to shoot a charging lion himself.
While Gonfala had had little previous experience of firearms prior to a few weeks ago, it gave him some consolation to reflect that she had, even in that short time, developed into an excellent shot; and insofar as her nerve was concerned he had no cause for anxiety. What he could not have known, of course, was the far greater menace of the two men who watched her from their rocky concealment upon the hilltop.
Gonfala passed the hill beneath the eyes of Spike and Troll and then crossed a low rise that was a continuation of the hill running down into the plain, and from then on she was hidden from the sight of either van Eyk or Wood. The country she now entered was broken by gullies and outcroppings of rock, by low bushes and occasional trees; so that it was comparatively easy for Spike and Troll to follow her without danger of being discovered; and this they did, keeping well to the rear of her and catching only an occasional glimpse of her during the ensuing hour.
Quite unsuspecting the fact that eight men followed upon her trail, Gonfala continued her seemingly fruitless search for lion, bearing constantly a little to the west because of a range of low hills that lay to the right of her and thus constantly increasing the distance between herself and her two companions. She had about come to the conclusion that the lions had all left the country when she heard, faint and far toward the east, the report of two rifle shots.
'Some one else had the luck,' she said to her gunbearer; 'I guess we came in the wrong direction.'
'No, Memsahib,' he whispered, pointing; 'look! Simba!'
She looked quickly in the direction he indicated; and there among the grasses beneath a tree she saw the head of a lion, the yellow-green eyes gazing unblinkingly at her. The beast was about a hundred yards distant; he was lying down, and as only his head was visible he offered a poor target. A frontal shot, she knew, would only tend to infuriate him and precipitate a charge.
'Pay no attention to him,' she whispered; 'we'll try to get closer and to one side.'
She moved forward then, not directly toward the lion but as though to pass a little to the right of him; and always his eyes followed them, but neither she nor the gunbearer gave any indication that they were aware of his presence. When she had approached to within about fifty yards she stopped and faced him, but he only lay quietly regarding her. But when she took a few steps straight toward him, he bared his great fangs and growled.
Topping a rise behind her, Spike took in the situation at a glance. He motioned to his men to halt, and beckoned Troll to his side. Together they watched the tense scene below them.
'I wish he'd get up,' said Gonfala.
The gunbearer picked up a stone and hurled it at the lion. The result was immediate and electrical. With an angry roar the lion leaped to its feet and charged.
'Shoot, Memsahib!'
Gonfala dropped to one knee and fired. The lion leaped high into the air, its angry roars shattering the silence. It was hit, but it was not stopped; for although it rolled over on its back it was up again in an instant and bearing down on them at terrific speed. Gonfala fired again and missed. Then the gunbearer took aim and pressed the trigger of his gun. There was only a futile click. The cartridge misfired. The lion was almost upon Gonfala when the gunbearer, unnerved by the failure of his gun, turned and fled. Unwittingly he had saved Gonfala's life, for at sight of the man in flight the lion, already rising over Gonfala, followed a natural instinct that has saved the life of many a hunter and pursued the fleeing man. Gonfala fired again, and again scored a hit; but it did not stop the infuriated beast as it rose upon its hind feet and seized the gunbearer, the great fangs closing upon his head until they met in the center of his brain.
The girl was aghast as she stood helplessly by while the huge cat mauled its victim for a moment; then it sagged upon the body of the man and died.
'That,' said Troll, 'is wot I call a bit o' luck. We not only gets the girl, but we gets two guns.'
'And no witness,' added Spike. 'Come on!' He motioned the others to follow him, and started down the declivity toward Gonfala.
She saw them almost immediately and for a moment thought her companions were coming, but presently she recognized them. She knew that they were bad men who had stolen the great diamond and the emerald, but she had no reason to believe that she was in any danger from them.
They came up to her smiling and friendly. 'You sure had a narrow squeak,' said Spike. 'We seen it from the top of that rise, but we couldn't have done nothing to help you even if we'd had guns-we was too far away.'
'What are you doing here?' she asked.
'We was tryin' to find our way to railhead,' explained Spike. 'We been lost fer weeks.'
Troll was recovering the gun and ammunition from the dead gunbearer, and Spike was eyeing the splendid rifle that Gonfala carried.
'We're on our way to railhead,' she explained. 'You can come back to camp with me and go on to railhead with us.'
'Won't that be nice!' exclaimed Spike. 'Say, that's a fine gun you got there. Lemme see it a minute.' Thoughtlessly, she handed the weapon over to him; then she stepped over to the body of the dead gunbearer.
'He's quite dead,' she said. 'It's too bad. Your men can carry him back to camp.'
'We ain't goin' back to your camp,' said Spike.
'Oh,' she exclaimed. 'Well, what am I to do? I can't take him back alone.'
'You ain't goin' back neither.'
'What do you mean?'
'Just wot I says: You ain't goin' back to your camp. You're comin' with us.'
'Oh, no I'm not.'
'Listen, Gonfala,' said Spike. 'We don't want no trouble with you. We don't want to hurt you none; so you might as well come along peaceful like. We need you.'
'What for?' Her voice was brave, but her heart sank within her.
'We got the Gonfal, but we can't make it work without you.'
'Work?'
'Yes, work. We're goin' to set ourselves up like Mafka did and be kings-just as soon as we find a piece o' country we like. We'll live like kings, too, off the fat of the land. You can be queen-have everything you want. Maybe, even, I'll marry you.' He grinned.
'The hell you will,' snapped Troll. 'She belongs to me as much as she does to you.'
Gonfala cringed. 'I belong to neither of you. You are both fools. If you take me away, you will be followed and killed; or, at the least, both I and the Gonfal will be taken from you. If you have any sense you will let me go; then you can take the Gonfal to Europe. They tell me that there the money that it would bring would buy you anything that you wanted all the rest of your lives.'
'A fat chance we'd have gettin' rid o' that rock in Europe,' said Troll. 'No, sister, we got it all figgered out. You're comin' with us, an' that's that.'
Chapter 15. Clews
VAN EYK DROPPED his lion with the second shot, and a few minutes later he heard the three shots fired by Gonfala. Wood, having had no luck and attracted by the report of van Eyk's gun, joined him. He was still apprehensive concerning Gonfala's safety; and now that van Eyk had his trophy, he suggested that they send the carcass back to camp while they joined Gonfala. Van Eyk agreed, and they set out in the direction from which they had heard the shots.
They searched for two hours without result, often calling her name and occasionally discharging their rifles; then, more by chance than design, they stumbled upon the little swale where Gonfala had come upon her lion. There it lay upon the body of the dead gunbearer, but Gonfala was nowhere to be seen.
The ground was hard and stony, giving no indication to the untrained eyes of the white men that others beside Gonfala and her gunbearer had been there; so they assumed that, having no one to cut off or carry the head of the lion back to camp, the girl had returned there herself alone; and that, having come from another direction, they had missed her. They were, therefore, not unduly apprehensive until after they reached the camp and
