16
SING SPEAKS
For a week Professor Maxon with von Horn and Sing sought for Virginia.They could get no help from the natives of the long-house, who fearedthe vengeance of Muda Saffir should he learn that they had aided thewhite men upon his trail.
And always as the three hunted through the jungle and up and down theriver there lurked ever near a handful of the men of the tribe of thetwo whom von Horn had murdered, waiting for the chance that would givethem revenge and the heads of the three they followed. They feared theguns of the white men too much to venture an open attack, and at nightthe quarry never abated their watchfulness, so that days dragged on,and still the three continued their hopeless quest unconscious of therelentless foe that dogged their footsteps.
Von Horn was always searching for an opportunity to enlist the aid ofthe friendly natives in an effort to regain the chest, but so far hehad found none who would agree to accompany him even in considerationof a large share of the booty. It was the treasure alone which kepthim to the search for Virginia Maxon, and he made it a point to directthe hunt always in the vicinity of the spot where it was buried, for agreat fear consumed him that Ninaka might return and claim it before hehad a chance to make away with it.
Three times during the week they returned and slept at the long-house,hoping each time to learn that the natives had received some news ofher they sought, through the wonderful channels of communication thatseemed always open across the trackless jungle and up and down thesavage, lonely rivers.
For two days Bulan lay raving in the delirium of fever, while thedelicate girl, unused to hardship and exposure, watched over him andnursed him with the loving tenderness and care of a young mother withher first born.
For the most part the young giant's ravings were inarticulate, but nowand then Virginia heard her name linked with words of reverence andworship. The man fought again the recent battles he had passedthrough, and again suffered the long night watches beside the sleepinggirl who filled his heart. Then it was that she learned the truth ofhis self-sacrificing devotion. The thing that puzzled her most was therepetition of a number and a name which ran through all hisdelirium--"Nine ninety nine Priscilla."
She could make neither head nor tail of it, nor was there another wordto give a clue to its meaning, so at last from constant repetition itbecame a commonplace and she gave it no further thought.
The girl had given up hope that Bulan ever could recover, so weak andemaciated had he become, and when the fever finally left him quitesuddenly she was positive that it was the beginning of the end. It wason the morning of the seventh day since they had commenced theirwandering in search of the long-house that, as she sat watching him,she saw his eyes resting upon her face with a look of recognition.
Gently she took his hand, and at the act he smiled at her very weakly.
"You are better, Bulan," she said. "You have been very sick, but nowyou shall soon be well again."
She did not believe her own words, yet the mere saying of them gave herrenewed hope.
"Yes," replied the man. "I shall soon be well again. How long have Ibeen like this?"
"For two days," she replied.
"And you have watched over me alone in the jungle for two days?" heasked incredulously.
"Had it been for life," she said in a low voice, "it would scarce haverepaid the debt I owe you."
For a long time he lay looking up into her eyes--longingly, wistfully.
"I wish that it had been for life," he said.
At first she did not quite realize what he meant, but presently thetired and hopeless expression of his eyes brought to her a suddenknowledge of his meaning.
"Oh, Bulan," she cried, "you must not say that. Why should you wish todie?"
"Because I love you, Virginia," he replied. "And because, when youknow what I am, you will hate and loathe me."
On the girl's lips was an avowal of her own love, but as she bentcloser to whisper the words in his ear there came the sound of mencrashing through the jungle, and as she turned to face the peril thatshe thought approaching, von Horn sprang into view, while directlybehind him came her father and Sing Lee.
Bulan saw them at the same instant, and as Virginia ran forward togreet her father he staggered weakly to his feet. Von Horn was thefirst to see the young giant, and with an oath sprang toward him,drawing his revolver as he came.
"You beast," he cried. "We have caught you at last."
At the words Virginia turned back toward Bulan with a little scream ofwarning and of horror. Professor Maxon was behind her.
"Shoot the monster, von Horn," he ordered. "Do not let him escape."
Bulan drew himself to his full height, and though he wavered fromweakness, yet he towered mighty and magnificent above the evil facedman who menaced him.
"Shoot!" he said calmly. "Death cannot come too soon now."
At the same instant von Horn pulled the trigger. The giant's head fellback, he staggered, whirled about, and crumpled to the earth just asVirginia Maxon's arms closed about him.
Von Horn rushed close and pushing the girl aside pressed the muzzle ofhis gun to Bulan's temple, but an avalanche of wrinkled, yellow skinwas upon him before he could pull the trigger a second time, and Singhad hurled him back a dozen feet and snatched his weapon.
Moaning and sobbing Virginia threw herself upon the body of the man sheloved, while Professor Maxon hurried to her side to drag her away fromthe soulless thing for whom he had once intended her.
Like a tigress the girl turned upon the two white men.
"You are murderers," she cried. "Cowardly murderers. Weak andexhausted by fever he could not combat you, and so you have robbed theworld of one of the noblest men that God ever created."
"Hush!" cried Professor Maxon. "Hush, child, you do not know what yousay. The thing was a monster--a soulless monster."
At the words the girl looked up quickly at her father, a faintrealization of his meaning striking her like a blow in the face.
"What do you mean?" she whispered. "Who was he?"
It was von Horn who answered.
"No god created that," he said, with a contemptuous glance at the stillbody of the man at their feet. "He was one of the creatures of yourfather's mad experiments--the soulless thing for whose arms his insaneobsession doomed you. The thing at your feet, Virginia, was NumberThirteen."
With a piteous little moan the girl turned back toward the body of theyoung giant. A faltering step she took toward it, and then to thehorror of her father she sank upon her knees beside it and lifting theman's head in her arms covered the face with kisses.
"Virginia!" cried the professor. "Are you mad, child?"
"I am not mad," she moaned, "not yet. I love him. Man or monster, itwould have been all the same to me, for I loved him."
Her father turned away, burying his face in his hands.
"God!" he muttered. "What an awful punishment you have visited upon mefor the sin of the thing I did."
The silence which followed was broken by Sing who had kneeled oppositeVirginia upon the other side of Bulan, where he was feeling the giant'swrists and pressing his ear close above his heart.
"Do'n cly, Linee," said the kindly old Chinaman. "Him no dlead."Then, as he poured a pinch of brownish powder into the man's mouth froma tiny sack he had brought forth from the depths of one of his sleeves:"Him no mlonster either, Linee. Him white man, alsame Mlaxon. Singknow."
The girl looked up at him in gratitude.
"He is not dead, Sing? He will live?" she cried. "I don't care aboutanything else, Sing, if you will only make him live."
"Him live. Gettem lilee flesh wounds. Las all."
"What do you mean by saying that he is not a monster?" demanded vonHorn.
"You waitee, you dam flool," cried Sing. "I tellee lot more I know.You waitee I flixee him, and then, by God, I flixee you."
Von Horn took a menacing step toward the Chinaman, his face black withwrath, but P
rofessor Maxon interposed.
"This has gone quite far enough, Doctor von Horn," he said. "It may bethat we acted hastily. I do not know, of course, what Sing means, butI intend to find out. He has been very faithful to us, and deservesevery consideration."
Von Horn stepped back, still scowling. Sing poured a little waterbetween Bulan's lips, and then asked Professor Maxon for his brandyflask. With the first few drops of the fiery liquid the giant'seyelids moved, and a moment later he raised them and looked about him.
The first face he saw was Virginia's. It was full of love andcompassion.
"They have not told you yet?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied. "They have told me, but it makes no difference.You have given me the right to say it, Bulan, and I do say it nowagain, before them all--I love you, and that is all there is that makesany difference."
A look of happiness lighted his face momentarily, only to fade asquickly as it had come.
"No, Virginia," he said, sadly, "it would not be right. It would bewicked. I am not a human being. I am only a soulless monster. Youcannot mate with such as I. You must go away with your father. Soonyou will forget me."
"Never, Bulan!" cried the girl, determinedly.
The man was about to attempt to dissuade her, when Sing interrupted.
"You keepee still, Bulan," he said. "You wait till Sing tellee. Youno mlonster. Mlaxon he no makee you. Sing he find you in low bloatjus' outsidee cove. You dummy. No know nothing. No know namee. Noknow where comee from. No talkee.
"Sing he jes' hearee Mlaxon tellee Hornee 'bout Nlumber Thlirteen. Howhe makee him for Linee. Makee Linee mally him. Sing he know whatkindee fleaks Mlaxon makee. Linee always good to old Sing. Sing hebeen peeking thlu clack in wallee. See blig vlat where Thlirteengrowing.
"Sing he takee you to Sing's shackee that night. Hide you tillevlybody sleep. Then he sneak you in workee shop. Kickee over vlat.Leaves you. Nex' mlorning Mlaxon makee blig hulabaloo. Dance up anddownee. Whoop! Thlirteen clome too soonee, but allight; him finee,perfec' man. Whoop!
"Anyway, you heap better for Linee than one Mlaxon's fleaks," heconcluded, turning toward Bulan.
"You are lying, you yellow devil," cried von Horn.
The Chinaman turned his shrewd, slant eyes malevolently upon the doctor.
"Sing lies?" he hissed. "Mabbeso Sing lies when he ask what for youglet Bludleen steal tleasure. But Lajah Saffir he come and spoil itall while you tly glet Linee to the ship--Sing knows.
"Then you tellee Mlaxon Thlirteen steal Linee. You lie then and youknew you lie. You lie again when Thlirteen savee Linee flom OulangOutang--you say you savee Linee.
"Then you make bad talkee with Lajah Saffir at long-house. Sing hearyou all timee. You tly getee tleasure away from Dlyaks for your self.Then--"
"Stop!" roared von Horn. "Stop! You lying yellow sneak, before I puta bullet in you."
"Both of you may stop now," said Professor Maxon authoritatively."There have been charges made here that cannot go unnoticed. Can youprove these things Sing?" he asked turning to the Chinaman.
"I plove much by Bludleen's lascar. Bludleen tell him all 'boutHornee. I plove some more by Dyak chief at long-house. He knows lots.Lajah Saffir tell him. It all tlue, Mlaxon."
"And it is true about this man--the thing that you have told us istrue? He is not one of those created in the laboratory?"
"No, Mlaxon. You no makee fine young man like Blulan--you know lat,Mlaxon. You makee One, Two, Thlee--all up to Twelve. All fleaks. Youought to know, Mlaxon, lat you no can makee a Blulan."
During these revelations Bulan had sat with his eyes fixed upon theChinaman. There was a puzzled expression upon his wan, blood-streakedface. It was as though he were trying to wrest from the inner templeof his consciousness a vague and tantalizing memory that eluded himeach time that he felt he had it within his grasp--the key to thestrange riddle that hid his origin.
The girl kneeled close beside him, one small hand in his. Hope andhappiness had supplanted the sorrow in her face. She tore the hem fromher skirt, to bandage the bloody furrow that creased the man's temple.Professor Maxon stood silently by, watching the loving tenderness thatmarked each deft, little movement of her strong, brown hands.
The revelations of the past few minutes had shocked the old man intostupefied silence. It was difficult, almost impossible, for him tobelieve that Sing had spoken the truth and that this man was not one ofthe creatures of his own creation; yet from the bottom of his heart heprayed that it might prove the truth, for he saw that his daughterloved the man with a love that would be stayed by no obstacle or boundby no man-made law, or social custom.
The Chinaman's indictment of von Horn had come as an added blow toProfessor Maxon, but it had brought its own supporting evidence in theflood of recollections it had induced in the professor's mind. Now herecalled a hundred chance incidents and conversations with hisassistant that pointed squarely toward the man's disloyalty andvillainy. He wondered that he had been so blind as not to havesuspected his lieutenant long before.
Virginia had at last succeeded in adjusting her rude bandage andstopping the flow of blood. Bulan had risen weakly to his feet. Thegirl supported him upon one side, and Sing upon the other. ProfessorMaxon approached the little group.
"I do not know what to make of all that Sing has told us," he said."If you are not Number Thirteen who are you? Where did you come from?It seems very strange indeed--impossible, in fact. However, if youwill explain who you are, I shall be gladto--ah--consider--ah--permitting you to pay court to my daughter."
"I do not know who I am," replied Bulan. "I had always thought that Iwas only Number Thirteen, until Sing just spoke. Now I have a faintrecollection of drifting for days upon the sea in an open boat--beyondthat all is blank. I shall not force my attentions upon Virginia untilI can prove my identity, and that my past is one which I can lay beforeher without shame--until then I shall not see her."
"You shall do nothing of the kind," cried the girl. "You love me, andI you. My father intended to force me to marry you while he stillthought that you were a soulless thing. Now that it is quite apparentthat you are a human being, and a gentleman, he hesitates, but I donot. As I have told you before, it makes no difference to me what youare. You have told me that you love me. You have demonstrated a lovethat is high, and noble, and self-sacrificing. More than that no girlneeds to know. I am satisfied to be the wife of Bulan--if Bulan issatisfied to have the daughter of the man who has so cruelly wrongedhim."
An arm went around the girl's shoulders and drew her close to the manshe had glorified with her loyalty and her love. The other hand wasstretched out toward Professor Maxon.
"Professor," said Bulan, "in the face of what Sing has told us, in theface of a disinterested comparison between myself and the miserablecreatures of your experiments, is it not folly to suppose that I am oneof them? Some day I shall recall my past, until that time shall provemy worthiness I shall not ask for Virginia's hand, and in this decisionshe must concur, for the truth might reveal some insurmountableobstacle to our marriage. In the meantime let us be friends,professor, for we are both actuated by the same desire--the welfare andhappiness of your daughter."
The old man stepped forward and took Bulan's hand. The expression ofdoubt and worry had left his face.
"I cannot believe," he said, "that you are other than a gentleman, andif, in my desire to protect Virginia, I have said aught to wound you Iask your forgiveness."
Bulan responded only with a tighter pressure of the hand.
"And now," said the professor, "let us return to the long-house. Iwish to have a few words in private with you, von Horn," and he turnedto face his assistant, but the man had disappeared.
"Where is Doctor von Horn?" exclaimed the scientist, addressing Sing.
"Hornee, him vamoose long time 'go," replied the Chinaman. "He hearall he likee."
Slowly the little party wound along the jungle
trail, and in less thana mile, to Virginia's infinite surprise, came out upon the river andthe long-house that she and Bulan had searched for in vain.
"And to think," she cried, "that all these awful days we have beenalmost within sound of your voices. What strange freak of fate sentyou to us today?"
"We had about given up hope," replied her father, "when Sing suggestedto me that we cut across the highlands that separate this valley fromthe one adjoining it upon the northeast, where we should strike othertribes and from them glean some clue to your whereabouts in case yourabductors had attempted to carry you back to the sea by another route.This seemed likely in view of the fact that we were assured by enemiesof Muda Saffir that you were not in his possession, and that the riverwe were bound for would lead your captors most quickly out of thedomains of that rascally Malay. You may imagine our surprise,Virginia, when after proceeding for but a mile we discovered you."
No sooner had the party entered the verandah of the long-house thanProfessor Maxon made inquiries for von Horn, only to learn that he haddeparted up stream in a prahu with several warriors whom he had engagedto accompany him on a "hunting expedition," having explained that thewhite girl had been found and was being brought to the long-house.
The chief further explained that he had done his best to dissuade thewhite man from so rash an act, as he was going directly into thecountry of the tribe of the two men he had killed, and there was littlechance that he ever would come out alive.
While they were still discussing von Horn's act, and wondering at hisintentions, a native on the verandah cried out in astonishment,pointing down the river. As they looked in the direction he indicatedall saw a graceful, white cutter gliding around a nearby turn. At theoars were white clad American sailors, and in the stern two officers inthe uniform of the United States navy.