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Show IY StlC and Alldfie Uo.&.rd ' ' jUrt , ! CHAPTER- IX. ,, I The Swamp. I I "K JEITHER 'Hans nbr I carried I I rifles which we knew would 1 ( ness, which was just to scout. J j ' Moreover, one is always tempted to shoot if a gun is at hand, and I ' this I did not want to do at present, ft ! So, although I had my revolver in j case of urgent necessity, my only j other weapon was a Zulu axe. jf j i For about a quarter of a mile wo l'i J went on without seeing or hearing , !' anything, and n difficult job it was l m in that gloom among the scattered j! " trees, with no light save such as ij the stars gave us. Indeed, I was ii ' about to suggest that we had better , I abandon the enterprise until day- i j( break when Hans nudged rae, whis- j j periug: '! "Look to the right between thoso twin thorns." I tnnce of about two hundred yard- . (, a faint glow, so faint, indeed, that I , -( think only Hans would have no- !' tlced it j, Ji "The fire of which 'wo saw the i " smoke that Las burnt to- ashes." J whispered Hans. . AVe crawled forward very cau tlously to avoid making the slight- J ii est noise, so cautiously, indeed, that it must have taken us nearly '' half an hour to cover those two '( hundred yards. At length we were H. within about forty yards of that H' 1 dying fire and, afraid to go further. I came to a stop behind some bushes - Hana sniffed with his broad nos-' nos-' trils; then ho whispered: "Amahagger there all right, Baa.i; I smell them." I Although my nose ia fairly kocn Hl I could- smell nothing at all, so I H'l determined to wait and watch a while. Some minutes wo lay thus, H Vj til of a sudden this happened: A j y branch of resinous wood of which l the clem had been eaten through ,j by the flames fell upon the ashes of the fire and burnt up with a brilliant light. 1 1, In it we saw that the Amahagger 11 ''"' were sleeping in a circle round the L 1 fire wrapped in their blankets. Also I I we saw that nearer to us, not more Ji ' than a dozen yards away, indeed, Hli; , s a kind or little tent, made of 1 fur rugs or blankets, which doubt- l u less sheltered Tnoz. Indeed, thit H' "vraa evident from thd fact that at Hi ' the mouth of it, wrapped i'p In H j s'i something, lay Janeo. One more J ' thing we noted, namely, that two 1 of the cannibals, evidently a guard, were sleeping between us aad the H An idea cimc to mo. If we could H ' li'i jjL kill those men without waking the -others it might be possible in that gloom to rescue Inez at ouce. Rapidly Rap-idly I weighed the pros and cons of such an attempt Its advantages, advant-ages, if successful, were that the object of our pursuit would be carried car-ried through without further trouble, and that it was most doubtful doubt-ful whether wo should over get such a chance again. If we returned re-turned to fetch the others and attacked at-tacked in force the probability was that those Amahagger. or one of them, would hear some sound made by the advance of a number of men and fly into the darkness, or. rather than lose Inez, they might kill her. Or if they stood and fought she might bo slain in the scrimmage. Or they might defeat and kill us, whom they outnumbered by two or three to one. These were the arguments lor the attempt Those for not miking mik-ing it were equally obvious. To begin be-gin with, it was one of extraordinary extraordi-nary risk; the two guards, or some one else behind them, might wake up, for such people, Ilka dogs, mostly most-ly sleep with one eye open, especially espe-cially when they know that they are being pursued. Or if they did not we might bungle the business so that they raised an outcry before be-fore they grow silont forever, in which, case both of us would probably prob-ably pay the penalty before we . could got away, and perhaps Inez also. Such was the two-horned dilemma di-lemma upon oue point or other of which wo ran the risk of being impaled im-paled For . full minute or moro considered tho matter with an earnestness that almost amounted to mental agony, and at last all but came to the conclusion that the danger was too enormous. It would ' bo belter. notwithstanding the many disadvantages of that plan, to go back and fetch the others. But then It was that I made one of my many mistakes in life. On that occasion my natural ten-1 ten-1 dency to blunder took the form of relying upon another's 'Judgment . instead of my own. Although I had formed a certain view as to what should be done, tho pros and rons i seemod so evenly balanced that I determined to consult Hans and i accept his vordict. I did so to iny i grief. - In the tlnleat of whispers, with my Hps riKht against his smellr : bend. I submitted the problem to the little Hottentot, asking him what wo should do go on or go back. Hans considered a while, then answered in a voice which he contrived to make resemble the drone of a night beetle: "Those men are fast asleep; I know it ,by their breathing. Also the Baas has the Great Medicine. Therefore I say, go on and kill them and rescue Sad-Eyes." Nov I saw that the Fates to which I had appealed had decided against me, 5nd that I must accept their decree. With a sick and sinking sink-ing heart, for I did not at all like the business, I wondered for a mo-. mo-. ment what had led Hans to lake this view, which was directly opposite, op-posite, to that I had expected from hfm. Of course, his superstition about the Great Medicine had something some-thing to do with it, but I felt convinced con-vinced that this was not all. Evon then I guessed that two arguments ar-guments appealed to him, of which the first was that he desired, it possible, pos-sible, to put an end to this Intolerable Intoler-able and unceasing hunt, which had worn us aU out, whatever that end might be. The secoud and more powerful, however, was. I believe and richtlv. that the idea of this stealthy, midnight blow appealed irresistibly to the craft of his half-wild half-wild nature, in which the strains of tho leopard and the snake seemed to mingle with that of the human being. The die having been cast, in the same infinitesimal whispers we made our arrangements, which were few and simple. They amounted to this that we were to creep on to the men and. each of us to kill that one who was opposite oppo-site to him. I with tho axe and Kans with his knife, remembering that it must be done with a single stroke that Is if they did not wako up and kill us after which wo wore to get Inez out of her shelter, dressed or undressed, and make off with her Into the darkness, where we were pretty sure of being able to' baffle pursuit until we reached our own chmp. Provided, that wo could kill the two guards In the proper fashion rather a large proviso, I admit the thing was simple as shelling peas, which, notwithstanding the proverb, prov-erb, in my experience is not simple at all, since generally the shells crack tho wrong way and at least one of them remains in the pod. So it happened in this case, for Janee, whom we had both forgotten, forgot-ten, remained in the pod. I am sure I don't know whv we overlooked her: Indeed, the thing was Inexcusable, - especially as O 1K0. International , '- Hans had already experienced her foolishness and she was lying there before our eyes. I suppose that our minds were so concentrated upon the guard-kllliug and tho trauic and impressive Inez Hhat there was no room in them for the stolid and matter-of-fact Janee. Often in my life I have felt terrified, terri-fied, but rarely have I been more frightened that I was at this moment. mo-ment. Actually I hung hack until 1 saw that Hans, slithering through tho grass like a thick yellow snake, with the 'great knife in his right hand, was quite a foot ahead of me. Then my pride came to the rescue and I spurted, if one can spurt upon one's stomach, and drew level with him. Inch by inch we crept forward, for-ward, lying still a while after each . convulsive movement; once for quite a long while, since tho left-hand left-hand cannibal seemed about to wake up, for he opened his mouth and yawned. If so, he changed his mind, and rolling from a sitting posture on to his side went to sleep much faster than before. A minute or so later the right-hand right-hand ruffian, my man, also stirred, so sharply that I thought he had hr;irrl snmnthintr Annarenllv. how ever, he was only haunted by dreams resulting from an evil life, or perhaps by a prescience of its end, for, aftor waving his arm and muttering something in a frightened, fright-ened, voice, he, too, sank back into sleep. At last we were on them, but paused because wo could not sec exactly where to strike, and knew, each of us, that our first blow must be the last and fatal one. A cloud had come up and dimmed what light there was, and we must wait for It to pass. It was a long wait, or seemed so. At length it did pass, and in faint outline before me 1 saw the classical head of my Amahagger bowed in deep sleep. With a heart beating as it does only in the fierce extremities of lovo or war, I hissed like a snake, which was our agreed signal, then rising to my knees I lifted tho Zulu axe and struck with all my strength. The blow was straight and true; Umslopogans himself could not have dealt a better. The victim In front of me uttered no sound and made no movement; only with his skull cloven in twain, sank gently on to his side, wrenching the axe from my hand, and lay as d"ad as though ho had never been born. It appeared that Hans had dono equally well, alnce tho other man kicked out his long legs, which Fratnre Sctrlcc, Inc. Great Eri struck me on the knees, and thn also became strangely still. Recovering my axe. I crept forward for-ward and opened the curtain-like rugs or blankets that covered Inez. I heard her stir at once. "Make no noise." I whispered. "It. is I, Allan Quatermain, come to rescue res-cue you. Slip out and follow me; do you understand?" "Yes, quite,", sho whispered back, and began to rise. At this moment a blood-curdling yoll seemed to fill earth and heaven, a yell at the memory of which even now I feel faint, years after its echoes died away. I may as well say at once that it came from Janee, who, awaking suddenly, had perceived against the background of the sky, Hans standing stand-ing over her, looking like a yellow devil with a long knife in his hand, which she thought was about to bo ' used to murder her. So. lacking self-restraint, she screamed in the most lusty fashion, for her lungs were excellent, and the game was up. Iii3tanlly every man deeping round the fire leaped to h'is feet and rushed in the direction of the echoes of Janee's yell. It was impossible to get Inez free of her tent arrangement arrange-ment or to do anything except whisper whis-per to her: "Feign sleep and know nothing. We will follow you. Your father Is with uk." Then I bolted back Into tho bushes, which Hans had reached already. A minute or two later, when wo were clear of the hubbub and Hearing Hear-ing our own camp, Hans remarked to me sententiously: "The Great Medicine worked well, Baas, but not quite well enough, for what medicine can avail against a woman's folly?" "It was your own folly we should blame," I answered. "We ought to have known that fool girl would shriek, and taken precautions." "Yes. Baas, wo ought to have killed her. too, for nothing elan would have kept her quiet," replied Hans in cheerful assent. At this moment wo stumbled across Robprtson and Umslopogaas, who, with the others and every living liv-ing thing within a mile or two, had -also heard Janee's yell, and briefly told our story. Then we advanced, Hans and. I Lain Bl;bt ltescrred. ; .... - - - . - S '.' ' ' ' ' r" Ur . 1; . "Recovering my axe I crept forward :? .rj;V :. ' and opened the curtain-like rugs ; ' . or blankets that covered Inez. - V 'Make no noise I whispered. ; 1 i, 'It is I, Allan Quatermain, i .. come to rescue you.'" showing the road. But when wo reached the place it was too late, for Sail that remained of the , Amahagger or of Inez and Janee were the two dead f, men whom wc had killed, y and in that darkness pur- " suit -vas impossible. So we wnnt back to our own camp to rest and await the dawn before taking up tho trail, only to find ourselves confronted with a new trouble. All the Strathmuir half-breeds whom we had left behind as useless had taken advantage of ouroibsenco and that of the Zulus to desert. They .had just bolted back upon our tracks and vanished into the sea of bush. What became of them I do not know, as we never saw them again, but my belief is that these cowardly fellows all 1 perished, for certainly not one of them reached Strathmuir. Fortunately for us, however, they departed in ruth a -hurry that they left alMheir loads behind them, and even some of the guns they carried. As there was nothing to be said or done, since any pursuit of these curs was out of tho question, we made the best of things as they were. From the loads we selected such articles as were essential, ammunition am-munition for tho most part, to carry ourselves, and. the rest we abandoned, aban-doned, hiding jt under a pile of stones in case we should ever come that wav n train Tlirt fno n,.. . o .... buuj liiv; iiiiu thrown aside we distributed amonp the Zulus, who had none, though the thought that they possessed them, co far as I was concerned, added another terror to life. Now, this sounds very much like a tale of disaster, or at any rate of failure. It is, however, wonderful by what strange ways results arc brought about, so much so that at times I think all these seeming accidents ac-cidents must be arranged bv an Intelligence superior to our own, to fulfill through us purposes of which we know nothing, and frequently be it admitted, of a naturo sufficiently suffi-ciently obscure. To take the present case, for instance, in-stance, the whole Inez episode at first sight might appear to be an excrescence of my narrative, of which the object is to describe how I met a certain very wonderful woman and what I heard and experienced expe-rienced in her company. Yet it is not really so, since had It not been for the Inez adventure It is quite clear that I should never have reached the home of this woman or have seen her at all. From the night upon which Hans and I failed Co rescue Inez wo had no more. difficulty in following tho trail of the cannibals, who thenceforward thence-forward worof nevor more than a I f ji ;1 $fA I i I 'r f few hours ahead of us, and had no , f time to be careful or to attempt tc (' hide tholr spoor, though so fast did , they travel that do what we would, j burdened and wearied as we were, L It proved Impossible to catch them I i up- 5 For the first three days the track . ,t ran on through scattered, rolling f bushveld, tending continually down j hill. When we broke camp on tho morning of the fourth day, eating a j y hasty meal at dawn (for now game (. k had become extraordinarily pleutl , r ful), the rising sun showed beneath J nj us an endless sea of billowy mist F stretching in every direction. f UF To the north, as I judged fifty or sixty miles away, rose the grim out- j line of what looked like a huge for- K tress, which I knew must be one of ; i: those extraordinary mountain for- ! mations probably owing their ori- ji gin to volcanic action, that are to j t be met with here and there In Con- T tral and Eastern Africa. Being so fi distant, it was impossible to csti- ' : mate its size, which I guessed must ,. : be enormous, and in looking at it I !. S; bethought me of that great moun- ( K lain in which Zikali said tho mar- . vollous white Queen lived, and won- dered whether it could be the same. I i: If so, the map had shown it as sur- rounded by swamps, and well, surely that mist hid the faco of o L mighty swamp. & f It did,, indeed, since before night- h ; fall, following the spoor of thosf t Amahagger, we had plunged into a I morass so vast that in all my ex i perience I have never seen or heard l $. of its like. It was a veritable . ocean of papyrus and other reeds, 1 3' some of them a dozen or more feet ; Lhj high, so that it was impossible to ' hi seo a yard In any direction. f; Here it was that the Amahagger Xil ahead of us proved our salvation. ?; f 'I since without them to guide us vo puj must soon have perished For !; through that gigantic swamp thre f tils ran a road, as I think an ancient ( road, sinco in one or two places 1 v ftui saw stone work which must have been laid by man. Yet it was nol Si a road which it would have been r i possible to follow without a guide, !, jift, seeing that it also was overgrown i with reeds. Indeed, the only differ ' jfti- ence between it and thn surround- j ing swamp was that on the road the I i:- soil was comparatively firm that Jjj; Is to say, one seldom sank into it cV above the knee, whereas on either yc' side the quagmires were apparently tvs bottomless and partook of the na 1, h turo of quicksand.. !: f This wo found out soon after we ! I jj entered the swamp, since Robert (, ta, son. pushing forward with the fierce i; eagerness which seemed to con j sume him. neglected to keep his rktsj eye upon the spoor and stepped ofj j.. j the edgo of the land that appeared to be exactlv similar to its surface ! ( q; Instantly he began to sink t Id : (W greasy and tenacious mud. In h Ie: slopogaa.s and I were only twentj I yards behind, yet by the time w reached him in answer to his fhoiiti t fc (- fi Continued on 2fcrt rage. Ui cfci , ; to rT . ' " : h' .sJ : ; : . ' '.tuJ .4 ... m |