futility of the strange weapon.
Lafayette Smith was no weakling, and though his antagonist was inspired by a combination of maniacal fury and religious fanaticism the outcome of their struggle must have been a foregone conclusion had there been no outside influences to affect it. But there were. Beside the villagers, there was Lady Barbara Collis.
With consternation she had witnessed the futility of Smith's marksmanship; and when she saw him disarmed and in the grip of Jobab, with others of the villagers rushing to his undoing, she realized that now, indeed, the lives of all three of them were in direct jeopardy.
The pistol lay at her feet, but only for a second. Stooping, she seized it; and then, with the blind desperation of self-preservation, she shoved the muzzle against Jobab's side and pulled the trigger; and as he fell, a hideous shriek upon his lips, she turned the weapon upon the advancing villagers and fired again. It was enough. Screaming in terror, the Midians turned and fled. A wave of nausea swept over the girl; she swayed and might have fallen had not Smith supported her.
'I'll be all right in a moment,' she said. 'It was so horrible!'
'You were very brave,' said Lafayette Smith.
'Not as brave as you,' she replied with a weak little smile; 'but a better shot.'
'Oh,' cried Jezebel, 'I thought they would have us again. Now that they are frightened, let us go away. It will require only a word from one of the apostles to send them upon us again.'
'You are right,' agreed Smith. 'Have you any belongings you wish to take with you?'
'Only what we wear,' replied Lady Barbara.
'What is the easiest way out of the valley?' asked the man, on the chance that there might be another and nearer avenue of escape than the fissure through which he had come.
'We know of no way out,' replied Jezebel.
'Then follow me,' directed Smith. 'I'll take you out the way I came in.'
They made their way from the village and out onto the dark plain toward Chinnereth, nor did they speak again until they had gone some distance from the fires of the Midians and felt that they were safe from pursuit. It was then that Lafayette Smith asked a question prompted by natural curiosity.
'How can it be possible that you young ladies know of no way out of this valley?' he asked. 'Why can't you go out the way you came in?'
'I could scarcely do that,' replied Jezebel; 'I was born here.'
'Born here?' exclaimed Smith. 'Then your parents must live in the valley. We can go to their home. Where is it?'
'We just came from it,' explained Lady Barbara. 'Jezebel was born in the village from which we have just escaped.'
'And those beasts killed her parents?' demanded Lafayette . 'You do not understand,' said Lady Barbara. 'Those people are her people.'
Smith was dumbfounded. He almost ejaculated: 'How horrible!' but stayed the impulse. 'And you?' he asked presently. 'Are they your people, too?' There was a note of horror in his voice.
'No,' replied Lady Barbara. 'I am English.'
'And you don't know how you got into this valley?'
'Yes, I know—I came by parachute.'
Smith halted and faced her. 'You're Lady Barbara Collis!' he exclaimed.
'How did you know?' she asked. 'Have you been searching for me?'
'No, but when I passed through London the papers were full of the story of your flight and your disappearance—pictures and things, you know.'
'And you just stumbled onto me? What a coincidence! And how fortunate for me.'
'To tell you the truth, I am lost myself,' admitted Smith. 'So possibly you are about as badly off as you were before.'
'Scarcely,' she said. 'You have at least prevented my premature cremation.'
'They were really going to burn you? It doesn't seem possible in this day and age of enlightenment and civilization.'
'The Midians are two thousand years behind the times,' she told him, 'and in addition to that they are religious, as well as congenital, maniacs.'
Smith glanced in the direction of Jezebel whom he could see plainly in the light of a full moon that had but just topped the eastern rim of the crater. Perhaps Lady Barbara sensed the unspoken question that disturbed him.
'Jezebel is different,' she said. 'I cannot explain why, but she is not at all like her people. She tells me that occasionally one such as she is born among them.'
'But she speaks English,' said Smith. 'She cannot be of the same blood as the people I saw in the village, whose language is certainly not the same as hers, to say nothing of the dissimilarity of their physical appearance.'
'I taught her English,' explained Lady Barbara.
'She wants to go away and leave her parents and her people?' asked Smith.
'Of course I do,' said Jezebel. 'Why should I want to stay here and be murdered? My father, my mother, my brothers and sisters were in that crowd you saw about the crosses tonight. They hate me. They have hated me from the day I was born, because I am not like them. But then there is no love in the land of Midian —only religion, which preaches love and practices hate.'
Smith fell silent as the three plodded on over the rough ground down toward the shore of Chinnereth . He was considering the responsibility that Fate had loaded upon his shoulders so unexpectedly and wondering if he were equal to the emergency, who, as he was becoming to realize, could scarcely be sure of his ability to insure his own existence in this savage and unfamiliar world.
Keenly the realization smote him that in almost thirty hours that he had been thrown exclusively upon his own resources he had discovered not a single opportunity to provide food for himself, the result of which was becoming increasingly apparent in a noticeable loss of strength and endurance. What then might he hope to accomplish with two additional mouths to feed?
And what if they encountered either savage beasts or unfriendly natives? Lafayette Smith shuddered. 'I hope they can run fast,' he murmured.
'Who?' asked Lady Barbara. 'What do you mean?'
'Oh,' stammered Lafayette . 'I—I did not know that I spoke aloud.' How could he tell her that he had lost confidence even in his .32? He could not. Never before in his life had he felt so utterly incompetent. His futility seemed to him to border on criminality. At any rate it was dishonorable, since it was deceiving these young women who had a right to expect guidance and protection from him.
He was very bitter toward himself; but that, perhaps, was due partly to the nervous reaction following the rather horrible experience at the village and physical weakness that was bordering on exhaustion. He was excoriating himself for having dismissed Obambi, which act, he realized, was at the bottom of all his troubles; and then he recalled that had it not been for that there would have been no one to save these two girls from the horrible fate from which he had preserved them. This thought somewhat restored his self-esteem, for he could not escape the fact that he had, after all, saved them.
Jezebel, the circulation restored to her feet, had been walking without assistance for some time. The three had lapsed into a long silence, each occupied with his own thoughts, as Smith led the way in search of the opening into the fissure.
A full African moon lighted their way, its friendly beams lessening the difficulties of the night march. Chinnereth lay upon their right, a vision of loveliness in the moonlight, while all about them the grim mass of the crater walls seemed to have closed in upon them and to hang menacingly above their heads, for night and moonlight play strange tricks with perspective.
It was shortly after midnight that Smith first stumbled and fell. He arose quickly, berating his awkwardness; but as he proceeded, Jezebel, who was directly behind him, noticed that he walked unsteadily, stumbling more and more often. Presently he fell again, and this time it was apparent to both girls that it was only with considerable effort that he arose. The third time he fell they both helped him to his feet.
'I'm terribly clumsy,' he said. He was swaying slightly as she stood between them.
