CHAPTER XV.
GONE!
Neither Jack Everson nor Dr. Marlowe forgot his own personal danger inhurrying to the help of their imperilled friends. If the two were toolate to be of any assistance they were imminently likely to precipitatethemselves into the same whirlpool of woe and death. They had slowedtheir gait to a walk as they neared the spot, and when they caught thedim outlines of the boat the two stood still.
So far as they could see there was no change in its surroundings. Itwas still moored against the bank, so close that any one could stepaboard, but no sign of living person was visible on or about it. Therewas something so uncanny in it all that but for their mutual knowledgethey would have doubted the evidence of their senses.
"I don't understand it," whispered Jack. "Suppose you stay here whileI steal nigh enough to learn something that will help clear up thehorrible mystery."
"You are running frightful risk," said the doctor; "I cannot advise youto try it."
"All the same, I shall do it."
Thus, it will be observed that the three persons composing the littleparty became separated from one another for greater or less distances.The daughter was waiting, two or three hundred yards away, for thereturn of her father and lover, while they had just parted company,though they expected to remain in sight of each other.
Dr. Marlowe stood in the path, partly sheltering himself behind acouple of tree trunks, but with his eyes fixed upon his young friend,who walked cautiously but unhesitatingly forward. Jack held his riflein a trailing position at his side, his shoulders bent slightlyforward, while he stepped lightly, his senses alert, like those of ascout entering the camp of an enemy. That he was running into greatdanger was self-evident, but he was determined not to turn back untilhe learned something of the strange occurrences.
Watching his young friend, the doctor saw him stop when at the side ofthe motionless boat. His profile showed first on one side and then, onthe other, while he listened for the slightest sound that could give anatom of knowledge. Apparently the effort was useless, for the nextmoment he placed his left hand on the gunwale and vaulted lightly upondeck. He stood a few moments as if transfixed, then turning abruptlyabout leaped to the ground, and, breaking into a run, hurried back tohis friend, who noticed that his face was more ghastly than before,while his eyes stared as if they still looked upon unutterable things.
"What is it?" asked the elder in a ghostly whisper.
"My God! don't ask me to tell!"
"You forget that we are both physicians."
"But not that we are human beings; thank Heaven forever that you didnot look upon the sight my eyes saw a moment ago. Let it suffice,doctor, to say that of the three men and women to whom we bade good-byewithin the past twenty minutes not one is alive! The fiends have beenthere."
Not the least singular fact connected with this hideous incident wasthat the devils who committed the unspeakable crime had vanished, sofar as could be seen, as utterly as if the ground had opened beneaththeir feet and swallowed them. Two men had come back upon the scenewithin a few minutes after all this was done, and yet the doers werenowhere in sight. What was the meaning of their hasty departure?
It was unreasonable to think they had gone far. They must be in thevicinity. They must have noticed the absence of the doctor and hiscompanions; doubtless they were looking for them along shore; possiblythey had started over some of the trails and ere long would strike theone along which the three had fled.
"A wonderful Providence has preserved us thus far," said Jack Everson;"but it is too much to expect we shall emerge unscathed from this hellhole."
"I hope nothing will happen to Mary before we rejoin her."
"We shall be with her in a minute."
Nevertheless, a vague fear disturbed both. The parent was againleading, and he unconsciously hastened his footsteps. Only a slightdistance beyond they came to the small opening where they had left herstanding but a brief while before. Since the men had passed over theintervening distance to the river it was unlikely that anything hadoccurred to alarm the young woman, but there was no saying what mighthappen in those times and in that part of the world.
The real shock came to the parent when he turned in the trail and sawthe open space but failed to observe his daughter. He hurried onwithout speaking, but Jack, directly behind him, had made thediscovery, for a moment he was so breathless and dizzy that he barelysaved himself from falling. His heart became lead, and the awfulconviction got hold of him that the most woeful affliction of all hadcome upon them, and that his betrothed was lost irrecoverably.
But the sight of the anguish of the parent when he turned about andfaintly gasped, "Where is my child?" brought the self-command of theyoung man back.
It was the despairing question wrung from the heart of the parent, witha grief that was no keener than that of Jack Everson himself. Here wasanother instance of the appalling suddenness with which tragedies beganand were completed in this infernal country. A band of half a dozenwas cut off within the space of a few minutes, and now, in still lesstime, a young woman vanished as if she had never been.
Jack did not dare trust his voice in the effort to speak, but when hiseyes met those of the parent he shook his head, saying by the gesture:
"God have mercy, I cannot answer."
But strong men do not remain dazed and helpless in the presence of ashuddering calamity. If any one thing could be set down as certain itwas that Miss Marlowe had left the place by fleeing deeper into thejungle. She could not have approached them without being observed:therefore they must seek her by taking the same direction.
The energy of the man more than threescore under the spur of hisanguish was like that of the athlete of one-third of his years. Hestill led the way, and, after the brief halt under the fearful blow, herallied and compelled Jack Everson to keep upon a trot to save himselffrom falling behind.
A hundred paces from the opening they reached a point where the trailsforked. They stopped, the parent being the first to do so.
"Jack," said he, using the less formal name, for under the awful shadowthey had drawn nearer to each other, "we can't afford to make anymistake."
"There shall be none if you tell me how to prevent it."
"She must have followed one of these paths, but who shall say which?"
He stooped over and peered at the ground. Within the dim hush of thejungle he was unable to discern the slightest disturbance of the earth.
"No use of that," said the doctor, reading his intention; "therefore wewill separate; one of us will overtake them."
"Have you any idea of the identity of these devils?"
"I think they are Ghoojurs, but it makes no difference; Mussulmans andHindoos are the same; each of us has a rifle and revolver; if you getsight of them don't wait to notify me; shoot to kill; you know how todo it."
"I shall shrink from nothing, but the case may be hopeless."
"If it is will you promise me one thing?" asked, the parent of theyoung man looking him in the eye.
"I do; what is the pledge?"
"That you point your gun at her?"