"We getee in here," said Salloo, indicating the largest of them. "I sendmy men in annuder one."
"I'm not going in there," declared Donald, "there might be snakes orwild beasts inside."
"You'd better come in or be blown away," said Captain Sparhawk.
He had hardly spoken, before the storm broke in all its fury. Donald,with a cry of alarm, followed the others into shelter.
"Gracious, this beats anything I ever saw, even that storm off thePamatous," shouted Jack, above the shrieking of the wind.
"Him blow more big bimeby," said Salloo, "him big storm this. You see."
The trees swayed violently, and before long, from their shelter, theysaw a big one torn up by the roots and hurtled from the bank into theriver. The wind grew more violent. The dark air was filled with flyingbranches, leaves and sticks. Birds, large and small, were swept by,powerless to contend with the furious gale. Donald was crouched back ina far corner of their shelter, too frightened to do anything more thanmumble and whimper.
The river began to rise and add its mighty voice to the other sounds,although no rain had yet fallen where they were. The darkness increased,but suddenly everything was lit up in a livid glare that made them allblink.
"Lightning," exclaimed Salloo, "now him comin'."
Then down came the rain. It literally fell in sheets, blotting outeverything like a fog even when the constant flashes illuminated thescene. The water began to pour into their shelter from above, making ita very uncomfortable place. Soon the water was up to their knees and inthe cave occupied by the carriers the men stood upright with theirburdens on their heads to keep them out of the water.
"Gracious, I never saw so much water come down in my life," exclaimedJack. "It's a regular--my!"
There had come a flash, a red ribbon of flame, so blinding that for aninstant they could not see. It was followed by a crack of thunder thatseemed to have split the sky. Donald gave a yell of alarm.
"Him hittee something close by for sure," declared Salloo. He was right.Presently they saw a tall ceiba tree burst into flame like a torch.Fanned by the wind, it blazed fiercely even in the downpour. Its redglare lit up their faces in a ghostly manner, for it was not more than afew feet from their place of refuge.
"My, this is awful," muttered Raynor. "Thank goodness we got out fromunder those trees in time."
"Amen to that," said Captain Sparhawk solemnly.
It rained for the rest of that night and in the morning they weresorry-looking objects. Everything was wet, and although they had triedto light a fire during the night, after the first violence of the stormhad abated, they had not succeeded. But when, shortly before noon, thesun did come out, it shone down with a heat that made the whole wetearth steam. Clothes were spread out on the rocks to dry, as was therest of the outfit. Fortunately, the bags the carriers bore were mostlyof waterproof material, so not much damage was done to the contents.
It was a scene of havoc on which they gazed. The river ran high and itssurface was littered with the bodies of dead monkeys, snakes, greattrees torn up bodily, and other debris eloquent of the violence of thehurricane.
All round them lay big trees and the bodies of countless birds that hadbeen dashed to death. It was some time before Salloo could persuade afire to burn, but among the rocks, in crevices the rain had notpenetrated, he found old dried leaves and sticks which made capitalkindling and at last they cooked a hot meal, in need of which they allstood badly.
Then it was off on the long trail again. Late that afternoon, just asthey were making camp, a party of natives came along the trail. Theycarried the skins of numerous beautiful birds that they had brought downwith their blow-pipes. They were friendly and the boys bought some ofthe skins. Afterward Salloo had a long talk with them and, this beingconcluded, they kept on their way while our party went on with itspreparations for spending the night.
Salloo had some news to disclose, he said. The natives he had beentalking to knew the Kini-Balu Mountains well and told him, after he haddescribed the cave they were looking for, that it was a very bad place.Nobody liked to go near it.
"On account of the Kini-Balus?" asked Mr. Jukes.
"No, on account um ghosts," rejoined Salloo; "ghost of Taratao, old-timechief of Kini-Balus haunt him."
"Begorry, so long as the ghosts ain't got a punch it's sorra a bit Icare for 'em," declared Muldoon valiantly.
That evening Salloo had a novelty for supper in the form of the flesh ofa huge lizard, or iguana. At first the boys and their companions did notwant to touch it, for in life it had been a hideous looking monster. Butbeing pressed by Salloo, they consented, and found it very good eating.Its flesh tasted like chicken, though even more delicate.
It was about an hour after the meal when they were preparing for bedthat Jack complained that he was feeling poorly. He said he had aheadache and a feeling of vertigo. The others then admitted experiencingthe same symptoms. Nausea soon succeeded these and ere long they wereall convinced that they had been poisoned by eating the iguana. Thenatives, who camped some distance off with Salloo, experienced no suchillness but then they had eaten none of the iguana which, to CaptainSparhawk's mind, made it all the more certain that it was the giantlizard's flesh that had made them ill.
Salloo was called from the native camp and bitterly reproached forinducing them to eat it. He protested that it could not have been theiguana that had made them ill. Had he not himself eaten it? But in theend he returned to the native camp with his head hung down, completelycrushed by what he deemed the injustice of his white friends in blaminghim for their illness. At first they were not greatly alarmed, notdeeming it possible that they had actually been poisoned, and CaptainSparhawk administered remedies from the medicine chest. But, to theiralarm, instead of decreasing in severity, their sufferings grew moreacute as the night wore on.
Their ideas became confused, and as in sea-sickness in an acute stage,they lay about, not caring whether they lived or died. If they tried torise, their heads swam, their feet tottered. Thus it was that Salloofound them in the morning when he came from the native camp.
The faithful fellow was seriously alarmed and set up a mighty wailingwhich soon brought his followers running over. But the sufferers onlyturned dull eyes upon them and moaned in their pain. Plainly they werein such a serious condition that unless something was done soon torelieve them, death itself might put an end to their misery. Salloolooked about him wildly, hoping to catch some solution to the mystery ofthis sudden illness. He raised his eyes upward and his lips moved as ifhe were invoking the aid of some heathen deity.
But suddenly the expression on his countenance changed. His eyes werefixed on the leaves of a tree under which the sufferers had passed thenight. For the first time, too, he became aware of a peculiarlysickening odor in the air. It smelled like carrion. As some huge scarletflowers which grew on the tree began to open to the daylight (they hadbeen closed at night) this terrible stench became stronger. Salloouttered a single shout of comprehension.
"Upas!" It was echoed by his companions, whom Salloo at once directed topick up the sufferers and carry them to some distance. When the last hadbeen transported, Salloo got water from a forest pool and poured it overthem. One by one they began to revive. Jack, who was one of the first tocome to, rose dizzily to his feet and tried to walk. But Salloo gentlymade him lie down again. After an hour or so all felt better and partookof some soup and weak tea.
"Salloo, you are forgiven," said Captain Sparhawk, "but never persuadeus to eat lizard again. You came near being the death of us all."
"Faith, oi was niver so near the Pearly Gates before," declared Muldoonemphatically.
"Him no lizard hurt you," declared Salloo vehemently; "lizard heap good.Upas he hurt you. If I no see it and have you moved away you plitty soonhave died."
"What do you mean, Salloo?" asked Mr. Jukes. "Do you mean our sicknesshad anything to do with the tree we camped under?"
"Ebblyting," was the reply; "him tree was the upas."
"I see it all now," exclaimed Captain Sparhawk. "That tree was thedeadly upas of which you may have heard. Every one in the IndianArchipelago knows of it. Within its great red blossoms are the sepulchreof birds and insects whose bodies, lying rotting there, give out thatterrible odor which ought to warn all travelers against it. But wecamped when it was getting dark and the flowers were closed, keeping thenoxious reek from escaping and warning us. Salloo is right, and if hehad not had us dragged from under it we should have perished miserably."
"I remember reading somewhere of the upas," said Jack, "but I alwaysthought its deadly qualities were exaggerated. After our last night'sexperience I'll know better."
"I suppose the heat of our camp fire under the branches had something todo with it, too," said Billy.
"Undoubtedly," declared the captain. "And then as we sat around aftersupper we were, unknown to ourselves, inhaling the deadly vapor till wegrew sick. Instead of moving away before we grew worse, as we certainlywould have if we had known the cause of our malady, we made ourselvesworse by lying down to sleep with that poisonous breath as our onlyatmosphere. Salloo, your lizard is vindicated, and to show you it is,the next one you shoot I'll volunteer to eat."
But although recovered, they still felt weak from the effects of theirterrible night under the upas, whose Latin name, if any one wishes toknow it, is _antiaris toxicaria_. In fact, their feelings were very likethose of persons just getting over sea-sickness. They felt buoyantlywell and happy, but not yet quite strong enough for the hard work of thetrail. So they remained where they were till the next day and thenpushed on once more on their quest.
CHAPTER XXXIII.--THE GIANT SPIDERS.
When they resumed their journey the next morning they encountered a newform of obstacle in the form of the webs of huge red bird-catchingspiders, whose nets stretched from tree to tree in the forest, lookedlike seine nets in a fisherman's village hung out to dry, or to makeanother comparison, miles of mosquito netting hung between the treetrunks. Through these webs they had to make their way for a longdistance.
The boys did not like it at all, and Donald Judson, who was particularlyaverse to spiders, slunk in the rear till the natives, with shouts andyells, cut down the webs that hung across the trail. The soft silkysubstance of the webs struck them in the face and clung glutinously andcovered their clothes with a coating of white fleece.
As they forced their way through this repulsive feature of New Guineaforest travel, they could, from time to time, see the hideous forms ofthe huge and venomous spiders that had spread the webs peering at themfrom dark retreats in the crevices of trees or else scuttling off onlong, hairy legs to safety. It did not require much imagination topicture their anger at this ruthless destruction of their homes. Thatnight they camped near the edge of a big swamp, and the two boys, wearyof the monotony of the long march and tired of canned stuff andpreserved goods, volunteered to set out with rifles and see if theycould not bring in something more palatable.
As they had camped early when the swamp crossed their path, there wasplenty of time for them to go quite a distance in search of game. In ashort time they had brought down two birds that looked something likepartridges, as well as shooting an odd-looking bird like a huge parrot,with a gigantic bill and horny head. They were some distance apart,separated by a brake of reeds, when Jack heard a sudden cry of alarmfrom Billy.
Disregarding the danger of snakes, he pushed his way through the brakeat once. As he came in sight of Billy, who was standing staring into theforest as if petrified, Jack, too, received a shock. Not far from Billywas what he at first thought was a man. But such a man! Not even in anightmare had the boy ever beheld such a hideous form.
This man, if such he was, was covered all over with red hair, thick andshaggy, except on the face, which was darker and bereft of hair, butfrom which two yellow eyes glared malevolently. In an instant the truenature of this creature flashed upon Jack. It was an orang-outang, and amonster, too, that stood facing them, its long arms trailing in front ofit. But even though stooped over, it was as large as the average man,with a massive chest and shoulders.
"Take a shot at it, Jack," urged Billy.
But Jack shook his head.
"It looks too horribly human," he said. "Besides, it doesn't look as ifit would attack us. It seems to be more possessed by curiosity thananything else."
Perhaps the boy was right, for after eyeing them for a few seconds morethe monstrous creature shuffled off for the edge of a big sheet of wateron whose margin they stood, and began tearing up some sort of waterplants and eating their roots with many grunts of satisfaction. He wadedin almost knee deep, stuffing his bag-like cheeks full and chewing withhuge satisfaction. The boys gazed at this strange picture withfascination.
But suddenly the monster stopped eating and stood erect. Its hair beganto bristle and it uttered an angry sort of growl. Apparently it was notfear but anger that possessed this colossus of the forests as it glancedangrily about it. The cause of its emotion was not long in appearing.From the stagnant waters was approaching an antagonist formidableindeed--a giant saurian--a crocodile larger than any the boys had everseen in any zoo.
The boys naturally expected to see the orang-outang beat a hastyretreat. But instead it stood its ground, merely drawing back a fewinches as the crocodile's hideous snout and scaly body were successivelyprotruded from the water. Jack now recalled what Salloo had told him onenight in camp about the orang. The Malay had said it was the king of theNew Guinea forests, fearing no man, beast or reptile, and this certainlyappeared to be the case in this instance.
Had it wished to beat a retreat to safety, the mias, as the nativescalled the red gorilla, might easily have done so. One leap and he couldhave grasped a tree trunk, up which he could have scrambled in a jiffy.On the contrary, after its first backward steps, which brought it almostout of the water, the creature stood upright and, uttering savagegrowls, beat on its hairy chest with its huge arms, producing a soundlike the reverberations of a savage "tom-tom."
The scaly reptile continued to advance. Perhaps, to its eyes, the redgorilla was simply a native, a poor weak human being, such as possiblyhad fallen victim to the great crocodile before. However that may havebeen, the saurian, without undue hurry, could be seen to be makingstraight for the red ape and, maneuvering so as to get its monstrousarmor-plated tail in position to give a fatal flail-like sweep, whichwould fling the orang-outang into the water, stunning it and making itan easy prey.
It appeared to flatten itself as it reached shallow water, its uglylizard-like legs spread out on each side of its scaly body almosthorizontally. Then, with a suddenness that made the boys catch theirbreaths in a quick gasp, the monster gave a sudden leap, aiding thismaneuver by its tail, which it suddenly stiffened as if it had been aspring.
Its whole length was launched into the air as it sprang, and for a flashits wide-opened jaws with their hideous rows of triangular teeth,appeared to engulf the red ape. But while the boys were still heldspell-bound by this spectacle, such a one as perhaps no human being buta lone native hunter had ever beheld before, the red gorilla gave amighty leap. It was partly straight up and partly to one side. As thegreat jaws of the saurian came together with a snap like that of atitanic steel trap, the red ape landed fair and square on the scaledmonster's back.
Straddling the plated hide, the great hairy legs gripped the crocodile'ssides as a bronco buster grips his fractious mount. And now commenced astruggle between these two denizens of the deepest New Guinea forestssuch as the two young spectators remembered with photographic vividnessto the end of their lives.
On the part of the crocodile the battle was simply a series of leaps andwild tail threshings in an effort to dislodge his nimble foe. The grassand weeds were mown down as if by a scythe by the sweeps of the greattail, but the ape held firm, his little eyes twinkling wickedly. Withone arm it clutched the rough hide firmly, but the other was wavingabout like a tentacle seeking something to grasp.
/> During the struggle the jaws of the crocodile had been frequentlysnapped, but they only closed on empty air. As in all the saurian tribe,during this process the upper jaw had pointed nearly vertically upward,making an opening big enough to swallow a canoe. Suddenly the watcherssaw the orang's purpose. All at once the disengaged arm made a swiftsweep forward and grasped the extended upper jaw.
"Great Scott! he's done for now," cried Billy. "That jaw will close andcut his fingers off."
"Hold on," warned Jack. "Watch. I've heard these creatures can bendrifle barrels as if they were made of lead. Perhaps--look!"
The orang suddenly shifted his position. He was now kneeling on thecrocodile's back, his knees braced firmly on its armor-plated neck andhis second arm aiding the first in the task of keeping those jaws, onceapart, from ever coming together again. Then summoning every ounce ofthat strength that has made the orang the most dreaded of all the forestanimals in that part of the world, even the Bornean tiger owning hissupremacy, the red gorilla gave one grand wrench.
There was a tearing sound as of a tree being torn from its roots, andthe alligator's body writhed and threshed about convulsively. The greatape sprang free from the scaly monster and with hoarse laughter thatsounded like the merriment of a maniac, it gazed on the saurian'sstruggles. But it was not destined to see the end of them. In its agonythe great crocodile instinctively made for the water and was soon out ofsight, threshing and writhing until a clump of water-cane hid it fromsight.