| Show FORLORN ISLAND by EDISON MARSHALL aryle copyright Copy Tight by edilou marscall Mars ball CHAPTER XI continued is 18 not yet let things quiet down farst I 1 dont want ta give any alarm until I 1 can slip off and get back safe she drew a deep breath what ore are you going to do find and ask her to help us do you think nans throat filled but she went on an bravely that its worth the risk they may be laying for you ill bo be careful anyway its tt our only chance for complete victory tie listened and watched a bomea more nan hold up one of the robes between me and the lamp im going to make a hole and sneak away she obeyed without protest soon the aperture would admit his body put the clods back when I 1 get out so they wont see the light he directed it if they find the hole anyway and learn that im not here let some light through that will be a signal of danger apparently he meant to go on his perilous errand without a word of farewell and she made no move to stay him but at last when his spear was ready in his hand he swayed toward her with hungry lips good luck eric she whispered her mouth moving against his good luck sweetheart dont worry about me just sit tight till I 1 get nick hack and if you need me yell at the top of your lungs ill keep an eye out anyway and if I 1 see about to attack ill come a running at once he slipped through the aperture hovering close to the turf wall all he surveyed the ground luck seemed to be with him two of san domars gang stood on guard but they were in front of the hut door and by ducking into the shadow of the next house he be thought he could steal away unseen not a pebble rattled under his feet as he crept down the village row to the chapel bright moonlight spread before the entrance but eric brie crossed it boldly ile he found FIr eheart kneeling before the ilion lost in some old service passed down by a long dead priest she sprang to her feet trembling why you no with white girl tn in new house she demanded im in trouble eric answered gravely ive come to you for help the squaws squads lip curled you come to Firc heart she just ugly squaw why you no go to white girl she your wife she help you plenty 1 I want you to help her too the trouble has come to us all me help white girl iler her voice had it a metallic rattle no love her no love you too you get out tit trouble best you can eric turned to go id hoped be a friend to roe me as ive been a friend to all your people the squaws squads hand leaped out like it a salmon striking and clutched his wrist what trouble come fire heart feel good to know San domar maybe steal wife San Sand domar Dmar tins has found out the little gun wont shoot little gun no shoot tier her slim breast swelled it been any good since the night I 1 shot swede and you boss whole island sando mar aleut everybody with pretend 7 yes but found me out San domar means to kill 1111 me and take nan briefly grimly he explained the whole situation her somber gaze stole again and again to his face the tendons stood out on tier her lark dark unlovely hands you go back Ilor II ortona tons hut right now then I 1 go and call punters hunters here I 1 tell em about little gun they be plenty mad they no like you you anke lem ero work boss lem em hard they glad you get in trouble guess maybe they like 1110 go see San domar kill you erle kelc moved to make a last appeal but the squaws squads drawn face and smoldering eyes rep repelled plied him ills hope and died turning to the door he mada it a brief survey of the moonlit ridge then crept away all that remained now was to carry the ill news to his friends rally them the best he could and lend lead them to some more advantageous battleground for a last desperate stand Dis heartened he moved less furtively pausing but briefly to reconnoiter recon along the village row its ills fighting edge seemed dulled ills brain felt like a clod inside his skull he could not remember the rattling pebbles under tinder his bis feet anyway the const coast appeared clem clea tf ills hla enemies and dis Is ci cn covered crol vered his hid errand they would be waiting for fir him in the ati shadow of llor ilor anif rit sS lint hut not bore lip lie on ills his guard cuard loverl but he had not reckoned on sando mars weird intelligence garges cargos cun cull ning they had foreseen that he might try to enlist Firc heart just too late to stop him aud and had guessed gues seil by what route he would return As he dipped through the inky shadow of a midway turf house it a vengeful patient foe came into his own balc had walked into a trap nor could he break free again heavy shoulders smote emote his hi side and strong arms encircled his before he could turn to fight a second assailant leaped on hla his back rind and caught him around the neck and a third on the opt opposite osite side wrenched the spear from his hand their combined weight hurled him headlong the darkness was streaked with fire it was a savage silent attack but some cool mind far within his reeling head was wag astonished at its repressed power why these foes impale him quickly on their spears while they had the chance why were they so careful with him not striking him with their fists anxious not to knock him senseless nicely measuring their violence to hold him fast but not to break his bones if this was mercy it was a strange kind it was as though they wished to keep him fresh for some revelry to follow yet lie he thanked them in his heart when his break came he would need every ounce of strength they would spare him when two of them held him while the third lashed his wrists he made no futile struggle they hailed him to his feet and in grim haste led him toward the beach only when they emerged full under moonlight did he recognize his captors sydney mil bill and the two smiths they were breathing hard through set teeth a sign eric feared nis ills vitals cold his head swimming his temples dripping sweat eric could not at once credit the scene on the beach it had the uncanny quality of a dream silence grayness timelessness and the difficulty of telling what was alive what was dead the rocks the sleepy sea and the moonlit strand seemed to share the same repressed sinister animation abiding in sando mars impassive irame frame San domar sat on a boulder his paws in ills his lap the moonlight in his brutish eyes back of him stood varge and for a long time neither made a move said bald a word cooky and petroff were dark shapes squatting on the sand somehow grotesque ominous there was a silvery glint on the crags a witch light over the sea the waves rolled up dreamily and lapped the pebbled strand the wind whispered sobbed softly died away fabulous rubles glowed in the ashes of the supper fire at last San domars monotone streamed into the silence 1 I 1 see you caught him just where you said hed be sydney bill answered in bushed tones so ill try him San domar went on unaware that sydney bill had spoken garge barge get him ready the little cockney came weaving across tile the sand there was something horribly exultant in the lightness of his step the position of his hands bands lie ile held a spear thong tied in a noose which lie he dropped loosely over the prisoners head bead holding the end he slashed with his knife the ropes binding erics wrists at the same time little smith raked up the coals of the supper fire and threw on fresh fuel erics brain was clearing now ills eyes moved in their sockets as he sized up the ground but there was no chance or shadow of chance for escape at ills his first move the noose bout about his throat would jerk tight and big big smiths ready spear would whiz down lie ile waited quietly you showed us how to hold court so dont blame us it if we learned the lesson well San domar went on with somber dignity youre charged with the killing of swede remember that swede lay just about where youre standing now cargo you speak for the prisoner barge garge took a step forward in the spreading firelight his fits face looked sharp and pinched as a starved rats 1 I dont think we ought to be too ard on this ere prisoner he began hit his tone dripping with malice 1 I think all we ought to do to im ilin Is cool im off there was a long breathless pause mow ilow you coln about to do that large cooky askel asked plainly this was part of a mock trial rehearsed beforehand well lust just tie im and and foot and lay him down on the tide flat the tides just turning in and it will cool tm oft off proper in the next six hours your plea for mercy for the prisoner la granted San domar said just as though narges venom had e entered his dead oars cars Er edlessen lessen us some cold nights but its your turn now hell lop flop around enough to keep warm when the water gets up t to Is mouth month gorge rasped smith th get him film ready then you and sydney bill carry him down this was no jest the two e execl eca moved toward the condemned a pitt pitiless leas shine in their eyes in twenty seconds more he would be helpless his doom written his cause lost the girl he loved slated for suicide or worse now in this swift interval of time lay his fits only fighting chance ills mind surged free from the murk of terror and pain instantly he was cold steady resourceful as never in his life ills strong instinct of self preservation lashed flashed like a shore light through the gloom orienting him lending him on lie he raised ills his hand in a commanding gesture jome echo of his lost power stopped smith and bill in their tracks yoli pack of co cowards 1 ilia volca voice rumbled rumbled mona along the deserted strand ill fight any one of you for my life ills ilia gaze moved slowly from face to face but he found no manly pride only thwarted hatred mob fury there was no hope here tile tho very cowardice of those who ft ho heard ham was hla his doom the waves naves lapped the shore and the moon cast her sinister spell as he batted tot foi in an answer an swerIn tn vain hut there was one of hla his enemies who had not heard the challenge for him sound did not exist and for reasons of his own garges nimble fingers still hung motionless barge garge Oi irge tell San dumar domar that it if hes not a reward coward holl hell fight me man to man eric said with stinging contempt th the e ratty face seemed to wenzen crucs faculties were preternaturally keen lighting fighting for his afe or they would have haie never taken warning from the instants paralysis of the little delicate hand then he saw it rise boldly up the fingers w wiggling like the legs of a water spider with a suffocating heart eric watched face all he asked now flickering hope at best was one gleam of human anger in the deep set eyes on an instants baring of the simian fangs but the dark visage stayed a brutish mak the great limp hands never quivered it was n as a cruelly effective answer it implied a whales indifference to the snarls of a polar hear bear a supremacy of strength beyond need of test ills henchmen squared their shoulders their looks grew savagely gely exultant they could work their will on their prisoner now with many a grim jest and no flush of shame on their drawn cheeks ile he was not the person of the law but only a man danl I 1 like the themselves melves not the island king hy by right of worth but a cold bluffer a cheat erics blood rippled cold as ag the moonlight on the tide but suddenly it shot down his veins like liquid fire even San domar could not be so BO inhumanly strong cilc remembered the strange deeps of garges love lie he whirled on the little cockney with an oath you tell him what I 1 said I 1 I youre a biarl San domar leaned forward on his boulder his dead ears pricking up in vain going on he demanded it was more like a savage bark barb than a mans voice but garge barge dared not tell him desperate he pulled the thong to throttle his enemy eric saw his wrist twitch just in time ills right hand grasped the thong holding it slack black beside him big smith flung back hla his spear but eric could not dot combat this or even glance at I 1 it playing his luck he stood motionless and the point slowly fell you let sandy alone garge barge spoke in bitter anguish his hand on his knife hilt if you don dont ill carve your heart ignoring him eric stooped and began to smooth off the sand between himself and San domar perhaps no act of his life demanded colder nerve than this to take down his guard in the ring of the hungry pack then with his right hand still grasping the thong the fingers of his left forming a pencil he wrote immense letters in the sand COWARD there was no sound but the whispering wind the lapping waves the sailors stared at the great indictment stretching ten feet across the beach then looked furtively at their master San domar rose slowly with re pressed strength the jungle eyes lighted the long arms hung hang bowed 1 I understand you before he muttered 1 11 I do not hear and cargo cheated me you ask to fight me man to man eric nodded nodded ill give you what you ask but wish chosen the tide with weapons or empty hands eric feared the terrible paws to th narrow marrow of his bones so he pointed N t smiths spear San domar shook his head 1 I an am not handy with a spear then turning to sydney bill get act two toma hawks haw ks three of the men were armed w with ith these stone age weapons heavy sh sharp arp flints lashed to stout shafts and bill presented them quickly let Er edlessen lessen take ills his choice the dull voice ran on Il hell lell need that little advant advantage 11 lie ile stood inert a grotesque forlorn and tragic figure while eric weighed the t two w 0 weapons and chose the lighter now take oft off ills his noose and stand back no matter what happens stand back it t that at little monkey of mine tries to interfere break his jaw the gorilla lumbered forward the monkey and the wolves drew back with wings on ills his feet and cold rapture in his heart eric came weaving in mind and all it meant means verbus versus might law oppose opposed d to chaos bright faced man slim young erect eagerly listening listen ng against aga dinst the a ancient jungle stooped of shoulder dark and low of brow dear deaf to the far calls on the whid TO BM BH COI |
