Mr. Jack Everson spent a few years in Hindoostan he would not havemade the blunders that we are obliged to record concerning hismovements after parting from his friends on the boat. He had acquittedhimself pluckily while in the house of the physician, but his escapefrom death at the hands of Mustad and his companion was providentialand, under similar circumstances, was not likely to be repeated once ina thousand times.
Moreover, with his knowledge, already gained, of Asiatic cunning, heought to have reflected that if two of their dusky enemies were withinthe house there were likely to be others in the immediate neighborhood.It looked as if Mustad had entered the dwelling expecting to find thephysician there. He was prepared with an excuse for his abruptdeparture and an explanation that would satisfy his indulgent masterand mistress. Keeping his companion in the background the wretch couldthen complete his plans for turning the party over to the fury of theirbrother murderers, who probably were calmly waiting on the outside forthe signal.
Nothing of all this, we repeat, entered the head of Jack until he hadmade the change in the course he was following and had passed down theslope to the river bank. His effort to mislead his enemies necessarilytook him some distance above the point where he had left the boat, andhe now set out to find his way to it. It was while he was engaged indoing so that he became aware that he was followed.
"Well, I'll be hanged!" he muttered, coming to an abrupt stop; "itseems to me that these infernal imps are everywhere."
He had not seen any one, but a rustling, grating noise in the shadow ofthe nearest tree told him where the immediate danger lay. Believingthat an unexpected course was best he wheeled and ran at full speedtoward the tree, which contained a large number of dense,wide-spreading branches.
The result was surprising. Instead of one native, two leaped out fromcover and ran away at full speed. They had been stealing after him, onthe watch for a chance to bring him down by a blow in the back, whenthe tables were turned in this unexpected manner. Jack, therefore, hadno hesitation in firing at the one on his right, and immediately afterat his companion, whose superior speed had placed him considerably inadvance. As a consequence, he missed the latter, while the firstemitted a screech, leaped high in air and sprawled forward on his faceas dead as Julius Caesar.
The fact that his pursuers were two in number led the young man tobelieve they were Mustad and his companion, whom he had heard in thehouse. A few minutes later he made another halt. He was able, despitethe gloom, to identify the spot where he had left the boat, but it wasnot in sight.
"I told them not to wait for me, and they acted on my suggestion. Theycan't be far off, and I hope have run into no trouble."
The occurrences of the last quarter of an hour gave Jack a vivid ideaof the increasing peril. The natives from the nearby town were huntingfor the physician, his daughter and himself, all of whom had not leftthe house a minute too soon and now, while he paused on the shore ofthe river and listened, he too caught the sound that had filled hisfriends with dread. There were no noises from the jungles to theeastward, though at times the outcries are terrifying, and the shoutsand shrieks of the mutineers and their victims at Meerut and Delhi weretoo far away to reach his ears, but he heard now and then the faintsound of paddles out on the stream.
"Anderson spoke of using paddles," reflected Jack, "but it was amisnomer, for they have none, and they would not have pushed so far outfrom shore when they knew I expected to return so soon. All thatproves that a party of devils have also a boat and are hunting for theone in which our new friends are groping for safety."
This threatened to make a new complication, but the plain course forJack was to keep along the shore of the river and press his search forthe craft, which he was certain was not far off.
His experience had taught him the need of unceasing vigilance, and ashe advanced, he scrutinized the ground in front and on every hand, likea scout stealing into a hostile camp. Within less time than he countedupon he saw the boat lying close to shore, where his friends wereawaiting him. As soon as he recognized the craft he announced himselfin a guarded undertone, to guard against any mistake, and the nextmoment clambered aboard, where, it need not be said, he was warmlywelcomed.
After they had exchanged greetings the doctor asked:
"Did I not hear the report of your pistol a little while ago?"
"Inasmuch as I discharged it very probably you did."
Thereupon Jack told of what he had seen and done since leaving the boatto recover the pistol of Miss Marlowe. It was a story of deep interestto all, and his account of his meeting with the faithless Mustad deeplystirred his master.
"Despite my denunciation of the fellow I confess I had a lingeringsuspicion that I might have been mistaken; but all doubt now isremoved. There is no native in all India to be more dreaded than he."
"I have a faint hope that it was he with whom I made my fourthbull's-eye," remarked Jack.
"Hardly likely. Probably there were two others skulking on the outsideand waiting for a chance at us."
"But they had all the chance they could have asked at _me_."
"It may have been the doctor and his daughter whom they were the mosteager to secure," suggested Mr. Turner.
"That is my belief," added Anderson.
"And mine, too," joined the doctor himself. "It seems to be a trait ofour perverse human nature to hate with the deepest intensity those whohave done us the greatest kindness."
This remark meant more to Jack Everson than to any one else, for hebelieved that it was the daughter who was the special object of thenatives. That reminded him of the weapon he had secured.
"Here," he said, "take it before I forget to return it."
"You risked a good deal for my sake," she said gratefully, acceptingthe weapon, "and I cannot thank you sufficiently---- Well, I declare!"
She was in the act of placing the pistol in the pocket of her dresswhen she made the discovery that her weapon was already there. JackEverson had taken Mustad's own property from him.