danger, every risk, must be faced without hesitation, boldly, after the manner of the Lord of the Jungle.
He moved quickly to the hut where he had been confined; and as he stooped and entered it, his sensitive nostrils told him that the Waziri were there.
'Silence,' he whispered; 'it is I, Tarzan. They are coming for you. I will cut your bonds. We will fall upon the warriors who come and take their weapons from them; bind and gag them; let them make no noise. Then bring them where Tarzan leads, to the rear of the chiefs hut.'
He worked quickly as he talked; and when the three warriors came to fetch the prisoners, all of them were free and waiting, waiting in silence in the darkness.
Chapter 15 A Bit of Cloth
'DON'T get it into your heads that you are going to hang me.' There was a challenge in Brown's tone that sounded to Jane like the defiance of a guilty man; and yet she could not believe that it was he who had killed the Princess Sborov.
'We shall hang no one,' she said. 'We cannot take the law into our own hands; we must all be equally under suspicion until a properly constituted court of law determines our guilt or innocence. There is but one thing to do; we must try to reach the nearest established civilized authority, tell our story, and let the law take its course.'
'I quite agree with you, Milady,' said Tibbs.
'Well, I don't,' grumbled Alexis; 'it wouldn't be safe to travel through this lonely country with a murderer who might easily kill all of us and thus dispose of all the witnesses who could testify against him.'
'And what do you suggest?' asked Jane.
'That we leave the murderer here, make our way to the nearest post, report the affair, and leave it to the authorities to apprehend the guilty man and arrest him.'
Jane shook her head. 'But we don't know who the murderer is; in the eyes of the law, we are all equally suspects. No, the only proper thing to do is to find a magistrate or a commissioner, tell our story and request an investigation.'
'Not for me,' said Brown. 'I wouldn't have a chance in one of these foreign ports. There ain't anybody in Europe got any use for an American anyway, but they sure knuckle down to titles. What chance would an American without money have against a prince with millions? Nix, Miss, there ain't nobody goin' to railroad my neck into a noose!'
'You see, Jane,' said Alexis, 'he practically admits his guilt. An innocent man would not be afraid to stand trial.'
'Listen, Miss,' said Brown, turning appealingly to Jane, 'I ain't never bumped anyone off yet; but if you don't want another killing around here, make that fool shut up and keep shut up.'
'Then you refuse to come with us, Brown?' demanded Jane. 'I think you are very foolish.'
'I may be foolish, Miss; but I ain't taking no chances with no foreign court. An English court might be all right, but we are not in English territory. No, I came out here with these people in the hopes I could get hold of that formula for perpetual youth. That would be worth millions back home; and now that I am here, I am going ahead and try to find it. I don't know how, but I am going to try.'
'There are so few of us,' said Jane, 'and we are so poorly armed that we really ought to stick together, at least until we contact some friendly natives.'
'I didn't plan on leaving you cold, Miss,' said the pilot. 'I'll stick until you and Annette are safe.'
'I was sure you would, Brown; and now that that's settled, we've something else to do—a very unpleasant duty. The princess must be buried. I guess you men will have to dig the grave.'
The only implement they had with which to dig was the hatchet that had been used to kill the princess; and thus a task, sufficiently gruesome in itself, was rendered incalculably more so.
While one of the men loosened the earth with the hatchet, the other two scooped it out with their hands; and while the men were thus occupied, Jane and Annette prepared the body for burial as best they might by wrapping it in articles of the victim's clothing taken from her baggage.
Annette wept continually; but Jane, even though she felt the loss infinitely more than the little French maid could have, remained dry-eyed. She had work to do, a duty to perform; and she could not permit her personal sorrow to interfere.
When all was in readiness and the body lowered into the grave, Jane recited as much of the burial service as she could recall, while the others stood about with bowed heads, the men uncovered.
'I think,' said Jane, when it was all over and the grave filled, 'that we had better break camp immediately; no one will want to remain here.'
'Have you any plan?' asked Alexis. 'Do you know where we are going?'
'There are only two things we can do,' said Jane. 'One is to follow this trail toward the west, and the other is to follow it toward the east. The toss of a coin could decide that as intelligently as any of us. Not knowing where we are, it is impossible to know in which direction lies the nearest friendly village. Personally, I should prefer going toward the east because there lies the country with which I am familiar, the country where I have many friends among the natives.'
'Then we go to the east,' said Brown. 'You're boss; what you say goes.'
'I doubt the wisdom of your decision, Jane,' said Alexis. 'The Belgian Congo must lie to the west, if we are not already hi it, which I believe; and in that event, we shall strike civilization sooner by going in that direction.'
'It's all guess-work at best, Alexis,' said Jane. 'It really doesn't make much difference which way we go. Let's leave it to a vote. How about you, Tibbs?'
'I—ahem—I beg pardon, Milady, I shall cast my lot with the majority.'
'You're a lot of help,' said Brown.
'And you, Annette?' asked Jane.
'Oh, if you and Mr. Brown wish to go to the east, I wish to go to the east also.'
'That's settled,' said Jane; 'we go to the east then.'
'I still object,' demurred Alexis. 'As the financial head of the expedition, the one who has paid and must pay all the bills, I believe that some consideration should be shown my wishes.'
'Alexis,' said Jane, 'you make it very difficult. Like the rest, you will have to follow my orders, or when there is a question, accept the will of the majority. As for financing the expedition, each of us has the necessary wherewithal if we care to use it, and it's not money; it's cooperation and loyalty, courage and endurance.'
Alexis had been watching her closely as she spoke, and suddenly his whole attitude changed. 'I am sorry, Jane,' he said, 'I spoke thoughtlessly. You must understand that I am terribly upset by what has happened. I have lost my dear wife, and I am heart-broken.'
Brown turned away disgustedly and held his nose with a thumb and forefinger.
'All right, Alexis,' said Jane. 'Now Jet's gather up what necessities we can carry and get going.'
'How about breakfast?' demanded Brown.
'Oh, I had forgotten all about breakfast,' said Jane. 'Well, it will have to be bush-buck again.'
'I don't believe I can eat a mouthful,' said Annette to Brown.
'Oh, yes you can, girlie,' replied the pilot; 'you gotta eat whether you want it or not. We've probably got a lot of hard days ahead of us and we got to keep up our strength.'
'I'll try,' she said, 'for you.'
He squeezed her arm. 'And say,' he said, 'you don't believe I done it, do you?'
'No, Mr. Brown, I do not believe it.'
'Aw, can the mister, girlie.'
'All right—Neal, but I do not see how he could have done it; I do not see how a man could kill his wife. She was such a nice lady.'
'Yeah, she was sort of nuts, but she was all right at that. She was a whole lot better than him. As a matter of fact, the old dame killed herself.'
'What do you mean? How could she kill herself so horribly with a hatchet?'
