'They may attack here, too—if that's who it is back again. Major White! Tell the sheik to send a horseman back there
Naomi Madison fainted. No one paid any attention to her. They left her lying where she had fallen. The black askaris and the white men of the company stood with rifles in tense fingers, straining their eyes into the woods about them.
The firing at the rear ceased as suddenly as it had begun. The ensuing silence seemed a thing of substance. It was broken by a weird, blood-curdling scream from the dark wood on the opposite bank of the river.
'Gad!' exclaimed Baine. 'What was that?'
'I think the bounders are just trying to frighten us,' said White.
'Insofar as I am concerned they have succeeded admirably,' admitted Marcus. 'If one could be scared out of seven years growth retroactively, I would soon be a child again.'
Bill West threw a protective arm about Rhonda Terry. 'Lie down and roll under the car,' he said. 'You'll be safe from arrows there.'
'And get grease in my eyes? No, thanks.'
'Here comes the sheik's man now,' said Baine. 'There's somebody behind him on the horse—a white man.'
'It's Clarence,' said West.
As the Arab reined his pony in near Orman, Noice slipped to the ground.
'Well, what was it?' demanded the director.
'Same thing that happened up in front back there,' replied Noice. 'There was a volley of arrows without any warning, two men killed; then we turned and fired; but we didn't see any one, not a soul. It's uncanny. Say, those porters of ours are all shot. Can't see anything but the whites of their eyes, and they're shaking so their teeth rattle.'
'Is Pat hurryin' the rest of the safari into camp?' asked Orman.
Noice grinned. 'They don't need any hurryin'. They're comin' so fast that they'll probably go right through without seein' it.'
A scream burst in their midst, so close to them that even the stolid Major White jumped. All wheeled about with rifles ready.
Naomi Madison had raised herself to a sitting position. Her hair was disheveled, her eyes wild. She screamed a second time and then fainted again.
'Shut up!' yelled Orman, frantically, his nerves on edge; but she did not hear him.
'If you'll have our tent set up, I'll get her to bed,' suggested Rhonda.
Cars, horsemen, black men afoot were crowding into the clearing. No one wished to be left back there in the forest. All was confusion.
Major White, with the assistance of Bill West, tried to restore order from chaos; and when Pat O'Grady came in, he helped.
At last camp was made. Blacks, whites, and horses were crowded close together, the blacks on one side, the whites on the other.
'If the wind changes,' remarked Rhonda Terry, 'we're sunk.'
'What a mess,' groaned Baine, 'and I thought this was going to be a lovely outing. I was so afraid I wasn't going to get the part that I was almost sick.'
'Now you're sick because you did get it.'
'I'll tell the world I am.'
'You're goin' to be a whole lot sicker before we get out of this Bansuto country,' remarked Bill West.
'You're telling me!'
'How's the Madison, Rhonda?' inquired West.
The girl shrugged. 'If she wasn't so darned scared she wouldn't be in such a bad way. That last touch of fever's about passed, but she just lies there and shakes—scared stiff.'
'You're a wonder, Rhonda. You don't seem to be afraid of anything.'
'Well, I'll be seein' yuh,' remarked Baine as he walked toward his own tent.
'Afraid!' exclaimed the girl. 'Bill, I never knew what it was to be afraid before. Why, I've got goose-pimples inside.'
West shook his head. 'You're sure a game kid. No one would ever know you were afraid—you don't show it.'
'Perhaps I've just enough brains to know that it wouldn't get me anything. It doesn't even get her sympathy.' She nodded her head toward the tent.
West grimaced. 'She's a—' he hesitated, searching for adequate invective.
The girl placed her fingers against his lips and shook her head. 'Don't say it,' she admonished. 'She can't help it I'm really sorry for her.'
'You're a wonder! And she treats you like scum. Gee, kid, but you've got a great disposition. I don't see how you can be decent to her. It's that dog-gone patronizing air of hers toward you that gets my nanny. The great artiste! Why, you can act circles all around her, kid; and as for looks! You got her backed off the boards.'
Rhonda laughed. 'That's why she's a famous star and I'm a double. Quit your kidding.'
'I'm not kidding. The company's all talking about it. You stole the scenes we shot while she was laid up. Even Orman knows it, and he's got a crush on her.'
'You're prejudiced—you don't like her.'
'She's nothing in my young life, one way or another. But I do like you, Rhonda. I like you a lot. I—oh, pshaw —you know what I mean.'
'What are you doing, Bill—making love to me?'
'I'm trying to.'
'Well, as a lover you're a great cameraman—and you'd better stick to your camera. This is not exactly the ideal setting for a love scene. I am surprised that a great cameraman like you should have failed to appreciate that. You'd never shoot a love scene against this background.'
'I'm shootin' one now, Rhonda. I love you.'
'Cut!' laughed the girl.
Chapter Four
Dissension
Kwamudi, the black headman, stood before Orman. 'My people go back,' he said; 'not stay in Bansuto country and be killed.'
'You can't go back,' growled Orman. 'You signed up for the whole trip. You tell 'em they got to stay; or, by George, I'll—'
'We not sign up to go Bansuto country; we not sign up be killed. You go back, we come along. You stay, we go back, We go daylight.' He turned and walked away.
Orman started up angrily from his camp chair, seizing his ever ready whip. 'I'll teach you, you black!' he yelled.
White, who had been standing beside him, seized him by the shoulder. 'Stop!' His voice was low but his tone peremptory. 'You can't do that! I haven't interfered before, but now you've got to listen to me. The lives of all of us are at stake.'
'Don't you interfere, you meddlin' old fool,' snapped Orman. 'This is my show, and I'll run it my way.'
'You'd better go soak your head, Tom,' said O'Grady; 'you're full of hootch. The major's right. We're in a tight hole, and we won't ever get out of it on Scotch.' He turned to the Englishman. 'You handle things, Major. Don't pay any attention to Tom; he's drunk. Tomorrow he'll be sorry—if he sobers up. We're all back of you. Get us out of the mess if you can. How long would it take to get out of this Bansuto country if we kept on in the direction we want to go?'
Orman appeared stunned by this sudden defection of his assistant. It left him speechless.
