12
PERFIDY
On the morning that Bulan set out with his three monsters from thedeserted long-house in which they had spent the night, ProfessorMaxon's party was speeding up the river, constantly buoyed with hope bythe repeated reports of natives that the white girl had been seenpassing in a war prahu.
In translating this information to Professor Maxon, von Horn habituallymade it appear that the girl was in the hands of Number Thirteen, orBulan, as they had now come to call him owing to the natives' constantuse of that name in speaking of the strange, and formidable white giantwho had invaded their land.
At the last long-house below the gorge, the head of which had witnessedVirginia Maxon's escape from the clutches of Ninaka and Barunda, thesearching party was forced to stop owing to a sudden attack of feverwhich had prostrated the professor. Here they found a woman who had astrange tale to relate of a remarkable sight she had witnessed thatvery morning.
It seemed that she had been straining tapioca in a little stream whichflowed out of the jungle at the rear of the long-house when herattention was attracted by the crashing of an animal through the bushesa few yards above her. As she looked she saw a huge MIAS PAPPAN crossthe stream, bearing in his arms the dead, or unconscious form of awhite-skinned girl with golden hair.
Her description of the MIAS PAPPAN was such as to half convince vonHorn that she might have seen Number Three carrying Virginia Maxon,although he could not reconcile the idea with the story that the twoDyaks had told him of losing all of Bulan's monsters in the jungle.
Of course it was possible that they might have made their way over landto this point, but it seemed scarcely credible--and then, how couldthey have come into possession of Virginia Maxon, whom every reportexcept this last agreed was still in the hands of Ninaka and Barunda.There was always the possibility that the natives had lied to him, andthe more he questioned the Dyak woman the more firmly convinced hebecame that this was the fact.
The outcome of it was that von Horn finally decided to make an attemptto follow the trail of the creature that the woman had seen, and withthis plan in view persuaded Muda Saffir to arrange with the chief ofthe long-house at which they then were to furnish him with trackers andan escort of warriors, promising them some splendid heads should theybe successful in overhauling Bulan and his pack.
Professor Maxon was too ill to accompany the expedition, and von Hornset out alone with his Dyak allies. For a time after they departedSing Lee fretted and fidgeted upon the verandah of the long-house. Hewholly distrusted von Horn, and from motives of his own finally decidedto follow him. The trail of the party was plainly discernible, and theChinaman had no difficulty in following them, so that they had gone nogreat way before he came within hearing distance of them. Always justfar enough behind to be out of sight, he kept pace with the littlecolumn as it marched through the torrid heat of the morning, until alittle after noon he was startled by the sudden cry of a woman indistress, and the answering shout of a man.
The voices came from a point in the jungle a little to his right andbehind him, and without waiting for the column to return, or even toascertain if they had heard the cries, Sing ran rapidly in thedirection of the alarm. For a time he saw nothing, but was guided bythe snapping of twigs and the rustling of bushes ahead, where theauthors of the commotion were evidently moving swiftly through thejungle.
Presently a strange sight burst upon his astonished vision. It was thehideous Number Three in mad pursuit of a female ourang outang, and aninstant later he saw Number Twelve and Number Ten in battle with twomales, while beyond he heard the voice of a man shouting encouragementto some one as he dashed through the jungle. It was in this last eventthat Sing's interest centered, for he was sure that he recognized thevoice as that of Bulan, while the first cry for help which he had heardhad been in a woman's voice, and Sing knew that its author could benone other than Virginia Maxon.
Those whom he pursued were moving rapidly through the jungle which wasnow becoming more and more open, but the Chinaman was no mean runner,and it was not long before he drew within sight of the object of hispursuit.
His first glimpse was of Bulan, running swiftly between two huge bullourang outangs that snapped and tore at him as he bounded forwardcutting and slashing at his foes with his heavy whip. Just in front ofthe trio was another bull bearing in his arms the unconscious form ofVirginia Maxon who had fainted at the first response to her cry forhelp. Sing was armed with a heavy revolver but he dared not attempt touse it for fear that he might wound either Bulan or the girl, and so hewas forced to remain but a passive spectator of what ensued.
Bulan, notwithstanding the running battle the two bulls were forcingupon him, was gaining steadily upon the fleeing ourang outang that washandicapped by the weight of the fair captive he bore in his huge,hairy arms. As they came into a natural clearing in the jungle thefleeing bull glanced back to see his pursuer almost upon him, and withan angry roar turned to meet the charge.
In another instant Bulan and the three bulls were rolling and tumblingabout the ground, a mass of flying fur and blood from which rose fierceand angry roars and growls, while Virginia Maxon lay quietly upon thesward where her captor had dropped her.
Sing was about to rush forward and pick her up, when he saw von Hornand his Dyaks leap into the clearing, to which they had been guided bythe sounds of the chase and the encounter. The doctor halted at thesight that met his eyes--the prostrate form of the girl and the manbattling with three huge bulls.
Then he gathered up Virginia Maxon, and with a sign to his Dyaks, whowere thoroughly frightened at the mere sight of the white giant of whomthey had heard such terrible stories, turned and hastened back in thedirection from which they had come, leaving the man to what seemed mustbe a speedy and horrible death.
Sing Lee was astounded at the perfidy of the act. To Bulan alone wasdue the entire credit of having rescued Professor Maxon's daughter, andyet in the very presence of his self-sacrificing loyalty and devotionvon Horn had deserted him without making the least attempt to aid him.But the wrinkled old Chinaman was made of different metal, and hadstarted forward to assist Bulan when a heavy hand suddenly fell uponhis shoulder. Looking around he saw the hideous face of Number Tensnarling into his. The bloodshot eyes of the monster were flaming withrage. He had been torn and chewed by the bull with which he hadfought, and though he had finally overcome and killed the beast, afemale which he had pursued had eluded him. In a frenzy of passion andblood lust aroused by his wounds, disappointment and the taste of warmblood which still smeared his lips and face, he had been seeking thefemale when he suddenly stumbled upon the hapless Sing.
With a roar he grasped the Chinaman as though to break him in two, butSing was not at all inclined to give up his life without a struggle,and Number Ten was quick to learn that no mean muscles moved beneaththat wrinkled, yellow hide.
There could, however, have been but one outcome to the unequal strugglehad Sing not been armed with a revolver, though it was several secondsbefore he could bring it into play upon the great thing that shook andtossed him about as though he had been a rat in the mouth of a terrier.But suddenly there was the sharp report of a firearm, and another ofProfessor Maxon's unhappy experiments sank back into the nothingnessfrom which he had conjured it.
Then Sing turned his attention to Bulan and his three savageassailants, but, except for the dead body of a bull ourang outang uponthe spot where he had last seen the four struggling, there was no signeither of the white man or his antagonists; nor, though he listenedattentively, could he catch the slightest sound within the jungle otherthan the rustling of the leaves and the raucous cries of the brilliantbirds that flitted among the gorgeous blooms about him.
For half an hour he searched in every direction, but finally, fearingthat he might become lost in the mazes of the unfamiliar forest hereluctantly turned his face toward the river and the long-house thatsheltered his party.
Here he found Professor Maxon much improv
ed--the safe return ofVirginia having acted as a tonic upon him. The girl and her father satwith von Horn upon the verandah of the long-house as Sing clambered upthe notched log that led to it from the ground. At sight of Sing'swrinkled old face Virginia Maxon sprang to her feet and ran forward togreet him, for she had been very fond of the shrewd and kindly Chinamanof whom she had seen so much during the dreary months of herimprisonment within the campong.
"Oh, Sing," she cried, "where have you been? We were all so worried tothink that no sooner was one of us rescued than another became lost."
"Sing takee walk, Linee, las all," said the grinning Chinaman. "Vellyglad see Linee black 'gain," and that was all that Sing Lee had to sayof the adventures through which he had just passed, and the strangesights that he had seen.
Again and again the girl and von Horn narrated the stirring scenes ofthe day, the latter being compelled to repeat all that had transpiredfrom the moment that he had heard Virginia's cry, though it wasapparent that he only consented to speak of his part in her rescueunder the most considerable urging. Very pretty modesty, thought Singwhen he had heard the doctor's version of the affair.
"You see," said von Horn, "when I reached the spot Number Three, thebrute that you thought was an ape, had just turned you over to NumberThirteen, or, as the natives now call him, Bulan. You were then in afaint, and when I attacked Bulan he dropped you to defend himself. Ihad expected a bitter fight from him after the wild tales the nativeshave been telling of his ferocity, but it was soon evident that he isan arrant coward, for I did not even have to fire my revolver--a fewthumps with the butt of it upon his brainless skull sent him howlinginto the jungle with his pack at his heels."
"How fortunate it is, my dear doctor," said Professor Maxon, "that youwere bright enough to think of trailing the miscreant into the jungle.But for that Virginia would still be in his clutches and by this timehe would have been beyond all hope of capture. How can we ever repayyou, dear friend?"
"That you were generous enough to arrange when we first embarked uponthe search for your daughter," replied von Horn.
"Just so, just so," said the professor, but a shade of trouble tingedthe expression of his face, and a moment later he arose, saying that hefelt weak and tired and would go to his sleeping room and lie down fora while. The fact was that Professor Maxon regretted the promise hehad made von Horn relative to his daughter.
Once before he had made plans for her marriage only to regret themlater; he hoped that he had made no mistake this time, but he realizedthat it had scarcely been fair to Virginia to promise her to hisassistant without first obtaining her consent. Yet a promise was apromise, and, again, was it not true that but for von Horn she wouldhave been dead or worse than dead in a short time had she not beenrescued from the clutches of the soulless Bulan? Thus did the old manjustify his action, and clinch the determination that he had beforereached to compel Virginia to wed von Horn should she, from someincomprehensible motive, demur. Yet he hoped that the girl would makeit easy, by accepting voluntarily the man who had saved her life.
Left alone, or as he thought alone, with the girl in the growingshadows of the evening, von Horn thought the moment propitious forrenewing his suit. He did not consider the natives squatting aboutthem as of sufficient consequence to consider, since they would notunderstand the language in which he addressed Virginia, and in the duskhe failed to note that Sing squatted with the Dyaks, close behind them.
"Virginia," he commenced, after an interval of silence, "often beforehave I broached the subject nearest to my heart, yet never have yougiven me much encouragement. Can you not feel for the man who wouldgladly give his life for you, sufficient affection to permit you tomake him the happiest man in the world? I do not ask for all your loveat first--that will come later. Just give me the right to cherish andprotect you. Say that you will be my wife, Virginia, and we need haveno more fears that the strange vagaries of your father's mind can everagain jeopardize your life or your happiness as they have in the past."
"I feel that I owe you my life," replied the girl in a quiet voice,"and while I am now positive that my father has entirely regained hissanity, and looks with as great abhorrence upon the terrible fate heplanned for me as I myself, I cannot forget the debt of gratitude whichbelongs to you.
"At the same time I do not wish to be the means of making you unhappy,as surely would be the result were I to marry you without love. Let uswait until I know myself better. Though you have spoken to me of thematter before, I realize now that I never have made any effort todetermine whether or not I really can love you. There is time enoughbefore we reach civilization, if ever we are fortunate enough to do soat all. Will you not be as generous as you are brave, and give me afew days before I must make you a final answer?"
With Professor Maxon's solemn promise to insure his ultimate successvon Horn was very gentle and gracious in deferring to the girl'swishes. The girl for her part could not put from her mind thedisappointment she had felt when she discovered that her rescuer wasvon Horn, and not the handsome young giant whom she had been positivewas in close pursuit of her abductors.
When Number Thirteen had been mentioned she had always pictured him asa hideous monster, similar to the creature that had seized her in thejungle beside the encampment that first day she had seen the mysteriousstranger, of whom she could obtain no information either from herfather or von Horn. When she had recently insisted that the same manhad been at the head of her father's creatures in an attempt to rescueher, both von Horn and Professor Maxon scoffed at the idea, until atlast she was convinced that the fright and the firelight had conspiredto conjure in her brain the likeness of one who was linked by memory toanother time of danger and despair.
Virginia could not understand why it was that the face of the strangerpersisted in obtruding itself in her memory. That the man wasunusually good looking was undeniable, but she had known many goodlooking men, nor was she especially impressionable to mere superficialbeauty. No words had passed between them on the occasion of theirfirst meeting, so it could have been nothing that he said which causedthe memory of him to cling so tenaciously in her mind.
What was it then? Was it the memory of the moments that she had lainin his strong arms--was it the shadow of the sweet, warm glow that hadsuffused her as his eyes had caught hers upon his face?
The thing was tantalizing--it was annoying. The girl blushed inmortification at the very thought that she could cling so resolutely tothe memory of a total stranger, and--still greater humiliation--long inthe secret depths of her soul to see him again.
She was angry with herself, but the more she tried to forget the younggiant who had come into her life for so brief an instant, the more shespeculated upon his identity and the strange fate that had brought himto their little, savage island only to snatch him away again asmysteriously as he had come, the less was the approval with which shelooked upon the suit of Doctor von Horn.
Von Horn had left her, and strolled down to the river. FinallyVirginia arose to seek the crude couch which had been spread for her inone of the sleeping rooms of the long-house. As she passed a group ofnatives squatted nearby one of the number arose and approached her, andas she halted, half in fright, a low voice whispered:
"Lookee out, Linee, dloctor Hornee velly bad man."
"Why, Sing!" exclaimed Virginia. "What in the world do you mean bysaying such a thing as that?"
"Never mind, Linee; you always good to old Sing. Sing no likee see yousadee. Dloctor Hornee velly bad man, las allee," and without anotherword the Chinaman turned and walked away.