The Fire-Gods Part 9

Indeed, he could be no sort of trader at all, because there was no direct line of communication from Makanda to the Coast. Try as he might, Crouch could find no answer to the riddle; and in the end, like Caesar, he resolved to bide his time.

Before he went to sleep, he awakened Max.

"Max," said he, "I want you to keep watch till daybreak. Keep your eyes open, and if any one enters the hut, give him 'hands up' on the spot."

"Have you discovered anything?" asked Max.

"Nothing," said Crouch, "except that de Costa's our friend's weak point.

Given half a chance, I will find out the truth from him. But Caesar suspects us, as much as we suspect him; and, from what I have seen of the man, I'm inclined to think that he'll stick at nothing. We must never cease to be on our guard. Keep on the alert, and wake me up if you see or hear anything suspicious."

At that Crouch turned over on his side, and this time actually fell asleep.

Max Harden sat with his back to the wall of the hut, his loaded revolver in his hand. Through the doorway, above the rampart of the stockade, he could see the march of the tropical stars, as the Southern Cross dropped lower and lower in the heavens. As it drew nearer to daybreak, the sounds of the jungle ceased. Even in these lat.i.tudes there is a time, about an hour before the dawn, when all Nature seems hushed and still; the great beasts of prey retire to rest, foodless or with their appet.i.tes appeased--more often the first, and it is not before the first streaks of daybreak are visible in the eastern sky that the large minor world, of beast and bird and reptile, awakens to the day.

Max obeyed his orders to the letter. Hour by hour, he remained perfectly motionless, with every sense on the alert. He was beginning to think that the fears and suspicions of Crouch were entirely baseless, when, on a sudden, the eternal stillness was broken by a shriek, piercing and unearthly, that was lifted from somewhere near at hand.

Springing to his feet, he rushed forth from the hut. And as he did so, the shriek was repeated, louder than before.

CHAPTER VIII--LEAVE TO QUIT

Max had no difficulty in recognizing whence came these appalling sounds; for, as he hastened forward, they were repeated, again and again. It was as if the night were filled with terror, as if some wild, tormented spirit had been let loose upon the stillness of the jungle.

From the opened doorway of de Costa's hut a bright light shone forth, making a wide, diverging pathway to the foot of the stockade. And in this pathway two shadows danced like fiends. They were here, there and everywhere, whilst time and again that piercing shriek went forth.

Max dashed into the hut, and there was brought to a standstill by the sight that he beheld.

On one knee upon the floor, with an arm upraised as if in self-protection, was the half-caste, de Costa, with abject fear stamped upon every feature of his face. Still yelping like a cur, flinching repeatedly for no ostensible reason, he looked up furtively, and into the face of the man who stood above him.

This was Caesar, with the Great Dane snarling at his side. His right arm was bare to the elbow, and in his hand he held a whip. It was a cruel whip, if ever there were such a thing. The handle was short, but the lash was long and tied in many a knot.

"Drop that!" cried Max; and, without a moment's thought, he lifted his revolver and directed the muzzle full at the head of the Portuguese.

At that the dog crouched low, as if about to spring, and filled the hut with a growl.

What happened in the next brief moments cannot be told in a word. The Great Dane sprang straight at the throat of the young Englishman, who was borne headlong through the doorway, to fall at full length upon the ground. Simultaneously, Max's revolver went off, and the bullet flew high into the roof. The next thing that he knew of was that both his hands were pressed tight into the throat of the huge beast that had pinned him to the ground. Strive as he might, he was not able to rise.

By sheer weight and strength Gyp held him down.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "THE GREAT DANE SPRANG STRAIGHT AT THE THROAT OF THE YOUNG ENGLISHMAN."]

Then the hound was lifted bodily into the air. Max struggled to his feet, and beheld his uncle, whose great hands grasped the dog by the scruff of the neck. Harden was holding the animal so that it stood upright on its hind-legs, and in that position Gyp was little shorter than he. The dog was almost mad; it snarled like a wild animal, and its white fangs gleamed in the light.

The voice of Caesar sounded sharp, but calm and collected, in the midst of this turmoil and confusion.

"Gyp," he cried, "come here!"

Edward let go his hold, and immediately the dog lay down, growling at the feet of her master.

"I should like to know," said Edward, "the cause of this disturbance."

"A private matter," said Caesar, "which concerns no one but de Costa and myself."

But Max, though he had been overthrown by the dog, who had come upon him so unexpectedly, was in no mind to let the matter drop. He was so hot in anger, and his indignation so great, that his lips trembled when he spoke.

"Why did you strike that man?" he demanded, pointing to the half-caste.

"That, I repeat," said the other, "is my affair--and his."

"Understand," said Max, "that I make it mine. When I entered this room, this poor wretch was on the floor, and you stood over him, whip in hand."

For the first time since they had entered the stockade, they saw the real man under the calm, black mask that the Portuguese habitually wore.

Setting his brows in a frown, he whipped round upon Max, and spoke in much the same manner as a cat spits at a dog.

"You have yet to learn," he cried, "that in this place I am master. I take orders from no one. In Makanda my word is law. This half-bred cur is my servant. He knows it, as well as I. He knows, also, that if he serves me faithfully he will be rewarded. But if he dares to disobey my orders, he incurs the penalty I choose to inflict. There is my answer; and I ask you, who are you to come here and presume to dictate to me?"

"I have no more special mission," answered Max, "than any other who knows the difference between what is right and wrong. You may be master here--for all I care you may be master of the whole of Africa--but I am not going to stand by and see one man flog another for any cause. Raise that whip again on peril of your life."

Max dared the man on purpose. The fact was, he would have been glad enough to shoot. As for Edward, though all this time he had stood by in silence, his finger had never left the trigger of his revolver. But, Caesar was not such a fool as to give either of them the chance they waited for. He cast his whip upon the ground.

"After this," said he, "I presume you will avail yourselves of my hospitality no longer. I shall be glad to see your backs."

"We shall be only too glad to go," said Max.

"I put no obstacle in your way," said Caesar. "It is almost daylight now."

Max turned and left the hut, followed by his uncle. Each asked himself the same question the moment he got out into the open air: where was Captain Crouch?

Crouch must have heard the disturbance. The shrieks of the half-caste, the growling of the dog and the firing of Max's revolver had been enough to have awakened the dead. Yet he had never put in an appearance. When they entered their hut they found him seated cross-legged on the floor, with his pipe between his teeth. The atmosphere was tainted with the smell of Bull's Eye s.h.a.g.

"Where have you been?" asked Edward.

Crouch never deigned to reply, but, taking his pipe from his lips, asked a question himself.

"Did you come to blows?" he said.

"Practically," said Max, with a shrug of the shoulders. "I found him thrashing that half-caste within an inch of his life. I threatened him, and his dog flew at me, and, had it not been for Edward, would have torn me to bits. We had a kind of an argument, and in the end he told us to clear out, which we said we were perfectly ready to do."

Crouch returned his pipe to his mouth.

"I was afraid of that," said he.

"Why?"

"I would like to have stayed here just a little longer. I haven't probed the mystery yet. When I saw you two run into de Costa's hut, I knew there was going to be trouble. I knew you wouldn't come out for some minutes, and I had the chance of a lifetime."

"Where did you go?" asked Harden.