CHAPTER V.
THE EXPLORING PARTY.
As soon as Van Vincent beheld Doc Clancy on the shore of the river heraised his rifle to shoot the villain in his tracks.
But before he could cover him a chorus of yells rang out, and half adozen white men and a score of blacks burst from the cover of the reedsand fired a volley at those in the boat.
This so disconcerted our hero that he toppled over backward and landedin a heap in the bottom of the boat.
Doc Clancy took it for granted that the boy had been hit by a bullet,and a shout of triumph left his lips.
But none of the shots fired from the shore had harmed our three friends.The mate, who had fallen first, had only been grazed on the side of hishead by the bullet from Clancy's rifle.
As Van attempted to rise to his feet again, the mate cautioned him tolie still, and Gregory, who had already sought seclusion behind thethwarts, seconded the motion.
"Lay low," said the sailor, in a whisper. "We'll make 'em believe we aredead."
"That's our only show," added the mate. "If they leave us alone for afew minutes we'll drift out of range; ther tide is runnin' out like arace horse!"
But Doc Clancy and his villainous allies were not yet satisfied. Aminute or so later our friends heard the creaking of oars in therowlocks, and peering over the thwart, he beheld the murderer of hisuncle, and the white men he had seen on the shore, rowing toward themwith all their might.
He quickly told his two companions what he saw.
"We've got ter fight it out," observed the mate, grimly. "Git thatbarrel of hard tack an' ther bag of salt together; we'll git behind 'eman' commence it right away afore they git any closer."
Van and Gregory followed the mate's advice, and a minute later theyopened fire upon those in the approaching boat.
Of course their shots were returned, but the bullets could not penetratethe barrel and sack of salt, and the three remained unharmed.
Van had the satisfaction of seeing two of the men in the pursuing boatfall under the fire made by himself and companions.
But Doc Clancy, though continually exposed, had not been hit.
Though the villain seemed to bear a charmed life, he concluded toproceed a little more cautiously.
He gave orders to the men to make a circle and row around so as to geton the other side of the boat.
When Van saw this he began to grow very uneasy.
Our three friends were truly in a bad box. If they attempted to row theboat so as to get away from Clancy and his crowd, they would surely beshot down; and if they remained quietly where they were it would only bea question of time before they would be wiped out.
Before they had time to decide upon what action to take they wereastonished to hear a number of rifle shots up the river.
They lifted their heads quickly and glanced at those who were pursuingthem.
Doc Clancy and his gang were making for the shore with all their might.
And no wonder! for down the river a boat was being rapidly rowed by halfa dozen stalwart blacks.
In the bow was a small swivel cannon, the muzzle of which pointed at themiscreants in the boat in a threatening manner.
Standing upright in the boat were three white men, who were armed to theteeth.
"Hurrah!" yelled Van, waving his hat. "You are just in time, friends."
An answering cheer came from the boat, and our friends breathed a sighof relief.
As soon as Doc Clancy reached the shore he sprang into the tall reedsand disappeared, followed by his four surviving allies.
Five minutes more and the approaching boat reached our friends.
Van explained who he and his companions were in a very few words.
The three men who had come to their rescue at such an opportune momentshook hands with them in a cordial manner, and made the drifting boatfast to their own.
"Now," said the younger of the strangers, who was not over twenty-threeyears of age, "since you have told us who you are, I'll tell you who andwhat we are. We are three Englishmen, who have come to this continent tomake explorations and endeavor to find some wonderful spot where thefoot of civilized man has never trod. My name is Jack Howard; thisgentleman on my right is Prof. Drearland, who intends to write a book onwhat we discover; and the other gentleman is Dr. Pestle, who came withus to keep us in good health by aid of the large stock of medicines andhard-earned experience he has with him."
"I am sure we are very glad to meet you all," returned Van, with a toneof deep sincerity. "But who are those men who attacked us? One of themwe know, but the others are strangers."
"They are six men whom we hired to accompany us on our trip. Yesterdaymorning they struck for more wages, and because their demand was refusedthey attempted to kill us and take our outfit from us. We got the bestof it, however, and they took to the forest and left us. This morning weheard rifle shots down the river, and thought we would come down and seewhat was in the wind."
"If there was six of 'em when they left you, there are only four now,"remarked Lank Edwards, in a grim manner. "Two of ther villains haveturned up their toes."
"Yes," put in Van; "but they have got Doc Clancy with them, and he is amatch for any two ordinary men, as far as wickedness goes."
"Suppose you go up to our camp with us?" said Jack Howard, after apause.
"Certainly," returned our hero. "We have got no other place to go justat present."
Howard gave the word, and the blacks began rowing the boat up the streamwith long, steady strokes.
Though Van was some years his junior, Jack Howard took a strong notionto him, and as he was one of those blunt kind of fellows, he was notlong in telling him so.
"It is mutual, I assure you," returned our hero; and the two from thatmoment became inseparable friends.
About a mile up the river the boats came to a stop on the left bank.
It was a very picturesque spot. The gorgeous African flowers of manyhues, trailing vines, broad-leafed and giant cacti could be seen onevery hand.
On a little knoll in the midst of these surroundings was the camp of theEnglish explorers.
Two tents were pitched in the background, which served to keep off thedew while the men slept.
The negroes, who had been hired in place of the villainous whites, slepton the ground, close to burning fires, without any covering over them,unless it rained, and in that case Jack Howard told them they could haulthe boat up and crawl under it.
After Van Vincent had announced his intention of hunting down Doc Clancyuntil he had been caught, Jack Howard offered to go in with him in theenterprise if he and his two companions would join the exploring party.
Van broached the subject to the mate and Gregory, and they readilyagreed to it.
"Very well," said our hero to Howard, "your offer is accepted. We joinyour party and proceed with you in your explorations, so long as we donot turn from the trail of Doc Clancy."
"We will follow him, even if he goes to the very heart of this wildcontinent!" exclaimed Jack Howard, warmly.
The party remained in camp until slightly past noon, and they would nothave left it then had it not been that an unforeseen circumstance tookplace.
While they were eating dinner one of the blacks came rushing up with theintelligence that the bad white men had just gone up the river in theirboat.
The river was nearly straight at this point, and, rushing down to thewater's edge, Van and Jack Howard saw Doc Clancy and his alliesproceeding rapidly up the stream.
Already they were over half a mile away, and our friends did not deem itworth while to shoot at them.
But the camp was quickly broken up and all its belongings packed in theboat owned by the Englishmen, which was strong and commodious, and largeenough for all hands.
Being aware of this fact, our hero concluded to leave their boat whereit was.
When everything was in readiness all hands got into the boat, and theblacks started to row up the river in the wake of Doc Clancy.