mission go to Schmidt and make up a story about the location of the guns and bullets?
Chuldrup scratched his head, and then the light of a great idea broke upon him; he would go to the camp of the Englishmen, tell them what Schmidt was planning, and ask them to let him remain with them. That, he knew, was one of the best ideas that he had ever had in his life; and so he turned and trotted happily along the trail.
'Something is coming,' whispered Crouch; 'I can hear it,' and a moment later Chuldrup came trotting into view.
All three men shouted warnings simultaneously, but too late. As the Lascar stopped amazed and looked up at them, momentarily uncomprehending, a great tiger leaped from the underbrush and rearing up above the terrified man seized him by the shoulder.
Chuldrup screamed; the great beast shook him and then turned and dragged him off into the underbrush, while the three Englishmen, horrified, looked on helplessly.
For a few moments they could hear the screams of the man mingling with the growls of the tiger and then the screams ceased.
'My God!' exclaimed Algy, 'that was awful.'
'Yes,' said Dolton , 'but it's our chance; he won't bother anything now that doesn't go near his kill.'
Gingerly and quietly they descended to the ground, picked up their rifles, and started back toward camp; but all three were shaken by the tragedy they had witnessed.
In the camp the day's work was done; even Colonel Leigh Could find nothing more to keep the men busy.
'I must be getting old,' he said to his wife.
'Getting?' she asked. ' Are you just discovering it?'
The Colonel smiled indulgently; he was always glad when Penelope was herself. Whenever she said anything pleasant or kindly he was worried. 'Yes,' he continued, 'I must be slipping; I can't think of a damn thing for these men to do.'
'It seems to me there should be plenty to do around here,' said Penelope; 'I am always busy.'
'I think the men deserve a little leisure,' said Patricia; 'they've been working steadily ever since we've gotten here.'
'There's nothing that breeds discontent more surely than idleness,' said the Colonel; 'but I'm going to let them knock off for the rest of the day.'
Hans de Groote and Janette Laon were sitting together on the beach talking.
'Life is funny,' said the man. 'Just a few weeks ago, I was looking forward to seeing New York City for the first time—young, fancy-free, and with three months pay in my pocket; what a time I was planning there! And now here I am somewhere in the Pacific Ocean on an island that no one ever heard of—and that's not the worst of it.'
'And what is the worst of it?' asked Janette.
'That I like it, ' replied de Groote.
'Like it!' she exclaimed. 'But why do you like it?'
'Because you are here,' he said.
The girl looked at him in surprise. 'I don't understand,' she said; 'you certainly can't mean that the way it sounds.'
'But I do, Janette,' he said; 'I—,' his tanned face flushed. 'Why is it that those three words are so hard to say when you mean them?'
She reached out and placed her hand on his. 'You mustn't say them,' she said; 'you mustn't ever say them —to me.'
'Why?' he demanded.
'You know what I have been—kicking around Singapore , Saigon, Batavia .'
'I love you,' said Hans de Groote, and then Janette Laon burst into tears; it had been long since she had cried except in anger or disappointment.
'I won't let you,' she said; 'I won't let you.'
'Don't you—love me a little, Janette?' he asked.
'I won't tell you,' she said; 'I won't ever tell you.'
De Groote pressed her hand and smiled. 'You have told me,' he said.
And then they were interrupted by Patricia's voice crying, 'Why, Algy, where is your shirt?'
The hunters had returned, and the Europeans gathered around to hear their story. When they had finished the Colonel harrumphed. 'That settles it,' he said; 'there will be no more hunting in the jungle; no one would have a chance against a tiger or a lion in that tangle of undergrowth.'
'It's all your fault, William,' snapped Mrs. Leigh; 'you should have taken complete command; you should not have permitted that wildman to turn those beasts loose on us.'
'I still think that it was quite the sporting thing to do,' said the Colonel, 'and don't forget that it was quite as dangerous for him as for us. As far as we know the poor devil may have been killed by one of them already.'
'And serve him quite right,' said Mrs. Leigh; 'anyone who will run around the way he does in the presence of ladies has no business to live—at least not among decent people.'
'I think the fellow was just a little bit of all right,' said the Colonel, 'and don't forget, Penelope, if it had not been for him, we would probably be a great deal worse off than we are now.'
'Don't forget, Aunt Penelope, that he rescued you from the Saigon .'
'I am doing my best to forget it,' said Mrs. Leigh.
Chapter XVII
When Itzl Cha realized that she was being carried off toward the forest, she was not quite sure what her feelings were. Back in Chichen Itza was certain death, for the gods could not be lightly robbed of their victims; and, were she ever to return, she knew that she would be again offered up in sacrifice. What lay ahead she could not even guess; but Itzl Cha was young and life was sweet; and perhaps Che, Lord Forest, would not kill her.
When they reached the forest Che did an amazing thing: he leaped to the low branch of a tree and then swung upward, carrying her swiftly high above the ground. Now indeed was Itzl Cha terrified.
Presently Che stopped and voiced a long drawn-out call—an eerie cry that echoed through the forest; then he went on.
The girl had summoned sufficient courage to keep her eyes open, but presently she saw something that made her wish to close them again; however, fascinated, she continued to look at two grotesque creatures swinging through the trees to meet them, jabbering as they came.
Che replied in the same strange jargon, and Itzl Cha knew that she was listening to the language of the gods, for these two must indeed be the two earth gods of whom Thak Chan had spoken. When these two reached Che, all three stopped and spoke to each other in that language she could not understand. It was then that Itzl Cha chanced to glance down at the ground into a little clearing upon the edge of which they were, and there she saw the body of a terrible beast; and she knew that it was the same one from which Che had rescued Thak Chan, the hunter.
She wished that the skeptics in Chichen Itza could see all that she had seen, for then they would know that these were indeed gods; and they would be sorry and frightened because they had treated Lord Forest as they had.
Her divine rescuer carried her to a mountain trail. And there he set her down upon the ground and let her walk. Now she had a good look at him; how beautiful he was! Indeed a god. The two earth gods waddled along with them, and from being afraid Itzl Cha commenced to be very proud when she thought of the company in which she was. What other girl in Chichen Itza had ever walked abroad with three gods?
Presently they came to a place where the trail seemed to end, disappearing over the brink of a terrifying precipice; but Che, Lord Forest , did not hesitate; he merely took Itzl Cha across that broad shoulder again and clambered down the declivity with as great ease as did the two earth gods.
However, Itzl Cha could not help but be terrified when she looked down; and so she closed her eyes tightly and held her breath and pressed her little body very close to that of Che, Lord Forest , who had become to her
