CHAPTER V. THE DANCE OF DEATH.
“God help us!” exclaimed Prof. Easy, as he saw the strange inhabitantsof the underground place rushing for them from both front and rear.
But “God helps those who help themselves,” and both Leo Malvern andDick Vincey were fully aware of this. They made up their minds thatthey would not be killed or captured until they had used every effortto drive away their enemies.
Brave, young fellows! But what could they hope to accomplish againstsuch fearful odds?
Martin Haypole was the only man they had to stick to them now, as boththe professor and Lucky at once threw down their weapons when theyobserved the horde approaching through the passage.
“Keep on firing!” shouted Leo, “and when they close on us use yourrevolvers.”
“No--no!” replied the professor; “let us surrender. It is the bestthing to do, I think.”
“Never!” exclaimed Dick, and his reply was echoed by his cousin and theintrepid Yankee.
Nearer approached the swarming savages, and presently our friends werehemmed in from all possible means of escape.
It seemed that every man that fell had two or three to take his place.
At length there was a combined rush from all quarters, and the swampexplorers were forced to the ground and made prisoners.
This caused their hopes to rise a trifle.
They were not to be killed at present, and that was one consolingthought.
Their captors seemed to be very gleeful over the fact of having madethem prisoners, and at once proceeded to bind their arms behind them,after having first divested them of their weapons.
Then the five swamp explorers were lifted to their feet in theirdeplorable condition.
“I wonder what in thunderation the scamps are a-goin’ ter do with us,”observed the Yankee.
“The Lord only knows,” groaned Prof. Easy, who now was thoroughlyfrightened.
“We will have to trust to luck,” said Leo.
“We is done gwine ter be killed--’deed we is!” exclaimed Lucky, in adespondent tone.
“Wait until you are sure of that before you say it again,” replied Dick.
Then turning to the crowd surrounding them, he continued:
“Come! what are you standing there for? Why don’t you take us to theplace you intend to, and have done with it?”
It seemed that he was understood, for without any further ado two menseized each of the captives, and the whole crowd started off down thepassage.
It was rather dark in the tunnel-like place, and when they hadtraversed about three hundred yards, our friends were unable to see anyof their surroundings.
But in a very few minutes they saw light ahead of them, and objectsagain became distinguishable.
A cry of wonder broke from the lips of the five as they were marchedout into the light. If they had been surprised when they first enteredthe underground place, they were even more than surprised now.
They found themselves in a natural cave of many acres in extent, inwhich was a small village of stone huts.
The queerest thing about the place was that the top of the cave--ifcave it could really be called--was entirely open in a circle of six orseven hundred yards in diameter. This admitted both light and rain, andhence it was that an unlimited supply of vegetation could be seen about.
The opening above was many feet from the ground upon which the stonehuts were built, and there was no possible means of getting to thelevel ground above without the aid of an immense ladder.
“Well, this jist beats the Jews!” ejaculated Haypole. “This place lookslike a big watermelon hollered out and one of ther ends cut off. Ithink if I knowed that song called ‘Down in a Coal Mine,’ I’d sing it.”
The prisoners were led along until they came to the largest buildingvisible to them, and there a halt was called.
There were no doors to any of the huts, which showed that theinhabitants were not afraid of being robbed by their neighbors. Thecrowd who had charge of our friends faced the main doorway of thebuilding they had halted in front of, and then clapped their hands.
Almost immediately a rustle was heard, and the figure of a female cameout.
As soon as she appeared every person in sight, save the five captives,dropped to their knees and turned their faces to the ground.
With a look of wonderment upon their faces the swamp explorers eyedthe girl--for she did not look to be over eighteen at the most--andmarveled at her rare beauty.
She was attired in a trailing, white gown of some gauzy material, andher face was partly concealed by a fold of the same, which was thrownaround her shoulders and across her mouth.
The look from her dazzling bright eyes showed that she was surprised atseeing the strangers.
But only for an instant did her gaze rest upon them.
Turning quickly to those who had brought them there, she clapped herhands three times.
All arose to their feet and saluted her.
Then, to the surprise of Prof. Easy, one of the men stepped forward andbegan addressing the girl in Spanish.
“Oh, queen,” said he, “here are five more people who have dared findtheir way into the land of Hez. What shall be their doom? Shall they beconfined in the magic chamber with the other prisoner to witness thedance of death, or shall they be slaughtered at once?”
“Conduct them to the magic chamber,” said the queen, with an imperiouswave of her hand.
She turned to enter the building, when the professor, who could speakSpanish fluently, exclaimed:
“Most gracious queen, listen a moment, please!”
At this the girl turned as if she had been stung, and the fold of hergarment, becoming loosened, fell from her face, revealing the mostbeautiful countenance our friends had ever looked upon, or even dreamedof.
“Heavens!” thought Dick Vincey, “what a beautiful creature.”
The queen had fixed her eyes upon the face of the professor.
“Were you addressing me, sir?” she demanded.
“I was, oh, queen,” he returned. “I would like to say, in behalf of mycompanions and myself, that if we did wrong in coming to this place,we were not aware of it. Surely you will not condemn us to death formaking such a mistake.”
“Enough! Away with them to the magic chamber, and let them witness thedance of death.”
With these words she swept gracefully into the house, and the Hezzians,as we shall now call the natives, seized the prisoners and led themfrom the spot.
None of the party, save Prof. Easy, could understand any other languagethan their own, and they were all very curious as to what was going tobe done with them.
“What did she say when you spoke to her, professor?” asked Leo.
“She has sentenced us to be shut up in a place called the magicchamber, where there is now a captive already, and witness the dance ofdeath. What will follow I am not prepared to say. That beautiful buthard-hearted creature is the queen of this strange country, and whatshe says seems to be law.”
“She don’t look as though she would have us killed,” observed Haypole.“I seen her castin’ sheep’s-eyes at Dick while we was a-standin’ there.Ther only thing that’ll save us is for him ter make love to her.”
“I’d do that willingly enough, if I thought it would save our lives,”said Dick.
Leo and the Yankee laughed in spite of their situation.
It struck them that Dick would be glad to pay his attentions to thebeautiful queen, even if it would not benefit them.
But there was no time for further conversation now. The Hezzians hadhalted at what appeared to be the extreme end of the cave.
Half a dozen of them used their combined efforts to roll a rock aside,which revealed a small opening.
Into this they filed, taking our friends with them.
It was dark as pitch inside, but at a word from one of the men a lightsuddenly appeared.
How it came so quickly our friends were at first at a loss tounderstand,
but in a few seconds it was made plain to them.
As their eyes became accustomed to the ghostly glare the light made,they began looking around them.
They found that the place into which they had been conducted was a caveof about one hundred feet square.
In the center, upon the floor, a man attired in the habiliments ofcivilization sat, with his arms bound behind him.
A single glance sufficed to show the swamp explorers that it was theman who had left the balloon and started down the stairs in quest ofthe one with the dog.
He looked up when he saw men of his own appearance approaching, and asmile lit up his countenance.
The five prisoners were at once placed at the side of this man, andthen those who had brought them thither immediately left the cave.
Then it was that they first saw what caused the light.
A girl, who was almost as beautiful as the queen herself, had enteredthrough a passage at the other side of the cave at about the same timethey had.
She carried a blazing torch, which she waved to and fro in a weird sortof fashion.
A heavy band of metal was about her neck, and upon her wrists braceletsglittered and flashed in the rays of light.
She began walking in a circle about the six prisoners.
When she had made the circuit five times, a low, grinding music struckup from some unseen place near by.
Almost instantly a slight commotion was heard, and fully forty girls,attired the same as the first, entered the cave.
Each one carried a lighted torch, and the flame of each shed forth alight of different hue.
As soon as they had placed themselves in position, the hidden musicchanged to a quick air, and they began to dance in a wild, gracefulsort of way.
For five minutes the girls kept up the dance, and then a changeoccurred.
An ominous, rattling sound was heard, and a score of human skeletonsdropped from above and stood upright upon the ground.
Then the dance began in earnest, the skeletons joining in, it seemed.
The girls struck up a chant in time with the music, which had againchanged, and began gliding about, right and left, with their grewsomepartners.
Lucky, the darky, whose nerves were not overstrong, fainted away, whilethe rest of the party felt an icy chill gliding down their backs.
Probably the least interested one in the party was the man who had beenin the cave when our friends entered.
He gazed at the scene with a look of indifference on his face, and evensmiled when the girls grasped the hideous relics of humanity abouttheir fleshless waists and whirled them around.
Round and round spun the dancers, oftentimes nearly stumbling over thecaptives upon the floor.
Suddenly one of the fair dancers got tangled up with her “partner,” andstumbled headlong over Leo.
As she did so, the boy heard a metallic ring close beside him.
As soon as she arose to her feet and glided away, he saw a knife lyingupon the ground.
Moving slightly, he kicked Dick gently.
“What’s up?” asked his cousin, taking his eyes from the curious scenefor a moment.
“I have found a knife,” was the whispered reply. “I am going to gethold of it with my teeth and cut your hands loose.”
Rolling over on his stomach, he seized the knife by the handle in astrong grip between his teeth.
Dick turned so his back was toward Leo, and then the boy began sawingaway at the bonds which held his hands together.
It was a difficult job, but Leo was plucky, and presently he wasrewarded by seeing his cousin’s hands free.
Then it was but the work of a moment for Dick to liberate him.
“Now,” said Leo, “cut the rest free.”
Just as he was about to do so, a crowd of hideous-appearing men,attired in the skins of various animals, rushed in the cave, andseizing about half of the dancing girls, carried them screaming fromthe spot.
Then the dance ceased as if by magic.
There was now but one girl left to each skeleton, and these placedtheir fair, white arms about the necks of the horrible objects.
The music now clashed into a sound like the shriek of a doomed soul,and then both girls and skeletons began to rise slowly in the air.
“By heavens!” exclaimed Leo, springing to his feet; “I am going to knowthe cause of some of this humbug.”
Springing forward, he seized one of the girls about the waist and gavea tug downward.
Then something snapped above them, and down came the girl, bringing theskeleton with her, knocking the daring boy flat upon his back.