10
DESPERATE CHANCE
The great chest in the bottom of Rajah Muda Saffir's prahu had awakenedin other hearts as well as his, blind greed and avarice; so that as ithad been the indirect cause of his disaster it now proved the incentiveto another to turn the mishap to his own profit, and to the finalundoing of the Malay.
The panglima Ninaka of the Signana Dyaks who manned Muda Saffir's warprahu saw his chief disappear beneath the swift waters of the river,but the word of command that would have sent the boat hurriedly back topick up the swimmer was not given. Instead a lusty cry for greaterspeed ahead urged the sinuous muscles gliding beneath the sleek brownhides; and when Muda Saffir rose to the surface with a cry for helpupon his lips Ninaka shouted back to him in derision, consigning hiscarcass to the belly of the nearest crocodile.
In futile rage Muda Saffir called down the most terrible curses ofAllah and his Prophet upon the head of Ninaka and his progeny to thefifth generation, and upon the shades of his forefathers, and upon thegrim skulls which hung from the rafters of his long-house. Then heturned and swam rapidly toward the shore.
Ninaka, now in possession of both the chest and the girl, was richindeed, but with Muda Saffir dead he scarce knew to whom he coulddispose of the white girl for a price that would make it worth while tobe burdened with the danger and responsibility of retaining her. Hehad had some experience of white men in the past and knew that direwere the punishments meted to those who wronged the white man's women.All through the remainder of the long night Ninaka pondered thequestion deeply. At last he turned to Virginia.
"Why does the big white man who leads the ourang outangs follow us?" heasked. "Is it the chest he desires, or you?"
"It is certainly not the chest," replied the girl. "He wishes to takeme back to my father, that is all. If you will return me to him youmay keep the chest, if that is what you wish."
Ninaka looked at her quizzically for a moment. Evidently then she wasof some value. Possibly should he retain her he could wring a handsomeransom from the white man. He would wait and see, it were always aneasy matter to rid himself of her should circumstances require. Theriver was there, deep, dark and silent, and he could place theresponsibility for her loss upon Muda Saffir.
Shortly after day break Ninaka beached his prahu before the long-houseof a peaceful river tribe. The chest he hid in the underbrush close byhis boat, and with the girl ascended the notched log that led to theverandah of the structure, which, stretching away for three hundredyards upon its tall piles, resembled a huge centipede.
The dwellers in the long-house extended every courtesy to Ninaka andhis crew. At the former's request Virginia was hidden away in a darksleeping closet in one of the windowless living rooms which openedalong the verandah for the full length of the house. Here a nativegirl brought her food and water, sitting, while she ate, in raptcontemplation of the white skin and golden hair of the strange female.
At about the time that Ninaka pulled his prahu upon the beach beforethe long-house, Muda Saffir from the safety of the concealingunderbrush upon the shore saw a familiar war prahu forging rapidly upthe stream. As it approached him he was about to call aloud to thosewho manned it, for in the bow he saw a number of his own men; but asecond glance as the boat came opposite him caused him to alter hisintention and drop further into the engulfing verdure, for behind hismen squatted five of the terrible monsters that had wrought such havocwith his expedition, and in the stern he saw his own Barunda infriendly converse with the mad white man who had led them.
As the boat disappeared about a bend in the river Rajah Muda Saffirarose, shaking his fist in the direction it had vanished and, cursinganew and volubly, damned each separate hair in the heads of thefaithless Barunda and the traitorous Ninaka. Then he resumed his watchfor the friendly prahu, or smaller sampan which he knew time wouldeventually bring from up or down the river to his rescue, for who ofthe surrounding natives would dare refuse succor to the powerful Rajahof Sakkan!
At the long-house which harbored Ninaka and his crew, Barunda and Bulanstopped with theirs to obtain food and rest. The quick eye of the Dyakchieftain recognized the prahu of Rajah Muda Saffir where it lay uponthe beach, but he said nothing to his white companion of what itaugured--it might be well to discover how the land lay before hecommitted himself too deeply to either faction.
At the top of the notched log he was met by Ninaka, who, withhorror-wide eyes, looked down upon the fearsome monstrosities thatlumbered awkwardly up the rude ladder in the wake of the agile Dyaksand the young white giant.
"What does it mean?" whispered the panglima to Barunda.
"These are now my friends," replied Barunda. "Where is Muda Saffir?"
Ninaka jerked his thumb toward the river. "Some crocodile has feastedwell," he said significantly. Barunda smiled.
"And the girl?" he continued. "And the treasure?"
Ninaka's eyes narrowed. "They are safe," he answered.
"The white man wants the girl," remarked Barunda. "He does not suspectthat you are one of Muda Saffir's people. If he guessed that you knewthe whereabouts of the girl he would torture the truth from you andthen kill you. He does not care for the treasure. There is enough inthat great chest for two, Ninaka. Let us be friends. Together we candivide it; otherwise neither of us will get any of it. What do yousay, Ninaka?"
The panglima scowled. He did not relish the idea of sharing his prize,but he was shrewd enough to realize that Barunda possessed the power torob him of it all, so at last he acquiesced, though with poor grace.
Bulan had stood near during this conversation, unable, of course, tounderstand a single word of the native tongue.
"What does the man say?" he asked Barunda. "Has he seen anything ofthe prahu bearing the girl?"
"Yes," replied the Dyak. "He says that two hours ago such a war prahupassed on its way up river--he saw the white girl plainly. Also heknows whither they are bound, and how, by crossing through the jungleon foot, you may intercept them at their next stop."
Bulan, suspecting no treachery, was all anxiety to be off at once.Barunda suggested that in case of some possible emergency causing thequarry to return down the river it would be well to have a force remainat the long-house to intercept them. He volunteered to undertake thecommand of this party. Ninaka, he said, would furnish guides to escortBulan and his men through the jungle to the point at which they mightexpect to find Muda Saffir.
And so, with the girl he sought lying within fifty feet of him, Bulanstarted off through the jungle with two of Ninaka's Dyaks asguides--guides who had been well instructed by their panglima as totheir duties. Twisting and turning through the dense maze ofunderbrush and close-growing, lofty trees the little party of eightplunged farther and farther into the bewildering labyrinth.
For hours the tiresome march was continued, until at last the guideshalted, apparently to consult each other as to the proper direction.By signs they made known to Bulan that they did not agree upon theright course to pursue from there on, and that they had decided that itwould be best for each to advance a little way in the direction hethought the right one while Bulan and his five creatures remained wherethey were.
"We will go but a little way," said the spokesman, "and then we shallreturn and lead you in the proper direction."
Bulan saw no harm in this, and without a shade of suspicion sat downupon a fallen tree and watched his two guides disappear into the junglein opposite directions. Once out of sight of the white man the twoturned back and met a short distance in the rear of the party they haddeserted--in another moment they were headed for the long-house fromwhich they had started.
It was fully an hour thereafter that doubts began to enter Bulan'shead, and as the day dragged on he came to realize that he and hisweird pack were alone and lost in the heart of a strange and tangledweb of tropical jungle.
No sooner had Bulan and his party disappeared in the jungle thanBarunda and Ninaka made haste to embark with the chest a
nd the girl andpush rapidly on up the river toward the wild and inaccessible regionsof the interior. Virginia Maxon's strong hope of succor had beengradually waning as no sign of the rescue party appeared as the daywore on. Somewhere behind her upon the broad river she was sure along, narrow native prahu was being urged forward in pursuit, and thatin command of it was the young giant who was now never for a momentabsent from her thoughts.
For hours she strained her eyes over the stern of the craft that wasbearing her deeper and deeper into the wild heart of fierce Borneo. Oneither shore they occasionally passed a native long-house, and the girlcould not help but wonder at the quiet and peace which reigned overthese little settlements. It was as though they were passing along abeaten highway in the center of a civilized community; and yet she knewthat the men who lolled upon the verandahs, puffing indolently upontheir cigarettes or chewing betel nut, were all head hunters, and thatalong the verandah rafters above them hung the grisly trophies of theirprowess.
Yet as she glanced from them to her new captors she could not but feelthat she would prefer captivity in one of the settlements they werepassing--there at least she might find an opportunity to communicatewith her father, or be discovered by the rescue party as it came up theriver. The idea grew upon her as the day advanced until she spent thetime in watching furtively for some means of escape should they buttouch the shore momentarily; and though they halted twice her captorswere too watchful to permit her the slightest opportunity for puttingher plan into action.
Barunda and Ninaka urged their men on, with brief rests, all day, nordid they halt even after night had closed down upon the river. On, onthe swift prahu sped up the winding channel which had now dwindled to anarrow stream, at intervals rushing strongly between rocky walls with acurrent that tested the strength of the strong, brown paddlers.
Long-houses had become more and more infrequent until for some time nowno sign of human habitation had been visible. The jungle undergrowthwas scantier and the spaces between the boles of the forest trees moreopen. Virginia Maxon was almost frantic with despair as the utterhelplessness of her position grew upon her. Each stroke of thoseslender paddles was driving her farther and farther from friends, orthe possibility of rescue. Night had fallen, dark and impenetrable,and with it had come the haunting fears that creep in when the sun hasdeserted his guardian post.
Barunda and Ninaka were whispering together in low gutturals, and tothe girl's distorted and fear excited imagination it seemed possiblethat she alone must be the subject of their plotting. The prahu wasgliding through a stretch of comparatively quiet and placid water wherethe stream spread out into a little basin just above a narrow gorgethrough which they had just forced their way by dint of the mostlaborious exertions on the part of the crew.
Virginia watched the two men near her furtively. They were deeplyengrossed in their conversation. Neither was looking in her direction.The backs of the paddlers were all toward her. Stealthily she rose toa stooping position at the boat's side. For a moment she paused, andthen, almost noiselessly, dove overboard and disappeared beneath theblack waters.
It was the slight rocking of the prahu that caused Barunda to looksuddenly about to discover the reason for the disturbance. For amoment neither of the men apprehended the girl's absence. Ninaka wasthe first to do so, and it was he who called loudly to the paddlers tobring the boat to a stop. Then they dropped down the river with thecurrent, and paddled about above the gorge for half an hour.
The moment that Virginia Maxon felt the waters close above her head shestruck out beneath the surface for the shore upon the opposite side tothat toward which she had dived into the river. She knew that if anyhad seen her leave the prahu they would naturally expect to intercepther on her way toward the nearest shore, and so she took this means ofoutwitting them, although it meant nearly double the distance to becovered.
After swimming a short distance beneath the surface the girl rose andlooked about her. Up the river a few yards she caught thephosphorescent gleam of water upon the prahu's paddles as they broughther to a sudden stop in obedience to Ninaka's command. Then she sawthe dark mass of the war-craft drifting down toward her.
Again she dove and with strong strokes headed for the shore. The nexttime that she rose she was terrified to see the prahu looming closebehind her. The paddlers were propelling the boat slowly in herdirection--it was almost upon her now--there was a shout from a man inthe bow--she had been seen.
Like a flash she dove once more and, turning, struck out rapidlystraight back beneath the oncoming boat. When she came to the surfaceagain it was to find herself as far from shore as she had been when shefirst quitted the prahu, but the craft was now circling far below her,and she set out once again to retrace her way toward the inky mass ofshore line which loomed apparently near and yet, as she knew, was someconsiderable distance from her.
As she swam, her mind, filled with the terrors of the night, conjuredrecollection of the stories she had heard of the fierce crocodileswhich infest certain of the rivers of Borneo. Again and again shecould have sworn that she felt some huge, slimy body sweep beneath herin the mysterious waters of this unknown river.
Behind her she saw the prahu turn back up stream, but now her mind wassuddenly engaged with a new danger, for the girl realized that thestrong current was bearing her down stream more rapidly than she hadimagined. Already she could hear the increasing roar of the river asit rushed, wild and tumultuous, through the entrance to the narrowgorge below her. How far it was to shore she could not guess, or howfar to the certain death of the swirling waters toward which she wasbeing drawn by an irresistible force; but of one thing she was certain,her strength was rapidly waning, and she must reach the bank quickly.
With redoubled energy she struck out in one last mighty effort to reachthe shore. The tug of the current was strong upon her, like a gianthand reaching up out of the cruel river to bear her back to death. Shefelt her strength ebbing quickly--her strokes now were feeble andfutile. With a prayer to her Maker she threw her hands above her headin the last effort of the drowning swimmer to clutch at even thin airfor support--the current caught and swirled her downward toward thegorge, and, at the same instant her fingers touched and closed uponsomething which swung low above the water.
With the last flickering spark of vitality that remained in her poor,exhausted body Virginia Maxon clung to the frail support that a kindProvidence had thrust into her hands. How long she hung there shenever knew, but finally a little strength returned to her, andpresently she realized that it was a pendant creeper hanging low from ajungle tree upon the bank that had saved her from the river's rapaciousmaw.
Inch by inch she worked herself upward toward the bank, and at last,weak and panting, sunk exhausted to the cool carpet of grass that grewto the water's edge. Almost immediately tired, Nature plunged her intoa deep sleep. It was daylight when she awoke, dreaming that the tallyoung giant had rescued her from a band of demons and was lifting herin his arms to carry her back to her father.
Through half open lids she saw the sunlight filtering through the leafycanopy above her--she wondered at the realism of her dream; fullconsciousness returned and with it the conviction that she was in truthbeing held close by strong arms against a bosom that throbbed to thebeating of a real heart.
With a sudden start she opened her eyes wide to look up into thehideous face of a giant ourang outang.