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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6905-0.txt b/6905-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b9704c1 --- /dev/null +++ b/6905-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7284 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy Aviators in Africa, by Wilbur Lawton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: The Boy Aviators in Africa + +Author: Wilbur Lawton + +Posting Date: November 1, 2014 [EBook #6905] +Release Date: November, 2004 +First Posted: February 10, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY AVIATORS IN AFRICA *** + + + + +Produced by Sean Pobuda + + + + + + + + + +THE BOY AVIATORS IN AFRICA + +OR + +AN AERIAL IVORY TRAIL + +By Captain Wilbur Lawton + + + + +CONTENTS + + I A REUNION + II THE STOLEN IVORY + III THE DARK CONTINENT + IV THE WITCH-DOCTOR + V THE POOL OF DEATH + VI A SNAP-SHOT FIEND IN TROUBLE + VII A TRAITOR IN CAMP + VIII A BATTLE IN THE AIR + IX THE VOICE OF THE MOUNTAIN + X THE ARAB'S CACHE + XI THE AGE OF SIKASO + XII IN THE HANDS OF SLAVE-TRADERS + XIII GORILLAS--AND AN AERIAL TOW-LINE + XIV AN ESCAPE--AND WHAT CAME OF IT + XV THE FLYING MEN + XVI FOOLING AN ARAB CHIEF + XVII THE "ROGUE" ELEPHANT + XVIII A LINK FROM THE PAST + XIX FRIENDS IN NEED + XX THE SMOKE READER + XXI THE CHUMS RESCUED BY AEROPLANE + XXII LUTHER BARR'S TRICK + XXIII ABOARD "THE BRIGAND" + XXIV THE BOY AVIATORS HOLD A WINNING HAND + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A REUNION + + +"Here, Harry, catch hold." + +"Ouch--I dropped that cartridge box on my pet corn." + +"Say, you fellows, are we going to Africa or are we on a Coney +Island picnic?" + +"Be serious now, Billy Barnes, you may be all right as a reporter, +but as a shipping clerk you're no more good than a cold storage +egg." + +"Well, I'm doing the best I can," was the indignant reply, +"here--I've got it all down: Box 10-- One waterproof tent, one +rubber-blanket, tent-pegs, ropes, more ropes.--Say, Frank, what in +the name of the 'London Times' and jumping horn-toads do you want so +much rope for?" + +"To tie up a certain young reporter named William Barnes when he +gets too fresh," was the laughing reply. + +The three boys sat about a heaped, confused collection of ammunition, +cooking-utensils, rifles, and camp "duffle" in general, one evening +late in May. The eldest of the group, a sunny-faced, clear eyed lad +of about sixteen, held in his hand a notebook from which he called out +the inventory of the articles piled about him as his brother, a youth +of fourteen, sorted them out. The third member of the trio was a +short, stocky chap of possibly seventeen, with sharp, blue eyes that +gleamed behind a pair of huge spectacles. He was examining a camera +with care; from time to time turning his attention to an open notebook +that lay beside him in which he was supposed to be entering the list +as the other called it off. + +The place where the boys were busying themselves was the upper floor +of a large garage in the rear of the Chester residence, on Madison +Avenue, New York City, which had been turned into a workshop for the +two young Chesters--Frank and Harry--already well known to our +readers as The Boy Aviators. The well set-up lad who was so +industriously calling off the equipment that lay scattered about was +Frank Chester, and the ready classifier of the mixed-up outfit was +Harry, his younger brother. The third member of the group was Billy +Barnes, the young reporter, already down to us as the chronicler of +the Chester boys' adventures in Nicaragua and the depths of the +Everglades of Florida. Since the boys' return from Florida on the +U. S. torpedo boat, the Tarantula, they had been busy putting into +shape the rough working plans of the African hunting expedition they +had planned as a sort of vacation. + +The ample bonus the government had awarded them for their singularly +clever work in rescuing Lieutenant Chapin, the inventor of +Chapinite, by their aeroplane Golden Eagle II, had supplied them +with ample funds for their trip. As for Billy Barnes (or "Our +Special Staff Correspondent, William Barnes," as he was now known), +besides the sum realized from the sale of the rubies the boys found +in the Quesal Cave in Nicaragua, the money the youthful scribe had +made on writing up the boys' Florida adventures had provided him +with a good fat nest-egg. + +The natural stimulus given to the red-blooded Chester boys by Mr. +Roosevelt's hunting adventures had a good deal to do, with their +resolution to go to Africa. And now--after several weeks of work on +getting together as good an outfit as was procurable--they were +putting what Billy called "the finishing touches" on their +accoutrements. Stacked in corners of the room were big chests +painted blue and marked with the boys' names and neatly numbered in +white painted characters. These cases contained the different +sections of the Golden Eagle II, the aeroplane equipped with +wireless, that had made history in Florida. + +There were twenty of these cases besides the ones labeled "Camp +Outfit," "Medical," "Armory Chest," "Grub Chest," and several +nondescript ones containing the odds and ends that an expedition of +the kind they planned would find indispensable. In some smaller +boxes also were packed yards and yards of bright-colored cloth and +calico, spangles, cheap jewelry and brass ornaments for use among +the natives. In making up their outfit the boys had taken the +advice of a well-known African traveler who had retired from his +adventurous life to purchase a place in New Jersey, where he +intended to spend his remain days. Through a mutual friend the boys +obtained an introduction to him and his advice in selecting the +outfit had been simply invaluable. + + +"Go easy, carry lots of quinine, don't waste ammunition, and count +ten before you pick a quarrel with a native," had been his simply +laid-down rules for getting along in Africa, and these rules the +boys had determined to adhere to strictly. + +"Say, is this going to be a hunting trip or an invasion of Africa?" +inquired Billy, quizzically as Harry sorted out and Frank read off +ceaselessly the apparently interminable inventory of the supplies of +the Chester party. "I'm getting writer's cramp." + +"A hunting party of course," laughed Frank, "but you know that +hunters who go into the bush depending on their rifles usually come +out a good deal thinner than when they went in. + +"That's so," assented Billy, "but when we have a sixty-mile +aeroplane like the Golden Eagle II we can easily fly out to +civilization in case of necessity." + +"Yes, if we have enough gasoline," assented Harry, "but how much can +we carry into the bush?" + +"Just enough for our purposes and no more," replied Frank, readily, +"fortunately the soluble tablets of picric and glycerine will help +out our supply materially. A few of these tablets dissolved in +gasoline render the efficiency of one ordinary gallon equal to +three; but I don't care to use them except in a case of absolute +necessity as they are very hard on an engine." + +"Then we can count on every gallon we carry being of triple +efficiency?" asked Billy. + +"Certainly," replied Frank, who had invented the tablets in +question, and which were an extremely useful addition to the +equipment of the modern aviator. As the boys worked on and the +equipment, as it was classified, was packed away in the cases +assigned to each class of articles, there came a sharp knock at the +door of the garage building and a servant entered with a special +delivery letter to Frank. The boy tore it open eagerly and then +gave a low whistle of astonishment. + +"Read it out, Harry," he said, handing the missive to his brother. +"It concerns all of us." + +Harry took it and read as follows: + +DEAR FRANK AND HARRY: + +Shall be in town to-morrow morning with my father and Mr. Luther +Barr, the well-known ivory importer. He has a communication of +importance for you. What it is I am afraid to trust to writing, but +you will know full details when you see us. Will you call at the +Waldorf at ten-thirty and have breakfast? We can discuss the matter +over the meal. All I can say now is that if the Golden Eagle is +still in shape for her old-time stunts there is work ahead of her +that will prove harder than anything she has yet tackled. However, +I know you are not the chaps to balk at a little danger--particularly +when exciting adventures are in the wind. + +So long, then, till to-morrow: + + "LATHROP EASLEY" + +"Well, what do you know about that?" gasped Billy Barnes, "here we +are fixing up for a nice little holiday trip to rest our shattered +nerves, and here comes, a job along that looks as if we should have +to work all summer." + +"It certainly is curious," replied Frank musingly. + +"What can Lathrop mean? Who is Luther Barr? I have heard the name +but I cannot place him." + +"Lathrop says he is an ivory importer," suggested Harry. + +"Easy to find out," said the resourceful Billy. "Where's the 'phone +book?" + +Frank handed the volume to him from its hook beside the instrument. + +"Ah--here we are," exclaimed Billy, as he ran his finger triumphantly +down the "B" list. "Barr, Luther--that's our man, eh? Ivory +importer, offices No. 42 Wall Street--home, White Plains." + +"White Plains, that's where Lathrop's folks live," exclaimed Harry. +"That's where he first became associated with the Golden Eagle." + +"And turned out to be a good partner," added Frank. + +"A jim dandy," agreed Billy. "I tell you boys, I've got a good nose +for news and if there isn't some sort of a story back of Mr. Luther +Barr and Lathrop's letter I'll eat my hat without sauce." + +Any acceptance of the young reporter's generous offer was interrupted +by a sudden noise in the usually quiet street. + +"I tell you the fare's a dollar!" the boys heard an angry voice +declaim. + +"'Tain't nothing of the kind or I'm a lubber--fifty cents is all +I'll pay. I'll be horn-swoggled if you get a cent more, yer +deep-sea pirate," was the indignant phrased reply. + +Something in the voice was strangely familiar but the "horn-swoggled" +settled it. + +"Ben Stubbs," gasped all the boys simultaneously and rushed out of +the garage to the street. + +Here they found a stoutly-built, crisp-bearded man with a face +tanned to what Billy called a "weathered oak finish," arguing loudly +with a taxicab chauffeur. The man was obdurate over his fare and +just at, the boys came on the scene was suggesting that his equally +determined passenger get back in the cab and take a ride to the +police station. + +"The sergeant will settle our dispute," he said angrily. + +"What's the trouble, Ben?" exclaimed Frank, giving the angry man on +the pavement a hearty slap on the back. + +"Why, this here piratical craft," the other was beginning when +suddenly he dropped the battered bag he carried and burst into a +mighty roar--a regular Cape Horn hail. + +"Back my topsails if it ain't you, Frank," he cried, wringing the +other's hands till the boy's arms were almost dislocated. "And you +too, Harry, and keel haul me ef here ain't Billy too. Well, if it +ain't good to see, you Chester boys again." + +"Say, are you the Chester Boys--the Boy Aviators?" suddenly cut in +the chauffeur in a respectful tone. + +"We are," replied Frank, "why?" + +"Oh, well," said the chauffeur, "then I'll let your friend off with +fifty cents. I thought he was a 'greeny'." + +With that, he calmly twisted the dial of the cab which registered +$1.00 back to the fifty cent mark and coolly pocketed the coin the +indignant Ben handed. + +"Does that thing work backwards?" demanded the amazed old +adventurer, as the taxi whizzed off before he could frame words to +express his indignation. + +"Not often," replied Billy with a laugh. "I guess that chap reads +the papers and thought it wouldn't do him any good to try to fool a +particular friend of the Boy Aviators." + +"Well, boys, what are your plans?" demanded Ben, as--after the +rugged fellow had been introduced to Mrs. Chester, a sweet-faced old +lady, and Mr. Chester, a fine-looking, gray-haired man of about +fifty--he and the boys sat in the garage discussing the African +outfit. + +"We hardly know now," replied Frank, and then in a few words he +described Lathrop's letter and its contents. + +"Wherever that boy is there's bound to be doings," remarked Ben, +sententiously, when the young leader had finished. "Down in Florida +when he wasn't tumbling into alligators' mouths or getting bit by +serpents he was allers up to some mischief--you mark my words +there's something in the wind now." + +The boys talked late and long that night over the letter and what +possible plan Mr. Barr, the ivory importer, could have to discuss +that would be of interest to them, but they were able to arrive at +no definite conclusion except that there was nothing to be done +about it till morning. + +As for Ben with his usual philosophic attitude toward mysteries, he +filled his pipe and silently smoked. To those of our readers who +have not met Ben this phase of his character may seem inexplicable, +but to the boys Ben's passive acceptance of any situation had become +quite familiar. Ever since they had rescued the rugged old +adventurer from a marooned treasure-mine in Nicaragua and he had +shared their strange adventures in Florida on the Chapin Rescue +Expedition, the old man had become as much a part of their necessary +equipment as the Golden Eagle itself. He had arrived that night in +response to a telegraphed request to his cottage at Amityville on +Long Island, where he cultivated an extensive farm--also part of the +Quesal ruby profits--and devoted himself to fishing and hunting. + +'The Boys' mere word, however, that they were off to Africa had been +sufficient to arouse the old man's roving instinct and here he was +on deck once more as active as a boy and almost as impatient for the +start for the Dark Continent. Ben slept at the Chester's home that +night and if his dreams were not as populated with visions of +elephants, leopards, deer, huge snakes and pigmy savages as theirs +it was not any lack of interest in the coming expedition that was +responsible for it. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE STOLEN IVORY + + +"Will you please send this card up to Mr. Beasley's rooms and tell +him that the visitors he was expecting are here?" + +It was Frank Chester who spoke early the next day, as the boys, in +response to Lathrop's letter, stood at the Waldorf desk. The clerk +looked at them a little disdainfully. Frank and Harry Chester were +not the sort of boys who devoted much time to thinking about clothes +and while they both wore dark neat-fitting suits they certainly did +look a little out of place among the pasty-faced, cigarette-smoking +youths in loud-looking garments who constituted most of the young +men with whom the clerk was in the habit of coming in contact. + +"I don't think that Mr. Beasley can see you now, call later," he +began, superciliously turning round to the letter-rack and sorting +out the mail and putting each guest's letters in the proper box. + +For a second an angry flush rose to Frank's face. The man's manner +was enough to irritate any high spirited boy. But Frank Chester was +not given to what Bill Barnes called "flying off the handle." He +calmly took another card from his pocket and in a rather sharp +voice, though his tones were even enough said: + +"Are you going to send that card up at once or shall I call the room +on the telephone?" + +The clerk faced quickly about. The two youths he had looked upon as +rather awkward country bumpkins, judging as he did from their tanned +faces and broad shoulders, were evidently not to be trifled with. He +glanced at the card as he rolled it up and handed it to a boy to be +placed in a pneumatic tube and shot up to the fourth floor, on which +Mr. Beasley and his party had taken rooms. + +"Oh, you are the Chester boys?" he exclaimed with a strong accent on +the "the" and in markedly more respectful tones. + +"We are," said Frank with a smile which was reflected on his +brother's face. + +"I beg your pardon for keeping you waiting, I'm sure," said the +clerk with an apologetic leer, meant to be an engaging smile. + +"That's all right," said Frank shortly, turning away from the desk. + +"Well, having your name in the paper does do you some good after +all," remarked Harry with a laugh. "That fellow certainly turned a +flip-flop, when he found out who we were." + +Five minutes later the boys were ushered into the Beasley rooms and +were busily engaged shaking hands and exchanging all sorts of boyish +exclamations of welcome with Lathrop Beasley, a tall, rather slender +youth who had been their companion in Florida. Like the boys, +Lathrop was an accomplished aviator and wireless operator, although +he had not the initiative or the sturdy pluck to perform the feats +that they had. He was, however, a boy of considerable brain and +skill and among the boy-aviators of the country held an enviable +position. + +"About your letter," began Frank when the first greetings were over. + +"In a minute," replied Lathrop, "here's father now." + +As he spoke, the portieres parted and a stout, fresh complexioned +gentleman, ruddy from his bath and shaving, appeared. He had the +pompous manner of the successful man of business and seemed to the +Chester boys to be the least bit patronizing in his manner. + +"Mr. Barr will be here in a minute," he said, after introductions +had been made by Lathrop, "he will explain to you his idea. I am +merely a partner in the enterprise. You will, of course, be glad to +accept any restrictions he may impose?" + +"We hardly care to discuss that yet," said Frank, rather nettled by +Mr. Beasley's pompous manner, "until we know what he requires." He +exchanged glances with Harry. + +"In fact," he went on, "we were planning to take a complete rest and +follow in Mr. Roosevelt's foot-steps, by taking a hunting trip in +Africa, only," he added with a smile, "we meant to hunt by aeroplane." + +"Wonderful," said Mr. Beasley, evidently much impressed by Frank's +ready manner, "when I was a boy, if a lad had a "bone-shaker" +bicycle he thought he was doing something fine, and as for flying--why, +we never thought of it." + +"Perhaps the boys of to-day are further sighted," said Frank with +quiet note of sarcasm in his tone that was quite lost on the +well-meaning old merchant. Indeed at that moment Mr. Beasley rose +heavily from his chair and stepped forward to greet a new arrival +who appeared from another room of the suite. + +"This is Mr. Luther Barr, the famous ivory importer," he said, with +far more respect in his tones than he had used to the boys; whom +indeed, he looked upon as talented chaps, but still boys--which to +men of his caliber is an infallible sign that anything such youthful +persons may attempt is extremely likely to go wrong. How erroneous +such an opinion is, those of our readers who have followed the +adventures of the Chester boys know. + +Mr. Luther Barr deserves a new paragraph. Long, lean and hollow +cheeked, the term "gangling" fits him better than any other. Mr. +Luther Barr's black suit hung on him as baggily as the garments of a +cornfield scarecrow and Mr. Luther Barr's sharp features were not +improved by a small growth of gray hair; of the kind known as a +"goatee" that sprouted from his lower rip. For the rest of the boys +noticed that Mr. Barr was gifted with a singularly gimlet-like pair +of steely blue eyes that seemed to bore through you. + +"As sharp a man as ever drove up the price of ivory," added Mr. +Beasley as he introduced the boys to this singular figure, "he can +scent an ivory bargain--" + +"From here to Africa," struck in Mr. Barr in a sharp nasal tone that +grated unpleasantly, "and you and I are going to be Kings of Wall +Street if these boys put this deal through for us," he added with +what was meant to be an amiable smile, but which, as a matter of +fact, distorted his face till it looked uncommonly like an old +Japanese war mask. Indeed the boys, who had seen the collection in +the Metropolitan Museum, could not help smiling to themselves, as +the same thought struck each of them. + +"Well, Beasley," exclaimed Barr suddenly, "I'm as sharp set as a +Long Island fox. Let's have a bite of breakfast and then we can get +down to business." + +From Mr. Barr's manner of dispatching his breakfast and the +remarkable skill with which he wielded his knife, in conveying +various morsels to his mouth, it was evident that he had spent so +much time piling up money that his social education had been sadly +neglected. Once or twice the boys caught Lathrop's eye and they saw +that the lad was blushing with shame at the uncouth manners of his +father's friend. For this reason the boys refrained from paying any +apparent attention to Mr. Barr's actions, although--as, they +remarked afterwards--he was as well worth watching as the "sword +swallower in a circus side show." + +"Yes, boys," said Mr. Barr with his mouth full of buttered toast and +ham and eggs, "I guess I know more about Africa than any man alive." + +"You have crossed that continent?" asked Frank.. + +"No, sir," replied the old ivory merchant with some contempt. "I +wouldn't waste my time where there ain't no ain't no money. What I +mean is, I know more about the Gold Coast, the Ivory Coast and the +Slave Coast than any man in this or any other country and have got +more good solid coin out of them." + +Mr. Beasley looked up admiringly from his plate. Here was evidently +a man after his own heart. + +"The Slave Coast?" echoed Harry inquiringly, "I thought--" + +"Thought there wasn't no more slaves, eh?" inquired Mr. Barr +amiably, swallowing his coffee with a noise like water running out +of a bath tub, "wall, that's because yer young. When yer git older +you'll larn that there's money in everything here's a demand for, +and there's just as big a demand for slaves on some rubber +plantations I could tell yer of as there ever was in the old days of +the South--and more money in 'em on account of its being more +dangerouser." + +"Do you mean to say that there is slave-running now?" asked Mr. +Beasley, while both Frank and Harry wondered and Lathrop looked +uncomfortable. + +"Sure I do," chirped Mr. Barr, "but no more for me. There's too +many British gunboats and 'Merican gunboats and Dutch gunboats and +what not about now to make it comfortable or healthy. No, I've +retired from that business--but there's money in it," he concluded +with a regretful sigh. + +Immediately Mr. Barr had concluded his breakfast--and with his +apparently slim accommodations it was a wonder to the boys where he +put it all--he snapped, with a flinty glint of his small pig-like +eyes: + +"Now, let's git down to business. You boys want ter make a bit of +money?" + +"'To be sure we do," replied Frank, "but we don't want to make any +that isn't honest money." + +"We'll, there's no accounting for boys nowadays," sighed Mr. Barr, +"however, you needn't worry about this money--there'll be plenty of +it and it'll all be good honest coin." + +"What do you wish us to do?" demanded Frank. + +"Just this: Mr. Beasley here and me is in on a deal in ivory. That +is, we were, but the big cache we had hoarded up in the Kuroworo +Mountains in the Bambara country has been stolen by a rival trader, +an Arab named Muley-Hassan. We know where he's hidden it and we +know, too, that he won't dare to bring it out till he thinks that we +aren't watching him. Now the time is ripe for a big deal in Ivory. +There is a shortage in the market. Prices will go up sky high. If +we get it out in time we'll make a barrel of coin, but if we don't +we stand to lose heavily." + +Mr. Beasley gave a groan; to the boys' amazement he seemed to be +about to collapse. Lathrop too looked ill and anxious. Old Barr +paid no attention, however, but went on. + +"Now, I heard about you boys and your air-ship, and I heard, too, +that you was planning a little trip to Africa and thought you might +like to combine business and pleasure." + +He drew from his pocket a much-thumbed, crudely drawn map and spread +it out on the table. How he obtained it, the boys never learned +exactly, but they heard later that a treacherous attendant of the +ivory dealer had sold it to him for a good round sum. + +"This country down here," he said, indicating it with a black rimmed +finger nail, "is the Southern Soudan. Here's the Bambara country to +the north of Uasule. Now right at this point, in the Moon Mountain +range,"--he pointed to a red-marked trail zigzagging across the map +to the range and terminating in a red star--"right at that thar +point, old Muley-Hassan, the Arab, has hidden our ivory cache. You +see the latitude and longitude is marked and furthermore--and here's +the most remarkable part of it--you will know the spot when you see +it by the fact that the mountains above the cache present an exact +facsimile of an upturned human face. In a direct line drawn from +the nose of this face, where you see the red star, lies the ivory." + +The boys were deeply interested. Unpleasant as was the impression +old Barr had made on them, yet what he was disclosing was +impressive; but as yet they did not show that they were anything +more than casually struck by it. + +"Well, Mr. Barr?" said Frank, as the old matt paused impressively. + +"Well--" said Mr. Barr, "the scoundrel stole it and it's up to you +to get it out of there, if you will undertake it." + +"How does it depend on us?" asked Frank. + +"In just this way. Muley-Hassan has his eye on us---we can do +nothing toward locating the ivory. You can pitch a camp there and +scout about for it in your aeroplane or dirigible or whatever you +call it." + +"But even if we do find the Arab's hiding-place, what good does that +do?" objected Frank. + +"We can arrange with the French government to send soldiers up into +the country and get the stuff out, if necessary," readily replied +the wrinkled old ivory dealer, "but we can make no move till the +cave is located. If they suspected we were after it, they would +soon move it to another hiding-place or even pack it cross-country +to the Nile and ship it out by the Mediterranean." + +Frank and Harry asked leave to hold a brief consultation at the +conclusion of which, they announced that they would think the matter +over, and see Mr. Barr at his office the next day. The old man was +far too shrewd to insist on a decision then and there, and so he +left the hotel with the boys' promise to consider the matter +carefully. As for Frank and Harry, they had pretty well made up +their minds not to have anything to do with Mr. Barr, but an +unforeseen circumstance altered their determination. As Barr left +the room with Mr. Beasley, Lathrop turned on them with troubled +eyes. + +"Will you do it, Frank?" he asked anxiously. "Please say yes." + +"Why, Lathrop, whatever is the matter," asked Harry, noticing the +almost painful anxiety, with which the boy looked at Frank and hung +on his decision. + +"It's just this," said the boy in a voice that shook, as he tried to +steady it, "if that ivory isn't found, we shall be ruined. My +father will be beggared." + +"Beggared," exclaimed both the Boy Aviators who had regarded Mr. +Beasley--as indeed did his friends in general--as one of the "best +fixed" business men in New York. + +"It's true,"' said Lathrop, despairingly. "He has been speculating +foolishly and entered into an agreement with this man Barr to borrow +money for still further stock deals. The only hope he has of paying +his debts is the realization of the profits he could have made on +the ivory. Its theft was a bitter blow to him, not so much for his +own sake, as for my mother and sisters. Myself I don't care, I can +get out and work, but it would break my heart to see them reduced to +poverty." + +The situation was a difficult one for the Chester Boys. They had +taken a hearty dislike to the crafty old ivory merchant and had made +up their minds not to enter into any enterprise in which he was +interested. Here, however, was a new complication. + +"Give us half-an-hour, Lathrop," said Frank at length, and the two +boys withdrew to another room to talk the matter over. It was ten +minutes past the agreed time when they came back. + +In the meantime Lathrop had been joined by his father and the two +had waited in painful anticipation for the Boy Aviators' verdict. + +"Well--," began Lathrop eagerly as the two boys with grave faces +reentered the room. + +"Well," said Frank, with a smile, "I guess we'll help you out, +Lath." + +Tears stood in the eyes of both Mr. Beasley and his son, as in shaky +voices they endeavored to thank the Chester Boys. + +"That's all right, Lathrop," said Frank at length--"turn about's +fair play. You drove the aeroplane to Bellman's island you remember +and saved us--now, we'll save you and your father, if we can--how +long can you give us, Mr. Beasley?" he asked, briskly turning to the +thoroughly humbled merchant. + +"Eight weeks--if I hear from you by cable in eight weeks I can keep +things going," was the reply. + +"Phew!" whistled Frank, "that's not an awful lot of time." + +"Can you do it, Frank?" asked Lathrop eagerly. + +"We'll try as hard as we know how," was the modest answer. + +"And--and you'll take me along?" faltered Lathrop. + +"Sure, you can come as your father's representative at large," +laughed Frank. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE DARK CONTINENT + + +About a month after the events related in the last chapter the +bluff-bowed French coasting steamer, Admiral Dupont, dropped anchor +in the shallow roadstead off the steamy harbor of Fort Assini on the +far-famed Ivory Coast. A few days before, the boys had left Sierra +Leone and engaged quarters on the cockroach-infested little craft +for the voyage down the coast. It was blisteringly hot and from off +the shore there was borne on the wind the peculiar smell that every +traveler knows as "African." It is the essence of the dark +continent. Our young voyagers and Ben sniffed at it eagerly. + +"Smells like marigolds," said Billy at last--and it did. + +But there was soon plenty more to discuss than the strange +appearance of the town, which in reality was little more than a big +village with here and there one, or two houses of some pretension +scattered about. For the rest, it consisted of the wickerwork huts +of the natives. Back of the town were dense forests and beyond +these again a long blue line of hills. An unhealthful looking lagoon +lay between the houses and the mainland, into which the boys had been +told the Bia River, up which they were to begin their voyage to the +interior, emptied. + +A broad yellow beach stretched in front of the houses and from this, +as soon as the little steamer dropped anchor, whaleboats and canoes +in great numbers were launched through what looked to be a thunderous +surf. They were navigated by Kroomen--or Krooboys as they are +sometimes called--and who are a superior race to most of the natives +of Africa. + +Some of the paddlers and oarsmen in the boats that surrounded the +Admiral Dupont were almost six feet in height and splendidly built. + +"Good looking fellows those," said the captain, who had joined the +group of wondering young adventurers, "but in spite of their good +looks they are petty thieves, if they get the chance." + +Of this quality, the boys were soon to get an example. Frank had +laid down his field-glasses on a deck chair and didn't give them any +more thought, even when the decks were fairly swarming with +half-naked, chattering, laughing Kroomen. When he looked around for +them, however, for the purpose of making out more clearly the +outline of the distant mountains, the glasses had vanished. + +The young leader quickly divined what had occurred and stepping to +the rail he held above his head an English sovereign and a pair of +glasses, borrowed, from Billy. + +"I'll give this money to the man who finds my field glasses," he +shouted. + +"It's a long chance," he remarked to Harry, "there may be some one +there who understands English. Anyway they can see that I'm willing +to give money for something like the object I held up." + +As much to Frank's astonishment as anyone else the next minute they +heard a hail from a canoe containing two particularly black Kroomen. + +"Hey, boss;" one of them was shouting, "what you lost, eh?" + +"Some one stole my field-glasses," shouted back Frank. + +"All right, American massa," hailed back the Krooman, "I sail long +time 'Merican ships. I catch him for you." + +"Well, what do you think of that?" demanded Billy. "If the Statue +of Liberty had come off her perch and done a song and dance you +couldn't have astonished me more than to hear that sack of coal talk +English." + +"They take several of those fellows to sea on trading ships, that +stop in here for logs from the interior," struck in Ben. "It +wouldn't surprise me but what that fellow there has been in New York +harbor, yes, and in San Francisco too." + +The boys looked their astonishment. + +"They are good hard workers," went on Ben, "and make good sailormen. +They always come back here though in the end. They are as home +loving as a house cat."' + +While the boys talked, their baggage was being hoisted into a +lighter that lay alongside, ready for shipment ashore. They were +about ready to quit the ship when their attention was attracted by a +terrific uproar among the natives alongside. Two or three canoes +had been upset and in the water half a dozen Kroomen were splashing +about like big, black fish. + +"They'll drown," gasped Harry, as he watched the furious water +battle. + +"Not them," sniffed Ben, "they are as much at home in the water as +they are ashore. Hello!" he exclaimed, suddenly pointing, "there's +your field-glasses again, Frank." + +Sure enough, from the hands of a spluttering, half-drowned native, +the Krooman who spoke English had just wrested a dripping pair of +black morocco-covered field-glasses. He held them aloft in triumph, +treading water while he held the other's head under the sea as a +punishment for his thievery. + +"I catch 'um, boss, I catch um," he kept shouting triumphantly. A +few seconds later, having half drowned the unfortunate thief, he +stood dripping like a figure cut out of black basalt before the boy. +As he received his recovered property Frank presented its rescuer +with the sovereign. If it had been a fortune the man could not have +been more overcome with gratitude. He sank on his knees. + +"You come ashore my boat?" he begged. "Cost nothing to United +States boys." + +The adventurers assented and, having seen their baggage properly +stowed on the lighter, they landed through the surf a short time +later and found themselves on the flat, yellow beach facing the +rather dreary looking row of Europeans' houses. The method of +landing the surf boats and the wonderful dexterity with which the +natives handle them is worth a whole chapter to itself. But it +might prove tedious reading, so suffice it to say, that with one man +standing erect in the stern with a steering oar, and the others +paddling like demons, the Ivory Coast boatmen invariably land their +passengers, in a smother of foam which seems overwhelming, without +spilling a drop of water on them. Not a visitor to this coast but +has been impressed by their wonderful skill. + +"Well, here we are," remarked Billy, looking about him at the novel +surroundings. + +"The first thing to do," announced Frank, "is to go to the house of +Monsieur Desplaines, to whom Mr. Barr gave us a letter of introduction, +and talk over our plans." + +Monsieur Desplaines was the consular agent of the United States +government at Assini, which is a French port, and had promised by +cable to Mr. Barr to give, the young travelers all the advice that +his experiences could suggest. He had also volunteered to select +for them a train of native baggage carriers, and hunters that would +be reliable. There are no roads into the heart of Africa and +everything is transported by human pack-trains. The natives of this +part of the coast are strong, muscular men not easily fatigued and +are capable of carrying burdens on their heads twenty-five miles or +more a day without exhaustion. + +As the boys started to make their way up the beach a trim figure +with neatly waxed black mustaches, almost extinguished in a huge +pith helmet and dressed in white duck with a red sash about the +waist, emerged from the nearest house and hastened toward them. + +"Welcome to Africa!" cried the newcomer as he approached and who, as +Frank at once guessed, was M. Desplaines himself. "Come with me to +the house and make yourselves at home." + +The boys shook hands warmly with the little Frenchman who seemed so +hospitably inclined and followed him eagerly toward the whitewashed +house from which he had emerged. + +"I would have been at the steamer to meet you," he exclaimed +apologetically; "but she got here a day ahead of time and I was not +prepared." + +Inside the house, which was delightfully cool and darkened by +jalousies from the glaring heat outside, the young adventurers were +introduced to Madame Desplaines and two little girls, who +constituted the family of the consular agent, who also kept the +general supply store at Assini. + +After dinner that evening, M. Desplaines talked long and earnestly +to the boys. Of the real object of their mission, he had of course +no knowledge. That was kept a secret even from Barr's intimates. +There was too much at stake to let it leak out. His idea was the +boys had come on a hunting and exploration, much of which was to be +performed by aeroplane. He informed the boys that, acting on cabled +instructions, he had laid in a good supply of gasoline by the last +steamer from Sierra Leone and that arrangements for a train of +carriers and for boats up the river had been made. There was a +wheezy steam launch belonging to the trading post which would tow +the boats up the Bia River as far as they desired. The Kroomen the +boys engaged would take them to that point would then be abandoned, +as they refused to go far from the coast. Such was the outline of +M. Desplaines' conversation with the travelers. + +The evening was far advanced when already the little party was ready +for bed and already their imaginations had been fired by the tales +that the consular agent had told them of the interior of the wild +Bambara country. As they were saying good night to their hospitable +host and hostess, there was a knock at the door. In response to M. +Desplaines shouted: "Come in," a tall coal-black figure stalked into +the lamp-light. The glow shone warmly on his black skin and lit up +the mighty muscles that played beneath it. The strength of the man +was evidently tremendous. The boys, to their surprise, recognized +him at once, as the rescuer of Frank's opera-glasses. He paid no +attention to Desplaines or his family, but walked straight up to +Frank. + +"Hi boss, you go hunt, you go far into land of Bambara," he said, +raising his mighty arm and pointing to the northeast. + +Frank nodded. + +It was a strange scene. The boys and Ben in their hunting costumes +and stout boots, M. Desplaines, short and inclined to be fat and as +neatly barbered and tailored as if he had just stepped off the +boulevards, Madame Desplaines and her little girls in cool, white +frocks--and in the center of the group--dominating it by his +impressive manner and mighty form--the huge, ebony Krooman. + +"In the land of Bambara much game," went on the Krooman. + +"So we have heard," replied Frank. + +"In the land of Bambara much danger," continued the Krooman, fixing +his dark eyes full on Frank, "much danger to the white boys, who fly +like birds." + +"Why, how do you know that?" exclaimed Frank, amazed that the +Krooman should not only know their destination--which might have +been a guess--but have divined the fact that they had an aeroplane. + +"Krooman know much that white man not know!" replied the giant +black. + +Then, rising his finger, he counted the amazed group of adventurers +who stood transfixed at the scene. + +"One--two--three--four--five go to Bambara," he intoned. "Come back +one--two--three. Two die. Sikaso, know." + +Before any of the astounded party could frame a question or open +their lips, the huge figure had stalked to the doorway and vanished. + +"He'd make a nice, comfortable house-pet that fellow," said Billy, +who was the first to speak. "One, two, three, four, five go to +Bambara," he mimicked. "Come back one, two, three. Two die. +Sikaso know. Br-r-r-r-r, he gives me the creeps." + +They all laughed at Billy's absurd aping of the stately negro, but +nevertheless none of them felt inclined for more talk that night. +Somehow, the Krooman had cast a gloom on the party. Had they known +how nearly his prophecy was to come to fulfillment they might even +have been tempted to abandon the expedition. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE WITCH-DOCTOR + + +Bright and early the next day Frank and Harry were up and stirring, +and the other members of the party were not long in joining them. +The almost innumerable packing cases and chests containing the +duffle, ammunition, armament and the sections of the Golden Eagle +were scattered about the little "compound" or garden of M. +Desplaines' residence, having been brought ashore overnight by a +crew of Kroomen. M. Desplaines appeared while the boys were still +contemplating their outfit and wondering if it would be possible to +accommodate it all in the little flotilla which, it had been +arranged previously, was to take them up the river to the camping +place from which they were to strike out for the Ivory Mountain. + +"I really almost envy your trip," he said, "although it will be +fraught with danger. Still you go well armed and provisioned, and +from what I have heard of you, you are not the sort of boys to let a +few obstacles upset you." + +While they were still talking and waiting for breakfast to be +announced they were joined by a singular figure. It was that of a +white man in rather shabby ducks and crowned, as was M. Desplaines, +with a huge, white pith helmet. Over one shoulder he carried a +green butterfly net and under one arm he had tucked a tin box. +Round his waist was a leather belt from which hung, in addition to a +revolver and cartridges, a glass bottle with a wide stopper with a +chloroformed sponge reposing in the bottom. It did not need the +introduction of the newcomer by M. Desplaines as Professor Ajax +Wiseman, to tell the boys that Dr. Wiseman was a naturalist. + +"My dear professor, what are you doing here?" exclaimed M. +Desplaines as soon as the introductions were over. + +"I arrived this morning from Grand Bassam on a coasting schooner," +replied the professor, carefully setting down his tin box. "I have +a remarkable specimen of the Gladiolus Gorgeosi in there," he +remarked importantly. "I am contemplating a trip into the interior +via the Bia River and came to you to see if you could arrange +transportation." + +M. Desplaines looked at the boys. + +"These young men have engaged the steam launch, to tow their +expedition up the river," he said hesitatingly; "they are going on a +hunting trip, into the interior, and have, I venture to say, one of +the most complete outfits I have ever seen." + +The naturalist looked wistfully at Frank. + +"I suppose there would not be the least objection to my availing +myself of your assistance in getting up the river," he said, +blinking behind his spectacles like an old bat who has unexpectedly +emerged into the sunlight. "I have only two canoes and as I carry +my own attendant I shall be no trouble." + +"We shall be delighted to accommodate you," rejoined Frank heartily, +"but I shall have to place one restriction on you. When we reach +our destination we must part company as we have work to do of a +confidential nature. Our employer, Mr. Barr--" + +"Old Luther Barr," burst out Professor Wiseman suddenly. + +"Why, yes," rejoined Frank, rather taken aback, "you know him then?" + +"I--I have heard of him," replied the other with a slight hesitancy +which was, however, so faint as to be hardly noticeable. The voice +of Madame Desplaines summoning them to breakfast broke off any +opportunity for further questions on a matter that plainly, for some +strange reason or other, seemed to have heartily interested--even +disturbed--the naturalist. Frank felt troubled for a moment at the +idea of having let Professor Wiseman form a portion of their party +even for a short distance. But he dismissed the idea almost +instantly. The queer expression that passed over Professor +Wiseman's face at the mention of the ivory trader's name might have +simply been due to astonishment at hearing it again. Still Frank +decided to keep an eye on Professor Wiseman. + +The conversation at breakfast naturally enough dealt with the little +known country the boys were to penetrate. Then it was for the first +time that they heard mention of the mysterious tribe of the Flying +Men who were reported to be equipped with rudimentary wings--like +those of an undeveloped bat with which they managed to flit from +tree top to tree top like true flyers. + +"Oh, come," laughed Billy, "I've heard of tailed men and white +Africans with red top-knots like Lathrop, but a race of winged men +is coming it too strong." + +"Laugh if you like," declared Professor Wiseman who had brought up +the subject, "but some time ago I articulated a skeleton brought me +by an Arab slave trader and found extending from the shoulder blade +two distinct bony frames which had in life apparently been covered +with a thin fleshy substance of leathery like tenacity stretching +thence to the wrists. I asked the slave trader where he had found +the skeleton," went on the savant, "and he told me he had come +across it at the foot of a giant silk cotton tree in the Bambara +country." + +The boys exchanged glances. It was to the Bambara country--the +country of the legendary Flying Men--that they were bound. + +"Is any more known of this tribe?" inquired Frank. + +"Very little except what you can pick up from the natives, which is +little enough," replied Professor Wiseman, "they seem to have a +dislike to speaking of the Flying Men--to whites at any rate. I +think, too, they fear them. Report has it that they live in +cave-like holes in the side of a giant, black basalt cliff reached +by a subterranean river. They reach the ground by taking short +flights from the holes they live in and regain the cliff dwellings +by means of rope ladders formed of twisted creepers." + +"Then they cannot fly upward?" asked Frank. + +"It would seem not," replied the naturalist, "their wings only serve +as gliders. Possibly once in the remote ages they could fly as well +as great birds but with the course of the ages and disuse their +wings have dwindled." + +As may be imagined the idea that within a short time they were to +be in the country of the mysterious tribe caused a tremendous stir +among the boys and when after breakfast their strange friend of the +night before, Sikaso, appeared they at once overwhelmed him with +questions. But strangely enough Sikaso made no reply to their eager +queries. + +He shook his great bead and seemed to be embarrassed, if not by fear +at any rate by reticence. + +"In Misoto Mountains many strange Ju-jus (fetishes)," he said in an +awed tone, "Misoto Mountains no good for white boys--white boys stay +away." + +"Not much," chimed in Harry, "that's just where we are going." + +"You go Misoto Mountain," said the giant black in an astonished +tone. + +"That's what we are," exclaimed Lathrop. + +The black gazed at the ground and drew a small circle on the dust +with his toe. In the center of it he made a cross. + +"That my dukkeri (fate)," he said slowly, "you go, Sikaso he go too. +I see it in the smoke." + +"Saw it in the smoke?" repeated the amazed boys. + +"In smoke of Ju-ju fire I see it written. I see five go, three come +back, in smoke too. I have spoken." + +He stalked off as I suddenly as he had the night before and left the +boys to gaze in a bewildered way after his huge figure as it swung +down the road. + +"That fellow's the best disappearer I ever saw," said Billy Barnes +at length. + +"I wish he'd stop that stuff about 'five go three come back,"' said +Lathrop, "it gets on your nerves." + +"What could he have meant by seeing it in the smoke?" asked Harry +bewilderedly. + +"Just this," broke in a quiet voice behind them. It was Professor +Wiseman, who had glided up to them as silently as a cat. "It is a +common trick among the witch doctors--of whom our friend yonder +seems to be one--to divine events by means of the smoke from a fire +built to the accompaniment of special incantations." + +"Well, that's cheerful," commented Billy, "but tell us, Professor, +how often do they hit it right?" + +"Nine times out of ten, young man," said Professor Wiseman +impressively fixing Billy with his gaze just as he would have +impaled a bug or grasshopper, "and the tenth time they come so near +the truth as to be uncomfortable." + +"I have heard of such things, but I always put them down as +impossibilities," gasped Frank. + +"Just travelers' tales," said Billy. + +"There are many things for the young to learn in Africa," remarked +Professor Wiseman coldly and gazing at Billy with squashing +intentness; "the young do not believe many things merely because +they are young--and foolish." + +"Gee! that was a nailer for fair," said Billy afterward. "I felt as +if the Doc was running a big blue pin through me and sticking me on +a bit of cork." + +That morning, as the start for the interior was not to be made till +the next day, M. Desplaines asked the boys if they would care to try +a little fishing at the foot of the famous Jumbari Falls which lay +on a branch of the Bari river a short distance from the town. Of +course the boys assented eagerly, but as it was found that only +Frank and Harry were expert canoeists, it was agreed that the others +should fish from the bank while the two young leaders trolled their +lines from a native built craft. This canoe was kept at the falls--to +which they tramped the two miles overland by a narrow trail. + +The falls were a magnificent sight. From a dark red rock, fully two +hundred feet in height, a great volume of water poured its roaring +current into a boiling pool below. The cliffs shot up sheer on all +sides and were covered at the bottom with luxuriant green growth +like seaweed, while higher up, ferns, as big as rose-bushes at home, +and trees of a hundred varieties clung wherever they could find a +root-hold. As the party arrived at the top of the ravine and gazed +down, the uproar of the water was so terrific as to render any +speech inaudible. M. Desplaines, who led the party, pointed to a +hole in the rocks and a second later vanished into it. + +At first, consternation seized on the boys who thought that an +accident had happened, but seeing not hearing Professor Wiseman's +reassuring laugh and noticing him plunge after M. Desplaines, the +boys rightly concluded that the aperture was a subterranean entrance +to the foot of the falls. And so it proved. A steep flight of +steps was cut in a deep cleft of the cliff down to the water's edge. +A few minutes after they had begun the descent, the little party stood +on the brink of the whirling pool into which the mighty falls roared +their thousands of tons of water. Following M. Desplaines, they +advanced down the stream to a point where a bend shut off like a +rock curtain the deafening uproar of the cascade. Here a canoe lay +moored and Frank and Harry stepped into it and shoved off. Their +lines and other equipment they had in their pockets. + +As they shoved out M. Desplaines shouted something that they did not +catch and pointed down the stream. How near the fact that they +could not hear his words was to come to costing them their lives +neither of the boys guessed. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE POOL OF DEATH + + +"Say, Frank, have you noticed that we are going to have a hard +paddle back against this current?" + +The boys had been fishing about an hour when Harry spoke. So +engrossed had they both been pulling in fish of a dozen strange +varieties and brilliant hues that neither of the lads had noticed +that the canoe had drifted down stream far from the starting point +and that in fact when they looked up they were in an entirely +strange part of the river. + +"You are right, Harry," rejoined Frank, as he looked up at the steep +banks on either side of them, "we have drifted a considerable +distance. Come on, out with the paddles and we'll be getting back." + +But it was one thing to talk of getting back and quite another thing +to do it. The boys, after an hour of paddling, were dismayed to +find that although their arms ached with the exertion and they were +dripping with perspiration, they had made hardly any progress +against the current. + +"It's too much for us," gasped Frank. + +"What on earth are we going to do?" asked Harry with blanched +cheeks. + +Frank glanced at the shore on either side. For a minute he had +entertained a thought of landing and walking back along the beach. +But there was no beach. + +The river boiled along between narrow walls which shot sheer up from +the water. There was not even a niche in their smooth surface to +afford a foothold to a mountain goat. They were caught in a trap. + +The only thing to do was to drift down the river and trust to luck +to find a landing-place. In their extremity they shouted at the top +of their voices to let their comrades know of their plight, but +their cries were unanswered and they began to wish that they had +saved their breath to use in the task of keeping the canoe steady in +the current. + +While they had been pondering their situation, moreover, they had +been swept with almost incredible rapidity down the river. The +walls here grew narrower and narrower and the water fairly boiled in +its narrow confines. Its dark surface was flecked with white foam, +and to make matters worse, as the walls closed in the light became +fainter, till the boys were being carried downward through almost +subterranean darkness. + +In the intense gloom their white strained faces shone out like +pallid beacon-lights. + +"Hold her steady," said Frank in a tense voice as the canoe wobbled +crazily in the swollen current. + +"I'm doing the best I can," gasped out poor Harry desperately plying +his paddle. + +It the canoe was to get broadside onto the current, even for the +fraction of a second, Frank well knew that nothing could save them. +It was a terrible situation. + +Helplessly they were being borne at dizzy speed to what seemed +almost certain death--for certain it was that they could not hold +out much longer. Already their overstrained muscles were only +mechanically doing their duty, but before long Frank realized that +even his-well-trained young body must collapse--and then, what? + +Suddenly there was borne to their ears a sound that made both boys +chill with terror. + +It was a mighty roaring like the furious boiling of some giant +kettle. A thousand shouting voices seemed blended into one to form +the music, of this ominous orchestra. Louder the noise grew and +louder, as the pass through which the river now tore like a runaway +race-horse grew narrower and blacker. + +What could the awful uproar mean? + +They had not long to wait before the truth burst upon them. They +were nearing, at what seemed express speed, a whirling, roaring mass +of waters that shouted at them like some animal calling for its +prey. The boys' cheeks blanched as they realized that nothing but a +miracle could save them from being sucked into this watery abyss. + +Desperately they plied their paddles but if they had been useless +further up the stream they were doubly inefficient now. If they had +stroked against the rushing current with feathers they could not +have had less effect in checking the death rush of the canoe, which +was tossed along on the racing tide like a chip of wood. + +Suddenly the canoe was struck a terrific blow. + +Before either boy could realize what had happened they were both +struggling in the water. So dazed were they by the mishap that it +was several minutes before they understood that they were clinging +to the to the trunk of some huge tree. It was this trunk that had +wrecked the canoe and thrown them overboard. + +In reality, though, they were little better off now than they had +been while the canoe was being whirled down the river. It looked as +if they had been saved from one death only to face a worse. With +all their might they clung side by side. Dripping wet, half-blinded +and bruised by the battering they got as the trunk smashed from side +to side of the narrow passage, the indomitable American pluck of the +two lads yet held good in this extremity. + +"Is it good-by, Frank?" Harry found strength to murmur. + +"While there's life there's hope," came Frank's brave reply in his +favorite axiom. "We'll live to fly the old Golden Eagle yet, let's +hope." + +There was no time for further talk, even had the boys been in any +position to consider conversation. The trunk was rapidly nearing +the whirlpool--and death. + +Small wonder that brave as the boys were a despairing cry burst from +their throats as they saw what seemed the end of their ride close +upon them. It was as if they could feel the breath of the Pale +Horseman already blowing chilly in their faces. + +But suddenly a strange thing happened. + +Both boys had closed their eyes and only moved their lips in prayer +as they saw that inevitably in a few minutes they must be sucked +into the maelstrom. Now, however, they opened them in amazement. + +The swift rush of the log to which they clung like drowned rats had +stopped. + +It took them only a few seconds to take in what had occurred. The +great log swinging one end toward the swirling current had jammed +clear across the stream and for a time at any rate they were saved +from immediate death. In their joy they clasped each other's hands +warmly but their first rush of relief did not last long. As a +matter of fact they were not any nearer safely than they had been a +few minutes previous. + +The log, it was true, was jammed across the stream, but the +consequent backing up of the impetuous current caused it to rush +across the boys' refuge in such volumes as to almost sweep them from +their perches. + +It was very evident that they could not hold put indefinitely in +this position. + +Their attention was attracted as they clung to their water-swept +tree-trunk by a dark object whirling about in the boiling pool. It +was swept dizzily round and round in ever decreasing circles toward +the middle of the fatal vortex. Suddenly it shot downward out of +sight, but as it did so Frank had seen something that kindled one +ray of hope--though a feeble one. Before the canoe had taken the +fatal downward plunge it had hesitated for a minute as though caught +on something; and then the boy leader saw for the first time that in +the center of the pool there was a rock, although the water that +submerged it to the depth of an inch or so prevented its being seen +at first glance. + +Frank turned to Harry and told him of his discovery. + +"If we are cast into the pool let us make up our minds to get to +that rock. Keep your mind concentrated on it. Don't let the idea +leave you for a second and perhaps--I say 'perhaps'--we can make +it." + +Harry shook his head despairingly. + +"I can hardly keep my grip on this tree. I don't believe that I +could possibly manage to swim even a few yards," he groaned. + +"You must," said Frank sharply. "Don't give in now, Harry. Stick +it out." + +Then as a sudden thought struck him he continued. + +"See here, it's no good our wasting our strength clinging to this +trunk any longer. Sooner or later we shall be swept off and the +longer we wait the less reserve strength we shall have. Let us +leave go now and swim for it." + +Whatever reply Harry might have tendered to this desperate proposal +he was spared making, for at that moment a wave of more than +ordinary force--caused by the backed-up water striking the log--struck +him full in the face and before he knew it the boy had been washed +from the tree trunk and was being carried like a straw down the stream. + +As Harry felt himself being carried along there was only one thought +in his mind. It was not of death. When death is right upon a man +or a boy he rarely thinks of it, but casts about for the best means +of saving himself. Nor does--as some imaginative writers have told +us--a man's whole past life come before him at such moments. +No--the instinct of self-preservation is strongest when a human +being is in the direst need, and so it was that in Harry's mind one +thought kept hammering away like the strokes of a tolling bell. + +"Try-and-make-the-rock. Try-and-make-the-rock." + +Frank's insistence had done this much. It had caused the boy to +recollect the one hope of salvation that the desperate situation +held out. As he was swept down the torrent Harry made no effort to +swim. It would have been worse than useless and besides he needed +to husband his strength for the final struggle he knew was upon him. + +The next minute he felt a sickening swirling sensation and realized +that he was in the whirlpool's death-grip at last. + +Faster and faster the boy was hurried in ever decreasing circles. +Dizzy, half-choked with water, blinded and almost exhausted Harry, +with the tenacity of a bull dog, still clung tenaciously to the one +idea: + +"Try-and-make-the-rock. Try-and-make-the-rock." + +Suddenly, he was flung against a hard substance. With outstretched +fingers he clutched at the slimy surface as of what he realized was +the end of his journey at last. The great stone was covered with +slimy weed, however, and his grasping fingers refused to clutch at +any friendly niche in its surface. + +With a despairing cry the boy was being swept in to the terrible mouth +of the pool when he felt himself seized and pulled up out of the grip +of the torrent. He knew no more till he opened his eyes and found +Frank by his side. Both boys were on the rock--sitting on it in two +inches or more of water. Fortunately in that climate the water was +not so chilly as to cause discomfort, but this was about the only +crumb of satisfaction the situation held for them. + +"Well done, old fellow," said Frank as Harry opened his eyes. "You +had a narrow escape, though." + +Harry could only look at his brother gratefully. How deep was his +debt of gratitude to him both boys realized without their talking of +it. + +"How did you gain the rock, Frank?" asked Harry. + +"When I saw you swept off the tree trunk I slipped off too," replied +Frank, "and when I felt myself dragged into the pool I struck out +for the rock. I confess, though, I didn't have much hope of +reaching it till I was slammed into it with a blow that almost +cracked my ribs and knocked all the wind out of me. I managed +however to grab hold of a depression in the surface and maintain my +grip on it. I had hardly dragged myself up when you were hurled +against it. I thought I had lost you, for the water pulled like a +draught-horse, but I managed to hold on to you and here we are." + +"And a worse position we could not possibly be in," added Harry. + +"Unless we were in there," retorted Frank pointing, not without a +shudder, to the whirling open mouth of the pool which had sucked +down the wreck of their canoe. + +"What is it do you suppose?" asked Harry wonderingly. + +"The mouth of a subterranean river I guess," replied Frank. "I have +read of such things." + +"But why didn't Desplaines warn us of our danger," said Harry +bitterly, "if we ever get out of this I shall tell him my opinion of +him pretty strongly. We might have been killed and we may yet." + +"He did warn us," replied Frank calmly. + +"He did?" + +"Yes." + +"I should like to know when?" + +"When we shoved off." + +"You mean when he shouted something we couldn't catch and pointed +down the river?" + +"That's it." + +"I thought he meant there was better fishing down, here," snapped +Harry indignantly, "what idiots we were." + +"Yes; not to notice how we were drifting," rejoined Frank quietly, +"it's no use to blame Mr. Desplaines for this pickle. We have only +ourselves to be angry with. I don't suppose he ever thought that +two boys would not notice how they were drifting in a ten mile +current." + +"The point is how are we ever going to get out of it?" + +How indeed? + +As the boys looked about they saw little to encourage them. The +chasm in which they were beleaguered was not more than fifteen feet +across, but on either side shot up walls of rock so steep and smooth +that not even a fern could find root on their polished surfaces. + +Where the whirlpool sank into the bowels of the earth the walls came +together at an angle forming a sort of triangular prison. At the +top of this trap the boys could see a strip of blue sky and the +outlines of the graceful tops of some bulbous stemmed palms but +nothing else. Once a vulture sailed across the strip and sighting +the two boys came lower to investigate. The sight of the carrion +bird made both of the boys shudder. + +"Ugh, he scents a meal, he thinks we're dead already," cried Harry +disgustedly. + +The sound of his voice echoed gloomily among the rocks. + +"We're dead already," came back in sepulchral tones. + +"I shan't try to wake that echo up again," said Harry in a low tone +and shivering at the uncanny voice of the rock. + +Neither of the boys spoke for a long time. They sat there silently, +occasionally standing up to get the stiffness out of their limbs +till the strip of sky above began to darken to gray. + +"Well, here goes!" exclaimed Harry suddenly. + +Frank glanced sharply up. He did not like the wild tone in which +the words were spoken. + +"What is it?" he asked sharply. + +"I'm tired of this, I'm going to swim for it," replied Harry with a +foolish, hysterical laugh. + +Frank saw what had happened. The boy had become half-delirious +under the mental strain he had undergone. + +"Sit down, old fellow," he said kindly, "help will come soon I am +sure." + +"Yes, a steamboat will come sailing down the river and take us home +in the captain's cabin I suppose," said Harry foolishly. + +But nevertheless Frank's stern command to "shut up" and not make a +foot of himself brought him to his senses and he said no more till +the stillness was broken by a sudden cry from above. + +"Bosses--oh, bosses." + +"Ahoy there; castaways!" + +Frank looked up. + +The cry of joy he gave set the echoes flying in the gloomy canyon. + +It was the black face of Sikaso that was gazing down on them and +beside it was Ben Stubbs' weather-beaten countenance. Behind them +were Billy, Lathrop and the rest. + +"Hold on there and we'll get you out of that in two shakes of a +duck's tail," cheerily hailed the old adventurer. "We guessed you'd +be here and we brought a rope as long as a man of war's cable with +us. Lucky thing we did." + +The next minute a long rope of vegetable fiber came snaking down the +side of the cliff and to one end of it clung Ben Stubbs. As he +reached the bottom--the rope being cautiously paid out from above by +his companions--the old seaman swung himself outward from the face +of the rock and "in a brace of shakes," as he would have said, stood +alongside the two boys. In a second his sharp eye took in Harry's +wild looks and hysterical greetings and realized what had happened. + +"Now, Frank," he ordered, giving the young aviator the end of the +rope--"catch hold tight and when you are ready give the word." + +"But Harry--" gasped Frank, "I can't leave him. Let him go first." + +"I'll bring him up. He can't look after himself in the shape he's +in and you are too weak to attempt to help him. Now no talking +back. I'm boss now. Up aloft with you. Haul away there!" + +The next minute Frank, clinging to the rope, was being hauled +cautiously up the side of the sheer cliff by careful hands and +shortly he was in the arms of his friends. + +Ben Stubbs--to whom the rope with a weight at the end of it had been +swung pendulum wise--next appeared at the summit with Harry in his +strong grip. But it was a white faced inanimate burden he carried. +The boy had swooned. + +"He'll be all right in a few minutes," said Ben Stubbs as M. +Desplaines and the others all tried to explain at once to Frank how +Sikaso had guessed what had happened when the boys did not return. +The Krooman had led the party by secret native trails to the cliff +top. Frank clasped the huge black's hand with real gratitude and +tears of thankfulness brimmed in his eyes. + +"How can I ever thank you," he said. + +"Um--white boys keep away Pool of Death, Sikaso much pleased," +replied the Krooman turning slowly away with a sad expression on his +face. + +"His own son was drowned in it several years ago," said M. +Desplaines briefly. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A SNAP-SHOT FIEND IN TROUBLE + + +The morning after the events recorded in the last chapter was one of +these sparkling ones that are occasionally to be met with on the +West African coast and was the forerunner of a day of great bustle +and activity for the boys. With the vitality of healthy youth Harry +had completely recovered and was indeed surprised to find himself +feeling so good after what he had been through. Privately he +inspected his hair in the mirror to see if it had turned white and +was secretly much astonished to find it the same color as before. + +"I wish mine would turn white or potato color or something," said +Lathrop, to whom Harry confided his expectation, "this red thatch of +mine is a nuisance. At school I was always Brick-top or Red-Head +and out here the natives all look at my carrot-colored top-knot as +if they'd like to scalp me and keep it for a fetish." + +Both boys laughed heartily over Lathrop's half-assumed vexation. As +a matter of fact he had been the butt of many jokes in school on +account of his blazing red hair and in Africa the natives with their +love for any gaudy color had already christened him Rwome Mogo or +Red-Top. Of this, however, he was fortunately ignorant, as he might +have been tempted to go out and dispatch half a dozen of them if he +knew of their term for him. + +Down at the river bank, cross the evil-smelling lagoon at the back +of the town, Frank and Harry had their hands full directing +shouting, laughing Kroomen how to load up the canoes. From the +canopied steam launch that lay alongside the rickety wharf the black +engineer--an American Negro--watched with great contempt their +labors, which they enlivened with songs from time to time. + +"Them's de mos' good fur nuffingest niggahs I ever did see," +remarked Mr. Rastus Johnson--that was his name--with undisguised +contempt. + +Nevertheless by noon the canoes had all been leaded and the +farewells to the kind M. Desplaines and his family said. After a +swift final inspection Frank pronounced everything ship-shape and +even Doctor Wiseman who had been fussing about as Billy said "like a +hen with one chicken--and that a lame duck," over his tin cases and +poisonous looking bottles, announced that he was ready to start. +The twelve chattering Kroomen who were to go as far as the Bambara +country with the expedition were seated two in each canoe. They +were along simply as camp attendants and packers and would by no +means go any further than the borders of the Bambara country which +they said was the dwelling-place of "bery bad man sah." + +Just as the little launch, flying the stars and stripes out of +compliment to the boys, was drawing out into the stream with a long +blast of her whistle, a tall, black form came racing along the bank +and with one bound cleared the five feet or so between the launch +and the shore. It was Sikaso. + +"So you came after all," said Frank, turning to him, after a bend in +the river had hidden the waving Mr. Desplaines from sight and they +were settling down in the launch. + +"Sikaso see in the smoke I come--I come. If I see in smoke I no +come--I no come," remarked the Krooman. + +"He's traveling light anyhow," remarked Billy. + +Indeed the giant negro's only bit of baggage was a huge axe, the +handle of which was dented and scarred as if by many combats. Billy +was about to run his thumb along its edge when with a gesture the +mighty negro waved him aside. Instead he took Billy's handkerchief +from the young reporter's pocket and drew it gently along the axe +blade. + +It fell in two pieces on each side of his blade, severed by its +razor-like edge. + +"Sikaso is a good fellow to be friends with when he can make little +ones out of big ones like that," remarked Billy, picking up the two +fragments of his handkerchief, "that's a fine way to cut up a +gentleman's wardrobe." + +Bit by bit as the launch drove steadily up the muddy river--from +whose jungle-grown banks arose a warm, moist vapor--Frank drew from +the grim-faced old Krooman some of his history. He had been a +mighty warrior in the old days, he said, and the weapon he carried +was his war axe with which he had killed uncounted enemies. A rival +tribe, however, had killed his father and mother and driven him to +the coast with the few survivors of his village. Here he had +shipped on an American trading brig for New York where he had picked +up the knowledge of English he possessed. He also worshiped America +as "free man's country." But Africa had called to him and some +three years before he had returned on another ship and meant to die +there, he said. + +"Why did you wish to go with us?" asked Frank as the native +concluded his story. + +"It was written so in the smoke, white boss," replied the veteran +simply. "The ju-ju in the smoke strong ju-ju. He knows many +things." + +"Is that the only reason you have for coming?" + +"No, boss, I tell you truth," replied the old warrior, "some day I +find the chief who kill my father and my mother and kill my +friends." He glanced significantly at his axe. + +"In the Moon Mountains maybe I find him--maybe not. But some day I +shall and then--" + +He said no more, but as Frank remarked to Harry when the former +recounted his conversation to his brother later: + +"I shouldn't much like to be that man when Sikaso meets him." + +The launch and the small flotilla she towed forged steadily up the +stream all that day and at nightfall drew alongside the bank at a +spot where a clearing planted with bananas clearly indicated the +presence thereabouts of a native village. As soon as the launch was +moored to the bank the adventurers scrambled out--not sorry of a +chance to stretch their legs--and looked about them wonderingly. +They were really in equatorial Africa at last, and even as they +looked there was a sound borne to their ears that brought home to +them strongly how very far away they were from old New York. It was +a pulsing, rhythmic beating something like a drum and yet unlike it. +They looked questioningly at Sikaso. + +"Tom-tom," said he briefly. + +"Is it a friendly village, Sikaso?" inquired Doctor Wiseman. + +"Friendly to some--not to all," replied the Krooman, who for some +unaccountable reason had taken a strange dislike to the professor. +"Come," he said, intoning to Frank and Harry, "we go see get +chicken, maybe pork." + +"Say, can't we come along, Frank?" asked Billy and Lathrop their +faces falling. + +Frank consulted Sikaso who merely said: + +"Little fat white boy, with round, glass four-eyes talk too much." + +"Well," laughed Frank, "I think I can promise for him that he won't +do any talking that will cause any harm this evening." + +"Talk too much, indeed," grumbled Billy highly offended, "why at +home my folks were thinking of having a doctor treat me for +bashfulness I'm so retiring in my disposition." + +As soon as the laugh that this remark of the disgruntled reporter +had caused had subsided--even old Sikaso giving a grim smile as he +took in the purport of it--the little party set out down a native +trail toward the village. + +As the tom-tom beating increased in loudness as the village drew +near, the boys' hearts began to beat a little faster. At last they +were about to see a real African village--such as they had read +about in Stanley's and Livingstone's books--and other less authentic +volumes. They almost stumbled on the place as they suddenly emerged +into a clearing. It was a strange sight that met their eyes. + +Arranged in a circle were fifty huts that resembled nothing so much +as a collection of old-fashioned straw covered beehives, enlarged to +shelter human bees. All about them women and children were +bustling; setting about getting the evening meal. Before one hut +sat a woman, pounding something in a stone pestle--"like the +drugstore men use at home,"--whispered Lathrop to Billy. + +The arrival of the little band created a stir. The hideous old man, +with a sort of straw-bonnet, who had been beating on the antelope +skin drum called by Sikaso a "tom-tom" saw them and instantly picked +up his instrument and waddled off with as much dignity as his age +and a much distended stomach would allow him. The younger men, +however, advanced boldly toward the party. Some of them carried, +spears, others held Birmingham matchlocks of the kind the British +and French Governments have in vain tried to keep out of the hands +of the West African natives. These guns are smuggled in by +hundreds, by Arab traders who exchange the "gas-pipe" weapons worth +perhaps two dollars a-piece for priceless ivory, and even human +flesh for the slave dhows. + +"Seesanah (peace)," said Sikaso gravely, advancing in his turn. + +"Seesanah," echoed the tribesmen, who evidently recognized Sikaso +from their greetings. The boys stood grouped in the background--Billy +Barnes and Lathrop even viewing with some alarm the advance of +the savage-looking natives. + +"Well, he seems to have fallen in with several members of his club," +remarked the irrepressible Billy as old Sikaso and the natives +talked away at a great rate. + +"I'm going to get a picture of some of these niggers when they get +through," he continued aside to Lathrop. + +"What; you brought a camera?" asked the other boy. + +"Sure thing," replied Billy, "and if their ugly mugs don't break the +lens, I mean to get some good snaps." + +He drew a small flat folding camera from his pocket as he spoke and +got it ready for action. + +"Do you think Frank would stand for it? It might make trouble you +know," said Lathrop. + +"Pshaw," retorted the cocksure Billy, "what trouble can it make? I +wish I knew bow to say 'Look pleasant, please,' in Hottentot, or +whatever language these fellows talk." + +By this time old Sikaso's 'pow-wow' was over and he motioned Frank +and Harry forward. After they had been introduced to the chiefs and +headmen of the village, the "big chief," a villainous-looking old +party with only one eye and his legs thrust into a red shirt--into +the armholes that is, with the rest of the garment rolled round his +waist--announced he was ready to give fresh provisions for calico, +red and blue, and several sections of the brass rod that passes for +currency on the West Coast. While Frank, Harry and Sikaso were +bargaining behind a hut, over the price to be charged for a +razor-backed porker of suspicious appearance the village suddenly +became filled with an uproar of angry shouts and tumult. + +"What can be the matter?" exclaimed Frank, as the boys, followed by +the old chief and Sikaso, rushed from behind the hut to ascertain +the cause of the disturbance. + +Standing in the center of a crowd of excited villagers was Billy +Barnes, his helmet knocked off and an arrow sticking through it. He +looked scared to death as well he might, for by his side was a +stalwart young African, brandishing a heavy-bladed spear above his +head. At the young reporter's feet lay the ill-fated camera that +had caused all the trouble. + +What had happened was this. As soon as Frank and Harry and their +companions had left him and Lathrop alone, Billy had started to +carry out his determination to take some pictures. The first +subject he selected was a serious-faced little baby, innocent of any +clothing, that sat playing with a ragged dog at, the entrance of one +of the beehive huts. He had just clicked the button and exclaimed: + +"This will be a jim-dandy," when he felt something whistle through +the air and the next minute his hat lay at his feet with an arrow in +it. In an instant the child's father--convinced that Billy was +putting Ju-ju medicine on the child--was upon him, armed with his +big hunting spear and followed by half the village. Even +Billy--scared as he was--did not realize how very near to death he +actually came to being. Sikaso's shouted words in a native dialect +caused the tribesmen to fall back but they still muttered angrily. + +Stepping swiftly up to the camera Sikaso with a single blow of his +axe smashed it to pieces. + +"Here, that's no way to treat my camera!" Billy was indignantly +beginning, when Frank gripped his shoulder in an iron-clutch and +whispered: + +"Shut up; if you don't want to make more trouble." + +Billy was starting on an angry remonstrance when he caught Frank's +eye. The young leader was really angry and Billy prudently +refrained from saying any more. + +As for Sikaso--after demolishing Billy's machine, he turned to the +tribesmen and addressing them in stately tones said--as he afterward +translated it to Frank: + +"Village fools. You see there is no magic in the little black box. +It is nothing but a child's plaything for the fat, spectacled +idiot." (This part of the oration Frank did not communicate to +Billy.) "You see I have smashed it. Do I fear? Do I look now like +a man in terror of the white man's medicine. It is nothing. It is +broken and gone like the cloud before the wind, like the shadow on +the mountain side." + +The effect of all this was soothing and the boys left the camp, to +order some of their packmen to bring home the provisions, with light +hearts. As for Billy his ears burned by the time Frank got through +reading him a lecture. + +"I'm sorry," he said bravely, "and I won't do it again. Gee! talk +about 'press the button and we'll do the rest.'" + +"They nearly did it--didn't they," laughed Frank, his good humor +quite restored. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A TRAITOR IN CAMP + + +It was a week later, and the launch having towed the expedition as +far up the river as Frank decided was necessary--before they struck +out into the unknown land of the cannibals, winged men, and the +ivory hoard--had returned to civilization several days before, +carrying with it letters from all the adventurers which they felt +might be the last they would write for some time. The spot selected +for the permanent camp was a sort of park-like space covered at its +edges with masses of manioc and banana bushes. Beyond towered huge +tropical trees and beyond these again the blue outlines of the +distant Moon Mountains in which, according to old Barr's map, lay +the ivory cache. + +It had been a busy week. The Golden Eagle II had been re-erected +and her own wireless and the field wireless apparatus put in order. +As our readers who have followed this series are familiar with the +manner of setting up the great Chester aeroplane and her fittings, +it would be tedious to repeat the description of the process. +Suffice it to say that thanks to the clever simplicity of the +"knock-down" arrangement, by which the ship could be taken apart and +set up again, the operation of equipping her for active work was a +comparatively light one. The extra gasoline and supplies for the +camp in general were stored in a separate tent removed from the +circle in which the boys' tents and those of Ben Stubbs and +Professor Wiseman were pitched. + +There was, too, a newcomer in the camp--a Portuguese named Diego de +Barros. He was not a particularly well-favored individual, but he +bore the reputation of having great power over the natives and of +being very friendly to the white traders who penetrated into the +interior. Once or twice there had been ugly talk about his being in +league with the Arab slave and ivory traders, but he had managed to +clear his name and along the Ivory Coast enjoyed the reputation of +being an honest, reliable man. He had joined the boys' camp a few +days before and his manner of coming was this. + +While everybody was busy getting things in shape there had come a +loud hail from the quarters of the native helpers, just outside the +white man's encampment, announcing that a canoe was coming up the +river. All hands had hastened to the river bank to find de Barros +just putting his foot ashore from the canoe in which two natives had +paddled him from the coast. He had with him some bales of cotton +goods and a few gewgaws of various kinds and was bound, so he said, +on a trading expedition into the back country. Further down the +river he had heard, he explained, that the boys were camped where he +found them, and he had determined to pay them a visit. The brief +stay that the boys had interpreted this as meaning, however, had +extended itself into three days and still Diego showed no +inclination to leave. + +"If he doesn't move on soon I shall be compelled to ask him to go," +said Frank in an annoyed tone to Harry. "I don't want to be +inhospitable, but we can't afford to have strangers hanging round +the camp, there is too much at stake." + +Harry agreed with him and the two boys decided to tell the Portuguese +that evening as tactfully as possible that they were on a private +enterprise and could not accommodate strangers. This decision +arrived at, Frank turned to the steel strong box that was never out +of his sight and drew from it the precious map of the Moon Mountains. +Seated at the little camp-table--(the conversation just related had +taken place in the Boy Aviators' tent)--the two pored over the +document for hours. With dividers, compass and parallel rulers Frank, +who was a skilled navigator, laid out an aerial course that would +bring them, he calculated, unerringly to the spot marked by a red +cross where--so old Luther Barr declared--lay the ivory that was to +save Mr. Beasley from financial ruin and disgrace. + +Frank laid his finger on the spot and exclaimed enthusiastically: + +"There it is, Harry, and we are not so far from it now. In a few +days we shall know whether we are on a wild-goose chase or not." + +"Why, no doubt has ever entered your head that the ivory is there?" +questioned Harry. + +"Well, old fellow, you know there are others interested in this +ivory beside ourselves--Muley-Hassan for instance." + +"You think he had got ahead of us?" + +"I did not say I thought so, I only say that it is possible that he +may have done so." + +"How could he have got wind of our coming?" + +"In Africa there is a sort of underground wire for news," replied +Frank. "I have no doubt that hundreds of natives far in the +interior are by this time apprised of our coming." + +Harry looked alarmed. + +"That's bad," he said. + +"Well, it couldn't be helped: but we may have other enemies nearer +at hand." + +"What do you mean?" + +"That I don't like the looks of that Portuguese fellow. If he got +wind of what we are doing he would be likely to ruin the whole +object of our expedition." + +"That's so. We'll have to get rid of him." + +"Well, we are going to, and if he won't go for gentle means we'll +try rough ones." + +"Hullo, what's that?" exclaimed Harry suddenly. + +The flap at the end of the tent toward which both of their backs had +been turned had been suddenly drawn aside and in one quick, backward +glance Harry made out the smiling figure of de Barros standing in +the doorway. It might have been fancy, but he thought for a minute +that the Portuguese had a peculiarly villainous expression on his +dark, handsome features. + +"Ah, senors," he said, as Frank, with a quick movement swept the map +off the table--but not before de Barros's quick eyes had spied it. +Fearing to replace the precious chart in the strong box, while the +Portuguese lingered, Frank tucked it into his pocket. + +"Ah, senors, good afternoon," grinned the unwelcome visitor. "I +have come to say 'adios.' I am going up the river to-night and may +not see you again for a long time." + +"I am sorry to have you leave," said Frank with a heartfelt wish +that de Barros would hasten his departure. + +"I knew you would be," smiled the Portuguese, "but it is the lot of +man to meet and part. Adios, senors, I go to make ready." + +He vanished as suddenly as he had come upon the scene. + +"What do you make of that?" inquired Harry. + +"I don't know what to think. I have an idea that he was listening +to every word of our conversation just now and that he saw the map +before I had time to sweep it off the table." + +Harry looked vexed. + +"That's tough luck," he said. "If he overheard even a part of our +talk he must realize the object of our presence in Africa. And," he +went on, "I don't know a man on the Dark Continent whom I would +trust less than Diego de Barros, even the little we've seen of him." + +"It can't be helped now," said Frank briefly; "come on, let's go and +put the finishing touches on the good old Eagle." + +They worked the rest of the afternoon putting the big aeroplane in +shape for her flight to the Moon Mountains which it had been +determined to make the next day. It was almost dusk when Harry, who +was working over the engines, asked Frank for the reserve park-plug +box. + +"It's in one of the canoes. I'll go and get it," said Frank, and at +once set off toward the river bank for that purpose. His path led +through a thick grove of bamboos which hid him from the view of the +camp after he had traversed a short distance. As he merged on the +river bank, whistling softly to himself, the young leader suddenly +felt himself pinioned by arms that seemed of enormous strength--though, +as the attack had come from behind, he could not see the +faces of his assailants. The next minute he was lying flat on his +back, bound and helpless with a bit of greasy cloth shoved in his +mouth for a gag. + +"Keep still, senor, and you shall not be hurt;" said a quiet voice +near at hand, and Frank saw bending above him the sallow features of +the smiling Portuguese. + +"I just have to trouble you for that map I saw you put in your +pocket, that is all," went on his captor, while the two huge negroes +who had made Frank prisoner stood to one side immovable as carved +figures. + +"It is lucky for me that you came down to the river bank," grinned +the Portuguese as he ran his hand over Frank's clothes, to ascertain +the hiding-place of the precious map of the ivory cache, "otherwise +I should have had to delay my departure till to-night, and possibly +have cut your throat while you slept." + +Frank felt as if his heart would burst with rage and mortification +as the greasy, smiling Portuguese deliberately drew out the +priceless document and gazed at it in triumph. He laid it on the +ground beside him while lie resumed his search for other clues. + +"That ivory belongs to my master--Muley-Hassan--now," he sneered; +"did you think for a minute that we would ever let you white fools +get it back again." + +It was well for the Portuguese that Frank's hands were not free +then. Had they been the dark-skinned traitor would have had a fight +on his hands in a few seconds. But suddenly events took a strange +turn. + +The two blacks uttered a sharp cry of warning as the bushes parted +and a huge form dashed out, whirling about its head a glistening +axe. + +It was Sikaso! + +The next minute would have been Diego's last but that his two +followers lifted him to his feet and, picking him up like a child, +ran for his canoe with him. With a few rapid strokes they were in +midstream and paddling up the river with powerful strokes while +Sikaso raged impotently on the shore. + +"Oh for one of the white men's fire-tubes!" he sighed, and even as +he spoke a sharp reminder of the efficiency of these same +"fire-tubes" whizzed past his ear in the shape of a bullet from +Diego's revolver. + +In a few steps the old black was beside his young leader and with a +couple of strokes of his keen blade had set him free. + +"Quick, Sikaso; the canoes--we must pursue him. Call the boys and +Ben while I cast off the canoes. Quick, we have not a minute to +lose." + +Although Diego in his hurry had not carried off the map but left it +lying on the ground, still Frank realized that the Portuguese had +not actually needed the document to aid Muley-Hassan to find the +cache. The Arab was no doubt familiar with the location anyway, but +to head off all danger of the boys getting there first, it was vital +to stop Diego at all costs. In a few bounds Frank reached the +little indentation in the bank where the canoes were kept. + +As he gained it he fell back with a groan and, brave boy as he was, +he leaned weakly against a tree for support as the true extent of +the crushing disaster that had occurred was borne in on him. + +The canoes were gone! + +The cunning rascal, Diego, had devised his plan well. + +The painters of all the craft had been cut, and by this time they +were doubtless miles down the stream. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A BATTLE IN THE AIR + + +The consternation with which the news of the loss of the canoes was +received by the young adventurers may be imagined. It meant that +they were cut off from communication with the coast entirely unless +some unforeseen circumstances arose. But in spite of the oppression +that naturally affected them at the first news of their serious loss, +Frank's confident manner had its effect in restoring some sort of +hope. Like the born leader that he was, Frank, the minute he +recovered from the first effects of his bitter dismay, set about +cheering up the others. + +"We've always got the Golden Eagle," he comforted, "and anyway it's +likely if no one stops them, that some at least of the canoes will +drift down the river to the coast. M. Desplaines will no doubt be +able to surmise something serious has happened when he hears of +their arrival and will send aid. In the meantime we have to +consider what we are to do about the ivory cache." + +As a matter of fact, as the boys learned later, none of the canoes +ever reached the coast, being intercepted by river-tribes. + +"I vote for going ahead," cried Harry, catching the optimistic note +that his brother's words conveyed. + +"That's the stuff," cried the young leader, "that is exactly what I +was going to propose." + +"How about you, red-top?" asked Billy turning to Lathrop. + +"Of course I'm on," was the reply. + +"I hate to dash your enthusiasm," said Frank, "but you fellows must +see that it is impossible for all of us to go. My plan is to take +Ben Stubbs along and leave you fellows and Sikaso here to guard the +camp. Then, too, there is the possibility of a relief expedition +arriving as soon as they discover that we have lost our canoes." + +Old Sikaso leant apart on his mighty war-axe. He seemed to regret +heartily that he had not had an opportunity of testing its metal on +the head of the knavish Portuguese. + +"What do you say to that plan, Sikaso?" asked Frank, who already +placed a high value on the old warrior's judgment. + +"That it is good, my white brother. Sikaso will stay with the +four-eyed one and the ruddy-haired one and we will see that no harm +comes to the camp of the young white warriors." + +"It is well," replied Frank, who was falling into a trick of +addressing the stately Krooman in the same grandiloquent fashion as +the latter was in the habit of using, "I place my trust in you." + +"Hum," snorted Billy, "four-eyes and red-top that's a nice +combination for you! I'd like to do something to show that old chap +that we can do just as much as anyone else when it comes to a +show-down." + +This remark, however, was made sotto voce to Lathrop, as Billy +really stood in great awe of the six foot-two of ebony flesh and +muscle that was Sikaso. + +But Stubbs was delighted at his selection to accompany the boys in +their aerial dash for the ivory cache. He spent half the night by +lantern light pottering about the great craft and stocking her up +with provisions and equipment for the journey. By the time he had +finished it was almost midnight and he turned in to join the boys in +the land of dreams where Frank and Harry, and doubtless the others, +too, were already busy shooting down Diegos and hippopotami and +flitting through the air above the great African forest and +performing all sorts of wonderful feats. + +At dawn everybody was up and about and after farewells had been said +the Chester boys and their sturdy old companion clambered into the +chassis of their craft. Frank had already laid out his course, +which lay about two points west of north. The boy calculated that +this direction would bring them within a few miles at any rate of +the cache. To find it they would have to trust to persistence and a +modicum of luck. + +Old Sikaso, who had, of course, never seen anything even remotely +resembling an aeroplane, stood apart from the excited group +clustered about the big craft and gazed at it with astonishment, not +unmixed with awe. The other Kroomen--the packers and camp-workers, +however, gathered close about the machine and the boys had a lot of +trouble keeping their busy fingers from unscrewing nuts and +loosening turnbuckles. + +"Anything more like a pack of monkeys on a picnic I never saw," +exclaimed Billy as for the twentieth time he chased a long, skinny +native away from the propellers, where he would have assuredly been +decapitated if he had remained till the engine was started. + +A few turns with the clutch thrown out showed the engine was running +as true as on the day the Golden Eagle made her trial trip. The +muffler was cut out and the effect of the wide-open exhaust on the +Kroomen was magical. Within a second from the time that Harry threw +in the switch and the gatling gun uproar of the exhaust made itself +manifest, not a solitary one was to be seen. From the greenery of +the jungle that rimmed the clearing, however, their frightened faces +could be seen peering, like some strange sort of fruit among the +tropical growth. Only old Sikaso stood his ground. + +But even that stolid old warrior grasped his great war-axe a little +tighter and stood erect as if about to face an unknown enemy as jets +of blue flame and smoke shot from the detonating exhaust. + +"All ready, Harry?" cried Frank to the younger boy who was at his +old station by the engines. + +"Ay, ay!" came the response in a hearty tone. "Then let her go." + +With a quick movement Frank threw in the clutch. + +The mighty propellers began to beat the air with the whirring sound +of a swarm of gigantic locusts in full flight, and after a short run +the great aeroplane took the air in a long graceful rising arc. +Half an hour later, to the watchers in the camp, she was little more +than a speck against the sky. + +Frank, his eye constantly on the compass, kept the ship on a true +course for the Moon Mountains which, now that they were flying far +above the dense forest region, lay a rugged mass of blue and brown, +piled like some giant's playthings--on the northwestern horizon. + +Even from the distance at which the boys viewed them they conveyed +an almost sinister impression in their rugged shapes. Their harsh +outlines cut the sky in a serrated line like the teeth of a huge +saw. + +"Look, look, Frank!" shouted Harry suddenly as they were passing +high over a small clearing. + +Both Frank and Ben peered over the side in answer to the boy's +excited hail. + +Far below them was a strange sight. + +In the center of the clearing were four huge African elephants +solemnly conducting a sort of Brobdingnaggian game of tag. One of +the great beasts would tap the other with its trunk and then would +scamper away till it in turn was "tapped" by a blow that would have +swept a small regiment off its feet. + +Frank pushed over a lever and swung the ship in a circle so that +they might watch the great animals to better advantage. Suddenly +the boys saw one of the elephants, evidently seized by sudden rage, +start goring one of its companions with its huge tusks. The +attacked animal had no chance, and but for the boys would speedily +have been killed. + +"I'm going to give that big bully a shot," exclaimed Harry, and he +got out one of the heavy rifles from the rack under the starboard +transom. + +"Wait, I'll drop a bit," said Frank. + +In response to his manipulation the aeroplane dropped till she +hovered not more than two hundred feet above the great animals. +Then a strange thing happened. The shadow of the craft fell upon +the center of the clearing in front of the dueling beasts and the +on-looking pachyderms, and as it did so the bully stopped goring its +mate and gave a snort of astonishment. + +Its note of surprise quickly changed to a loud trumpet of terror as +the great pachyderm saw swooping above it what must have appeared to +it an aerial inhabitant even larger than itself. Its note of fright +was echoed in a chorus that sounded like an assemblage of cracked +trumpets as the others also sensed the impending danger. + +"Now let him have it," shouted Frank. + +Harry's rifle cracked and the big bully staggered. Twice more the +boy fired and the huge creature staggered on to its knees and then +with a mighty groan rolled over on its side. The others, even the +wounded one, had made off as soon as they had caught sight of the +hovering Golden Eagle. + +Even from the height at which they were the boys could see that the +dead animal had an enormous pair of tusks, no doubt extremely +valuable. + +"We ought to have them there figure-heads," commented Ben Stubbs. +"What do you say if we drop down and get them?" + +Frank looked at his watch. It was half-past nine. + +"We cannot be more than a hundred miles now from the foot of the +range," he said, "and I suppose we have plenty of time. We might as +well drop and get them as let some native tribe have the find and +then get skinned out of them by an Arab trader." + +As he spoke the boy set the planes for descending and the Golden +Eagle settled down--after a few minutes rapid falling--fairly in the +center of the clearing. It was almost a fairylike spot. On every +side it was hedged in by the densest jungle vegetation, the solid +walls being broken here and there by elephant paths leading off into +the green tangle. + +The little glade in which the Golden Eagle had settled was covered +with short, yellow grass and had been trampled almost bare of +vegetation, apparently by the gambols of countless generations of +elephants. + +"This must be one of the elephant playgrounds I have read about," +exclaimed Harry, looking about him. + +"No doubt it is," replied Frank. "But look at those tusks, why +there's ivory enough there alone to give us all a nice wad of pocket +money." + +Ben Stubbs, with one of the small axes, at once set about hacking +out the dead elephant's huge tusks and a long job it was. Finally, +however, he managed to cut them free and clear and the boys loaded +them into the aeroplane. + +"Now we are all ready for a fresh start," said Frank as they +clambered in after him and settled down in their places; but a +startling interruption occurred. + +With a wild yell, that struck a sudden chill to the heart of every +one of the little group, a band of beings that at first sight looked +like nothing so much as huge gorillas, burst from the forest on +every side. + +Their heads were misshapen and flat and their protruding lips were +daubed with white and red clay which gave them a ghastly unearthly +look. From their ears hung huge ivory pendants. They carried +elephant skin shields and were armed with spears and bow and arrows. +As if they did not consider themselves sufficiently hideous, several +of the tribe had cut their faces in long stripes and the hardly +healed scars of these wounds rendered their already sinister faces +terrifying indeed. + +Desperately Harry threw over the wheel and the engines started +faithfully to respond but not before half a dozen of the savages had +thrown themselves on to the aeroplane. + +Their weight held her down although she scudded over the ground; and +in the meantime the other natives started pouring a shower of arrows +and spears into her. Fortunately none of these struck the boys +although Frank felt an arrow whiz through the loose sleeve of his +shirt. + +"Get those fellows off or I can't get the ship up," he yelled. + +Harry and Ben Stubbs fired their automatics into the clinging mass +of savages. + +Two dropped and the aeroplane began to rise but the others +desperately clung on. + +"Get 'em off," shouted Frank, as he desperately strove to raise the +air-craft. + +As he spoke he fell back with a cry of pain. + +An arrow had struck him on the shoulder inflicting a painful wound. + +Like a flash Harry took in the situation and leaped to the steering +wheel. As he did so the savage with whom he had been contending +clambered clear into the chassis. At the same instant Ben Stubbs' +revolver dispatched the last of the men clinging to the planes and +the Golden Eagle began to rise. + +As she shot upward the savage who had climbed into the chassis gave +a wild shriek of real terror. But his outburst didn't come before +he had made a savage lunge at Ben Stubbs with a short heavy knife. +The solo adventurer dived under the black's arm and struck it upward +as he lunged and the weapon went whirling groundward out of the +air-ship. + +With a cry of despair the savage rushed to the edge of the car and +was about to throw himself into empty air when Ben leaped forward to +try to restrain him. + +But it was too late. + +As the boys' sturdy companion gallantly attempted to save the +savage's life a flight of arrows whizzed up from below. + +With a groan the man on the edge of the car pitched forward into +open space, pierced to the heart with an arrow sped by one of his +own tribesmen. Down he shot like a stone to the earth below, while +the Golden Eagle--as if rejoicing in her escape, shot upward and +onward. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE VOICE OF THE MOUNTAIN + + +Frank's wound fortunately turned out to be nothing very +serious--though painful enough--and after it had been treated with +antiseptics from the medicine chest he declared that, aside from the +stiffness and soreness, he felt no ill effect. + +"Those fellows certainly gave us a sample of what we may expect," +remarked Harry, examining the hole in his shirt where the arrow had +ripped through. + +"It was quite as narrow an escape as I care to experience," agreed +Frank. "How about you, Ben?" + +"Wall," said the old adventurer, "I don't know as how I think that +kind of excitement is as beneficial fer the health as the rest +cure." + +Meanwhile the Golden Eagle, plowing through the clear African air at +fifty miles an hour, rapidly drew nearer and nearer to the +mysterious Moon Mountains. + +As they neared the range the extraordinary character of it was +revealed more and more clearly. Seamed with deep gloomy abysses and +almost bare of vegetation, except a few scanty groves of palms and +the hardier tropical trees, they seemed indeed fitted to be the +theater of dark mysteries and the haunt of savage tribes. + +"Well," exclaimed Harry, as he scrutinized the strange mountain mass +through the glasses, "I should say that if those Winged Men are to +be found anywhere, here is where they'd reside." + +"I should think they'd use their wings to get out--a nastier looking +lot of mountains I never saw," was Ben's reply. + +Frank made no comment, but the sinister character of the mountains +they were so rapidly approaching impressed itself on his mind +nevertheless. Eagerly he scanned the range for the first sign of +"The Upturned Face." Harry and Ben, too, gave quite as eager +scrutiny toward the discovery of this striking mark of the ivory's +hiding-place. + +All at once it shot into view with a suddenness that made the boys' +beads swim. + +It was as clear as daylight. The line of the mountain for which +Frank had the Golden Eagle II now directly headed was unmistakably +the outline also of a hawk-nosed facet. + +If the mountains themselves had an evil, menacing look, the stone +face possessed this same quality in an infinitely greater degree. + +"Well, if we've got to go looking for ivory right under that face +the sooner we find it the better," exclaimed Ben. "I'd hate to be +shipmates with the fellow who sat for that portrait." + +"No human being ever sat for it, Ben," laughed Frank; "it's a mere +freak of nature which has so disposed the mountain mass at this +point as to give the semblance of what the map-maker terms The +Upturned Face." + +"Well, if I had a mug like that I'd turn it down instead of up +before some one did it for me," was Ben's comment. + +The Golden Eagle landed on a plateau about halfway up the mountain, +beneath the upturned face. It made an almost ideal camping-place, +considering the rugged nature of their surroundings. In one part of +it a small grove of bananas and palms had taken root, and their +smiling greenery offered a refreshing contrast to the dark +oppressive gloom of the giant rock masses piled all about. From the +center of this oasis in the rocky range bubbled a tiny spring of +water as clear and cold as if it had been filtered and iced. +Frank's first act was to send out a wireless to the River Camp, +telling of their arrival. + +"Well, thank goodness, we've got something green and pleasant to +look at," remarked Ben, as they set about transforming the chassis +of the Golden Eagle into a comfortable tent by means of running up +the canvas curtains on the aluminum frames provided for that +purpose. Thus equipped, the chassis served the uses of an improved +tent, as the floor was well above the ground and out of all danger +of the unwholesome, vapors rising from the ground and also the +scorpions and other reptiles. + +But if the oasis itself was a pretty spot, it was made doubly so by +the contrast it afforded to the scenery surrounding it. On all +sides shot up frowning walls of rugged black rock which seemed to +have been torn and ripped in some remote period by a terrific +convulsion of nature. In places, too, the rock masses seemed to +have been seared by subterranean fires. Frank gazed upward at the +terrific character of the scenery about them. + +"We shall need the rope-ladder," he announced suddenly after a long +silence. + +"The rope-ladder?" inquired Harry, "what for?" + +Frank laughed. + +"I mean the rope-ladder we use in the Golden Eagle. As you know, +the only way to locate the cache is to strike a direct line down +from the nose of the upturned face. That will bring us to the small +cairn or pile of rocks that marks the Arab's hiding-place." + +"He could hardly have chosen a better," remarked Harry. "Who would +ever guess, unless they had the key to the mystery, that these +mountains held such a fortune in tusks." + +The rest of that day was spent in overhauling the outfit which they +would need to use on their expedition of the morrow. Luckily the +boots they wore had been fitted with "hob-nails" so that they were +ideal for the tough climb that they had ahead of them. Each member +of the three was to carry a pick and of course they all were to be +armed, carrying several rounds of ammunition each in their +cartridge-belts. + +That night after a supper of fried ham, canned corn and pancakes--all +cooked by the skilful Ben over a fire of wood collected from the +little grove--Frank sent out a wireless to the members of the camp +on the river bank and felt much reassured when Lathrop's "All +well--good luck," came back through the air. It was delightfully +cool on the mountain-side after the oppressive fetid air of the +river and its neighborhood, and as Ben had remarked before they +turned in: + +"Fine weather for sleeping." + +But sleep would not come to Frank. He tossed and turned on his +transom bed and several times gazed out into the night through the +canvas curtains. An unaccountable feeling of unrest possessed him. +Could they get the ivory out of the cache before Muley-Hassan and +his band arrived by land? + +Fast as they had traveled through the air Frank realized that the +Arab, who doubtless by this time had been informed by the +treacherous Diego of the boys' bold dash, would push on at furious +speed in order to head them off. That he would come accompanied by +a well-armed band Frank could not doubt. He and Harry and Ben could +only put up a feeble resistance against such an attack. There was +only one chance to secure the ivory and that was to get at it before +the Arab arrived. It all depended then on how quickly they could +find the cache. Frank lit the lantern and shielding it so that it +would not strike in the eyes of his sleeping brother, drew out the +map and scanned it attentively. + +Yes, here were the directions written in the queer hand of +Muley-Hassan's follower. + +"A line from the nose straight down to the cairn of stones." + +It seemed simple enough and certainly the nose of the Upturned Face +was as clearly to be made out as a ship at sea. But Frank had been +too long trained in the hard school of adventure to underestimate +the difficulties of any piece of work. They faced a hard job and +none realized the fact better than the young leader. + +At last he blew the lantern out and once more composed himself to +sleep. He was just dozing off when a sufficiently startling +interruption occurred. One which drove all further thoughts of rest +from his head. + +It was an extraordinary sound that brought the boy out of his bed +with a bound and caused him to clutch his revolver with a heart that +beat loud and thick in spite of himself. + +Clutching his weapon the boy rushed to the door of the chassis tent +and gazed out. + +There was a bright moon which threw into inky blackness the +depressions of the rugged mountains and threw up their projections +into a blue glare. It was almost as light as day under that +wonderful African moon. Had there been any one near the boy must +have been able to see them. + +But look as he would there was not a soul in sight. All about him +stretched the barren frowning mountains sleeping under the moon. + +But the sound that he had heard? + +There was no mistaking it. It had been too like the low humming of +a human voice for him to have been misled. Perhaps he had been +dreaming? + +But as if to give the lie to any such supposition the strange sound +that had so alarmed him at that moment made itself manifest once +more: + +"A-hooo-A-AH-HOOO-00-a-ho-ho-ho-o-!" + +It started softly and gradually ran up the scale till it reached a +crescendo shout and then died out in a soft sound like a woman's +wail. Heard anywhere the sound would have been alarming enough, but +coming as it did in the midst of these unknown, mysterious Mountains +of the Moon it struck a chill to the boy's heart and caused his +scalp to tighten in a manner that even the bravest man or boy in the +world would have had no reason to feel shame over. + +A human enemy, a foe he could see, Frank would have faced with iron +nerve; but this strange wailing noise coming from what quarter of +the compass he could not judge--was so uncanny that he was really +disturbed. He bounded into the chassis and roused Ben and Harry. +He had hardly whispered to them the extraordinary intelligence when +again the voice arose. + +"A-ho-ho-h-o-o-o-A-h-hoo-ho-AH-HO-HO-O-O-O-AH-ho-h-o-o-o-o-o-o!" + +"Well, who?" roared Ben angrily, "come out and show yourself, you +human hyena, and I'll put so much lead in your system you'll be +worth a nickel a pound. Come, you old Ah-Hoo, and I'll show you who +I am quick enough--shiver my topsails!" + +But the only reply to Ben's tirade was the dismal echo of his voice +among the rocky chasms. + +"Shiver my topsails!" roared the echo and then the hills bandied the +cry about from ridge to ridge till it died out in a whisper: + +"My topsails!" + +"Hum," remarked Ben, "I don't think I'll talk so loud around here. +There seem to be a lot of folks listening. Such a dreary hole as +this I never--" + +"Never," sighed the echoes, "--never." + +"Here, I can't stand this," cried Harry. "I'm going to send a +bullet up there the next time that fellow starts 'Ah-hooing."' + +But as the strange mournful cry rang out once more the boys paused +in bewilderment. + +There was no locating the sound. + +It seemed to fill the air. To come from every quarter of the +compass at once. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE ARAB'S CACHE + + +The mysterious cries were not repeated that night although the boys +laid awake till daylight listening for any repetition. No theory +they could advance, although these ranged all the way from cannibals +and gorillas to ghosts, had any effect on the solution of the +mystery. They finally agreed to trust to solving it in some chance +way, and like sensible boys did not continue to worry themselves +over the unsolvable. + +Frank's first action was to send out a wireless to the river camp +and to his great relief he found that events there were still +proceeding with the same regularity as before. Nothing had occurred +to mar the even life of the young adventurers left behind. This was +the tenor of the message, but there was something about it that +worried Frank. Lathrop, he knew, was an expert wireless operator, +but the sending that he performed that morning was so jerky and +irregular that the rankest amateur might have done better. + +"What is the matter?" asked Frank sharply after the sending had +become even more unskilled and shaky. + +There was no answer; which caused Frank a vague feeling of +apprehension. He speedily drove this impression from his mind, +however, with: + +"Pshaw! the sleepless night I passed has made me nervous." + +After breakfast there was so much to be done that there was no more +time to waste on gloomy forebodings and the boys started, as soon as +the camp had been put in order, on their expedition up the +mountain-side to the Upturned Face--which was to be the starting +point for the uncovering of the secret ivory hoard. + +The climb was quite as stiff as Frank had anticipated and, laden as +they were with the rope-ladder and the other equipment, it was +rendered even tougher. All three carried water-canteens covered +with wet felt, containing half-a-gallon each. Frank had insisted on +this as it was doubtful if they could find water at the summit of +the mountain. + +As the sun rose higher in the sky and beat down on the bare rock +ridges over which the adventurers were making their way, it became +as uncomfortable as any expedition on which the boys had ever beer +engaged. + +"Talk about New Mexico or Death Valley," exclaimed Harry, "I feel +like a piece of butter rolled up in a paper and I've melted." + +"I feel like a Welsh rarebit myself," laughed Frank, "how about you, +Ben?" + +"I feel like a pot of boiling tar with a fire lighted under me," +growled the veteran angrily; "consarn these rocks, I'd give a whole +lot for a bit of that shade we left behind us." + +Despite the discomfort and the heat, however, they struggled on up +the mountain-side, frequently using the rope-ladder to get over +rough places, and at about noon they stood beneath the steep rock +cliff that formed the nose of the upturned face. + +It was easy enough then to reach a spot below the tip and Frank, +with a long cord he had brought for the purpose, laid out a straight +line from the point down the southern slope of the mountain-side. +While they were busy about this they were startled by a repetition +of the same strange cry, half-warning, half-savage, that they had +been so alarmed by the night before. + +"A-ho-o-o-o-AH-H-O-O-O-a-h-o-o-hoo-o-o-o-o!" + +"Great Scott," yelled Harry, "what on earth do you think of that?" + +Frank--considerably startled himself--had, however, made a +determined effort to ascertain the source of the sound as it rose +and fell in its strange cadence. + +"I've got it!" he shouted; now with a cry of triumph. + +"Got what?" cried Harry, as if he feared his brother had suddenly +become infected with some strange complaint--"rabies or the pip?" + +"The noise--I mean I know where it comes from," cried the excited +boy. + +"Where?" chorused Ben and Harry. + +"From somewhere about the Upturned Face," cried Frank triumphantly, +"Hark!" + +The strange wailing cry rang out once more. They all listened +intently. + +Sure enough it seemed to proceed from the sinister countenance +carved in the living rock above them. + +"Well, here's where we end this mystery for all time," shouted +Frank, drawing his revolver, "who is game to follow me?" + +Of course Harry and Ben rushed to his side, and while the echo of +the mysterious cry was still sobbing and sighing among the crags +they dashed back up the mountain-side utterly oblivious now to the +heat or anything but their determination to discover who or what had +uttered the extraordinary cry. The side of the nose--or the nostril +so to speak--was formed of a wall of rock fully twelve feet in +height. + +"You fellows give me a boost up there and I'll travel right along +the face till I find out where the racket comes from." + +On Ben's strong shoulders Frank was soon hoisted up to a height +where he could lay hold of a projecting bit of rock and shin himself +up on to the top of the nose. + +"Look out he doesn't think you are a fly and try to brush you off," +laughed Harry from below. + +"No danger of that," shouted back Frank, "unless I lit on him in the +Golden Eagle." + +The surface of the face was as remarkable as its profile. + +Apparently some forgotten tribe had at some time or other been +struck by the facial outline of the rocks and had cut into the flat +surface, which was upturned to the sky, eyes and a mouth, the latter +well provided with teeth, in each of which was drilled a tiny +triangular hole. + +While Frank was puzzling over the meaning of these apertures there +came a repetition of the weird cry, but this time the lad was so +startled that he almost lost his balance and fell backward. + +The call seemed to proceed from his very feet. Then, all at once, +he realized what it was. + +The strange sounds proceeded from the mouth of the stone face. + +Frank ran to the edge of the steep declivity that formed the nose. + +"Say, Harry, and you too, Ben, examine the surface below there very +carefully for any holes. They will probably be small ones and in a +row." + +"None this side," announced the searchers after a lengthy quest. + +"Try the other," ordered Frank. + +They did so and after a few minutes of careful scrutiny Harry +shouted that they had found a row of small holes pierced in the rock +just below where Frank stood. + +"Then we have solved the mystery of the voice," exclaimed Frank. + +"What do you mean?" demanded Harry. + +"That it is nothing more or less than an arrangement of holes +through which, when the wind blows in a stiff puff, air is forced +with violence enough to cause the cry that disturbed us so much last +night," was the reply. + +This indeed was the solution, and had the boys known it there are +many such rocks in Africa, carved out by some forgotten race, and +the weird cries that the vent-holes give out in the wind doubtless +acted as a powerful "fetish" to keep away troublesome enemies. + +"No wonder the niggers down below don't come near the Moon +Mountains," said Harry, as they all buckled over the simple +explanation of the phenomenon that had caused them so much alarm. +"I wouldn't care to, myself, unless I knew just what made that cry." + +"It certainly was as depressing as anything I ever heard," said +Frank, "and now having solved the great mystery--let's get back to +work." + +The three adventurers went at the job with a will. The line was +about a hundred feet long and the method of procedure was this: +Frank tested the straightness of the line, as accurately as possible +with his eye, while Ben and Harry carried it stretched between them. +The end of each hundred feet was signalized by a stone, and Harry, +who was at the end of the line, carried his end to this mark before +they laid out a fresh hundred feet. In this way they must have +measured off very nearly half-a-mile of the mountain-side when Frank +gave a sudden sharp cry and pointed to a depression in the dark +range immediately below them. As the others looked they echoed his +cry and gave a dash forward. + +Directly beneath them, about in the center of the little dip, was a +cairn of rough stones perhaps four feet in height. In a few bounds +they had reached the pile, which they knew meant the discovery of +the ivory cache and the end of the most difficult part of their +expedition. Little did they imagine the amazing things that were +yet to happen to them and of which they were but on the threshold. + +"Good Lord, look at that, boys!" exclaimed Frank, as they stood at +the foot of the cairn. + +There was a good reason for the boy's exclamation. + +Distributed around the base of the pile were a dozen or, more human +skulls. + +"Are they those of white men?" asked Harry in an awed tone. Frank +shook his head. + +"No, they are those of negroes I believe," he replied after a +careful examination, "and I imagine that Muley-Hassan killed them +after they erected the cache so that they would not be able to +spread the knowledge of its whereabouts to any of the marauding +tribes who might even brave the ghostly voice when such a great +treasure of ivory tempted." + +A shout from Ben, who had been walking round the pile examining it +from every view-point interrupted them. They looked up and saw the +old adventurer pointing to the mountain summit where it cut the sky. +Outlined against the deep azure was the object that had caused his +exclamation. It was the figure of a man that had apparently been +watching them intently. + +But as they gazed the strange, crouched form suddenly vanished. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE AGE OF SIKASO + + +It was late afternoon of the day that Frank, Harry and Ben had left +the River Camp. Lathrop, Billy, Barnes and old Sikaso had wandered +into the jungle with their rifles, intent on bringing down some sort +of game to replenish the camp larder. For hours they tramped about +in the thick jungle and a fair measure of success had fallen to +their rifles. Shortly before sundown the trio met in a glade not +more than a mile from the camp and compared notes. To Billy's gun +had fallen a plump young deer and Lathrop had brought down, not +without a feeling of considerable pride, a species of wild hog which +Sikaso proclaimed with a grunt was "heap good." + +Flushed with triumph and carrying their own bag, the young hunters +set out for the camp, arriving there at dusk. As has been told, it +was not long after that that Frank's wireless from the Moon +Mountains winged its way through the air and Lathrop was able to +flash back in response an "all-well" message. The boys turned in +early, Billy and Lathrop to their tent and old Sikaso to the rough +shelter he had contrived for himself and which he declared was far +more comfortable than any tent. Like a wild beast the savage old +warrior disliked to have anything approaching a roof over him. It +appeared to savor too much of a trap of some kind. + +Billy might have been asleep five hours or so and it was approaching +midnight when he heard a noise outside the tent door and a second +later old Sikaso announced his presence by a whispered: + +"Awake, Four-eyes, there is danger." + +"What do you mean, Sikaso," demanded the half asleep reporter, +"danger to our friends?" + +"No; to us, and here and soon," was the disquieting response, +"arouse your friend. We have no time to lose." + +Billy was wide awake now and made a motion as if he would light the +lantern. + +Sikaso stopped him with a quick gesture. + +"Do not light the lamp, my white brother," he whispered in the same +tense tones, "to do so would be to reveal to those who are now +approaching that we are awake and expect them. Rather let us +pretend that we are unaware that they come and spring upon them like +the leopard when she is least expected." + +"Yes, but--" exclaimed Billy in a bewildered tone, "what do you +mean, Sikaso, what enemies are coming? How do you know that they +are approaching?" + +"I have seen it in the smoke," was the somber reply; "the smoke +never lies. After I lay down on my skins I could not sleep, I felt +there was danger approaching us. From where I knew not. So I made +the "fetish" fire. In it I saw a band of men coming toward us down +the river and at the head of them was a dark man--a man you know +well, my white brother with the four eyes." + +"Diego!" exclaimed Billy divining the other's thought. + +"Yes, Diego; cursed be the day that my war-axe did not cleave his +ugly skull; but beside Diego there is another. Hearken to the words +of Sikaso, the elephant in his rage is not more merciless, the +serpent not more cunning, the crocodile not more savage in onslaught +than this other. He is Muley-Hassan, the Arab, and the deeds he has +done, my brother, when recounted turn strong men's blood to water." + +Small wonder that Billy, as he hastily roused Lathrop, felt a +shudder run through him. He had heard enough from Frank of the ways +of Muley-Hassan to know that they could not well fall into the hands +of a more pitiless foe and that now, with the Golden Eagle gone and +the Boy Aviators already at the ivory cache, it was probable that +the slave-dealer's rage would render him even more savage than was +his wont. + +In a few rapidly whispered words Billy apprised Lathrop of the +situation. Like Billy, the other boy had no lack of pluck but his +heart sank, as had his companion's, as he sensed the full meaning of +Sikaso's warning. + +"But perhaps the smoke was mistaken," he said eagerly, willing to +grasp even at that straw of hope; but the old warrior's answer +dashed his aspirations to the ground. + +"The smoke is never mistaken," he said simply; but with such calm +conviction that the boys, despite themselves, realized that the old +Krooman had really the knowledge of grave peril approaching. + +"Had we not better arm the other Kroomen?" asked Billy anxiously. + +"It would be useless," was Sikaso's reply, "they are cowards. At +the first sight of blood they would run to the forest like the sons +of weaklings that they are." + +"We must rouse Professor Wiseman at once," cried Billy. + +"It is well," muttered Sikaso, "we shall need every man who can hold +a rifle to-night but the professor is old, my brothers, and his +heart is as a woman's." + +"Well, he'll have to fight," said Billy with bloodthirsty determination. +"I for one am not going to stand calmly by and have my throat cut, or +worse still be taken prisoner by this old Muley-Hassan." + +Old Sikaso glanced approvingly at him. + +"Well spoken, Four-eyes," said he; "spoken like a son of a warrior." + +Billy's ears tingled at the compliment, which was really in the old +African's opinion the highest that could be paid to a man or a boy, +and hurried off to wake "the bugologist" as be disrespectfully +termed the professor. To his surprise, for he more than half +expected an outbreak, Professor Wiseman did not appear particularly +concerned at the news that Diego, and Muley-Hassan were--as the boys +had every reason to believe--at that moment advancing on the camp. + +"I will dress myself with all alacrity," he said, "and join you in +your tent, but I must say I don't believe in all this witchcraft." + +"Will this Muley-Hassan be well armed?" asked Billy, in a voice +which was rather shaky, of their black friend. + +"Plenty rifles," was Sikaso's brief reply. + +"Don't you want a rifle or at least a heavy caliber shotgun?" asked +Billy. + +The old warrior laughed and swung his mighty axe round his head till +the blade flashed like a continuous band of steel and the air +whistled at the cleavage of the sharp edge. Then he began to sing +softly a war-song which may be roughly rendered in English thus: + + "At dawn I went out with my axe into the red fight; + Like the grass before the fire, like the clouds before the wind, + I drove them. I, Sikaso, I drove them. + There were rivers that day; but the rivers were red. + They were the rivers of the blood of my enemies; + With my war-axe I killed them. + This is the song of mighty Sikaso, and his terrible axe of death." + +Although the boys of course did not understand the words, the fierce +voice in which the old warrior intoned the chant made them realize +what a terrible foe he was likely to prove in battle. But now as +Sikaso brought his song to a conclusion and rested his axe on the +ground, leaning on its hilt, he suddenly stiffened into an attitude +of close attention. + +"Hark, my white brothers!" he cried, "the war-eagles are gathering +for the slaughter." + +But the slight sound the keen ears of the savage had caught without +difficulty was longer in making itself manifest to the two white +boys. After a few minutes of listening, so intense as to be +painful, they likewise, however, distinctly heard the regular, +rhythmic dip of paddles coming down the river. + +"There are six war canoes full of them," announced, Sikaso, with +almost a groan, after he had given close attention to the sounds. +"Alas, my white brothers, there is little use of our giving battle." + +"Well, I for one am not going to give up without dropping a few of +the cowardly wretches," cried Billy. + +"Nor I," echoed Lathrop, enthused by Billy's brave example. + +The old warrior's eyes kindled as he gazed at the two brave young +Americans, each clutching his rifle and waiting for the moment to +arrive when they could use them. + +"If we only had had time to throw up a stockade, my brothers, we +might have driven them off yet," he cried. + +"Well, we'll give as good an account of ourselves as possible," +declared Lathrop. + +And now began what has been acknowledged to be the most trying part +of any engagement, from a duel to a battle--the waiting for +hostilities to begin. It seemed that an interminable time had +elapsed from the moment that they heard the first "dip-dip" of the +paddles to the sharp crack of a twig sounded in the jungle directly +ahead of them. The snapped branch told them that the enemy's +outposts were reconnoitering to see that the camp was actually, as +it seemed to be, wrapped in sleep. + +Apparently the scout, whoever he was, was soon convinced of the fact +that the adventurers were slumbering, for he advanced boldly from +the dark sheltering shadows of the jungle and emerged into the +bright moonlight which flooded the clearing in which the camp stood. + +Billy raised his rifle to his shoulder and the next minute would +have been the savage scout's last had not old Sikaso sternly seized +and lowered the weapon, saying in a tense whisper: + +"The time is not yet ripe, my brother. To fire now would be +unnecessarily to give the alarm. Wait until they are massed thick +and then fire into the bodies of the Arab dogs." + +The scout didn't waste much time in reconnoitering. After a short +time spent in peering about he dived once more into the forest and +Billy whispered to Lathrop: + +"Now it's coming, old man." + +And come it did. + +Five minutes after the scout had dived back into the forest a dozen +dark forms crept from the bush and stealthily advanced toward the +tent. + +The leader had reached the door and Billy was frantically imploring +old Sikaso to let him shoot when an appalling shriek rent the air. + +The old Krooman's axe flashed once in the moonlight and the leader +of the attacking party lay dead at the tent door, severed almost to +the chest. + +There was not a second's time, however, to take in what had +happened. In a flash the whole horde was upon them, and Billy and +Lathrop began firing desperately into the mass of foemen who +appeared to spring from every side of the clearing at once. + +Even in this extremity a strange thought flashed across Billy's, +mind: + +"Where was Professor Wiseman?" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +IN THE HANDS OF SLAVE-TRADERS + + +The ebon form of the Krooman giant seemed everywhere at once. + +In the moonlight his terrible axe flashed incessantly and every time +it fell a shriek or a muffled groan showed that it had found its +fatal mark. The huge form of the warrior black seemed, however, to +bear a charmed life. Again and again one of the attacking force +would fire at him, but the bullets seemed to be warded off by some +supernatural force. He was immune alike to bullets and arrows--with +which latter the natives attached to Muley-Hassan's force battled. + +Billy and Lathrop fought with unflinching courage, pouring out a +leaden hail into the onslaught that again and again seemed as if it +must drive the attacking force back. But fighting at such +desperately uneven odds could not in the nature of things last long. +There came a minute when Billy, turning to reload, found that before +he could snatch up a handful of cartridges a huge Arab was on top of +him. + +Lathrop's clubbed rifle struck the fellow helpless the next minute +and sent his long, cruel knife with a ringing crash to the floor. + +Before Billy's half breathed "Thanks, old man," had left his lips, +however, another of Muley-Hassan's followers had rushed in and the +moment would have been Lathrop's last but that Billy drove his fist +into the fellow's face with a crashing blow that knocked him on the +top of his fallen comrade. It was hand-to-hand fighting then with a +vengeance. Billy seized hold of the muzzle of an Arab's revolver as +it was thrust into his very face, and twisted it upward as it was +discharged. Seizing up a camp chair Lathrop swung it round his head +like a club and scattered the brains of a native follower of +Muley-Hassan. + +But strategy was to put an abrupt end to the fight even if it could +have continued much longer. + +Billy was bleeding from a cut over the forehead which blinded him, +and Lathrop had got two nasty knife thrusts, one in the arm and the +other in the fleshy part of the calf of his leg, when they were +suddenly attacked from the rear by half-a-dozen slavers. The next +minute, wounded and bound, they were as helpless as two captured +puppies. + +The fight was over, but the Arabs had come out of it with a badly +crippled force. + +Of the twenty-five men who had attacked the adventurers' camp ten +had been killed outright and half a dozen others so badly wounded +that they could not move. Hardly one of them had not received some +minor injury, and the very fact that they had made such a poor +showing against two American boys and a Krooman armed only with an +axe, filled Muley-Hassan with savage rage. + +Furiously the slave-dealer ordered the two boys brought before him. +A huge fire had been lighted by his followers and in the glare cast +by this he received them. It was a wild scene and the two boys +hardly knew whether they were awake or dreaming, as they were +roughly hustled into the presence of their captor. + +Diego de Barros, his cruel, thin lips curled in a sneer that showed +his yellow teeth, stood by the side of Muley-Hassan, the latter a +tall determined-looking man with a crisp, curly black beard and a +sinister cast of features. A long burnoose of white, worn after the +Arab style, hung from his head and framed his dark features, which +were just then overspread by a frown as black as thunder. + +Outside the circle of firelight lay the bodies of the victims of the +Krooman's axe and the boys' bullets. All who could do so of +Muley-Hassan's followers were gathered about him, as the two young +Americans were brought face to face with the man they had such good +reason to fear. + +"So these are the young Americans?" he asked as Billy and Lathrop +returned his hawk-like gaze unflinchingly. + +"No, sir," spoke up Diego, "they are not. Wiseman has just told me +that the Chester boys have flown in their air-ship and these are the +cubs left behind to guard the camp." + +At Wiseman's name mentioned in such a connection both the boys +started. + +"What! they have gone?" thundered the Arab chief. + +"Yes, sir," stammered Diego, his coward nature aroused at the sight +of his superior's fury. + +"And by this time they are rifling the ivory cache. That fool +Wiseman shall pay dearly for this. Bring him to me," shouted the +Arab. + +Desperate as was the boys' position they could not restrain a start +of amazement as Professor Wiseman, his face pale as ashes to his +very lips, came tremblingly forward. + +"You were attached to this boys' camp to prevent by all means their +sailing till I attacked the camp and made them prisoners, were you +not?" demanded Muley-Hassan angrily. + +Wiseman stammered something in reply. + +"You are a coward as well as a fool," went on the slave-dealer, a +cruel sneer breaking over his face; "but you have blundered for the +last time. Take this fool away and kill him!" he ordered, turning +away as if there was an end of the business. + +Pitiful cries broke from the lips of the unhappy professor as he +heard his death-warrant thus pronounced. He threw himself on his +knees and begged and pleaded in a loud screeching tone for a little +more time. But the chief was obdurate. + +"Take him away," was all he said, and his men, not daring to disobey +his orders any longer, fairly dragged the unfortunate prisoner +toward the river bank. There was a short, sharp scream that chilled +every drop of blood in the boys' bodies and then a splash. +Professor Wiseman had paid the price of his treachery. + +It was not till long after that the boys heard the full measure of +his villainy. How posing as a naturalist he had wandered up and +down the Ivory Coast for years acting as the secret agent of +Muley-Hassan and making arrangements for the smuggling of slaves and +illicitly procured ivory out of the country. He was too +accomplished a rascal to be suspected and his learned appearance +made it still more improbable that he should be engaged in any +illegal trafficking. It was small wonder, too, that he had started +when Frank mentioned the name of Luther Barr, for it was Luther Barr +whom he had betrayed to Muley-Hassan and advised him of the +whereabouts of the wily old New Yorker's ivory cache. As soon as he +heard Frank mention the name he had of course surmised that the +pretended hunting expedition was merely a blind to cover a bold dash +to recover the ivory, though how they were to discover its +whereabouts he could not imagine till, by prying and listening, he +learned that they had a map of the locality of the stolen stuff. + +He had then dispatched native canoe-men to Muley-Hassan and apprised +him of the coming of the boys, and Diego had been at once sent out +by the Arab to secure possession of the map if possible and, failing +that, to destroy the boys' canoes. That the aeroplane would also +have been put out of commission there is little doubt, if Diego or +Wiseman could have found an opportunity. The brutal Arab could then +have disposed of the expedition at his leisure. But the Golden +Eagle II was too closely guarded for the two spies to be able to +harm it. + +The Kroomen porters attached to the camp had, as old Sikaso had +forecast, fled into the jungle at the first attack of the Arab's +followers and they did not put in an appearance till long after the +marauders had left the camp. + +But what puzzled the boys, as they stood facing the Arab with +Professor Wiseman's scream still ringing in their ears, was "What +had become of the old warrior." + +He could not have turned traitor. His valiant behavior in the +skirmish made that impossible to consider a minute. But it was +equally certain that he was nowhere to be seen. What could have +become of him? A dread that he was dead oppressed both boys as they +stood there waiting for the Arab to speak. + +Muley-Hassan seemed to be considering. + +He twisted the ends of his jet-black mustaches like a man lost in +thought, and the firelight playing on his bold reckless features +showed there an expression of deep perplexity. But it was no +question of mercy that was agitating his mind. + +It was whether he would kill the boys right there or sell them into +slavery. + +To his money-making mind the latter idea commended itself. Two +strong youths such as they were would fetch a good price anywhere, +and so it came about that Billy and Lathrop--who had fully expected +to share the Professor's fate--were flung by no gentle hands into +their bullet-riddled tent and left to pass the night as best they +could. Two men were posted to watch them and a rough cuff on the +head rewarded Billy's single attempt to speak to Lathrop. + +The next day at dawn the camp was the scene of great activity. The +dead were carried into the forest a short distance and buried, while +the wounded were attended to with such rough surgery as Muley-Hassan +knew. In this work Diego, his lieutenant, who seemed to be a sort +of Jack-of-all-trades--outside of his regular occupation of +scoundrel--aided him; bandaging the cuts and extracting the bullets +of his companions with some skill. + +The boys were then given to eat some sort of stew in a big wooden +basin and being just healthy American boys and not heroes of romance +they ate heartily of the compound and felt better. Muley-Hassan +himself examined the cut on Billy's forehead and Lathrop's two +wounds and pronounced them mere scratches. + +Just as it appeared that a start was about to be made the signal +bell of the wireless rang. As our readers know it was Frank +signaling from the Moon Mountains. + +A sudden idea seemed to strike Diego at this. He called +Muley-Hassan aside and talked earnestly with him for a few seconds, +then he came up to the boy and demanded fiercely which one of them +it was that understood wireless. + +Lathrop replied that he did, and the next minute wished that he had +bitten out his tongue before he had admitted it; for Diego, in a +rough tone, ordered him to sit down at the instrument and reply that +all was well at the River Camp. + +"And, mind you, youngster--no tricks," he said savagely, "or I'll +kill you as dead as mutton. I understand the Morse code myself and +can tell what you are sending; and send slow so that I can get every +letter." + +Lathrop was in a quandary. To refuse to sit down at the instrument +meant instant death. + +He could tell that by the look in Diego's eyes and from what he had +seen of him he knew he would not stop at a little thing like a +murder to drive home a point. + +The question was, did the man really understand telegraphy? If he +didn't and was only, bluffing Lathrop determined to inform Frank of +the true state of affairs. Otherwise it would do neither himself +nor the others any good to try to trick Diego. + +With a prayer on his lips that the Portuguese might not have been +stating the truth about his knowledge of wireless the boy started to +send. He had in his mind the message he would try to get through: + +"We have been attacked. Get help and follow us." + +But he had hardly tapped out with a hesitating finger the first word +of his message when he felt a bullet whiz by his ear and the report +flashed so close to him that it deafened him and scorched his skin. + +"Thought I was bluffing did you, eh?" sneered the Portuguese, "come +now, no tricks; send out what I tell you or the next bullet will +come closer." + +And so it came about that the queer hesitating message that Frank +received at Moon Mountains was sent out. + +Immediately it was dispatched Muley-Hassan gave the order to advance +and his ragged followers, carrying the worst wounded in improvised +litters, set out toward the northwest. + +"We are going to the Moon Mountains," whispered Billy to Lathrop, +"at least it looks that way. I overheard Muley-Hassan say to Diego +that we'd have to hurry to get the ivory--" + +Lathrop's reply was cut short by a scene that sent the angry blood +to both boys' faces. + +Before the camp was abandoned for good and the plunge into the +forest began, Muley-Hassan gave a sharp order and directed several +of his men set about demolishing the camp. Diego himself smashed +the field wireless of which Frank and Harry had been so proud. He +hacked it to atoms with one of the heavy axes. The tents and +provision boxes were next piled in a heap and set in a blaze. + +As the column of dark smoke rose from the ruins of the once happy +camp into the clear sky the order to advance was given and the train +once more moved forward. + +They had hardly deserted the clearing before, from the river bank, +half a hundred wild figures appeared. + +They were similar in appearance--only even more wild-looking than +the savages fought off by Frank, Harry and Ben the previous day. +Like the others their slashed and scarred faces and clay-daubed lips +showed them to belong to one of the fierce cannibal tribes of the +Bambara region. + +Their leader, a tall, thin savage of exceptionally repulsive +appearance, motioned with his fingers to his thick lips for absolute +silence among his followers. + +Clutching their great broad-headed war-spears the next moment the +savages slipped into the forest in the direction the Arab and his +band had gone. Steadily they advanced with the quiet stealthy tread +of panthers on the track of their prey. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +GORILLAS--AND AN AERIAL TOW-LINE + + +The mystery of the man on the hill bade fair to be an unsolved one, +for although the boys watched for some time with considerable +anxiety he did not reappear. This feature of the incident set them +to comparing notes and they found that their impression of the +apparition differed considerably. Both Frank and Harry were ready +to swear that he was a black man, while Ben Stubbs was equally +convinced that his skin was of a reddish hue. All three, however, +agreed that he was weaponless so far as could be seen, and his +attitude appeared to be more one of interested curiosity than of +actual hostility. + +"Well, there's no use wasting time in speculation," said Frank at +last, "more especially as it does not look as if we can get any +nearer to solving the problem in that way. The thing to do now is +to get at the ivory and that as quickly as possible. If that man is +the forerunner of a band that means to attack us, it is all the more +reason that we should get a move on." + +"Right you are, Captain," assented Ben, "and here goes!" + +With a mighty swing of his pick the former prospector dislodged a +pile of the rough stones of which the cairn was composed and the +boys, too, laid on with a will. In an hour or so all that was left +of the once lofty cairn was a few big rocks. + +Excitement ran fairly to fever heat as the last obstruction that lay +between the adventurers and the ivory hoard was cast aside. + +In a few minutes now, if all went well, they would be in possession +of the treasure. More than once as they worked, Frank drew his +field-glasses out of their case and scanned the surrounding +wilderness of rocky chasms and swept the green jungle that lay +stretched like an emerald ocean far below, but each time he replaced +them with a sigh of relief. So far there was no sign of any rivals' +approach, although Frank well knew that by this time Muley-Hassan +must be upon his way to contest the boys' claim to the ivory. + +As the last stone was chucked aside with a mighty heave by the +combined forces the perspiring adventurers broke into a hearty cheer. + +Beneath it was a wooden trap-door which had a ring placed in the +middle evidently for the purpose of lifting it. Frank gave it a +heft, but the weight was too much for even his wiry muscles; but +when Ben and, Harry assisted him the door gave with a jump that +threw them all to their feet. + +Scrambling up in a second they rushed to the edge of the hole +revealed by the uplifting of the wooden cover. What they saw showed +them instantly that their wildest hopes had not been overdrawn. +There, at their feet, lay a king's ransom in yellow ivory. + +From the hole rose a fetid, sickening odor that at first was almost +overpowering. It came from the rotting flesh that still adhered to +the roots of many of the huge trunks. + +With a cheer Harry was about to spring down into the aperture when +Frank, with a quick exclamation, drew him back. + +"Jump back for your life!" he shouted. + +Harry was accustomed to obeying his brother in everything, and jump +backward he did with an agility that would have done credit to a +gymnast. Before he could ask a question Frank's revolver cracked +and a little spit of dust shot up almost at his very feet. + +There lay a tiny snake viciously wiggling about in its death agony, +pierced through by Frank's bullet. + +It was a rock adder--one of the deadliest of African snakes. Barely +more than three inches in length, and a dull gray in color, it was +small wonder that Harry in his excitement had not seen it as he was +about to jump almost upon it. + +"We shall have to be careful," said Frank, as he kicked aside the +still writhing body of the disgusting looking reptile. "There is +just a chance that Muley-Hassan, with the cunning of an Arab, may +have put several more of those customers in here to guard his +ivory." + +It was therefore cautiously that the boys proceeded to work at +getting the ivory out of the hole and although they killed three +more of the venomous reptiles it seemed more probable that they had +got in by accident than that the Arab slave-dealer had deliberately +placed them there. By mid afternoon a big pile of ivory lay ready +for transportation to the Golden Eagle Il and only a few more tusks +remained in the hole. + +"How are we ever going to get the tusks down the hill to the Golden +Eagle II?" asked Harry as he gazed at the formidable pile. + +"I have a better plan than that," replied Frank, "we will bring the +Golden Eagle II here." + +"What?" gasped both his listeners. + +"Why not? It will be a ticklish job to land her on this spot, but I +think I can do it. I mean to try anyhow." + +"You are risking breaking up the ship," objected Harry. + +"On the other hand, if we don't get this ivory out of here in jig +time Muley-Hassan will be here with a big force and we shall +assuredly all have our throats cut." + +This argument proved insurmountable, and while Ben was left by the +ivory Harry and Frank hurried down the steeps to the plateau on +which they had left the Golden Eagle II. It was the work of a few +minutes to tune her up. In a brief time from the moment they had +left the ivory cache, considering the clamber they had had, the boys +were in the air and headed for the spot where they had left the +hoard. + +But as they rose into the air they were startled by the sound of a +shout and then another and another, then carne a volley of shots. + +What could be the matter? + +The shooting evidently was taking place at the spot where they had +left Ben to guard the ivory. + +Muley-Hassan! was the first thought that shot through Frank's brain. + +The next minute, however, he dismissed the idea as absurd. The +Arab, even by the swiftest marching, could not have reached the Moon +Mountains in such record time unless he also had an air-ship, which +Frank knew was impossible. + +As the ship soared higher and rushed straight as an arrow through +the air to the ivory cache a strange sight was revealed to the two +young voyagers. High up on the mountain-side they could see Ben +struggling with what appeared to be dozens of naked savages. The +boys could see his gallant resistance as he swung his clubbed rifle +again and again at his savage opponents. Several of them lay dead +on the ground about him, but those that remained were attacking him +with what seemed demoniacal fury. + +"Good Lord," gasped Frank, "what on earth can have happened?" + +"They're cannibals!" gasped Harry. + +"No--no," exclaimed Frank hastily, "they're--give me the glasses +quick, Harry--that's right--I thought so. They're not savages, but +worse almost." + +"What do you mean?" + +"That they are gorillas!" + +At her utmost speed the big aeroplane bore down on the scene of the +unequal combat between Ben Stubbs and the savage beasts. + +The boys could see that one of the brutes had seized their stalwart +companion's rifle from him and with incredible strength had broken +it in half as if it had been a wooden toy. The next minute Harry's +rifle spoke and the gorilla that had just performed the miraculous +feat of strength fell dead. With a shriek of rage the others turned +to see whence came this new enemy. + +At the sight of the great aeroplane bearing down upon them they at +first started to flee with howls of terror, but the next minute they +rallied and with low growls of rage, that bared their cruel fangs, +they deliberately waited to see what this strange object might be. + +This gave Ben a brief respite and he occupied it by reloading his +revolver. The boys were delighted to see by this that their brave +comrade was not seriously injured. + +But now the Golden Eagle II was ready to settle and Frank, guiding +his aerial steed with one hand, grasped his revolver with the other, +for it was evident that the rush would come as they struck the +ground. And come it did. As the wheels of the aeroplane struck the +earth and Frank threw in the brakes sharply crashing into a rocky +wall, with a howl of defiance the whole horde of man-like brutes +rushed down on the air-craft with wicked rage in their spiteful +little red eyes. + +The leader of them, a huge "old man" gorilla, brandished an immense +stone which he hurled with vicious energy at the new arrivals. +Luckily it fell short of the air-ship or it would have crashed +through the plane covers and have seriously crippled, if not ruined, +the air-ship. + +The boys' rifles cracked simultaneously and two of the attackers +rolled over, with horrible human-like cries, but the leader, the bad +"old man," was still in the field. As he saw his fellows fall he +gave a mighty yell of rage and hatred that seemed to come from the +depths of his hairy chest, and beating rapidly on it, as if it were +a war-drum he rushed straight at the aeroplane. + +"Don't let 'em get near the engines," was all Frank had time to +shout before the avalanche of hairy, ill-smelling brutes was upon +them. Some of them had armed themselves with rocks which they +hurled with ferocious force. Others used nothing but their bare +hands. Some of them, wounded as they were, fought with added +fierceness. Desperately the boys fought them off and when the +magazines of the rifles and revolvers were emptied they fell back on +their hunting knives. + +Frank had made a furious lunge at the "old man" and missed him by a +hair's-breadth when he felt two great hairy arms encircle him from +behind and the hot breath of one of his horrible opponents whistling +savagely in his ear. He tried to lunge backwards at the creature, +but toppled over and fell sprawling. In a flash the "old-man" +gorilla was on him when Ben's revolver cracked and the "old-man," +badly wounded, sprang high into the air and rolled over and over, +clutching his head with both his huge hands and screaming in an +agonized manner. + +The fall of their leader seemed to discourage the others. They +fought on for a while but it was half-heartedly. The boys had had +time in the brief pause that followed the killing of the "old-man" +to reload, and with their rifles newly charged they were in position +to make terrible reprisals on the gorilla band for the mischief they +had wrought. The monsters evidently were about to quit the battle +when suddenly a cry rang through the air that ended the fight more +abruptly than even the boys' bullets could have done. + +"Ah-o-o-o-o-AH-O-O-O-O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!" + +It was the voice of the mountain once more. + +With yells of dismay and terror the remainder of the gorilla band +instantly dashed up the rocky mountain-side dragging with them, in +grotesquely human fashion some of their wounded. Several of these, +however, still lay on the ground and the boys put them out of their +misery with a few well-directed shots. A pathetically human look +lingered in the eyes of some of the injured gorillas and Harry burst +out with: + +"This is awful work. I'd rather fight a dozen bands of cannibals +than have to do this." + +"And yet," replied Frank, "if we hadn't killed them they'd have +killed us." + +At last the unpleasant work was over and the ivory was rapidly +loaded into the aeroplane. But here an unanticipated difficulty +manifested itself. Obviously the aeroplane would be too heavily +laden if she attempted to carry all or even a good part of the +ivory. + +"Now we are stuck," cried Harry. + +"Hold on," exclaimed Frank with a smile, "I anticipated this. We +are going to turn the Golden Eagle into a tow-boat." + +"A tow-boat?" + +"That's what I said." + +"What do you mean?" + +Frank, in reply, bent over the stem-locker of the aeroplane and drew +out what Harry instantly recognized as the silk envelope of an +experimental dirigible they had built the year before. + +"Now then," said Frank, "give a hand here." + +They all three pulled and hauled till the envelope was spread level +on the ground, all folds and creases having been carefully shaken +out. + +"Well," said Harry, "this would carry an awful weight of ivory, but +how are you going to inflate it?" + +"With these cylinders," was the answer as Frank opened the +store-room below the floor of the Golden Eagle and pointed to a +dozen cylindrical steel receptacles. "They contain more than enough +pure hydrogen gas at a high pressure," he explained, "to inflate the +bag." + +In his enthusiasm Harry waved his helmet and Ben did the same. + +"An aerial express, hurray!" + +The inflation hose was soon connected to the first of the cylinders +and with a hiss the gas rushed into the bag when a turn of the +wrench set free the precious stuff. Slowly the big yellow envelope +swelled and assumed shape until by the time the last cylinder was +empty it was tugging and straining to rise. But the boys had +weighted it down with rocks and pegged its net ropes to the ground. + +The ivory was loaded into a sort of rope basket, like those used to +hoist cargo aboard a ship, and in a short time, so quickly did they +work, they were ready for the air, so far as what Harry called "the +airbarge" was concerned. + +"We shall have to strip the Eagle," decided Frank, when the +inflation job was finished. + +"Of everything that we can spare," added Harry, setting to work at +once to rip the transoms and detach the bolts that held the heavy +wireless apparatus in place. As he did so, Frank was moved by a +sudden thought. + +"Hold on a second, Harry," he shouted, "I'll call up the river camp +before we cut off all communication." + +Rapidly he sent out the call. Again and again his nervous finger +agitated the key--but there was no response. + +"They--they don't answer," gasped Frank at last--heavy anxiety in +his tones. + +"Oh, Frank, do you think anything serious is the matter?" cried +Harry. + +"It may only be that the apparatus is out of order," replied the +elder brother seriously; "but it looks bad. That field wireless was +in prime condition and it would be next to impossible for them to +fail to receive our call." + +"Well, there is only one thing to be done," remarked the practical +Ben Stubbs. + +"And that is--?" queried Harry. + +"To get back there as soon as possible, for if they need us they +need us dern bad," was the energetic reply. + +Half an hour later the Golden Eagle, stripped of all her heavy gear +and only carrying just enough gasoline to get her to the river camp, +where the adventurers expected to find a reserve supply, rose slowly +into the air with her queer tow tugging behind on the wireless +ground rope. The boys had cached the wireless apparatus and the +other gear, to be called for at some more opportune time. To their +great regret, also, they had had to leave some of the ivory behind +them. But the majority of what they did not dare trust to the +gas-bag they carried in the chassis. Luckily for them there was +hardly a breath of wind and the novel carrier towed well. + +As the occupants of the great aeroplane gazed back at the sinister +Moon Mountains as they fast faded out--they saw silhouetted against +the evening sky a dark figure. + +It was recognized at once as one of the beaten gorillas scouting to +see if the terrible white men had really gone. + +"There's the man we saw this afternoon," laughed, Frank, as with +rapidly beating propellers the Golden Eagle II winged her way with +the convoy toward the River Camp. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +AN ESCAPE--AND WHAT CAME OF IT + + +From the pace at which Muley-Hassan's band traversed the jungle +paths it was evident to the two young captives that there was +imperative need in Muley-Hassan's mind of arriving somewhere at a +set time. The usual noonday rest, which even the avaricious +slave-trader was in the habit of taking, was not observed and the +travelers pressed straight on. Lathrop and Billy were almost ready +to drop with fatigue when that evening, just at dusk, they arrived +at the bank of a muddy river which Muley-Hassan, impatient as he was +to proceed, decided it would be unwise to ford till daylight--when +they could look for a good crossing place. At the spot which they +had halted, the stream--swollen apparently by rains in the +mountains--roared between its banks, in a dark chocolate-colored +flood. + +Muley-Hassan himself was the only one of his band provided with a +tent, or anything resembling one, and the boys shared the common bed +of the rest of the party--which was the ground. A more unwholesome +resting-place in Africa, particularly on the steamy, swampy banks of +a river, could hardly be imagined. So indeed Muley-Hassan seemed to +think, for after a short time, during which the boys vainly tried to +secure some sleep, he ordered Diego to provide them with blankets to +place between themselves and the bare earth. + +"I expect to get a good price for them eventually," he said, "and I +don't want to lose them unless I have to." + +As the boys' wrists and ankles were bound with tough grass while +there was no particular attempt made to watch them, and soon the +snores of the camp bespoke that it was at rest. Then it was that +Billy whispered to Lathrop. + +"Now's our time to try for it!" + +"Try for what?" whispered back Lathrop in an inert tone. + +"To get away." + +"What!" + +"I mean it. I found a sharp stone imbedded in the ground near to me +and I have nearly sawed through my wrist-bands." + +After a few seconds' more vigorous scraping against the stone, Billy +whispered: + +"My hands are free. Wait till I wiggle my fingers and get up some +circulation and then we'll make our attempt--" + +When he had once more got full control of his cramped fingers Billy +stooped cautiously over and loosened the thongs about his ankles. +So tightly had they been drawn, though, that it took some little +time to get the cramps out of them. At last, however, the boy +succeeded in restoring the circulation and then he was ready for the +most daring step of his attempt. Cautiously he fell on his hands +and knees and began to crawl toward the nearest of the sleeping +slave-traders. + +"What are you going to do, Billy?" asked Lathrop, in an agony of +fear lest the man should awaken. + +"Watch me," was the young reporter's reply, as on his stomach he +wiggled painfully across the few yards separating him from the +sleeping man. In reality it took only a few minutes, but to both +the boys the period of time occupied seemed interminable. + +But it was no time to hurry things. One false step night cost them +their lives and Billy realized this. + +With the slow deliberate movement of a snake he, reached out his +hand when he got near enough and took from the sleeping man's side +his long curved Arab scimitar. Then he glided back to Lathrop as +silently as he had left. + +He had just reached his resting-place when there was a stir from the +further side of the camp. Like a rabbit ducking into its hole Billy +was under his blanket and apparently fast asleep in a second. But +his heart beat so loudly that it felt to him that anyone who was not +deaf could hear it a hundred yards away. + +The man who had moved was Diego and the boys could hear his cat-like +footfalls as he neared their sleeping-places. Once he stumbled over +one of the sleeping men and the aroused one rose with a start and +called wildly: + +"What is it?" + +"Hush, Adab," cautioned Diego, "it is I--Diego. I'm going to give +an eye to those two American brats." + +"They're tied up hard and fast enough," chuckled the other. + +"If they were of any other nationality--yes;" was Diego's reply, +"but these Yankees are brave and clever enough to escape from almost +any trap." + +"You bet we are," thought Billy to himself, giving a realistic +snore. + +Although he did not dare to open his eyes, the young reporter could +feel Diego standing over them in the moonlight and gazing down at +them to ascertain if they were still "hard and fast," as the other +had expressed it. + +For an instant a terrible thought flashed across Billy's brain. + +"Suppose Diego should take an idea to examine their thongs?" + +But the lieutenant of Muley-Hassan apparently was satisfied, for +after a few minutes' scrutiny he turned to go Billy could hear his +feet scrape as he swung around. + +At almost the same instant the night was filled with savage cries +and the camp was thrown into confusion by an onrush of wild figures +before whose spears the half-awakened Arabs were slaughtered like +sheep. + +Not realizing in the least what was happening, Billy yet conjectured +that the Arabs were just then too busy to pay any attention to +himself and Lathrop. With two slashes of the stolen scimitar he +severed Lathrop's bonds and dragging him to his feet dived into the +forest. + +As they entered its recesses a fleeing Arab, still clutching his +rifle, dashed by them and an instant later fell dead. He had been +speared through the back. + +Billy, with a quick inspiration, seized the dead man's long rifle +and his ammunition pouch and, followed by the bewildered Lathrop, +plowed desperately forward into the screen of the jungle. + +Behind them they heard cries for mercy and fierce shouts from the +attacking savages. At first the cries and imprecations of the +slave-traders predominated and then, by the altered sounds that came +from the scene of the fighting and the crashing of the Arabs' +volleys, the boys realized that the tide of battle had changed and +that the Arabs were driving back the attacking force. + +"What do you suppose happened, Billy?" asked Lathrop, only half +awake, as the boys, with the fleetness and endurance that desperate +need lends, plunged deeper and deeper into the forest. + +"Why, that some cannibal tribe that Muley-Hassan pillaged for slaves +at some time has trailed him and attacked him," hazarded the +reporter. + +How near he came to the truth our readers know. The band that had +made the midnight attack was the same that had painstakingly trailed +Muley-Hassan since he destroyed the boys' camp on the river bank. + +"But the Arabs have beaten them off?" queried Lathrop. + +"Evidently," replied Billy, as the volleys died out and victorious +Arab shouts were beard. "Hark at that! It's really too bad. I'd +like to have seen old Muley and his precious band driven into the +river. But if they have driven off the savages they'll be thinking +about chasing us." + +As he spoke there came a low, growling sound that seemed to proceed +from some distance, but nevertheless filled the air. It rumbled and +rolled above them like-- + +"Thunder!" exclaimed both boys in the same breath. + +"We've got to find shelter of some kind, quick," exclaimed Billy; +"these tropical storms are unlike our little disturbances, and if we +get caught among these trees in one, of them we stand a good chance +of being killed. It looks like we've jumped out of the frying-pan +into the fire." + +Without the least idea in which direction they were proceeding, the +two chums struggled bravely on, Billy encouraging the flagging +Lathrop from time to time with a joke, though these latter were, as +Billy admitted to himself: + +"Pretty dismal!" + +At length, just as dawn was beginning to break, they found +themselves facing a steepish cliff of rough rocks. + +"Well, here's where we turn back," remarked Billy, bitterly +discouraged nevertheless. + +If they were lost in this equatorial forest, what chance did they +stand of ever seeing their home and friends again? + +As for Lathrop he sat down on a rock overgrown with a kind of +monstrous lichen and gave way to tears. But not for long. Lathrop +was a plucky enough lad, and as Billy truthfully remarked: + +"We are going to have enough water before long without our turning +on the weeps." + +So Lathrop braced up and the boys looked about them. To their +intense joy they soon spied in the rocks, a short distance from +where they then were, a dark hole partly overgrown by creepers, +which was evidently the entrance to a cavern. At the same instant +there began a mighty pattering on the leaves of the dense tropic +growth all about them, and a louder growl of thunder announced that +the storm that had been heralded a few hours before was about to +break. + +"Well, me for that African Waldorf-Astoria," cried Billy, grasping +his rifle and making a dive for the hole. Lathrop followed him and +as soon as they were inside the cave he lit a match from his +waterproof box. + +"Looks to me like there might be snakes in here," he whispered, awed +by the darkness and silence of the place. + +"Rats," laughed Billy, although he himself felt by no means sure +that at any moment some scaly monster might not descend from the +roof; "but I'll tell you what we'll do. Light a fire." + +"How are we to get wood?" asked the practical Lathrop. + +"There's plenty of it right at the mouth of the cave. I'll get a +few armfuls and in a minute we'll have things snug." + +The young reporter hastened to the cave mouth and in a few trips had +gathered up several huge armfuls of wood-drift of all kinds from +under the great trees all about. He was just re-entering the cave +when there came a flash of blinding light so brilliant that it +seemed as if the sky itself had split wide open. A bluish glare +enveloped the forest and the lightning flash was instantly followed +by a crash of thunder that shook the ground under the boys' feet. + +"Well, they don't do things by halves in this country," remarked +Billy as he re-entered the cave after a second of being temporarily +stunned by the terrific flash. + +It didn't take the boys long to have their wood in a blaze and as +the smoke did not, as they had feared, fill the cavern, they assumed +that there must be some opening above through which it escaped. +This fact they verified shortly when, after the storm had been +waxing in fury for half-an-hour, a perfect torrent of water came +tumbling in from the rear of the rocky cavern. + +"Hark!" exclaimed Billy as the boys busied themselves trying to +scrape out a water-course that would divert the flood from their +fire. From far in the rear of the cave came a plaintive sound of +"Mi-ou, Mi-ou." + +"Cats!" cried Lathrop. + +"Cats nothing," was Billy's scornful reply; "here, let's have a +look." + +He seized a blazing brand out of the fire and hastened to the place +from which the sounds emanated. + +"Come here, quick, Lathrop," he cried. The younger lad scurried +back and found Billy bending over a roughly constructed nest or bed. +On it lay four tiny, fuzzy yellow things. They were "meowing" at +the tops of their voices as the torrent of water that had annoyed +the boys dripped into their snug nesting-place. At the same instant +the boys became aware of a sickening odor of decaying flesh. + +"Come on! we've got to get out of here quick as quick as we can," +exclaimed Billy as they hastened towards the fresh air. + +"Why, what is it, Billy?" asked Lathrop. + +"I don't know; but I think that those are lion cubs--they look like +the ones I've seen in the Bronx Zoo," was the young reporter's +reply, "and if they are, this is no place for us. Come on--the +storm is letting up. Let's get out quick before the old ones get +back." + +The storm, with the suddenness with which these furious tropical +disturbances arise and vanish, had indeed gone and the sun was +shining down once more on the drenched jungle, which glittered with +diamond like spangles as the rays struck the dripping fronds and +branches. But the boys had no eyes for the scene about them, +beautiful as it was, for as they emerged from the cave a low growl +greeted them. + +Crouched on the ground--her tail lashing the earth like a cat's when +it is about to spring--was a huge tawny lioness--her cruel green +eyes fixed full upon them. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE FLYING MEN + + +For a breath the boys stood petrified and then Billy hastily slipped +a cartridge into the rifle he had taken from the dead slave-trader. +But even as he did so the lioness curved her lithe body, as if her +backbone had been a steel spring, and launched her great form +through the air. + +That minute would have been Billy's last--for in his excitement he +pulled the trigger before he had brought the rifle to his shoulder +and the bullet whistled harmlessly into the air--but for a strange +thing that now occurred. + +While the tawny brute was in mid-spring, her cruel claws outspread +to maul the unhappy reporter, a great spear whizzed straight at her +and buried itself in her heart just behind the left shoulder. With +a howl of pain the brute fell short in her spring and, before she +could make another attack, Billy had reloaded and sent a bullet +crashing between her eyes. As the lioness rolled over dead, the +tall form of a. savage sprung out of the jungle and stood for a +second gazing at the boys, as much astonished, it seemed, at them as +they were at him. + +Billy, seeing that the best plan was to be pacific, threw down his +rifle and cried: + +"Seesenab," (peace); the word be recollected hearing the big Krooman +use the day that he attempted to take his unlucky photographs. + +"Seesenah--white boys," replied the other, the latter words in fair +English and in a deep guttural tone, coming forward with the head of +his other spear held downward in token of peace. "From where come +the white boys--what do they in our land?" was his next question. + +"We are lost," explained Billy, "and we are also, blamed hungry," he +added, in a burst of confidence. + +The savage smiled and rubbed his stomach. + +"That's the idea," cried the irrepressible reporter. +"Heap--empty--savee?" + +The man leant over the dead lioness and, using his spear-point as a +skinning knife, rapidly stripped her of her hide. Then, swinging +the pelt over his shoulder he motioned to the boys to follow him. + +"I don't know where the dickens he means to take us," confided Billy +to Lathrop as they obediently trailed along behind, "but so long as +we get something to eat I'm so hungry that I don't care if we get +eaten the next minute." + +"That's just the way I feel," agreed Lathrop, "and anyhow he seems +to be a pretty decent sort. He saved your life, that's one thing +sure." + +"I guess I'll never make a mighty hunter," said Billy dolefully, +"there was a chance to make real Bwana Tumbo shot and I missed it." + +The savage stalked along in front of them for some distance till +they suddenly emerged on a small clearing by a river bank, in which +a rough native camp had been pitched. The tents of grass occupied +by the hunters being of a peculiar conical shape, like the pointed +caps that used to be labeled "Dunce." + +Much excitement was created by the arrival of the two boys and their +companion, and the hunters crowded round the chums while their guide +explained with a wealth of gesture the incident of the killing of +the lioness, and also the fact that the boys were very hungry. + +Several of the men instantly filled wooden bowls with something from +a pot that simmered over the fires and the bowls were thrust before +the two ravenous boys. As there were no forks of course the boys +used their fingers. But this did not interfere with their appetite +and after they had put away two bowls apiece the savages' opinion of +them evidently rose considerably. Among the West African natives a +big eater is esteemed as a mighty man. Lathrop was considerably +embarrassed, however, while he satisfied his hunger by the attention +the hunters bestowed on his red hair. Several of them came up +behind him and rubbed their hands in it as if they imagined it +possessed some sort of medicinal value. Had any one at home dared +to take such liberties with the boy's rubicund locks there would +have been a fight right away, but Lathrop felt that the best policy +to assume in the present situation was silence, and as the old ship +captain said to his mate, "dem little of that." + +"I say, Billy," whispered Lathrop suddenly, as, after eating the +stew, they watched the hunters piling their belongings into their +canoes, "you don't suppose they mean to fatten us up to eat us, do +you?" + +"Well, we can't starve even if that is the reason," replied the +practical Billy, "but so far they seem friendly enough. They have +not even taken my rifle away." + +"That looks encouraging, certainly," replied Lathrop; "if only we +knew where Frank and Harry and good old Ben were we might find this +all very interesting, as it is though--" + +"We've got to make the best of it," chimed in Billy, "come on. See +old job-lots is signing to us to come down and get in a canoe." + +"Whatever they mean to do with us they seem determined to make us +comfortable," remarked Billy, as the boys took their seats in a +canoe in which skins had been piled to make an easy seat. + +For most of that afternoon they paddled steadily up the brown river, +the savages singing from time to time an unending sort of chant, +that sounded like nothing so much as a continuous repetition of: + +"I-told-you-so. I-told-you-so. I--told-YOU-SO." + +"Hum," commented Billy, "if anyone had told me so I'd have stayed in +New York." + +At length after what seemed endless hours of paddling and chanting +the river took an abrupt turn and the boys found themselves at the +foot of a steep cliff that towered up, it seemed, for six hundred +feet at least. It was formed of black basalt and was crowned with a +fringe of contrasting vegetation, but the most remarkable thing +about it was that its surface was literally honeycombed with small +holes from which, as the canoe cortege drew up, innumerable heads +were poked. + +An astonishing thing, however, about the men who scrutinized the +lads from their lofty watch-towers, was that they were several +degrees lighter in complexion than the boatmen and almost as white +as the boys in fact. Their features, too, were different. As the +boys looked in wonderment at this extraordinary dwelling-place and +its equally strange inhabitants, Billy gave an excited shout: + +"Great jumping horn-toads, look at that!" + +One of the light-colored men had emerged from his, hole and with as +little concern as if he were taking a walk had suddenly launched +himself into space. But instead of falling to the ground or into +the river, as the boys had fully expected to see him do, he floated +gracefully to the opposite bank of the river with as little effort +as a settling bird. + +"Good land of hot-cakes, Lathrop, do you realize where we are?" +almost shrieked the excited Billy. + +"In the village of the Flying Men," stammered Lathrop, as, one after +another, the inhabitants of the rock holes dropped from their aeries +and floated groundwards. As the boys watched they saw distinctly +that each man, from his wrist to his side, was possessed of a sort +of leathery fiber like that of bat's swing, and that as their arms +were of unusual length this fiber supported them in their downward +flights like a parachute. + +"I'll never call any one a liar again as long as I live," choked out +Billy, as one after another these strange beings gathered in a +chattering group on the river bank. + +"But they can't fly upward," exclaimed Lathrop, pointing eagerly to +where some of the gliders, having swum the river, were nimbly +clambering up a grass rope-ladder to their homes. + +"Oh, gee! if I only had a camera," groaned Billy. + +"It will be no use telling anyone about this even if we do get out +of here, they'll say that we have had a rarebit dream." + +"That's so," assented Lathrop, "and honestly, Billy, are you sure we +are awake?" + +"Sure," replied the reporter giving himself a vicious pinch, and +exclaiming "Ouch!" + +But there was no time to talk further. Their guide now came up to +them and jumping into their canoe paddled them to where the end of +the rope-ladder dangled in the stream. He pointed upward for them +to ascend. But Billy's curiosity would not let him mount before he +had asked a question. + +"Who are these people?" he asked in, for him, an awed tone. + +"Very old-time people," rejoined their guide. "We hunt for them, +work for them. They the same as fetish."' + +The boys mounted the ladder slowly. + +Unused as they were to such a contrivance it required all their +nerve to keep on going up, as they swung at a higher and higher +altitude above the river. Neither of them dared to look down, as +they were certain that they would be overcome by dizziness. + +With their eyes glued to the rock in front of them, they mounted +what seemed to be endless rungs till at last they found themselves +at the top of the ladder and facing a large opening cut in the rock. + +As they found out later, this was the main entrance to the dwelling +of this strange community and from it various galleries and passages +branched off to their separate dwelling-places. Each family lived +in a rock house exactly adapted to the size of the circle. There +were six stories, so to speak, of these dwelling-places, but they +all communicated, either by means of stair-ways cut in the rock or +inclined galleries, with the main passage at the entrance of which +the chums now stood. + +Their guide, who was immediately behind them on the swaying ladder, +took the lead as soon as the three stood side by side on the summit, +and escorted them down the long passage. Before they started he +took from a bracket in the wall a kind of torch, made of some +resinous wood unfamiliar to the boys. Striking piece of flint +against his spear blade he soon produced light and holding the torch +high above his head, so that its light shone on the walls, rendered +glossy by the rub of uncounted ages of greasy elbows and bodies, he +led the way down the passage. The boys could feel that after +walking a short distance it took a sudden rise and yet further a +cool wind began to blow in their faces. + +About a hundred yards from the spot where they first noticed the air +stirring in their hair the boys and their guide emerged on a scene +whose beauty at first shock almost took the lads' breath away. + +Before them stretched a fertile valley neatly divided into patches--each +hedged off in squares in which flourished all sorts of vegetables, +including sweet corn and potatoes and several other less familiar +varieties. In pastures, fenced in with mathematical regularity by +hedges of the African cactus thorn, herds of humped cattle were feeding +contentedly in the mellow glow of the setting sun, occasionally lowing +softly, which latter made Billy, as he expressed it, "long for the old +farm." + +The Winged Men likewise cultivated, it seemed, fruits of many kinds +and had also stockades in which poultry, of breeds strange to the +boys, but undoubtedly sprung from the aboriginal African fowl, were +abundant. + +It seemed as if they had struck a land in which the inhabitants +lived an ideal life, surrounded as they were by every comfort and +necessity that one could imagine; but that even they were distressed +by the raids of enemies transpired when the boys' guide, whose name +they had learned by this time was Umbashi, pointed to the west in +which the setting sun was now kindling a ruddy glow and said: + +"Sometime elephant come--then much trouble." + +Of the full significance of those words, however, neither boy +dreamed as, after a supper of fresh corn, bitter melon, stewed deer +meat and a dessert formed of some sort of custard they sank to sleep +on their couches of skins, spread for them by Umbashi's direction in +a vacant dwelling in the cliff face. + +Their slumber senses carried them back to New York and Billy was in +the midst of escorting Umbashi in full war paint through the office +of the New York Planet, followed by hordes of joshing reporters and +inquisitive office boys, who wanted to know whether he'd match his +dusky friend to fight Jim Jeffries, when he was awakened by Umbashi +himself, who in a few words told him it was morning and time to get +up and dress swiftly, as the King of the Flying Men wanted to see +him and his young companion at once. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +FOOLING AN ARAB CHIEF + + +"Frank, what do you make of it?" + +"Harry, I don't know what to think." + +"Ain't nuffin fer it but ter keep on hopin' fer the best, as the +feller said when they had a rope around his neck fer horse-stealing +and was about to string him up." + +The three--Frank and Harry Chester and Ben Stubbs--were standing +round the charred remains of their once lively, well-equipped +camp--where they had arrived that morning at daybreak after a +tiresome night spent circling about in the moonlight trying to +locate it--and now the reason why they had failed to see the white +tents was fully apparent by their blackened sites. + +"Billy and Lathrop have been carried off!" It was Harry who spoke. + +"Beyond a doubt. I thought at first that the raid must have been +made by cannibals, but cannibals do not carry rifles, as a rule, and +look here." Frank stooped and picked up half-a-dozen cartridges of +the kind used by the Arab slave-traders. + +"You know there were no shells like that in our party," he went on, +"but I can see by the collection of empty shells in the place where +the tent stood that Billy and Lathrop must have put up a hot +defense." + +"Frank, do you--you don't think, do you--" Harry burst out. + +"That they have been killed?" Frank finished for him. "No, I do +not. Unless they fell in the fight and then we should have seen +their bodies down with the others by the river. No, it is my idea +that they have been carried off to be sold as slaves. They would +have a high market value you know." + +Harry groaned. + +"But don't you think there is a chance of our getting them back?" + +Frank's face grew grave. + +"Of course we are going to try every means in our power, but once in +the hands of that scoundrel Muley-Hassan it is doubtful if we ever +see them again. There is only one thing for us to do." + +"And that is--?" + +"To get back to the Moon Mountains at once. But we have no +gasoline." + +This was a stunning blow; in the excitement their of fuel had not +occurred even to the farseeing Frank. They had had, as our readers +know, to leave most of their gasoline at the Moon Mountains in order +to lighten the aeroplane. Without it they could not move an inch in +their air-craft. Harry tested the tank. Only a few paltry gallons +remained--not enough to drive the aeroplane ten miles. + +As the boys stood, struck dumb by the realization of the disaster +that had overtaken them, Ben Stubbs, who had been down to the river +bank, reappeared. + +"Look here!" he exclaimed, holding out at arms length a long white +cloak. One glance at the garment was enough--it was an Arab article +of dress. There was no further doubt about it, then. Muley-Hassan +and his men had carried off Billy and Lathrop. + +"But that's not the most extraordinary part of it," went on Ben; +"while there are half a dozen of the Arabs' canoes down there, there +are a lot of others, that must have belonged to a bunch of natives +from their shiftless look--and I could see the bare imprint of the +savages' feet in the mud, coming after the Arabs had trod around +there." + +This was a new mystery. Apparently, then, a tribe of cannibals had +been on the trail of the Arabs who had carried off their two young +companions. This could only mean one thing, that they meant to +punish the Arab slave-dealers for some outrage and, while this would +have been quite satisfactory to the boys under other conditions, as +things were it meant that there would be a fight in which both +Lathrop and Billy would probably be seriously wounded, if not +killed. How wrong this surmise was we know, and it serves to show +how very wide of the mark it is possible for the constructors of a +theory to steer. + +And here for a time we will leave our despairing friends while we go +back to the Moon Mountains. + +The outline of the Golden Eagle II, in her flight to the river camp, +had not faded out on the twilight sky, before, through the jungle at +the foot of the Moon Mountains, a strange figure pushed its way. It +was Sikaso, but a changed Sikaso from the agile muscular black who +had wielded his axe with such terrible effect at the fight of the +evening before. His ebony body was cut and scarred with the signs +of his battle with the thorns and saw-bladed grasses of the dense +forest, across which he had cut in desperate haste, scorning all +paths in order to warn the Boy Aviators and their chum Ben of the +rapid approach of Muley-Hassan. With that strange instinct that +white men in Africa recognize in certain of the natives as a sixth +sense, the giant black had read in a fire kindled after the battle, +that the boys were at that moment in the Moon Mountains, and had at +once set out--exhausted as he was--at top speed on the long journey. +Only a man of his adamantine strength could have endured the +hardships and it had fatigued even his iron frame, as was evident by +his stumbling footsteps as he made his way up the side of the +mountain--pausing from time to time as if to listen to the +whisperings of his mysterious instinct. + +Billy and Lathrop, half inclined to accuse the old black in their +minds of base desertion, did him a gross injustice. After he had +seen the two boys taken prisoners, the old warrior had realized that +he could be of far more use to them at liberty than he would be if +made captive by Muley-Hassan. Indeed there was no doubt in his own +mind that the Arab would put him to death instantly if he ever got +his hands on him. He had therefore built a fetish fire and in it +had made out distinctly Frank and Harry and Ben in their air-ship, +encamped on the mountain-side, and had set out without delay at the +peculiar jog-trot by which the native bush-runners can cover daily +as much ground, and more, than a horse. + +But the huge Krooman was doomed to as bitter a disappointment as the +youths he was in search of had experienced at their return to the +river camp. He found the spot on which the Golden Eagle had rested +deserted, but still urged on by his strange sense of locality he +finally stumbled upon the ivory cache. + +"Um, big fight here," he mused to himself as he gazed about him at +the mangled bodies of the gorillas which showed black as ink on the +rocks in the sharp, brilliant moonlight. The heap of uncollected +ivory was the next thing to attract his eye and with a guttural +grunt the negro helped himself to a drink of water from his skin-bag +while he sat down to ponder. He did not waste much time in +reflection. Springing to his feet he vanished down one of the dark +recesses of the mountain-side and was gone about an hour. When he +returned he picked up an armful of the ivory--a load that would have +staggered three ordinary men--and, hefting it easily in his arms, +vanished with it into the dark shadows. For two hours he worked +steadily and at the close of that period there was not enough ivory +left about the cache to make a watch-charm of. Old Sikaso had found +a new hiding place for the stuff the boys were compelled to leave. + +Then he sat himself once more down on the rock, and leisurely +smashing to pieces with his inseparable axe, the wooden cover that +had been over the cache, he selected, with a good deal of care one +of the dead gorillas. Having found the one that seemed to suit him; +he cut off from its flank a hunk of meat with his keen weapon and +producing a flint and steel soon had the meat toasting over a blaze. +When it was done to his satisfaction he leisurely ate it and washed +it down with a draught from his skin-bag. He then cooked several +more pieces of gorilla meat which he tucked in his waist-band, and +shouldering his axe and humming to himself his grim war-song, he set +out at the same swinging dog-trot on his long trip to the river +bank. With the vitality common to such men, his brief rest and +refreshment had rendered his tired frame as vigorous as ever and +there was no trace of fatigue in the steady trot of the ebony figure +as it plunged into the dark forest and vanished. + +A second later, however, the figure reappeared as a noise of voices +was heard drawing nearer down a forest trail. Throwing himself on +his face and lying as motionless as a fallen log, the Krooman +watched as Muley-Hassan and his followers--almost worn out and sadly +diminished in numbers since their fight with the boys and with the +cannibals--appeared. True, they had beaten the latter off, but at +great loss to themselves, and the few men that now limped forward--urged +on only by the fierce voice of Diego and Muley-Hassan--appeared +ready to drop in their tracks from exhaustion. + +"A hundred pounds of ivory to every man of you if we get there +before they have cleaned the place out," the Arab was shouting by +way of encouraging his men. Old Sikaso, with a grim chuckle, +watched them make their way up the mountain-side and then laughed +softly to himself as their imprecations of rage and fury broke out +as they reached the cache--and found it empty! + +Somewhat cheered by the vigorous Ben, who proposed to paddle down +the river to the nearest settlement himself the next day, if some +news were not heard of Billy and Lathrop, the boys were preparing +for bed that evening--the bed consisting of the floor of the Golden +Eagle's stripped cabin--when they were startled by Ben holding up a +warning finger. + +"Hark!" he exclaimed eagerly. + +The boys listened. + +"There's somebody coming," were Ben's next words. + +Sure enough drawing closer every minute they could hear a soft +patter-patter coming down a jungle-trail and evidently, by the +sound, heading for the camp. + +"Who can it be?" exclaimed Frank in a low tone, not daring even to +mention the wild hope that surged in his heart. For a minute he +thought that it might be the missing chums, and that even Harry and, +to a less degree, Ben, shared his thought he saw by their parted +lips and tensely strained eyes. + +In absolute silence they listened as the footfalls drew in toward +them, but not by even the wildest stretch of the imagination could +they make out more than one man's footsteps. + +Instinctively each member of the party raised his revolver as the +bushes parted and from them tottered a man who was very evidently in +the last stages of exhaustion. The figure staggered forward to the +aeroplane as the boys and Ben lowered their revolvers, seeing that, +whoever the newcomer was there was no fear of violence from him. It +was Ben who recognized him first: + +"Sikaso!" he cried, as the figure crumpled up in a heap, completely +exhausted. + +The boys rushed to the fallen man's side as they heard the name. +They bathed the huge black's head with water and after a few minutes +he opened his eyes and recognized them with a faint smile. After he +had been given some nourishment he completely recovered from his +spell of weakness which he called: + +"Big fool--all same woman," quite omitting to state that he had +traveled almost eighty miles since the preceding midnight. + +The boys sat late listening to what the black had to tell of the +attack on the camp--of Professor Wiseman's treachery and death--and +of the carrying off of the boys. Then Sikaso went on to gleefully +relate, while they warmly clasped his mighty hands, how he had +hidden the rest of the ivory and how he had seen Muley-Hassan pass +on his way to the rifled hiding place. + +"But Billy and Lathrop, Sikaso, tell us quick, were they with +Muley-Hassan?" + +The black shook his head slowly. + +"No see Four-Eyes--no see Red Head," he said sorrowfully. + +The last ray of hope concerning the fate of the two young +adventurers seemed to have been extinguished. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE "ROGUE" ELEPHANT + + +In the meantime Billy and Lathrop, having been introduced to the +chief, were making themselves very much at home in the village or +cliff colony of the Flying Men. The morning after the day of their +arrival a hunting expedition was organized by their new-found friend +and in company with a dozen or more of the Flying Men, and the +ordinary natives, who seemed to occupy the position of inferiors to +their winged masters, the expedition set out. + +They crossed the fields and garden patches that the boys had +observed the evening before and, after traversing a few miles of +swampy ground overgrown with a tough yellow grass, they plunged into +a forest of mahogany and silk cotton trees. + +It was while crossing the expanse of yellow grass at Billy performed +a feat that caused all of them to hold him as a mighty hunter. They +had been pushing their way along a narrow trail with the tops of the +vegetation waving a good three feet above their heads, when there +was a sudden grunt heard ahead and the noise of great rushing +through the wiry grass. + +"Big pig," announced the boys' friend as the others got their spears +ready to cast. Billy and Lathrop in their eagerness plunged on +ahead of the others--Lathrop with a small spear and his +revolver--which by the way was useless, he having expended all his +cartridges--and Billy with the Arab rifle. Suddenly from dead ahead +of the two boys there was a savage squeal and, before either of them +realized what had happened, a boar with gleaming white tusks and +bristly hair rushed out of the tangle and squarely charged them. + +Lathrop went down before his furious onslaught and in his fall +carried Billy to the ground with him. In another moment both boys +would have been badly gored, perhaps killed, had not the reporter, +in the very instant that the boar with wickedly gleaming little red +eyes turned to attack Lathrop with his fierce tusks, raised himself +on one arm and fired. The bullet struck their assailant full in the +ear and penetrated the brain. With a surprised squeal he turned and +ran a few feet and then dropped dead. The rest of the hunting part +came up at this moment and Billy received warm congratulations--which, +as he did not understand, meant as much as most of such felicitations. + +It was not long after this incident that the plunge into the cool +darkness of the forest began. The men went warily--as if expecting +to be attacked at any moment--and the boys, on inquiring of their +guide the reason for this caution, only received the reply that +elephant tracks had been seen and that as a "rogue" elephant had +lately been doing great damage to the crops of the cliff-dwellers +they were anxious to kill him if possible. + +A rogue elephant is one that has become estranged from the rest of +his kind by reason of his fierce intractability. He is in fact what +in the west is described, in speaking of a horse, as "loco" or +crazy. Such animals--they are generally males--are extremely +dangerous to hunt and are generally given a wide berth. They are +mischievous in the extreme, moreover, and do great damage, seemingly +wantonly, to any crops or garden patches that they may find in their +neighborhood. Usually the natives are too terrified to offer any +resistance and placidly allow the animal to devastate to the bent of +his will. The cliff dwellers, however, had suffered so much from +the depredations of this particular animal that they were determined +to drive him out of their neighborhood, and that was the real +purpose of the hunting party. + +"Well, it looks as if we are in for a good exciting morning of it," +remarked Billy as they trudged along beneath trees that shot up to +unknown heights with great rope-like creepers dangling from their +upper branches, looking like ladders leading up into "Jack in the +Beanstalk-land." Occasionally a patch of blue could be sighted +through the tree-tops, but for the most part the hunters progressed +along the floor of the forest under a regular roof of greenery. +There was plenty of life in this tipper story of the earth jungle. +Troops of monkeys with chattering and gesticulations swung from +bough to bough and looked in wonder on the invaders of their realm +and then, taking imaginary fright, galloped off through the +tree-tops in panic, only to stop a little distance further on and +throw down fruit or bits of stick at the men below them. Gorgeous +birds, too, flitted about like jewels seen in a setting of green +velvet, while underfoot there was no lack of life either. Strange +insects, shaped like sticks or leaves or even bits of moss, +attracted the attention of the alert boys although they passed over +hundreds of such nature mimics unnoticed, owing to the perfection of +their mimicry. + +At last the leader of the party called a halt and they sat down to +eat some of the cassava and manioc cakes they had brought with them. +The meal was washed down with a sour drink--something like +buttermilk--contained in a huge earthen jar that one of the inferior +tribe carried. They were in the midst of it when one of the hunters +sprang to his feet with a guttural exclamation. + +"Arjah!" he exclaimed and, though the boys did not understand his +tongue, his attitude of alert attention signified that he said +"Listen" as clearly as if he had used the word. + +In an instant all of the party were on their feet and listening +keenly. After a few seconds of strained attention the boys became +aware of a sort of dull pounding sound which seemed to come from +some distance. It sounded almost like the regular beat of a large +drum. The air seemed to vibrate with it. + +He leader of the party spoke a few words rapidly to the others and +they all joined in a responsive shout which seemed to be one of +assent to some proposition that had been made by him. + +"He say elephant dance," said Umbashi; "him very dangerous when +dance. He ask them they willing to go on. They all say yes." + +Lathrop looked alarmed. + +"Say, Billy," he whispered as they moved forward, "I don't mind a +little danger, but going up against an elephant with a few tin +spears looks to me like being little above the limit." + +"Cheer up," replied the irrepressible reporter, "we've got to go on +now. It would never do for us to show the white feather at this +stage of the game. The tribe would regard us as miserable cowards +and perhaps even put us to death." + +So with faces that one at least of them had some difficulty to +render' expressive of calm repose the two American boys marched +along with the others. As they advanced the drumming grew louder +and they could feel the earth shake as the ponderous beast that +caused it went through his strange exercise. + +The leader worked round till the party was advancing against the +wind, as elephants have a keen scent, and had they traveled along +down the wind he would have been sure to have taken alarm and dashed +off only to return and do more damage later on. In this way the +party was enabled to work up to within a few yards of the great +beast without his having any warning of their approach. It was a +strange sight they beheld as they stood on the edge of the little +clearing where the great beast was going through his dance. With +his trunk curled high above his great head the big pachyderm was +solemnly twirling round and round in a sort of slow waltz and every +time he brought a foot down it was with a crash that shook the +forest about him. He was a ferocious looking brute, with a wicked +gleam in his small eye that boded ill for anyone who should happen +to get in his path. One of his tusks was broken off short, +doubtless in some fight with another of his kind, and his body was +plowed with scars and cuts--the relics of former battles. +Altogether he was as wicked and menacing a looking brute as the boys +had ever seen. + +Suddenly he sighted the attacking party. The dance instantly +stopped and he stood stock-still for an instant gazing at them while +they promptly made for the trees and clambered up them by means of +the lanyards of creepers that swung down from the tops. + +Billy and Lathrop, however, were too much astonished by the sudden +turn events had taken to follow the example of the savages and so +stood gazing awestricken at the elephant while he gazed at them in +apparent amazement at two boys having the temerity to face him in +his native forest. + +The situation was not to last long, however. Their guide, with the +rest of the party, had hastily clambered into the trees and now he +called to the boys loudly: + +"Climb! climb!" + +But the churns were too late. + +As they turned to obey his instructions the great brute charged with +a furious trumpet. + +His first onslaught the boys avoided by slipping behind a tree, more +from instinct than anything else. The impetus of the maddened +animal's charge carried him by the tree and before he could stop +himself and turn his ponderous body for a fresh attack he had gone +some yards beyond the boys. + +Bellowing with fury the huge creature made ready for a fresh charge, +but by this time Billy and Lathrop had seized the creepers and were +both several feet above the ground. In his haste, however, Billy's +luckless rifle twisted between his legs and almost caused a +disaster. For a second he hung helpless, trying to kick the weapon +free. But it hung by its leather shoulder band and he was unable to +do so instantly. + +The boy, with a despairing cry, gazed at the onrushing elephant and +could almost feel himself being seized by its mighty trunk and +dashed to death, when a pair of strong, black arms seized him and +dragged him up to a place of safety. The man who had taken this +risk was their friend Umbashi, and as Billy thanked him he felt a +feeling of real respect for this half naked savage who had risked +his life to save another's. + +After two or three more charges the animal seemed to get tired of +this method of attack and stood beneath the tree shaking with rage, +very much like a bull that has driven a boy to refuge in an +apple-tree. It was evident that it was time to either kill the +brute or drive him off unless the party desired to spend an +unlimited time in the trees. + +"The fire-weapon," shouted Billy's friend, "use the fire-weapon." + +Billy raised the long Arab weapon and fired. The bullet struck the +elephant on the right ear with no more effect than to further anger +him. + +"Aim between the eyes," cried the savage. + +Billy felt for a fresh cartridge and made a discovery. + +In scrambling up the tree he had ripped off the skin bag and his +store of Arab cartridges, none too many, lay on the ground at the +foot of the tree. When this intelligence was communicated to the +tribesmen clinging in the other trees they held a shouted +consultation the result of which was that, to the boys' amazement, +one of them deliberately dropped to the ground and attracting the +elephant's attention began to run him in circles. Now as the man +could run fast and from time to time another took his place and the +elephant had to use a lot of effort in turning corners, it soon +became evident that the big pachyderm was tiring of the exercise. + +It was evidently the intention of the natives to run him out and +then spear him to death--but an unexpected happening put an end to +this method of elephant hunting. One of the men who was worrying +the great animal, much after the manner of a bull-fighter, suddenly +caught his foot on a root and fell headlong. A shout went up as the +others realized that he was doomed to almost certain death. Billy +and Lathrop averted their eyes. It was terrible to have to sit +there powerless and watch the sacrifice. + +But even as they listened with sickened ears for the death-cry of +the unfortunate victim and whilst the elephant's trumpet of triumph +was still resounding, one of the flying men dropped, knife in hand, +from his tree on to the monster's back. + +He landed right behind the great creature's ears and as the animal +threw back his trunk to whisk him off and annihilate him be plunged +his weapon through the soft folds of skin at the base of the huge +skull clear down into the brain. + +It was a mortal wound. + +As the elephant stopped short in his charge and began to stagger in +his death throes the Flying Man slipped to the ground and picked up +his comrade, who had swooned from terror. + +Ten minutes later the great rogue elephant was beyond all further +mischief and the boys joined as heartily as any of the others in +congratulating the brave man whose unparalleled feat of heroism had +saved his comrade's life. + +The man's name was Aga, and the boys had reason later on to remember +him for another deed which affected them even more nearly than the +slaying of the elephant. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A LINK FROM THE PAST + + +On their triumphal return to the cliff with the tusks of the slain +elephant as trophies of the hunt a strange spectacle met the boys' +eyes. Clustered about a sort of altar, which they had not noticed +before, was a group of the cliff-dwellers who seemed to be deeply +interested in something that was going forward. A loud sound of +chanting and intoning of what seemed to be a solemn ritual was the +first inkling the boys had of what was going on. + +On joining the throng the lads found that it was some sort of a +religious ceremony that was being proceeded with. A group of men in +white flowing robes and high conical hats--decorated with mystic +symbols worked out in precious stones that looked like rubies and +emeralds, though of such size that this seemed scarcely +credible--were walking round and round the altar in a sort of what +the irreverent Billy termed "a cakewalk." Pausing at each corner +and revolving slowly, three times they intoned the weird chant. + +Suddenly the music took on a louder tone arid several men with +clashing cymbals joined in. The auditors, too, fell flat on their +faces and Billy and Lathrop, on the former's suggestion, did the +same. + +"Not to do as the others are doing might cost us our heads," sagely +remarked the diplomatic Billy, "and I need mine in my business." + +Whatever the nature of the ceremony, it was now evidently +approaching a climax. The chanting grew louder and more furious and +the cymbal players clashed their huge metal instruments together +with a deafening clangor. Suddenly, from the passage from which the +galleries branched off, there appeared six men clad in robes of +flaming scarlet and conical caps of the same color. + +They formed an escort to a pitiable figure. + +That of a white bearded man who was bent with years and whose eyes +gazed vacantly about him as he stumbled along between the red-robed +dignitaries. But it was not his age and not his feebleness that +made the boys' hearts beat quicker and caused a galvanic shock to +shoot through them. + +The man was white. + +There was no doubt about it. In spite of his sun-browned skin and +the barbarous ornaments that covered him, the figure in the center +of the red-robed group was a Caucasian--perhaps an American--a +fellow countryman. + +And now the boys noticed with a shudder that in the hands of each of +the red-robed men was a knife of some sort of stone--perhaps flint. +These cruel looking weapons they brandished as they slowly paced +forward in time to the chanting. + +But their captive--if he were a captive seemed indifferent to all +this. His dull eyes gazed straight ahead of him as if he were +hypnotized--or, as was more probable, under the influence of some +drug. As the group approached the altar the chanting suddenly +stopped and the onlookers rose to their feet. From the altar now +arose a thin spiral of smoke, the offspring of a fire kindled by one +of the priests. + +The sun was just setting and showed like a blood-red ball, through +the mist that arose from low-lying garden lands. As its disk +touched the horizon the chanting broke out afresh and the red-robed +men seizing the old white man as if he were a beast dragged him +forward and threw him on the altar. + +And now for the first time came to the chums the horrifying +realization of what the scene they were witnessing really meant. + +The man was about to be sacrificed! + +But even as the red-robed men raised their knives in unison and were +about to give them the downward lunge that would extinguish the life +of their feeble victim--and as the other priests and the audience +turning toward the setting sun, chanted louder and more +vociferously--a startling interruption occurred. + +"By the holy poker you're not going to kill that old man while I can +prevent it." + +It was Billy Barnes; his face white and his lips set in a thin line +of determination. + +As he spoke utterly oblivious to the fact that not one of the men +could understand him--Lathrop, pale-faced also, stepped forward by +his side. + +And there stood the two American boys while the auditors--at first +dumb with amazement--began to buzz angrily like a nest of disturbed +hornets. + +One of the white-robed priests gave a sharp order and once more the +red-garbed executors raised their knives. + +Billy quietly, though his heart was beating almost to suffocation, +slipped a cartridge from the recovered bag into his Arab rifle. He +leveled it at the red-robed knife wielders. + +"The first man that moves I'll shoot!" + +Although the words were as unintelligible to the priests and the +cliff-dwellers as any that had gone before, the gesture with which +Billy raised the rifle to his shoulder and covered the group was +eloquent enough. And as it happened, the delay saved the old man's +life; for while they hesitated the sun rushed below the horizon and +the swift African night fell. A loud groan from the crowd announced +that the hour for the culmination of the sacrifice had passed and +that for the time being the intended victim's life was saved. + +But for the boys the situation was serious enough. Powerless to +resist such numbers they were seized by scores of the winged men and +hustled into the passage, which was lit up by blazing torches of the +same resinous wood that their guide had used on the first night that +they came there. They were hurried along, their feet hardly +touching the ground, till they reached one of the diverging +galleries. Down this their captors shoved them till they reached a +small cubical cell--windowless and without ventilation. Into this +they were thrust and a huge stone door that hinged on some +contrivance the boys could not understand swung to upon them with a +dull bang. But a few minutes later it reopened and another prisoner +was thrust in. + +It was the aged captive whose life Billy had saved! + +This much they saw in the momentary glare of the torches and then as +the door closed the darkness--so black that you could feel it--shut +down again. But Billy's reportorial curiosity, even in this +situation, was still predominant. + +"Who are you?" he asked eagerly of the new arrival, whose face he +could not see and whose presence he could only guess at by the +temporary revelation of the torch-light. + +The only answer was a groan; but a few seconds later a voice that +sounded strange from long disuse or unaccustomedness to the use of +the English language replied: + +"I have not heard a white man speak for forty years." + +"What?" exclaimed the thunderstruck Billy. + +"What I say is true and when you hear my name you will perhaps +realize that fact. I am George Desmond the American explorer." + +"The George Desmond who was lost in 1870?" cried Billy, almost +choking with excitement. + +"The same," was the reply in the same rusty voice, "like the sound +of a long disused door swinging on its hinges," was the way Billy +described it afterward in the article he wrote about the finding of +George Desmond. + +"But George Desmond was a man of thirty-five!" protested Billy, +"when he was lost." + +"And I am seventy-five," went on the sad voice in the blackness, "I +was captured by the winged men in 1870. I have kept the record of +the long years on a notched stick. I never expected to hear the +sound of a fellow countryman's voice again." + +The poor tired voice broke down, and in the darkness through which +they could not see the boys heard the old man weeping. + +"Great cats!" groaned Billy to Lathrop, whose hand he held so that +they could be near together in the awful blackness, "forty years +without seeing a white face--jumping horn-toads, what a fate!" + +But the old man's soft weeping stopped presently and in a firmer +voice he said: + +"My wife and my sons? Can you tell me anything of them?" + +As a newspaper man Billy recollected very clearly the space that had +been given some five years before to the death, at a ripe old age, +of the wife of George Desmond the lost explorer. + +"She is dead," he said gently. + +They heard the castaway sigh, and then he asked in a voice he strove +to render firm, but which trembled in spite of itself: + +"And my sons?" + +"They are all alive and in business in New York," said Billy. "Your +wife died believing to the end that you would come back. They +placed her chair so that she could face the east. She died at +daybreak with her eyes turned toward the sea beyond which lay +Africa." + +"Africa!" echoed the tired, disused voice. "Africa! it has cost me +everything I had." + +There was silence for some time after this. Neither of the boys +wanted to intrude on the silent grief of the explorer so strangely +found, though each was dying to ask him a host of questions. It was +the aged man himself who broke the silence at length. + +"But I am selfish," he exclaimed. "I should have thanked you before +this for saving my life. The priests were determined that, as I was +old and useless, my life should be offered to the Sun-god to appease +a sickness that has of late carried off hundreds of the Flying Men. +They are a dying race, young men. As a man of science, I predict +that in five years or less there will not be a single one of the +once numerous tribe alive. I have studied them closely and can +predict their extinction." + +"Then you have not been a prisoner always?" asked Billy. + +"No, my young friend, I have not. When first I came here I was +received warmly and was paid high honors. I was allowed to record +my observations in writing--fortunately I carried a supply of ink +and paper." + +"You still have the manuscript?" gasped Billy, with the reporter's +instinct to the fore. + +"I have," sighed old Mr. Desmond, "in the cell that I so long called +home then, the pages still lie. But I have neglected them for many +years. I had no more writing materials when I used up my slender +supply and I never thought to regain civilization. + +"But now did you ever get here?" asked the amazed Billy. + +"That is a long story," replied the captive, "but briefly told, it +is as follows: In the season of 1870, as you perhaps know, my +ill-fated expedition left Grand Bassam. My avowed object was to +collect specimens and data for the Smithsonian Institute, but my +real and secret desire was to find the tribe of Flying Men of whose +existence I had heard in a fragmentary way on previous expeditions +to the West Coast. I have found them--" he went on with a heavy +sigh--"but at what a cost--at what a cost!" + +There was silence for a few minutes and then the old voice went on, +gaining in strength as he proceeded, and resumed acquaintance with +words to which his tongue had been long unused. + +"My expedition, as you know, was never heard of again. The reason +was this. In some way the Arab slave-traders--who were thick in +this district then and plied their nefarious trade almost +openly--gained the belief that my expedition was a pretense for a +plan of espionage on them and they attacked my camp one night and +slaughtered every man in it but myself. Why they did not kill me +I do not know, unless it was because of the intercession of a young +Arab, a mere youth and the son of the chief. I have never forgotten +his name or his kindness." + +"What was his name?" asked Billy, who was deeply interested and +wanted to get every detail of the extraordinary story. + +"Muley-Hassan!" was the amazing reply. + +"Muley-Hassan," echoed Billy, "why, he is the most cold-blooded +fiend in the slave-trade to-day." + +"Perhaps," answered the old man, "but he was good to me when he was +a young man and I have never forgotten it." + +"Well," he went on, picking up his narrative, "it was not long +before retribution overtook the Arabs. One night their camp was +attacked by a tribe whose village they had raided and sacked some +time before and only a few of them escaped, among them must have +been Muley-Hassan, though, till you told me of him, I believed him +dead. The savages, seeing that I was not one of the Arab race took +care of me and I fared well at their hands. But a great longing to +see civilization--to clasp my wife in my arms, to see my children +and America once more, was always with me, and one night I escaped +from their village. I wandered half-delirious from fever and +starvation for many days after that, for I lost my way in the +forest, and, as I had no compass, wandered aimlessly seeking a river +by which I might follow down to the coast. One night such a sharp +attack of fever overtook me that I was-stricken unconscious. I gave +myself up for dead before I lost my senses and only recollect +awaking in this village. From that day to this, although I have +repeatedly endeavored to escape I have never been able to do so. +The ladder is guarded day and night,"--(this information dashed a +half-formed hope in Billy's mind of escape by that way,) "and it +would be suicide to attempt to penetrate the great jungles on the +other side. I thought to end my days here, but I never dreamed till +the other day that my life was destined to end as it would have, had +it not been for your brave intervention. + +"The malady of which I have spoken has devastated almost every +family in the cliff and at the instigation of Agagi, the head +priest--a man who has always hated my influence over his people--I +was blamed by the other priests for being the cause of the +affliction. + +"They pretended to have a revelation from the Sun-god stating that +if my life were sacrificed the curse that rested on the +cliff-dwellers would be removed. Accordingly I was seized and +chained and would certainly have died had it not been for you. But +alas, young men, I fear you are doomed to forfeit your lives as the +cost of rescuing an old man who is not long for this life in any +event. I wish that you had been far away and had never had the +brave impulse to risk your young lives for my worthless old one." + +Now it is a remarkable thing, but Billy, who should have replied to +the aged man in all sorts of high-sounding language, could find +nothing to reply to this but: + +"Oh, that's all right." + +"I think you are the bravest boys I have ever heard of," the old man +was beginning when a soft "hiss-s-st!" caused them all to turn their +eyes to the direction in which they knew the door lay, and from +which the sound had proceeded. + +"H-s-s-s-t," came the sound again. + +Did it mean a friend or an enemy? + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +FRIENDS IN NEED + + +They were not kept long in suspense. After being assured that their +attention was attracted, the voice that had made the hissing signal +whispered through some aperture of which the boys had no knowledge: + +"Listen to me, white boys, and you, too, old man, you can escape if +your hearts are stout." + +Stunned by the suddenness of this joyful news the boys sat silent. + +"Are you listening, white boys?" said the voice impatiently. + +"Yes--yes," whispered Billy eagerly. + +"Then when a man comes in a short time to you with food and drink do +not touch it, for it is poisoned with a deadly drug; but curb your +appetite. In a short time the same man will come back to see if you +have yet become insensible. Then you must be of stout heart and +leap upon him and kill him. After that leave your cell and I will +show you how to gain freedom." + +The boys had recognized the voice at once as that of their friendly +guide, though why he should have taken such a risk to aid them did +not manifest itself till he whispered: + +"And as a reward, I ask of the fat white boy with the glass eyes his +fire-weapon which assuredly contains a great fetish and of the +red-headed one some of his hair for a fetish also. Of the old man I +would have the round box containing the strange god that says by day +and by night 'tick-tick'." + +"He means my watch," answered the old man, "it was a present from my +dead wife to me on our wedding day, but he shall have it." + +The boys also promised their "fetishes." + +There was a guttural sound of satisfaction from outside the cell as +the bargain was struck and then all was silent. + +How they passed the time till the door swung open and the man whom +their friend had foretold would bring them food and drink appeared, +they never knew; but somehow it went. The new comer set the stuff +down without a word and then stuck the flaming torch he carried in a +niche in the wall so that they might have light to eat by. He made +several gesticulations intended, apparently, to signify that what he +had set before them was very good. + +"Hum," said Billy when he had gone, "I'd as soon eat a mess of toads +as touch any of this stuff--although it smells mighty good," he +added regretfully, "and I'm hungry enough to gobble up a crocodile, +claws and all." + +But they all abstained from touching it and spent the time between +the second promised visit discussing whether they would carry out +the instructions of the friendly savage. + +"But we can't kill the fellow," objected Lathrop. + +"Certainly not," replied Billy; "but, now that we have a light, I +see that there is a nice convenient chain fastened to the wall over +there. There would be no objection to our gagging him, to prevent +any outcry, and then hitching him up with it." + +"But he is a pretty husky-looking customer," objected Lathrop; +"suppose we can't overcome him?" + +"We'll have to take our chances on that," said Billy decisively. +"Now what I propose is, that when he comes back we all he stretched +out as if the drug had overcome us and then, when I give the word, +we all jump on him." + +He looked doubtfully at the old man as he spoke. There was no +question that in such a struggle the explorer would be worse than +useless. Mr. Desmond himself agreed with Billy and it was arranged +that while the two boys grappled with the negro that the old man +should pull the door to--in the event of its being left open--so +that no noise of the struggle might penetrate into the passage +outside. + +The little party immediately spread themselves out on the floor in +well simulated insensibility and waited with hearts that beat +uncomfortably quick for the decisive moment to arrive. + +Failure meant death but, as Billy had put it, they were due to die +anyhow it seemed and they owed it to themselves to make as brave an +effort as possible to escape such a fate. + +At last they heard a fumbling at the door and the man who had +brought them the drugged food entered the cell. He scrutinized them +with a grunt of satisfaction and going up to each one shook him by +the shoulder to see if they were only asleep or really insensible. +Apparently he was satisfied from their inertness that the drug had +worked, for he muttered to himself rapidly in the unknown tongue as +he concluded his examination. + +Then he turned to pick up the earthen dishes, stooping over with his +back to Billy Barnes as he did so. + +It was Billy's move! + +Like a flash the young reporter--who had earned an enviable record +on the gridiron and crew at Columbia University--was on the savage's +back while Lathrop rushed at the fellow as he straightened up and +gave him a low tackle. As Billy leaped he had dug his fingers into +the fellow's windpipe to choke any outcry, and when Lathrop seized +him by the legs he toppled over like a felled ox without uttering a +sound. Billy rolled from under him as he fell backward and the +man's head struck the stone floor with a terrific crash. + +He was knocked insensible by the fall. The moment to escape had +arrived! + +Rapidly the boys tore a strip off Billy's shirt and formed it into a +gag. With other strips they tied the insensible man's hands behind +his back and manacled his legs. + +"He won't come to for quite a while after the crack he got," +remarked Billy; "but in case he does, he won't be able to attract +attention for a long time." + +Then, as cautiously as though stepping on eggs, they tiptoed out +into the passage--after extinguishing the torch--and the next minute +were startled to be suddenly halted by a form that ran right into +them in the blackness. + +The next minute, however, their anxiety was relieved. It was +Umbashi who had collided with them and accompanying him was Aga, the +man who killed the rogue elephant. It appeared that the two had +agreed to divide the fetishes their captives were to give them in +return for their freedom. And Aga at once, with a stone knife, cut +off two generous locks of Lathrop's hair. + +"But how are you to get my gun," objected Billy, "the priests took +it from me?" + +"I already have it, Boy-of-the-eyes-of-glass," replied the engaging +cliff-dweller. "I stole it from the old head-priest while he slept. +But you must give it me of your own free will, or it will not be +good 'fetish.'" + +Of course Billy willingly "gave." + +To get the watch they had to traverse what seemed to Billy and +Lathrop in their feverish excitement miles and miles of passages. +But apparently the cliff-dwellers all went to bed early and slept +sound for they encountered no one, and their guides did not seem to +be in any anxiety over the possibility of discovery. Once they got +a chill of horror when just before they left the cell door Aga, who +carried a sharp knife--the same with which he had dispatched the +elephant and cut Lathrop's hair--signified his intention of cutting +the unconscious meal-bringer's throat. It was with great difficulty +that the boys dissuaded him from this barbaric act, the horror of +which did not seem to appeal either to him or his savage companion. + +Once in old Desmond's cell it did not take long to get the watch--an +aged gold key-winder--and present it to the delighted savages. But +several precious minutes were lost in showing the two how to wind it +up. They regarded the key with quite as much veneration as the +watch. The boys saw the old man's eyes filled with tears as he +handed it over and Billy, as he saw the inscription on it, in a +quaint, old-fashioned script, realized why. + +"To my dear husband, George Desmond, on our wedding day, May 24th +1874;" it read. With the signature "Mary Desmond." + +Before they left the place that had been his home for the majority +of his long life, the old man carefully drew from beneath the palm +fiber covering of the niche that served him as a bed a pile of +yellowed paper, covered closely with fine writing in a clear, bold +hand. The pages had been written many years before old age had +seized their author's hand and paralyzed his strength. + +Billy realized with a thrill that these papers contained, the +imperishable record of the long-lost scientist's observations and +commentaries on the mysterious Flying Men. + +But it was no time to linger in speculations. + +Hastily thrusting the papers into the bosom of his shirt the aged +man signified to his guides that he was, ready, and they left the +chamber that had housed him for so many years--without regret on his +part you may be sure. + +Silently as cats they slipped down the corridor and, after about a +quarter of an hour of traversing its smooth floor, they found +themselves at the hole which gave egress to the outside world and +from which hung the rope-ladder by which they were to descend to +freedom. + +Aga and the other savage gave grunts of pleasure and even laughed +softly as the boys' with a horrified start, almost stumbled over a +recumbent figure. + +It was that of the guard of the ladder. + +He lay as if dead--his body right across the narrow entrance. The +moonlight from the outside that flooded the entrance showed that his +mouth was open and his eyes closed. + +A sudden rage filled Billy as he looked on the victim of what seemed +to him to have been a wanton murder. + +"You have killed him," he said raising his voice imprudently in his +anger. + +"Hush, boy-with-the-glass-eyes," exclaimed Umbashi, "he is not +dead. In a few hours he will be as well as you or I, but he will +recollect nothing. We have given him the sleeping root that brings +oblivion." + +And now it was time to take the final step. + +"A canoe with food and a jar of water is at the foot of the ladder," +whispered their guide, "and the current will carry you down toward +the coast. It will not be a hard journey except for the Tunnel of +the Roaring Waters. Only a few men have navigated that and escaped +alive, but you will be compelled to traverse it to reach the coast." + +"Can we not leave the canoe and go overland round the tunnel?" asked +Billy rightly conjecturing that their guide referred to a place +where the river ran underground when he spoke of the Tunnel of the +Roaring Waters. + +"That cannot be done," was the African's reply. "The swamps where +the sleeping death (the sleeping sickness) lies are all about it. +Only by way of the Tunnel of the Roaring Waters can you escape." + +"There is one other way," began Aga, "but that lies through the +forest." + +"We will take it rather than risk navigation in such a torrent as +you describe," decided Billy after the remark of Aga had been +translated to him. + +But before the two savages could say more there came a distant +booming borne down the rocky tube of the corridor. + +It was the far-off confused sound of excited voices. + +"Quick! glass-eyes, your escape has been discovered; you haven't a +moment to lose!" cried Umbashi. + +It was only too evident that he spoke the truth. The roar of the +searchers' angry voices was rapidly ringing louder. + +"Take this, white boys, and defend yourselves to the death rather +than be recaptured," said their friend as he thrust a stone knife +into Billy's hand. + +The old man and Lathrop were already half-away down the swaying +ladder. + +"Be careful, for the river is swollen with the melting snows of the +mountains and runs as if a million demons were in its soul to-night," +warned Umbashi. + +With a quick "Good-bye" to the men who risked their lives to rescue +them, Billy took his place on the swinging ladder and followed the +others down. + +They were not a second too soon. + +Even as they took their places in the canoe and Billy prepared to +slash the grass-rope that held it, the clamor drew close to the +mouth of the tunnel. + +From the foot of the cliff the chums and their aged companion saw +torches glowing and could perceive Aga and the other pointing at +them and evidently explaining to the tribesmen that they had tried +to stop their flight. Billy was glad to see that apparently their +explanations were accepted and they were not suspected of having +aided the escaping prisoners. + +With a quick slash of his flint knife, the young reporter severed +the rope at which the canoe was straining till it was taut as a +piano wire. There were several other canoes lying alongside and +before he cast loose Billy cut the detaining ropes of these also. + +"Now they'll have to swim if they want to get us!" he exclaimed as +the canoe, released from its bondage, shot forward on the boiling +current at a dizzy rate. + +But he had reckoned without the flying men. Dozens of them had +dropped from their holes and having gained the opposite bank started +in pursuit of the boys and the old explorer, who lay as if overcome +at the bottom of the canoe. Many of the strange beings carried bows +and arrows and they sent their shafts whizzing in a shower at the +canoe. One pierced its side and Billy had to stop the hole with a +strip torn from his already ripped-up shirt. + +But fortunately, except for a slight scratch on Billy's forearm, +none of the arrows did much harm to the voyagers themselves, and +borne on the swift current the canoe soon outdistanced her pursuers. + +As the sound of their shouting grew faint behind them, Billy and +Lathrop grasped the paddle with which they strove to keep the boat +on a straight course--there was no need to propel her. + +The young reporter realized that three lives--his own, Lathrop's and +that of the long missing explorer depended alone now on their skill +and grit. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE SMOKE READER + + +And now we must leave the floating canoe with its occupants and turn +to the River Camp, where we left the Boy Aviators overcome with +anxiety as to the fate of their young comrades. The situation was +indeed one calculated to try the stoutest heart. There was only one +drop of sweet in their cup of bitter. + +Harry, poking about among the ruins of the deserted camp, had +discovered several cans of gasoline that the raiders had overlooked. +They formed sufficient fuel with the picric cakes that Frank still +had a supply of, to drive the big aeroplane for several hundred +miles if the wind conditions were favorable. + +But leave the river camp the boys dare not, for they realized that +if Billy and Lathrop did manage to make their escape, they would, if +possible, come back there. True, it was a chance so remote as to +appear almost impossible, but under the circumstances even the +shadow of a hope seemed to assume substance. And so they waited, +and had been waiting, while the stirring events we have related had +been happening to their missing chums. + +As if to add to their oppression, old Sikaso mooned about the camp, +his eyes rooted to the ground in moody absorption and muttering to +himself, "five go--three come back," till Frank angrily ordered him +to stop. The realization that his gloomy prophecy seemed only too +likely to be fulfilled, however, did not tend to relieve the +situation. + +"If we do not hear from them to-morrow, we shall be compelled to +take to the air and fly to the coast," said Frank as they sat that +evening round a camp-fire which had been lighted to keep away +marauding lions, whose roars ever and anon shook the forest. At +such times old Sikaso's eyes wandered longingly to his great +war-axe. There is little doubt that he would have liked to work off +his gloomy feelings by tackling a lion single-handed with his +weapon. + +"You think, then, it isn't worth while waiting if we have heard no +news by then?" asked Harry. + +"It isn't that," said Frank in reply, "but we have not provisions +left to more than tide us over another day. What the Arabs didn't +destroy they spoiled." + +Harry nodded his head silently. + +Cruel necessity, it seemed, was to compel them to evacuate the camp, +to which they still clung in the hope the lost adventurers might +return. + +It was in vain Ben Stubbs cracked his jokes that night and related +all sorts of droll sea yarns in the hope of cheering up his young +companions. For the first time since he had known them it looked as +if the Boy Aviators had really lost all hope, and truly the facts +seemed to warrant the stoutest-heart in the world being downcast--to +say the least. + +Suddenly without a word old Sikaso left the fire and strode off into +the forest. He was gone for more than an hour and when he came back +his look of gloom had vanished. For him he was almost cheerful. + +He swung his terrible axe in all sorts of fantastic evolutions and +hummed to himself his grim chant with a fierce sort of joy. + +"White boys, the smoke is going to tell me things to-night," he +exclaimed suddenly. "When the moon reaches to the top of the sky I +shall tell you news of the four-eyed one and of the red-headed." + +Impatiently they waited till the moon reached her zenith and then +watched wonderingly while the old savage built a small fire of +sticks, over each one of which he mumbled something in African. + +"What good does he suppose all this hocus-pocus is going to do us?" +muttered Harry irritably, "as if an old fire could tell us anything +we didn't know already. It's all rubbish, I say." + +"I'm not so sure," remarked Frank thoughtfully. "We have already +seen something of what his skill can do and I don't mind letting him +see if he can't conjure up something to give us a ray of hope." + +"Oh bosh, Frank," replied Harry, "if he ever did get anything right +through this rigmarole and hanky-panky it was simply because he had +good luck. That's all." + +"For my part, I've knocked around the world too much to be so cock +sure of some things as some young chaps seem to be," put in Ben +Stubbs, with a chuckle, looking up from the frying-pan that he was +scouring with sand. + +Harry looked abashed and said nothing. + +If old Sikaso had heard any of this colloquy he made no sign, but +with the face of a graven image went about his preparations. Slowly +he struck the sparks from his never-failing flint and steel, and a +few seconds later the little fire was sending up a blaze. + +"Do you see anything?" asked Frank. + +"Too soon now, wait till smoke come," he said, and resumed his +intense watching of the fire. + +After a delay that seemed maddening, to two at least of the group +that was watching, the old Krooman announced that all was ready. + +Even Harry felt a thrill of interest as the old man began to spin +slowly on his toes round the column of smoke, chanting slowly some +strange mixture of savage music which was, as Frank guessed, an +incantation to the fetish that, as he believed, dwelt in the smoke. +As the smoke grew thicker he cast some sort of powder from a +skin-bag into it and instantly a thick yellow column of vapor shot +up. + +The whole forest about seemed impregnated with the strong odor of +the stuff and the boys' eyes smarted. Old Sikaso kept up his dance, +bending lower and lower till it seemed that he must be actually +inhaling the pungent, acrid smoke. + +As this strange scene progressed, Frank felt his eyes begin to grow +dim and an unaccountable languor fill his limbs. His head swam +round and he desired nothing so much as to lie down and sleep---and +yet a compelling power forced him to keep his eyes fixed on the +column of smoke over which the aged Krooman was now stooping with +outspread hands. + +Suddenly he gave a sharp cry--an exclamation almost of command. + +"Look--look, white boys, and you, old man of the sea and the forests +of the far-off land, and I shall show you the magic of the sleeping +heart of Africa." + +With eyes that started from his head Frank gazed, in obedience to a +majestic sweep of the African's hand, full into the ascending column +of yellowish smoke. + +The languor the boy had felt at first had now quite left him and he +was only intent on seeing what was about to transpire. + +Sikaso's voice once more rose in his dismal chant and he cast more +of the powder from his skin-bag into the fire. The smoke pillar +grew to an immense size and, as he gazed at it, before Frank's +amazed eyes a scene as strange to him as any he had ever set eyes +on, began slowly to take shape. + +There was a river edge with mighty banks at the summit of which +waved fronds of tropical plants and in which huge beasts, that he +recognized as hippopotami, wallowed and sputtered. An unhealthy +steam arose from the banks and the river boiled angrily along +between its confines in a dark mud-colored flood. + +So far the scene was not unlike the river in which he and Harry had +so nearly lost their lives, but as he gazed the details grew +clearer, as if it had been a magic lantern view, growing by degrees +stronger and every outline of the tropical view was suddenly thrown +into strong relief. + +All at once the boy uttered a sharp cry, which was echoed by his +brother and Ben. Old Sikaso never moved a muscle but kept on +chanting. + +Into the center of the wonderful smoke picture there had swum a +canoe. + +And in it were seated Billy Barnes and Lathrop! + +With them, too, was the figure of a venerable white bearded man who +seemed to be about to collapse. From time to time he raised himself +feebly and gazed ahead. Frank could see Billy at such times stoop +forward and speak to him. + +The boys' plight was evidently a terrible one. + +Their clothes were ripped and torn and Billy's shirt scarcely +covered his body; which was a mass of cuts and scratches. A great +cloud of mosquitoes hung about the canoe, clearly maddening its +occupants with their myriads of tiny stings. The faces of both the +young navigators were drawn and lined with anxiety as they paddled +ahead in the turbulent current. + +"See," cried Sikaso harshly, as the picture faded, "do the white +boys still doubt?" + +"No, no!" cried Harry. "Show us more, Sikaso." + +The Krooman cast more of the magic powder into the dying fire and +again a thick pillar of smoke curled upward. + +His low crooning chant then began once more. + +As before the picture did not assume shape at once but swam, as it +were, slowly into view. This time the surroundings had changed. +There was a look of agonized terror on the faces of all the +occupants of the canoe as she seemed to be literally hurled forward +upon a current that ran as swiftly as a mill race. + +The frail craft rocked terribly and once or twice she shipped some +water that Lathrop instantly bailed out with a shallow earthen dish. + +Frank could almost hear the roar of the water as he gazed in silent +fascination on the mysterious pictures of the smoke. + +And now the apprehension on the faces of the occupants of the canoe +was agonizing to watch. Once Frank saw the old man arise as if to +cast himself into the water rather than face what lay ahead, but +Lathrop instantly drew him back. + +Again the picture died out and again the old Krooman threw on more +powder. As the smoke rolled up once more no one spoke. The +situation was far too tense for that. + +The scene now seemed to show that indeed all was over with the +occupants of the canoe. The frail craft was seen to be in a tunnel +of rough stone through which the roaring vortex of the waters poured +with such violence that the boys and their aged companion were +continually drenched with spray. Lathrop had hard work to keep the +craft free of water now, and bailed incessantly. The old man was on +his knees his hands clasped and his lips moving as if in prayer. +Billy, his face set, sat in the stern. Again and again with a quick +twist of his paddle he saved the canoe from annihilation in the +boiling current. + +It was an agonizing scene to watch, and to the onlookers it seemed +as real as if they had been gazing at the peril itself instead of +its counterfeit presentment in smoke-pictures. + +At last the walls of the tunnel were seen to widen out and the +current to move more slowly. Frank gave a sigh of relief which was +echoed by the others as the canoe emerged from the subterranean +river into a broad lagoon with low banks covered with tropical +verdure and seemingly, from the absence of steaming vapors a healthy +spot. But even as the canoe entered the quiet waters a great body +projected itself through the water followed by three other bulky +forms. + +They were recognized instantly by the watchers as hippopotami. + +The leader of the animals made straight for the canoe, and the +watchers trembled as they looked, for it was evident that one snap +of the creatures' huge jaws would cave in the side of the canoe as +if it were an eggshell. + +With trembling excitement the Boy Aviators saw their young +companions with both paddles make desperately for the shore, but +before they reached it one of the hippopotami intercepted them, and +with a charge of angry fury literally tossed the boat clean out of +the water. + +A second later the gazers at the smoke pictures saw the two missing +adventurers and their aged unknown companion struggling in the +water. It seemed that all was over when a strange interruption +occurred. + +A long, dark horny head with two cruel eyes and rows of saw-like +teeth in its long jaws, sped through the waters. The hippopotamus +turned savagely on the intruder and the two snapped savagely at each +other for several minutes when the crocodile, mortally wounded to +judge by the red swirl on the surface of the stream, made off. + +But Billy and Lathrop were seen to have taken advantage of the brief +breathing spell it gave them. In a few strong strokes they had swum +with the aged man to shallow water and quickly waded ashore. They +were safe then for the time being. But for how long? + +Frank saw the two comrades gaze about them in despair at the +wilderness of jungle that closed about them on every side. He saw +them cast horrified looks at each other at the situation in which +they found themselves--lost in the trackless African forests. + +The next minute the old man fell forward on his face and lay still. +Whether he was dead or unconscious, Frank could not, of course, +tell--and then the smoke died out, and the picture faded. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE CHUMS RESCUED BY AEROPLANE + + +Hope had almost died in the boys' hearts at the scene they had +witnessed by means of powers that seemed incredible to them, but +which several well known travelers have told us are not uncommon +among certain natives of West Africa. But old Sikaso was destined +to raise their hopes. + +"We will save Four-Eyes and the Red-Headed one," he exclaimed +suddenly. + +"But how?" chorused the amazed three. + +"In the ship that like the bird can cleave the air we will fly to +them," was the astonishing reply. + +"But we do not know where they are," objected Harry. + +"I do," was the quiet response. + +"What?" + +"Say that again!" + +"Well, I'll be hornswoggled!" + +These exclamations came from each of the three in turn. + +"They are on the banks of a river which I know well. In the smoke I +recognized it. Few men have ever navigated the Tunnel of Death and +came out to tell the tale, but your great white Fetish must have +looked after them." + +"You know the river?" + +"Well do I know it white boy," replied the Krooman. "In the days +when my limbs were supple I have hunted and fished there with others +of my tribe." + +"You can guide us to it?" + +"I can." + +"When?" + +"As soon as it is dawn." + +"How far is it from here?" + +"Not more than a hundred and fifty miles." + +Frank held up a moistened finger. The air was as calm as a +mill-pond. + +"We can make that distance in a little more than four hours," he +announced. + +It was Sikaso's turn to be astonished. + +"Of a truth the magic of the white man is not as the magic of the +black man, but it is good," he said; "yes, it is good. In four +hours. That is indeed mighty magic." + +"Who can the old man be whom we saw with them?" asked Harry eagerly, +his mind no longer containing an ounce of skepticism to the marvels +he had seen. + +"I have no idea," rejoined Frank, "but he was white evidently." + +"I've seen his picture some place, sometime--or some chap that +looked a powerful sight like him, only younger," said Ben, who +doubtless had a vague recollection of the once widely distributed +photographs of the missing explorer Desmond. + +"I am afraid that he was seriously ill, or even dying, from the last +glimpse we had of him," said Frank gravely. + +"Why could you not show us more smoke pictures Sikaso?" asked Harry +eagerly. + +"I have no more of the powder left," replied the old Krooman bending +over his beloved axe and feeling the edge with a critical thumb. +"Moreover, the smoke does not reveal the future." + +There was, naturally enough, no thought of sleep that night, and so +excited were the boys that they did not even feel the want of it. A +huge shallow pit was dug back in the forest and the ivory taken from +the chassis of the aeroplane and the aerial express wagon cached +there and leaves and grass strewn over the place to make it as +inconspicuous as possible. This was done before the aeroplane was +got in readiness for the dash to the rescue. + +"For," said Frank, "old Muley-Hassan, when he finds we have +overreached him, may take a fancy to come back and try to wipe us +out." + +"Muley-Hassan will not fight with the few men he has left," sagely +remarked old Sikaso; "when he has many he is brave as a lion, but +when his followers are few he fights like the fox with wits against +wits and few are his match for cunning." + +As the day-life of the jungle--which has a nightlife as well as a +daylight one--as the day-life of the forest began with the first +ghostly gray of the dawn the boys swallowed a hasty meal, though +they were almost too excited to eat in spite of Ben Stubbs' +insistence that they take some nourishment. At the old sailor's +suggestion, too, the car of the Golden Eagle II was packed with food +for the castaways, who surely, from the latest glimpse they had had +of them, must be in dire straits. + +These preparations completed, they clambered into the car of the +air-ship and with Frank at the wheel and the old Krooman at his +elbow to direct the course they were to take, they left the ground +and were soon flying through a breathless environment at sixty miles +an hour. + +The Golden Eagle II was on her way to the rescue. + +"It is the end." + +These words came from the feeble lips of Mr. Desmond as he lay +beneath a rough screen of leaves and branches which the boys had +erected to keep the heat of the African day from the dying man--for +that he was dying they sadly realized. + +The excitement of their flight and the peril of the subterranean +river had been too much for the enfeebled frame and George Desmond's +troubled soul was on its way to more peaceful rest than he had known +in many years. + +"Is there nothing we can do for you, sir?" asked Billy eagerly, +bending over the dying man and taking his hand-which, despite the +heat, was as cold as ice, between his. + +"Nothing," whispered Desmond faintly, and then, with a supreme +effort, he spoke once more. + +"My papers--the history of the Flying Men." + +He feebly indicated that he wished Billy to take them from his +shirt. + +The young reporter swiftly drew out the yellowed manuscript and +reverently laid it before the fast-fading eyes. A faint smile +overspread the aged man's careworn face. + +"I commend them to your care," he said, as though every word now +cost him an effort. "You have told me you are a newspaper +reporter--you will see that they are given to the world?" + +Billy once more taking the fast passing man's hand promised to +fulfill this sacred trust. + +"Read me the dedication," was the next whispered request of George +Desmond. + +In a trembling voice Billy read the words inscribed on the first +page of the yellowed manuscript. + +"To my dear wife Mary this volume is dedicated by her affectionate +husband the Author." + +"I never thought when I wrote those words I should die like this," +exclaimed the dying man, "but it was to be. I always hoped that +some day I would escape; but now that I have won freedom, rest seems +to mean more to me than all else beside." + +The tears welled into the eyes of both boys as with a resigned sigh +George Desmond composed himself as if to sleep. + +It was about five minutes later, and Billy still held the old man's +hand, when the long-lost explorer raised himself on his elbow and +shading his eyes with his trembling hand gazed in front of him as if +he saw a vision. + +"Mary--" he cried in a loud voice and fell back dead. + +And so died George Desmond, the famous African traveler, almost +within sight of the civilization to which he had so long dreamed of +returning. + +The shocked and grieved boys had hardly recovered their composure +after this tragic termination of a brave man's life when Lathrop, +who had been gazing despairingly about him gave a great shout. + +The next minute it was echoed by Billy. + +Half mad with joy the boys embraced each other and shook hands till +it seemed they would fall off, and performed a dozen mad antics. + +For, winging its way steadily toward them, though still at a great +distance, was an aeroplane that they had no difficulty in +recognizing at once as the Golden Eagle II. + +There is no need to detail the scene that ensued when, fifteen +minutes later, the great air-craft settled down on the river bank +and the ravenous boys--who had long since exhausted the provisions +in the boat--had been fed, and plied with questions till they had to +stop eating to talk and stop talking to eat, at short intervals. + +To the great joy of old Sikaso, who regarded it as a personal +vindication of his powers, every detail of the trip through the +subterranean river and the subsequent peril into which they had +fallen was substantiated by Billy and Lathrop as having occurred +exactly as it did in the smoke pictures. But there was a note of +sadness amid all their joy in the death of the old explorer. On the +river bank they dug a grave and marked it with a pile of rocks and +there the remains of George Desmond rest for all time in the country +to whose exploration he gave his life. + +The Golden Eagle II had to make two trips between the river camp and +the outlet of the subterranean river as, stout craft though she was, +her gasoline supply was getting so low that Frank did not dare to +run her at top speed and consequently she would not carry more than +three passengers. By nightfall, however, the reunited adventurers +were all seated about their campfire and talking and retelling all +that had happened to each other during their separation. + +Their conversation was interrupted by a strange happening. + +The puff-puff of the steam launch that had brought them tip the +river was suddenly heard and as she drew alongside the steep bank a +familiar figure stepped from her side into the bright moonlight. + +Not one of the party that did not give a start of amazed surprise as +in the newcomer they recognized: + +Luther Barr, of New York! + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +LUTHER BARR'S TRICK + + +The astonishing meeting in the remote wilds of the African forest +with a man they instinctively mistrusted bereft the lads of words +for an interval. + +Frank was the first to find his voice: + +"Why, Mr. Barr, what are you doing here?" he exclaimed amazedly. + +But if the boys seemed astonished Mr. Barr retained his usual +icicle-like attitude. Except that he was dressed in tropical white +and wore a huge pith helmet which set above his ill-favored features +"like a mushroom over a toad," as Billy described it later, he might +have just stepped out of his office on Wall Street, instead of from +a wheezy launch on a steaming subequatorial river. + +"Good-evening, boys, a little late for dinner, I see, but I daresay +you can cook me something. After dinner I want to talk to you. I +have come a long way for the purpose so you can guess my business is +of importance." + +"Of importance? I should say so;" sputtered the irrepressible +Billy. "Pray did you come by air-ship, Mr. Barr?" + +"No, sir, I came in my yacht the Brigand. She is almost as fast as +a liner and as I came direct to this port I didn't take more than +half the time occupied by you boys on the voyage." + +"You had a good trip?" asked Frank as Mr. Barr sat down and began +eating the hastily prepared meal which Ben served him. + +"Yes, splendid;" said Mr. Barr, "we had one misfortune though. When +we were two days out my captain--a splendid man, boys--slipped on +the wet foredeck as the yacht was plowing through a heavy sea and +struck on his head on a stanchion." + +"I hope he was not badly hurt," said Frank. + +"He is dead," said Mr. Barr, calmly stuffing half a sweet potato +into his capacious mouth. + +The boys gave an exclamation of concern. + +"Yes, it was very annoying," commented Mr. Barr. + +"You see I have had to trust since to the navigation of my mate, and +while he is a careful fellow he is not much good as a navigator, and +in addition to that he is a drinking man. I am afraid that he may be +ashore now in my absence and indulging his taste for strong drink." + +"I should have thought you would have forbidden him shore leave," +commented Harry. + +"No good, my dear boy, that fellow would swim ashore even if the +harbor were swarming with sharks, to gratify his disgusting taste." + +"But now," he continued with a change of tone, "to business. You +have got the ivory? + +"We have," replied Frank. + +"Where?" + +"We have it here," was the quiet rejoinder. + +"What!" an amazed tone. + +"What I tell you is true," and Frank-foolishly as he admitted +afterward-led the way to the cache in the forest; "it is buried here +so as to be safe from marauders." + +Mr. Barr seemed lost in thought for a few minutes then he suggested +a return to the camp-fire. Once there he drew out a paper from his +pocket-book. + +"Many things have happened since you left New York, boys," he said +quietly, through a feverish gleam in his deep, crafty eyes belied +his outward calm. + +"This paper," he continued, holding it out, "is signed by Mr. +Beasley, it resigns to me all claim in the ivory and I am here to +take it."' + +"Let me look at that paper." + +It was Lathrop who spoke. + +The boy's cheeks were angrily flushed and his eyes bad a dangerous +flash. + +"That is not my father's signature!" + +"What do you mean?" + +"Exactly what I say--that this writing which purports to be my +father's was never penned by him." + +"You are making a rash assertion." + +"I am fully prepared to prove it when we get back to New York." + +"And in the meantime the Boy Aviators retain their claim on the +ivory that we fought so hard to get," put in Frank. + +Old Mr. Barr turned on him with a wolfish fury. + +Indeed in his rage he resembled nothing so much as a long, lean, +timber wolf deprived of his expected prey. + +"We will see all about that!" he raged. "There is a law in Fort +Assini though there may not be here. I have this paper here which +in the eyes of the law is a legal transfer to me of Beasley's claim +on the ivory. It is mine now and I mean to have it." + +Frank's heart sank. He did not know much about law and it looked as +if old man Barr held the upper hand. + +"But that is not my father's signature or writing," cried Lathrop. + +"That will be a matter for the American courts to decide," was the +frigid reply. + +"I shall lay the whole matter before M. Desplaines--the consular +agent of our government," cried Frank at last. + +"It is too late to do that," retorted Mr. Barr, "anticipating that +there would be some trouble I have already engaged a lawyer and M. +Desplaines will keep his hands off this affair." + +"Why did you anticipate trouble?" shot out Frank, "was it because +you knew that signature was false?" + +For a fragment of a second the old man's pale face grew paler--or +rather turned a sickly yellow. + +"Bah," he said the next minute, "this is a business matter and not +one for boys to enter into. I will see that you are well paid for +your part of the work. If you like I will write you a check now." + +He drew out an ever-ready check-book and fountain pen. + +"I would rather have fair play than money," was Frank's stinging +retort. + +"And so say we all of us," chorused Harry, Billy and Lathrop. + +Mr. Barr was plainly irritated. In a snappish tone he said at +length: + +"If you can show me where I am to sleep I think I will go to bed. I +am very tired. We will discuss this matter further to-morrow." + +Ben Stubbs, with a very ill grace, made up a bed for the New Yorker +at some distance from the others. + +"I'd like to stuff it full of barb-wire," he confided to Frank +afterward. + +As for Sikaso, he eyed old Mr. Barr from time to time, and then eyed +his axe in a way that made it very plain that the two were connected +in his mind in a manner that would have made it very uncomfortable +for the old financier. + +But if Mr. Barr felt the atmosphere of repugnance to him that +pervaded the camp he did not show it. + +He rolled up in his blanket as if he had been used to a rough bed +all his life and was soon apparently wrapped in deep sleep. The +boys, tired out as they were and not a little downcast at the turn +events had taken, soon followed him. An hour later the River Camp +was as silent as a graveyard with the exception of Ben Stubbs' +mighty snores. + +It was then that old Mr. Barr, who had seemed so sound asleep, +cautiously raised his head from his blankets and peered about him. + +After a few minutes of this he slipped into the few clothes he had +discarded when he went to bed and tiptoed past the sleeping +adventurers down to the river bank and the launch. + +There was an evil smile on his face as he went that to those who +knew Luther Barr would have said as plain as print "Some mischief is +in the wind." + + * * * * * * * + +When the boys awoke the next morning the sun was streaming down on +their sleeping place with a strength that showed that it had been up +some time. With a start Frank sat up and looked about him. + +What was the matter with him? His eyes felt heavy and his throat +was parched. In his ears, too, there was a wild ringing sound and +his limbs felt stiff and inert. Shouting to the others, who were +gazing about them in a bewildered sort of way, Frank described his +symptoms. + +They all felt as badly as he did. + +"I feel like I'd been boiled in the ship's boiler along with the +cook's dish-rags," announced Ben Stubbs. + +Even old Sikaso shook his head mournfully and said that he didn't +feel at all well. + +"I wonder how old man Barr feels?" said the irreverent Billy rubbing +his red-rimmed eyes. + +The next minute there was a shout of astonishment from them all. + +Mr. Barr's blankets were empty and he was nowhere to be seen about +the camp! + +Forgetting their painful feelings in the shock of this discovery the +boys hastened to the river bank to see if by any chance he was down +at the steam launch. + +The launch, too, was missing! + +With a cry of rage Ben Stubbs shook his fist down the river. + +"I see it all, boys," he exclaimed. "The old scallywag drugged +us--doped us--that's why we feel so badly and--" + +"Howling bob-cats! I'll bet he's stolen a march on us and got away +with the ivory,"--this was Billy. + +There was a rush for the spot in which the precious stuff had been +cached. + +A few broken tusks lay there. + +But of the great hoard that the Boy Aviators had worked so +faithfully to salvage not a vestige remained. + +"Bilked, by the great hornspoon!" yelled Ben. + +"But not beaten yet," was Frank's calm rejoinder. "Come on, boys, +we've got to be stirring. Barr's got a long start of us, but we'll +get him yet. Ben, you and Sikaso will take one of the Arabs' +canoes--the ones they left at the river bank when they started after +us--Harry, Billy, Lathrop and I will fly to the coast in the Golden +Eagle II. We've just enough gasoline." + +"All right, sir," said Ben, touching his forelock with an old sailor +trick--a token of respect involuntarily forced from him by Frank's +manly promptitude in taking the bull by the horns, "We're with you +to the last ditch, the top of the main-top gallant, the bottom of +the deep-blue sea, or the ends of the earth." + +"That goes for us too, Frank," supplemented Billy. + +"And count me in on that," cried Lathrop. + +As for Harry, he gripped his brother's hand and the boys at once set +about their preparations to outwit their treacherous enemy. In the +midst of their bustle an interruption as utterly unexpected as it +was for a moment alarming occurred. + +The bushes parted and from them there stepped no less a person than +Muley-Hassan. + +He was followed a minute later by half-a-dozen fatigued-looking +followers. + +The boys' hands flew to their revolvers and Ben grabbed up a rifle. +Sikaso's ever-ready axe was in the air in a second. + +But the Arab put up his hand. + +"I have not come to fight but to bargain," he said. + +"You have beaten me at every point of the game. Diego is dead--" + +"Dead," cried Frank. + +"He was bitten by an adder as we were vainly searching for the +ivory," said the Arab sadly, "he died almost instantly." + +Of course the boys felt no sorrow for the death of the treacherous +scamp and did not pretend to. They had no great reason to love +Muley-Hassan either, so Frank said coldly: + +"What is it you want?" + +"Permission to take my canoes and leave this cursed country +forever." + +Frank waved toward the river. + +"Your canoes are where you left them the night you made the cowardly +attack on our camp. You can have them all but one. That one we +need." + +"Alas," sighed the Arab, "I do not need as many as I did when I +came. Of all my followers these alone remain." + +He pointed to the scant six, skinny, fever-stricken wretches who +stood behind him. + +"Good-by," said the stately Arab, holding out his hand in farewell, +"we shall never meet again, but I shall ever remember that you dealt +by me far better than I would have dealt by you." + +"At all events you have one good deed to look back to in your life," +exclaimed the impulsive Billy. + +The Arab looked at him questioningly. + +"You saved George Desmond's life," said the reporter shortly. + +"That was many years ago," said the Arab with a start of recognition +at the name of the dead explorer, "I have changed since." + +With a wave of the hand he strode to the river's edge and +half-an-hour later he and the remnant of his band were out of sight +round a bend in the upper river. + +At almost the same instant the boys soared aloft in the Golden Eagle +II, and the chase for the ivory was on. + +Below the flying aeroplane Ben Stubbs and old Sikaso--the latter as +silent as ever--paddled down the river in silence. + +It was a time for deeds, not talk. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +ABOARD "THE BRIGAND" + + +The Brigand, a black, schooner-rigged yacht of about 1800 tons, with +a yellow funnel amidships, and flying the red and blue burgee of the +Transatlantic Yacht Club, lay at anchor on the rolling blue swells +off the harbor of Assini in the early dawn of the day following the +treachery of Luther Barr. Her crew--for the most part a riff-raff +collection picked up in a hurry, for the old man had only made up +his mind to make his daring grab for the ivory at the last +minute--lolled about the decks idly. There was no one aboard to give +command, for Jack Halsey, the mate who had been in command since the +death of the captain had gone ashore the night before. + +As old Barr had prophesied, the mate's love for strong liquor had +overcome him and he was now lying hopelessly intoxicated in a low +drinking den. The raw "trade gin" that he had drunk had rendered +him insensible and so he would remain for many hours to come. + +Some sort of animation diffused itself among the crew as they saw a +low-laden launch headed toward them from the shore. In it were +seated Luther Barr and several negroes including the black captain. + +"Here, you lazy loafers!" hailed Barr, who was evidently in a bad +temper and also in a furious hurry, as the launch ranged alongside, +"bear a hand here and rig a sling and get this stuff aboard." + +The "stuff" referred to was the priceless collection of ivory which +lay higgeldy-piggeldy in the bottom of the launch just as it had +been thrown in by the negroes in Barr's pay. Anticipating that the +boys would put up a stiff fight for the ivory he had taken the +precaution to hire these ne'er-do-wells, who would do anything, from +cutting a throat to stealing a chicken, for pay. Barr had paid them +well and when he had arrived at the camp he had taken the precaution +to leave them down the river about half-a-mile while he went on +alone with the launch and her captain to see how the land lay. When +he realized that the boys were not fooled by his forged order from +Mr. Beasley he decided to use the chloroform he had bought for just +such an emergency, and then rousing his followers when the boys were +drugged it had not taken long with their united efforts to load the +ivory. + +Urged on by Barr's promise of a large reward the captain of the +launch had spun his little vessel down the river at top speed and +thus had been able to make the coast in record time. + +"Where in thunder is that mate Halsey?" roared Barr as he saw the +bos'n--a seedy-looking fellow from the London slums--taking charge +of the transfer of the ivory from the launch to the deck of the +Brigand. + +"He went ashore last night," rejoined the other. + +"And I suppose he is helplessly drunk now," raged Barr. "How in the +name of fortune are we going to get the yacht out of here?" + +"Wait till he gets sober," was the bos'n's grunted reply as the men +hastily transferred the last of the precious freight of tusks to the +Brigand's deck. + +Barr jumped to the accommodation ladder and was aboard in a second, +despite his apparent feebleness. His face was distorted with rage +and cupidity. + +"We have got to get out of here at once--now do you understand?" he +roared, crazed with rage. + +"I'll give a thousand dollars to the man that will get me out of +this harbor and well off to sea." + +"If it comes to that I guess I can take a chance of navigating the +yacht even if I don't hold a master's ticket," replied the bos'n. + +"But are you a navigator?" questioned Barr eagerly + +"Well, Mr. Barr, I held a master's ticket once before drink got me +and I piled my ship on a reef," was the answer. + +"You're good enough for me!" shouted Barr overjoyed, "and now we'll +up anchor and get away from this abominable coast." + +He scanned the sky shoreward anxiously. He did not confide to his +new captain, however, the fact that at any moment he expected to see +swift vengeance in the shape of the Golden Eagle II pursuing him. + +With the roustabout crew that had been shipped in New York from a +West Street boarding-master it took some time to get the anchor +broken out--the men going at their work sulkily. At last, however, +it was "up and down" as the sailors say, and Luther Barr himself +signaled on the engine-room telegraph "Full speed, ahead." The +engines of the yacht begin to revolve and the crafty old pillager +almost gave a cry of joy as he felt the vibration beneath his feet. + +The Boy Aviators could not cross the Atlantic in the aeroplane and +there would not be a ship leaving the coast for a month. + +Luther Barr chuckled. + +He had beaten the boys at their own game. + +By the time they arrived in New York the ivory would have been sold +in London and he would be traveling in Europe on his ill-earned +gains. That Beasley (his unsuspecting partner) would be ruined gave +the money-crazed old man no care at all. + +But even as the launch cast loose from the moving yacht and headed +back to the shore--her occupants greedily fingering the bills Barr +had given them for their work--Barr, from his station on the bridge, +gave a start and an exclamation. + +High in the air, and not more than ten miles inland, a black object +that looked like a huge bird, but which Barr knew in his guilty soul +was the Golden Eagle II, was rapidly winging its way toward them. + +"More steam," he shouted down the tube to the engineer and the +yacht, a long creamy wave curving away from her sharp black bow, +began to move even faster. + +"What are we making?" Barr asked eagerly of the late bos'n who, +binoculars in hand, was taking the ship out through the treacherous +harbor entrance as confidently as if he were once more a captain. + +"Twelve knots," was the reply. + +"We must do better," raged Barr. + +"Impossible!" was the answer. "We are risking the yacht now. I am +not familiar with this harbor and there are shoals and reefs all +about us stretching many miles out to sea. At any moment, unless we +proceed cautiously, we may run aground. Five knots would suit me +better than twelve." + +Barr chafed silently. The reply was unanswerable. + +Better to go slow than to run the ship ashore. Suddenly he snatched +the binoculars from the man beside him and turned them on the +aeroplane. He almost uttered a cry of triumph as the craft swung +into his field of vision. + +There was something the matter with her. + +She was no longer rushing straight ahead. + +As Luther Barr watched her he saw the great aircraft swoop in a huge +circle above the town and then settle down so swiftly that it looked +as if she must have been dashed to pieces. But the town was hidden +behind a point and he could not see it. + +"I hope she has been dashed to pieces," he gritted between his teeth +savagely, "that would mean the saving of a lot of trouble for me." + +But even as he prepared to put the binoculars back in the pocket +alongside the binnacle with an evil smile playing about his thin +lips, there came a startling shock. + +Barr was almost thrown from his feet and only saved himself from +falling by grasping a stanchion. The ship quivered from stem to +stern as if she had been hit a staggering blow. + +"We've struck a reef!" exclaimed the late bos'n. + +"A reef!" yelled Barr, beside himself with fury. + +"I told you we would if you insisted on keeping up such a speed," +angrily replied the other. + +Beside himself with rage Barr picked up a heavy belaying pin to +which, the signal halyards had been attached and struck the man +before him a terrible blow with it. + +Fortunately for his intended victim--for Barr in his rage would not +have cared had he killed him--he ducked just in time and the blow +was a glancing one. The man came at him like a tiger, but Barr, +quick as a flash, slid his hand into his coat pocket. + +"If you advance a step nearer I'll blow your brains out," he said +coldly. + +There was a glitter in his eyes that showed he meant what he said +and with a muttered: + +"I'll get even with you, Barr, as sure as my name is Al Davis," the +late captain of the Brigand left the bridge. + +Barr's active mind was at work at once planning schemes to get the +ivory off immediately. Accustomed to crises of all kinds, the +recent scene with the man Davis hadn't even warmed his chilly blood. + +Calling the engineer he ordered an immediate inspection to be made. +The result was discouraging. The Brigand lay with her bow hard and +fast on a low sunken reef and while there was no apparent leak the +chief engineer shook his head at the vessel's plight. + +That there was grave danger was evidenced a short while after when +the fire-room force--which had been ordered to keep steam up in the +hope of backing the ship off later--came pouring on deck crying that +there was three feet of water in the fire-room. + +"That settles it," said the chief. "We are on a doomed ship." + +"The boats! The boats!" shouted the men. + +"Stay where you are," bellowed Barr, mad with rage, "get that ivory +off first." + +"To blazes with your ivory," shouted a grizzled old fireman, "do you +think we are going to perish aboard here for such an old skinflint +as you?" + +"Why, if we had time we'd run you up at your own main-gaff you old +land-shark," shouted another. + +"Come on! the boats--the boats!" they yelled. + +Barr stood irresolute while they lowered the four boats that the +Brigand carried and piled into them. The shore was only a few miles +off and they would reach it in a few hours. + +While Barr hesitated he felt the ship give a lurch. She was +settling! + +That decided him. + +Ivory or no ivory he feared such a death as he felt convinced would +come to any one unfortunate enough to be aboard the ship in a few +hours' time even more than he did the loss of the ivory. + +"Hold on!" he shouted to the men in the boats, "I'm coming along." + +"Not much you ain't," yelled Davis--the man he had dealt the blow +to, "you stay there and rot with your ivory--you old crook." + +With mocking laughs the men pulled away and Luther Barr, master of +millions, was left alone on the sinking yacht. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE BOY AVIATORS HOLD A WINNING HAND + + +The cause of the sudden swoop of the Golden Eagle II that Barr had +seen from the yacht with such satisfaction was the need of +replenishing her gasoline tank. The big craft landed in the dusty +public square of the city where pretty well every one in the town +was on hand when her runners and pneumatic tired supporting wheels +struck the ground. The young adventurers were out of her in a few +minutes and the first man to grasp their hands was M. Desplaines. + +"I am delighted to see you," he exclaimed, "but if you anticipated +catching Luther Barr you are too late." + +"We saw his yacht steaming out to sea," rejoined Frank, "but if only +we can get more gasoline we can catch him yet." + +"What, you mean to pursue him?" + +"We certainly do. He has stolen the ivory that we recovered at so +much risk to ourselves." + +"I didn't realize, of course, what your errand was," said M. +Desplaines in reply, "till Mr. Barr arrived here in his yacht the +other day and informed me that you had stolen a cache of ivory +belonging to him and asked my aid to help in capturing you. I had +no means of disproving his story so I lent him the steam launch, but +I see now by his action in hastening to the yacht that he is, as you +say, the real thief." + +Hastily Frank told a part of their adventures and if he had had any +remaining doubt of the boys' sincerity the consular agent was soon +convinced of the truth of their story and of the villainy of Barr. + +"I can get you some gasoline--," he said. "A merchant here in town +recently bought a launch and as the freight boats do not touch in +here often he has laid in a large supply of the fuel. I have no +doubt that at my request he will be glad to sell you as much as you +require." + +This was good news indeed, and the boys hastened round to the house +of M. Desplaine's friend. To their unspeakable regret, however, he +was absent on a fishing expedition in his launch. + +"If that isn't tough luck," exclaimed Billy disgustedly, "what can +we do now?" + +"Wait till he gets back or else break into his warehouse," said +Harry. + +"We cannot commit burglary," said Frank, "we shall have to wait." + +M. Desplaines invited the party to lunch at his house but as may be +imagined they did not eat much. Each was in too much of a hurry to +ascertain if the fisherman had not returned. Immediately the meal +was dispatched, therefore, they hastened out into the street and +here they encountered a strange scene. + +A score or more of rough-looking characters had just landed from +four ship's boats that lay moored at the small wharf. They had +joined forces with the crew of the launch that had aided in the +ivory hunt and all were bent on a carouse. The boys were hardly +able to speak from excitement when they read on the stern of each of +the boats the words "Brigand N. Y." + +"Those boats are from Barr's yacht," cried Frank. + +"So they are," cried M. Desplaines, "and from some of these men +perhaps we shall be able to hear what has happened." + +It was an easy matter to get the story from the crew. + +The only trouble was they all wanted to talk at once. Bit by bit, +however, the boys got the story and learned that the Brigand was +sinking with a big hole in her bottom. While the others were +talking a tall man, who formed part of the crew that had just +landed, beckoned Frank aside: + +"Come here, young master," he said, "I want a word with you. You +are one of the Boy Aviators?" + +"I am!" replied Frank, "who are you?" + +"My name's Al Davis; I was a skipper once--but never mind that now. +But if you want to make a piece of money out of salvage I'll tell +you how if you make it worth my while." + +"What is it you have to tell me?" asked Frank. + +For reply the man put his hand up to Frank's ear and whispered +cautiously. + +"Is that worth anything?" he asked after he had imparted the +information. + +"Well I should say so," cried Frank joyously, and he slipped the man +a bill of large denomination. + +"I'll buy everybody a drink," shouted Davis, shuffling off. + +"Come on, boys, we've no time to lose!" Frank exclaimed the next +minute and they hastened round to the house of M. Desplaines' +friend. + +This time that worthy was at home and greeted them warmly. He had a +plentiful stock of gasoline more than enough, he said--and he gladly +sold them all they wanted. + +In a few minutes the Golden Eagle II's main and reserve tanks were +replenished to the full and the boys were ready for a record flight +to the wreck. + +So far Frank had not divulged to the others what his information +concerning the wreck was that he had received from Davis, and he did +not now though he felt sorely tempted to. + +Amid cheers from the crowd the Golden Eagle II, with all the +adventurers aboard, soared once more into the air; but this time +headed out to sea. They had not risen a hundred feet before they +sighted the wreck, which had struck round a low point out of sight +from the town. She lay, a dismal-looking object, heeled over to one +side; but Frank saw, to his intense joy, that there was still a +feeble curl of smoke coming from her stack. + +This meant that the water had not yet extinguished her fires and was +favorable to the daring plan he had conceived. + +As the Golden Eagle II drew nearer, the figure of old Luther Barr +could be plainly seen rushing about on the upper bridge. + +He seemed demented with terror. + +"Save me! save me! the ship is going down!" he cried in agonized +tones, as a few minutes later the aeroplane swung in big circles +above his head. + +The boys, despite their righteous anger at the wicked old man, yet +could not help feeling some pity mingled with their amusement as the +old coward ran about the bridge like a crazy man. + +"We'll get you off if you'll agree to do something for us," hailed +Frank through his megaphone as the aeroplane soared in big circles +round the wreck and the distracted old man. + +"Anything, anything!" cried back old Barr piteously. + +"Will you sign a release for the ivory you stole from us, admitting +your theft?" asked Frank. + +"Yes, yes, my boys. I'll sign anything, but get me off. I don't +want to die like this. Oh this is a terrible end!" + +"What are you going to do, Frank?" asked Billy, as the Golden Eagle +II, in obedience to Frank's controlling hand, began to drop. + +"You see that sand bank that the falling tide has exposed," was +Frank's reply. + +They all nodded. + +"I am going to land there and we can wade through the water to the +yacht. I judge the water isn't more than three feet deep at the +deepest part." + +The landing was made without a hitch--the sand being of the +hard-ribbed variety that covers the numerous reefs along the west +African coast. + +After a short interval of wading the boys stood on the deck of the +Brigand, where she hung on the edge of the reef. Frank's sharp eyes +noticed that except for her forefoot the vessel was in deep water, +as the reef dropped off quite abruptly. + +Old Barr received them with almost hysterical joy. + +"This is better than I deserve, boys; better than I deserve," he +kept repeating. + +"You had better stop your sniveling," said Frank sharply, thoroughly +disgusted with the cowardly old rascal. "Where are pens, ink and +paper?" + +The ivory merchant led the way to the chart-house. "Be quick, +boys--she might sink," he stuttered. + +The document that Frank dictated, Luther Barr signed and the others +witnessed, read like this: + +"I, Luther Barr, of New York, do here by deed, make over and assign +to the Boy Aviators--namely Frank and Harry Chester, William Barnes +and Lathrop Beasley, all my share, claim or equity in the ivory +which I wrongfully stole from them, which fact I with shame +acknowledge. I hereby affix my signature which I admit in the +presence of witnesses to be my true manner of signing." + +"Now," said Frank, "just to show we are not mean, there is some +ivory left in the Moon Mountains, near the spot which is indicated +on your map. Sikaso, a faithful Krooman, hid it for us when we +could not carry it away. If you find it you can have it." + +The old man rubbed his hands in greedy glee. + +"Oh thank you, boys; thank you, I'll find it, I'll find it," he +croaked, his wrinkled old face wreathed in smiles. + +"Lathrop," ordered Frank, "you and Billy take Mr. Barr back to +shore. Harry and I will stay here. + +"We have a lot to do. Leave the Golden Eagle ashore to be packed +and forwarded later. Hurry back in the launch." + +"What are you going to do?" demanded Barr. + +"I think that your interest in our movements ceased with the signing +of this paper," rejoined Frank. + +At that moment the Brigand gave a violent shudder as if she was +indeed about to go down. With a shrill scream of terror old Barr +ran out on deck and hastily clambered down on to the reef. From +there he waded with Billy and Lathrop to the Golden Eagle II, and +was taken ashore. + +"Now then to work," said Frank as the aeroplane winged her way +shoreward with their enemy. + +"What are you going to do?" demanded Harry in an astonished tone. +There didn't seem to be much to do to his mind but wait till they +were taken off the stranded yacht by the launch. + +"You'll see," replied Frank. "In the first place, Harry, the +Brigand was never in any danger of sinking. She is as sound as a +dollar." + +"Are you crazy?" cried Harry, "why there's a lot of water in her +engine-room. She must have sprung a leak as big as a house." + +Frank laughed. + +"There are more ways of killing a cat than by choking it with +cream," was his cryptic remark. "What would you say if I told you +that in an hour's time we, will have every drop of water out of the +yacht, and that following that we will have her afloat again at +high-water." + +"That you are a marvel." + +"Well, it's going to happen--come with me." + +Frank led the way to the engine-room. + +"Luckily I know something about marine engines since we took that +trip on the gun boat in Nicaragua." + +He examined the gauges. They showed sixty pounds of steam still in +the boilers. + +"Not much--but enough," was Frank's comment. He then turned to two +valve wheels on the working platform and started to screw them up. + +"What in the world are you doing?" asked Harry. + +"Closing the sea-cocks which were opened by Al Davis, the former +bos'n, in revenge for a blow Luther Barr struck him when the ship +went aground," was Frank's astonishing reply. + +"But how in thunder do you know about that?" + +"Davis told me while you were trying to get something out of those +fellows who were all gabbling at once." + +"And when you have closed up the sea-cocks?" + +"Then I shall start the centrifugal pumps going to empty the +engine-room, and we'll soon have her as sound as a dollar." + +Luckily the water had not, as Frank had surmised, reached the fires, +and though low there was enough pressure of steam to run the pumps +till the boys were able to work in the stoke-hold. Then both boys +set to work with a will and soon had the furnaces going full-blast, +and the steam gauges registered seventy, then eighty and then one +hundred and fifty pounds. + +"There, that will do," exclaimed Frank, as, pretty well tuckered +out, they threw aside their shovels. "Now we have to wait for the +tide and reinforcements." + +They had not long to wait. + +Of course at the height the tide now was the reef was pretty well +covered and it would have been impossible to make a landing in the +air-ship, so Billy had chartered the power launch of the friend who +had sold them the gasoline. + +Ben Stubbs and Sikaso, who had arrived late that' afternoon, were on +board the little craft and Ben's loud "Ahoy!" brought the Boy +Aviators to the rail on the jump--waving and shouting greetings. + +But there were others in the launch, and among them the boys spied +several faces of bronzed men who looked thorough seamen. M. +Desplaines, who was in the launch, explained that they had formed +part of the crew of a steamer that had been wrecked down the coast +some weeks previously. They had been waiting for a ship and were +willing to work their passage home: to New York. Among them was +their captain, a good seaman and a former yacht skipper. + +"But--but," said Frank amazedly, as the men piled on board and the +boys all shook hands madly with everybody. "We can't take this +yacht--it isn't ours, we have no right." + +M. Desplaines held out a piece of paper; smiling as he did so. It +was covered with writing in Luther Barr's cramped hand and was a +characteristic document. Stripped of its legal phraseology it was +an agreement to the effect that if the boys would make no salvage +charges for saving the yacht, they could have her free of cost to +sail back to New York. + +"But," said Frank, "how did he know we intended to save her?" + +"'The man Davis got boisterously drunk and when arrested admitted +that the yacht was in no danger and that he had flooded her +stoke-hold out of revenge," explained M. Desplaines. + +"In that case, why does not Mr. Barr come back to New York on her?" +demanded Frank. + +The consular agent smiled. + +"He thinks he is on the track of more ivory and has already engaged +part of an expedition," he replied. "To tell you the truth, his +anxiety to save expense on the yacht has had quite as much to do +with his loaning her to you as anything else. He expects you to pay +the crew. If you wish to go back to New York on this yacht I will +have your aeroplane dismantled and forwarded by freight." + +"Well," laughed Frank, "will we, boys?" + +"I should say we will!" came in a chorus. + +"And steam back to old New York?" + +"You bet." + +As Frank had anticipated, at flood-tide the yacht was backed off +under her own power and then came the time for farewells--and warm +ones they were. To Sikaso the boys presented a rifle and an +automatic revolver as the noble old fellow would not hear of taking +money. The last glimpse they had of their black friend, as the +yacht headed due west for America, he was standing gloomily in the +stern of the launch--one hand on his faithful axe and the other +raised against the blue sky as if in benediction. + +"Well," said Frank, as the distance shut out the picture, "we are +bound for home at last." + +"What ever will they say when they hear of our adventures?" cried +Harry. + +"And the recovery of the ivory?" chimed in Lathrop, "my father's +business is saved. We must cable from the Canaries of our success." + +"And the narrative of George Desmond and our own experiences with +the Flying Men?" chimed in Billy. + +"Oh, you'll have to can that rarebit dream!" cried Harry. + +"I will not!" exclaimed Billy indignantly. "I'm going to print it." + +"On the funny page maybe. I'd like to see the newspaper that would +publish such a yarn." + +Alas for poor Billy! Harry was right. + +Nobody would believe his strange tale and last he grew tired of +telling it, and even to hardly credit it himself. + +As for George Desmond's time-yellowed pages they repose in the +Smithsonian Institute, and after a learned wrangle between savants +of all countries--lasting many months--it was agreed that the poor +explorer must have lost his mind and that the narrative of the +Flying Men was the offspring of a brain crazed by suffering. + +"It's a strange termination to our adventures to be steaming home on +Barr's yacht," said Frank, after a long pause in which they had all +gazed back at the fast dimming shore of the Dark Continent. + +"I should say so," cried Lathrop. "It's as near as I ever want to +get to him, too." + +"Same here," joined in Billy, "but I don't suppose we shall ever +hear from him again." + +But Billy was wrong. + +The boys did hear from Luther Barr again and in an extraordinary +manner. The malevolent old man was to be the cause of some +surprising adventures in which the boys at the risk of their lives +were once more pitted against powerful enemies. + +With what flying colors they emerged from their dangers, +difficulties and adventures will be told in the next volume of this +series--"THE BOY AVIATORS' TREASURE QUEST; or THE GOLDEN GALLEON." + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Boy Aviators in Africa, by Wilbur Lawton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY AVIATORS IN AFRICA *** + +***** This file should be named 6905-0.txt or 6905-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/9/0/6905/ + +Produced by Sean Pobuda +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: The Boy Aviators in Africa + +Author: Wilbur Lawton + +Posting Date: November 1, 2014 [EBook #6905] +Release Date: November, 2004 +First Posted: February 10, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY AVIATORS IN AFRICA *** + + + + +Produced by Sean Pobuda + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1> +<br /><br /><br /> +THE BOY AVIATORS IN AFRICA +</h1> + +<p class="t3"> +OR +</p> + +<p class="t2"> +AN AERIAL IVORY TRAIL +</p> + +<p class="t3b"> +By Captain Wilbur Lawton +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="t3b"> +CONTENTS +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> + I <a href="#chap01">A REUNION</a><br /> + II <a href="#chap02">THE STOLEN IVORY</a><br /> + III <a href="#chap03">THE DARK CONTINENT</a><br /> + IV <a href="#chap04">THE WITCH-DOCTOR</a><br /> + V <a href="#chap05">THE POOL OF DEATH</a><br /> + VI <a href="#chap06">A SNAP-SHOT FIEND IN TROUBLE</a><br /> + VII <a href="#chap07">A TRAITOR IN CAMP</a><br /> + VIII <a href="#chap08">A BATTLE IN THE AIR</a><br /> + IX <a href="#chap09">THE VOICE OF THE MOUNTAIN</a><br /> + X <a href="#chap10">THE ARAB'S CACHE</a><br /> + XI <a href="#chap11">THE AGE OF SIKASO</a><br /> + XII <a href="#chap12">IN THE HANDS OF SLAVE-TRADERS</a><br /> + XIII <a href="#chap13">GORILLAS—AND AN AERIAL TOW-LINE</a><br /> + XIV <a href="#chap14">AN ESCAPE—AND WHAT CAME OF IT</a><br /> + XV <a href="#chap15">THE FLYING MEN</a><br /> + XVI <a href="#chap16">FOOLING AN ARAB CHIEF</a><br /> + XVII <a href="#chap17">THE "ROGUE" ELEPHANT</a><br /> + XVIII <a href="#chap18">A LINK FROM THE PAST</a><br /> + XIX <a href="#chap19">FRIENDS IN NEED</a><br /> + XX <a href="#chap20">THE SMOKE READER</a><br /> + XXI <a href="#chap21">THE CHUMS RESCUED BY AEROPLANE</a><br /> + XXII <a href="#chap22">LUTHER BARR'S TRICK</a><br /> + XXIII <a href="#chap23">ABOARD "THE BRIGAND"</a><br /> + XXIV <a href="#chap24">THE BOY AVIATORS HOLD A WINNING HAND</a><br /> +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap01"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER I +</h3> + +<h3> +A REUNION +</h3> + +<p> +"Here, Harry, catch hold." +</p> + +<p> +"Ouch—I dropped that cartridge box on my pet corn." +</p> + +<p> +"Say, you fellows, are we going to Africa or are we on a Coney +Island picnic?" +</p> + +<p> +"Be serious now, Billy Barnes, you may be all right as a reporter, +but as a shipping clerk you're no more good than a cold storage +egg." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, I'm doing the best I can," was the indignant reply, +"here—I've got it all down: Box 10— One waterproof tent, one +rubber-blanket, tent-pegs, ropes, more ropes.—Say, Frank, what in +the name of the 'London Times' and jumping horn-toads do you want so +much rope for?" +</p> + +<p> +"To tie up a certain young reporter named William Barnes when he +gets too fresh," was the laughing reply. +</p> + +<p> +The three boys sat about a heaped, confused collection of ammunition, +cooking-utensils, rifles, and camp "duffle" in general, one evening +late in May. The eldest of the group, a sunny-faced, clear eyed lad +of about sixteen, held in his hand a notebook from which he called out +the inventory of the articles piled about him as his brother, a youth +of fourteen, sorted them out. The third member of the trio was a +short, stocky chap of possibly seventeen, with sharp, blue eyes that +gleamed behind a pair of huge spectacles. He was examining a camera +with care; from time to time turning his attention to an open notebook +that lay beside him in which he was supposed to be entering the list +as the other called it off. +</p> + +<p> +The place where the boys were busying themselves was the upper floor +of a large garage in the rear of the Chester residence, on Madison +Avenue, New York City, which had been turned into a workshop for the +two young Chesters—Frank and Harry—already well known to our +readers as The Boy Aviators. The well set-up lad who was so +industriously calling off the equipment that lay scattered about was +Frank Chester, and the ready classifier of the mixed-up outfit was +Harry, his younger brother. The third member of the group was Billy +Barnes, the young reporter, already down to us as the chronicler of +the Chester boys' adventures in Nicaragua and the depths of the +Everglades of Florida. Since the boys' return from Florida on the +U. S. torpedo boat, the Tarantula, they had been busy putting into +shape the rough working plans of the African hunting expedition they +had planned as a sort of vacation. +</p> + +<p> +The ample bonus the government had awarded them for their singularly +clever work in rescuing Lieutenant Chapin, the inventor of +Chapinite, by their aeroplane Golden Eagle II, had supplied them +with ample funds for their trip. As for Billy Barnes (or "Our +Special Staff Correspondent, William Barnes," as he was now known), +besides the sum realized from the sale of the rubies the boys found +in the Quesal Cave in Nicaragua, the money the youthful scribe had +made on writing up the boys' Florida adventures had provided him +with a good fat nest-egg. +</p> + +<p> +The natural stimulus given to the red-blooded Chester boys by Mr. +Roosevelt's hunting adventures had a good deal to do, with their +resolution to go to Africa. And now—after several weeks of work on +getting together as good an outfit as was procurable—they were +putting what Billy called "the finishing touches" on their +accoutrements. Stacked in corners of the room were big chests +painted blue and marked with the boys' names and neatly numbered in +white painted characters. These cases contained the different +sections of the Golden Eagle II, the aeroplane equipped with +wireless, that had made history in Florida. +</p> + +<p> +There were twenty of these cases besides the ones labeled "Camp +Outfit," "Medical," "Armory Chest," "Grub Chest," and several +nondescript ones containing the odds and ends that an expedition of +the kind they planned would find indispensable. In some smaller +boxes also were packed yards and yards of bright-colored cloth and +calico, spangles, cheap jewelry and brass ornaments for use among +the natives. In making up their outfit the boys had taken the +advice of a well-known African traveler who had retired from his +adventurous life to purchase a place in New Jersey, where he +intended to spend his remain days. Through a mutual friend the boys +obtained an introduction to him and his advice in selecting the +outfit had been simply invaluable. +</p> + +<p> +</p> + +<p> +"Go easy, carry lots of quinine, don't waste ammunition, and count +ten before you pick a quarrel with a native," had been his simply +laid-down rules for getting along in Africa, and these rules the +boys had determined to adhere to strictly. +</p> + +<p> +"Say, is this going to be a hunting trip or an invasion of Africa?" +inquired Billy, quizzically as Harry sorted out and Frank read off +ceaselessly the apparently interminable inventory of the supplies of +the Chester party. "I'm getting writer's cramp." +</p> + +<p> +"A hunting party of course," laughed Frank, "but you know that +hunters who go into the bush depending on their rifles usually come +out a good deal thinner than when they went in. +</p> + +<p> +"That's so," assented Billy, "but when we have a sixty-mile +aeroplane like the Golden Eagle II we can easily fly out to +civilization in case of necessity." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, if we have enough gasoline," assented Harry, "but how much can +we carry into the bush?" +</p> + +<p> +"Just enough for our purposes and no more," replied Frank, readily, +"fortunately the soluble tablets of picric and glycerine will help +out our supply materially. A few of these tablets dissolved in +gasoline render the efficiency of one ordinary gallon equal to +three; but I don't care to use them except in a case of absolute +necessity as they are very hard on an engine." +</p> + +<p> +"Then we can count on every gallon we carry being of triple +efficiency?" asked Billy. +</p> + +<p> +"Certainly," replied Frank, who had invented the tablets in +question, and which were an extremely useful addition to the +equipment of the modern aviator. As the boys worked on and the +equipment, as it was classified, was packed away in the cases +assigned to each class of articles, there came a sharp knock at the +door of the garage building and a servant entered with a special +delivery letter to Frank. The boy tore it open eagerly and then +gave a low whistle of astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +"Read it out, Harry," he said, handing the missive to his brother. +"It concerns all of us." +</p> + +<p> +Harry took it and read as follows: +</p> + +<p> +DEAR FRANK AND HARRY: +</p> + +<p> +Shall be in town to-morrow morning with my father and Mr. Luther +Barr, the well-known ivory importer. He has a communication of +importance for you. What it is I am afraid to trust to writing, but +you will know full details when you see us. Will you call at the +Waldorf at ten-thirty and have breakfast? We can discuss the matter +over the meal. All I can say now is that if the Golden Eagle is +still in shape for her old-time stunts there is work ahead of her +that will prove harder than anything she has yet tackled. However, +I know you are not the chaps to balk at a little danger—particularly +when exciting adventures are in the wind. +</p> + +<p> +So long, then, till to-morrow: +</p> + +<p> + "LATHROP EASLEY"<br /> +</p> + +<p> +"Well, what do you know about that?" gasped Billy Barnes, "here we +are fixing up for a nice little holiday trip to rest our shattered +nerves, and here comes, a job along that looks as if we should have +to work all summer." +</p> + +<p> +"It certainly is curious," replied Frank musingly. +</p> + +<p> +"What can Lathrop mean? Who is Luther Barr? I have heard the name +but I cannot place him." +</p> + +<p> +"Lathrop says he is an ivory importer," suggested Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"Easy to find out," said the resourceful Billy. "Where's the 'phone +book?" +</p> + +<p> +Frank handed the volume to him from its hook beside the instrument. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah—here we are," exclaimed Billy, as he ran his finger triumphantly +down the "B" list. "Barr, Luther—that's our man, eh? Ivory +importer, offices No. 42 Wall Street—home, White Plains." +</p> + +<p> +"White Plains, that's where Lathrop's folks live," exclaimed Harry. +"That's where he first became associated with the Golden Eagle." +</p> + +<p> +"And turned out to be a good partner," added Frank. +</p> + +<p> +"A jim dandy," agreed Billy. "I tell you boys, I've got a good nose +for news and if there isn't some sort of a story back of Mr. Luther +Barr and Lathrop's letter I'll eat my hat without sauce." +</p> + +<p> +Any acceptance of the young reporter's generous offer was interrupted +by a sudden noise in the usually quiet street. +</p> + +<p> +"I tell you the fare's a dollar!" the boys heard an angry voice +declaim. +</p> + +<p> +"'Tain't nothing of the kind or I'm a lubber—fifty cents is all +I'll pay. I'll be horn-swoggled if you get a cent more, yer +deep-sea pirate," was the indignant phrased reply. +</p> + +<p> +Something in the voice was strangely familiar but the "horn-swoggled" +settled it. +</p> + +<p> +"Ben Stubbs," gasped all the boys simultaneously and rushed out of +the garage to the street. +</p> + +<p> +Here they found a stoutly-built, crisp-bearded man with a face +tanned to what Billy called a "weathered oak finish," arguing loudly +with a taxicab chauffeur. The man was obdurate over his fare and +just at, the boys came on the scene was suggesting that his equally +determined passenger get back in the cab and take a ride to the +police station. +</p> + +<p> +"The sergeant will settle our dispute," he said angrily. +</p> + +<p> +"What's the trouble, Ben?" exclaimed Frank, giving the angry man on +the pavement a hearty slap on the back. +</p> + +<p> +"Why, this here piratical craft," the other was beginning when +suddenly he dropped the battered bag he carried and burst into a +mighty roar—a regular Cape Horn hail. +</p> + +<p> +"Back my topsails if it ain't you, Frank," he cried, wringing the +other's hands till the boy's arms were almost dislocated. "And you +too, Harry, and keel haul me ef here ain't Billy too. Well, if it +ain't good to see, you Chester boys again." +</p> + +<p> +"Say, are you the Chester Boys—the Boy Aviators?" suddenly cut in +the chauffeur in a respectful tone. +</p> + +<p> +"We are," replied Frank, "why?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, well," said the chauffeur, "then I'll let your friend off with +fifty cents. I thought he was a 'greeny'." +</p> + +<p> +With that, he calmly twisted the dial of the cab which registered +$1.00 back to the fifty cent mark and coolly pocketed the coin the +indignant Ben handed. +</p> + +<p> +"Does that thing work backwards?" demanded the amazed old +adventurer, as the taxi whizzed off before he could frame words to +express his indignation. +</p> + +<p> +"Not often," replied Billy with a laugh. "I guess that chap reads +the papers and thought it wouldn't do him any good to try to fool a +particular friend of the Boy Aviators." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, boys, what are your plans?" demanded Ben, as—after the +rugged fellow had been introduced to Mrs. Chester, a sweet-faced old +lady, and Mr. Chester, a fine-looking, gray-haired man of about +fifty—he and the boys sat in the garage discussing the African +outfit. +</p> + +<p> +"We hardly know now," replied Frank, and then in a few words he +described Lathrop's letter and its contents. +</p> + +<p> +"Wherever that boy is there's bound to be doings," remarked Ben, +sententiously, when the young leader had finished. "Down in Florida +when he wasn't tumbling into alligators' mouths or getting bit by +serpents he was allers up to some mischief—you mark my words +there's something in the wind now." +</p> + +<p> +The boys talked late and long that night over the letter and what +possible plan Mr. Barr, the ivory importer, could have to discuss +that would be of interest to them, but they were able to arrive at +no definite conclusion except that there was nothing to be done +about it till morning. +</p> + +<p> +As for Ben with his usual philosophic attitude toward mysteries, he +filled his pipe and silently smoked. To those of our readers who +have not met Ben this phase of his character may seem inexplicable, +but to the boys Ben's passive acceptance of any situation had become +quite familiar. Ever since they had rescued the rugged old +adventurer from a marooned treasure-mine in Nicaragua and he had +shared their strange adventures in Florida on the Chapin Rescue +Expedition, the old man had become as much a part of their necessary +equipment as the Golden Eagle itself. He had arrived that night in +response to a telegraphed request to his cottage at Amityville on +Long Island, where he cultivated an extensive farm—also part of the +Quesal ruby profits—and devoted himself to fishing and hunting. +</p> + +<p> +'The Boys' mere word, however, that they were off to Africa had been +sufficient to arouse the old man's roving instinct and here he was +on deck once more as active as a boy and almost as impatient for the +start for the Dark Continent. Ben slept at the Chester's home that +night and if his dreams were not as populated with visions of +elephants, leopards, deer, huge snakes and pigmy savages as theirs +it was not any lack of interest in the coming expedition that was +responsible for it. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap02"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER II +</h3> + +<h3> +THE STOLEN IVORY +</h3> + +<p> +"Will you please send this card up to Mr. Beasley's rooms and tell +him that the visitors he was expecting are here?" +</p> + +<p> +It was Frank Chester who spoke early the next day, as the boys, in +response to Lathrop's letter, stood at the Waldorf desk. The clerk +looked at them a little disdainfully. Frank and Harry Chester were +not the sort of boys who devoted much time to thinking about clothes +and while they both wore dark neat-fitting suits they certainly did +look a little out of place among the pasty-faced, cigarette-smoking +youths in loud-looking garments who constituted most of the young +men with whom the clerk was in the habit of coming in contact. +</p> + +<p> +"I don't think that Mr. Beasley can see you now, call later," he +began, superciliously turning round to the letter-rack and sorting +out the mail and putting each guest's letters in the proper box. +</p> + +<p> +For a second an angry flush rose to Frank's face. The man's manner +was enough to irritate any high spirited boy. But Frank Chester was +not given to what Bill Barnes called "flying off the handle." He +calmly took another card from his pocket and in a rather sharp +voice, though his tones were even enough said: +</p> + +<p> +"Are you going to send that card up at once or shall I call the room +on the telephone?" +</p> + +<p> +The clerk faced quickly about. The two youths he had looked upon as +rather awkward country bumpkins, judging as he did from their tanned +faces and broad shoulders, were evidently not to be trifled with. He +glanced at the card as he rolled it up and handed it to a boy to be +placed in a pneumatic tube and shot up to the fourth floor, on which +Mr. Beasley and his party had taken rooms. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, you are the Chester boys?" he exclaimed with a strong accent on +the "the" and in markedly more respectful tones. +</p> + +<p> +"We are," said Frank with a smile which was reflected on his +brother's face. +</p> + +<p> +"I beg your pardon for keeping you waiting, I'm sure," said the +clerk with an apologetic leer, meant to be an engaging smile. +</p> + +<p> +"That's all right," said Frank shortly, turning away from the desk. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, having your name in the paper does do you some good after +all," remarked Harry with a laugh. "That fellow certainly turned a +flip-flop, when he found out who we were." +</p> + +<p> +Five minutes later the boys were ushered into the Beasley rooms and +were busily engaged shaking hands and exchanging all sorts of boyish +exclamations of welcome with Lathrop Beasley, a tall, rather slender +youth who had been their companion in Florida. Like the boys, +Lathrop was an accomplished aviator and wireless operator, although +he had not the initiative or the sturdy pluck to perform the feats +that they had. He was, however, a boy of considerable brain and +skill and among the boy-aviators of the country held an enviable +position. +</p> + +<p> +"About your letter," began Frank when the first greetings were over. +</p> + +<p> +"In a minute," replied Lathrop, "here's father now." +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke, the portieres parted and a stout, fresh complexioned +gentleman, ruddy from his bath and shaving, appeared. He had the +pompous manner of the successful man of business and seemed to the +Chester boys to be the least bit patronizing in his manner. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Barr will be here in a minute," he said, after introductions +had been made by Lathrop, "he will explain to you his idea. I am +merely a partner in the enterprise. You will, of course, be glad to +accept any restrictions he may impose?" +</p> + +<p> +"We hardly care to discuss that yet," said Frank, rather nettled by +Mr. Beasley's pompous manner, "until we know what he requires." He +exchanged glances with Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"In fact," he went on, "we were planning to take a complete rest and +follow in Mr. Roosevelt's foot-steps, by taking a hunting trip in +Africa, only," he added with a smile, "we meant to hunt by aeroplane." +</p> + +<p> +"Wonderful," said Mr. Beasley, evidently much impressed by Frank's +ready manner, "when I was a boy, if a lad had a "bone-shaker" +bicycle he thought he was doing something fine, and as for flying—why, +we never thought of it." +</p> + +<p> +"Perhaps the boys of to-day are further sighted," said Frank with +quiet note of sarcasm in his tone that was quite lost on the +well-meaning old merchant. Indeed at that moment Mr. Beasley rose +heavily from his chair and stepped forward to greet a new arrival +who appeared from another room of the suite. +</p> + +<p> +"This is Mr. Luther Barr, the famous ivory importer," he said, with +far more respect in his tones than he had used to the boys; whom +indeed, he looked upon as talented chaps, but still boys—which to +men of his caliber is an infallible sign that anything such youthful +persons may attempt is extremely likely to go wrong. How erroneous +such an opinion is, those of our readers who have followed the +adventures of the Chester boys know. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Luther Barr deserves a new paragraph. Long, lean and hollow +cheeked, the term "gangling" fits him better than any other. Mr. +Luther Barr's black suit hung on him as baggily as the garments of a +cornfield scarecrow and Mr. Luther Barr's sharp features were not +improved by a small growth of gray hair; of the kind known as a +"goatee" that sprouted from his lower rip. For the rest of the boys +noticed that Mr. Barr was gifted with a singularly gimlet-like pair +of steely blue eyes that seemed to bore through you. +</p> + +<p> +"As sharp a man as ever drove up the price of ivory," added Mr. +Beasley as he introduced the boys to this singular figure, "he can +scent an ivory bargain—" +</p> + +<p> +"From here to Africa," struck in Mr. Barr in a sharp nasal tone that +grated unpleasantly, "and you and I are going to be Kings of Wall +Street if these boys put this deal through for us," he added with +what was meant to be an amiable smile, but which, as a matter of +fact, distorted his face till it looked uncommonly like an old +Japanese war mask. Indeed the boys, who had seen the collection in +the Metropolitan Museum, could not help smiling to themselves, as +the same thought struck each of them. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, Beasley," exclaimed Barr suddenly, "I'm as sharp set as a +Long Island fox. Let's have a bite of breakfast and then we can get +down to business." +</p> + +<p> +From Mr. Barr's manner of dispatching his breakfast and the +remarkable skill with which he wielded his knife, in conveying +various morsels to his mouth, it was evident that he had spent so +much time piling up money that his social education had been sadly +neglected. Once or twice the boys caught Lathrop's eye and they saw +that the lad was blushing with shame at the uncouth manners of his +father's friend. For this reason the boys refrained from paying any +apparent attention to Mr. Barr's actions, although—as, they +remarked afterwards—he was as well worth watching as the "sword +swallower in a circus side show." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, boys," said Mr. Barr with his mouth full of buttered toast and +ham and eggs, "I guess I know more about Africa than any man alive." +</p> + +<p> +"You have crossed that continent?" asked Frank.. +</p> + +<p> +"No, sir," replied the old ivory merchant with some contempt. "I +wouldn't waste my time where there ain't no ain't no money. What I +mean is, I know more about the Gold Coast, the Ivory Coast and the +Slave Coast than any man in this or any other country and have got +more good solid coin out of them." +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Beasley looked up admiringly from his plate. Here was evidently +a man after his own heart. +</p> + +<p> +"The Slave Coast?" echoed Harry inquiringly, "I thought—" +</p> + +<p> +"Thought there wasn't no more slaves, eh?" inquired Mr. Barr +amiably, swallowing his coffee with a noise like water running out +of a bath tub, "wall, that's because yer young. When yer git older +you'll larn that there's money in everything here's a demand for, +and there's just as big a demand for slaves on some rubber +plantations I could tell yer of as there ever was in the old days of +the South—and more money in 'em on account of its being more +dangerouser." +</p> + +<p> +"Do you mean to say that there is slave-running now?" asked Mr. +Beasley, while both Frank and Harry wondered and Lathrop looked +uncomfortable. +</p> + +<p> +"Sure I do," chirped Mr. Barr, "but no more for me. There's too +many British gunboats and 'Merican gunboats and Dutch gunboats and +what not about now to make it comfortable or healthy. No, I've +retired from that business—but there's money in it," he concluded +with a regretful sigh. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately Mr. Barr had concluded his breakfast—and with his +apparently slim accommodations it was a wonder to the boys where he +put it all—he snapped, with a flinty glint of his small pig-like +eyes: +</p> + +<p> +"Now, let's git down to business. You boys want ter make a bit of +money?" +</p> + +<p> +"'To be sure we do," replied Frank, "but we don't want to make any +that isn't honest money." +</p> + +<p> +"We'll, there's no accounting for boys nowadays," sighed Mr. Barr, +"however, you needn't worry about this money—there'll be plenty of +it and it'll all be good honest coin." +</p> + +<p> +"What do you wish us to do?" demanded Frank. +</p> + +<p> +"Just this: Mr. Beasley here and me is in on a deal in ivory. That +is, we were, but the big cache we had hoarded up in the Kuroworo +Mountains in the Bambara country has been stolen by a rival trader, +an Arab named Muley-Hassan. We know where he's hidden it and we +know, too, that he won't dare to bring it out till he thinks that we +aren't watching him. Now the time is ripe for a big deal in Ivory. +There is a shortage in the market. Prices will go up sky high. If +we get it out in time we'll make a barrel of coin, but if we don't +we stand to lose heavily." +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Beasley gave a groan; to the boys' amazement he seemed to be +about to collapse. Lathrop too looked ill and anxious. Old Barr +paid no attention, however, but went on. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, I heard about you boys and your air-ship, and I heard, too, +that you was planning a little trip to Africa and thought you might +like to combine business and pleasure." +</p> + +<p> +He drew from his pocket a much-thumbed, crudely drawn map and spread +it out on the table. How he obtained it, the boys never learned +exactly, but they heard later that a treacherous attendant of the +ivory dealer had sold it to him for a good round sum. +</p> + +<p> +"This country down here," he said, indicating it with a black rimmed +finger nail, "is the Southern Soudan. Here's the Bambara country to +the north of Uasule. Now right at this point, in the Moon Mountain +range,"—he pointed to a red-marked trail zigzagging across the map +to the range and terminating in a red star—"right at that thar +point, old Muley-Hassan, the Arab, has hidden our ivory cache. You +see the latitude and longitude is marked and furthermore—and here's +the most remarkable part of it—you will know the spot when you see +it by the fact that the mountains above the cache present an exact +facsimile of an upturned human face. In a direct line drawn from +the nose of this face, where you see the red star, lies the ivory." +</p> + +<p> +The boys were deeply interested. Unpleasant as was the impression +old Barr had made on them, yet what he was disclosing was +impressive; but as yet they did not show that they were anything +more than casually struck by it. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, Mr. Barr?" said Frank, as the old matt paused impressively. +</p> + +<p> +"Well—" said Mr. Barr, "the scoundrel stole it and it's up to you +to get it out of there, if you will undertake it." +</p> + +<p> +"How does it depend on us?" asked Frank. +</p> + +<p> +"In just this way. Muley-Hassan has his eye on us—-we can do +nothing toward locating the ivory. You can pitch a camp there and +scout about for it in your aeroplane or dirigible or whatever you +call it." +</p> + +<p> +"But even if we do find the Arab's hiding-place, what good does that +do?" objected Frank. +</p> + +<p> +"We can arrange with the French government to send soldiers up into +the country and get the stuff out, if necessary," readily replied +the wrinkled old ivory dealer, "but we can make no move till the +cave is located. If they suspected we were after it, they would +soon move it to another hiding-place or even pack it cross-country +to the Nile and ship it out by the Mediterranean." +</p> + +<p> +Frank and Harry asked leave to hold a brief consultation at the +conclusion of which, they announced that they would think the matter +over, and see Mr. Barr at his office the next day. The old man was +far too shrewd to insist on a decision then and there, and so he +left the hotel with the boys' promise to consider the matter +carefully. As for Frank and Harry, they had pretty well made up +their minds not to have anything to do with Mr. Barr, but an +unforeseen circumstance altered their determination. As Barr left +the room with Mr. Beasley, Lathrop turned on them with troubled +eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"Will you do it, Frank?" he asked anxiously. "Please say yes." +</p> + +<p> +"Why, Lathrop, whatever is the matter," asked Harry, noticing the +almost painful anxiety, with which the boy looked at Frank and hung +on his decision. +</p> + +<p> +"It's just this," said the boy in a voice that shook, as he tried to +steady it, "if that ivory isn't found, we shall be ruined. My +father will be beggared." +</p> + +<p> +"Beggared," exclaimed both the Boy Aviators who had regarded Mr. +Beasley—as indeed did his friends in general—as one of the "best +fixed" business men in New York. +</p> + +<p> +"It's true,"' said Lathrop, despairingly. "He has been speculating +foolishly and entered into an agreement with this man Barr to borrow +money for still further stock deals. The only hope he has of paying +his debts is the realization of the profits he could have made on +the ivory. Its theft was a bitter blow to him, not so much for his +own sake, as for my mother and sisters. Myself I don't care, I can +get out and work, but it would break my heart to see them reduced to +poverty." +</p> + +<p> +The situation was a difficult one for the Chester Boys. They had +taken a hearty dislike to the crafty old ivory merchant and had made +up their minds not to enter into any enterprise in which he was +interested. Here, however, was a new complication. +</p> + +<p> +"Give us half-an-hour, Lathrop," said Frank at length, and the two +boys withdrew to another room to talk the matter over. It was ten +minutes past the agreed time when they came back. +</p> + +<p> +In the meantime Lathrop had been joined by his father and the two +had waited in painful anticipation for the Boy Aviators' verdict. +</p> + +<p> +"Well—," began Lathrop eagerly as the two boys with grave faces +reentered the room. +</p> + +<p> +"Well," said Frank, with a smile, "I guess we'll help you out, +Lath." +</p> + +<p> +Tears stood in the eyes of both Mr. Beasley and his son, as in shaky +voices they endeavored to thank the Chester Boys. +</p> + +<p> +"That's all right, Lathrop," said Frank at length—"turn about's +fair play. You drove the aeroplane to Bellman's island you remember +and saved us—now, we'll save you and your father, if we can—how +long can you give us, Mr. Beasley?" he asked, briskly turning to the +thoroughly humbled merchant. +</p> + +<p> +"Eight weeks—if I hear from you by cable in eight weeks I can keep +things going," was the reply. +</p> + +<p> +"Phew!" whistled Frank, "that's not an awful lot of time." +</p> + +<p> +"Can you do it, Frank?" asked Lathrop eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +"We'll try as hard as we know how," was the modest answer. +</p> + +<p> +"And—and you'll take me along?" faltered Lathrop. +</p> + +<p> +"Sure, you can come as your father's representative at large," +laughed Frank. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap03"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER III +</h3> + +<h3> +THE DARK CONTINENT +</h3> + +<p> +About a month after the events related in the last chapter the +bluff-bowed French coasting steamer, Admiral Dupont, dropped anchor +in the shallow roadstead off the steamy harbor of Fort Assini on the +far-famed Ivory Coast. A few days before, the boys had left Sierra +Leone and engaged quarters on the cockroach-infested little craft +for the voyage down the coast. It was blisteringly hot and from off +the shore there was borne on the wind the peculiar smell that every +traveler knows as "African." It is the essence of the dark +continent. Our young voyagers and Ben sniffed at it eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +"Smells like marigolds," said Billy at last—and it did. +</p> + +<p> +But there was soon plenty more to discuss than the strange +appearance of the town, which in reality was little more than a big +village with here and there one, or two houses of some pretension +scattered about. For the rest, it consisted of the wickerwork huts +of the natives. Back of the town were dense forests and beyond +these again a long blue line of hills. An unhealthful looking lagoon +lay between the houses and the mainland, into which the boys had been +told the Bia River, up which they were to begin their voyage to the +interior, emptied. +</p> + +<p> +A broad yellow beach stretched in front of the houses and from this, +as soon as the little steamer dropped anchor, whaleboats and canoes +in great numbers were launched through what looked to be a thunderous +surf. They were navigated by Kroomen—or Krooboys as they are +sometimes called—and who are a superior race to most of the natives +of Africa. +</p> + +<p> +Some of the paddlers and oarsmen in the boats that surrounded the +Admiral Dupont were almost six feet in height and splendidly built. +</p> + +<p> +"Good looking fellows those," said the captain, who had joined the +group of wondering young adventurers, "but in spite of their good +looks they are petty thieves, if they get the chance." +</p> + +<p> +Of this quality, the boys were soon to get an example. Frank had +laid down his field-glasses on a deck chair and didn't give them any +more thought, even when the decks were fairly swarming with +half-naked, chattering, laughing Kroomen. When he looked around for +them, however, for the purpose of making out more clearly the +outline of the distant mountains, the glasses had vanished. +</p> + +<p> +The young leader quickly divined what had occurred and stepping to +the rail he held above his head an English sovereign and a pair of +glasses, borrowed, from Billy. +</p> + +<p> +"I'll give this money to the man who finds my field glasses," he +shouted. +</p> + +<p> +"It's a long chance," he remarked to Harry, "there may be some one +there who understands English. Anyway they can see that I'm willing +to give money for something like the object I held up." +</p> + +<p> +As much to Frank's astonishment as anyone else the next minute they +heard a hail from a canoe containing two particularly black Kroomen. +</p> + +<p> +"Hey, boss;" one of them was shouting, "what you lost, eh?" +</p> + +<p> +"Some one stole my field-glasses," shouted back Frank. +</p> + +<p> +"All right, American massa," hailed back the Krooman, "I sail long +time 'Merican ships. I catch him for you." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, what do you think of that?" demanded Billy. "If the Statue +of Liberty had come off her perch and done a song and dance you +couldn't have astonished me more than to hear that sack of coal talk +English." +</p> + +<p> +"They take several of those fellows to sea on trading ships, that +stop in here for logs from the interior," struck in Ben. "It +wouldn't surprise me but what that fellow there has been in New York +harbor, yes, and in San Francisco too." +</p> + +<p> +The boys looked their astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +"They are good hard workers," went on Ben, "and make good sailormen. +They always come back here though in the end. They are as home +loving as a house cat."' +</p> + +<p> +While the boys talked, their baggage was being hoisted into a +lighter that lay alongside, ready for shipment ashore. They were +about ready to quit the ship when their attention was attracted by a +terrific uproar among the natives alongside. Two or three canoes +had been upset and in the water half a dozen Kroomen were splashing +about like big, black fish. +</p> + +<p> +"They'll drown," gasped Harry, as he watched the furious water +battle. +</p> + +<p> +"Not them," sniffed Ben, "they are as much at home in the water as +they are ashore. Hello!" he exclaimed, suddenly pointing, "there's +your field-glasses again, Frank." +</p> + +<p> +Sure enough, from the hands of a spluttering, half-drowned native, +the Krooman who spoke English had just wrested a dripping pair of +black morocco-covered field-glasses. He held them aloft in triumph, +treading water while he held the other's head under the sea as a +punishment for his thievery. +</p> + +<p> +"I catch 'um, boss, I catch um," he kept shouting triumphantly. A +few seconds later, having half drowned the unfortunate thief, he +stood dripping like a figure cut out of black basalt before the boy. +As he received his recovered property Frank presented its rescuer +with the sovereign. If it had been a fortune the man could not have +been more overcome with gratitude. He sank on his knees. +</p> + +<p> +"You come ashore my boat?" he begged. "Cost nothing to United +States boys." +</p> + +<p> +The adventurers assented and, having seen their baggage properly +stowed on the lighter, they landed through the surf a short time +later and found themselves on the flat, yellow beach facing the +rather dreary looking row of Europeans' houses. The method of +landing the surf boats and the wonderful dexterity with which the +natives handle them is worth a whole chapter to itself. But it +might prove tedious reading, so suffice it to say, that with one man +standing erect in the stern with a steering oar, and the others +paddling like demons, the Ivory Coast boatmen invariably land their +passengers, in a smother of foam which seems overwhelming, without +spilling a drop of water on them. Not a visitor to this coast but +has been impressed by their wonderful skill. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, here we are," remarked Billy, looking about him at the novel +surroundings. +</p> + +<p> +"The first thing to do," announced Frank, "is to go to the house of +Monsieur Desplaines, to whom Mr. Barr gave us a letter of introduction, +and talk over our plans." +</p> + +<p> +Monsieur Desplaines was the consular agent of the United States +government at Assini, which is a French port, and had promised by +cable to Mr. Barr to give, the young travelers all the advice that +his experiences could suggest. He had also volunteered to select +for them a train of native baggage carriers, and hunters that would +be reliable. There are no roads into the heart of Africa and +everything is transported by human pack-trains. The natives of this +part of the coast are strong, muscular men not easily fatigued and +are capable of carrying burdens on their heads twenty-five miles or +more a day without exhaustion. +</p> + +<p> +As the boys started to make their way up the beach a trim figure +with neatly waxed black mustaches, almost extinguished in a huge +pith helmet and dressed in white duck with a red sash about the +waist, emerged from the nearest house and hastened toward them. +</p> + +<p> +"Welcome to Africa!" cried the newcomer as he approached and who, as +Frank at once guessed, was M. Desplaines himself. "Come with me to +the house and make yourselves at home." +</p> + +<p> +The boys shook hands warmly with the little Frenchman who seemed so +hospitably inclined and followed him eagerly toward the whitewashed +house from which he had emerged. +</p> + +<p> +"I would have been at the steamer to meet you," he exclaimed +apologetically; "but she got here a day ahead of time and I was not +prepared." +</p> + +<p> +Inside the house, which was delightfully cool and darkened by +jalousies from the glaring heat outside, the young adventurers were +introduced to Madame Desplaines and two little girls, who +constituted the family of the consular agent, who also kept the +general supply store at Assini. +</p> + +<p> +After dinner that evening, M. Desplaines talked long and earnestly +to the boys. Of the real object of their mission, he had of course +no knowledge. That was kept a secret even from Barr's intimates. +There was too much at stake to let it leak out. His idea was the +boys had come on a hunting and exploration, much of which was to be +performed by aeroplane. He informed the boys that, acting on cabled +instructions, he had laid in a good supply of gasoline by the last +steamer from Sierra Leone and that arrangements for a train of +carriers and for boats up the river had been made. There was a +wheezy steam launch belonging to the trading post which would tow +the boats up the Bia River as far as they desired. The Kroomen the +boys engaged would take them to that point would then be abandoned, +as they refused to go far from the coast. Such was the outline of +M. Desplaines' conversation with the travelers. +</p> + +<p> +The evening was far advanced when already the little party was ready +for bed and already their imaginations had been fired by the tales +that the consular agent had told them of the interior of the wild +Bambara country. As they were saying good night to their hospitable +host and hostess, there was a knock at the door. In response to M. +Desplaines shouted: "Come in," a tall coal-black figure stalked into +the lamp-light. The glow shone warmly on his black skin and lit up +the mighty muscles that played beneath it. The strength of the man +was evidently tremendous. The boys, to their surprise, recognized +him at once, as the rescuer of Frank's opera-glasses. He paid no +attention to Desplaines or his family, but walked straight up to +Frank. +</p> + +<p> +"Hi boss, you go hunt, you go far into land of Bambara," he said, +raising his mighty arm and pointing to the northeast. +</p> + +<p> +Frank nodded. +</p> + +<p> +It was a strange scene. The boys and Ben in their hunting costumes +and stout boots, M. Desplaines, short and inclined to be fat and as +neatly barbered and tailored as if he had just stepped off the +boulevards, Madame Desplaines and her little girls in cool, white +frocks—and in the center of the group—dominating it by his +impressive manner and mighty form—the huge, ebony Krooman. +</p> + +<p> +"In the land of Bambara much game," went on the Krooman. +</p> + +<p> +"So we have heard," replied Frank. +</p> + +<p> +"In the land of Bambara much danger," continued the Krooman, fixing +his dark eyes full on Frank, "much danger to the white boys, who fly +like birds." +</p> + +<p> +"Why, how do you know that?" exclaimed Frank, amazed that the +Krooman should not only know their destination—which might have +been a guess—but have divined the fact that they had an aeroplane. +</p> + +<p> +"Krooman know much that white man not know!" replied the giant +black. +</p> + +<p> +Then, rising his finger, he counted the amazed group of adventurers +who stood transfixed at the scene. +</p> + +<p> +"One—two—three—four—five go to Bambara," he intoned. "Come back +one—two—three. Two die. Sikaso, know." +</p> + +<p> +Before any of the astounded party could frame a question or open +their lips, the huge figure had stalked to the doorway and vanished. +</p> + +<p> +"He'd make a nice, comfortable house-pet that fellow," said Billy, +who was the first to speak. "One, two, three, four, five go to +Bambara," he mimicked. "Come back one, two, three. Two die. +Sikaso know. Br-r-r-r-r, he gives me the creeps." +</p> + +<p> +They all laughed at Billy's absurd aping of the stately negro, but +nevertheless none of them felt inclined for more talk that night. +Somehow, the Krooman had cast a gloom on the party. Had they known +how nearly his prophecy was to come to fulfillment they might even +have been tempted to abandon the expedition. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap04"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER IV +</h3> + +<h3> +THE WITCH-DOCTOR +</h3> + +<p> +Bright and early the next day Frank and Harry were up and stirring, +and the other members of the party were not long in joining them. +The almost innumerable packing cases and chests containing the +duffle, ammunition, armament and the sections of the Golden Eagle +were scattered about the little "compound" or garden of M. +Desplaines' residence, having been brought ashore overnight by a +crew of Kroomen. M. Desplaines appeared while the boys were still +contemplating their outfit and wondering if it would be possible to +accommodate it all in the little flotilla which, it had been +arranged previously, was to take them up the river to the camping +place from which they were to strike out for the Ivory Mountain. +</p> + +<p> +"I really almost envy your trip," he said, "although it will be +fraught with danger. Still you go well armed and provisioned, and +from what I have heard of you, you are not the sort of boys to let a +few obstacles upset you." +</p> + +<p> +While they were still talking and waiting for breakfast to be +announced they were joined by a singular figure. It was that of a +white man in rather shabby ducks and crowned, as was M. Desplaines, +with a huge, white pith helmet. Over one shoulder he carried a +green butterfly net and under one arm he had tucked a tin box. +Round his waist was a leather belt from which hung, in addition to a +revolver and cartridges, a glass bottle with a wide stopper with a +chloroformed sponge reposing in the bottom. It did not need the +introduction of the newcomer by M. Desplaines as Professor Ajax +Wiseman, to tell the boys that Dr. Wiseman was a naturalist. +</p> + +<p> +"My dear professor, what are you doing here?" exclaimed M. +Desplaines as soon as the introductions were over. +</p> + +<p> +"I arrived this morning from Grand Bassam on a coasting schooner," +replied the professor, carefully setting down his tin box. "I have +a remarkable specimen of the Gladiolus Gorgeosi in there," he +remarked importantly. "I am contemplating a trip into the interior +via the Bia River and came to you to see if you could arrange +transportation." +</p> + +<p> +M. Desplaines looked at the boys. +</p> + +<p> +"These young men have engaged the steam launch, to tow their +expedition up the river," he said hesitatingly; "they are going on a +hunting trip, into the interior, and have, I venture to say, one of +the most complete outfits I have ever seen." +</p> + +<p> +The naturalist looked wistfully at Frank. +</p> + +<p> +"I suppose there would not be the least objection to my availing +myself of your assistance in getting up the river," he said, +blinking behind his spectacles like an old bat who has unexpectedly +emerged into the sunlight. "I have only two canoes and as I carry +my own attendant I shall be no trouble." +</p> + +<p> +"We shall be delighted to accommodate you," rejoined Frank heartily, +"but I shall have to place one restriction on you. When we reach +our destination we must part company as we have work to do of a +confidential nature. Our employer, Mr. Barr—" +</p> + +<p> +"Old Luther Barr," burst out Professor Wiseman suddenly. +</p> + +<p> +"Why, yes," rejoined Frank, rather taken aback, "you know him then?" +</p> + +<p> +"I—I have heard of him," replied the other with a slight hesitancy +which was, however, so faint as to be hardly noticeable. The voice +of Madame Desplaines summoning them to breakfast broke off any +opportunity for further questions on a matter that plainly, for some +strange reason or other, seemed to have heartily interested—even +disturbed—the naturalist. Frank felt troubled for a moment at the +idea of having let Professor Wiseman form a portion of their party +even for a short distance. But he dismissed the idea almost +instantly. The queer expression that passed over Professor +Wiseman's face at the mention of the ivory trader's name might have +simply been due to astonishment at hearing it again. Still Frank +decided to keep an eye on Professor Wiseman. +</p> + +<p> +The conversation at breakfast naturally enough dealt with the little +known country the boys were to penetrate. Then it was for the first +time that they heard mention of the mysterious tribe of the Flying +Men who were reported to be equipped with rudimentary wings—like +those of an undeveloped bat with which they managed to flit from +tree top to tree top like true flyers. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, come," laughed Billy, "I've heard of tailed men and white +Africans with red top-knots like Lathrop, but a race of winged men +is coming it too strong." +</p> + +<p> +"Laugh if you like," declared Professor Wiseman who had brought up +the subject, "but some time ago I articulated a skeleton brought me +by an Arab slave trader and found extending from the shoulder blade +two distinct bony frames which had in life apparently been covered +with a thin fleshy substance of leathery like tenacity stretching +thence to the wrists. I asked the slave trader where he had found +the skeleton," went on the savant, "and he told me he had come +across it at the foot of a giant silk cotton tree in the Bambara +country." +</p> + +<p> +The boys exchanged glances. It was to the Bambara country—the +country of the legendary Flying Men—that they were bound. +</p> + +<p> +"Is any more known of this tribe?" inquired Frank. +</p> + +<p> +"Very little except what you can pick up from the natives, which is +little enough," replied Professor Wiseman, "they seem to have a +dislike to speaking of the Flying Men—to whites at any rate. I +think, too, they fear them. Report has it that they live in +cave-like holes in the side of a giant, black basalt cliff reached +by a subterranean river. They reach the ground by taking short +flights from the holes they live in and regain the cliff dwellings +by means of rope ladders formed of twisted creepers." +</p> + +<p> +"Then they cannot fly upward?" asked Frank. +</p> + +<p> +"It would seem not," replied the naturalist, "their wings only serve +as gliders. Possibly once in the remote ages they could fly as well +as great birds but with the course of the ages and disuse their +wings have dwindled." +</p> + +<p> +As may be imagined the idea that within a short time they were to +be in the country of the mysterious tribe caused a tremendous stir +among the boys and when after breakfast their strange friend of the +night before, Sikaso, appeared they at once overwhelmed him with +questions. But strangely enough Sikaso made no reply to their eager +queries. +</p> + +<p> +He shook his great bead and seemed to be embarrassed, if not by fear +at any rate by reticence. +</p> + +<p> +"In Misoto Mountains many strange Ju-jus (fetishes)," he said in an +awed tone, "Misoto Mountains no good for white boys—white boys stay +away." +</p> + +<p> +"Not much," chimed in Harry, "that's just where we are going." +</p> + +<p> +"You go Misoto Mountain," said the giant black in an astonished +tone. +</p> + +<p> +"That's what we are," exclaimed Lathrop. +</p> + +<p> +The black gazed at the ground and drew a small circle on the dust +with his toe. In the center of it he made a cross. +</p> + +<p> +"That my dukkeri (fate)," he said slowly, "you go, Sikaso he go too. +I see it in the smoke." +</p> + +<p> +"Saw it in the smoke?" repeated the amazed boys. +</p> + +<p> +"In smoke of Ju-ju fire I see it written. I see five go, three come +back, in smoke too. I have spoken." +</p> + +<p> +He stalked off as I suddenly as he had the night before and left the +boys to gaze in a bewildered way after his huge figure as it swung +down the road. +</p> + +<p> +"That fellow's the best disappearer I ever saw," said Billy Barnes +at length. +</p> + +<p> +"I wish he'd stop that stuff about 'five go three come back,"' said +Lathrop, "it gets on your nerves." +</p> + +<p> +"What could he have meant by seeing it in the smoke?" asked Harry +bewilderedly. +</p> + +<p> +"Just this," broke in a quiet voice behind them. It was Professor +Wiseman, who had glided up to them as silently as a cat. "It is a +common trick among the witch doctors—of whom our friend yonder +seems to be one—to divine events by means of the smoke from a fire +built to the accompaniment of special incantations." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, that's cheerful," commented Billy, "but tell us, Professor, +how often do they hit it right?" +</p> + +<p> +"Nine times out of ten, young man," said Professor Wiseman +impressively fixing Billy with his gaze just as he would have +impaled a bug or grasshopper, "and the tenth time they come so near +the truth as to be uncomfortable." +</p> + +<p> +"I have heard of such things, but I always put them down as +impossibilities," gasped Frank. +</p> + +<p> +"Just travelers' tales," said Billy. +</p> + +<p> +"There are many things for the young to learn in Africa," remarked +Professor Wiseman coldly and gazing at Billy with squashing +intentness; "the young do not believe many things merely because +they are young—and foolish." +</p> + +<p> +"Gee! that was a nailer for fair," said Billy afterward. "I felt as +if the Doc was running a big blue pin through me and sticking me on +a bit of cork." +</p> + +<p> +That morning, as the start for the interior was not to be made till +the next day, M. Desplaines asked the boys if they would care to try +a little fishing at the foot of the famous Jumbari Falls which lay +on a branch of the Bari river a short distance from the town. Of +course the boys assented eagerly, but as it was found that only +Frank and Harry were expert canoeists, it was agreed that the others +should fish from the bank while the two young leaders trolled their +lines from a native built craft. This canoe was kept at the falls—to +which they tramped the two miles overland by a narrow trail. +</p> + +<p> +The falls were a magnificent sight. From a dark red rock, fully two +hundred feet in height, a great volume of water poured its roaring +current into a boiling pool below. The cliffs shot up sheer on all +sides and were covered at the bottom with luxuriant green growth +like seaweed, while higher up, ferns, as big as rose-bushes at home, +and trees of a hundred varieties clung wherever they could find a +root-hold. As the party arrived at the top of the ravine and gazed +down, the uproar of the water was so terrific as to render any +speech inaudible. M. Desplaines, who led the party, pointed to a +hole in the rocks and a second later vanished into it. +</p> + +<p> +At first, consternation seized on the boys who thought that an +accident had happened, but seeing not hearing Professor Wiseman's +reassuring laugh and noticing him plunge after M. Desplaines, the +boys rightly concluded that the aperture was a subterranean entrance +to the foot of the falls. And so it proved. A steep flight of +steps was cut in a deep cleft of the cliff down to the water's edge. +A few minutes after they had begun the descent, the little party stood +on the brink of the whirling pool into which the mighty falls roared +their thousands of tons of water. Following M. Desplaines, they +advanced down the stream to a point where a bend shut off like a +rock curtain the deafening uproar of the cascade. Here a canoe lay +moored and Frank and Harry stepped into it and shoved off. Their +lines and other equipment they had in their pockets. +</p> + +<p> +As they shoved out M. Desplaines shouted something that they did not +catch and pointed down the stream. How near the fact that they +could not hear his words was to come to costing them their lives +neither of the boys guessed. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap05"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER V +</h3> + +<h3> +THE POOL OF DEATH +</h3> + +<p> +"Say, Frank, have you noticed that we are going to have a hard +paddle back against this current?" +</p> + +<p> +The boys had been fishing about an hour when Harry spoke. So +engrossed had they both been pulling in fish of a dozen strange +varieties and brilliant hues that neither of the lads had noticed +that the canoe had drifted down stream far from the starting point +and that in fact when they looked up they were in an entirely +strange part of the river. +</p> + +<p> +"You are right, Harry," rejoined Frank, as he looked up at the steep +banks on either side of them, "we have drifted a considerable +distance. Come on, out with the paddles and we'll be getting back." +</p> + +<p> +But it was one thing to talk of getting back and quite another thing +to do it. The boys, after an hour of paddling, were dismayed to +find that although their arms ached with the exertion and they were +dripping with perspiration, they had made hardly any progress +against the current. +</p> + +<p> +"It's too much for us," gasped Frank. +</p> + +<p> +"What on earth are we going to do?" asked Harry with blanched +cheeks. +</p> + +<p> +Frank glanced at the shore on either side. For a minute he had +entertained a thought of landing and walking back along the beach. +But there was no beach. +</p> + +<p> +The river boiled along between narrow walls which shot sheer up from +the water. There was not even a niche in their smooth surface to +afford a foothold to a mountain goat. They were caught in a trap. +</p> + +<p> +The only thing to do was to drift down the river and trust to luck +to find a landing-place. In their extremity they shouted at the top +of their voices to let their comrades know of their plight, but +their cries were unanswered and they began to wish that they had +saved their breath to use in the task of keeping the canoe steady in +the current. +</p> + +<p> +While they had been pondering their situation, moreover, they had +been swept with almost incredible rapidity down the river. The +walls here grew narrower and narrower and the water fairly boiled in +its narrow confines. Its dark surface was flecked with white foam, +and to make matters worse, as the walls closed in the light became +fainter, till the boys were being carried downward through almost +subterranean darkness. +</p> + +<p> +In the intense gloom their white strained faces shone out like +pallid beacon-lights. +</p> + +<p> +"Hold her steady," said Frank in a tense voice as the canoe wobbled +crazily in the swollen current. +</p> + +<p> +"I'm doing the best I can," gasped out poor Harry desperately plying +his paddle. +</p> + +<p> +It the canoe was to get broadside onto the current, even for the +fraction of a second, Frank well knew that nothing could save them. +It was a terrible situation. +</p> + +<p> +Helplessly they were being borne at dizzy speed to what seemed +almost certain death—for certain it was that they could not hold +out much longer. Already their overstrained muscles were only +mechanically doing their duty, but before long Frank realized that +even his-well-trained young body must collapse—and then, what? +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly there was borne to their ears a sound that made both boys +chill with terror. +</p> + +<p> +It was a mighty roaring like the furious boiling of some giant +kettle. A thousand shouting voices seemed blended into one to form +the music, of this ominous orchestra. Louder the noise grew and +louder, as the pass through which the river now tore like a runaway +race-horse grew narrower and blacker. +</p> + +<p> +What could the awful uproar mean? +</p> + +<p> +They had not long to wait before the truth burst upon them. They +were nearing, at what seemed express speed, a whirling, roaring mass +of waters that shouted at them like some animal calling for its +prey. The boys' cheeks blanched as they realized that nothing but a +miracle could save them from being sucked into this watery abyss. +</p> + +<p> +Desperately they plied their paddles but if they had been useless +further up the stream they were doubly inefficient now. If they had +stroked against the rushing current with feathers they could not +have had less effect in checking the death rush of the canoe, which +was tossed along on the racing tide like a chip of wood. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly the canoe was struck a terrific blow. +</p> + +<p> +Before either boy could realize what had happened they were both +struggling in the water. So dazed were they by the mishap that it +was several minutes before they understood that they were clinging +to the to the trunk of some huge tree. It was this trunk that had +wrecked the canoe and thrown them overboard. +</p> + +<p> +In reality, though, they were little better off now than they had +been while the canoe was being whirled down the river. It looked as +if they had been saved from one death only to face a worse. With +all their might they clung side by side. Dripping wet, half-blinded +and bruised by the battering they got as the trunk smashed from side +to side of the narrow passage, the indomitable American pluck of the +two lads yet held good in this extremity. +</p> + +<p> +"Is it good-by, Frank?" Harry found strength to murmur. +</p> + +<p> +"While there's life there's hope," came Frank's brave reply in his +favorite axiom. "We'll live to fly the old Golden Eagle yet, let's +hope." +</p> + +<p> +There was no time for further talk, even had the boys been in any +position to consider conversation. The trunk was rapidly nearing +the whirlpool—and death. +</p> + +<p> +Small wonder that brave as the boys were a despairing cry burst from +their throats as they saw what seemed the end of their ride close +upon them. It was as if they could feel the breath of the Pale +Horseman already blowing chilly in their faces. +</p> + +<p> +But suddenly a strange thing happened. +</p> + +<p> +Both boys had closed their eyes and only moved their lips in prayer +as they saw that inevitably in a few minutes they must be sucked +into the maelstrom. Now, however, they opened them in amazement. +</p> + +<p> +The swift rush of the log to which they clung like drowned rats had +stopped. +</p> + +<p> +It took them only a few seconds to take in what had occurred. The +great log swinging one end toward the swirling current had jammed +clear across the stream and for a time at any rate they were saved +from immediate death. In their joy they clasped each other's hands +warmly but their first rush of relief did not last long. As a +matter of fact they were not any nearer safely than they had been a +few minutes previous. +</p> + +<p> +The log, it was true, was jammed across the stream, but the +consequent backing up of the impetuous current caused it to rush +across the boys' refuge in such volumes as to almost sweep them from +their perches. +</p> + +<p> +It was very evident that they could not hold put indefinitely in +this position. +</p> + +<p> +Their attention was attracted as they clung to their water-swept +tree-trunk by a dark object whirling about in the boiling pool. It +was swept dizzily round and round in ever decreasing circles toward +the middle of the fatal vortex. Suddenly it shot downward out of +sight, but as it did so Frank had seen something that kindled one +ray of hope—though a feeble one. Before the canoe had taken the +fatal downward plunge it had hesitated for a minute as though caught +on something; and then the boy leader saw for the first time that in +the center of the pool there was a rock, although the water that +submerged it to the depth of an inch or so prevented its being seen +at first glance. +</p> + +<p> +Frank turned to Harry and told him of his discovery. +</p> + +<p> +"If we are cast into the pool let us make up our minds to get to +that rock. Keep your mind concentrated on it. Don't let the idea +leave you for a second and perhaps—I say 'perhaps'—we can make +it." +</p> + +<p> +Harry shook his head despairingly. +</p> + +<p> +"I can hardly keep my grip on this tree. I don't believe that I +could possibly manage to swim even a few yards," he groaned. +</p> + +<p> +"You must," said Frank sharply. "Don't give in now, Harry. Stick +it out." +</p> + +<p> +Then as a sudden thought struck him he continued. +</p> + +<p> +"See here, it's no good our wasting our strength clinging to this +trunk any longer. Sooner or later we shall be swept off and the +longer we wait the less reserve strength we shall have. Let us +leave go now and swim for it." +</p> + +<p> +Whatever reply Harry might have tendered to this desperate proposal +he was spared making, for at that moment a wave of more than +ordinary force—caused by the backed-up water striking the log—struck +him full in the face and before he knew it the boy had been washed +from the tree trunk and was being carried like a straw down the stream. +</p> + +<p> +As Harry felt himself being carried along there was only one thought +in his mind. It was not of death. When death is right upon a man +or a boy he rarely thinks of it, but casts about for the best means +of saving himself. Nor does—as some imaginative writers have told +us—a man's whole past life come before him at such moments. +No—the instinct of self-preservation is strongest when a human +being is in the direst need, and so it was that in Harry's mind one +thought kept hammering away like the strokes of a tolling bell. +</p> + +<p> +"Try-and-make-the-rock. Try-and-make-the-rock." +</p> + +<p> +Frank's insistence had done this much. It had caused the boy to +recollect the one hope of salvation that the desperate situation +held out. As he was swept down the torrent Harry made no effort to +swim. It would have been worse than useless and besides he needed +to husband his strength for the final struggle he knew was upon him. +</p> + +<p> +The next minute he felt a sickening swirling sensation and realized +that he was in the whirlpool's death-grip at last. +</p> + +<p> +Faster and faster the boy was hurried in ever decreasing circles. +Dizzy, half-choked with water, blinded and almost exhausted Harry, +with the tenacity of a bull dog, still clung tenaciously to the one +idea: +</p> + +<p> +"Try-and-make-the-rock. Try-and-make-the-rock." +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly, he was flung against a hard substance. With outstretched +fingers he clutched at the slimy surface as of what he realized was +the end of his journey at last. The great stone was covered with +slimy weed, however, and his grasping fingers refused to clutch at +any friendly niche in its surface. +</p> + +<p> +With a despairing cry the boy was being swept in to the terrible mouth +of the pool when he felt himself seized and pulled up out of the grip +of the torrent. He knew no more till he opened his eyes and found +Frank by his side. Both boys were on the rock—sitting on it in two +inches or more of water. Fortunately in that climate the water was +not so chilly as to cause discomfort, but this was about the only +crumb of satisfaction the situation held for them. +</p> + +<p> +"Well done, old fellow," said Frank as Harry opened his eyes. "You +had a narrow escape, though." +</p> + +<p> +Harry could only look at his brother gratefully. How deep was his +debt of gratitude to him both boys realized without their talking of +it. +</p> + +<p> +"How did you gain the rock, Frank?" asked Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"When I saw you swept off the tree trunk I slipped off too," replied +Frank, "and when I felt myself dragged into the pool I struck out +for the rock. I confess, though, I didn't have much hope of +reaching it till I was slammed into it with a blow that almost +cracked my ribs and knocked all the wind out of me. I managed +however to grab hold of a depression in the surface and maintain my +grip on it. I had hardly dragged myself up when you were hurled +against it. I thought I had lost you, for the water pulled like a +draught-horse, but I managed to hold on to you and here we are." +</p> + +<p> +"And a worse position we could not possibly be in," added Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"Unless we were in there," retorted Frank pointing, not without a +shudder, to the whirling open mouth of the pool which had sucked +down the wreck of their canoe. +</p> + +<p> +"What is it do you suppose?" asked Harry wonderingly. +</p> + +<p> +"The mouth of a subterranean river I guess," replied Frank. "I have +read of such things." +</p> + +<p> +"But why didn't Desplaines warn us of our danger," said Harry +bitterly, "if we ever get out of this I shall tell him my opinion of +him pretty strongly. We might have been killed and we may yet." +</p> + +<p> +"He did warn us," replied Frank calmly. +</p> + +<p> +"He did?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +"I should like to know when?" +</p> + +<p> +"When we shoved off." +</p> + +<p> +"You mean when he shouted something we couldn't catch and pointed +down the river?" +</p> + +<p> +"That's it." +</p> + +<p> +"I thought he meant there was better fishing down, here," snapped +Harry indignantly, "what idiots we were." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes; not to notice how we were drifting," rejoined Frank quietly, +"it's no use to blame Mr. Desplaines for this pickle. We have only +ourselves to be angry with. I don't suppose he ever thought that +two boys would not notice how they were drifting in a ten mile +current." +</p> + +<p> +"The point is how are we ever going to get out of it?" +</p> + +<p> +How indeed? +</p> + +<p> +As the boys looked about they saw little to encourage them. The +chasm in which they were beleaguered was not more than fifteen feet +across, but on either side shot up walls of rock so steep and smooth +that not even a fern could find root on their polished surfaces. +</p> + +<p> +Where the whirlpool sank into the bowels of the earth the walls came +together at an angle forming a sort of triangular prison. At the +top of this trap the boys could see a strip of blue sky and the +outlines of the graceful tops of some bulbous stemmed palms but +nothing else. Once a vulture sailed across the strip and sighting +the two boys came lower to investigate. The sight of the carrion +bird made both of the boys shudder. +</p> + +<p> +"Ugh, he scents a meal, he thinks we're dead already," cried Harry +disgustedly. +</p> + +<p> +The sound of his voice echoed gloomily among the rocks. +</p> + +<p> +"We're dead already," came back in sepulchral tones. +</p> + +<p> +"I shan't try to wake that echo up again," said Harry in a low tone +and shivering at the uncanny voice of the rock. +</p> + +<p> +Neither of the boys spoke for a long time. They sat there silently, +occasionally standing up to get the stiffness out of their limbs +till the strip of sky above began to darken to gray. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, here goes!" exclaimed Harry suddenly. +</p> + +<p> +Frank glanced sharply up. He did not like the wild tone in which +the words were spoken. +</p> + +<p> +"What is it?" he asked sharply. +</p> + +<p> +"I'm tired of this, I'm going to swim for it," replied Harry with a +foolish, hysterical laugh. +</p> + +<p> +Frank saw what had happened. The boy had become half-delirious +under the mental strain he had undergone. +</p> + +<p> +"Sit down, old fellow," he said kindly, "help will come soon I am +sure." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, a steamboat will come sailing down the river and take us home +in the captain's cabin I suppose," said Harry foolishly. +</p> + +<p> +But nevertheless Frank's stern command to "shut up" and not make a +foot of himself brought him to his senses and he said no more till +the stillness was broken by a sudden cry from above. +</p> + +<p> +"Bosses—oh, bosses." +</p> + +<p> +"Ahoy there; castaways!" +</p> + +<p> +Frank looked up. +</p> + +<p> +The cry of joy he gave set the echoes flying in the gloomy canyon. +</p> + +<p> +It was the black face of Sikaso that was gazing down on them and +beside it was Ben Stubbs' weather-beaten countenance. Behind them +were Billy, Lathrop and the rest. +</p> + +<p> +"Hold on there and we'll get you out of that in two shakes of a +duck's tail," cheerily hailed the old adventurer. "We guessed you'd +be here and we brought a rope as long as a man of war's cable with +us. Lucky thing we did." +</p> + +<p> +The next minute a long rope of vegetable fiber came snaking down the +side of the cliff and to one end of it clung Ben Stubbs. As he +reached the bottom—the rope being cautiously paid out from above by +his companions—the old seaman swung himself outward from the face +of the rock and "in a brace of shakes," as he would have said, stood +alongside the two boys. In a second his sharp eye took in Harry's +wild looks and hysterical greetings and realized what had happened. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, Frank," he ordered, giving the young aviator the end of the +rope—"catch hold tight and when you are ready give the word." +</p> + +<p> +"But Harry—" gasped Frank, "I can't leave him. Let him go first." +</p> + +<p> +"I'll bring him up. He can't look after himself in the shape he's +in and you are too weak to attempt to help him. Now no talking +back. I'm boss now. Up aloft with you. Haul away there!" +</p> + +<p> +The next minute Frank, clinging to the rope, was being hauled +cautiously up the side of the sheer cliff by careful hands and +shortly he was in the arms of his friends. +</p> + +<p> +Ben Stubbs—to whom the rope with a weight at the end of it had been +swung pendulum wise—next appeared at the summit with Harry in his +strong grip. But it was a white faced inanimate burden he carried. +The boy had swooned. +</p> + +<p> +"He'll be all right in a few minutes," said Ben Stubbs as M. +Desplaines and the others all tried to explain at once to Frank how +Sikaso had guessed what had happened when the boys did not return. +The Krooman had led the party by secret native trails to the cliff +top. Frank clasped the huge black's hand with real gratitude and +tears of thankfulness brimmed in his eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"How can I ever thank you," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"Um—white boys keep away Pool of Death, Sikaso much pleased," +replied the Krooman turning slowly away with a sad expression on his +face. +</p> + +<p> +"His own son was drowned in it several years ago," said M. +Desplaines briefly. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap06"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER VI +</h3> + +<h3> +A SNAP-SHOT FIEND IN TROUBLE +</h3> + +<p> +The morning after the events recorded in the last chapter was one of +these sparkling ones that are occasionally to be met with on the +West African coast and was the forerunner of a day of great bustle +and activity for the boys. With the vitality of healthy youth Harry +had completely recovered and was indeed surprised to find himself +feeling so good after what he had been through. Privately he +inspected his hair in the mirror to see if it had turned white and +was secretly much astonished to find it the same color as before. +</p> + +<p> +"I wish mine would turn white or potato color or something," said +Lathrop, to whom Harry confided his expectation, "this red thatch of +mine is a nuisance. At school I was always Brick-top or Red-Head +and out here the natives all look at my carrot-colored top-knot as +if they'd like to scalp me and keep it for a fetish." +</p> + +<p> +Both boys laughed heartily over Lathrop's half-assumed vexation. As +a matter of fact he had been the butt of many jokes in school on +account of his blazing red hair and in Africa the natives with their +love for any gaudy color had already christened him Rwome Mogo or +Red-Top. Of this, however, he was fortunately ignorant, as he might +have been tempted to go out and dispatch half a dozen of them if he +knew of their term for him. +</p> + +<p> +Down at the river bank, cross the evil-smelling lagoon at the back +of the town, Frank and Harry had their hands full directing +shouting, laughing Kroomen how to load up the canoes. From the +canopied steam launch that lay alongside the rickety wharf the black +engineer—an American Negro—watched with great contempt their +labors, which they enlivened with songs from time to time. +</p> + +<p> +"Them's de mos' good fur nuffingest niggahs I ever did see," +remarked Mr. Rastus Johnson—that was his name—with undisguised +contempt. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless by noon the canoes had all been leaded and the +farewells to the kind M. Desplaines and his family said. After a +swift final inspection Frank pronounced everything ship-shape and +even Doctor Wiseman who had been fussing about as Billy said "like a +hen with one chicken—and that a lame duck," over his tin cases and +poisonous looking bottles, announced that he was ready to start. +The twelve chattering Kroomen who were to go as far as the Bambara +country with the expedition were seated two in each canoe. They +were along simply as camp attendants and packers and would by no +means go any further than the borders of the Bambara country which +they said was the dwelling-place of "bery bad man sah." +</p> + +<p> +Just as the little launch, flying the stars and stripes out of +compliment to the boys, was drawing out into the stream with a long +blast of her whistle, a tall, black form came racing along the bank +and with one bound cleared the five feet or so between the launch +and the shore. It was Sikaso. +</p> + +<p> +"So you came after all," said Frank, turning to him, after a bend in +the river had hidden the waving Mr. Desplaines from sight and they +were settling down in the launch. +</p> + +<p> +"Sikaso see in the smoke I come—I come. If I see in smoke I no +come—I no come," remarked the Krooman. +</p> + +<p> +"He's traveling light anyhow," remarked Billy. +</p> + +<p> +Indeed the giant negro's only bit of baggage was a huge axe, the +handle of which was dented and scarred as if by many combats. Billy +was about to run his thumb along its edge when with a gesture the +mighty negro waved him aside. Instead he took Billy's handkerchief +from the young reporter's pocket and drew it gently along the axe +blade. +</p> + +<p> +It fell in two pieces on each side of his blade, severed by its +razor-like edge. +</p> + +<p> +"Sikaso is a good fellow to be friends with when he can make little +ones out of big ones like that," remarked Billy, picking up the two +fragments of his handkerchief, "that's a fine way to cut up a +gentleman's wardrobe." +</p> + +<p> +Bit by bit as the launch drove steadily up the muddy river—from +whose jungle-grown banks arose a warm, moist vapor—Frank drew from +the grim-faced old Krooman some of his history. He had been a +mighty warrior in the old days, he said, and the weapon he carried +was his war axe with which he had killed uncounted enemies. A rival +tribe, however, had killed his father and mother and driven him to +the coast with the few survivors of his village. Here he had +shipped on an American trading brig for New York where he had picked +up the knowledge of English he possessed. He also worshiped America +as "free man's country." But Africa had called to him and some +three years before he had returned on another ship and meant to die +there, he said. +</p> + +<p> +"Why did you wish to go with us?" asked Frank as the native +concluded his story. +</p> + +<p> +"It was written so in the smoke, white boss," replied the veteran +simply. "The ju-ju in the smoke strong ju-ju. He knows many +things." +</p> + +<p> +"Is that the only reason you have for coming?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, boss, I tell you truth," replied the old warrior, "some day I +find the chief who kill my father and my mother and kill my +friends." He glanced significantly at his axe. +</p> + +<p> +"In the Moon Mountains maybe I find him—maybe not. But some day I +shall and then—" +</p> + +<p> +He said no more, but as Frank remarked to Harry when the former +recounted his conversation to his brother later: +</p> + +<p> +"I shouldn't much like to be that man when Sikaso meets him." +</p> + +<p> +The launch and the small flotilla she towed forged steadily up the +stream all that day and at nightfall drew alongside the bank at a +spot where a clearing planted with bananas clearly indicated the +presence thereabouts of a native village. As soon as the launch was +moored to the bank the adventurers scrambled out—not sorry of a +chance to stretch their legs—and looked about them wonderingly. +They were really in equatorial Africa at last, and even as they +looked there was a sound borne to their ears that brought home to +them strongly how very far away they were from old New York. It was +a pulsing, rhythmic beating something like a drum and yet unlike it. +They looked questioningly at Sikaso. +</p> + +<p> +"Tom-tom," said he briefly. +</p> + +<p> +"Is it a friendly village, Sikaso?" inquired Doctor Wiseman. +</p> + +<p> +"Friendly to some—not to all," replied the Krooman, who for some +unaccountable reason had taken a strange dislike to the professor. +"Come," he said, intoning to Frank and Harry, "we go see get +chicken, maybe pork." +</p> + +<p> +"Say, can't we come along, Frank?" asked Billy and Lathrop their +faces falling. +</p> + +<p> +Frank consulted Sikaso who merely said: +</p> + +<p> +"Little fat white boy, with round, glass four-eyes talk too much." +</p> + +<p> +"Well," laughed Frank, "I think I can promise for him that he won't +do any talking that will cause any harm this evening." +</p> + +<p> +"Talk too much, indeed," grumbled Billy highly offended, "why at +home my folks were thinking of having a doctor treat me for +bashfulness I'm so retiring in my disposition." +</p> + +<p> +As soon as the laugh that this remark of the disgruntled reporter +had caused had subsided—even old Sikaso giving a grim smile as he +took in the purport of it—the little party set out down a native +trail toward the village. +</p> + +<p> +As the tom-tom beating increased in loudness as the village drew +near, the boys' hearts began to beat a little faster. At last they +were about to see a real African village—such as they had read +about in Stanley's and Livingstone's books—and other less authentic +volumes. They almost stumbled on the place as they suddenly emerged +into a clearing. It was a strange sight that met their eyes. +</p> + +<p> +Arranged in a circle were fifty huts that resembled nothing so much +as a collection of old-fashioned straw covered beehives, enlarged to +shelter human bees. All about them women and children were +bustling; setting about getting the evening meal. Before one hut +sat a woman, pounding something in a stone pestle—"like the +drugstore men use at home,"—whispered Lathrop to Billy. +</p> + +<p> +The arrival of the little band created a stir. The hideous old man, +with a sort of straw-bonnet, who had been beating on the antelope +skin drum called by Sikaso a "tom-tom" saw them and instantly picked +up his instrument and waddled off with as much dignity as his age +and a much distended stomach would allow him. The younger men, +however, advanced boldly toward the party. Some of them carried, +spears, others held Birmingham matchlocks of the kind the British +and French Governments have in vain tried to keep out of the hands +of the West African natives. These guns are smuggled in by +hundreds, by Arab traders who exchange the "gas-pipe" weapons worth +perhaps two dollars a-piece for priceless ivory, and even human +flesh for the slave dhows. +</p> + +<p> +"Seesanah (peace)," said Sikaso gravely, advancing in his turn. +</p> + +<p> +"Seesanah," echoed the tribesmen, who evidently recognized Sikaso +from their greetings. The boys stood grouped in the background—Billy +Barnes and Lathrop even viewing with some alarm the advance of +the savage-looking natives. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, he seems to have fallen in with several members of his club," +remarked the irrepressible Billy as old Sikaso and the natives +talked away at a great rate. +</p> + +<p> +"I'm going to get a picture of some of these niggers when they get +through," he continued aside to Lathrop. +</p> + +<p> +"What; you brought a camera?" asked the other boy. +</p> + +<p> +"Sure thing," replied Billy, "and if their ugly mugs don't break the +lens, I mean to get some good snaps." +</p> + +<p> +He drew a small flat folding camera from his pocket as he spoke and +got it ready for action. +</p> + +<p> +"Do you think Frank would stand for it? It might make trouble you +know," said Lathrop. +</p> + +<p> +"Pshaw," retorted the cocksure Billy, "what trouble can it make? I +wish I knew bow to say 'Look pleasant, please,' in Hottentot, or +whatever language these fellows talk." +</p> + +<p> +By this time old Sikaso's 'pow-wow' was over and he motioned Frank +and Harry forward. After they had been introduced to the chiefs and +headmen of the village, the "big chief," a villainous-looking old +party with only one eye and his legs thrust into a red shirt—into +the armholes that is, with the rest of the garment rolled round his +waist—announced he was ready to give fresh provisions for calico, +red and blue, and several sections of the brass rod that passes for +currency on the West Coast. While Frank, Harry and Sikaso were +bargaining behind a hut, over the price to be charged for a +razor-backed porker of suspicious appearance the village suddenly +became filled with an uproar of angry shouts and tumult. +</p> + +<p> +"What can be the matter?" exclaimed Frank, as the boys, followed by +the old chief and Sikaso, rushed from behind the hut to ascertain +the cause of the disturbance. +</p> + +<p> +Standing in the center of a crowd of excited villagers was Billy +Barnes, his helmet knocked off and an arrow sticking through it. He +looked scared to death as well he might, for by his side was a +stalwart young African, brandishing a heavy-bladed spear above his +head. At the young reporter's feet lay the ill-fated camera that +had caused all the trouble. +</p> + +<p> +What had happened was this. As soon as Frank and Harry and their +companions had left him and Lathrop alone, Billy had started to +carry out his determination to take some pictures. The first +subject he selected was a serious-faced little baby, innocent of any +clothing, that sat playing with a ragged dog at, the entrance of one +of the beehive huts. He had just clicked the button and exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +"This will be a jim-dandy," when he felt something whistle through +the air and the next minute his hat lay at his feet with an arrow in +it. In an instant the child's father—convinced that Billy was +putting Ju-ju medicine on the child—was upon him, armed with his +big hunting spear and followed by half the village. Even +Billy—scared as he was—did not realize how very near to death he +actually came to being. Sikaso's shouted words in a native dialect +caused the tribesmen to fall back but they still muttered angrily. +</p> + +<p> +Stepping swiftly up to the camera Sikaso with a single blow of his +axe smashed it to pieces. +</p> + +<p> +"Here, that's no way to treat my camera!" Billy was indignantly +beginning, when Frank gripped his shoulder in an iron-clutch and +whispered: +</p> + +<p> +"Shut up; if you don't want to make more trouble." +</p> + +<p> +Billy was starting on an angry remonstrance when he caught Frank's +eye. The young leader was really angry and Billy prudently +refrained from saying any more. +</p> + +<p> +As for Sikaso—after demolishing Billy's machine, he turned to the +tribesmen and addressing them in stately tones said—as he afterward +translated it to Frank: +</p> + +<p> +"Village fools. You see there is no magic in the little black box. +It is nothing but a child's plaything for the fat, spectacled +idiot." (This part of the oration Frank did not communicate to +Billy.) "You see I have smashed it. Do I fear? Do I look now like +a man in terror of the white man's medicine. It is nothing. It is +broken and gone like the cloud before the wind, like the shadow on +the mountain side." +</p> + +<p> +The effect of all this was soothing and the boys left the camp, to +order some of their packmen to bring home the provisions, with light +hearts. As for Billy his ears burned by the time Frank got through +reading him a lecture. +</p> + +<p> +"I'm sorry," he said bravely, "and I won't do it again. Gee! talk +about 'press the button and we'll do the rest.'" +</p> + +<p> +"They nearly did it—didn't they," laughed Frank, his good humor +quite restored. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap07"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER VII +</h3> + +<h3> +A TRAITOR IN CAMP +</h3> + +<p> +It was a week later, and the launch having towed the expedition as +far up the river as Frank decided was necessary—before they struck +out into the unknown land of the cannibals, winged men, and the +ivory hoard—had returned to civilization several days before, +carrying with it letters from all the adventurers which they felt +might be the last they would write for some time. The spot selected +for the permanent camp was a sort of park-like space covered at its +edges with masses of manioc and banana bushes. Beyond towered huge +tropical trees and beyond these again the blue outlines of the +distant Moon Mountains in which, according to old Barr's map, lay +the ivory cache. +</p> + +<p> +It had been a busy week. The Golden Eagle II had been re-erected +and her own wireless and the field wireless apparatus put in order. +As our readers who have followed this series are familiar with the +manner of setting up the great Chester aeroplane and her fittings, +it would be tedious to repeat the description of the process. +Suffice it to say that thanks to the clever simplicity of the +"knock-down" arrangement, by which the ship could be taken apart and +set up again, the operation of equipping her for active work was a +comparatively light one. The extra gasoline and supplies for the +camp in general were stored in a separate tent removed from the +circle in which the boys' tents and those of Ben Stubbs and +Professor Wiseman were pitched. +</p> + +<p> +There was, too, a newcomer in the camp—a Portuguese named Diego de +Barros. He was not a particularly well-favored individual, but he +bore the reputation of having great power over the natives and of +being very friendly to the white traders who penetrated into the +interior. Once or twice there had been ugly talk about his being in +league with the Arab slave and ivory traders, but he had managed to +clear his name and along the Ivory Coast enjoyed the reputation of +being an honest, reliable man. He had joined the boys' camp a few +days before and his manner of coming was this. +</p> + +<p> +While everybody was busy getting things in shape there had come a +loud hail from the quarters of the native helpers, just outside the +white man's encampment, announcing that a canoe was coming up the +river. All hands had hastened to the river bank to find de Barros +just putting his foot ashore from the canoe in which two natives had +paddled him from the coast. He had with him some bales of cotton +goods and a few gewgaws of various kinds and was bound, so he said, +on a trading expedition into the back country. Further down the +river he had heard, he explained, that the boys were camped where he +found them, and he had determined to pay them a visit. The brief +stay that the boys had interpreted this as meaning, however, had +extended itself into three days and still Diego showed no +inclination to leave. +</p> + +<p> +"If he doesn't move on soon I shall be compelled to ask him to go," +said Frank in an annoyed tone to Harry. "I don't want to be +inhospitable, but we can't afford to have strangers hanging round +the camp, there is too much at stake." +</p> + +<p> +Harry agreed with him and the two boys decided to tell the Portuguese +that evening as tactfully as possible that they were on a private +enterprise and could not accommodate strangers. This decision +arrived at, Frank turned to the steel strong box that was never out +of his sight and drew from it the precious map of the Moon Mountains. +Seated at the little camp-table—(the conversation just related had +taken place in the Boy Aviators' tent)—the two pored over the +document for hours. With dividers, compass and parallel rulers Frank, +who was a skilled navigator, laid out an aerial course that would +bring them, he calculated, unerringly to the spot marked by a red +cross where—so old Luther Barr declared—lay the ivory that was to +save Mr. Beasley from financial ruin and disgrace. +</p> + +<p> +Frank laid his finger on the spot and exclaimed enthusiastically: +</p> + +<p> +"There it is, Harry, and we are not so far from it now. In a few +days we shall know whether we are on a wild-goose chase or not." +</p> + +<p> +"Why, no doubt has ever entered your head that the ivory is there?" +questioned Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, old fellow, you know there are others interested in this +ivory beside ourselves—Muley-Hassan for instance." +</p> + +<p> +"You think he had got ahead of us?" +</p> + +<p> +"I did not say I thought so, I only say that it is possible that he +may have done so." +</p> + +<p> +"How could he have got wind of our coming?" +</p> + +<p> +"In Africa there is a sort of underground wire for news," replied +Frank. "I have no doubt that hundreds of natives far in the +interior are by this time apprised of our coming." +</p> + +<p> +Harry looked alarmed. +</p> + +<p> +"That's bad," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, it couldn't be helped: but we may have other enemies nearer +at hand." +</p> + +<p> +"What do you mean?" +</p> + +<p> +"That I don't like the looks of that Portuguese fellow. If he got +wind of what we are doing he would be likely to ruin the whole +object of our expedition." +</p> + +<p> +"That's so. We'll have to get rid of him." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, we are going to, and if he won't go for gentle means we'll +try rough ones." +</p> + +<p> +"Hullo, what's that?" exclaimed Harry suddenly. +</p> + +<p> +The flap at the end of the tent toward which both of their backs had +been turned had been suddenly drawn aside and in one quick, backward +glance Harry made out the smiling figure of de Barros standing in +the doorway. It might have been fancy, but he thought for a minute +that the Portuguese had a peculiarly villainous expression on his +dark, handsome features. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, senors," he said, as Frank, with a quick movement swept the map +off the table—but not before de Barros's quick eyes had spied it. +Fearing to replace the precious chart in the strong box, while the +Portuguese lingered, Frank tucked it into his pocket. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, senors, good afternoon," grinned the unwelcome visitor. "I +have come to say 'adios.' I am going up the river to-night and may +not see you again for a long time." +</p> + +<p> +"I am sorry to have you leave," said Frank with a heartfelt wish +that de Barros would hasten his departure. +</p> + +<p> +"I knew you would be," smiled the Portuguese, "but it is the lot of +man to meet and part. Adios, senors, I go to make ready." +</p> + +<p> +He vanished as suddenly as he had come upon the scene. +</p> + +<p> +"What do you make of that?" inquired Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"I don't know what to think. I have an idea that he was listening +to every word of our conversation just now and that he saw the map +before I had time to sweep it off the table." +</p> + +<p> +Harry looked vexed. +</p> + +<p> +"That's tough luck," he said. "If he overheard even a part of our +talk he must realize the object of our presence in Africa. And," he +went on, "I don't know a man on the Dark Continent whom I would +trust less than Diego de Barros, even the little we've seen of him." +</p> + +<p> +"It can't be helped now," said Frank briefly; "come on, let's go and +put the finishing touches on the good old Eagle." +</p> + +<p> +They worked the rest of the afternoon putting the big aeroplane in +shape for her flight to the Moon Mountains which it had been +determined to make the next day. It was almost dusk when Harry, who +was working over the engines, asked Frank for the reserve park-plug +box. +</p> + +<p> +"It's in one of the canoes. I'll go and get it," said Frank, and at +once set off toward the river bank for that purpose. His path led +through a thick grove of bamboos which hid him from the view of the +camp after he had traversed a short distance. As he merged on the +river bank, whistling softly to himself, the young leader suddenly +felt himself pinioned by arms that seemed of enormous strength—though, +as the attack had come from behind, he could not see the +faces of his assailants. The next minute he was lying flat on his +back, bound and helpless with a bit of greasy cloth shoved in his +mouth for a gag. +</p> + +<p> +"Keep still, senor, and you shall not be hurt;" said a quiet voice +near at hand, and Frank saw bending above him the sallow features of +the smiling Portuguese. +</p> + +<p> +"I just have to trouble you for that map I saw you put in your +pocket, that is all," went on his captor, while the two huge negroes +who had made Frank prisoner stood to one side immovable as carved +figures. +</p> + +<p> +"It is lucky for me that you came down to the river bank," grinned +the Portuguese as he ran his hand over Frank's clothes, to ascertain +the hiding-place of the precious map of the ivory cache, "otherwise +I should have had to delay my departure till to-night, and possibly +have cut your throat while you slept." +</p> + +<p> +Frank felt as if his heart would burst with rage and mortification +as the greasy, smiling Portuguese deliberately drew out the +priceless document and gazed at it in triumph. He laid it on the +ground beside him while lie resumed his search for other clues. +</p> + +<p> +"That ivory belongs to my master—Muley-Hassan—now," he sneered; +"did you think for a minute that we would ever let you white fools +get it back again." +</p> + +<p> +It was well for the Portuguese that Frank's hands were not free +then. Had they been the dark-skinned traitor would have had a fight +on his hands in a few seconds. But suddenly events took a strange +turn. +</p> + +<p> +The two blacks uttered a sharp cry of warning as the bushes parted +and a huge form dashed out, whirling about its head a glistening +axe. +</p> + +<p> +It was Sikaso! +</p> + +<p> +The next minute would have been Diego's last but that his two +followers lifted him to his feet and, picking him up like a child, +ran for his canoe with him. With a few rapid strokes they were in +midstream and paddling up the river with powerful strokes while +Sikaso raged impotently on the shore. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh for one of the white men's fire-tubes!" he sighed, and even as +he spoke a sharp reminder of the efficiency of these same +"fire-tubes" whizzed past his ear in the shape of a bullet from +Diego's revolver. +</p> + +<p> +In a few steps the old black was beside his young leader and with a +couple of strokes of his keen blade had set him free. +</p> + +<p> +"Quick, Sikaso; the canoes—we must pursue him. Call the boys and +Ben while I cast off the canoes. Quick, we have not a minute to +lose." +</p> + +<p> +Although Diego in his hurry had not carried off the map but left it +lying on the ground, still Frank realized that the Portuguese had +not actually needed the document to aid Muley-Hassan to find the +cache. The Arab was no doubt familiar with the location anyway, but +to head off all danger of the boys getting there first, it was vital +to stop Diego at all costs. In a few bounds Frank reached the +little indentation in the bank where the canoes were kept. +</p> + +<p> +As he gained it he fell back with a groan and, brave boy as he was, +he leaned weakly against a tree for support as the true extent of +the crushing disaster that had occurred was borne in on him. +</p> + +<p> +The canoes were gone! +</p> + +<p> +The cunning rascal, Diego, had devised his plan well. +</p> + +<p> +The painters of all the craft had been cut, and by this time they +were doubtless miles down the stream. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap08"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER VIII +</h3> + +<h3> +A BATTLE IN THE AIR +</h3> + +<p> +The consternation with which the news of the loss of the canoes was +received by the young adventurers may be imagined. It meant that +they were cut off from communication with the coast entirely unless +some unforeseen circumstances arose. But in spite of the oppression +that naturally affected them at the first news of their serious loss, +Frank's confident manner had its effect in restoring some sort of +hope. Like the born leader that he was, Frank, the minute he +recovered from the first effects of his bitter dismay, set about +cheering up the others. +</p> + +<p> +"We've always got the Golden Eagle," he comforted, "and anyway it's +likely if no one stops them, that some at least of the canoes will +drift down the river to the coast. M. Desplaines will no doubt be +able to surmise something serious has happened when he hears of +their arrival and will send aid. In the meantime we have to +consider what we are to do about the ivory cache." +</p> + +<p> +As a matter of fact, as the boys learned later, none of the canoes +ever reached the coast, being intercepted by river-tribes. +</p> + +<p> +"I vote for going ahead," cried Harry, catching the optimistic note +that his brother's words conveyed. +</p> + +<p> +"That's the stuff," cried the young leader, "that is exactly what I +was going to propose." +</p> + +<p> +"How about you, red-top?" asked Billy turning to Lathrop. +</p> + +<p> +"Of course I'm on," was the reply. +</p> + +<p> +"I hate to dash your enthusiasm," said Frank, "but you fellows must +see that it is impossible for all of us to go. My plan is to take +Ben Stubbs along and leave you fellows and Sikaso here to guard the +camp. Then, too, there is the possibility of a relief expedition +arriving as soon as they discover that we have lost our canoes." +</p> + +<p> +Old Sikaso leant apart on his mighty war-axe. He seemed to regret +heartily that he had not had an opportunity of testing its metal on +the head of the knavish Portuguese. +</p> + +<p> +"What do you say to that plan, Sikaso?" asked Frank, who already +placed a high value on the old warrior's judgment. +</p> + +<p> +"That it is good, my white brother. Sikaso will stay with the +four-eyed one and the ruddy-haired one and we will see that no harm +comes to the camp of the young white warriors." +</p> + +<p> +"It is well," replied Frank, who was falling into a trick of +addressing the stately Krooman in the same grandiloquent fashion as +the latter was in the habit of using, "I place my trust in you." +</p> + +<p> +"Hum," snorted Billy, "four-eyes and red-top that's a nice +combination for you! I'd like to do something to show that old chap +that we can do just as much as anyone else when it comes to a +show-down." +</p> + +<p> +This remark, however, was made sotto voce to Lathrop, as Billy +really stood in great awe of the six foot-two of ebony flesh and +muscle that was Sikaso. +</p> + +<p> +But Stubbs was delighted at his selection to accompany the boys in +their aerial dash for the ivory cache. He spent half the night by +lantern light pottering about the great craft and stocking her up +with provisions and equipment for the journey. By the time he had +finished it was almost midnight and he turned in to join the boys in +the land of dreams where Frank and Harry, and doubtless the others, +too, were already busy shooting down Diegos and hippopotami and +flitting through the air above the great African forest and +performing all sorts of wonderful feats. +</p> + +<p> +At dawn everybody was up and about and after farewells had been said +the Chester boys and their sturdy old companion clambered into the +chassis of their craft. Frank had already laid out his course, +which lay about two points west of north. The boy calculated that +this direction would bring them within a few miles at any rate of +the cache. To find it they would have to trust to persistence and a +modicum of luck. +</p> + +<p> +Old Sikaso, who had, of course, never seen anything even remotely +resembling an aeroplane, stood apart from the excited group +clustered about the big craft and gazed at it with astonishment, not +unmixed with awe. The other Kroomen—the packers and camp-workers, +however, gathered close about the machine and the boys had a lot of +trouble keeping their busy fingers from unscrewing nuts and +loosening turnbuckles. +</p> + +<p> +"Anything more like a pack of monkeys on a picnic I never saw," +exclaimed Billy as for the twentieth time he chased a long, skinny +native away from the propellers, where he would have assuredly been +decapitated if he had remained till the engine was started. +</p> + +<p> +A few turns with the clutch thrown out showed the engine was running +as true as on the day the Golden Eagle made her trial trip. The +muffler was cut out and the effect of the wide-open exhaust on the +Kroomen was magical. Within a second from the time that Harry threw +in the switch and the gatling gun uproar of the exhaust made itself +manifest, not a solitary one was to be seen. From the greenery of +the jungle that rimmed the clearing, however, their frightened faces +could be seen peering, like some strange sort of fruit among the +tropical growth. Only old Sikaso stood his ground. +</p> + +<p> +But even that stolid old warrior grasped his great war-axe a little +tighter and stood erect as if about to face an unknown enemy as jets +of blue flame and smoke shot from the detonating exhaust. +</p> + +<p> +"All ready, Harry?" cried Frank to the younger boy who was at his +old station by the engines. +</p> + +<p> +"Ay, ay!" came the response in a hearty tone. "Then let her go." +</p> + +<p> +With a quick movement Frank threw in the clutch. +</p> + +<p> +The mighty propellers began to beat the air with the whirring sound +of a swarm of gigantic locusts in full flight, and after a short run +the great aeroplane took the air in a long graceful rising arc. +Half an hour later, to the watchers in the camp, she was little more +than a speck against the sky. +</p> + +<p> +Frank, his eye constantly on the compass, kept the ship on a true +course for the Moon Mountains which, now that they were flying far +above the dense forest region, lay a rugged mass of blue and brown, +piled like some giant's playthings—on the northwestern horizon. +</p> + +<p> +Even from the distance at which the boys viewed them they conveyed +an almost sinister impression in their rugged shapes. Their harsh +outlines cut the sky in a serrated line like the teeth of a huge +saw. +</p> + +<p> +"Look, look, Frank!" shouted Harry suddenly as they were passing +high over a small clearing. +</p> + +<p> +Both Frank and Ben peered over the side in answer to the boy's +excited hail. +</p> + +<p> +Far below them was a strange sight. +</p> + +<p> +In the center of the clearing were four huge African elephants +solemnly conducting a sort of Brobdingnaggian game of tag. One of +the great beasts would tap the other with its trunk and then would +scamper away till it in turn was "tapped" by a blow that would have +swept a small regiment off its feet. +</p> + +<p> +Frank pushed over a lever and swung the ship in a circle so that +they might watch the great animals to better advantage. Suddenly +the boys saw one of the elephants, evidently seized by sudden rage, +start goring one of its companions with its huge tusks. The +attacked animal had no chance, and but for the boys would speedily +have been killed. +</p> + +<p> +"I'm going to give that big bully a shot," exclaimed Harry, and he +got out one of the heavy rifles from the rack under the starboard +transom. +</p> + +<p> +"Wait, I'll drop a bit," said Frank. +</p> + +<p> +In response to his manipulation the aeroplane dropped till she +hovered not more than two hundred feet above the great animals. +Then a strange thing happened. The shadow of the craft fell upon +the center of the clearing in front of the dueling beasts and the +on-looking pachyderms, and as it did so the bully stopped goring its +mate and gave a snort of astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +Its note of surprise quickly changed to a loud trumpet of terror as +the great pachyderm saw swooping above it what must have appeared to +it an aerial inhabitant even larger than itself. Its note of fright +was echoed in a chorus that sounded like an assemblage of cracked +trumpets as the others also sensed the impending danger. +</p> + +<p> +"Now let him have it," shouted Frank. +</p> + +<p> +Harry's rifle cracked and the big bully staggered. Twice more the +boy fired and the huge creature staggered on to its knees and then +with a mighty groan rolled over on its side. The others, even the +wounded one, had made off as soon as they had caught sight of the +hovering Golden Eagle. +</p> + +<p> +Even from the height at which they were the boys could see that the +dead animal had an enormous pair of tusks, no doubt extremely +valuable. +</p> + +<p> +"We ought to have them there figure-heads," commented Ben Stubbs. +"What do you say if we drop down and get them?" +</p> + +<p> +Frank looked at his watch. It was half-past nine. +</p> + +<p> +"We cannot be more than a hundred miles now from the foot of the +range," he said, "and I suppose we have plenty of time. We might as +well drop and get them as let some native tribe have the find and +then get skinned out of them by an Arab trader." +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke the boy set the planes for descending and the Golden +Eagle settled down—after a few minutes rapid falling—fairly in the +center of the clearing. It was almost a fairylike spot. On every +side it was hedged in by the densest jungle vegetation, the solid +walls being broken here and there by elephant paths leading off into +the green tangle. +</p> + +<p> +The little glade in which the Golden Eagle had settled was covered +with short, yellow grass and had been trampled almost bare of +vegetation, apparently by the gambols of countless generations of +elephants. +</p> + +<p> +"This must be one of the elephant playgrounds I have read about," +exclaimed Harry, looking about him. +</p> + +<p> +"No doubt it is," replied Frank. "But look at those tusks, why +there's ivory enough there alone to give us all a nice wad of pocket +money." +</p> + +<p> +Ben Stubbs, with one of the small axes, at once set about hacking +out the dead elephant's huge tusks and a long job it was. Finally, +however, he managed to cut them free and clear and the boys loaded +them into the aeroplane. +</p> + +<p> +"Now we are all ready for a fresh start," said Frank as they +clambered in after him and settled down in their places; but a +startling interruption occurred. +</p> + +<p> +With a wild yell, that struck a sudden chill to the heart of every +one of the little group, a band of beings that at first sight looked +like nothing so much as huge gorillas, burst from the forest on +every side. +</p> + +<p> +Their heads were misshapen and flat and their protruding lips were +daubed with white and red clay which gave them a ghastly unearthly +look. From their ears hung huge ivory pendants. They carried +elephant skin shields and were armed with spears and bow and arrows. +As if they did not consider themselves sufficiently hideous, several +of the tribe had cut their faces in long stripes and the hardly +healed scars of these wounds rendered their already sinister faces +terrifying indeed. +</p> + +<p> +Desperately Harry threw over the wheel and the engines started +faithfully to respond but not before half a dozen of the savages had +thrown themselves on to the aeroplane. +</p> + +<p> +Their weight held her down although she scudded over the ground; and +in the meantime the other natives started pouring a shower of arrows +and spears into her. Fortunately none of these struck the boys +although Frank felt an arrow whiz through the loose sleeve of his +shirt. +</p> + +<p> +"Get those fellows off or I can't get the ship up," he yelled. +</p> + +<p> +Harry and Ben Stubbs fired their automatics into the clinging mass +of savages. +</p> + +<p> +Two dropped and the aeroplane began to rise but the others +desperately clung on. +</p> + +<p> +"Get 'em off," shouted Frank, as he desperately strove to raise the +air-craft. +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke he fell back with a cry of pain. +</p> + +<p> +An arrow had struck him on the shoulder inflicting a painful wound. +</p> + +<p> +Like a flash Harry took in the situation and leaped to the steering +wheel. As he did so the savage with whom he had been contending +clambered clear into the chassis. At the same instant Ben Stubbs' +revolver dispatched the last of the men clinging to the planes and +the Golden Eagle began to rise. +</p> + +<p> +As she shot upward the savage who had climbed into the chassis gave +a wild shriek of real terror. But his outburst didn't come before +he had made a savage lunge at Ben Stubbs with a short heavy knife. +The solo adventurer dived under the black's arm and struck it upward +as he lunged and the weapon went whirling groundward out of the +air-ship. +</p> + +<p> +With a cry of despair the savage rushed to the edge of the car and +was about to throw himself into empty air when Ben leaped forward to +try to restrain him. +</p> + +<p> +But it was too late. +</p> + +<p> +As the boys' sturdy companion gallantly attempted to save the +savage's life a flight of arrows whizzed up from below. +</p> + +<p> +With a groan the man on the edge of the car pitched forward into +open space, pierced to the heart with an arrow sped by one of his +own tribesmen. Down he shot like a stone to the earth below, while +the Golden Eagle—as if rejoicing in her escape, shot upward and +onward. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap09"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER IX +</h3> + +<h3> +THE VOICE OF THE MOUNTAIN +</h3> + +<p> +Frank's wound fortunately turned out to be nothing very +serious—though painful enough—and after it had been treated with +antiseptics from the medicine chest he declared that, aside from the +stiffness and soreness, he felt no ill effect. +</p> + +<p> +"Those fellows certainly gave us a sample of what we may expect," +remarked Harry, examining the hole in his shirt where the arrow had +ripped through. +</p> + +<p> +"It was quite as narrow an escape as I care to experience," agreed +Frank. "How about you, Ben?" +</p> + +<p> +"Wall," said the old adventurer, "I don't know as how I think that +kind of excitement is as beneficial fer the health as the rest +cure." +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the Golden Eagle, plowing through the clear African air at +fifty miles an hour, rapidly drew nearer and nearer to the +mysterious Moon Mountains. +</p> + +<p> +As they neared the range the extraordinary character of it was +revealed more and more clearly. Seamed with deep gloomy abysses and +almost bare of vegetation, except a few scanty groves of palms and +the hardier tropical trees, they seemed indeed fitted to be the +theater of dark mysteries and the haunt of savage tribes. +</p> + +<p> +"Well," exclaimed Harry, as he scrutinized the strange mountain mass +through the glasses, "I should say that if those Winged Men are to +be found anywhere, here is where they'd reside." +</p> + +<p> +"I should think they'd use their wings to get out—a nastier looking +lot of mountains I never saw," was Ben's reply. +</p> + +<p> +Frank made no comment, but the sinister character of the mountains +they were so rapidly approaching impressed itself on his mind +nevertheless. Eagerly he scanned the range for the first sign of +"The Upturned Face." Harry and Ben, too, gave quite as eager +scrutiny toward the discovery of this striking mark of the ivory's +hiding-place. +</p> + +<p> +All at once it shot into view with a suddenness that made the boys' +beads swim. +</p> + +<p> +It was as clear as daylight. The line of the mountain for which +Frank had the Golden Eagle II now directly headed was unmistakably +the outline also of a hawk-nosed facet. +</p> + +<p> +If the mountains themselves had an evil, menacing look, the stone +face possessed this same quality in an infinitely greater degree. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, if we've got to go looking for ivory right under that face +the sooner we find it the better," exclaimed Ben. "I'd hate to be +shipmates with the fellow who sat for that portrait." +</p> + +<p> +"No human being ever sat for it, Ben," laughed Frank; "it's a mere +freak of nature which has so disposed the mountain mass at this +point as to give the semblance of what the map-maker terms The +Upturned Face." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, if I had a mug like that I'd turn it down instead of up +before some one did it for me," was Ben's comment. +</p> + +<p> +The Golden Eagle landed on a plateau about halfway up the mountain, +beneath the upturned face. It made an almost ideal camping-place, +considering the rugged nature of their surroundings. In one part of +it a small grove of bananas and palms had taken root, and their +smiling greenery offered a refreshing contrast to the dark +oppressive gloom of the giant rock masses piled all about. From the +center of this oasis in the rocky range bubbled a tiny spring of +water as clear and cold as if it had been filtered and iced. +Frank's first act was to send out a wireless to the River Camp, +telling of their arrival. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, thank goodness, we've got something green and pleasant to +look at," remarked Ben, as they set about transforming the chassis +of the Golden Eagle into a comfortable tent by means of running up +the canvas curtains on the aluminum frames provided for that +purpose. Thus equipped, the chassis served the uses of an improved +tent, as the floor was well above the ground and out of all danger +of the unwholesome, vapors rising from the ground and also the +scorpions and other reptiles. +</p> + +<p> +But if the oasis itself was a pretty spot, it was made doubly so by +the contrast it afforded to the scenery surrounding it. On all +sides shot up frowning walls of rugged black rock which seemed to +have been torn and ripped in some remote period by a terrific +convulsion of nature. In places, too, the rock masses seemed to +have been seared by subterranean fires. Frank gazed upward at the +terrific character of the scenery about them. +</p> + +<p> +"We shall need the rope-ladder," he announced suddenly after a long +silence. +</p> + +<p> +"The rope-ladder?" inquired Harry, "what for?" +</p> + +<p> +Frank laughed. +</p> + +<p> +"I mean the rope-ladder we use in the Golden Eagle. As you know, +the only way to locate the cache is to strike a direct line down +from the nose of the upturned face. That will bring us to the small +cairn or pile of rocks that marks the Arab's hiding-place." +</p> + +<p> +"He could hardly have chosen a better," remarked Harry. "Who would +ever guess, unless they had the key to the mystery, that these +mountains held such a fortune in tusks." +</p> + +<p> +The rest of that day was spent in overhauling the outfit which they +would need to use on their expedition of the morrow. Luckily the +boots they wore had been fitted with "hob-nails" so that they were +ideal for the tough climb that they had ahead of them. Each member +of the three was to carry a pick and of course they all were to be +armed, carrying several rounds of ammunition each in their +cartridge-belts. +</p> + +<p> +That night after a supper of fried ham, canned corn and pancakes—all +cooked by the skilful Ben over a fire of wood collected from the +little grove—Frank sent out a wireless to the members of the camp +on the river bank and felt much reassured when Lathrop's "All +well—good luck," came back through the air. It was delightfully +cool on the mountain-side after the oppressive fetid air of the +river and its neighborhood, and as Ben had remarked before they +turned in: +</p> + +<p> +"Fine weather for sleeping." +</p> + +<p> +But sleep would not come to Frank. He tossed and turned on his +transom bed and several times gazed out into the night through the +canvas curtains. An unaccountable feeling of unrest possessed him. +Could they get the ivory out of the cache before Muley-Hassan and +his band arrived by land? +</p> + +<p> +Fast as they had traveled through the air Frank realized that the +Arab, who doubtless by this time had been informed by the +treacherous Diego of the boys' bold dash, would push on at furious +speed in order to head them off. That he would come accompanied by +a well-armed band Frank could not doubt. He and Harry and Ben could +only put up a feeble resistance against such an attack. There was +only one chance to secure the ivory and that was to get at it before +the Arab arrived. It all depended then on how quickly they could +find the cache. Frank lit the lantern and shielding it so that it +would not strike in the eyes of his sleeping brother, drew out the +map and scanned it attentively. +</p> + +<p> +Yes, here were the directions written in the queer hand of +Muley-Hassan's follower. +</p> + +<p> +"A line from the nose straight down to the cairn of stones." +</p> + +<p> +It seemed simple enough and certainly the nose of the Upturned Face +was as clearly to be made out as a ship at sea. But Frank had been +too long trained in the hard school of adventure to underestimate +the difficulties of any piece of work. They faced a hard job and +none realized the fact better than the young leader. +</p> + +<p> +At last he blew the lantern out and once more composed himself to +sleep. He was just dozing off when a sufficiently startling +interruption occurred. One which drove all further thoughts of rest +from his head. +</p> + +<p> +It was an extraordinary sound that brought the boy out of his bed +with a bound and caused him to clutch his revolver with a heart that +beat loud and thick in spite of himself. +</p> + +<p> +Clutching his weapon the boy rushed to the door of the chassis tent +and gazed out. +</p> + +<p> +There was a bright moon which threw into inky blackness the +depressions of the rugged mountains and threw up their projections +into a blue glare. It was almost as light as day under that +wonderful African moon. Had there been any one near the boy must +have been able to see them. +</p> + +<p> +But look as he would there was not a soul in sight. All about him +stretched the barren frowning mountains sleeping under the moon. +</p> + +<p> +But the sound that he had heard? +</p> + +<p> +There was no mistaking it. It had been too like the low humming of +a human voice for him to have been misled. Perhaps he had been +dreaming? +</p> + +<p> +But as if to give the lie to any such supposition the strange sound +that had so alarmed him at that moment made itself manifest once +more: +</p> + +<p> +"A-hooo-A-AH-HOOO-00-a-ho-ho-ho-o-!" +</p> + +<p> +It started softly and gradually ran up the scale till it reached a +crescendo shout and then died out in a soft sound like a woman's +wail. Heard anywhere the sound would have been alarming enough, but +coming as it did in the midst of these unknown, mysterious Mountains +of the Moon it struck a chill to the boy's heart and caused his +scalp to tighten in a manner that even the bravest man or boy in the +world would have had no reason to feel shame over. +</p> + +<p> +A human enemy, a foe he could see, Frank would have faced with iron +nerve; but this strange wailing noise coming from what quarter of +the compass he could not judge—was so uncanny that he was really +disturbed. He bounded into the chassis and roused Ben and Harry. +He had hardly whispered to them the extraordinary intelligence when +again the voice arose. +</p> + +<p> +"A-ho-ho-h-o-o-o-A-h-hoo-ho-AH-HO-HO-O-O-O-AH-ho-h-o-o-o-o-o-o!" +</p> + +<p> +"Well, who?" roared Ben angrily, "come out and show yourself, you +human hyena, and I'll put so much lead in your system you'll be +worth a nickel a pound. Come, you old Ah-Hoo, and I'll show you who +I am quick enough—shiver my topsails!" +</p> + +<p> +But the only reply to Ben's tirade was the dismal echo of his voice +among the rocky chasms. +</p> + +<p> +"Shiver my topsails!" roared the echo and then the hills bandied the +cry about from ridge to ridge till it died out in a whisper: +</p> + +<p> +"My topsails!" +</p> + +<p> +"Hum," remarked Ben, "I don't think I'll talk so loud around here. +There seem to be a lot of folks listening. Such a dreary hole as +this I never—" +</p> + +<p> +"Never," sighed the echoes, "—never." +</p> + +<p> +"Here, I can't stand this," cried Harry. "I'm going to send a +bullet up there the next time that fellow starts 'Ah-hooing."' +</p> + +<p> +But as the strange mournful cry rang out once more the boys paused +in bewilderment. +</p> + +<p> +There was no locating the sound. +</p> + +<p> +It seemed to fill the air. To come from every quarter of the +compass at once. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap10"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER X +</h3> + +<h3> +THE ARAB'S CACHE +</h3> + +<p> +The mysterious cries were not repeated that night although the boys +laid awake till daylight listening for any repetition. No theory +they could advance, although these ranged all the way from cannibals +and gorillas to ghosts, had any effect on the solution of the +mystery. They finally agreed to trust to solving it in some chance +way, and like sensible boys did not continue to worry themselves +over the unsolvable. +</p> + +<p> +Frank's first action was to send out a wireless to the river camp +and to his great relief he found that events there were still +proceeding with the same regularity as before. Nothing had occurred +to mar the even life of the young adventurers left behind. This was +the tenor of the message, but there was something about it that +worried Frank. Lathrop, he knew, was an expert wireless operator, +but the sending that he performed that morning was so jerky and +irregular that the rankest amateur might have done better. +</p> + +<p> +"What is the matter?" asked Frank sharply after the sending had +become even more unskilled and shaky. +</p> + +<p> +There was no answer; which caused Frank a vague feeling of +apprehension. He speedily drove this impression from his mind, +however, with: +</p> + +<p> +"Pshaw! the sleepless night I passed has made me nervous." +</p> + +<p> +After breakfast there was so much to be done that there was no more +time to waste on gloomy forebodings and the boys started, as soon as +the camp had been put in order, on their expedition up the +mountain-side to the Upturned Face—which was to be the starting +point for the uncovering of the secret ivory hoard. +</p> + +<p> +The climb was quite as stiff as Frank had anticipated and, laden as +they were with the rope-ladder and the other equipment, it was +rendered even tougher. All three carried water-canteens covered +with wet felt, containing half-a-gallon each. Frank had insisted on +this as it was doubtful if they could find water at the summit of +the mountain. +</p> + +<p> +As the sun rose higher in the sky and beat down on the bare rock +ridges over which the adventurers were making their way, it became +as uncomfortable as any expedition on which the boys had ever beer +engaged. +</p> + +<p> +"Talk about New Mexico or Death Valley," exclaimed Harry, "I feel +like a piece of butter rolled up in a paper and I've melted." +</p> + +<p> +"I feel like a Welsh rarebit myself," laughed Frank, "how about you, +Ben?" +</p> + +<p> +"I feel like a pot of boiling tar with a fire lighted under me," +growled the veteran angrily; "consarn these rocks, I'd give a whole +lot for a bit of that shade we left behind us." +</p> + +<p> +Despite the discomfort and the heat, however, they struggled on up +the mountain-side, frequently using the rope-ladder to get over +rough places, and at about noon they stood beneath the steep rock +cliff that formed the nose of the upturned face. +</p> + +<p> +It was easy enough then to reach a spot below the tip and Frank, +with a long cord he had brought for the purpose, laid out a straight +line from the point down the southern slope of the mountain-side. +While they were busy about this they were startled by a repetition +of the same strange cry, half-warning, half-savage, that they had +been so alarmed by the night before. +</p> + +<p> +"A-ho-o-o-o-AH-H-O-O-O-a-h-o-o-hoo-o-o-o-o!" +</p> + +<p> +"Great Scott," yelled Harry, "what on earth do you think of that?" +</p> + +<p> +Frank—considerably startled himself—had, however, made a +determined effort to ascertain the source of the sound as it rose +and fell in its strange cadence. +</p> + +<p> +"I've got it!" he shouted; now with a cry of triumph. +</p> + +<p> +"Got what?" cried Harry, as if he feared his brother had suddenly +become infected with some strange complaint—"rabies or the pip?" +</p> + +<p> +"The noise—I mean I know where it comes from," cried the excited +boy. +</p> + +<p> +"Where?" chorused Ben and Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"From somewhere about the Upturned Face," cried Frank triumphantly, +"Hark!" +</p> + +<p> +The strange wailing cry rang out once more. They all listened +intently. +</p> + +<p> +Sure enough it seemed to proceed from the sinister countenance +carved in the living rock above them. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, here's where we end this mystery for all time," shouted +Frank, drawing his revolver, "who is game to follow me?" +</p> + +<p> +Of course Harry and Ben rushed to his side, and while the echo of +the mysterious cry was still sobbing and sighing among the crags +they dashed back up the mountain-side utterly oblivious now to the +heat or anything but their determination to discover who or what had +uttered the extraordinary cry. The side of the nose—or the nostril +so to speak—was formed of a wall of rock fully twelve feet in +height. +</p> + +<p> +"You fellows give me a boost up there and I'll travel right along +the face till I find out where the racket comes from." +</p> + +<p> +On Ben's strong shoulders Frank was soon hoisted up to a height +where he could lay hold of a projecting bit of rock and shin himself +up on to the top of the nose. +</p> + +<p> +"Look out he doesn't think you are a fly and try to brush you off," +laughed Harry from below. +</p> + +<p> +"No danger of that," shouted back Frank, "unless I lit on him in the +Golden Eagle." +</p> + +<p> +The surface of the face was as remarkable as its profile. +</p> + +<p> +Apparently some forgotten tribe had at some time or other been +struck by the facial outline of the rocks and had cut into the flat +surface, which was upturned to the sky, eyes and a mouth, the latter +well provided with teeth, in each of which was drilled a tiny +triangular hole. +</p> + +<p> +While Frank was puzzling over the meaning of these apertures there +came a repetition of the weird cry, but this time the lad was so +startled that he almost lost his balance and fell backward. +</p> + +<p> +The call seemed to proceed from his very feet. Then, all at once, +he realized what it was. +</p> + +<p> +The strange sounds proceeded from the mouth of the stone face. +</p> + +<p> +Frank ran to the edge of the steep declivity that formed the nose. +</p> + +<p> +"Say, Harry, and you too, Ben, examine the surface below there very +carefully for any holes. They will probably be small ones and in a +row." +</p> + +<p> +"None this side," announced the searchers after a lengthy quest. +</p> + +<p> +"Try the other," ordered Frank. +</p> + +<p> +They did so and after a few minutes of careful scrutiny Harry +shouted that they had found a row of small holes pierced in the rock +just below where Frank stood. +</p> + +<p> +"Then we have solved the mystery of the voice," exclaimed Frank. +</p> + +<p> +"What do you mean?" demanded Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"That it is nothing more or less than an arrangement of holes +through which, when the wind blows in a stiff puff, air is forced +with violence enough to cause the cry that disturbed us so much last +night," was the reply. +</p> + +<p> +This indeed was the solution, and had the boys known it there are +many such rocks in Africa, carved out by some forgotten race, and +the weird cries that the vent-holes give out in the wind doubtless +acted as a powerful "fetish" to keep away troublesome enemies. +</p> + +<p> +"No wonder the niggers down below don't come near the Moon +Mountains," said Harry, as they all buckled over the simple +explanation of the phenomenon that had caused them so much alarm. +"I wouldn't care to, myself, unless I knew just what made that cry." +</p> + +<p> +"It certainly was as depressing as anything I ever heard," said +Frank, "and now having solved the great mystery—let's get back to +work." +</p> + +<p> +The three adventurers went at the job with a will. The line was +about a hundred feet long and the method of procedure was this: +Frank tested the straightness of the line, as accurately as possible +with his eye, while Ben and Harry carried it stretched between them. +The end of each hundred feet was signalized by a stone, and Harry, +who was at the end of the line, carried his end to this mark before +they laid out a fresh hundred feet. In this way they must have +measured off very nearly half-a-mile of the mountain-side when Frank +gave a sudden sharp cry and pointed to a depression in the dark +range immediately below them. As the others looked they echoed his +cry and gave a dash forward. +</p> + +<p> +Directly beneath them, about in the center of the little dip, was a +cairn of rough stones perhaps four feet in height. In a few bounds +they had reached the pile, which they knew meant the discovery of +the ivory cache and the end of the most difficult part of their +expedition. Little did they imagine the amazing things that were +yet to happen to them and of which they were but on the threshold. +</p> + +<p> +"Good Lord, look at that, boys!" exclaimed Frank, as they stood at +the foot of the cairn. +</p> + +<p> +There was a good reason for the boy's exclamation. +</p> + +<p> +Distributed around the base of the pile were a dozen or, more human +skulls. +</p> + +<p> +"Are they those of white men?" asked Harry in an awed tone. Frank +shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +"No, they are those of negroes I believe," he replied after a +careful examination, "and I imagine that Muley-Hassan killed them +after they erected the cache so that they would not be able to +spread the knowledge of its whereabouts to any of the marauding +tribes who might even brave the ghostly voice when such a great +treasure of ivory tempted." +</p> + +<p> +A shout from Ben, who had been walking round the pile examining it +from every view-point interrupted them. They looked up and saw the +old adventurer pointing to the mountain summit where it cut the sky. +Outlined against the deep azure was the object that had caused his +exclamation. It was the figure of a man that had apparently been +watching them intently. +</p> + +<p> +But as they gazed the strange, crouched form suddenly vanished. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap11"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XI +</h3> + +<h3> +THE AGE OF SIKASO +</h3> + +<p> +It was late afternoon of the day that Frank, Harry and Ben had left +the River Camp. Lathrop, Billy, Barnes and old Sikaso had wandered +into the jungle with their rifles, intent on bringing down some sort +of game to replenish the camp larder. For hours they tramped about +in the thick jungle and a fair measure of success had fallen to +their rifles. Shortly before sundown the trio met in a glade not +more than a mile from the camp and compared notes. To Billy's gun +had fallen a plump young deer and Lathrop had brought down, not +without a feeling of considerable pride, a species of wild hog which +Sikaso proclaimed with a grunt was "heap good." +</p> + +<p> +Flushed with triumph and carrying their own bag, the young hunters +set out for the camp, arriving there at dusk. As has been told, it +was not long after that that Frank's wireless from the Moon +Mountains winged its way through the air and Lathrop was able to +flash back in response an "all-well" message. The boys turned in +early, Billy and Lathrop to their tent and old Sikaso to the rough +shelter he had contrived for himself and which he declared was far +more comfortable than any tent. Like a wild beast the savage old +warrior disliked to have anything approaching a roof over him. It +appeared to savor too much of a trap of some kind. +</p> + +<p> +Billy might have been asleep five hours or so and it was approaching +midnight when he heard a noise outside the tent door and a second +later old Sikaso announced his presence by a whispered: +</p> + +<p> +"Awake, Four-eyes, there is danger." +</p> + +<p> +"What do you mean, Sikaso," demanded the half asleep reporter, +"danger to our friends?" +</p> + +<p> +"No; to us, and here and soon," was the disquieting response, +"arouse your friend. We have no time to lose." +</p> + +<p> +Billy was wide awake now and made a motion as if he would light the +lantern. +</p> + +<p> +Sikaso stopped him with a quick gesture. +</p> + +<p> +"Do not light the lamp, my white brother," he whispered in the same +tense tones, "to do so would be to reveal to those who are now +approaching that we are awake and expect them. Rather let us +pretend that we are unaware that they come and spring upon them like +the leopard when she is least expected." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, but—" exclaimed Billy in a bewildered tone, "what do you +mean, Sikaso, what enemies are coming? How do you know that they +are approaching?" +</p> + +<p> +"I have seen it in the smoke," was the somber reply; "the smoke +never lies. After I lay down on my skins I could not sleep, I felt +there was danger approaching us. From where I knew not. So I made +the "fetish" fire. In it I saw a band of men coming toward us down +the river and at the head of them was a dark man—a man you know +well, my white brother with the four eyes." +</p> + +<p> +"Diego!" exclaimed Billy divining the other's thought. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, Diego; cursed be the day that my war-axe did not cleave his +ugly skull; but beside Diego there is another. Hearken to the words +of Sikaso, the elephant in his rage is not more merciless, the +serpent not more cunning, the crocodile not more savage in onslaught +than this other. He is Muley-Hassan, the Arab, and the deeds he has +done, my brother, when recounted turn strong men's blood to water." +</p> + +<p> +Small wonder that Billy, as he hastily roused Lathrop, felt a +shudder run through him. He had heard enough from Frank of the ways +of Muley-Hassan to know that they could not well fall into the hands +of a more pitiless foe and that now, with the Golden Eagle gone and +the Boy Aviators already at the ivory cache, it was probable that +the slave-dealer's rage would render him even more savage than was +his wont. +</p> + +<p> +In a few rapidly whispered words Billy apprised Lathrop of the +situation. Like Billy, the other boy had no lack of pluck but his +heart sank, as had his companion's, as he sensed the full meaning of +Sikaso's warning. +</p> + +<p> +"But perhaps the smoke was mistaken," he said eagerly, willing to +grasp even at that straw of hope; but the old warrior's answer +dashed his aspirations to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +"The smoke is never mistaken," he said simply; but with such calm +conviction that the boys, despite themselves, realized that the old +Krooman had really the knowledge of grave peril approaching. +</p> + +<p> +"Had we not better arm the other Kroomen?" asked Billy anxiously. +</p> + +<p> +"It would be useless," was Sikaso's reply, "they are cowards. At +the first sight of blood they would run to the forest like the sons +of weaklings that they are." +</p> + +<p> +"We must rouse Professor Wiseman at once," cried Billy. +</p> + +<p> +"It is well," muttered Sikaso, "we shall need every man who can hold +a rifle to-night but the professor is old, my brothers, and his +heart is as a woman's." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, he'll have to fight," said Billy with bloodthirsty determination. +"I for one am not going to stand calmly by and have my throat cut, or +worse still be taken prisoner by this old Muley-Hassan." +</p> + +<p> +Old Sikaso glanced approvingly at him. +</p> + +<p> +"Well spoken, Four-eyes," said he; "spoken like a son of a warrior." +</p> + +<p> +Billy's ears tingled at the compliment, which was really in the old +African's opinion the highest that could be paid to a man or a boy, +and hurried off to wake "the bugologist" as be disrespectfully +termed the professor. To his surprise, for he more than half +expected an outbreak, Professor Wiseman did not appear particularly +concerned at the news that Diego, and Muley-Hassan were—as the boys +had every reason to believe—at that moment advancing on the camp. +</p> + +<p> +"I will dress myself with all alacrity," he said, "and join you in +your tent, but I must say I don't believe in all this witchcraft." +</p> + +<p> +"Will this Muley-Hassan be well armed?" asked Billy, in a voice +which was rather shaky, of their black friend. +</p> + +<p> +"Plenty rifles," was Sikaso's brief reply. +</p> + +<p> +"Don't you want a rifle or at least a heavy caliber shotgun?" asked +Billy. +</p> + +<p> +The old warrior laughed and swung his mighty axe round his head till +the blade flashed like a continuous band of steel and the air +whistled at the cleavage of the sharp edge. Then he began to sing +softly a war-song which may be roughly rendered in English thus: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "At dawn I went out with my axe into the red fight;<br /> + Like the grass before the fire, like the clouds before the wind,<br /> + I drove them. I, Sikaso, I drove them.<br /> + There were rivers that day; but the rivers were red.<br /> + They were the rivers of the blood of my enemies;<br /> + With my war-axe I killed them.<br /> + This is the song of mighty Sikaso, and his terrible axe of death."<br /> +</p> + +<p> +Although the boys of course did not understand the words, the fierce +voice in which the old warrior intoned the chant made them realize +what a terrible foe he was likely to prove in battle. But now as +Sikaso brought his song to a conclusion and rested his axe on the +ground, leaning on its hilt, he suddenly stiffened into an attitude +of close attention. +</p> + +<p> +"Hark, my white brothers!" he cried, "the war-eagles are gathering +for the slaughter." +</p> + +<p> +But the slight sound the keen ears of the savage had caught without +difficulty was longer in making itself manifest to the two white +boys. After a few minutes of listening, so intense as to be +painful, they likewise, however, distinctly heard the regular, +rhythmic dip of paddles coming down the river. +</p> + +<p> +"There are six war canoes full of them," announced, Sikaso, with +almost a groan, after he had given close attention to the sounds. +"Alas, my white brothers, there is little use of our giving battle." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, I for one am not going to give up without dropping a few of +the cowardly wretches," cried Billy. +</p> + +<p> +"Nor I," echoed Lathrop, enthused by Billy's brave example. +</p> + +<p> +The old warrior's eyes kindled as he gazed at the two brave young +Americans, each clutching his rifle and waiting for the moment to +arrive when they could use them. +</p> + +<p> +"If we only had had time to throw up a stockade, my brothers, we +might have driven them off yet," he cried. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, we'll give as good an account of ourselves as possible," +declared Lathrop. +</p> + +<p> +And now began what has been acknowledged to be the most trying part +of any engagement, from a duel to a battle—the waiting for +hostilities to begin. It seemed that an interminable time had +elapsed from the moment that they heard the first "dip-dip" of the +paddles to the sharp crack of a twig sounded in the jungle directly +ahead of them. The snapped branch told them that the enemy's +outposts were reconnoitering to see that the camp was actually, as +it seemed to be, wrapped in sleep. +</p> + +<p> +Apparently the scout, whoever he was, was soon convinced of the fact +that the adventurers were slumbering, for he advanced boldly from +the dark sheltering shadows of the jungle and emerged into the +bright moonlight which flooded the clearing in which the camp stood. +</p> + +<p> +Billy raised his rifle to his shoulder and the next minute would +have been the savage scout's last had not old Sikaso sternly seized +and lowered the weapon, saying in a tense whisper: +</p> + +<p> +"The time is not yet ripe, my brother. To fire now would be +unnecessarily to give the alarm. Wait until they are massed thick +and then fire into the bodies of the Arab dogs." +</p> + +<p> +The scout didn't waste much time in reconnoitering. After a short +time spent in peering about he dived once more into the forest and +Billy whispered to Lathrop: +</p> + +<p> +"Now it's coming, old man." +</p> + +<p> +And come it did. +</p> + +<p> +Five minutes after the scout had dived back into the forest a dozen +dark forms crept from the bush and stealthily advanced toward the +tent. +</p> + +<p> +The leader had reached the door and Billy was frantically imploring +old Sikaso to let him shoot when an appalling shriek rent the air. +</p> + +<p> +The old Krooman's axe flashed once in the moonlight and the leader +of the attacking party lay dead at the tent door, severed almost to +the chest. +</p> + +<p> +There was not a second's time, however, to take in what had +happened. In a flash the whole horde was upon them, and Billy and +Lathrop began firing desperately into the mass of foemen who +appeared to spring from every side of the clearing at once. +</p> + +<p> +Even in this extremity a strange thought flashed across Billy's, +mind: +</p> + +<p> +"Where was Professor Wiseman?" +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap12"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XII +</h3> + +<h3> +IN THE HANDS OF SLAVE-TRADERS +</h3> + +<p> +The ebon form of the Krooman giant seemed everywhere at once. +</p> + +<p> +In the moonlight his terrible axe flashed incessantly and every time +it fell a shriek or a muffled groan showed that it had found its +fatal mark. The huge form of the warrior black seemed, however, to +bear a charmed life. Again and again one of the attacking force +would fire at him, but the bullets seemed to be warded off by some +supernatural force. He was immune alike to bullets and arrows—with +which latter the natives attached to Muley-Hassan's force battled. +</p> + +<p> +Billy and Lathrop fought with unflinching courage, pouring out a +leaden hail into the onslaught that again and again seemed as if it +must drive the attacking force back. But fighting at such +desperately uneven odds could not in the nature of things last long. +There came a minute when Billy, turning to reload, found that before +he could snatch up a handful of cartridges a huge Arab was on top of +him. +</p> + +<p> +Lathrop's clubbed rifle struck the fellow helpless the next minute +and sent his long, cruel knife with a ringing crash to the floor. +</p> + +<p> +Before Billy's half breathed "Thanks, old man," had left his lips, +however, another of Muley-Hassan's followers had rushed in and the +moment would have been Lathrop's last but that Billy drove his fist +into the fellow's face with a crashing blow that knocked him on the +top of his fallen comrade. It was hand-to-hand fighting then with a +vengeance. Billy seized hold of the muzzle of an Arab's revolver as +it was thrust into his very face, and twisted it upward as it was +discharged. Seizing up a camp chair Lathrop swung it round his head +like a club and scattered the brains of a native follower of +Muley-Hassan. +</p> + +<p> +But strategy was to put an abrupt end to the fight even if it could +have continued much longer. +</p> + +<p> +Billy was bleeding from a cut over the forehead which blinded him, +and Lathrop had got two nasty knife thrusts, one in the arm and the +other in the fleshy part of the calf of his leg, when they were +suddenly attacked from the rear by half-a-dozen slavers. The next +minute, wounded and bound, they were as helpless as two captured +puppies. +</p> + +<p> +The fight was over, but the Arabs had come out of it with a badly +crippled force. +</p> + +<p> +Of the twenty-five men who had attacked the adventurers' camp ten +had been killed outright and half a dozen others so badly wounded +that they could not move. Hardly one of them had not received some +minor injury, and the very fact that they had made such a poor +showing against two American boys and a Krooman armed only with an +axe, filled Muley-Hassan with savage rage. +</p> + +<p> +Furiously the slave-dealer ordered the two boys brought before him. +A huge fire had been lighted by his followers and in the glare cast +by this he received them. It was a wild scene and the two boys +hardly knew whether they were awake or dreaming, as they were +roughly hustled into the presence of their captor. +</p> + +<p> +Diego de Barros, his cruel, thin lips curled in a sneer that showed +his yellow teeth, stood by the side of Muley-Hassan, the latter a +tall determined-looking man with a crisp, curly black beard and a +sinister cast of features. A long burnoose of white, worn after the +Arab style, hung from his head and framed his dark features, which +were just then overspread by a frown as black as thunder. +</p> + +<p> +Outside the circle of firelight lay the bodies of the victims of the +Krooman's axe and the boys' bullets. All who could do so of +Muley-Hassan's followers were gathered about him, as the two young +Americans were brought face to face with the man they had such good +reason to fear. +</p> + +<p> +"So these are the young Americans?" he asked as Billy and Lathrop +returned his hawk-like gaze unflinchingly. +</p> + +<p> +"No, sir," spoke up Diego, "they are not. Wiseman has just told me +that the Chester boys have flown in their air-ship and these are the +cubs left behind to guard the camp." +</p> + +<p> +At Wiseman's name mentioned in such a connection both the boys +started. +</p> + +<p> +"What! they have gone?" thundered the Arab chief. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir," stammered Diego, his coward nature aroused at the sight +of his superior's fury. +</p> + +<p> +"And by this time they are rifling the ivory cache. That fool +Wiseman shall pay dearly for this. Bring him to me," shouted the +Arab. +</p> + +<p> +Desperate as was the boys' position they could not restrain a start +of amazement as Professor Wiseman, his face pale as ashes to his +very lips, came tremblingly forward. +</p> + +<p> +"You were attached to this boys' camp to prevent by all means their +sailing till I attacked the camp and made them prisoners, were you +not?" demanded Muley-Hassan angrily. +</p> + +<p> +Wiseman stammered something in reply. +</p> + +<p> +"You are a coward as well as a fool," went on the slave-dealer, a +cruel sneer breaking over his face; "but you have blundered for the +last time. Take this fool away and kill him!" he ordered, turning +away as if there was an end of the business. +</p> + +<p> +Pitiful cries broke from the lips of the unhappy professor as he +heard his death-warrant thus pronounced. He threw himself on his +knees and begged and pleaded in a loud screeching tone for a little +more time. But the chief was obdurate. +</p> + +<p> +"Take him away," was all he said, and his men, not daring to disobey +his orders any longer, fairly dragged the unfortunate prisoner +toward the river bank. There was a short, sharp scream that chilled +every drop of blood in the boys' bodies and then a splash. +Professor Wiseman had paid the price of his treachery. +</p> + +<p> +It was not till long after that the boys heard the full measure of +his villainy. How posing as a naturalist he had wandered up and +down the Ivory Coast for years acting as the secret agent of +Muley-Hassan and making arrangements for the smuggling of slaves and +illicitly procured ivory out of the country. He was too +accomplished a rascal to be suspected and his learned appearance +made it still more improbable that he should be engaged in any +illegal trafficking. It was small wonder, too, that he had started +when Frank mentioned the name of Luther Barr, for it was Luther Barr +whom he had betrayed to Muley-Hassan and advised him of the +whereabouts of the wily old New Yorker's ivory cache. As soon as he +heard Frank mention the name he had of course surmised that the +pretended hunting expedition was merely a blind to cover a bold dash +to recover the ivory, though how they were to discover its +whereabouts he could not imagine till, by prying and listening, he +learned that they had a map of the locality of the stolen stuff. +</p> + +<p> +He had then dispatched native canoe-men to Muley-Hassan and apprised +him of the coming of the boys, and Diego had been at once sent out +by the Arab to secure possession of the map if possible and, failing +that, to destroy the boys' canoes. That the aeroplane would also +have been put out of commission there is little doubt, if Diego or +Wiseman could have found an opportunity. The brutal Arab could then +have disposed of the expedition at his leisure. But the Golden +Eagle II was too closely guarded for the two spies to be able to +harm it. +</p> + +<p> +The Kroomen porters attached to the camp had, as old Sikaso had +forecast, fled into the jungle at the first attack of the Arab's +followers and they did not put in an appearance till long after the +marauders had left the camp. +</p> + +<p> +But what puzzled the boys, as they stood facing the Arab with +Professor Wiseman's scream still ringing in their ears, was "What +had become of the old warrior." +</p> + +<p> +He could not have turned traitor. His valiant behavior in the +skirmish made that impossible to consider a minute. But it was +equally certain that he was nowhere to be seen. What could have +become of him? A dread that he was dead oppressed both boys as they +stood there waiting for the Arab to speak. +</p> + +<p> +Muley-Hassan seemed to be considering. +</p> + +<p> +He twisted the ends of his jet-black mustaches like a man lost in +thought, and the firelight playing on his bold reckless features +showed there an expression of deep perplexity. But it was no +question of mercy that was agitating his mind. +</p> + +<p> +It was whether he would kill the boys right there or sell them into +slavery. +</p> + +<p> +To his money-making mind the latter idea commended itself. Two +strong youths such as they were would fetch a good price anywhere, +and so it came about that Billy and Lathrop—who had fully expected +to share the Professor's fate—were flung by no gentle hands into +their bullet-riddled tent and left to pass the night as best they +could. Two men were posted to watch them and a rough cuff on the +head rewarded Billy's single attempt to speak to Lathrop. +</p> + +<p> +The next day at dawn the camp was the scene of great activity. The +dead were carried into the forest a short distance and buried, while +the wounded were attended to with such rough surgery as Muley-Hassan +knew. In this work Diego, his lieutenant, who seemed to be a sort +of Jack-of-all-trades—outside of his regular occupation of +scoundrel—aided him; bandaging the cuts and extracting the bullets +of his companions with some skill. +</p> + +<p> +The boys were then given to eat some sort of stew in a big wooden +basin and being just healthy American boys and not heroes of romance +they ate heartily of the compound and felt better. Muley-Hassan +himself examined the cut on Billy's forehead and Lathrop's two +wounds and pronounced them mere scratches. +</p> + +<p> +Just as it appeared that a start was about to be made the signal +bell of the wireless rang. As our readers know it was Frank +signaling from the Moon Mountains. +</p> + +<p> +A sudden idea seemed to strike Diego at this. He called +Muley-Hassan aside and talked earnestly with him for a few seconds, +then he came up to the boy and demanded fiercely which one of them +it was that understood wireless. +</p> + +<p> +Lathrop replied that he did, and the next minute wished that he had +bitten out his tongue before he had admitted it; for Diego, in a +rough tone, ordered him to sit down at the instrument and reply that +all was well at the River Camp. +</p> + +<p> +"And, mind you, youngster—no tricks," he said savagely, "or I'll +kill you as dead as mutton. I understand the Morse code myself and +can tell what you are sending; and send slow so that I can get every +letter." +</p> + +<p> +Lathrop was in a quandary. To refuse to sit down at the instrument +meant instant death. +</p> + +<p> +He could tell that by the look in Diego's eyes and from what he had +seen of him he knew he would not stop at a little thing like a +murder to drive home a point. +</p> + +<p> +The question was, did the man really understand telegraphy? If he +didn't and was only, bluffing Lathrop determined to inform Frank of +the true state of affairs. Otherwise it would do neither himself +nor the others any good to try to trick Diego. +</p> + +<p> +With a prayer on his lips that the Portuguese might not have been +stating the truth about his knowledge of wireless the boy started to +send. He had in his mind the message he would try to get through: +</p> + +<p> +"We have been attacked. Get help and follow us." +</p> + +<p> +But he had hardly tapped out with a hesitating finger the first word +of his message when he felt a bullet whiz by his ear and the report +flashed so close to him that it deafened him and scorched his skin. +</p> + +<p> +"Thought I was bluffing did you, eh?" sneered the Portuguese, "come +now, no tricks; send out what I tell you or the next bullet will +come closer." +</p> + +<p> +And so it came about that the queer hesitating message that Frank +received at Moon Mountains was sent out. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately it was dispatched Muley-Hassan gave the order to advance +and his ragged followers, carrying the worst wounded in improvised +litters, set out toward the northwest. +</p> + +<p> +"We are going to the Moon Mountains," whispered Billy to Lathrop, +"at least it looks that way. I overheard Muley-Hassan say to Diego +that we'd have to hurry to get the ivory—" +</p> + +<p> +Lathrop's reply was cut short by a scene that sent the angry blood +to both boys' faces. +</p> + +<p> +Before the camp was abandoned for good and the plunge into the +forest began, Muley-Hassan gave a sharp order and directed several +of his men set about demolishing the camp. Diego himself smashed +the field wireless of which Frank and Harry had been so proud. He +hacked it to atoms with one of the heavy axes. The tents and +provision boxes were next piled in a heap and set in a blaze. +</p> + +<p> +As the column of dark smoke rose from the ruins of the once happy +camp into the clear sky the order to advance was given and the train +once more moved forward. +</p> + +<p> +They had hardly deserted the clearing before, from the river bank, +half a hundred wild figures appeared. +</p> + +<p> +They were similar in appearance—only even more wild-looking than +the savages fought off by Frank, Harry and Ben the previous day. +Like the others their slashed and scarred faces and clay-daubed lips +showed them to belong to one of the fierce cannibal tribes of the +Bambara region. +</p> + +<p> +Their leader, a tall, thin savage of exceptionally repulsive +appearance, motioned with his fingers to his thick lips for absolute +silence among his followers. +</p> + +<p> +Clutching their great broad-headed war-spears the next moment the +savages slipped into the forest in the direction the Arab and his +band had gone. Steadily they advanced with the quiet stealthy tread +of panthers on the track of their prey. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap13"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XIII +</h3> + +<h3> +GORILLAS—AND AN AERIAL TOW-LINE +</h3> + +<p> +The mystery of the man on the hill bade fair to be an unsolved one, +for although the boys watched for some time with considerable +anxiety he did not reappear. This feature of the incident set them +to comparing notes and they found that their impression of the +apparition differed considerably. Both Frank and Harry were ready +to swear that he was a black man, while Ben Stubbs was equally +convinced that his skin was of a reddish hue. All three, however, +agreed that he was weaponless so far as could be seen, and his +attitude appeared to be more one of interested curiosity than of +actual hostility. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, there's no use wasting time in speculation," said Frank at +last, "more especially as it does not look as if we can get any +nearer to solving the problem in that way. The thing to do now is +to get at the ivory and that as quickly as possible. If that man is +the forerunner of a band that means to attack us, it is all the more +reason that we should get a move on." +</p> + +<p> +"Right you are, Captain," assented Ben, "and here goes!" +</p> + +<p> +With a mighty swing of his pick the former prospector dislodged a +pile of the rough stones of which the cairn was composed and the +boys, too, laid on with a will. In an hour or so all that was left +of the once lofty cairn was a few big rocks. +</p> + +<p> +Excitement ran fairly to fever heat as the last obstruction that lay +between the adventurers and the ivory hoard was cast aside. +</p> + +<p> +In a few minutes now, if all went well, they would be in possession +of the treasure. More than once as they worked, Frank drew his +field-glasses out of their case and scanned the surrounding +wilderness of rocky chasms and swept the green jungle that lay +stretched like an emerald ocean far below, but each time he replaced +them with a sigh of relief. So far there was no sign of any rivals' +approach, although Frank well knew that by this time Muley-Hassan +must be upon his way to contest the boys' claim to the ivory. +</p> + +<p> +As the last stone was chucked aside with a mighty heave by the +combined forces the perspiring adventurers broke into a hearty cheer. +</p> + +<p> +Beneath it was a wooden trap-door which had a ring placed in the +middle evidently for the purpose of lifting it. Frank gave it a +heft, but the weight was too much for even his wiry muscles; but +when Ben and, Harry assisted him the door gave with a jump that +threw them all to their feet. +</p> + +<p> +Scrambling up in a second they rushed to the edge of the hole +revealed by the uplifting of the wooden cover. What they saw showed +them instantly that their wildest hopes had not been overdrawn. +There, at their feet, lay a king's ransom in yellow ivory. +</p> + +<p> +From the hole rose a fetid, sickening odor that at first was almost +overpowering. It came from the rotting flesh that still adhered to +the roots of many of the huge trunks. +</p> + +<p> +With a cheer Harry was about to spring down into the aperture when +Frank, with a quick exclamation, drew him back. +</p> + +<p> +"Jump back for your life!" he shouted. +</p> + +<p> +Harry was accustomed to obeying his brother in everything, and jump +backward he did with an agility that would have done credit to a +gymnast. Before he could ask a question Frank's revolver cracked +and a little spit of dust shot up almost at his very feet. +</p> + +<p> +There lay a tiny snake viciously wiggling about in its death agony, +pierced through by Frank's bullet. +</p> + +<p> +It was a rock adder—one of the deadliest of African snakes. Barely +more than three inches in length, and a dull gray in color, it was +small wonder that Harry in his excitement had not seen it as he was +about to jump almost upon it. +</p> + +<p> +"We shall have to be careful," said Frank, as he kicked aside the +still writhing body of the disgusting looking reptile. "There is +just a chance that Muley-Hassan, with the cunning of an Arab, may +have put several more of those customers in here to guard his +ivory." +</p> + +<p> +It was therefore cautiously that the boys proceeded to work at +getting the ivory out of the hole and although they killed three +more of the venomous reptiles it seemed more probable that they had +got in by accident than that the Arab slave-dealer had deliberately +placed them there. By mid afternoon a big pile of ivory lay ready +for transportation to the Golden Eagle Il and only a few more tusks +remained in the hole. +</p> + +<p> +"How are we ever going to get the tusks down the hill to the Golden +Eagle II?" asked Harry as he gazed at the formidable pile. +</p> + +<p> +"I have a better plan than that," replied Frank, "we will bring the +Golden Eagle II here." +</p> + +<p> +"What?" gasped both his listeners. +</p> + +<p> +"Why not? It will be a ticklish job to land her on this spot, but I +think I can do it. I mean to try anyhow." +</p> + +<p> +"You are risking breaking up the ship," objected Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"On the other hand, if we don't get this ivory out of here in jig +time Muley-Hassan will be here with a big force and we shall +assuredly all have our throats cut." +</p> + +<p> +This argument proved insurmountable, and while Ben was left by the +ivory Harry and Frank hurried down the steeps to the plateau on +which they had left the Golden Eagle II. It was the work of a few +minutes to tune her up. In a brief time from the moment they had +left the ivory cache, considering the clamber they had had, the boys +were in the air and headed for the spot where they had left the +hoard. +</p> + +<p> +But as they rose into the air they were startled by the sound of a +shout and then another and another, then carne a volley of shots. +</p> + +<p> +What could be the matter? +</p> + +<p> +The shooting evidently was taking place at the spot where they had +left Ben to guard the ivory. +</p> + +<p> +Muley-Hassan! was the first thought that shot through Frank's brain. +</p> + +<p> +The next minute, however, he dismissed the idea as absurd. The +Arab, even by the swiftest marching, could not have reached the Moon +Mountains in such record time unless he also had an air-ship, which +Frank knew was impossible. +</p> + +<p> +As the ship soared higher and rushed straight as an arrow through +the air to the ivory cache a strange sight was revealed to the two +young voyagers. High up on the mountain-side they could see Ben +struggling with what appeared to be dozens of naked savages. The +boys could see his gallant resistance as he swung his clubbed rifle +again and again at his savage opponents. Several of them lay dead +on the ground about him, but those that remained were attacking him +with what seemed demoniacal fury. +</p> + +<p> +"Good Lord," gasped Frank, "what on earth can have happened?" +</p> + +<p> +"They're cannibals!" gasped Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"No—no," exclaimed Frank hastily, "they're—give me the glasses +quick, Harry—that's right—I thought so. They're not savages, but +worse almost." +</p> + +<p> +"What do you mean?" +</p> + +<p> +"That they are gorillas!" +</p> + +<p> +At her utmost speed the big aeroplane bore down on the scene of the +unequal combat between Ben Stubbs and the savage beasts. +</p> + +<p> +The boys could see that one of the brutes had seized their stalwart +companion's rifle from him and with incredible strength had broken +it in half as if it had been a wooden toy. The next minute Harry's +rifle spoke and the gorilla that had just performed the miraculous +feat of strength fell dead. With a shriek of rage the others turned +to see whence came this new enemy. +</p> + +<p> +At the sight of the great aeroplane bearing down upon them they at +first started to flee with howls of terror, but the next minute they +rallied and with low growls of rage, that bared their cruel fangs, +they deliberately waited to see what this strange object might be. +</p> + +<p> +This gave Ben a brief respite and he occupied it by reloading his +revolver. The boys were delighted to see by this that their brave +comrade was not seriously injured. +</p> + +<p> +But now the Golden Eagle II was ready to settle and Frank, guiding +his aerial steed with one hand, grasped his revolver with the other, +for it was evident that the rush would come as they struck the +ground. And come it did. As the wheels of the aeroplane struck the +earth and Frank threw in the brakes sharply crashing into a rocky +wall, with a howl of defiance the whole horde of man-like brutes +rushed down on the air-craft with wicked rage in their spiteful +little red eyes. +</p> + +<p> +The leader of them, a huge "old man" gorilla, brandished an immense +stone which he hurled with vicious energy at the new arrivals. +Luckily it fell short of the air-ship or it would have crashed +through the plane covers and have seriously crippled, if not ruined, +the air-ship. +</p> + +<p> +The boys' rifles cracked simultaneously and two of the attackers +rolled over, with horrible human-like cries, but the leader, the bad +"old man," was still in the field. As he saw his fellows fall he +gave a mighty yell of rage and hatred that seemed to come from the +depths of his hairy chest, and beating rapidly on it, as if it were +a war-drum he rushed straight at the aeroplane. +</p> + +<p> +"Don't let 'em get near the engines," was all Frank had time to +shout before the avalanche of hairy, ill-smelling brutes was upon +them. Some of them had armed themselves with rocks which they +hurled with ferocious force. Others used nothing but their bare +hands. Some of them, wounded as they were, fought with added +fierceness. Desperately the boys fought them off and when the +magazines of the rifles and revolvers were emptied they fell back on +their hunting knives. +</p> + +<p> +Frank had made a furious lunge at the "old man" and missed him by a +hair's-breadth when he felt two great hairy arms encircle him from +behind and the hot breath of one of his horrible opponents whistling +savagely in his ear. He tried to lunge backwards at the creature, +but toppled over and fell sprawling. In a flash the "old-man" +gorilla was on him when Ben's revolver cracked and the "old-man," +badly wounded, sprang high into the air and rolled over and over, +clutching his head with both his huge hands and screaming in an +agonized manner. +</p> + +<p> +The fall of their leader seemed to discourage the others. They +fought on for a while but it was half-heartedly. The boys had had +time in the brief pause that followed the killing of the "old-man" +to reload, and with their rifles newly charged they were in position +to make terrible reprisals on the gorilla band for the mischief they +had wrought. The monsters evidently were about to quit the battle +when suddenly a cry rang through the air that ended the fight more +abruptly than even the boys' bullets could have done. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah-o-o-o-o-AH-O-O-O-O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!" +</p> + +<p> +It was the voice of the mountain once more. +</p> + +<p> +With yells of dismay and terror the remainder of the gorilla band +instantly dashed up the rocky mountain-side dragging with them, in +grotesquely human fashion some of their wounded. Several of these, +however, still lay on the ground and the boys put them out of their +misery with a few well-directed shots. A pathetically human look +lingered in the eyes of some of the injured gorillas and Harry burst +out with: +</p> + +<p> +"This is awful work. I'd rather fight a dozen bands of cannibals +than have to do this." +</p> + +<p> +"And yet," replied Frank, "if we hadn't killed them they'd have +killed us." +</p> + +<p> +At last the unpleasant work was over and the ivory was rapidly +loaded into the aeroplane. But here an unanticipated difficulty +manifested itself. Obviously the aeroplane would be too heavily +laden if she attempted to carry all or even a good part of the +ivory. +</p> + +<p> +"Now we are stuck," cried Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"Hold on," exclaimed Frank with a smile, "I anticipated this. We +are going to turn the Golden Eagle into a tow-boat." +</p> + +<p> +"A tow-boat?" +</p> + +<p> +"That's what I said." +</p> + +<p> +"What do you mean?" +</p> + +<p> +Frank, in reply, bent over the stem-locker of the aeroplane and drew +out what Harry instantly recognized as the silk envelope of an +experimental dirigible they had built the year before. +</p> + +<p> +"Now then," said Frank, "give a hand here." +</p> + +<p> +They all three pulled and hauled till the envelope was spread level +on the ground, all folds and creases having been carefully shaken +out. +</p> + +<p> +"Well," said Harry, "this would carry an awful weight of ivory, but +how are you going to inflate it?" +</p> + +<p> +"With these cylinders," was the answer as Frank opened the +store-room below the floor of the Golden Eagle and pointed to a +dozen cylindrical steel receptacles. "They contain more than enough +pure hydrogen gas at a high pressure," he explained, "to inflate the +bag." +</p> + +<p> +In his enthusiasm Harry waved his helmet and Ben did the same. +</p> + +<p> +"An aerial express, hurray!" +</p> + +<p> +The inflation hose was soon connected to the first of the cylinders +and with a hiss the gas rushed into the bag when a turn of the +wrench set free the precious stuff. Slowly the big yellow envelope +swelled and assumed shape until by the time the last cylinder was +empty it was tugging and straining to rise. But the boys had +weighted it down with rocks and pegged its net ropes to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +The ivory was loaded into a sort of rope basket, like those used to +hoist cargo aboard a ship, and in a short time, so quickly did they +work, they were ready for the air, so far as what Harry called "the +airbarge" was concerned. +</p> + +<p> +"We shall have to strip the Eagle," decided Frank, when the +inflation job was finished. +</p> + +<p> +"Of everything that we can spare," added Harry, setting to work at +once to rip the transoms and detach the bolts that held the heavy +wireless apparatus in place. As he did so, Frank was moved by a +sudden thought. +</p> + +<p> +"Hold on a second, Harry," he shouted, "I'll call up the river camp +before we cut off all communication." +</p> + +<p> +Rapidly he sent out the call. Again and again his nervous finger +agitated the key—but there was no response. +</p> + +<p> +"They—they don't answer," gasped Frank at last—heavy anxiety in +his tones. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, Frank, do you think anything serious is the matter?" cried +Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"It may only be that the apparatus is out of order," replied the +elder brother seriously; "but it looks bad. That field wireless was +in prime condition and it would be next to impossible for them to +fail to receive our call." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, there is only one thing to be done," remarked the practical +Ben Stubbs. +</p> + +<p> +"And that is—?" queried Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"To get back there as soon as possible, for if they need us they +need us dern bad," was the energetic reply. +</p> + +<p> +Half an hour later the Golden Eagle, stripped of all her heavy gear +and only carrying just enough gasoline to get her to the river camp, +where the adventurers expected to find a reserve supply, rose slowly +into the air with her queer tow tugging behind on the wireless +ground rope. The boys had cached the wireless apparatus and the +other gear, to be called for at some more opportune time. To their +great regret, also, they had had to leave some of the ivory behind +them. But the majority of what they did not dare trust to the +gas-bag they carried in the chassis. Luckily for them there was +hardly a breath of wind and the novel carrier towed well. +</p> + +<p> +As the occupants of the great aeroplane gazed back at the sinister +Moon Mountains as they fast faded out—they saw silhouetted against +the evening sky a dark figure. +</p> + +<p> +It was recognized at once as one of the beaten gorillas scouting to +see if the terrible white men had really gone. +</p> + +<p> +"There's the man we saw this afternoon," laughed, Frank, as with +rapidly beating propellers the Golden Eagle II winged her way with +the convoy toward the River Camp. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap14"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XIV +</h3> + +<h3> +AN ESCAPE—AND WHAT CAME OF IT +</h3> + +<p> +From the pace at which Muley-Hassan's band traversed the jungle +paths it was evident to the two young captives that there was +imperative need in Muley-Hassan's mind of arriving somewhere at a +set time. The usual noonday rest, which even the avaricious +slave-trader was in the habit of taking, was not observed and the +travelers pressed straight on. Lathrop and Billy were almost ready +to drop with fatigue when that evening, just at dusk, they arrived +at the bank of a muddy river which Muley-Hassan, impatient as he was +to proceed, decided it would be unwise to ford till daylight—when +they could look for a good crossing place. At the spot which they +had halted, the stream—swollen apparently by rains in the +mountains—roared between its banks, in a dark chocolate-colored +flood. +</p> + +<p> +Muley-Hassan himself was the only one of his band provided with a +tent, or anything resembling one, and the boys shared the common bed +of the rest of the party—which was the ground. A more unwholesome +resting-place in Africa, particularly on the steamy, swampy banks of +a river, could hardly be imagined. So indeed Muley-Hassan seemed to +think, for after a short time, during which the boys vainly tried to +secure some sleep, he ordered Diego to provide them with blankets to +place between themselves and the bare earth. +</p> + +<p> +"I expect to get a good price for them eventually," he said, "and I +don't want to lose them unless I have to." +</p> + +<p> +As the boys' wrists and ankles were bound with tough grass while +there was no particular attempt made to watch them, and soon the +snores of the camp bespoke that it was at rest. Then it was that +Billy whispered to Lathrop. +</p> + +<p> +"Now's our time to try for it!" +</p> + +<p> +"Try for what?" whispered back Lathrop in an inert tone. +</p> + +<p> +"To get away." +</p> + +<p> +"What!" +</p> + +<p> +"I mean it. I found a sharp stone imbedded in the ground near to me +and I have nearly sawed through my wrist-bands." +</p> + +<p> +After a few seconds' more vigorous scraping against the stone, Billy +whispered: +</p> + +<p> +"My hands are free. Wait till I wiggle my fingers and get up some +circulation and then we'll make our attempt—" +</p> + +<p> +When he had once more got full control of his cramped fingers Billy +stooped cautiously over and loosened the thongs about his ankles. +So tightly had they been drawn, though, that it took some little +time to get the cramps out of them. At last, however, the boy +succeeded in restoring the circulation and then he was ready for the +most daring step of his attempt. Cautiously he fell on his hands +and knees and began to crawl toward the nearest of the sleeping +slave-traders. +</p> + +<p> +"What are you going to do, Billy?" asked Lathrop, in an agony of +fear lest the man should awaken. +</p> + +<p> +"Watch me," was the young reporter's reply, as on his stomach he +wiggled painfully across the few yards separating him from the +sleeping man. In reality it took only a few minutes, but to both +the boys the period of time occupied seemed interminable. +</p> + +<p> +But it was no time to hurry things. One false step night cost them +their lives and Billy realized this. +</p> + +<p> +With the slow deliberate movement of a snake he, reached out his +hand when he got near enough and took from the sleeping man's side +his long curved Arab scimitar. Then he glided back to Lathrop as +silently as he had left. +</p> + +<p> +He had just reached his resting-place when there was a stir from the +further side of the camp. Like a rabbit ducking into its hole Billy +was under his blanket and apparently fast asleep in a second. But +his heart beat so loudly that it felt to him that anyone who was not +deaf could hear it a hundred yards away. +</p> + +<p> +The man who had moved was Diego and the boys could hear his cat-like +footfalls as he neared their sleeping-places. Once he stumbled over +one of the sleeping men and the aroused one rose with a start and +called wildly: +</p> + +<p> +"What is it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Hush, Adab," cautioned Diego, "it is I—Diego. I'm going to give +an eye to those two American brats." +</p> + +<p> +"They're tied up hard and fast enough," chuckled the other. +</p> + +<p> +"If they were of any other nationality—yes;" was Diego's reply, +"but these Yankees are brave and clever enough to escape from almost +any trap." +</p> + +<p> +"You bet we are," thought Billy to himself, giving a realistic +snore. +</p> + +<p> +Although he did not dare to open his eyes, the young reporter could +feel Diego standing over them in the moonlight and gazing down at +them to ascertain if they were still "hard and fast," as the other +had expressed it. +</p> + +<p> +For an instant a terrible thought flashed across Billy's brain. +</p> + +<p> +"Suppose Diego should take an idea to examine their thongs?" +</p> + +<p> +But the lieutenant of Muley-Hassan apparently was satisfied, for +after a few minutes' scrutiny he turned to go Billy could hear his +feet scrape as he swung around. +</p> + +<p> +At almost the same instant the night was filled with savage cries +and the camp was thrown into confusion by an onrush of wild figures +before whose spears the half-awakened Arabs were slaughtered like +sheep. +</p> + +<p> +Not realizing in the least what was happening, Billy yet conjectured +that the Arabs were just then too busy to pay any attention to +himself and Lathrop. With two slashes of the stolen scimitar he +severed Lathrop's bonds and dragging him to his feet dived into the +forest. +</p> + +<p> +As they entered its recesses a fleeing Arab, still clutching his +rifle, dashed by them and an instant later fell dead. He had been +speared through the back. +</p> + +<p> +Billy, with a quick inspiration, seized the dead man's long rifle +and his ammunition pouch and, followed by the bewildered Lathrop, +plowed desperately forward into the screen of the jungle. +</p> + +<p> +Behind them they heard cries for mercy and fierce shouts from the +attacking savages. At first the cries and imprecations of the +slave-traders predominated and then, by the altered sounds that came +from the scene of the fighting and the crashing of the Arabs' +volleys, the boys realized that the tide of battle had changed and +that the Arabs were driving back the attacking force. +</p> + +<p> +"What do you suppose happened, Billy?" asked Lathrop, only half +awake, as the boys, with the fleetness and endurance that desperate +need lends, plunged deeper and deeper into the forest. +</p> + +<p> +"Why, that some cannibal tribe that Muley-Hassan pillaged for slaves +at some time has trailed him and attacked him," hazarded the +reporter. +</p> + +<p> +How near he came to the truth our readers know. The band that had +made the midnight attack was the same that had painstakingly trailed +Muley-Hassan since he destroyed the boys' camp on the river bank. +</p> + +<p> +"But the Arabs have beaten them off?" queried Lathrop. +</p> + +<p> +"Evidently," replied Billy, as the volleys died out and victorious +Arab shouts were beard. "Hark at that! It's really too bad. I'd +like to have seen old Muley and his precious band driven into the +river. But if they have driven off the savages they'll be thinking +about chasing us." +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke there came a low, growling sound that seemed to proceed +from some distance, but nevertheless filled the air. It rumbled and +rolled above them like— +</p> + +<p> +"Thunder!" exclaimed both boys in the same breath. +</p> + +<p> +"We've got to find shelter of some kind, quick," exclaimed Billy; +"these tropical storms are unlike our little disturbances, and if we +get caught among these trees in one, of them we stand a good chance +of being killed. It looks like we've jumped out of the frying-pan +into the fire." +</p> + +<p> +Without the least idea in which direction they were proceeding, the +two chums struggled bravely on, Billy encouraging the flagging +Lathrop from time to time with a joke, though these latter were, as +Billy admitted to himself: +</p> + +<p> +"Pretty dismal!" +</p> + +<p> +At length, just as dawn was beginning to break, they found +themselves facing a steepish cliff of rough rocks. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, here's where we turn back," remarked Billy, bitterly +discouraged nevertheless. +</p> + +<p> +If they were lost in this equatorial forest, what chance did they +stand of ever seeing their home and friends again? +</p> + +<p> +As for Lathrop he sat down on a rock overgrown with a kind of +monstrous lichen and gave way to tears. But not for long. Lathrop +was a plucky enough lad, and as Billy truthfully remarked: +</p> + +<p> +"We are going to have enough water before long without our turning +on the weeps." +</p> + +<p> +So Lathrop braced up and the boys looked about them. To their +intense joy they soon spied in the rocks, a short distance from +where they then were, a dark hole partly overgrown by creepers, +which was evidently the entrance to a cavern. At the same instant +there began a mighty pattering on the leaves of the dense tropic +growth all about them, and a louder growl of thunder announced that +the storm that had been heralded a few hours before was about to +break. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, me for that African Waldorf-Astoria," cried Billy, grasping +his rifle and making a dive for the hole. Lathrop followed him and +as soon as they were inside the cave he lit a match from his +waterproof box. +</p> + +<p> +"Looks to me like there might be snakes in here," he whispered, awed +by the darkness and silence of the place. +</p> + +<p> +"Rats," laughed Billy, although he himself felt by no means sure +that at any moment some scaly monster might not descend from the +roof; "but I'll tell you what we'll do. Light a fire." +</p> + +<p> +"How are we to get wood?" asked the practical Lathrop. +</p> + +<p> +"There's plenty of it right at the mouth of the cave. I'll get a +few armfuls and in a minute we'll have things snug." +</p> + +<p> +The young reporter hastened to the cave mouth and in a few trips had +gathered up several huge armfuls of wood-drift of all kinds from +under the great trees all about. He was just re-entering the cave +when there came a flash of blinding light so brilliant that it +seemed as if the sky itself had split wide open. A bluish glare +enveloped the forest and the lightning flash was instantly followed +by a crash of thunder that shook the ground under the boys' feet. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, they don't do things by halves in this country," remarked +Billy as he re-entered the cave after a second of being temporarily +stunned by the terrific flash. +</p> + +<p> +It didn't take the boys long to have their wood in a blaze and as +the smoke did not, as they had feared, fill the cavern, they assumed +that there must be some opening above through which it escaped. +This fact they verified shortly when, after the storm had been +waxing in fury for half-an-hour, a perfect torrent of water came +tumbling in from the rear of the rocky cavern. +</p> + +<p> +"Hark!" exclaimed Billy as the boys busied themselves trying to +scrape out a water-course that would divert the flood from their +fire. From far in the rear of the cave came a plaintive sound of +"Mi-ou, Mi-ou." +</p> + +<p> +"Cats!" cried Lathrop. +</p> + +<p> +"Cats nothing," was Billy's scornful reply; "here, let's have a +look." +</p> + +<p> +He seized a blazing brand out of the fire and hastened to the place +from which the sounds emanated. +</p> + +<p> +"Come here, quick, Lathrop," he cried. The younger lad scurried +back and found Billy bending over a roughly constructed nest or bed. +On it lay four tiny, fuzzy yellow things. They were "meowing" at +the tops of their voices as the torrent of water that had annoyed +the boys dripped into their snug nesting-place. At the same instant +the boys became aware of a sickening odor of decaying flesh. +</p> + +<p> +"Come on! we've got to get out of here quick as quick as we can," +exclaimed Billy as they hastened towards the fresh air. +</p> + +<p> +"Why, what is it, Billy?" asked Lathrop. +</p> + +<p> +"I don't know; but I think that those are lion cubs—they look like +the ones I've seen in the Bronx Zoo," was the young reporter's +reply, "and if they are, this is no place for us. Come on—the +storm is letting up. Let's get out quick before the old ones get +back." +</p> + +<p> +The storm, with the suddenness with which these furious tropical +disturbances arise and vanish, had indeed gone and the sun was +shining down once more on the drenched jungle, which glittered with +diamond like spangles as the rays struck the dripping fronds and +branches. But the boys had no eyes for the scene about them, +beautiful as it was, for as they emerged from the cave a low growl +greeted them. +</p> + +<p> +Crouched on the ground—her tail lashing the earth like a cat's when +it is about to spring—was a huge tawny lioness—her cruel green +eyes fixed full upon them. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap15"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XV +</h3> + +<h3> +THE FLYING MEN +</h3> + +<p> +For a breath the boys stood petrified and then Billy hastily slipped +a cartridge into the rifle he had taken from the dead slave-trader. +But even as he did so the lioness curved her lithe body, as if her +backbone had been a steel spring, and launched her great form +through the air. +</p> + +<p> +That minute would have been Billy's last—for in his excitement he +pulled the trigger before he had brought the rifle to his shoulder +and the bullet whistled harmlessly into the air—but for a strange +thing that now occurred. +</p> + +<p> +While the tawny brute was in mid-spring, her cruel claws outspread +to maul the unhappy reporter, a great spear whizzed straight at her +and buried itself in her heart just behind the left shoulder. With +a howl of pain the brute fell short in her spring and, before she +could make another attack, Billy had reloaded and sent a bullet +crashing between her eyes. As the lioness rolled over dead, the +tall form of a. savage sprung out of the jungle and stood for a +second gazing at the boys, as much astonished, it seemed, at them as +they were at him. +</p> + +<p> +Billy, seeing that the best plan was to be pacific, threw down his +rifle and cried: +</p> + +<p> +"Seesenab," (peace); the word be recollected hearing the big Krooman +use the day that he attempted to take his unlucky photographs. +</p> + +<p> +"Seesenah—white boys," replied the other, the latter words in fair +English and in a deep guttural tone, coming forward with the head of +his other spear held downward in token of peace. "From where come +the white boys—what do they in our land?" was his next question. +</p> + +<p> +"We are lost," explained Billy, "and we are also, blamed hungry," he +added, in a burst of confidence. +</p> + +<p> +The savage smiled and rubbed his stomach. +</p> + +<p> +"That's the idea," cried the irrepressible reporter. +"Heap—empty—savee?" +</p> + +<p> +The man leant over the dead lioness and, using his spear-point as a +skinning knife, rapidly stripped her of her hide. Then, swinging +the pelt over his shoulder he motioned to the boys to follow him. +</p> + +<p> +"I don't know where the dickens he means to take us," confided Billy +to Lathrop as they obediently trailed along behind, "but so long as +we get something to eat I'm so hungry that I don't care if we get +eaten the next minute." +</p> + +<p> +"That's just the way I feel," agreed Lathrop, "and anyhow he seems +to be a pretty decent sort. He saved your life, that's one thing +sure." +</p> + +<p> +"I guess I'll never make a mighty hunter," said Billy dolefully, +"there was a chance to make real Bwana Tumbo shot and I missed it." +</p> + +<p> +The savage stalked along in front of them for some distance till +they suddenly emerged on a small clearing by a river bank, in which +a rough native camp had been pitched. The tents of grass occupied +by the hunters being of a peculiar conical shape, like the pointed +caps that used to be labeled "Dunce." +</p> + +<p> +Much excitement was created by the arrival of the two boys and their +companion, and the hunters crowded round the chums while their guide +explained with a wealth of gesture the incident of the killing of +the lioness, and also the fact that the boys were very hungry. +</p> + +<p> +Several of the men instantly filled wooden bowls with something from +a pot that simmered over the fires and the bowls were thrust before +the two ravenous boys. As there were no forks of course the boys +used their fingers. But this did not interfere with their appetite +and after they had put away two bowls apiece the savages' opinion of +them evidently rose considerably. Among the West African natives a +big eater is esteemed as a mighty man. Lathrop was considerably +embarrassed, however, while he satisfied his hunger by the attention +the hunters bestowed on his red hair. Several of them came up +behind him and rubbed their hands in it as if they imagined it +possessed some sort of medicinal value. Had any one at home dared +to take such liberties with the boy's rubicund locks there would +have been a fight right away, but Lathrop felt that the best policy +to assume in the present situation was silence, and as the old ship +captain said to his mate, "dem little of that." +</p> + +<p> +"I say, Billy," whispered Lathrop suddenly, as, after eating the +stew, they watched the hunters piling their belongings into their +canoes, "you don't suppose they mean to fatten us up to eat us, do +you?" +</p> + +<p> +"Well, we can't starve even if that is the reason," replied the +practical Billy, "but so far they seem friendly enough. They have +not even taken my rifle away." +</p> + +<p> +"That looks encouraging, certainly," replied Lathrop; "if only we +knew where Frank and Harry and good old Ben were we might find this +all very interesting, as it is though—" +</p> + +<p> +"We've got to make the best of it," chimed in Billy, "come on. See +old job-lots is signing to us to come down and get in a canoe." +</p> + +<p> +"Whatever they mean to do with us they seem determined to make us +comfortable," remarked Billy, as the boys took their seats in a +canoe in which skins had been piled to make an easy seat. +</p> + +<p> +For most of that afternoon they paddled steadily up the brown river, +the savages singing from time to time an unending sort of chant, +that sounded like nothing so much as a continuous repetition of: +</p> + +<p> +"I-told-you-so. I-told-you-so. I—told-YOU-SO." +</p> + +<p> +"Hum," commented Billy, "if anyone had told me so I'd have stayed in +New York." +</p> + +<p> +At length after what seemed endless hours of paddling and chanting +the river took an abrupt turn and the boys found themselves at the +foot of a steep cliff that towered up, it seemed, for six hundred +feet at least. It was formed of black basalt and was crowned with a +fringe of contrasting vegetation, but the most remarkable thing +about it was that its surface was literally honeycombed with small +holes from which, as the canoe cortege drew up, innumerable heads +were poked. +</p> + +<p> +An astonishing thing, however, about the men who scrutinized the +lads from their lofty watch-towers, was that they were several +degrees lighter in complexion than the boatmen and almost as white +as the boys in fact. Their features, too, were different. As the +boys looked in wonderment at this extraordinary dwelling-place and +its equally strange inhabitants, Billy gave an excited shout: +</p> + +<p> +"Great jumping horn-toads, look at that!" +</p> + +<p> +One of the light-colored men had emerged from his, hole and with as +little concern as if he were taking a walk had suddenly launched +himself into space. But instead of falling to the ground or into +the river, as the boys had fully expected to see him do, he floated +gracefully to the opposite bank of the river with as little effort +as a settling bird. +</p> + +<p> +"Good land of hot-cakes, Lathrop, do you realize where we are?" +almost shrieked the excited Billy. +</p> + +<p> +"In the village of the Flying Men," stammered Lathrop, as, one after +another, the inhabitants of the rock holes dropped from their aeries +and floated groundwards. As the boys watched they saw distinctly +that each man, from his wrist to his side, was possessed of a sort +of leathery fiber like that of bat's swing, and that as their arms +were of unusual length this fiber supported them in their downward +flights like a parachute. +</p> + +<p> +"I'll never call any one a liar again as long as I live," choked out +Billy, as one after another these strange beings gathered in a +chattering group on the river bank. +</p> + +<p> +"But they can't fly upward," exclaimed Lathrop, pointing eagerly to +where some of the gliders, having swum the river, were nimbly +clambering up a grass rope-ladder to their homes. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, gee! if I only had a camera," groaned Billy. +</p> + +<p> +"It will be no use telling anyone about this even if we do get out +of here, they'll say that we have had a rarebit dream." +</p> + +<p> +"That's so," assented Lathrop, "and honestly, Billy, are you sure we +are awake?" +</p> + +<p> +"Sure," replied the reporter giving himself a vicious pinch, and +exclaiming "Ouch!" +</p> + +<p> +But there was no time to talk further. Their guide now came up to +them and jumping into their canoe paddled them to where the end of +the rope-ladder dangled in the stream. He pointed upward for them +to ascend. But Billy's curiosity would not let him mount before he +had asked a question. +</p> + +<p> +"Who are these people?" he asked in, for him, an awed tone. +</p> + +<p> +"Very old-time people," rejoined their guide. "We hunt for them, +work for them. They the same as fetish."' +</p> + +<p> +The boys mounted the ladder slowly. +</p> + +<p> +Unused as they were to such a contrivance it required all their +nerve to keep on going up, as they swung at a higher and higher +altitude above the river. Neither of them dared to look down, as +they were certain that they would be overcome by dizziness. +</p> + +<p> +With their eyes glued to the rock in front of them, they mounted +what seemed to be endless rungs till at last they found themselves +at the top of the ladder and facing a large opening cut in the rock. +</p> + +<p> +As they found out later, this was the main entrance to the dwelling +of this strange community and from it various galleries and passages +branched off to their separate dwelling-places. Each family lived +in a rock house exactly adapted to the size of the circle. There +were six stories, so to speak, of these dwelling-places, but they +all communicated, either by means of stair-ways cut in the rock or +inclined galleries, with the main passage at the entrance of which +the chums now stood. +</p> + +<p> +Their guide, who was immediately behind them on the swaying ladder, +took the lead as soon as the three stood side by side on the summit, +and escorted them down the long passage. Before they started he +took from a bracket in the wall a kind of torch, made of some +resinous wood unfamiliar to the boys. Striking piece of flint +against his spear blade he soon produced light and holding the torch +high above his head, so that its light shone on the walls, rendered +glossy by the rub of uncounted ages of greasy elbows and bodies, he +led the way down the passage. The boys could feel that after +walking a short distance it took a sudden rise and yet further a +cool wind began to blow in their faces. +</p> + +<p> +About a hundred yards from the spot where they first noticed the air +stirring in their hair the boys and their guide emerged on a scene +whose beauty at first shock almost took the lads' breath away. +</p> + +<p> +Before them stretched a fertile valley neatly divided into patches—each +hedged off in squares in which flourished all sorts of vegetables, +including sweet corn and potatoes and several other less familiar +varieties. In pastures, fenced in with mathematical regularity by +hedges of the African cactus thorn, herds of humped cattle were feeding +contentedly in the mellow glow of the setting sun, occasionally lowing +softly, which latter made Billy, as he expressed it, "long for the old +farm." +</p> + +<p> +The Winged Men likewise cultivated, it seemed, fruits of many kinds +and had also stockades in which poultry, of breeds strange to the +boys, but undoubtedly sprung from the aboriginal African fowl, were +abundant. +</p> + +<p> +It seemed as if they had struck a land in which the inhabitants +lived an ideal life, surrounded as they were by every comfort and +necessity that one could imagine; but that even they were distressed +by the raids of enemies transpired when the boys' guide, whose name +they had learned by this time was Umbashi, pointed to the west in +which the setting sun was now kindling a ruddy glow and said: +</p> + +<p> +"Sometime elephant come—then much trouble." +</p> + +<p> +Of the full significance of those words, however, neither boy +dreamed as, after a supper of fresh corn, bitter melon, stewed deer +meat and a dessert formed of some sort of custard they sank to sleep +on their couches of skins, spread for them by Umbashi's direction in +a vacant dwelling in the cliff face. +</p> + +<p> +Their slumber senses carried them back to New York and Billy was in +the midst of escorting Umbashi in full war paint through the office +of the New York Planet, followed by hordes of joshing reporters and +inquisitive office boys, who wanted to know whether he'd match his +dusky friend to fight Jim Jeffries, when he was awakened by Umbashi +himself, who in a few words told him it was morning and time to get +up and dress swiftly, as the King of the Flying Men wanted to see +him and his young companion at once. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap16"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XVI +</h3> + +<h3> +FOOLING AN ARAB CHIEF +</h3> + +<p> +"Frank, what do you make of it?" +</p> + +<p> +"Harry, I don't know what to think." +</p> + +<p> +"Ain't nuffin fer it but ter keep on hopin' fer the best, as the +feller said when they had a rope around his neck fer horse-stealing +and was about to string him up." +</p> + +<p> +The three—Frank and Harry Chester and Ben Stubbs—were standing +round the charred remains of their once lively, well-equipped +camp—where they had arrived that morning at daybreak after a +tiresome night spent circling about in the moonlight trying to +locate it—and now the reason why they had failed to see the white +tents was fully apparent by their blackened sites. +</p> + +<p> +"Billy and Lathrop have been carried off!" It was Harry who spoke. +</p> + +<p> +"Beyond a doubt. I thought at first that the raid must have been +made by cannibals, but cannibals do not carry rifles, as a rule, and +look here." Frank stooped and picked up half-a-dozen cartridges of +the kind used by the Arab slave-traders. +</p> + +<p> +"You know there were no shells like that in our party," he went on, +"but I can see by the collection of empty shells in the place where +the tent stood that Billy and Lathrop must have put up a hot +defense." +</p> + +<p> +"Frank, do you—you don't think, do you—" Harry burst out. +</p> + +<p> +"That they have been killed?" Frank finished for him. "No, I do +not. Unless they fell in the fight and then we should have seen +their bodies down with the others by the river. No, it is my idea +that they have been carried off to be sold as slaves. They would +have a high market value you know." +</p> + +<p> +Harry groaned. +</p> + +<p> +"But don't you think there is a chance of our getting them back?" +</p> + +<p> +Frank's face grew grave. +</p> + +<p> +"Of course we are going to try every means in our power, but once in +the hands of that scoundrel Muley-Hassan it is doubtful if we ever +see them again. There is only one thing for us to do." +</p> + +<p> +"And that is—?" +</p> + +<p> +"To get back to the Moon Mountains at once. But we have no +gasoline." +</p> + +<p> +This was a stunning blow; in the excitement their of fuel had not +occurred even to the farseeing Frank. They had had, as our readers +know, to leave most of their gasoline at the Moon Mountains in order +to lighten the aeroplane. Without it they could not move an inch in +their air-craft. Harry tested the tank. Only a few paltry gallons +remained—not enough to drive the aeroplane ten miles. +</p> + +<p> +As the boys stood, struck dumb by the realization of the disaster +that had overtaken them, Ben Stubbs, who had been down to the river +bank, reappeared. +</p> + +<p> +"Look here!" he exclaimed, holding out at arms length a long white +cloak. One glance at the garment was enough—it was an Arab article +of dress. There was no further doubt about it, then. Muley-Hassan +and his men had carried off Billy and Lathrop. +</p> + +<p> +"But that's not the most extraordinary part of it," went on Ben; +"while there are half a dozen of the Arabs' canoes down there, there +are a lot of others, that must have belonged to a bunch of natives +from their shiftless look—and I could see the bare imprint of the +savages' feet in the mud, coming after the Arabs had trod around +there." +</p> + +<p> +This was a new mystery. Apparently, then, a tribe of cannibals had +been on the trail of the Arabs who had carried off their two young +companions. This could only mean one thing, that they meant to +punish the Arab slave-dealers for some outrage and, while this would +have been quite satisfactory to the boys under other conditions, as +things were it meant that there would be a fight in which both +Lathrop and Billy would probably be seriously wounded, if not +killed. How wrong this surmise was we know, and it serves to show +how very wide of the mark it is possible for the constructors of a +theory to steer. +</p> + +<p> +And here for a time we will leave our despairing friends while we go +back to the Moon Mountains. +</p> + +<p> +The outline of the Golden Eagle II, in her flight to the river camp, +had not faded out on the twilight sky, before, through the jungle at +the foot of the Moon Mountains, a strange figure pushed its way. It +was Sikaso, but a changed Sikaso from the agile muscular black who +had wielded his axe with such terrible effect at the fight of the +evening before. His ebony body was cut and scarred with the signs +of his battle with the thorns and saw-bladed grasses of the dense +forest, across which he had cut in desperate haste, scorning all +paths in order to warn the Boy Aviators and their chum Ben of the +rapid approach of Muley-Hassan. With that strange instinct that +white men in Africa recognize in certain of the natives as a sixth +sense, the giant black had read in a fire kindled after the battle, +that the boys were at that moment in the Moon Mountains, and had at +once set out—exhausted as he was—at top speed on the long journey. +Only a man of his adamantine strength could have endured the +hardships and it had fatigued even his iron frame, as was evident by +his stumbling footsteps as he made his way up the side of the +mountain—pausing from time to time as if to listen to the +whisperings of his mysterious instinct. +</p> + +<p> +Billy and Lathrop, half inclined to accuse the old black in their +minds of base desertion, did him a gross injustice. After he had +seen the two boys taken prisoners, the old warrior had realized that +he could be of far more use to them at liberty than he would be if +made captive by Muley-Hassan. Indeed there was no doubt in his own +mind that the Arab would put him to death instantly if he ever got +his hands on him. He had therefore built a fetish fire and in it +had made out distinctly Frank and Harry and Ben in their air-ship, +encamped on the mountain-side, and had set out without delay at the +peculiar jog-trot by which the native bush-runners can cover daily +as much ground, and more, than a horse. +</p> + +<p> +But the huge Krooman was doomed to as bitter a disappointment as the +youths he was in search of had experienced at their return to the +river camp. He found the spot on which the Golden Eagle had rested +deserted, but still urged on by his strange sense of locality he +finally stumbled upon the ivory cache. +</p> + +<p> +"Um, big fight here," he mused to himself as he gazed about him at +the mangled bodies of the gorillas which showed black as ink on the +rocks in the sharp, brilliant moonlight. The heap of uncollected +ivory was the next thing to attract his eye and with a guttural +grunt the negro helped himself to a drink of water from his skin-bag +while he sat down to ponder. He did not waste much time in +reflection. Springing to his feet he vanished down one of the dark +recesses of the mountain-side and was gone about an hour. When he +returned he picked up an armful of the ivory—a load that would have +staggered three ordinary men—and, hefting it easily in his arms, +vanished with it into the dark shadows. For two hours he worked +steadily and at the close of that period there was not enough ivory +left about the cache to make a watch-charm of. Old Sikaso had found +a new hiding place for the stuff the boys were compelled to leave. +</p> + +<p> +Then he sat himself once more down on the rock, and leisurely +smashing to pieces with his inseparable axe, the wooden cover that +had been over the cache, he selected, with a good deal of care one +of the dead gorillas. Having found the one that seemed to suit him; +he cut off from its flank a hunk of meat with his keen weapon and +producing a flint and steel soon had the meat toasting over a blaze. +When it was done to his satisfaction he leisurely ate it and washed +it down with a draught from his skin-bag. He then cooked several +more pieces of gorilla meat which he tucked in his waist-band, and +shouldering his axe and humming to himself his grim war-song, he set +out at the same swinging dog-trot on his long trip to the river +bank. With the vitality common to such men, his brief rest and +refreshment had rendered his tired frame as vigorous as ever and +there was no trace of fatigue in the steady trot of the ebony figure +as it plunged into the dark forest and vanished. +</p> + +<p> +A second later, however, the figure reappeared as a noise of voices +was heard drawing nearer down a forest trail. Throwing himself on +his face and lying as motionless as a fallen log, the Krooman +watched as Muley-Hassan and his followers—almost worn out and sadly +diminished in numbers since their fight with the boys and with the +cannibals—appeared. True, they had beaten the latter off, but at +great loss to themselves, and the few men that now limped forward—urged +on only by the fierce voice of Diego and Muley-Hassan—appeared +ready to drop in their tracks from exhaustion. +</p> + +<p> +"A hundred pounds of ivory to every man of you if we get there +before they have cleaned the place out," the Arab was shouting by +way of encouraging his men. Old Sikaso, with a grim chuckle, +watched them make their way up the mountain-side and then laughed +softly to himself as their imprecations of rage and fury broke out +as they reached the cache—and found it empty! +</p> + +<p> +Somewhat cheered by the vigorous Ben, who proposed to paddle down +the river to the nearest settlement himself the next day, if some +news were not heard of Billy and Lathrop, the boys were preparing +for bed that evening—the bed consisting of the floor of the Golden +Eagle's stripped cabin—when they were startled by Ben holding up a +warning finger. +</p> + +<p> +"Hark!" he exclaimed eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +The boys listened. +</p> + +<p> +"There's somebody coming," were Ben's next words. +</p> + +<p> +Sure enough drawing closer every minute they could hear a soft +patter-patter coming down a jungle-trail and evidently, by the +sound, heading for the camp. +</p> + +<p> +"Who can it be?" exclaimed Frank in a low tone, not daring even to +mention the wild hope that surged in his heart. For a minute he +thought that it might be the missing chums, and that even Harry and, +to a less degree, Ben, shared his thought he saw by their parted +lips and tensely strained eyes. +</p> + +<p> +In absolute silence they listened as the footfalls drew in toward +them, but not by even the wildest stretch of the imagination could +they make out more than one man's footsteps. +</p> + +<p> +Instinctively each member of the party raised his revolver as the +bushes parted and from them tottered a man who was very evidently in +the last stages of exhaustion. The figure staggered forward to the +aeroplane as the boys and Ben lowered their revolvers, seeing that, +whoever the newcomer was there was no fear of violence from him. It +was Ben who recognized him first: +</p> + +<p> +"Sikaso!" he cried, as the figure crumpled up in a heap, completely +exhausted. +</p> + +<p> +The boys rushed to the fallen man's side as they heard the name. +They bathed the huge black's head with water and after a few minutes +he opened his eyes and recognized them with a faint smile. After he +had been given some nourishment he completely recovered from his +spell of weakness which he called: +</p> + +<p> +"Big fool—all same woman," quite omitting to state that he had +traveled almost eighty miles since the preceding midnight. +</p> + +<p> +The boys sat late listening to what the black had to tell of the +attack on the camp—of Professor Wiseman's treachery and death—and +of the carrying off of the boys. Then Sikaso went on to gleefully +relate, while they warmly clasped his mighty hands, how he had +hidden the rest of the ivory and how he had seen Muley-Hassan pass +on his way to the rifled hiding place. +</p> + +<p> +"But Billy and Lathrop, Sikaso, tell us quick, were they with +Muley-Hassan?" +</p> + +<p> +The black shook his head slowly. +</p> + +<p> +"No see Four-Eyes—no see Red Head," he said sorrowfully. +</p> + +<p> +The last ray of hope concerning the fate of the two young +adventurers seemed to have been extinguished. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap17"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XVII +</h3> + +<h3> +THE "ROGUE" ELEPHANT +</h3> + +<p> +In the meantime Billy and Lathrop, having been introduced to the +chief, were making themselves very much at home in the village or +cliff colony of the Flying Men. The morning after the day of their +arrival a hunting expedition was organized by their new-found friend +and in company with a dozen or more of the Flying Men, and the +ordinary natives, who seemed to occupy the position of inferiors to +their winged masters, the expedition set out. +</p> + +<p> +They crossed the fields and garden patches that the boys had +observed the evening before and, after traversing a few miles of +swampy ground overgrown with a tough yellow grass, they plunged into +a forest of mahogany and silk cotton trees. +</p> + +<p> +It was while crossing the expanse of yellow grass at Billy performed +a feat that caused all of them to hold him as a mighty hunter. They +had been pushing their way along a narrow trail with the tops of the +vegetation waving a good three feet above their heads, when there +was a sudden grunt heard ahead and the noise of great rushing +through the wiry grass. +</p> + +<p> +"Big pig," announced the boys' friend as the others got their spears +ready to cast. Billy and Lathrop in their eagerness plunged on +ahead of the others—Lathrop with a small spear and his +revolver—which by the way was useless, he having expended all his +cartridges—and Billy with the Arab rifle. Suddenly from dead ahead +of the two boys there was a savage squeal and, before either of them +realized what had happened, a boar with gleaming white tusks and +bristly hair rushed out of the tangle and squarely charged them. +</p> + +<p> +Lathrop went down before his furious onslaught and in his fall +carried Billy to the ground with him. In another moment both boys +would have been badly gored, perhaps killed, had not the reporter, +in the very instant that the boar with wickedly gleaming little red +eyes turned to attack Lathrop with his fierce tusks, raised himself +on one arm and fired. The bullet struck their assailant full in the +ear and penetrated the brain. With a surprised squeal he turned and +ran a few feet and then dropped dead. The rest of the hunting part +came up at this moment and Billy received warm congratulations—which, +as he did not understand, meant as much as most of such felicitations. +</p> + +<p> +It was not long after this incident that the plunge into the cool +darkness of the forest began. The men went warily—as if expecting +to be attacked at any moment—and the boys, on inquiring of their +guide the reason for this caution, only received the reply that +elephant tracks had been seen and that as a "rogue" elephant had +lately been doing great damage to the crops of the cliff-dwellers +they were anxious to kill him if possible. +</p> + +<p> +A rogue elephant is one that has become estranged from the rest of +his kind by reason of his fierce intractability. He is in fact what +in the west is described, in speaking of a horse, as "loco" or +crazy. Such animals—they are generally males—are extremely +dangerous to hunt and are generally given a wide berth. They are +mischievous in the extreme, moreover, and do great damage, seemingly +wantonly, to any crops or garden patches that they may find in their +neighborhood. Usually the natives are too terrified to offer any +resistance and placidly allow the animal to devastate to the bent of +his will. The cliff dwellers, however, had suffered so much from +the depredations of this particular animal that they were determined +to drive him out of their neighborhood, and that was the real +purpose of the hunting party. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, it looks as if we are in for a good exciting morning of it," +remarked Billy as they trudged along beneath trees that shot up to +unknown heights with great rope-like creepers dangling from their +upper branches, looking like ladders leading up into "Jack in the +Beanstalk-land." Occasionally a patch of blue could be sighted +through the tree-tops, but for the most part the hunters progressed +along the floor of the forest under a regular roof of greenery. +There was plenty of life in this tipper story of the earth jungle. +Troops of monkeys with chattering and gesticulations swung from +bough to bough and looked in wonder on the invaders of their realm +and then, taking imaginary fright, galloped off through the +tree-tops in panic, only to stop a little distance further on and +throw down fruit or bits of stick at the men below them. Gorgeous +birds, too, flitted about like jewels seen in a setting of green +velvet, while underfoot there was no lack of life either. Strange +insects, shaped like sticks or leaves or even bits of moss, +attracted the attention of the alert boys although they passed over +hundreds of such nature mimics unnoticed, owing to the perfection of +their mimicry. +</p> + +<p> +At last the leader of the party called a halt and they sat down to +eat some of the cassava and manioc cakes they had brought with them. +The meal was washed down with a sour drink—something like +buttermilk—contained in a huge earthen jar that one of the inferior +tribe carried. They were in the midst of it when one of the hunters +sprang to his feet with a guttural exclamation. +</p> + +<p> +"Arjah!" he exclaimed and, though the boys did not understand his +tongue, his attitude of alert attention signified that he said +"Listen" as clearly as if he had used the word. +</p> + +<p> +In an instant all of the party were on their feet and listening +keenly. After a few seconds of strained attention the boys became +aware of a sort of dull pounding sound which seemed to come from +some distance. It sounded almost like the regular beat of a large +drum. The air seemed to vibrate with it. +</p> + +<p> +He leader of the party spoke a few words rapidly to the others and +they all joined in a responsive shout which seemed to be one of +assent to some proposition that had been made by him. +</p> + +<p> +"He say elephant dance," said Umbashi; "him very dangerous when +dance. He ask them they willing to go on. They all say yes." +</p> + +<p> +Lathrop looked alarmed. +</p> + +<p> +"Say, Billy," he whispered as they moved forward, "I don't mind a +little danger, but going up against an elephant with a few tin +spears looks to me like being little above the limit." +</p> + +<p> +"Cheer up," replied the irrepressible reporter, "we've got to go on +now. It would never do for us to show the white feather at this +stage of the game. The tribe would regard us as miserable cowards +and perhaps even put us to death." +</p> + +<p> +So with faces that one at least of them had some difficulty to +render' expressive of calm repose the two American boys marched +along with the others. As they advanced the drumming grew louder +and they could feel the earth shake as the ponderous beast that +caused it went through his strange exercise. +</p> + +<p> +The leader worked round till the party was advancing against the +wind, as elephants have a keen scent, and had they traveled along +down the wind he would have been sure to have taken alarm and dashed +off only to return and do more damage later on. In this way the +party was enabled to work up to within a few yards of the great +beast without his having any warning of their approach. It was a +strange sight they beheld as they stood on the edge of the little +clearing where the great beast was going through his dance. With +his trunk curled high above his great head the big pachyderm was +solemnly twirling round and round in a sort of slow waltz and every +time he brought a foot down it was with a crash that shook the +forest about him. He was a ferocious looking brute, with a wicked +gleam in his small eye that boded ill for anyone who should happen +to get in his path. One of his tusks was broken off short, +doubtless in some fight with another of his kind, and his body was +plowed with scars and cuts—the relics of former battles. +Altogether he was as wicked and menacing a looking brute as the boys +had ever seen. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly he sighted the attacking party. The dance instantly +stopped and he stood stock-still for an instant gazing at them while +they promptly made for the trees and clambered up them by means of +the lanyards of creepers that swung down from the tops. +</p> + +<p> +Billy and Lathrop, however, were too much astonished by the sudden +turn events had taken to follow the example of the savages and so +stood gazing awestricken at the elephant while he gazed at them in +apparent amazement at two boys having the temerity to face him in +his native forest. +</p> + +<p> +The situation was not to last long, however. Their guide, with the +rest of the party, had hastily clambered into the trees and now he +called to the boys loudly: +</p> + +<p> +"Climb! climb!" +</p> + +<p> +But the churns were too late. +</p> + +<p> +As they turned to obey his instructions the great brute charged with +a furious trumpet. +</p> + +<p> +His first onslaught the boys avoided by slipping behind a tree, more +from instinct than anything else. The impetus of the maddened +animal's charge carried him by the tree and before he could stop +himself and turn his ponderous body for a fresh attack he had gone +some yards beyond the boys. +</p> + +<p> +Bellowing with fury the huge creature made ready for a fresh charge, +but by this time Billy and Lathrop had seized the creepers and were +both several feet above the ground. In his haste, however, Billy's +luckless rifle twisted between his legs and almost caused a +disaster. For a second he hung helpless, trying to kick the weapon +free. But it hung by its leather shoulder band and he was unable to +do so instantly. +</p> + +<p> +The boy, with a despairing cry, gazed at the onrushing elephant and +could almost feel himself being seized by its mighty trunk and +dashed to death, when a pair of strong, black arms seized him and +dragged him up to a place of safety. The man who had taken this +risk was their friend Umbashi, and as Billy thanked him he felt a +feeling of real respect for this half naked savage who had risked +his life to save another's. +</p> + +<p> +After two or three more charges the animal seemed to get tired of +this method of attack and stood beneath the tree shaking with rage, +very much like a bull that has driven a boy to refuge in an +apple-tree. It was evident that it was time to either kill the +brute or drive him off unless the party desired to spend an +unlimited time in the trees. +</p> + +<p> +"The fire-weapon," shouted Billy's friend, "use the fire-weapon." +</p> + +<p> +Billy raised the long Arab weapon and fired. The bullet struck the +elephant on the right ear with no more effect than to further anger +him. +</p> + +<p> +"Aim between the eyes," cried the savage. +</p> + +<p> +Billy felt for a fresh cartridge and made a discovery. +</p> + +<p> +In scrambling up the tree he had ripped off the skin bag and his +store of Arab cartridges, none too many, lay on the ground at the +foot of the tree. When this intelligence was communicated to the +tribesmen clinging in the other trees they held a shouted +consultation the result of which was that, to the boys' amazement, +one of them deliberately dropped to the ground and attracting the +elephant's attention began to run him in circles. Now as the man +could run fast and from time to time another took his place and the +elephant had to use a lot of effort in turning corners, it soon +became evident that the big pachyderm was tiring of the exercise. +</p> + +<p> +It was evidently the intention of the natives to run him out and +then spear him to death—but an unexpected happening put an end to +this method of elephant hunting. One of the men who was worrying +the great animal, much after the manner of a bull-fighter, suddenly +caught his foot on a root and fell headlong. A shout went up as the +others realized that he was doomed to almost certain death. Billy +and Lathrop averted their eyes. It was terrible to have to sit +there powerless and watch the sacrifice. +</p> + +<p> +But even as they listened with sickened ears for the death-cry of +the unfortunate victim and whilst the elephant's trumpet of triumph +was still resounding, one of the flying men dropped, knife in hand, +from his tree on to the monster's back. +</p> + +<p> +He landed right behind the great creature's ears and as the animal +threw back his trunk to whisk him off and annihilate him be plunged +his weapon through the soft folds of skin at the base of the huge +skull clear down into the brain. +</p> + +<p> +It was a mortal wound. +</p> + +<p> +As the elephant stopped short in his charge and began to stagger in +his death throes the Flying Man slipped to the ground and picked up +his comrade, who had swooned from terror. +</p> + +<p> +Ten minutes later the great rogue elephant was beyond all further +mischief and the boys joined as heartily as any of the others in +congratulating the brave man whose unparalleled feat of heroism had +saved his comrade's life. +</p> + +<p> +The man's name was Aga, and the boys had reason later on to remember +him for another deed which affected them even more nearly than the +slaying of the elephant. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap18"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XVIII +</h3> + +<h3> +A LINK FROM THE PAST +</h3> + +<p> +On their triumphal return to the cliff with the tusks of the slain +elephant as trophies of the hunt a strange spectacle met the boys' +eyes. Clustered about a sort of altar, which they had not noticed +before, was a group of the cliff-dwellers who seemed to be deeply +interested in something that was going forward. A loud sound of +chanting and intoning of what seemed to be a solemn ritual was the +first inkling the boys had of what was going on. +</p> + +<p> +On joining the throng the lads found that it was some sort of a +religious ceremony that was being proceeded with. A group of men in +white flowing robes and high conical hats—decorated with mystic +symbols worked out in precious stones that looked like rubies and +emeralds, though of such size that this seemed scarcely +credible—were walking round and round the altar in a sort of what +the irreverent Billy termed "a cakewalk." Pausing at each corner +and revolving slowly, three times they intoned the weird chant. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly the music took on a louder tone arid several men with +clashing cymbals joined in. The auditors, too, fell flat on their +faces and Billy and Lathrop, on the former's suggestion, did the +same. +</p> + +<p> +"Not to do as the others are doing might cost us our heads," sagely +remarked the diplomatic Billy, "and I need mine in my business." +</p> + +<p> +Whatever the nature of the ceremony, it was now evidently +approaching a climax. The chanting grew louder and more furious and +the cymbal players clashed their huge metal instruments together +with a deafening clangor. Suddenly, from the passage from which the +galleries branched off, there appeared six men clad in robes of +flaming scarlet and conical caps of the same color. +</p> + +<p> +They formed an escort to a pitiable figure. +</p> + +<p> +That of a white bearded man who was bent with years and whose eyes +gazed vacantly about him as he stumbled along between the red-robed +dignitaries. But it was not his age and not his feebleness that +made the boys' hearts beat quicker and caused a galvanic shock to +shoot through them. +</p> + +<p> +The man was white. +</p> + +<p> +There was no doubt about it. In spite of his sun-browned skin and +the barbarous ornaments that covered him, the figure in the center +of the red-robed group was a Caucasian—perhaps an American—a +fellow countryman. +</p> + +<p> +And now the boys noticed with a shudder that in the hands of each of +the red-robed men was a knife of some sort of stone—perhaps flint. +These cruel looking weapons they brandished as they slowly paced +forward in time to the chanting. +</p> + +<p> +But their captive—if he were a captive seemed indifferent to all +this. His dull eyes gazed straight ahead of him as if he were +hypnotized—or, as was more probable, under the influence of some +drug. As the group approached the altar the chanting suddenly +stopped and the onlookers rose to their feet. From the altar now +arose a thin spiral of smoke, the offspring of a fire kindled by one +of the priests. +</p> + +<p> +The sun was just setting and showed like a blood-red ball, through +the mist that arose from low-lying garden lands. As its disk +touched the horizon the chanting broke out afresh and the red-robed +men seizing the old white man as if he were a beast dragged him +forward and threw him on the altar. +</p> + +<p> +And now for the first time came to the chums the horrifying +realization of what the scene they were witnessing really meant. +</p> + +<p> +The man was about to be sacrificed! +</p> + +<p> +But even as the red-robed men raised their knives in unison and were +about to give them the downward lunge that would extinguish the life +of their feeble victim—and as the other priests and the audience +turning toward the setting sun, chanted louder and more +vociferously—a startling interruption occurred. +</p> + +<p> +"By the holy poker you're not going to kill that old man while I can +prevent it." +</p> + +<p> +It was Billy Barnes; his face white and his lips set in a thin line +of determination. +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke utterly oblivious to the fact that not one of the men +could understand him—Lathrop, pale-faced also, stepped forward by +his side. +</p> + +<p> +And there stood the two American boys while the auditors—at first +dumb with amazement—began to buzz angrily like a nest of disturbed +hornets. +</p> + +<p> +One of the white-robed priests gave a sharp order and once more the +red-garbed executors raised their knives. +</p> + +<p> +Billy quietly, though his heart was beating almost to suffocation, +slipped a cartridge from the recovered bag into his Arab rifle. He +leveled it at the red-robed knife wielders. +</p> + +<p> +"The first man that moves I'll shoot!" +</p> + +<p> +Although the words were as unintelligible to the priests and the +cliff-dwellers as any that had gone before, the gesture with which +Billy raised the rifle to his shoulder and covered the group was +eloquent enough. And as it happened, the delay saved the old man's +life; for while they hesitated the sun rushed below the horizon and +the swift African night fell. A loud groan from the crowd announced +that the hour for the culmination of the sacrifice had passed and +that for the time being the intended victim's life was saved. +</p> + +<p> +But for the boys the situation was serious enough. Powerless to +resist such numbers they were seized by scores of the winged men and +hustled into the passage, which was lit up by blazing torches of the +same resinous wood that their guide had used on the first night that +they came there. They were hurried along, their feet hardly +touching the ground, till they reached one of the diverging +galleries. Down this their captors shoved them till they reached a +small cubical cell—windowless and without ventilation. Into this +they were thrust and a huge stone door that hinged on some +contrivance the boys could not understand swung to upon them with a +dull bang. But a few minutes later it reopened and another prisoner +was thrust in. +</p> + +<p> +It was the aged captive whose life Billy had saved! +</p> + +<p> +This much they saw in the momentary glare of the torches and then as +the door closed the darkness—so black that you could feel it—shut +down again. But Billy's reportorial curiosity, even in this +situation, was still predominant. +</p> + +<p> +"Who are you?" he asked eagerly of the new arrival, whose face he +could not see and whose presence he could only guess at by the +temporary revelation of the torch-light. +</p> + +<p> +The only answer was a groan; but a few seconds later a voice that +sounded strange from long disuse or unaccustomedness to the use of +the English language replied: +</p> + +<p> +"I have not heard a white man speak for forty years." +</p> + +<p> +"What?" exclaimed the thunderstruck Billy. +</p> + +<p> +"What I say is true and when you hear my name you will perhaps +realize that fact. I am George Desmond the American explorer." +</p> + +<p> +"The George Desmond who was lost in 1870?" cried Billy, almost +choking with excitement. +</p> + +<p> +"The same," was the reply in the same rusty voice, "like the sound +of a long disused door swinging on its hinges," was the way Billy +described it afterward in the article he wrote about the finding of +George Desmond. +</p> + +<p> +"But George Desmond was a man of thirty-five!" protested Billy, +"when he was lost." +</p> + +<p> +"And I am seventy-five," went on the sad voice in the blackness, "I +was captured by the winged men in 1870. I have kept the record of +the long years on a notched stick. I never expected to hear the +sound of a fellow countryman's voice again." +</p> + +<p> +The poor tired voice broke down, and in the darkness through which +they could not see the boys heard the old man weeping. +</p> + +<p> +"Great cats!" groaned Billy to Lathrop, whose hand he held so that +they could be near together in the awful blackness, "forty years +without seeing a white face—jumping horn-toads, what a fate!" +</p> + +<p> +But the old man's soft weeping stopped presently and in a firmer +voice he said: +</p> + +<p> +"My wife and my sons? Can you tell me anything of them?" +</p> + +<p> +As a newspaper man Billy recollected very clearly the space that had +been given some five years before to the death, at a ripe old age, +of the wife of George Desmond the lost explorer. +</p> + +<p> +"She is dead," he said gently. +</p> + +<p> +They heard the castaway sigh, and then he asked in a voice he strove +to render firm, but which trembled in spite of itself: +</p> + +<p> +"And my sons?" +</p> + +<p> +"They are all alive and in business in New York," said Billy. "Your +wife died believing to the end that you would come back. They +placed her chair so that she could face the east. She died at +daybreak with her eyes turned toward the sea beyond which lay +Africa." +</p> + +<p> +"Africa!" echoed the tired, disused voice. "Africa! it has cost me +everything I had." +</p> + +<p> +There was silence for some time after this. Neither of the boys +wanted to intrude on the silent grief of the explorer so strangely +found, though each was dying to ask him a host of questions. It was +the aged man himself who broke the silence at length. +</p> + +<p> +"But I am selfish," he exclaimed. "I should have thanked you before +this for saving my life. The priests were determined that, as I was +old and useless, my life should be offered to the Sun-god to appease +a sickness that has of late carried off hundreds of the Flying Men. +They are a dying race, young men. As a man of science, I predict +that in five years or less there will not be a single one of the +once numerous tribe alive. I have studied them closely and can +predict their extinction." +</p> + +<p> +"Then you have not been a prisoner always?" asked Billy. +</p> + +<p> +"No, my young friend, I have not. When first I came here I was +received warmly and was paid high honors. I was allowed to record +my observations in writing—fortunately I carried a supply of ink +and paper." +</p> + +<p> +"You still have the manuscript?" gasped Billy, with the reporter's +instinct to the fore. +</p> + +<p> +"I have," sighed old Mr. Desmond, "in the cell that I so long called +home then, the pages still lie. But I have neglected them for many +years. I had no more writing materials when I used up my slender +supply and I never thought to regain civilization. +</p> + +<p> +"But now did you ever get here?" asked the amazed Billy. +</p> + +<p> +"That is a long story," replied the captive, "but briefly told, it +is as follows: In the season of 1870, as you perhaps know, my +ill-fated expedition left Grand Bassam. My avowed object was to +collect specimens and data for the Smithsonian Institute, but my +real and secret desire was to find the tribe of Flying Men of whose +existence I had heard in a fragmentary way on previous expeditions +to the West Coast. I have found them—" he went on with a heavy +sigh—"but at what a cost—at what a cost!" +</p> + +<p> +There was silence for a few minutes and then the old voice went on, +gaining in strength as he proceeded, and resumed acquaintance with +words to which his tongue had been long unused. +</p> + +<p> +"My expedition, as you know, was never heard of again. The reason +was this. In some way the Arab slave-traders—who were thick in +this district then and plied their nefarious trade almost +openly—gained the belief that my expedition was a pretense for a +plan of espionage on them and they attacked my camp one night and +slaughtered every man in it but myself. Why they did not kill me +I do not know, unless it was because of the intercession of a young +Arab, a mere youth and the son of the chief. I have never forgotten +his name or his kindness." +</p> + +<p> +"What was his name?" asked Billy, who was deeply interested and +wanted to get every detail of the extraordinary story. +</p> + +<p> +"Muley-Hassan!" was the amazing reply. +</p> + +<p> +"Muley-Hassan," echoed Billy, "why, he is the most cold-blooded +fiend in the slave-trade to-day." +</p> + +<p> +"Perhaps," answered the old man, "but he was good to me when he was +a young man and I have never forgotten it." +</p> + +<p> +"Well," he went on, picking up his narrative, "it was not long +before retribution overtook the Arabs. One night their camp was +attacked by a tribe whose village they had raided and sacked some +time before and only a few of them escaped, among them must have +been Muley-Hassan, though, till you told me of him, I believed him +dead. The savages, seeing that I was not one of the Arab race took +care of me and I fared well at their hands. But a great longing to +see civilization—to clasp my wife in my arms, to see my children +and America once more, was always with me, and one night I escaped +from their village. I wandered half-delirious from fever and +starvation for many days after that, for I lost my way in the +forest, and, as I had no compass, wandered aimlessly seeking a river +by which I might follow down to the coast. One night such a sharp +attack of fever overtook me that I was-stricken unconscious. I gave +myself up for dead before I lost my senses and only recollect +awaking in this village. From that day to this, although I have +repeatedly endeavored to escape I have never been able to do so. +The ladder is guarded day and night,"—(this information dashed a +half-formed hope in Billy's mind of escape by that way,) "and it +would be suicide to attempt to penetrate the great jungles on the +other side. I thought to end my days here, but I never dreamed till +the other day that my life was destined to end as it would have, had +it not been for your brave intervention. +</p> + +<p> +"The malady of which I have spoken has devastated almost every +family in the cliff and at the instigation of Agagi, the head +priest—a man who has always hated my influence over his people—I +was blamed by the other priests for being the cause of the +affliction. +</p> + +<p> +"They pretended to have a revelation from the Sun-god stating that +if my life were sacrificed the curse that rested on the +cliff-dwellers would be removed. Accordingly I was seized and +chained and would certainly have died had it not been for you. But +alas, young men, I fear you are doomed to forfeit your lives as the +cost of rescuing an old man who is not long for this life in any +event. I wish that you had been far away and had never had the +brave impulse to risk your young lives for my worthless old one." +</p> + +<p> +Now it is a remarkable thing, but Billy, who should have replied to +the aged man in all sorts of high-sounding language, could find +nothing to reply to this but: +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, that's all right." +</p> + +<p> +"I think you are the bravest boys I have ever heard of," the old man +was beginning when a soft "hiss-s-st!" caused them all to turn their +eyes to the direction in which they knew the door lay, and from +which the sound had proceeded. +</p> + +<p> +"H-s-s-s-t," came the sound again. +</p> + +<p> +Did it mean a friend or an enemy? +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap19"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XIX +</h3> + +<h3> +FRIENDS IN NEED +</h3> + +<p> +They were not kept long in suspense. After being assured that their +attention was attracted, the voice that had made the hissing signal +whispered through some aperture of which the boys had no knowledge: +</p> + +<p> +"Listen to me, white boys, and you, too, old man, you can escape if +your hearts are stout." +</p> + +<p> +Stunned by the suddenness of this joyful news the boys sat silent. +</p> + +<p> +"Are you listening, white boys?" said the voice impatiently. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes—yes," whispered Billy eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +"Then when a man comes in a short time to you with food and drink do +not touch it, for it is poisoned with a deadly drug; but curb your +appetite. In a short time the same man will come back to see if you +have yet become insensible. Then you must be of stout heart and +leap upon him and kill him. After that leave your cell and I will +show you how to gain freedom." +</p> + +<p> +The boys had recognized the voice at once as that of their friendly +guide, though why he should have taken such a risk to aid them did +not manifest itself till he whispered: +</p> + +<p> +"And as a reward, I ask of the fat white boy with the glass eyes his +fire-weapon which assuredly contains a great fetish and of the +red-headed one some of his hair for a fetish also. Of the old man I +would have the round box containing the strange god that says by day +and by night 'tick-tick'." +</p> + +<p> +"He means my watch," answered the old man, "it was a present from my +dead wife to me on our wedding day, but he shall have it." +</p> + +<p> +The boys also promised their "fetishes." +</p> + +<p> +There was a guttural sound of satisfaction from outside the cell as +the bargain was struck and then all was silent. +</p> + +<p> +How they passed the time till the door swung open and the man whom +their friend had foretold would bring them food and drink appeared, +they never knew; but somehow it went. The new comer set the stuff +down without a word and then stuck the flaming torch he carried in a +niche in the wall so that they might have light to eat by. He made +several gesticulations intended, apparently, to signify that what he +had set before them was very good. +</p> + +<p> +"Hum," said Billy when he had gone, "I'd as soon eat a mess of toads +as touch any of this stuff—although it smells mighty good," he +added regretfully, "and I'm hungry enough to gobble up a crocodile, +claws and all." +</p> + +<p> +But they all abstained from touching it and spent the time between +the second promised visit discussing whether they would carry out +the instructions of the friendly savage. +</p> + +<p> +"But we can't kill the fellow," objected Lathrop. +</p> + +<p> +"Certainly not," replied Billy; "but, now that we have a light, I +see that there is a nice convenient chain fastened to the wall over +there. There would be no objection to our gagging him, to prevent +any outcry, and then hitching him up with it." +</p> + +<p> +"But he is a pretty husky-looking customer," objected Lathrop; +"suppose we can't overcome him?" +</p> + +<p> +"We'll have to take our chances on that," said Billy decisively. +"Now what I propose is, that when he comes back we all he stretched +out as if the drug had overcome us and then, when I give the word, +we all jump on him." +</p> + +<p> +He looked doubtfully at the old man as he spoke. There was no +question that in such a struggle the explorer would be worse than +useless. Mr. Desmond himself agreed with Billy and it was arranged +that while the two boys grappled with the negro that the old man +should pull the door to—in the event of its being left open—so +that no noise of the struggle might penetrate into the passage +outside. +</p> + +<p> +The little party immediately spread themselves out on the floor in +well simulated insensibility and waited with hearts that beat +uncomfortably quick for the decisive moment to arrive. +</p> + +<p> +Failure meant death but, as Billy had put it, they were due to die +anyhow it seemed and they owed it to themselves to make as brave an +effort as possible to escape such a fate. +</p> + +<p> +At last they heard a fumbling at the door and the man who had +brought them the drugged food entered the cell. He scrutinized them +with a grunt of satisfaction and going up to each one shook him by +the shoulder to see if they were only asleep or really insensible. +Apparently he was satisfied from their inertness that the drug had +worked, for he muttered to himself rapidly in the unknown tongue as +he concluded his examination. +</p> + +<p> +Then he turned to pick up the earthen dishes, stooping over with his +back to Billy Barnes as he did so. +</p> + +<p> +It was Billy's move! +</p> + +<p> +Like a flash the young reporter—who had earned an enviable record +on the gridiron and crew at Columbia University—was on the savage's +back while Lathrop rushed at the fellow as he straightened up and +gave him a low tackle. As Billy leaped he had dug his fingers into +the fellow's windpipe to choke any outcry, and when Lathrop seized +him by the legs he toppled over like a felled ox without uttering a +sound. Billy rolled from under him as he fell backward and the +man's head struck the stone floor with a terrific crash. +</p> + +<p> +He was knocked insensible by the fall. The moment to escape had +arrived! +</p> + +<p> +Rapidly the boys tore a strip off Billy's shirt and formed it into a +gag. With other strips they tied the insensible man's hands behind +his back and manacled his legs. +</p> + +<p> +"He won't come to for quite a while after the crack he got," +remarked Billy; "but in case he does, he won't be able to attract +attention for a long time." +</p> + +<p> +Then, as cautiously as though stepping on eggs, they tiptoed out +into the passage—after extinguishing the torch—and the next minute +were startled to be suddenly halted by a form that ran right into +them in the blackness. +</p> + +<p> +The next minute, however, their anxiety was relieved. It was +Umbashi who had collided with them and accompanying him was Aga, the +man who killed the rogue elephant. It appeared that the two had +agreed to divide the fetishes their captives were to give them in +return for their freedom. And Aga at once, with a stone knife, cut +off two generous locks of Lathrop's hair. +</p> + +<p> +"But how are you to get my gun," objected Billy, "the priests took +it from me?" +</p> + +<p> +"I already have it, Boy-of-the-eyes-of-glass," replied the engaging +cliff-dweller. "I stole it from the old head-priest while he slept. +But you must give it me of your own free will, or it will not be +good 'fetish.'" +</p> + +<p> +Of course Billy willingly "gave." +</p> + +<p> +To get the watch they had to traverse what seemed to Billy and +Lathrop in their feverish excitement miles and miles of passages. +But apparently the cliff-dwellers all went to bed early and slept +sound for they encountered no one, and their guides did not seem to +be in any anxiety over the possibility of discovery. Once they got +a chill of horror when just before they left the cell door Aga, who +carried a sharp knife—the same with which he had dispatched the +elephant and cut Lathrop's hair—signified his intention of cutting +the unconscious meal-bringer's throat. It was with great difficulty +that the boys dissuaded him from this barbaric act, the horror of +which did not seem to appeal either to him or his savage companion. +</p> + +<p> +Once in old Desmond's cell it did not take long to get the watch—an +aged gold key-winder—and present it to the delighted savages. But +several precious minutes were lost in showing the two how to wind it +up. They regarded the key with quite as much veneration as the +watch. The boys saw the old man's eyes filled with tears as he +handed it over and Billy, as he saw the inscription on it, in a +quaint, old-fashioned script, realized why. +</p> + +<p> +"To my dear husband, George Desmond, on our wedding day, May 24th +1874;" it read. With the signature "Mary Desmond." +</p> + +<p> +Before they left the place that had been his home for the majority +of his long life, the old man carefully drew from beneath the palm +fiber covering of the niche that served him as a bed a pile of +yellowed paper, covered closely with fine writing in a clear, bold +hand. The pages had been written many years before old age had +seized their author's hand and paralyzed his strength. +</p> + +<p> +Billy realized with a thrill that these papers contained, the +imperishable record of the long-lost scientist's observations and +commentaries on the mysterious Flying Men. +</p> + +<p> +But it was no time to linger in speculations. +</p> + +<p> +Hastily thrusting the papers into the bosom of his shirt the aged +man signified to his guides that he was, ready, and they left the +chamber that had housed him for so many years—without regret on his +part you may be sure. +</p> + +<p> +Silently as cats they slipped down the corridor and, after about a +quarter of an hour of traversing its smooth floor, they found +themselves at the hole which gave egress to the outside world and +from which hung the rope-ladder by which they were to descend to +freedom. +</p> + +<p> +Aga and the other savage gave grunts of pleasure and even laughed +softly as the boys' with a horrified start, almost stumbled over a +recumbent figure. +</p> + +<p> +It was that of the guard of the ladder. +</p> + +<p> +He lay as if dead—his body right across the narrow entrance. The +moonlight from the outside that flooded the entrance showed that his +mouth was open and his eyes closed. +</p> + +<p> +A sudden rage filled Billy as he looked on the victim of what seemed +to him to have been a wanton murder. +</p> + +<p> +"You have killed him," he said raising his voice imprudently in his +anger. +</p> + +<p> +"Hush, boy-with-the-glass-eyes," exclaimed Umbashi, "he is not +dead. In a few hours he will be as well as you or I, but he will +recollect nothing. We have given him the sleeping root that brings +oblivion." +</p> + +<p> +And now it was time to take the final step. +</p> + +<p> +"A canoe with food and a jar of water is at the foot of the ladder," +whispered their guide, "and the current will carry you down toward +the coast. It will not be a hard journey except for the Tunnel of +the Roaring Waters. Only a few men have navigated that and escaped +alive, but you will be compelled to traverse it to reach the coast." +</p> + +<p> +"Can we not leave the canoe and go overland round the tunnel?" asked +Billy rightly conjecturing that their guide referred to a place +where the river ran underground when he spoke of the Tunnel of the +Roaring Waters. +</p> + +<p> +"That cannot be done," was the African's reply. "The swamps where +the sleeping death (the sleeping sickness) lies are all about it. +Only by way of the Tunnel of the Roaring Waters can you escape." +</p> + +<p> +"There is one other way," began Aga, "but that lies through the +forest." +</p> + +<p> +"We will take it rather than risk navigation in such a torrent as +you describe," decided Billy after the remark of Aga had been +translated to him. +</p> + +<p> +But before the two savages could say more there came a distant +booming borne down the rocky tube of the corridor. +</p> + +<p> +It was the far-off confused sound of excited voices. +</p> + +<p> +"Quick! glass-eyes, your escape has been discovered; you haven't a +moment to lose!" cried Umbashi. +</p> + +<p> +It was only too evident that he spoke the truth. The roar of the +searchers' angry voices was rapidly ringing louder. +</p> + +<p> +"Take this, white boys, and defend yourselves to the death rather +than be recaptured," said their friend as he thrust a stone knife +into Billy's hand. +</p> + +<p> +The old man and Lathrop were already half-away down the swaying +ladder. +</p> + +<p> +"Be careful, for the river is swollen with the melting snows of the +mountains and runs as if a million demons were in its soul to-night," +warned Umbashi. +</p> + +<p> +With a quick "Good-bye" to the men who risked their lives to rescue +them, Billy took his place on the swinging ladder and followed the +others down. +</p> + +<p> +They were not a second too soon. +</p> + +<p> +Even as they took their places in the canoe and Billy prepared to +slash the grass-rope that held it, the clamor drew close to the +mouth of the tunnel. +</p> + +<p> +From the foot of the cliff the chums and their aged companion saw +torches glowing and could perceive Aga and the other pointing at +them and evidently explaining to the tribesmen that they had tried +to stop their flight. Billy was glad to see that apparently their +explanations were accepted and they were not suspected of having +aided the escaping prisoners. +</p> + +<p> +With a quick slash of his flint knife, the young reporter severed +the rope at which the canoe was straining till it was taut as a +piano wire. There were several other canoes lying alongside and +before he cast loose Billy cut the detaining ropes of these also. +</p> + +<p> +"Now they'll have to swim if they want to get us!" he exclaimed as +the canoe, released from its bondage, shot forward on the boiling +current at a dizzy rate. +</p> + +<p> +But he had reckoned without the flying men. Dozens of them had +dropped from their holes and having gained the opposite bank started +in pursuit of the boys and the old explorer, who lay as if overcome +at the bottom of the canoe. Many of the strange beings carried bows +and arrows and they sent their shafts whizzing in a shower at the +canoe. One pierced its side and Billy had to stop the hole with a +strip torn from his already ripped-up shirt. +</p> + +<p> +But fortunately, except for a slight scratch on Billy's forearm, +none of the arrows did much harm to the voyagers themselves, and +borne on the swift current the canoe soon outdistanced her pursuers. +</p> + +<p> +As the sound of their shouting grew faint behind them, Billy and +Lathrop grasped the paddle with which they strove to keep the boat +on a straight course—there was no need to propel her. +</p> + +<p> +The young reporter realized that three lives—his own, Lathrop's and +that of the long missing explorer depended alone now on their skill +and grit. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap20"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XX +</h3> + +<h3> +THE SMOKE READER +</h3> + +<p> +And now we must leave the floating canoe with its occupants and turn +to the River Camp, where we left the Boy Aviators overcome with +anxiety as to the fate of their young comrades. The situation was +indeed one calculated to try the stoutest heart. There was only one +drop of sweet in their cup of bitter. +</p> + +<p> +Harry, poking about among the ruins of the deserted camp, had +discovered several cans of gasoline that the raiders had overlooked. +They formed sufficient fuel with the picric cakes that Frank still +had a supply of, to drive the big aeroplane for several hundred +miles if the wind conditions were favorable. +</p> + +<p> +But leave the river camp the boys dare not, for they realized that +if Billy and Lathrop did manage to make their escape, they would, if +possible, come back there. True, it was a chance so remote as to +appear almost impossible, but under the circumstances even the +shadow of a hope seemed to assume substance. And so they waited, +and had been waiting, while the stirring events we have related had +been happening to their missing chums. +</p> + +<p> +As if to add to their oppression, old Sikaso mooned about the camp, +his eyes rooted to the ground in moody absorption and muttering to +himself, "five go—three come back," till Frank angrily ordered him +to stop. The realization that his gloomy prophecy seemed only too +likely to be fulfilled, however, did not tend to relieve the +situation. +</p> + +<p> +"If we do not hear from them to-morrow, we shall be compelled to +take to the air and fly to the coast," said Frank as they sat that +evening round a camp-fire which had been lighted to keep away +marauding lions, whose roars ever and anon shook the forest. At +such times old Sikaso's eyes wandered longingly to his great +war-axe. There is little doubt that he would have liked to work off +his gloomy feelings by tackling a lion single-handed with his +weapon. +</p> + +<p> +"You think, then, it isn't worth while waiting if we have heard no +news by then?" asked Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"It isn't that," said Frank in reply, "but we have not provisions +left to more than tide us over another day. What the Arabs didn't +destroy they spoiled." +</p> + +<p> +Harry nodded his head silently. +</p> + +<p> +Cruel necessity, it seemed, was to compel them to evacuate the camp, +to which they still clung in the hope the lost adventurers might +return. +</p> + +<p> +It was in vain Ben Stubbs cracked his jokes that night and related +all sorts of droll sea yarns in the hope of cheering up his young +companions. For the first time since he had known them it looked as +if the Boy Aviators had really lost all hope, and truly the facts +seemed to warrant the stoutest-heart in the world being downcast—to +say the least. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly without a word old Sikaso left the fire and strode off into +the forest. He was gone for more than an hour and when he came back +his look of gloom had vanished. For him he was almost cheerful. +</p> + +<p> +He swung his terrible axe in all sorts of fantastic evolutions and +hummed to himself his grim chant with a fierce sort of joy. +</p> + +<p> +"White boys, the smoke is going to tell me things to-night," he +exclaimed suddenly. "When the moon reaches to the top of the sky I +shall tell you news of the four-eyed one and of the red-headed." +</p> + +<p> +Impatiently they waited till the moon reached her zenith and then +watched wonderingly while the old savage built a small fire of +sticks, over each one of which he mumbled something in African. +</p> + +<p> +"What good does he suppose all this hocus-pocus is going to do us?" +muttered Harry irritably, "as if an old fire could tell us anything +we didn't know already. It's all rubbish, I say." +</p> + +<p> +"I'm not so sure," remarked Frank thoughtfully. "We have already +seen something of what his skill can do and I don't mind letting him +see if he can't conjure up something to give us a ray of hope." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh bosh, Frank," replied Harry, "if he ever did get anything right +through this rigmarole and hanky-panky it was simply because he had +good luck. That's all." +</p> + +<p> +"For my part, I've knocked around the world too much to be so cock +sure of some things as some young chaps seem to be," put in Ben +Stubbs, with a chuckle, looking up from the frying-pan that he was +scouring with sand. +</p> + +<p> +Harry looked abashed and said nothing. +</p> + +<p> +If old Sikaso had heard any of this colloquy he made no sign, but +with the face of a graven image went about his preparations. Slowly +he struck the sparks from his never-failing flint and steel, and a +few seconds later the little fire was sending up a blaze. +</p> + +<p> +"Do you see anything?" asked Frank. +</p> + +<p> +"Too soon now, wait till smoke come," he said, and resumed his +intense watching of the fire. +</p> + +<p> +After a delay that seemed maddening, to two at least of the group +that was watching, the old Krooman announced that all was ready. +</p> + +<p> +Even Harry felt a thrill of interest as the old man began to spin +slowly on his toes round the column of smoke, chanting slowly some +strange mixture of savage music which was, as Frank guessed, an +incantation to the fetish that, as he believed, dwelt in the smoke. +As the smoke grew thicker he cast some sort of powder from a +skin-bag into it and instantly a thick yellow column of vapor shot +up. +</p> + +<p> +The whole forest about seemed impregnated with the strong odor of +the stuff and the boys' eyes smarted. Old Sikaso kept up his dance, +bending lower and lower till it seemed that he must be actually +inhaling the pungent, acrid smoke. +</p> + +<p> +As this strange scene progressed, Frank felt his eyes begin to grow +dim and an unaccountable languor fill his limbs. His head swam +round and he desired nothing so much as to lie down and sleep—-and +yet a compelling power forced him to keep his eyes fixed on the +column of smoke over which the aged Krooman was now stooping with +outspread hands. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly he gave a sharp cry—an exclamation almost of command. +</p> + +<p> +"Look—look, white boys, and you, old man of the sea and the forests +of the far-off land, and I shall show you the magic of the sleeping +heart of Africa." +</p> + +<p> +With eyes that started from his head Frank gazed, in obedience to a +majestic sweep of the African's hand, full into the ascending column +of yellowish smoke. +</p> + +<p> +The languor the boy had felt at first had now quite left him and he +was only intent on seeing what was about to transpire. +</p> + +<p> +Sikaso's voice once more rose in his dismal chant and he cast more +of the powder from his skin-bag into the fire. The smoke pillar +grew to an immense size and, as he gazed at it, before Frank's +amazed eyes a scene as strange to him as any he had ever set eyes +on, began slowly to take shape. +</p> + +<p> +There was a river edge with mighty banks at the summit of which +waved fronds of tropical plants and in which huge beasts, that he +recognized as hippopotami, wallowed and sputtered. An unhealthy +steam arose from the banks and the river boiled angrily along +between its confines in a dark mud-colored flood. +</p> + +<p> +So far the scene was not unlike the river in which he and Harry had +so nearly lost their lives, but as he gazed the details grew +clearer, as if it had been a magic lantern view, growing by degrees +stronger and every outline of the tropical view was suddenly thrown +into strong relief. +</p> + +<p> +All at once the boy uttered a sharp cry, which was echoed by his +brother and Ben. Old Sikaso never moved a muscle but kept on +chanting. +</p> + +<p> +Into the center of the wonderful smoke picture there had swum a +canoe. +</p> + +<p> +And in it were seated Billy Barnes and Lathrop! +</p> + +<p> +With them, too, was the figure of a venerable white bearded man who +seemed to be about to collapse. From time to time he raised himself +feebly and gazed ahead. Frank could see Billy at such times stoop +forward and speak to him. +</p> + +<p> +The boys' plight was evidently a terrible one. +</p> + +<p> +Their clothes were ripped and torn and Billy's shirt scarcely +covered his body; which was a mass of cuts and scratches. A great +cloud of mosquitoes hung about the canoe, clearly maddening its +occupants with their myriads of tiny stings. The faces of both the +young navigators were drawn and lined with anxiety as they paddled +ahead in the turbulent current. +</p> + +<p> +"See," cried Sikaso harshly, as the picture faded, "do the white +boys still doubt?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, no!" cried Harry. "Show us more, Sikaso." +</p> + +<p> +The Krooman cast more of the magic powder into the dying fire and +again a thick pillar of smoke curled upward. +</p> + +<p> +His low crooning chant then began once more. +</p> + +<p> +As before the picture did not assume shape at once but swam, as it +were, slowly into view. This time the surroundings had changed. +There was a look of agonized terror on the faces of all the +occupants of the canoe as she seemed to be literally hurled forward +upon a current that ran as swiftly as a mill race. +</p> + +<p> +The frail craft rocked terribly and once or twice she shipped some +water that Lathrop instantly bailed out with a shallow earthen dish. +</p> + +<p> +Frank could almost hear the roar of the water as he gazed in silent +fascination on the mysterious pictures of the smoke. +</p> + +<p> +And now the apprehension on the faces of the occupants of the canoe +was agonizing to watch. Once Frank saw the old man arise as if to +cast himself into the water rather than face what lay ahead, but +Lathrop instantly drew him back. +</p> + +<p> +Again the picture died out and again the old Krooman threw on more +powder. As the smoke rolled up once more no one spoke. The +situation was far too tense for that. +</p> + +<p> +The scene now seemed to show that indeed all was over with the +occupants of the canoe. The frail craft was seen to be in a tunnel +of rough stone through which the roaring vortex of the waters poured +with such violence that the boys and their aged companion were +continually drenched with spray. Lathrop had hard work to keep the +craft free of water now, and bailed incessantly. The old man was on +his knees his hands clasped and his lips moving as if in prayer. +Billy, his face set, sat in the stern. Again and again with a quick +twist of his paddle he saved the canoe from annihilation in the +boiling current. +</p> + +<p> +It was an agonizing scene to watch, and to the onlookers it seemed +as real as if they had been gazing at the peril itself instead of +its counterfeit presentment in smoke-pictures. +</p> + +<p> +At last the walls of the tunnel were seen to widen out and the +current to move more slowly. Frank gave a sigh of relief which was +echoed by the others as the canoe emerged from the subterranean +river into a broad lagoon with low banks covered with tropical +verdure and seemingly, from the absence of steaming vapors a healthy +spot. But even as the canoe entered the quiet waters a great body +projected itself through the water followed by three other bulky +forms. +</p> + +<p> +They were recognized instantly by the watchers as hippopotami. +</p> + +<p> +The leader of the animals made straight for the canoe, and the +watchers trembled as they looked, for it was evident that one snap +of the creatures' huge jaws would cave in the side of the canoe as +if it were an eggshell. +</p> + +<p> +With trembling excitement the Boy Aviators saw their young +companions with both paddles make desperately for the shore, but +before they reached it one of the hippopotami intercepted them, and +with a charge of angry fury literally tossed the boat clean out of +the water. +</p> + +<p> +A second later the gazers at the smoke pictures saw the two missing +adventurers and their aged unknown companion struggling in the +water. It seemed that all was over when a strange interruption +occurred. +</p> + +<p> +A long, dark horny head with two cruel eyes and rows of saw-like +teeth in its long jaws, sped through the waters. The hippopotamus +turned savagely on the intruder and the two snapped savagely at each +other for several minutes when the crocodile, mortally wounded to +judge by the red swirl on the surface of the stream, made off. +</p> + +<p> +But Billy and Lathrop were seen to have taken advantage of the brief +breathing spell it gave them. In a few strong strokes they had swum +with the aged man to shallow water and quickly waded ashore. They +were safe then for the time being. But for how long? +</p> + +<p> +Frank saw the two comrades gaze about them in despair at the +wilderness of jungle that closed about them on every side. He saw +them cast horrified looks at each other at the situation in which +they found themselves—lost in the trackless African forests. +</p> + +<p> +The next minute the old man fell forward on his face and lay still. +Whether he was dead or unconscious, Frank could not, of course, +tell—and then the smoke died out, and the picture faded. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap21"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XXI +</h3> + +<h3> +THE CHUMS RESCUED BY AEROPLANE +</h3> + +<p> +Hope had almost died in the boys' hearts at the scene they had +witnessed by means of powers that seemed incredible to them, but +which several well known travelers have told us are not uncommon +among certain natives of West Africa. But old Sikaso was destined +to raise their hopes. +</p> + +<p> +"We will save Four-Eyes and the Red-Headed one," he exclaimed +suddenly. +</p> + +<p> +"But how?" chorused the amazed three. +</p> + +<p> +"In the ship that like the bird can cleave the air we will fly to +them," was the astonishing reply. +</p> + +<p> +"But we do not know where they are," objected Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"I do," was the quiet response. +</p> + +<p> +"What?" +</p> + +<p> +"Say that again!" +</p> + +<p> +"Well, I'll be hornswoggled!" +</p> + +<p> +These exclamations came from each of the three in turn. +</p> + +<p> +"They are on the banks of a river which I know well. In the smoke I +recognized it. Few men have ever navigated the Tunnel of Death and +came out to tell the tale, but your great white Fetish must have +looked after them." +</p> + +<p> +"You know the river?" +</p> + +<p> +"Well do I know it white boy," replied the Krooman. "In the days +when my limbs were supple I have hunted and fished there with others +of my tribe." +</p> + +<p> +"You can guide us to it?" +</p> + +<p> +"I can." +</p> + +<p> +"When?" +</p> + +<p> +"As soon as it is dawn." +</p> + +<p> +"How far is it from here?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not more than a hundred and fifty miles." +</p> + +<p> +Frank held up a moistened finger. The air was as calm as a +mill-pond. +</p> + +<p> +"We can make that distance in a little more than four hours," he +announced. +</p> + +<p> +It was Sikaso's turn to be astonished. +</p> + +<p> +"Of a truth the magic of the white man is not as the magic of the +black man, but it is good," he said; "yes, it is good. In four +hours. That is indeed mighty magic." +</p> + +<p> +"Who can the old man be whom we saw with them?" asked Harry eagerly, +his mind no longer containing an ounce of skepticism to the marvels +he had seen. +</p> + +<p> +"I have no idea," rejoined Frank, "but he was white evidently." +</p> + +<p> +"I've seen his picture some place, sometime—or some chap that +looked a powerful sight like him, only younger," said Ben, who +doubtless had a vague recollection of the once widely distributed +photographs of the missing explorer Desmond. +</p> + +<p> +"I am afraid that he was seriously ill, or even dying, from the last +glimpse we had of him," said Frank gravely. +</p> + +<p> +"Why could you not show us more smoke pictures Sikaso?" asked Harry +eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +"I have no more of the powder left," replied the old Krooman bending +over his beloved axe and feeling the edge with a critical thumb. +"Moreover, the smoke does not reveal the future." +</p> + +<p> +There was, naturally enough, no thought of sleep that night, and so +excited were the boys that they did not even feel the want of it. A +huge shallow pit was dug back in the forest and the ivory taken from +the chassis of the aeroplane and the aerial express wagon cached +there and leaves and grass strewn over the place to make it as +inconspicuous as possible. This was done before the aeroplane was +got in readiness for the dash to the rescue. +</p> + +<p> +"For," said Frank, "old Muley-Hassan, when he finds we have +overreached him, may take a fancy to come back and try to wipe us +out." +</p> + +<p> +"Muley-Hassan will not fight with the few men he has left," sagely +remarked old Sikaso; "when he has many he is brave as a lion, but +when his followers are few he fights like the fox with wits against +wits and few are his match for cunning." +</p> + +<p> +As the day-life of the jungle—which has a nightlife as well as a +daylight one—as the day-life of the forest began with the first +ghostly gray of the dawn the boys swallowed a hasty meal, though +they were almost too excited to eat in spite of Ben Stubbs' +insistence that they take some nourishment. At the old sailor's +suggestion, too, the car of the Golden Eagle II was packed with food +for the castaways, who surely, from the latest glimpse they had had +of them, must be in dire straits. +</p> + +<p> +These preparations completed, they clambered into the car of the +air-ship and with Frank at the wheel and the old Krooman at his +elbow to direct the course they were to take, they left the ground +and were soon flying through a breathless environment at sixty miles +an hour. +</p> + +<p> +The Golden Eagle II was on her way to the rescue. +</p> + +<p> +"It is the end." +</p> + +<p> +These words came from the feeble lips of Mr. Desmond as he lay +beneath a rough screen of leaves and branches which the boys had +erected to keep the heat of the African day from the dying man—for +that he was dying they sadly realized. +</p> + +<p> +The excitement of their flight and the peril of the subterranean +river had been too much for the enfeebled frame and George Desmond's +troubled soul was on its way to more peaceful rest than he had known +in many years. +</p> + +<p> +"Is there nothing we can do for you, sir?" asked Billy eagerly, +bending over the dying man and taking his hand-which, despite the +heat, was as cold as ice, between his. +</p> + +<p> +"Nothing," whispered Desmond faintly, and then, with a supreme +effort, he spoke once more. +</p> + +<p> +"My papers—the history of the Flying Men." +</p> + +<p> +He feebly indicated that he wished Billy to take them from his +shirt. +</p> + +<p> +The young reporter swiftly drew out the yellowed manuscript and +reverently laid it before the fast-fading eyes. A faint smile +overspread the aged man's careworn face. +</p> + +<p> +"I commend them to your care," he said, as though every word now +cost him an effort. "You have told me you are a newspaper +reporter—you will see that they are given to the world?" +</p> + +<p> +Billy once more taking the fast passing man's hand promised to +fulfill this sacred trust. +</p> + +<p> +"Read me the dedication," was the next whispered request of George +Desmond. +</p> + +<p> +In a trembling voice Billy read the words inscribed on the first +page of the yellowed manuscript. +</p> + +<p> +"To my dear wife Mary this volume is dedicated by her affectionate +husband the Author." +</p> + +<p> +"I never thought when I wrote those words I should die like this," +exclaimed the dying man, "but it was to be. I always hoped that +some day I would escape; but now that I have won freedom, rest seems +to mean more to me than all else beside." +</p> + +<p> +The tears welled into the eyes of both boys as with a resigned sigh +George Desmond composed himself as if to sleep. +</p> + +<p> +It was about five minutes later, and Billy still held the old man's +hand, when the long-lost explorer raised himself on his elbow and +shading his eyes with his trembling hand gazed in front of him as if +he saw a vision. +</p> + +<p> +"Mary—" he cried in a loud voice and fell back dead. +</p> + +<p> +And so died George Desmond, the famous African traveler, almost +within sight of the civilization to which he had so long dreamed of +returning. +</p> + +<p> +The shocked and grieved boys had hardly recovered their composure +after this tragic termination of a brave man's life when Lathrop, +who had been gazing despairingly about him gave a great shout. +</p> + +<p> +The next minute it was echoed by Billy. +</p> + +<p> +Half mad with joy the boys embraced each other and shook hands till +it seemed they would fall off, and performed a dozen mad antics. +</p> + +<p> +For, winging its way steadily toward them, though still at a great +distance, was an aeroplane that they had no difficulty in +recognizing at once as the Golden Eagle II. +</p> + +<p> +There is no need to detail the scene that ensued when, fifteen +minutes later, the great air-craft settled down on the river bank +and the ravenous boys—who had long since exhausted the provisions +in the boat—had been fed, and plied with questions till they had to +stop eating to talk and stop talking to eat, at short intervals. +</p> + +<p> +To the great joy of old Sikaso, who regarded it as a personal +vindication of his powers, every detail of the trip through the +subterranean river and the subsequent peril into which they had +fallen was substantiated by Billy and Lathrop as having occurred +exactly as it did in the smoke pictures. But there was a note of +sadness amid all their joy in the death of the old explorer. On the +river bank they dug a grave and marked it with a pile of rocks and +there the remains of George Desmond rest for all time in the country +to whose exploration he gave his life. +</p> + +<p> +The Golden Eagle II had to make two trips between the river camp and +the outlet of the subterranean river as, stout craft though she was, +her gasoline supply was getting so low that Frank did not dare to +run her at top speed and consequently she would not carry more than +three passengers. By nightfall, however, the reunited adventurers +were all seated about their campfire and talking and retelling all +that had happened to each other during their separation. +</p> + +<p> +Their conversation was interrupted by a strange happening. +</p> + +<p> +The puff-puff of the steam launch that had brought them tip the +river was suddenly heard and as she drew alongside the steep bank a +familiar figure stepped from her side into the bright moonlight. +</p> + +<p> +Not one of the party that did not give a start of amazed surprise as +in the newcomer they recognized: +</p> + +<p> +Luther Barr, of New York! +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap22"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XXII +</h3> + +<h3> +LUTHER BARR'S TRICK +</h3> + +<p> +The astonishing meeting in the remote wilds of the African forest +with a man they instinctively mistrusted bereft the lads of words +for an interval. +</p> + +<p> +Frank was the first to find his voice: +</p> + +<p> +"Why, Mr. Barr, what are you doing here?" he exclaimed amazedly. +</p> + +<p> +But if the boys seemed astonished Mr. Barr retained his usual +icicle-like attitude. Except that he was dressed in tropical white +and wore a huge pith helmet which set above his ill-favored features +"like a mushroom over a toad," as Billy described it later, he might +have just stepped out of his office on Wall Street, instead of from +a wheezy launch on a steaming subequatorial river. +</p> + +<p> +"Good-evening, boys, a little late for dinner, I see, but I daresay +you can cook me something. After dinner I want to talk to you. I +have come a long way for the purpose so you can guess my business is +of importance." +</p> + +<p> +"Of importance? I should say so;" sputtered the irrepressible +Billy. "Pray did you come by air-ship, Mr. Barr?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, sir, I came in my yacht the Brigand. She is almost as fast as +a liner and as I came direct to this port I didn't take more than +half the time occupied by you boys on the voyage." +</p> + +<p> +"You had a good trip?" asked Frank as Mr. Barr sat down and began +eating the hastily prepared meal which Ben served him. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, splendid;" said Mr. Barr, "we had one misfortune though. When +we were two days out my captain—a splendid man, boys—slipped on +the wet foredeck as the yacht was plowing through a heavy sea and +struck on his head on a stanchion." +</p> + +<p> +"I hope he was not badly hurt," said Frank. +</p> + +<p> +"He is dead," said Mr. Barr, calmly stuffing half a sweet potato +into his capacious mouth. +</p> + +<p> +The boys gave an exclamation of concern. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, it was very annoying," commented Mr. Barr. +</p> + +<p> +"You see I have had to trust since to the navigation of my mate, and +while he is a careful fellow he is not much good as a navigator, and +in addition to that he is a drinking man. I am afraid that he may be +ashore now in my absence and indulging his taste for strong drink." +</p> + +<p> +"I should have thought you would have forbidden him shore leave," +commented Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"No good, my dear boy, that fellow would swim ashore even if the +harbor were swarming with sharks, to gratify his disgusting taste." +</p> + +<p> +"But now," he continued with a change of tone, "to business. You +have got the ivory? +</p> + +<p> +"We have," replied Frank. +</p> + +<p> +"Where?" +</p> + +<p> +"We have it here," was the quiet rejoinder. +</p> + +<p> +"What!" an amazed tone. +</p> + +<p> +"What I tell you is true," and Frank-foolishly as he admitted +afterward-led the way to the cache in the forest; "it is buried here +so as to be safe from marauders." +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Barr seemed lost in thought for a few minutes then he suggested +a return to the camp-fire. Once there he drew out a paper from his +pocket-book. +</p> + +<p> +"Many things have happened since you left New York, boys," he said +quietly, through a feverish gleam in his deep, crafty eyes belied +his outward calm. +</p> + +<p> +"This paper," he continued, holding it out, "is signed by Mr. +Beasley, it resigns to me all claim in the ivory and I am here to +take it."' +</p> + +<p> +"Let me look at that paper." +</p> + +<p> +It was Lathrop who spoke. +</p> + +<p> +The boy's cheeks were angrily flushed and his eyes bad a dangerous +flash. +</p> + +<p> +"That is not my father's signature!" +</p> + +<p> +"What do you mean?" +</p> + +<p> +"Exactly what I say—that this writing which purports to be my +father's was never penned by him." +</p> + +<p> +"You are making a rash assertion." +</p> + +<p> +"I am fully prepared to prove it when we get back to New York." +</p> + +<p> +"And in the meantime the Boy Aviators retain their claim on the +ivory that we fought so hard to get," put in Frank. +</p> + +<p> +Old Mr. Barr turned on him with a wolfish fury. +</p> + +<p> +Indeed in his rage he resembled nothing so much as a long, lean, +timber wolf deprived of his expected prey. +</p> + +<p> +"We will see all about that!" he raged. "There is a law in Fort +Assini though there may not be here. I have this paper here which +in the eyes of the law is a legal transfer to me of Beasley's claim +on the ivory. It is mine now and I mean to have it." +</p> + +<p> +Frank's heart sank. He did not know much about law and it looked as +if old man Barr held the upper hand. +</p> + +<p> +"But that is not my father's signature or writing," cried Lathrop. +</p> + +<p> +"That will be a matter for the American courts to decide," was the +frigid reply. +</p> + +<p> +"I shall lay the whole matter before M. Desplaines—the consular +agent of our government," cried Frank at last. +</p> + +<p> +"It is too late to do that," retorted Mr. Barr, "anticipating that +there would be some trouble I have already engaged a lawyer and M. +Desplaines will keep his hands off this affair." +</p> + +<p> +"Why did you anticipate trouble?" shot out Frank, "was it because +you knew that signature was false?" +</p> + +<p> +For a fragment of a second the old man's pale face grew paler—or +rather turned a sickly yellow. +</p> + +<p> +"Bah," he said the next minute, "this is a business matter and not +one for boys to enter into. I will see that you are well paid for +your part of the work. If you like I will write you a check now." +</p> + +<p> +He drew out an ever-ready check-book and fountain pen. +</p> + +<p> +"I would rather have fair play than money," was Frank's stinging +retort. +</p> + +<p> +"And so say we all of us," chorused Harry, Billy and Lathrop. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Barr was plainly irritated. In a snappish tone he said at +length: +</p> + +<p> +"If you can show me where I am to sleep I think I will go to bed. I +am very tired. We will discuss this matter further to-morrow." +</p> + +<p> +Ben Stubbs, with a very ill grace, made up a bed for the New Yorker +at some distance from the others. +</p> + +<p> +"I'd like to stuff it full of barb-wire," he confided to Frank +afterward. +</p> + +<p> +As for Sikaso, he eyed old Mr. Barr from time to time, and then eyed +his axe in a way that made it very plain that the two were connected +in his mind in a manner that would have made it very uncomfortable +for the old financier. +</p> + +<p> +But if Mr. Barr felt the atmosphere of repugnance to him that +pervaded the camp he did not show it. +</p> + +<p> +He rolled up in his blanket as if he had been used to a rough bed +all his life and was soon apparently wrapped in deep sleep. The +boys, tired out as they were and not a little downcast at the turn +events had taken, soon followed him. An hour later the River Camp +was as silent as a graveyard with the exception of Ben Stubbs' +mighty snores. +</p> + +<p> +It was then that old Mr. Barr, who had seemed so sound asleep, +cautiously raised his head from his blankets and peered about him. +</p> + +<p> +After a few minutes of this he slipped into the few clothes he had +discarded when he went to bed and tiptoed past the sleeping +adventurers down to the river bank and the launch. +</p> + +<p> +There was an evil smile on his face as he went that to those who +knew Luther Barr would have said as plain as print "Some mischief is +in the wind." +</p> + +<p class="t3"> + * * * * * * *<br /> +</p> + +<p> +When the boys awoke the next morning the sun was streaming down on +their sleeping place with a strength that showed that it had been up +some time. With a start Frank sat up and looked about him. +</p> + +<p> +What was the matter with him? His eyes felt heavy and his throat +was parched. In his ears, too, there was a wild ringing sound and +his limbs felt stiff and inert. Shouting to the others, who were +gazing about them in a bewildered sort of way, Frank described his +symptoms. +</p> + +<p> +They all felt as badly as he did. +</p> + +<p> +"I feel like I'd been boiled in the ship's boiler along with the +cook's dish-rags," announced Ben Stubbs. +</p> + +<p> +Even old Sikaso shook his head mournfully and said that he didn't +feel at all well. +</p> + +<p> +"I wonder how old man Barr feels?" said the irreverent Billy rubbing +his red-rimmed eyes. +</p> + +<p> +The next minute there was a shout of astonishment from them all. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Barr's blankets were empty and he was nowhere to be seen about +the camp! +</p> + +<p> +Forgetting their painful feelings in the shock of this discovery the +boys hastened to the river bank to see if by any chance he was down +at the steam launch. +</p> + +<p> +The launch, too, was missing! +</p> + +<p> +With a cry of rage Ben Stubbs shook his fist down the river. +</p> + +<p> +"I see it all, boys," he exclaimed. "The old scallywag drugged +us—doped us—that's why we feel so badly and—" +</p> + +<p> +"Howling bob-cats! I'll bet he's stolen a march on us and got away +with the ivory,"—this was Billy. +</p> + +<p> +There was a rush for the spot in which the precious stuff had been +cached. +</p> + +<p> +A few broken tusks lay there. +</p> + +<p> +But of the great hoard that the Boy Aviators had worked so +faithfully to salvage not a vestige remained. +</p> + +<p> +"Bilked, by the great hornspoon!" yelled Ben. +</p> + +<p> +"But not beaten yet," was Frank's calm rejoinder. "Come on, boys, +we've got to be stirring. Barr's got a long start of us, but we'll +get him yet. Ben, you and Sikaso will take one of the Arabs' +canoes—the ones they left at the river bank when they started after +us—Harry, Billy, Lathrop and I will fly to the coast in the Golden +Eagle II. We've just enough gasoline." +</p> + +<p> +"All right, sir," said Ben, touching his forelock with an old sailor +trick—a token of respect involuntarily forced from him by Frank's +manly promptitude in taking the bull by the horns, "We're with you +to the last ditch, the top of the main-top gallant, the bottom of +the deep-blue sea, or the ends of the earth." +</p> + +<p> +"That goes for us too, Frank," supplemented Billy. +</p> + +<p> +"And count me in on that," cried Lathrop. +</p> + +<p> +As for Harry, he gripped his brother's hand and the boys at once set +about their preparations to outwit their treacherous enemy. In the +midst of their bustle an interruption as utterly unexpected as it +was for a moment alarming occurred. +</p> + +<p> +The bushes parted and from them there stepped no less a person than +Muley-Hassan. +</p> + +<p> +He was followed a minute later by half-a-dozen fatigued-looking +followers. +</p> + +<p> +The boys' hands flew to their revolvers and Ben grabbed up a rifle. +Sikaso's ever-ready axe was in the air in a second. +</p> + +<p> +But the Arab put up his hand. +</p> + +<p> +"I have not come to fight but to bargain," he said. +</p> + +<p> +"You have beaten me at every point of the game. Diego is dead—" +</p> + +<p> +"Dead," cried Frank. +</p> + +<p> +"He was bitten by an adder as we were vainly searching for the +ivory," said the Arab sadly, "he died almost instantly." +</p> + +<p> +Of course the boys felt no sorrow for the death of the treacherous +scamp and did not pretend to. They had no great reason to love +Muley-Hassan either, so Frank said coldly: +</p> + +<p> +"What is it you want?" +</p> + +<p> +"Permission to take my canoes and leave this cursed country +forever." +</p> + +<p> +Frank waved toward the river. +</p> + +<p> +"Your canoes are where you left them the night you made the cowardly +attack on our camp. You can have them all but one. That one we +need." +</p> + +<p> +"Alas," sighed the Arab, "I do not need as many as I did when I +came. Of all my followers these alone remain." +</p> + +<p> +He pointed to the scant six, skinny, fever-stricken wretches who +stood behind him. +</p> + +<p> +"Good-by," said the stately Arab, holding out his hand in farewell, +"we shall never meet again, but I shall ever remember that you dealt +by me far better than I would have dealt by you." +</p> + +<p> +"At all events you have one good deed to look back to in your life," +exclaimed the impulsive Billy. +</p> + +<p> +The Arab looked at him questioningly. +</p> + +<p> +"You saved George Desmond's life," said the reporter shortly. +</p> + +<p> +"That was many years ago," said the Arab with a start of recognition +at the name of the dead explorer, "I have changed since." +</p> + +<p> +With a wave of the hand he strode to the river's edge and +half-an-hour later he and the remnant of his band were out of sight +round a bend in the upper river. +</p> + +<p> +At almost the same instant the boys soared aloft in the Golden Eagle +II, and the chase for the ivory was on. +</p> + +<p> +Below the flying aeroplane Ben Stubbs and old Sikaso—the latter as +silent as ever—paddled down the river in silence. +</p> + +<p> +It was a time for deeds, not talk. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap23"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XXIII +</h3> + +<h3> +ABOARD "THE BRIGAND" +</h3> + +<p> +The Brigand, a black, schooner-rigged yacht of about 1800 tons, with +a yellow funnel amidships, and flying the red and blue burgee of the +Transatlantic Yacht Club, lay at anchor on the rolling blue swells +off the harbor of Assini in the early dawn of the day following the +treachery of Luther Barr. Her crew—for the most part a riff-raff +collection picked up in a hurry, for the old man had only made up +his mind to make his daring grab for the ivory at the last +minute—lolled about the decks idly. There was no one aboard to give +command, for Jack Halsey, the mate who had been in command since the +death of the captain had gone ashore the night before. +</p> + +<p> +As old Barr had prophesied, the mate's love for strong liquor had +overcome him and he was now lying hopelessly intoxicated in a low +drinking den. The raw "trade gin" that he had drunk had rendered +him insensible and so he would remain for many hours to come. +</p> + +<p> +Some sort of animation diffused itself among the crew as they saw a +low-laden launch headed toward them from the shore. In it were +seated Luther Barr and several negroes including the black captain. +</p> + +<p> +"Here, you lazy loafers!" hailed Barr, who was evidently in a bad +temper and also in a furious hurry, as the launch ranged alongside, +"bear a hand here and rig a sling and get this stuff aboard." +</p> + +<p> +The "stuff" referred to was the priceless collection of ivory which +lay higgeldy-piggeldy in the bottom of the launch just as it had +been thrown in by the negroes in Barr's pay. Anticipating that the +boys would put up a stiff fight for the ivory he had taken the +precaution to hire these ne'er-do-wells, who would do anything, from +cutting a throat to stealing a chicken, for pay. Barr had paid them +well and when he had arrived at the camp he had taken the precaution +to leave them down the river about half-a-mile while he went on +alone with the launch and her captain to see how the land lay. When +he realized that the boys were not fooled by his forged order from +Mr. Beasley he decided to use the chloroform he had bought for just +such an emergency, and then rousing his followers when the boys were +drugged it had not taken long with their united efforts to load the +ivory. +</p> + +<p> +Urged on by Barr's promise of a large reward the captain of the +launch had spun his little vessel down the river at top speed and +thus had been able to make the coast in record time. +</p> + +<p> +"Where in thunder is that mate Halsey?" roared Barr as he saw the +bos'n—a seedy-looking fellow from the London slums—taking charge +of the transfer of the ivory from the launch to the deck of the +Brigand. +</p> + +<p> +"He went ashore last night," rejoined the other. +</p> + +<p> +"And I suppose he is helplessly drunk now," raged Barr. "How in the +name of fortune are we going to get the yacht out of here?" +</p> + +<p> +"Wait till he gets sober," was the bos'n's grunted reply as the men +hastily transferred the last of the precious freight of tusks to the +Brigand's deck. +</p> + +<p> +Barr jumped to the accommodation ladder and was aboard in a second, +despite his apparent feebleness. His face was distorted with rage +and cupidity. +</p> + +<p> +"We have got to get out of here at once—now do you understand?" he +roared, crazed with rage. +</p> + +<p> +"I'll give a thousand dollars to the man that will get me out of +this harbor and well off to sea." +</p> + +<p> +"If it comes to that I guess I can take a chance of navigating the +yacht even if I don't hold a master's ticket," replied the bos'n. +</p> + +<p> +"But are you a navigator?" questioned Barr eagerly +</p> + +<p> +"Well, Mr. Barr, I held a master's ticket once before drink got me +and I piled my ship on a reef," was the answer. +</p> + +<p> +"You're good enough for me!" shouted Barr overjoyed, "and now we'll +up anchor and get away from this abominable coast." +</p> + +<p> +He scanned the sky shoreward anxiously. He did not confide to his +new captain, however, the fact that at any moment he expected to see +swift vengeance in the shape of the Golden Eagle II pursuing him. +</p> + +<p> +With the roustabout crew that had been shipped in New York from a +West Street boarding-master it took some time to get the anchor +broken out—the men going at their work sulkily. At last, however, +it was "up and down" as the sailors say, and Luther Barr himself +signaled on the engine-room telegraph "Full speed, ahead." The +engines of the yacht begin to revolve and the crafty old pillager +almost gave a cry of joy as he felt the vibration beneath his feet. +</p> + +<p> +The Boy Aviators could not cross the Atlantic in the aeroplane and +there would not be a ship leaving the coast for a month. +</p> + +<p> +Luther Barr chuckled. +</p> + +<p> +He had beaten the boys at their own game. +</p> + +<p> +By the time they arrived in New York the ivory would have been sold +in London and he would be traveling in Europe on his ill-earned +gains. That Beasley (his unsuspecting partner) would be ruined gave +the money-crazed old man no care at all. +</p> + +<p> +But even as the launch cast loose from the moving yacht and headed +back to the shore—her occupants greedily fingering the bills Barr +had given them for their work—Barr, from his station on the bridge, +gave a start and an exclamation. +</p> + +<p> +High in the air, and not more than ten miles inland, a black object +that looked like a huge bird, but which Barr knew in his guilty soul +was the Golden Eagle II, was rapidly winging its way toward them. +</p> + +<p> +"More steam," he shouted down the tube to the engineer and the +yacht, a long creamy wave curving away from her sharp black bow, +began to move even faster. +</p> + +<p> +"What are we making?" Barr asked eagerly of the late bos'n who, +binoculars in hand, was taking the ship out through the treacherous +harbor entrance as confidently as if he were once more a captain. +</p> + +<p> +"Twelve knots," was the reply. +</p> + +<p> +"We must do better," raged Barr. +</p> + +<p> +"Impossible!" was the answer. "We are risking the yacht now. I am +not familiar with this harbor and there are shoals and reefs all +about us stretching many miles out to sea. At any moment, unless we +proceed cautiously, we may run aground. Five knots would suit me +better than twelve." +</p> + +<p> +Barr chafed silently. The reply was unanswerable. +</p> + +<p> +Better to go slow than to run the ship ashore. Suddenly he snatched +the binoculars from the man beside him and turned them on the +aeroplane. He almost uttered a cry of triumph as the craft swung +into his field of vision. +</p> + +<p> +There was something the matter with her. +</p> + +<p> +She was no longer rushing straight ahead. +</p> + +<p> +As Luther Barr watched her he saw the great aircraft swoop in a huge +circle above the town and then settle down so swiftly that it looked +as if she must have been dashed to pieces. But the town was hidden +behind a point and he could not see it. +</p> + +<p> +"I hope she has been dashed to pieces," he gritted between his teeth +savagely, "that would mean the saving of a lot of trouble for me." +</p> + +<p> +But even as he prepared to put the binoculars back in the pocket +alongside the binnacle with an evil smile playing about his thin +lips, there came a startling shock. +</p> + +<p> +Barr was almost thrown from his feet and only saved himself from +falling by grasping a stanchion. The ship quivered from stem to +stern as if she had been hit a staggering blow. +</p> + +<p> +"We've struck a reef!" exclaimed the late bos'n. +</p> + +<p> +"A reef!" yelled Barr, beside himself with fury. +</p> + +<p> +"I told you we would if you insisted on keeping up such a speed," +angrily replied the other. +</p> + +<p> +Beside himself with rage Barr picked up a heavy belaying pin to +which, the signal halyards had been attached and struck the man +before him a terrible blow with it. +</p> + +<p> +Fortunately for his intended victim—for Barr in his rage would not +have cared had he killed him—he ducked just in time and the blow +was a glancing one. The man came at him like a tiger, but Barr, +quick as a flash, slid his hand into his coat pocket. +</p> + +<p> +"If you advance a step nearer I'll blow your brains out," he said +coldly. +</p> + +<p> +There was a glitter in his eyes that showed he meant what he said +and with a muttered: +</p> + +<p> +"I'll get even with you, Barr, as sure as my name is Al Davis," the +late captain of the Brigand left the bridge. +</p> + +<p> +Barr's active mind was at work at once planning schemes to get the +ivory off immediately. Accustomed to crises of all kinds, the +recent scene with the man Davis hadn't even warmed his chilly blood. +</p> + +<p> +Calling the engineer he ordered an immediate inspection to be made. +The result was discouraging. The Brigand lay with her bow hard and +fast on a low sunken reef and while there was no apparent leak the +chief engineer shook his head at the vessel's plight. +</p> + +<p> +That there was grave danger was evidenced a short while after when +the fire-room force—which had been ordered to keep steam up in the +hope of backing the ship off later—came pouring on deck crying that +there was three feet of water in the fire-room. +</p> + +<p> +"That settles it," said the chief. "We are on a doomed ship." +</p> + +<p> +"The boats! The boats!" shouted the men. +</p> + +<p> +"Stay where you are," bellowed Barr, mad with rage, "get that ivory +off first." +</p> + +<p> +"To blazes with your ivory," shouted a grizzled old fireman, "do you +think we are going to perish aboard here for such an old skinflint +as you?" +</p> + +<p> +"Why, if we had time we'd run you up at your own main-gaff you old +land-shark," shouted another. +</p> + +<p> +"Come on! the boats—the boats!" they yelled. +</p> + +<p> +Barr stood irresolute while they lowered the four boats that the +Brigand carried and piled into them. The shore was only a few miles +off and they would reach it in a few hours. +</p> + +<p> +While Barr hesitated he felt the ship give a lurch. She was +settling! +</p> + +<p> +That decided him. +</p> + +<p> +Ivory or no ivory he feared such a death as he felt convinced would +come to any one unfortunate enough to be aboard the ship in a few +hours' time even more than he did the loss of the ivory. +</p> + +<p> +"Hold on!" he shouted to the men in the boats, "I'm coming along." +</p> + +<p> +"Not much you ain't," yelled Davis—the man he had dealt the blow +to, "you stay there and rot with your ivory—you old crook." +</p> + +<p> +With mocking laughs the men pulled away and Luther Barr, master of +millions, was left alone on the sinking yacht. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap24"></a></p> +<h3> +CHAPTER XXIV +</h3> + +<h3> +THE BOY AVIATORS HOLD A WINNING HAND +</h3> + +<p> +The cause of the sudden swoop of the Golden Eagle II that Barr had +seen from the yacht with such satisfaction was the need of +replenishing her gasoline tank. The big craft landed in the dusty +public square of the city where pretty well every one in the town +was on hand when her runners and pneumatic tired supporting wheels +struck the ground. The young adventurers were out of her in a few +minutes and the first man to grasp their hands was M. Desplaines. +</p> + +<p> +"I am delighted to see you," he exclaimed, "but if you anticipated +catching Luther Barr you are too late." +</p> + +<p> +"We saw his yacht steaming out to sea," rejoined Frank, "but if only +we can get more gasoline we can catch him yet." +</p> + +<p> +"What, you mean to pursue him?" +</p> + +<p> +"We certainly do. He has stolen the ivory that we recovered at so +much risk to ourselves." +</p> + +<p> +"I didn't realize, of course, what your errand was," said M. +Desplaines in reply, "till Mr. Barr arrived here in his yacht the +other day and informed me that you had stolen a cache of ivory +belonging to him and asked my aid to help in capturing you. I had +no means of disproving his story so I lent him the steam launch, but +I see now by his action in hastening to the yacht that he is, as you +say, the real thief." +</p> + +<p> +Hastily Frank told a part of their adventures and if he had had any +remaining doubt of the boys' sincerity the consular agent was soon +convinced of the truth of their story and of the villainy of Barr. +</p> + +<p> +"I can get you some gasoline—," he said. "A merchant here in town +recently bought a launch and as the freight boats do not touch in +here often he has laid in a large supply of the fuel. I have no +doubt that at my request he will be glad to sell you as much as you +require." +</p> + +<p> +This was good news indeed, and the boys hastened round to the house +of M. Desplaine's friend. To their unspeakable regret, however, he +was absent on a fishing expedition in his launch. +</p> + +<p> +"If that isn't tough luck," exclaimed Billy disgustedly, "what can +we do now?" +</p> + +<p> +"Wait till he gets back or else break into his warehouse," said +Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"We cannot commit burglary," said Frank, "we shall have to wait." +</p> + +<p> +M. Desplaines invited the party to lunch at his house but as may be +imagined they did not eat much. Each was in too much of a hurry to +ascertain if the fisherman had not returned. Immediately the meal +was dispatched, therefore, they hastened out into the street and +here they encountered a strange scene. +</p> + +<p> +A score or more of rough-looking characters had just landed from +four ship's boats that lay moored at the small wharf. They had +joined forces with the crew of the launch that had aided in the +ivory hunt and all were bent on a carouse. The boys were hardly +able to speak from excitement when they read on the stern of each of +the boats the words "Brigand N. Y." +</p> + +<p> +"Those boats are from Barr's yacht," cried Frank. +</p> + +<p> +"So they are," cried M. Desplaines, "and from some of these men +perhaps we shall be able to hear what has happened." +</p> + +<p> +It was an easy matter to get the story from the crew. +</p> + +<p> +The only trouble was they all wanted to talk at once. Bit by bit, +however, the boys got the story and learned that the Brigand was +sinking with a big hole in her bottom. While the others were +talking a tall man, who formed part of the crew that had just +landed, beckoned Frank aside: +</p> + +<p> +"Come here, young master," he said, "I want a word with you. You +are one of the Boy Aviators?" +</p> + +<p> +"I am!" replied Frank, "who are you?" +</p> + +<p> +"My name's Al Davis; I was a skipper once—but never mind that now. +But if you want to make a piece of money out of salvage I'll tell +you how if you make it worth my while." +</p> + +<p> +"What is it you have to tell me?" asked Frank. +</p> + +<p> +For reply the man put his hand up to Frank's ear and whispered +cautiously. +</p> + +<p> +"Is that worth anything?" he asked after he had imparted the +information. +</p> + +<p> +"Well I should say so," cried Frank joyously, and he slipped the man +a bill of large denomination. +</p> + +<p> +"I'll buy everybody a drink," shouted Davis, shuffling off. +</p> + +<p> +"Come on, boys, we've no time to lose!" Frank exclaimed the next +minute and they hastened round to the house of M. Desplaines' +friend. +</p> + +<p> +This time that worthy was at home and greeted them warmly. He had a +plentiful stock of gasoline more than enough, he said—and he gladly +sold them all they wanted. +</p> + +<p> +In a few minutes the Golden Eagle II's main and reserve tanks were +replenished to the full and the boys were ready for a record flight +to the wreck. +</p> + +<p> +So far Frank had not divulged to the others what his information +concerning the wreck was that he had received from Davis, and he did +not now though he felt sorely tempted to. +</p> + +<p> +Amid cheers from the crowd the Golden Eagle II, with all the +adventurers aboard, soared once more into the air; but this time +headed out to sea. They had not risen a hundred feet before they +sighted the wreck, which had struck round a low point out of sight +from the town. She lay, a dismal-looking object, heeled over to one +side; but Frank saw, to his intense joy, that there was still a +feeble curl of smoke coming from her stack. +</p> + +<p> +This meant that the water had not yet extinguished her fires and was +favorable to the daring plan he had conceived. +</p> + +<p> +As the Golden Eagle II drew nearer, the figure of old Luther Barr +could be plainly seen rushing about on the upper bridge. +</p> + +<p> +He seemed demented with terror. +</p> + +<p> +"Save me! save me! the ship is going down!" he cried in agonized +tones, as a few minutes later the aeroplane swung in big circles +above his head. +</p> + +<p> +The boys, despite their righteous anger at the wicked old man, yet +could not help feeling some pity mingled with their amusement as the +old coward ran about the bridge like a crazy man. +</p> + +<p> +"We'll get you off if you'll agree to do something for us," hailed +Frank through his megaphone as the aeroplane soared in big circles +round the wreck and the distracted old man. +</p> + +<p> +"Anything, anything!" cried back old Barr piteously. +</p> + +<p> +"Will you sign a release for the ivory you stole from us, admitting +your theft?" asked Frank. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, yes, my boys. I'll sign anything, but get me off. I don't +want to die like this. Oh this is a terrible end!" +</p> + +<p> +"What are you going to do, Frank?" asked Billy, as the Golden Eagle +II, in obedience to Frank's controlling hand, began to drop. +</p> + +<p> +"You see that sand bank that the falling tide has exposed," was +Frank's reply. +</p> + +<p> +They all nodded. +</p> + +<p> +"I am going to land there and we can wade through the water to the +yacht. I judge the water isn't more than three feet deep at the +deepest part." +</p> + +<p> +The landing was made without a hitch—the sand being of the +hard-ribbed variety that covers the numerous reefs along the west +African coast. +</p> + +<p> +After a short interval of wading the boys stood on the deck of the +Brigand, where she hung on the edge of the reef. Frank's sharp eyes +noticed that except for her forefoot the vessel was in deep water, +as the reef dropped off quite abruptly. +</p> + +<p> +Old Barr received them with almost hysterical joy. +</p> + +<p> +"This is better than I deserve, boys; better than I deserve," he +kept repeating. +</p> + +<p> +"You had better stop your sniveling," said Frank sharply, thoroughly +disgusted with the cowardly old rascal. "Where are pens, ink and +paper?" +</p> + +<p> +The ivory merchant led the way to the chart-house. "Be quick, +boys—she might sink," he stuttered. +</p> + +<p> +The document that Frank dictated, Luther Barr signed and the others +witnessed, read like this: +</p> + +<p> +"I, Luther Barr, of New York, do here by deed, make over and assign +to the Boy Aviators—namely Frank and Harry Chester, William Barnes +and Lathrop Beasley, all my share, claim or equity in the ivory +which I wrongfully stole from them, which fact I with shame +acknowledge. I hereby affix my signature which I admit in the +presence of witnesses to be my true manner of signing." +</p> + +<p> +"Now," said Frank, "just to show we are not mean, there is some +ivory left in the Moon Mountains, near the spot which is indicated +on your map. Sikaso, a faithful Krooman, hid it for us when we +could not carry it away. If you find it you can have it." +</p> + +<p> +The old man rubbed his hands in greedy glee. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh thank you, boys; thank you, I'll find it, I'll find it," he +croaked, his wrinkled old face wreathed in smiles. +</p> + +<p> +"Lathrop," ordered Frank, "you and Billy take Mr. Barr back to +shore. Harry and I will stay here. +</p> + +<p> +"We have a lot to do. Leave the Golden Eagle ashore to be packed +and forwarded later. Hurry back in the launch." +</p> + +<p> +"What are you going to do?" demanded Barr. +</p> + +<p> +"I think that your interest in our movements ceased with the signing +of this paper," rejoined Frank. +</p> + +<p> +At that moment the Brigand gave a violent shudder as if she was +indeed about to go down. With a shrill scream of terror old Barr +ran out on deck and hastily clambered down on to the reef. From +there he waded with Billy and Lathrop to the Golden Eagle II, and +was taken ashore. +</p> + +<p> +"Now then to work," said Frank as the aeroplane winged her way +shoreward with their enemy. +</p> + +<p> +"What are you going to do?" demanded Harry in an astonished tone. +There didn't seem to be much to do to his mind but wait till they +were taken off the stranded yacht by the launch. +</p> + +<p> +"You'll see," replied Frank. "In the first place, Harry, the +Brigand was never in any danger of sinking. She is as sound as a +dollar." +</p> + +<p> +"Are you crazy?" cried Harry, "why there's a lot of water in her +engine-room. She must have sprung a leak as big as a house." +</p> + +<p> +Frank laughed. +</p> + +<p> +"There are more ways of killing a cat than by choking it with +cream," was his cryptic remark. "What would you say if I told you +that in an hour's time we, will have every drop of water out of the +yacht, and that following that we will have her afloat again at +high-water." +</p> + +<p> +"That you are a marvel." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, it's going to happen—come with me." +</p> + +<p> +Frank led the way to the engine-room. +</p> + +<p> +"Luckily I know something about marine engines since we took that +trip on the gun boat in Nicaragua." +</p> + +<p> +He examined the gauges. They showed sixty pounds of steam still in +the boilers. +</p> + +<p> +"Not much—but enough," was Frank's comment. He then turned to two +valve wheels on the working platform and started to screw them up. +</p> + +<p> +"What in the world are you doing?" asked Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"Closing the sea-cocks which were opened by Al Davis, the former +bos'n, in revenge for a blow Luther Barr struck him when the ship +went aground," was Frank's astonishing reply. +</p> + +<p> +"But how in thunder do you know about that?" +</p> + +<p> +"Davis told me while you were trying to get something out of those +fellows who were all gabbling at once." +</p> + +<p> +"And when you have closed up the sea-cocks?" +</p> + +<p> +"Then I shall start the centrifugal pumps going to empty the +engine-room, and we'll soon have her as sound as a dollar." +</p> + +<p> +Luckily the water had not, as Frank had surmised, reached the fires, +and though low there was enough pressure of steam to run the pumps +till the boys were able to work in the stoke-hold. Then both boys +set to work with a will and soon had the furnaces going full-blast, +and the steam gauges registered seventy, then eighty and then one +hundred and fifty pounds. +</p> + +<p> +"There, that will do," exclaimed Frank, as, pretty well tuckered +out, they threw aside their shovels. "Now we have to wait for the +tide and reinforcements." +</p> + +<p> +They had not long to wait. +</p> + +<p> +Of course at the height the tide now was the reef was pretty well +covered and it would have been impossible to make a landing in the +air-ship, so Billy had chartered the power launch of the friend who +had sold them the gasoline. +</p> + +<p> +Ben Stubbs and Sikaso, who had arrived late that' afternoon, were on +board the little craft and Ben's loud "Ahoy!" brought the Boy +Aviators to the rail on the jump—waving and shouting greetings. +</p> + +<p> +But there were others in the launch, and among them the boys spied +several faces of bronzed men who looked thorough seamen. M. +Desplaines, who was in the launch, explained that they had formed +part of the crew of a steamer that had been wrecked down the coast +some weeks previously. They had been waiting for a ship and were +willing to work their passage home: to New York. Among them was +their captain, a good seaman and a former yacht skipper. +</p> + +<p> +"But—but," said Frank amazedly, as the men piled on board and the +boys all shook hands madly with everybody. "We can't take this +yacht—it isn't ours, we have no right." +</p> + +<p> +M. Desplaines held out a piece of paper; smiling as he did so. It +was covered with writing in Luther Barr's cramped hand and was a +characteristic document. Stripped of its legal phraseology it was +an agreement to the effect that if the boys would make no salvage +charges for saving the yacht, they could have her free of cost to +sail back to New York. +</p> + +<p> +"But," said Frank, "how did he know we intended to save her?" +</p> + +<p> +"'The man Davis got boisterously drunk and when arrested admitted +that the yacht was in no danger and that he had flooded her +stoke-hold out of revenge," explained M. Desplaines. +</p> + +<p> +"In that case, why does not Mr. Barr come back to New York on her?" +demanded Frank. +</p> + +<p> +The consular agent smiled. +</p> + +<p> +"He thinks he is on the track of more ivory and has already engaged +part of an expedition," he replied. "To tell you the truth, his +anxiety to save expense on the yacht has had quite as much to do +with his loaning her to you as anything else. He expects you to pay +the crew. If you wish to go back to New York on this yacht I will +have your aeroplane dismantled and forwarded by freight." +</p> + +<p> +"Well," laughed Frank, "will we, boys?" +</p> + +<p> +"I should say we will!" came in a chorus. +</p> + +<p> +"And steam back to old New York?" +</p> + +<p> +"You bet." +</p> + +<p> +As Frank had anticipated, at flood-tide the yacht was backed off +under her own power and then came the time for farewells—and warm +ones they were. To Sikaso the boys presented a rifle and an +automatic revolver as the noble old fellow would not hear of taking +money. The last glimpse they had of their black friend, as the +yacht headed due west for America, he was standing gloomily in the +stern of the launch—one hand on his faithful axe and the other +raised against the blue sky as if in benediction. +</p> + +<p> +"Well," said Frank, as the distance shut out the picture, "we are +bound for home at last." +</p> + +<p> +"What ever will they say when they hear of our adventures?" cried +Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"And the recovery of the ivory?" chimed in Lathrop, "my father's +business is saved. We must cable from the Canaries of our success." +</p> + +<p> +"And the narrative of George Desmond and our own experiences with +the Flying Men?" chimed in Billy. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, you'll have to can that rarebit dream!" cried Harry. +</p> + +<p> +"I will not!" exclaimed Billy indignantly. "I'm going to print it." +</p> + +<p> +"On the funny page maybe. I'd like to see the newspaper that would +publish such a yarn." +</p> + +<p> +Alas for poor Billy! Harry was right. +</p> + +<p> +Nobody would believe his strange tale and last he grew tired of +telling it, and even to hardly credit it himself. +</p> + +<p> +As for George Desmond's time-yellowed pages they repose in the +Smithsonian Institute, and after a learned wrangle between savants +of all countries—lasting many months—it was agreed that the poor +explorer must have lost his mind and that the narrative of the +Flying Men was the offspring of a brain crazed by suffering. +</p> + +<p> +"It's a strange termination to our adventures to be steaming home on +Barr's yacht," said Frank, after a long pause in which they had all +gazed back at the fast dimming shore of the Dark Continent. +</p> + +<p> +"I should say so," cried Lathrop. "It's as near as I ever want to +get to him, too." +</p> + +<p> +"Same here," joined in Billy, "but I don't suppose we shall ever +hear from him again." +</p> + +<p> +But Billy was wrong. +</p> + +<p> +The boys did hear from Luther Barr again and in an extraordinary +manner. The malevolent old man was to be the cause of some +surprising adventures in which the boys at the risk of their lives +were once more pitted against powerful enemies. +</p> + +<p> +With what flying colors they emerged from their dangers, +difficulties and adventures will be told in the next volume of this +series—"THE BOY AVIATORS' TREASURE QUEST; or THE GOLDEN GALLEON." +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="t3"> +THE END +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Boy Aviators in Africa, by Wilbur Lawton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY AVIATORS IN AFRICA *** + +***** This file should be named 6905-h.htm or 6905-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/9/0/6905/ + +Produced by Sean Pobuda +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Boy Aviators in Africa + +Author: Captain Wilbur Lawton + +Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6905] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on February 10, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY AVIATORS IN AFRICA *** + + + + +Produced by Sean Pobuda + + + + +THE BOY AVIATORS IN AFRICA + +OR + +AN AERIAL IVORY TRAIL + +By Captain Wilbur Lawton + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A REUNION + + +"Here, Harry, catch hold." + +"Ouch--I dropped that cartridge box on my pet corn." + +"Say, you fellows, are we going to Africa or are we on a Coney +Island picnic?" + +"Be serious now, Billy Barnes, you may be all right as a reporter, +but as a shipping clerk you're no more good than a cold storage +egg." + +"Well, I'm doing the best I can," was the indignant reply, +"here--I've got it all down: Box 10-- One waterproof tent, one +rubber-blanket, tent-pegs, ropes, more ropes.--Say, Frank, what in +the name of the 'London Times' and jumping horn-toads do you want so +much rope for?" + +"To tie up a certain young reporter named William Barnes when he +gets too fresh," was the laughing reply. + +The three boys sat about a heaped, confused collection of ammunition, +cooking-utensils, rifles, and camp "duffle" in general, one evening +late in May. The eldest of the group, a sunny-faced, clear eyed lad +of about sixteen, held in his hand a notebook from which he called out +the inventory of the articles piled about him as his brother, a youth +of fourteen, sorted them out. The third member of the trio was a +short, stocky chap of possibly seventeen, with sharp, blue eyes that +gleamed behind a pair of huge spectacles. He was examining a camera +with care; from time to time turning his attention to an open notebook +that lay beside him in which he was supposed to be entering the list +as the other called it off. + +The place where the boys were busying themselves was the upper floor +of a large garage in the rear of the Chester residence, on Madison +Avenue, New York City, which had been turned into a workshop for the +two young Chesters--Frank and Harry--already well known to our +readers as The Boy Aviators. The well set-up lad who was so +industriously calling off the equipment that lay scattered about was +Frank Chester, and the ready classifier of the mixed-up outfit was +Harry, his younger brother. The third member of the group was Billy +Barnes, the young reporter, already down to us as the chronicler of +the Chester boys' adventures in Nicaragua and the depths of the +Everglades of Florida. Since the boys' return from Florida on the +U. S. torpedo boat, the Tarantula, they had been busy putting into +shape the rough working plans of the African hunting expedition they +had planned as a sort of vacation. + +The ample bonus the government had awarded them for their singularly +clever work in rescuing Lieutenant Chapin, the inventor of +Chapinite, by their aeroplane Golden Eagle II, had supplied them +with ample funds for their trip. As for Billy Barnes (or "Our +Special Staff Correspondent, William Barnes," as he was now known), +besides the sum realized from the sale of the rubies the boys found +in the Quesal Cave in Nicaragua, the money the youthful scribe had +made on writing up the boys' Florida adventures had provided him +with a good fat nest-egg. + +The natural stimulus given to the red-blooded Chester boys by Mr. +Roosevelt's hunting adventures had a good deal to do, with their +resolution to go to Africa. And now--after several weeks of work on +getting together as good an outfit as was procurable--they were +putting what Billy called "the finishing touches" on their +accoutrements. Stacked in corners of the room were big chests +painted blue and marked with the boys' names and neatly numbered in +white painted characters. These cases contained the different +sections of the Golden Eagle II, the aeroplane equipped with +wireless, that had made history in Florida. + +There were twenty of these cases besides the ones labeled "Camp +Outfit," "Medical," "Armory Chest," "Grub Chest," and several +nondescript ones containing the odds and ends that an expedition of +the kind they planned would find indispensable. In some smaller +boxes also were packed yards and yards of bright-colored cloth and +calico, spangles, cheap jewelry and brass ornaments for use among +the natives. In making up their outfit the boys had taken the +advice of a well-known African traveler who had retired from his +adventurous life to purchase a place in New Jersey, where he +intended to spend his remain days. Through a mutual friend the boys +obtained an introduction to him and his advice in selecting the +outfit had been simply invaluable. + + +"Go easy, carry lots of quinine, don't waste ammunition, and count +ten before you pick a quarrel with a native," had been his simply +laid-down rules for getting along in Africa, and these rules the +boys had determined to adhere to strictly. + +"Say, is this going to be a hunting trip or an invasion of Africa?" +inquired Billy, quizzically as Harry sorted out and Frank read off +ceaselessly the apparently interminable inventory of the supplies of +the Chester party. "I'm getting writer's cramp." + +"A hunting party of course," laughed Frank, "but you know that +hunters who go into the bush depending on their rifles usually come +out a good deal thinner than when they went in. + +"That's so," assented Billy, "but when we have a sixty-mile +aeroplane like the Golden Eagle II we can easily fly out to +civilization in case of necessity." + +"Yes, if we have enough gasoline," assented Harry, "but how much can +we carry into the bush?" + +"Just enough for our purposes and no more," replied Frank, readily, +"fortunately the soluble tablets of picric and glycerine will help +out our supply materially. A few of these tablets dissolved in +gasoline render the efficiency of one ordinary gallon equal to +three; but I don't care to use them except in a case of absolute +necessity as they are very hard on an engine." + +"Then we can count on every gallon we carry being of triple +efficiency?" asked Billy. + +"Certainly," replied Frank, who had invented the tablets in +question, and which were an extremely useful addition to the +equipment of the modern aviator. As the boys worked on and the +equipment, as it was classified, was packed away in the cases +assigned to each class of articles, there came a sharp knock at the +door of the garage building and a servant entered with a special +delivery letter to Frank. The boy tore it open eagerly and then +gave a low whistle of astonishment. + +"Read it out, Harry," he said, handing the missive to his brother. +"It concerns all of us." + +Harry took it and read as follows: + +DEAR FRANK AND HARRY: + +Shall be in town to-morrow morning with my father and Mr. Luther +Barr, the well-known ivory importer. He has a communication of +importance for you. What it is I am afraid to trust to writing, but +you will know full details when you see us. Will you call at the +Waldorf at ten-thirty and have breakfast? We can discuss the matter +over the meal. All I can say now is that if the Golden Eagle is +still in shape for her old-time stunts there is work ahead of her +that will prove harder than anything she has yet tackled. However, +I know you are not the chaps to balk at a little danger--particularly +when exciting adventures are in the wind. + +So long, then, till to-morrow: + + "LATHROP EASLEY" + +"Well, what do you know about that?" gasped Billy Barnes, here we +are fixing up for a nice little holiday trip to rest our shattered +nerves, and here comes, a job along that looks as if we should have +to work all summer." + +"It certainly is curious," replied Frank musingly. + +"What can Lathrop mean? Who is Luther Barr? I have heard the name +but I cannot place him." + +"Lathrop says he is an ivory importer," suggested Harry. + +"Easy to find out," said the resourceful Billy. "Where's the 'phone +book?" + +Frank handed the volume to him from its hook beside the instrument. + +"Ah--here we are," exclaimed Billy, as he ran his finger triumphantly +down the "B" list. "Barr, Luther--that's our man, eh? Ivory +importer, offices No. 42 Wall Street--home, White Plains." + +"White Plains, that's where Lathrop's folks live," exclaimed Harry. +"That's where he first became associated with the Golden Eagle." + +"And turned out to be a good partner," added Frank. + +"A jim dandy," agreed Billy. "I tell you boys, I've got a good nose +for news and if there isn't some sort of a story back of Mr. Luther +Barr and Lathrop's letter I'll eat my hat without sauce." + +Any acceptance of the young reporter's generous offer was interrupted +by a sudden noise in the usually quiet street. + +"I tell you the fare's a dollar!" the boys heard an angry voice +declaim. + +"'Tain't nothing of the kind or I'm a lubber--fifty cents is all +I'll pay. I'll be horn-swoggled if you get a cent more, yer +deep-sea pirate," was the indignant phrased reply. + +Something in the voice was strangely familiar but the "horn-swoggled" +settled it. + +"Ben Stubbs," gasped all the, boys simultaneously and rushed out of +the garage to the street. + +Here they found a stoutly-built, crisp-bearded man with a face +tanned to what Billy called a "weathered oak finish," arguing loudly +with a taxicab chauffeur. The man was obdurate over his fare and +just at, the boys came on the scene was suggesting that his equally +determined passenger get back in the cab and take a ride to the +police station. + +"The sergeant will settle our dispute," he said angrily. + +"What's the trouble, Ben?" exclaimed Frank, giving the angry man on +the pavement a hearty slap on the back. + +"Why, this here piratical craft," the other was beginning when +suddenly he dropped the battered bag he carried and burst into a +mighty roar--a regular Cape Horn hail. + +"Back my topsails if it ain't you, Frank," he cried, wringing the +other's hands till the boy's arms were almost dislocated. "And you +too, Harry, and keel haul me ef here ain't Billy too. Well, if it +ain't good to see, you Chester boys again." + +"Say, are you the Chester Boys--the Boy Aviators?" suddenly cut in +the chauffeur in a respectful tone. + +"We are," replied Frank, "why?" + +"Oh, well," said the chauffeur, "then I'll let your friend off with +fifty cents. I thought he was a 'greeny'." + +With that, he calmly twisted the dial of the cab which registered +$1.00 back to the fifty cent mark and coolly pocketed the coin the +indignant Ben handed. + +"Does that thing work backwards?" demanded the amazed old +adventurer, as the taxi whizzed off before he could frame words to +express his indignation. + +"Not often," replied Billy with a laugh. "I guess that chap reads +the papers and thought it wouldn't do him any good to try to fool a +particular friend of the Boy Aviators." + +"Well, boys, what are your plans?" demanded Ben, as--after the +rugged fellow had been introduced to Mrs. Chester, a sweet-faced old +lady, and Mr. Chester, a fine-looking, gray-haired man of about +fifty--he and the boys sat in the garage discussing the African +outfit. + +"We hardly know now," replied Frank, and then in a few words he +described Lathrop's letter and its contents. + +"Wherever that boy is there's bound to be doings," remarked Ben, +sententiously, when the young leader had finished. "Down in Florida +when he wasn't tumbling into alligators' mouths or getting bit by +serpents he was allers up to some mischief--you mark my words +there's something in the wind now." + +The boys talked late and long that night over the letter and what +possible plan Mr. Barr, the ivory importer, could have to discuss +that would be of interest to them, but they were able to arrive at +no definite conclusion except that there was nothing to be done +about it till morning. + +As for Ben with his usual philosophic attitude toward mysteries, he +filled his pipe and silently smoked. To those of our readers who +have not met Ben this phase of his character may seem inexplicable, +but to the boys Ben's passive acceptance of any situation had become +quite familiar. Ever since they had rescued the rugged old +adventurer from a marooned treasure-mine in Nicaragua and he had +shared their strange adventures in Florida on the Chapin Rescue +Expedition, the old man had become as much a part of their necessary +equipment as the Golden Eagle itself. He had arrived that night in +response to a telegraphed request to his cottage at Amityville on +Long Island, where he cultivated an extensive farm--also part of the +Quesal ruby profits--and devoted himself to fishing and hunting. + +'The Boys' mere word, however, that they were off to Africa had been +sufficient to arouse the old man's roving instinct and here he was +on deck once more as active as a boy and almost as impatient for the +start for the Dark Continent. Ben slept at the Chester's home that +night and if his dreams were not as populated with visions of +elephants, leopards, deer, huge snakes and pigmy savages as theirs +it was not any lack of interest in the coming expedition that was +responsible for it. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE STOLEN IVORY + + +"Will you please send this card up to Mr. Beasley's rooms and tell +him that the visitors he was expecting are here?" + +It was Frank Chester who spoke early the next day, as the boys, in +response to Lathrop's letter, stood at the Waldorf desk. The clerk +looked at them a little disdainfully. Frank and Harry Chester were +not the sort of boys who devoted much time to thinking about clothes +and while they both wore dark neat-fitting suits they certainly did +look a little out of place among the pasty-faced, cigarette-smoking +youths in loud-looking garments who constituted most of the young +men with whom the clerk was in the habit of coming in contact. + +"I don't think that Mr. Beasley can see you now, call later," he +began, superciliously turning round to the letter-rack and sorting +out the mail and putting each guest's letters in the proper box. + +For a second an angry flush rose to Frank's face. The man's manner +was enough to irritate any high spirited boy. But Frank Chester was +not given to what Bill Barnes called "flying off the handle." He +calmly took another card from his pocket and in a rather sharp +voice, though his tones were even enough said: + +"Are you going to send that card up at once or shall I call the room +on the telephone?" + +The clerk faced quickly about. The two youths he had looked upon as +rather awkward country bumpkins, judging as he did from their tanned +faces and broad shoulders, were evidently not to be trifled with. He +glanced at the card as he rolled it up and handed it to a boy to be +placed in a pneumatic tube and shot up to the fourth floor, on which +Mr. Beasley and his party had taken rooms. + +"Oh, you are the Chester boys?" he exclaimed with a strong accent on +the "the" and in markedly more respectful tones. + +"We are," said Frank with a smile which was reflected on his +brother's face. + +"I beg your pardon for keeping you waiting, I'm sure," said the +clerk with an apologetic leer, meant to be an engaging smile. + +"That's all right," said Frank shortly, turning away from the desk. + +"Well, having your name in the paper does do you some good after +all," remarked Harry with a laugh. "That fellow certainly turned a +flip-flop, when he found out who we were." + +Five minutes later the boys were ushered into the Beasley rooms and +were busily engaged shaking hands and exchanging all sorts of boyish +exclamations of welcome with Lathrop Beasley, a tall, rather slender +youth who had been their companion in Florida. Like the boys, +Lathrop was an accomplished aviator and wireless operator, although +he had not the initiative or the sturdy pluck to perform the feats +that they had. He was, however, a boy of considerable brain and +skill and among the boy-aviators of the country held an enviable +position. + +"About your letter," began Frank when the first greetings were over. + +"In a minute," replied Lathrop, "here's father now." + +As he spoke, the portieres parted and a stout, fresh complexioned +gentleman, ruddy from his bath and shaving, appeared. He had the +pompous manner of the successful man of business and seemed to the +Chester boys to be the least bit patronizing in his manner. + +"Mr. Barr will be here in a minute," he said, after introductions +had been made by Lathrop, "he will explain to you his idea. I am +merely a partner in the enterprise. You will, of course, be glad to +accept any restrictions he may impose?" + +"We hardly care to discuss that yet," said Frank, rather nettled by +Mr. Beasley's pompous manner, "until we know what he requires." He +exchanged glances with Harry. + +"In fact," he went on, "we were planning to take a complete rest and +follow in Mr. Roosevelt's foot-steps, by taking a hunting trip in +Africa, only," he added with a smile, "we meant to hunt by aeroplane." + +"Wonderful," said Mr. Beasley, evidently much impressed by Frank's +ready manner, "when I was a boy, if a lad had a "bone-shaker" +bicycle he thought he was doing something fine, and as for flying--why, +we never thought of it." + +"Perhaps the boys of to-day are further sighted," said Frank with +quiet note of sarcasm in his tone that was quite lost on the +well-meaning old merchant. Indeed at that moment Mr. Beasley rose +heavily from his chair and stepped forward to greet a new arrival +who appeared from another room of the suite. + +"This is Mr. Luther Barr, the famous ivory importer," he said, with +far more respect in his tones than he had used to the boys; whom +indeed, he looked upon as talented chaps, but still boys--which to +men of his caliber is an infallible sign that anything such youthful +persons may attempt is extremely likely to go wrong. How erroneous +such an opinion is, those of our readers who have followed the +adventures of the Chester boys know. + +Mr. Luther Barr deserves a new paragraph. Long, lean and hollow +cheeked, the term "gangling" fits him better than any other. Mr. +Luther Barr's black suit hung on him as baggily as the garments of a +cornfield scarecrow and Mr. Luther Barr's sharp features were not +improved by a small growth of gray hair; of the kind known as a +"goatee" that sprouted from his lower rip. For the rest of the boys +noticed that Mr. Barr was gifted with a singularly gimlet-like pair +of steely blue eyes that seemed to bore through you. + +"As sharp a man as ever drove up the price of ivory," added Mr. +Beasley as he introduced the boys to this singular figure, "he can +scent an ivory bargain--" + +"From here to Africa," struck in Mr. Barr in a sharp nasal tone that +grated unpleasantly, "and you and I are going to be Kings of Wall +Street if these boys put this deal through for us," he added with +what was meant to be an amiable smile, but which, as a matter of +fact, distorted his face till it looked uncommonly like an old +Japanese war mask. Indeed the boys, who had seen the collection in +the Metropolitan Museum, could not help smiling to themselves, as +the same thought struck each of them. + +"Well, Beasley," exclaimed Barr suddenly, "I'm as sharp set as a +Long Island fox. Let's have a bite of breakfast and then we can get +down to business." + +From Mr. Barr's manner of dispatching his breakfast and the +remarkable skill with which he wielded his knife, in conveying +various morsels to his mouth, it was evident that he had spent so +much time piling up money that his social education had been sadly +neglected. Once or twice the boys caught Lathrop's eye and they saw +that the lad was blushing with shame at the uncouth manners of his +father's friend. For this reason the boys refrained from paying any +apparent attention to Mr. Barr's actions, although--as, they +remarked afterwards--he was as well worth watching as the "sword +swallower in a circus side show." + +"Yes, boys," said Mr. Barr with his mouth full of buttered toast and +ham and eggs, "I guess I know more about Africa than any man alive." + +"You have crossed that continent?" asked Frank.. + +"No, sir," replied the old ivory merchant with some contempt. "I +wouldn't waste my time where there ain't no ain't no money. What I +mean is, I know more about the Gold Coast, the Ivory Coast and the +Slave Coast than any man in this or any other country and have got +more good solid coin out of them." + +Mr. Beasley looked up admiringly from his plate. Here was evidently +a man after his own heart. + +"The Slave Coast?" echoed Harry inquiringly, "I thought--" + +"Thought there wasn't no more slaves, eh?" inquired Mr. Barr +amiably, swallowing his coffee with a noise like water running out +of a bath tub, "wall, that's because yer young. When yer git older +you'll larn that there's money in everything here's a demand for, +and there's just as big a demand for slaves on some rubber +plantations I could tell yer of as there ever was in the old days of +the South--and more money in 'em on account of its being more +dangerouser." + +"Do you mean to say that there is slave-running now?" asked Mr. +Beasley, while both Frank and Harry wondered and Lathrop looked +uncomfortable. + +"Sure I do," chirped Mr. Barr, "but no more for me. There's too +many British gunboats and 'Merican gunboats and Dutch gunboats and +what not about now to make it comfortable or healthy. No, I've +retired from that business--but there's money in it," he concluded +with a regretful sigh. + +Immediately Mr. Barr had concluded his breakfast--and with his +apparently slim accommodations it was a wonder to the boys where he +put it all--he snapped, with a flinty glint of his small pig-like +eyes: + +"Now, let's git down to business. You boys want ter make a bit of +money?" + +"'To be sure we do," replied Frank, "but we don't want to make any +that isn't honest money." + +"We'll, there's no accounting for boys nowadays," sighed Mr. Barr, +"however, you needn't worry about this money--there'll be plenty of +it and it'll all be good honest coin." + +"What do you wish us to do?" demanded Frank. + +"Just this: Mr. Beasley here and me is in on a deal in ivory. That +is, we were, but the big cache we had hoarded up in the Kuroworo +Mountains in the Bambara country has been stolen by a rival trader, +an Arab named Muley-Hassan. We know where he's hidden it and we +know, too, that he won't dare to bring it out till he thinks that we +aren't watching him. Now the time is ripe for a big deal in Ivory. +There is a shortage in the market. Prices will go up sky high. If +we get it out in time we'll make a barrel of coin, but if we don't +we stand to lose heavily." + +Mr. Beasley gave a groan; to the boys' amazement he seemed to be +about to collapse. Lathrop too looked ill and anxious. Old Barr +paid no attention, however, but went on. + +"Now, I heard about you boys and your air-ship, and I heard, too, +that you was planning a little trip to Africa and thought you might +like to combine business and pleasure." + +He drew from his pocket a much-thumbed, crudely drawn map and spread +it out on the table. How he obtained it, the boys never learned +exactly, but they heard later that a treacherous attendant of the +ivory dealer had sold it to him for a good round sum. + +"This country down here," he said, indicating it with a black rimmed +finger nail, "is the Southern Soudan. Here's the Bambara country to +the north of Uasule. Now right at this point, in the Moon Mountain +range,"--he pointed to a red-marked trail zigzagging across the map +to the range and terminating in a red star--"right at that thar +point, old Muley-Hassan, the Arab, has hidden our ivory cache. You +see the latitude and longitude is marked and furthermore--and here's +the most remarkable part of it--you will know the spot when you see +it by the fact that the mountains above the cache present an exact +facsimile of an upturned human face. In a direct line drawn from +the nose of this face, where you see the red star, lies the ivory." + +The boys were deeply interested. Unpleasant as was the impression +old Barr had made on them, yet what he was disclosing was +impressive; but as yet they did not show that they were anything +more than casually struck by it. + +"Well, Mr. Barr?" said Frank, as the old matt paused impressively. + +"Well--" said Mr. Barr, "the scoundrel stole it and it's up to you +to get it out of there, if you will undertake it." + +"How does it depend on us?" asked Frank. + +"In just this way. Muley-Hassan has his eye on us---we can do +nothing toward locating the ivory. You can pitch a camp there and +scout about for it in your aeroplane or dirigible or whatever you +call it." + +"But even if we do find the Arab's hiding-place, what good does that +do?" objected Frank. + +"We can arrange with the French government to send soldiers up into +the country and get the stuff out, if necessary," readily replied +the wrinkled old ivory dealer, "but we can make no move till the +cave is located. If they suspected we were after it, they would +soon move it to another hiding-place or even pack it cross-country +to the Nile and ship it out by the Mediterranean." + +Frank and Harry asked leave to hold a brief consultation at the +conclusion of which, they announced that they would think the matter +over, and see Mr. Barr at his office the next day. The old man was +far too shrewd to insist on a decision then and there, and so he +left the hotel with the boys' promise to consider the matter +carefully. As for Frank and Harry, they had pretty well made up +their minds not to have anything to do with Mr. Barr, but an +unforeseen circumstance altered their determination. As Barr left +the room with Mr. Beasley, Lathrop turned on them with troubled +eyes. + +"Will you do it, Frank?" he asked anxiously. "Please say yes." + +"Why, Lathrop, whatever is the matter," asked Harry, noticing the +almost painful anxiety, with which the boy looked at Frank and hung +on his decision. + +"It's just this," said the boy in a voice that shook, as he tried to +steady it, "if that ivory isn't found, we shall be ruined. My +father will be beggared." + +"Beggared," exclaimed both the Boy Aviators who had regarded Mr. +Beasley--as indeed did his friends in general--as one of the "best +fixed" business men in New York. + +"It's true,"' said Lathrop, despairingly. "He has been speculating +foolishly and entered into an agreement with this man Barr to borrow +money for still further stock deals. The only hope he has of paying +his debts is the realization of the profits he could have made on +the ivory. Its theft was a bitter blow to him, not so much for his +own sake, as for my mother and sisters. Myself I don't care, I can +get out and work, but it would break my heart to see them reduced to +poverty." + +The situation was a difficult one for the Chester Boys. They had +taken a hearty dislike to the crafty old ivory merchant and had made +up their minds not to enter into any enterprise in which he was +interested. Here, however, was a new complication. + +"Give us half-an-hour, Lathrop," said Frank at length, and the two +boys withdrew to another room to talk the matter over. It was ten +minutes past the agreed time when they came back. + +In the meantime Lathrop had been joined by his father and the two +had waited in painful anticipation for the Boy Aviators' verdict. + +"Well--," began Lathrop eagerly as the two boys with grave faces +reentered the room. + +"Well," said Frank, with a smile, "I guess we'll help you out, +Lath." + +Tears stood in the eyes of both Mr. Beasley and his son, as in shaky +voices they endeavored to thank the Chester Boys. + +"That's all right, Lathrop," said Frank at length--"turn about's +fair play. You drove the aeroplane to Bellman's island you remember +and saved us--now, we'll save you and your father, if we can--how +long can you give us, Mr. Beasley?" he asked, briskly turning to the +thoroughly humbled merchant. + +"Eight weeks--if I hear from you by cable in eight weeks I can keep +things going," was the reply. + +"Phew!" whistled Frank, "that's not an awful lot of time." + +"Can you do it, Frank?" asked Lathrop eagerly. + +"We'll try as hard as we know how," was the modest answer. + +"And--and you'll take me along?" faltered Lathrop. + +"Sure, you can come as your father's representative at large," +laughed Frank. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE DARK CONTINENT + + +About a month after the events related in the last chapter the +bluff-bowed French coasting steamer, Admiral Dupont, dropped anchor +in the shallow roadstead off the steamy harbor of Fort Assini on the +far-famed Ivory Coast. A few days before, the boys had left Sierra +Leone and engaged quarters on the cockroach-infested little craft +for the voyage down the coast. It was blisteringly hot and from off +the shore there was borne on the wind the peculiar smell that every +traveler knows as "African." It is the essence of the dark +continent. Our young voyagers and Ben sniffed at it eagerly. + +"Smells like marigolds," said Billy at last--and it did. + +But there was soon plenty more to discuss than the strange +appearance of the town, which in reality was little more than a big +village with here and there one, or two houses of some pretension +scattered about. For the rest, it consisted of the wickerwork huts +of the natives. Back of the town were dense forests and beyond +these again a long blue line of hills. An unhealthful looking lagoon +lay between the houses and the mainland, into which the boys had been +told the Bia River, up which they were to begin their voyage to the +interior, emptied. + +A broad yellow beach stretched in front of the houses and from this, +as soon as the little steamer dropped anchor, whaleboats and canoes +in great numbers were launched through what looked to be a thunderous +surf. They were navigated by Kroomen--or Krooboys as they are +sometimes called--and who are a superior race to most of the natives +of Africa. + +Some of the paddlers and oarsmen in the boats that surrounded the +Admiral Dupont were almost six feet in height and splendidly built. + +"Good looking fellows those," said the captain, who had joined the +group of wondering young adventurers, "but in spite of their good +looks they are petty thieves, if they get the chance." + +Of this quality, the boys were soon to get an example. Frank had +laid down his field-glasses on a deck chair and didn't give them any +more thought, even when the decks were fairly swarming with +half-naked, chattering, laughing Kroomen. When he looked around for +them, however, for the purpose of making out more clearly the +outline of the distant mountains, the glasses had vanished. + +The young leader quickly divined what had occurred and stepping to +the rail he held above his head an English sovereign and a pair of +glasses, borrowed, from Billy. + +"I'll give this money to the man who finds my field glasses," he +shouted. + +"It's a long chance," he remarked to Harry, "there may be some one +there who understands English. Anyway they can see that I'm willing +to give money for something like the object I held up." + +As much to Frank's astonishment as anyone else the next minute they +heard a hail from a canoe containing two particularly black Kroomen. + +"Hey, boss;" one of them was shouting, "what you lost, eh?" + +"Some one stole my field-glasses," shouted back Frank. + +"All right, American massa," hailed back the Krooman, "I sail long +time 'Merican ships. I catch him for you." + +"Well, what do you think of that?" demanded Billy. "If the Statue +of Liberty had come off her perch and done a song and dance you +couldn't have astonished me more than to hear that sack of coal talk +English." + +"They take several of those fellows to sea on trading ships, that +stop in here for logs from the interior," struck in Ben. "It +wouldn't surprise me but what that fellow there has been in New York +harbor, yes, and in San Francisco too." + +The boys looked their astonishment. + +"They are good hard workers," went on Ben, "and make good sailormen. +They always come back here though in the end. They are as home +loving as a house cat."' + +While the boys talked, their baggage was being hoisted into a +lighter that lay alongside, ready for shipment ashore. They were +about ready to quit the ship when their attention was attracted by a +terrific uproar among the natives alongside. Two or three canoes +had been upset and in the water half a dozen Kroomen were splashing +about like big, black fish. + +"They'll drown," gasped Harry, as he watched the furious water +battle. + +"Not them," sniffed Ben, "they are as much at home in the water as +they are ashore. Hello!" he exclaimed, suddenly pointing, "there's +your field-glasses again, Frank." + +Sure enough, from the hands of a spluttering, half-drowned native, +the Krooman who spoke English had just wrested a dripping pair of +black morocco-covered field-glasses. He held them aloft in triumph, +treading water while he held the other's head under the sea as a +punishment for his thievery. + +"I catch 'um, boss, I catch um," he kept shouting triumphantly. A +few seconds later, having half drowned the unfortunate thief, he +stood dripping like a figure cut out of black basalt before the boy. +As he received his recovered property Frank presented its rescuer +with the sovereign. If it had been a fortune the man could not have +been more overcome with gratitude. He sank on his knees. + +"You come ashore my boat?" he begged. "Cost nothing to United +States boys." + +The adventurers assented and, having seen their baggage properly +stowed on the lighter, they landed through the surf a short time +later and found themselves on the flat, yellow beach facing the +rather dreary looking row of Europeans' houses. The method of +landing the surf boats and the wonderful dexterity with which the +natives handle them is worth a whole chapter to itself. But it +might prove tedious reading, so suffice it to say, that with one man +standing erect in the stern with a steering oar, and the others +paddling like demons, the Ivory Coast boatmen invariably land their +passengers, in a smother of foam which seems overwhelming, without +spilling a drop of water on them. Not a visitor to this coast but +has been impressed by their wonderful skill. + +"Well, here we are," remarked Billy, looking about him at the novel +surroundings. + +"The first thing to do," announced Frank, "is to go to the house of +Monsieur Desplaines, to whom Mr. Barr gave us a letter of introduction, +and talk over our plans." + +Monsieur Desplaines was the consular agent of the United States +government at Assini, which is a French port, and had promised by +cable to Mr. Barr to give, the young travelers all the advice that +his experiences could suggest. He had also volunteered to select +for them a train of native baggage carriers, and hunters that would +be reliable. There are no roads into the heart of Africa and +everything is transported by human pack-trains. The natives of this +part of the coast are strong, muscular men not easily fatigued and +are capable of carrying burdens on their heads twenty-five miles or +more a day without exhaustion. + +As the boys started to make their way up the beach a trim figure +with neatly waxed black mustaches, almost extinguished in a huge +pith helmet and dressed in white duck with a red sash about the +waist, emerged from the nearest house and hastened toward them. + +"Welcome to Africa!" cried the newcomer as he approached and who, as +Frank at once guessed, was M. Desplaines himself. "Come with me to +the house and make yourselves at home." + +The boys shook hands warmly with the little Frenchman who seemed so +hospitably inclined and followed him eagerly toward the whitewashed +house from which be had emerged. + +"I would have been at the steamer to meet you," he exclaimed +apologetically; "but she got here a day ahead of time and I was not +prepared." + +Inside the house, which was delightfully cool and darkened by +jalousies from the glaring heat outside, the young adventurers were +introduced to Madame Desplaines and two little girls, who +constituted the family of the consular agent, who also kept the +general supply store at Assini. + +After dinner that evening, M. Desplaines talked long and earnestly +to the boys. Of the real object of their mission, he had of course +no knowledge. That was kept a secret even from Barr's intimates. +There was too much at stake to let it leak out. His idea was the +boys had come on a hunting and exploration, much of which was to be +performed by aeroplane. He informed the boys that, acting on cabled +instructions, he had laid in a good supply of gasoline by the last +steamer from Sierra Leone and that arrangements for a train of +carriers and for boats up the river had been made. There was a +wheezy steam launch belonging to the trading post which would tow +the boats up the Bia River as far as they desired. The Kroomen the +boys engaged would take them to that point would then be abandoned, +as they refused to go far from the coast. Such was the outline of +M. Desplaines' conversation with the travelers. + +The evening was far advanced when already the little party was ready +for bed and already their imaginations had been fired by the tales +that the consular agent had told them of the interior of the wild +Bambara country. As they were saying good night to their hospitable +host and hostess, there was a knock at the door. In response to M. +Desplaines shouted: "Come in," a tall coal-black figure stalked into +the lamp-light. The glow shone warmly on his black skin and lit up +the mighty muscles that played beneath it. The strength of the man +was evidently tremendous. The boys, to their surprise, recognized +him at once, as the rescuer of Frank's opera-glasses. He paid no +attention to Desplaines or his family, but walked straight up to +Frank. + +"Hi boss, you go hunt, you go far into land of Bambara," he said, +raising his mighty arm and pointing to the northeast. + +Frank nodded. + +It was a strange scene. The boys and Ben in their hunting costumes +and stout boots, M. Desplaines, short and inclined to be fat and as +neatly barbered and tailored as if he had just stepped off the +boulevards, Madame Desplaines and her little girls in cool, white +frocks--and in the center of the group--dominating it by his +impressive manner and mighty form--the huge, ebony Krooman. + +"In the land of Bambara much game," went on the Krooman. + +"So we have heard," replied Frank. + +"In the land of Bambara much danger," continued the Krooman, fixing +his dark eyes full on Frank, "much danger to the white boys, who fly +like birds." + +"Why, how do you know that?" exclaimed Frank, amazed that the +Krooman should not only know their destination--which might have +been a guess--but have divined the fact that they had an aeroplane. + +"Krooman know much that white man not know!" replied the giant +black. + +Then, rising his finger, he counted the amazed group of adventurers +who stood transfixed at the scene. + +"One--two--three--four--five go to Bambara," he intoned. "Come back +one--two--three. Two die. Sikaso, know." + +Before any of the astounded party could frame a question or open +their lips, the huge figure had stalked to the doorway and vanished. + +"He'd make a nice, comfortable house-pet that fellow," said Billy, +who was the first to speak. "One, two, three, four, five go to +Bambara," he mimicked. "Come back one, two, three. Two die. +Sikaso know. Br-r-r-r-r, he gives me the creeps." + +They all laughed at Billy's absurd aping of the stately negro, but +nevertheless none of them felt inclined for more talk that night. +Somehow, the Krooman had cast a gloom on the party. Had they known +how nearly his prophecy was to come to fulfillment they might even +have been tempted to abandon the expedition. + + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE WITCH-DOCTOR + + +Bright and early the next day Frank and Harry were up and stirring, +and the other members of the party were not long in joining them. +The almost innumerable packing cases and chests containing the +duffle, ammunition, armament and the sections of the Golden Eagle +were scattered about the little "compound" or garden of M. +Desplaines' residence, having been brought ashore overnight by a +crew of Kroomen. M. Desplaines appeared while the boys were still +contemplating their outfit and wondering if it would be possible to +accommodate it all in the little flotilla which, it had been +arranged previously, was to take them up the river to the camping +place from which they were to strike out for the Ivory Mountain. + +"I really almost envy your trip," he said, "although it will be +fraught with danger. Still you go well armed and provisioned, and +from what I have heard of you, you are not the sort of boys to let a +few obstacles upset you." + +While they were still talking and waiting for breakfast to be +announced they were joined by a singular figure. It was that of a +white man in rather shabby ducks and crowned, as was M. Desplaines, +with a huge, white pith helmet. Over one shoulder he carried a +green butterfly net and under one arm he had tucked a tin box. +Round his waist was a leather belt from which hung, in addition to a +revolver and cartridges, a glass bottle with a wide stopper with a +chloroformed sponge reposing in the bottom. It did not need the +introduction of the newcomer by M. Desplaines as Professor Ajax +Wiseman, to tell the boys that Dr. Wiseman was a naturalist. + +"My dear professor, what are you doing here?" exclaimed M. +Desplaines as soon as the introductions were over. + +"I arrived this morning from Grand Bassam on a coasting schooner," +replied the professor, carefully setting down his tin box. "I have +a remarkable specimen of the Gladiolus Gorgeosi in there," he +remarked importantly. "I am contemplating a trip into the interior +via the Bia River and came to you to see if you could arrange +transportation." + +M. Desplaines looked at the boys. + +"These young men have engaged the steam launch, to tow their +expedition up the river," he said hesitatingly; "they are going on a +hunting trip, into the interior, and have, I venture to say, one of +the most complete outfits I have ever seen." + +The naturalist looked wistfully at Frank. + +"I suppose there would not be the least objection to my availing +myself of your assistance in getting up the river," he said, +blinking behind his spectacles like an old bat who has unexpectedly +emerged into the sunlight. "I have only two canoes and as I carry +my own attendant I shall be no trouble." + +"We shall be delighted to accommodate you," rejoined Frank heartily, +"but I shall have to place one restriction on you. When we reach +our destination we must part company as we have work to do of a +confidential nature. Our employer, Mr. Barr--" + +"Old Luther Barr," burst out Professor Wiseman suddenly. + +"Why, yes," rejoined Frank, rather taken aback, "you know him then?" + +"I--I have heard of him," replied the other with a slight hesitancy +which was, however, so faint as to be hardly noticeable. The voice +of Madame Desplaines summoning them to breakfast broke off any +opportunity for further questions on a matter that plainly, for some +strange reason or other, seemed to have heartily interested--even +disturbed--the naturalist. Frank felt troubled for a moment at the +idea of having let Professor Wiseman form a portion of their party +even for a short distance. But he dismissed the idea almost +instantly. The queer expression that passed over Professor +Wiseman's face at the mention of the ivory trader's name might have +simply been due to astonishment at hearing it again. Still Frank +decided to keep an eye on Professor Wiseman. + +The conversation at breakfast naturally enough dealt with the little +known country the boys were to penetrate. Then it was for the first +time that they heard mention of the mysterious tribe of the Flying +Men who were reported to be equipped with rudimentary wings--like +those of an undeveloped bat with which they managed to flit from +tree top to tree top like true flyers. + +"Oh, come," laughed Billy, "I've heard of tailed men and white +Africans with red top-knots like Lathrop, but a race of winged men +is coming it too strong." + +"Laugh if you like," declared Professor Wiseman who had brought up +the subject, "but some time ago I articulated a skeleton brought me +by an Arab slave trader and found extending from the shoulder blade +two distinct bony frames which had in life apparently been covered +with a thin fleshy substance of leathery like tenacity stretching +thence to the wrists. I asked the slave trader where he had found +the skeleton," went on the savant, "and he told me he had come +across it at the foot of a giant silk cotton tree in the Bambara +country." + +The boys exchanged glances. It was to the Bambara country--the +country of the legendary Flying Men--that they were bound. + +"Is any more known of this tribe?" inquired Frank. + +"Very little except what you can pick up from the natives, which is +little enough," replied Professor Wiseman, "they seem to have a +dislike to speaking of the Flying Men--to whites at any rate. I +think, too, they fear them. Report has it that they live in +cave-like holes in the side of a giant, black basalt cliff reached +by a subterranean river. They reach the ground by taking short +flights from the holes they live in and regain the cliff dwellings +by means of rope ladders formed of twisted creepers." + +"Then they cannot fly upward?" asked Frank. + +"It would seem not," replied the naturalist, "their wings only serve +as gliders. Possibly once in the remote ages they could fly as well +as great birds but with the course of the ages and disuse their +wings have dwindled." + +As may, be imagined the idea that within a short time they were to +be in the country of the mysterious tribe caused a tremendous stir +among the boys and when after breakfast their strange friend of the +night before, Sikaso, appeared they at once overwhelmed him with +questions. But strangely enough Sikaso made no reply to their eager +queries. + +He shook his great bead and seemed to be embarrassed, if not by fear +at any rate by reticence. + +"In Misoto Mountains many strange Ju-jus (fetishes)," he said in an +awed tone, "Misoto Mountains no good for white boys--white boys stay +away." + +"Not much," chimed in Harry, "that's just where we are going." + +"You go Misoto Mountain," said the giant black in an astonished +tone. + +"That's what we are," exclaimed Lathrop. + +The black gazed at the ground and drew a small circle on the dust +with his toe. In the center of it he made a cross. + +"That my dukkeri (fate)," he said slowly, "you go, Sikaso he go too. +I see it in the smoke." + +"Saw it in the smoke?" repeated the amazed boys. + +"In smoke of Ju-ju fire I see it written. I see five go, three come +back, in smoke too. I have spoken." + +He stalked off as I suddenly as he had the night before and left the +boys to gaze in a bewildered way after his huge figure as it swung +down the road. + +"That fellow's the best disappearer I ever saw," said Billy Barnes +at length. + +"I wish he'd stop that stuff about 'five go three come back,"' said +Lathrop, "it gets on your nerves." + +"What could he have meant by seeing it in the smoke?" asked Harry +bewilderedly. + +"Just this," broke in a quiet voice behind them. It was Professor +Wiseman, who had glided up to them as silently as a cat. "It is a +common trick among the witch doctors--of whom our friend yonder +seems to be one--to divine events by means of the smoke from a fire +built to the accompaniment of special incantations." + +"Well, that's cheerful," commented Billy, "but tell us, Professor, +how often do they hit it right?" + +"Nine times out of ten, young man," said Professor Wiseman +impressively fixing Billy with his gaze just as he would have +impaled a bug or grasshopper, "and the tenth time they come so near +the truth as to be uncomfortable." + +"I have heard of such things, but I always put them down as +impossibilities," gasped Frank. + +"Just travelers' tales," said Billy. + +"There are many things for the young to learn in Africa," remarked +Professor Wiseman coldly and gazing at Billy with squashing +intentness; "the young do not believe many things merely because +they are young--and foolish." + +"Gee! that was a nailer for fair," said Billy afterward. "I felt as +if the Doc was running a big blue pin through me and sticking me on +a bit of cork," + +That morning, as the start for the interior was not to be made till +the next day, M. Desplaines asked the boys if they would care to try +a little fishing at the foot of the famous Jumbari Falls which lay +on a branch of the Bari river a short distance from the town. Of +course the boys assented eagerly, but as it was found that only +Frank and Harry were expert canoeists, it was agreed that the others +should fish from the bank while the two young leaders trolled their +lines from a native built craft. This canoe was kept at the falls--to +which they tramped the two miles overland by a narrow trail. + +The falls were a magnificent sight. From a dark red rock, fully two +hundred feet in height, a great volume of water poured its roaring +current into a boiling pool below. The cliffs shot up sheer on all +sides and were covered at the bottom with luxuriant green growth +like seaweed, while higher up, ferns, as big as rose-bushes at home, +and trees of a hundred varieties clung wherever they could find a +root-hold. As the party arrived at the top of the ravine and gazed +down, the uproar of the water was so terrific as to render any +speech inaudible. M. Desplaines, who led the party, pointed to a +hole in the rocks and a second later vanished into it. + +At first, consternation seized on the boys who thought that an +accident had happened, but seeing not hearing Professor Wiseman's +reassuring laugh and noticing him plunge after M. Desplaines, the +boys rightly concluded that the aperture was a subterranean entrance +to the foot of the falls. And so it proved. A steep flight of +steps was cut in a deep cleft of the cliff down to the water's edge. +A few minutes after they had begun the descent, the little party stood +on the brink of the whirling pool into which the mighty falls roared +their thousands of tons of water. Following M. Desplaines, they +advanced down the stream to a point where a bend shut off like a +rock curtain the deafening uproar of the cascade. Here a canoe lay +moored and Frank and Harry stepped into it and shoved off. Their +lines and other equipment they had in their pockets. + +As they shoved out M. Desplaines shouted something that they did not +catch and pointed down the stream. How near the fact that they +could not hear his words was to come to costing them their lives +neither of the boys guessed. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE POOL OF DEATH + + +"Say, Frank, have you noticed that we are going to have a hard +paddle back against this current?" + +The boys had been fishing about an hour when Harry spoke. So +engrossed had they both been pulling in fish of a dozen strange +varieties and brilliant hues that neither of the lads had noticed +that the canoe had drifted down stream far from the starting point +and that in fact when they looked up they were in an entirely +strange part of the river. + +"You are right, Harry," rejoined Frank, as he looked up at the steep +banks on either side of them, "we have drifted a considerable +distance. Come on, out with the paddles and we'll be getting back." + +But it was one thing to talk of getting back and quite another thing +to do it. The boys, after an hour of paddling, were dismayed to +find that although their arms ached with the exertion and they were +dripping with perspiration, they had made hardly any progress +against the current. + +"It's too much for us," gasped Frank. + +"What on earth are we going to do?" asked Harry with blanched +cheeks. + +Frank glanced at the shore on either side. For a minute he had +entertained a thought of landing and walking back along the beach. +But there was no beach. + +The river boiled along between narrow walls which shot sheer up from +the water. There was not even a niche in their smooth surface to +afford a foothold to a mountain goat. They were caught in a trap. + +The only thing to do was to drift down the river and trust to luck +to find a landing-place. In their extremity they shouted at the top +of their voices to let their comrades know of their plight, but +their cries were unanswered and they began to wish that they had +saved their breath to use in the task of keeping the canoe steady in +the current. + +While they had been pondering their situation, moreover, they had +been swept with almost incredible rapidity down the river. The +walls here grew narrower and narrower and the water fairly boiled in +its narrow confines. Its dark surface was flecked with white foam, +and to make matters worse, as the walls closed in the light became +fainter, till the boys were being carried downward through almost +subterranean darkness. + +In the intense gloom their white strained faces shone out like +pallid beacon-lights. + +"Hold her steady," said Frank in a tense voice as the canoe wobbled +crazily in the swollen current. + +"I'm doing the best I can," gasped out poor Harry desperately plying +his paddle. + +It the canoe was to get broadside onto the current, even for the +fraction of a second, Frank well knew that nothing could save them. +It was a terrible situation. + +Helplessly they were being borne at dizzy speed to what seemed +almost certain death--for certain it was that they could not hold +out much longer. Already their overstrained muscles were only +mechanically doing their duty, but before long Frank realized that +even his-well-trained young body must collapse--and then, what? + +Suddenly there was borne to their ears a sound that made both boys +chill with terror. + +It was a mighty roaring like the furious boiling of some giant +kettle. A thousand shouting voices seemed blended into one to form +the music, of this ominous orchestra. Louder the noise grew and +louder, as the pass through which the river now tore like a runaway +race-horse grew narrower and blacker. + +What could the awful uproar mean? + +They had not long to wait before the truth burst upon them. They +were nearing, at what seemed express speed, a whirling, roaring mass +of waters that shouted at them like some animal calling for its +prey. The boys' cheeks blanched as they realized that nothing but a +miracle could save them from being sucked into this watery abyss. + +Desperately they plied their paddles but if they had been useless +further up the stream they were doubly inefficient now. If they had +stroked against the rushing current with feathers they could not +have had less effect in checking the death rush of the canoe, which +was tossed along on the racing tide like a chip of wood. + +Suddenly the canoe was struck a terrific blow. + +Before either boy could realize what had happened they were both +struggling in the water. So dazed were they by the mishap that it +was several minutes before they understood that they were clinging +to the to the trunk of some huge tree. It was this trunk that had +wrecked the canoe and thrown them overboard. + +In reality, though, they were little better off now than they had +been while the canoe was being whirled down the river. It looked as +if they had been saved from one death only to face a worse. With +all their might they clung side by side. Dripping wet, half-blinded +and bruised by the battering they got as the trunk smashed from side +to side of the narrow passage, the indomitable American pluck of the +two lads yet held good in this extremity. + +"Is it good-by, Frank?" Harry found strength to murmur. + +"While there's life there's hope," came Frank's brave reply in his +favorite axiom. "We'll live to fly the old Golden Eagle yet, let's +hope." + +There was no time for further talk, even had the boys been in any +position to consider conversation. The trunk was rapidly nearing +the whirlpool--and death. + +Small wonder that brave as the boys were a despairing cry burst from +their throats as they saw what seemed the end of their ride close +upon them. It was as if they could feel the breath of the Pale +Horseman already blowing chilly in their faces. + +But suddenly a strange thing happened. + +Both boys had closed their eyes and only moved their lips in prayer +as they saw that inevitably in a few minutes they must be sucked +into the maelstrom. Now, however, they opened them in amazement. + +The swift rush of the log to which they clung like drowned rats had +stopped. + +It took them only a few seconds to take in what had occurred. The +great log swinging one end toward the swirling current had jammed +clear across the stream and for a time at any rate they were saved +from immediate death. In their joy they clasped each other's hands +warmly but their first rush of relief did not last long. As a +matter of fact they were not any nearer safely than they had been a +few minutes previous. + +The log, it was true, was jammed across the stream, but the +consequent backing up of the impetuous current caused it to rush +across the boys' refuge in such volumes as to almost sweep them from +their perches. + +It was very evident that they could not hold put indefinitely in +this position. + +Their attention was attracted as they clung to their water-swept +tree-trunk by a dark object whirling about in the boiling pool. It +was swept dizzily round and round in ever decreasing circles toward +the middle of the fatal vortex. Suddenly it shot downward out of +sight, but as it did so Frank had seen something that kindled one +ray of hope--though a feeble one. Before the canoe had taken the +fatal downward plunge it had hesitated for a minute as though caught +on something; and then the boy leader saw for the first time that in +the center of the pool there was a rock, although the water that +submerged it to the depth of an inch or so prevented its being seen +at first glance. + +Frank turned to Harry and told him of his discovery. + +"If we are cast into the pool let us make up our minds to get to +that rock. Keep your mind concentrated on it. Don't let the idea +leave you for a second and perhaps--I say 'perhaps'--we can make +it." + +Harry shook his head despairingly. + +"I can hardly keep my grip on this tree. I don't believe that I +could possibly manage to swim even a few yards," he groaned. + +"You must," said Frank sharply. "Don't give in now, Harry. Stick +it out." + +Then as a sudden thought struck him he continued. + +"See here, it's no good our wasting our strength clinging to this +trunk any longer. Sooner or later we shall be swept off and the +longer we wait the less reserve strength we shall have. Let us +leave go now and swim for it." + +Whatever reply Harry might have tendered to this desperate proposal +he was spared making, for at that moment a wave of more than +ordinary force--caused by the backed-up water striking the log--struck +him full in the face and before he knew it the boy had been washed +from the tree trunk and was being carried like a straw down the stream. + +As Harry felt himself being carried along there was only one thought +in his mind. It was not of death. When death is right upon a man +or a boy he rarely thinks of it, but casts about for the best means +of saving himself. Nor does--as some imaginative writers have told +us--a man's whole past life come before him at such moments. +No--the instinct of self-preservation is strongest when a human +being is in the direst need, and so it was that in Harry's mind one +thought kept hammering away like the strokes of a tolling bell. + +"Try-and-make-the-rock. Try-and-make-the-rock." + +Frank's insistence had done this much. It had caused the boy to +recollect the one hope of salvation that the desperate situation +held out. As he was swept down the torrent Harry made no effort to +swim. It would have been worse than useless and besides he needed +to husband his strength for the final struggle he knew was upon him. + +The next minute he felt a sickening swirling sensation and realized +that he was in the whirlpool's death-grip at last. + +Faster and faster the boy was hurried in ever decreasing circles. +Dizzy, half-choked with water, blinded and almost exhausted Harry, +with the tenacity of a bull dog, still clung tenaciously to the one +idea: + +"Try-and-make-the-rock. Try-and-make-the-rock." + +Suddenly, he was flung against a hard substance. With outstretched +fingers he clutched at the slimy surface as of what he realized was +the end of his journey at last. The great stone was covered with +slimy weed, however, and his grasping fingers refused to clutch at +any friendly niche in its surface. + +With a despairing cry the boy was being swept in to the terrible mouth +of the pool when he felt himself seized and pulled up out of the grip +of the torrent. He knew no more till he opened his eyes and found +Frank by his side. Both boys were on the rock--sitting on it in two +inches or more of water. Fortunately in that climate the water was +not so chilly as to cause discomfort, but this was about the only +crumb of satisfaction the situation held for them. + +"Well done, old fellow," said Frank as Harry opened his eyes. "You +had a narrow escape, though." + +Harry could only look at his brother gratefully. How deep was his +debt of gratitude to him both boys realized without their talking of +it. + +"How did you gain the rock, Frank?" asked Harry. + +"When I saw you swept off the tree trunk I slipped off too," replied +Frank, "and when I felt myself dragged into the pool I struck out +for the rock. I confess, though, I didn't have much hope of +reaching it till I was slammed into it with a blow that almost +cracked my ribs and knocked all the wind out of me. I managed +however to grab hold of a depression in the surface and maintain my +grip on it. I had hardly dragged myself up when you were hurled +against it. I thought I had lost you, for the water pulled like a +draught-horse, but I managed to hold on to you and here we are." + +"And a worse position we could not possibly be in," added Harry. + +"Unless we were in there," retorted Frank pointing, not without a +shudder, to the whirling open mouth of the pool which had sucked +down the wreck of their canoe. + +"What is it do you suppose?" asked Harry wonderingly. + +"The mouth of a subterranean river I guess," replied Frank. "I have +read of such things." + +"But why didn't Desplaines warn us of our danger," said Harry +bitterly, "if we ever get out of this I shall tell him my opinion of +him pretty strongly. We might have been killed and we may yet." + +"He did warn us," replied Frank calmly. + +"He did?" + +"Yes." + +"I should like to know when?" + +"When we shoved off." + +"You mean when he shouted something we couldn't catch and pointed +down the river?" + +"That's it." + +"I thought he meant there was better fishing down, here," snapped +Harry indignantly, "what idiots we were." + +"Yes; not to notice how we were drifting," rejoined Frank quietly, +"it's no use to blame Mr. Desplaines for this pickle. We have only +ourselves to be angry with. I don't suppose he ever thought that +two boys would not notice how they were drifting in a ten mile +current." + +"The point is how are we ever going to get out of it?" + +How indeed? + +As the boys looked about they saw little to encourage them. The +chasm in which they were beleaguered was not more than fifteen feet +across, but on either side shot up walls of rock so steep and smooth +that not even a fern could find root on their polished surfaces. + +Where the whirlpool sank into the bowels of the earth the walls came +together at an angle forming a sort of triangular prison. At the +top of this trap the boys could see a strip of blue sky and the +outlines of the graceful tops of some bulbous stemmed palms but +nothing else. Once a vulture sailed across the strip and sighting +the two boys came lower to investigate. The sight of the carrion +bird made both of the boys shudder. + +"Ugh, he scents a meal, he thinks we're dead already," cried Harry +disgustedly. + +The sound of his voice echoed gloomily among the rocks. + +"We're dead already," came back in sepulchral tones. + +"I shan't try to wake that echo up again," said Harry in a low tone +and shivering at the uncanny voice of the rock. + +Neither of the boys spoke for a long time. They sat there silently, +occasionally standing up to get the stiffness out of their limbs +till the strip of sky above began to darken to gray. + +"Well, here goes!" exclaimed Harry suddenly. + +Frank glanced sharply up. He did not like the wild tone in which +the words were spoken. + +"What is it?" he asked sharply. + +"I'm tired of this, I'm going to swim for it," replied Harry with a +foolish, hysterical laugh. + +Frank saw what had happened. The boy had become half-delirious +under the mental strain he had undergone. + +"Sit down, old fellow," he said kindly, "help will come soon I am +sure." + +"Yes, a steamboat will come sailing down the river and take us home +in the captain's cabin I suppose," said Harry foolishly. + +But nevertheless Frank's stern command to "shut up" and not make a +foot of himself brought him to his senses and he said no more till +the stillness was broken by a sudden cry from above. + +"Bosses--oh, bosses." + +"Ahoy there; castaways!" + +Frank looked up. + +The cry of joy he gave set the echoes flying in the gloomy canyon. + +It was the black face of Sikaso that was gazing down on them and +beside it was Ben Stubbs' weather-beaten countenance. Behind them +were Billy, Lathrop and the rest. + +"Hold on there and we'll get you out of that in two shakes of a +duck's tail," cheerily hailed the old adventurer. "We guessed you'd +be here and we brought a rope as long as a man of war's cable with +us. Lucky thing we did." + +The next minute a long rope of vegetable fiber came snaking down the +side of the cliff and to one end of it clung Ben Stubbs. As he +reached the bottom--the rope being cautiously paid out from above by +his companions--the old seaman swung himself outward from the face +of the rock and "in a brace of shakes," as he would have said, stood +alongside the two boys. In a second his sharp eye took in Harry's +wild looks and hysterical greetings and realized what had happened. + +"Now, Frank," he ordered, giving the young aviator the end of the +rope--"catch hold tight and when you are ready give the word." + +"But Harry--" gasped Frank, "I can't leave him. Let him go first." + +"I'll bring him up. He can't look after himself in the shape he's +in and you are too weak to attempt to help him. Now no talking +back. I'm boss now. Up aloft with you. Haul away there!" + +The next minute Frank, clinging to the rope, was being hauled +cautiously up the side of the sheer cliff by careful hands and +shortly he was in the arms of his friends. + +Ben Stubbs--to whom the rope with a weight at the end of it had been +swung pendulum wise--next appeared at the summit with Harry in his +strong grip. But it was a white faced inanimate burden he carried. +The boy had swooned. + +"He'll be all right in a few minutes," said Ben Stubbs as M. +Desplaines and the others all tried to explain at once to Frank how +Sikaso had guessed what had happened when the boys did not return. +The Krooman had led the party by secret native trails to the cliff +top. Frank clasped the huge black's hand with real gratitude and +tears of thankfulness brimmed in his eyes. + +"How can I ever thank you," he said. + +"Um--white boys keep away Pool of Death, Sikaso much pleased," +replied the Krooman turning slowly away with a sad expression on his +face. + +"His own son was drowned in it several years ago," said M. +Desplaines briefly. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A SNAP-SHOT FIEND IN TROUBLE + + +The morning after the events recorded in the last chapter was one of +these sparkling ones that are occasionally to be met with on the +West African coast and was the forerunner of a day of great bustle +and activity for the boys. With the vitality of healthy youth Harry +had completely recovered and was indeed surprised to find himself +feeling so good after what he had been through. Privately he +inspected his hair in the mirror to see if it had turned white and +was secretly much astonished to find it the same color as before. + +"I wish mine would turn white or potato color or something," said +Lathrop, to whom Harry confided his expectation, "this red thatch of +mine is a nuisance. At school I was always Brick-top or Red-Head +and out here the natives all look at my carrot-colored top-knot as +if they'd like to scalp me and keep it for a fetish." + +Both boys laughed heartily over Lathrop's half-assumed vexation. As +a matter of fact he had been the butt of many jokes in school on +account of his blazing red hair and in Africa the natives with their +love for any gaudy color had already christened him Rwome Mogo or +Red-Top. Of this, however, he was fortunately ignorant, as he might +have been tempted to go out and dispatch half a dozen of them if he +knew of their term for him. + +Down at the river bank, cross the evil-smelling lagoon at the back +of the town, Frank and Harry had their hands full directing +shouting, laughing Kroomen how to load up the canoes. From the +canopied steam launch that lay alongside the rickety wharf the black +engineer--an American Negro--watched with great contempt their +labors, which they enlivened with songs from time to time. + +"Them's de mos' good fur nuffingest niggahs I ever did see," +remarked Mr. Rastus Johnson--that was his name--with undisguised +contempt. + +Nevertheless by noon the canoes had all been leaded and the +farewells to the kind M. Desplaines and his family said. After a +swift final inspection Frank pronounced everything ship-shape and +even Doctor Wiseman who had been fussing about as Billy said "like a +hen with one chicken--and that a lame duck," over his tin cases and +poisonous looking bottles, announced that he was ready to start. +The twelve chattering Kroomen who were to go as far as the Bambara +country with the expedition were seated two in each canoe. They +were along simply as camp attendants and packers and would by no +means go any further than the borders of the Bambara country which +they said was the dwelling-place of "bery bad man sah." + +Just as the little launch, flying the stars and stripes out of +compliment to the boys, was drawing out into the stream with a long +blast of her whistle, a tall, black form came racing along the bank +and with one bound cleared the five feet or so between the launch +and the shore. It was Sikaso. + +"So you came after all," said Frank, turning to him, after a bend in +the, river had hidden the waving Mr. Desplaines from sight and they +were settling down in the launch. + +"Sikaso see in the smoke I come--I come. If I see in smoke I no +come--I no come," remarked the Krooman. + +"He's traveling light anyhow," remarked Billy. + +Indeed the giant negro's only bit of baggage was a huge axe, the +handle of which was dented and scarred as if by many combats. Billy +was about to run his thumb along its edge when with a gesture the +mighty negro waved him aside. Instead he took Billy's handkerchief +from the young reporter's pocket and drew it gently along the axe +blade. + +It fell in two pieces on each side of his blade, severed by its +razor-like edge. + +"Sikaso is a good fellow to be friends with when he can make little +ones out of big ones like that," remarked Billy, picking up the two +fragments of his handkerchief, "that's a fine way to cut up a +gentleman's wardrobe." + +Bit by bit as the launch drove steadily up the muddy river--from +whose jungle-grown banks arose a warm, moist vapor--Frank drew from +the grim-faced old Krooman some of his history. He had been a +mighty warrior in the old days, he said, and the weapon be carried +was his war axe with which he had killed uncounted enemies. A rival +tribe, however, had killed his father and mother and driven him to +the coast with the few survivors of his village. Here he had +shipped on an American trading brig for New York where he had picked +up the knowledge of English he possessed. He also worshiped America +as "free man's country." But Africa had called to him and some +three years before he had returned on another ship and meant to die +there, he said. + +"Why did you wish to go with us?" asked Frank as the native +concluded his story. + +"It was written so in the smoke, white boss," replied the veteran +simply. "The ju-ju in the smoke strong ju-ju. He knows many +things." + +"Is that the only reason you have for coming?" + +"No, boss, I tell you truth," replied the old warrior, "some day I +find the chief who kill my father and my mother and kill my +friends." He glanced significantly at his axe. + +"In the Moon Mountains maybe I find him--maybe not. But some day I +shall and then--" + +He said no more, but as Frank remarked to Harry when the former +recounted his conversation to his brother later: + +"I shouldn't much like to be that man when Sikaso meets him." + +The launch and the small flotilla she towed forged steadily up the +stream all that day and at nightfall drew alongside the bank at a +spot where a clearing planted with bananas clearly indicated the +presence thereabouts of a native village. As soon as the launch was +moored to the bank the adventurers scrambled out--not sorry of a +chance to stretch their legs--and looked about them wonderingly. +They were really in equatorial Africa at last, and even as they +looked there was a sound borne to their ears that brought home to +them strongly how very far away they were from old New York. It was +a pulsing, rhythmic beating something like a drum and yet unlike it. +They looked questioningly at Sikaso. + +"Tom-tom," said he briefly. + +"Is it a friendly village, Sikaso?" inquired Doctor Wiseman. + +"Friendly to some--not to all," replied the Krooman, who for some +unaccountable reason had taken a strange dislike to the professor. +"Come," he said, intoning to Frank and Harry, "we go see get +chicken, maybe pork." + +"Say, can't we come along, Frank?" asked Billy and Lathrop their +faces falling. + +Frank consulted Sikaso who merely said: + +"Little fat white boy, with round, glass four-eyes talk too much." + +"Well," laughed Frank, "I think I can promise for him that he won't +do any talking that will cause any harm this evening." + +"Talk too much, indeed," grumbled Billy highly offended, "why at +home my folks were thinking of having a doctor treat me for +bashfulness I'm so retiring in my disposition." + +As soon as the laugh that this remark of the disgruntled reporter +had caused had subsided--even old Sikaso giving a grim smile as he +took in the purport of it--the little party set out down a native +trail toward the village. + +As the tom-tom beating increased in loudness as the village drew +near, the boys' hearts began to beat a little faster. At last they +were about to see a real African village--such as they had read +about in Stanley's and Livingstone's books--and other less authentic +volumes. They almost stumbled on the place as they suddenly emerged +into a clearing. It was a strange sight that met their eyes. + +Arranged in a circle were fifty huts that resembled nothing so much +as a collection of old-fashioned straw covered beehives, enlarged to +shelter human bees. All about them women and children were +bustling; setting about getting the evening meal. Before one hut +sat a woman, pounding something in a stone pestle--"like the +drugstore men use at home,"--whispered Lathrop to Billy. + +The arrival of the little band created a stir. The hideous old man, +with a sort of straw-bonnet, who had been beating on the antelope +skin drum called by Sikaso a "tom-tom" saw them and instantly picked +up his instrument and waddled off with as much dignity as his age +and a much distended stomach would allow him. The younger men, +however, advanced boldly toward the party. Some of them carried, +spears, others held Birmingham matchlocks of the kind the British +and French Governments have in vain tried to keep out of the hands +of the West African natives. These guns are smuggled in by +hundreds, by Arab traders who exchange the "gas-pipe" weapons worth +perhaps two dollars a-piece for priceless ivory, and even human +flesh for the slave dhows. + +"Seesanah (peace)," said Sikaso gravely, advancing in his turn. + +"Seesanah," echoed the tribesmen, who evidently recognized Sikaso +from their greetings. The boys stood grouped in the background-- +Billy Barnes and Lathrop even viewing with some alarm the advance of +the savage-looking natives. + +"Well, he seems to have fallen in with several members of his club," +remarked the irrepressible Billy as old Sikaso and the natives +talked away at a great rate. + +"I'm going to get a picture of some of these niggers when they get +through," he continued aside to Lathrop. + +"What; you brought a camera?" asked the other boy. + +"Sure thing," replied Billy, "and if their ugly mugs don't break the +lens, I mean to get some good snaps." + +He drew a small flat folding camera from his pocket as he spoke and +got it ready for action. + +"Do you think Frank would stand for it? It might make trouble you +know," said Lathrop. + +"Pshaw," retorted the cocksure Billy, "what trouble can it make? I +wish I knew bow to say 'Look pleasant, please,' in Hottentot, or +whatever language these fellows talk." + +By this time old Sikaso's 'pow-wow' was over and he motioned Frank +and Harry forward. After they had been introduced to the chiefs and +headmen of the village, the "big chief," a villainous-looking old +party with only one eye and his legs thrust into a red shirt--into +the armholes that is, with the rest of the garment rolled round his +waist--announced he was ready to give fresh provisions for calico, +red and blue, and several sections of the brass rod that passes for +currency on the West Coast. While Frank, Harry and Sikaso were +bargaining behind a hut, over the price to be charged for a +razor-backed porker of suspicious appearance the village suddenly +became filled with an uproar of angry shouts and tumult. + +"What can be the matter?" exclaimed Frank, as the boys, followed by +the old chief and Sikaso, rushed from behind the hut to ascertain +the cause of the disturbance. + +Standing in the center of a crowd of excited villagers was Billy +Barnes, his helmet knocked off and an arrow sticking through it. He +looked scared to death as well he might, for by his side was a +stalwart young African, brandishing a heavy-bladed spear above his +head. At the young reporter's feet lay the ill-fated camera that +had caused all the trouble. + +What had happened was this. As soon as Frank and Harry and their +companions had left him and Lathrop alone, Billy had started to +carry out his determination to take some pictures. The first +subject he selected was a serious-faced little baby, innocent of any +clothing, that sat playing with a ragged dog at, the entrance of one +of the beehive huts. He had just clicked the button and exclaimed: + +"This will be a jim-dandy," when he felt something whistle through +the air and the next minute his hat lay at his feet with an arrow in +it. In an instant the child's father--convinced that Billy was +putting Ju-ju medicine on the child--was upon him, armed with his +big hunting spear and followed by half the village. Even +Billy--scared as he was--did not realize how very near to death he +actually came to being. Sikaso's shouted words in a native dialect +caused the tribesmen to fall back but they still muttered angrily. + +Stepping swiftly up to the camera Sikaso with a single blow of his +axe smashed it to pieces. + +"Here, that's no way to treat my camera!" Billy was indignantly +beginning, when Frank gripped his shoulder in an iron-clutch and +whispered: + +"Shut up; if you don't want to make more trouble." + +Billy was starting on an angry remonstrance when he caught Frank's +eye. The young leader was really angry and Billy prudently +refrained from saying any more. + +As for Sikaso--after demolishing Billy's machine, he turned to the +tribesmen and addressing them in stately tones said--as he afterward +translated it to Frank: + +"Village fools. You see there is no magic in the little black box. +It is nothing but a child's plaything for the fat, spectacled +idiot." (This part of the oration Frank did not communicate to +Billy.) "You see I have smashed it. Do I fear? Do I look now like +a man in terror of the white man's medicine. It is nothing. It is +broken and gone like the cloud before the wind, like the shadow on +the mountain side." + +The effect of all this was soothing and the boys left the camp, to +order some of their packmen to bring home the provisions, with light +hearts. As for Billy his ears burned by the time Frank got through +reading him a lecture. + +"I'm sorry," he said bravely, "and I won't do it again. Gee! talk +about 'press the button and we'll do the rest.'" + +"They nearly did it--didn't they," laughed Frank, his good humor +quite restored. + + + + +CHAPTIER VII + +A TRAITOR IN CAMP + + +It was a week later, and the launch having towed the expedition as +far up the river as Frank decided was necessary--before they struck +out into the unknown land of the cannibals, winged men, and the +ivory hoard--had returned to civilization several days before, +carrying with it letters from all the adventurers which they felt +might be the last they would write for some time. The spot selected +for the permanent camp was a sort of park-like space covered at its +edges with masses of manioc and banana bushes. Beyond towered huge +tropical trees and beyond these again the blue outlines of the +distant Moon Mountains in which, according to old Barr's map, lay +the ivory cache. + +It had been a busy week. The Golden Eagle II had been re-erected +and her own wireless and the field wireless apparatus put in order. +As our readers who have followed this series are familiar with the +manner of setting up the great Chester aeroplane and her fittings, +it would be tedious to repeat the description of the process. +Suffice it to say that thanks to the clever simplicity of the +"knock-down" arrangement, by which the ship could be taken apart and +set up again, the operation of equipping her for active work was a +comparatively light one. The extra gasoline and supplies for the +camp in general were stored in a separate tent removed from the +circle in which the boys' tents and those of Ben Stubbs and +Professor Wiseman were pitched. + +There was, too, a newcomer in the camp--a Portuguese named Diego de +Barros. He was not a particularly well-favored individual, but he +bore the reputation of having great power over the natives and of +being very friendly to the white traders who penetrated into the +interior. Once or twice there had been ugly talk about his being in +league with the Arab slave and ivory traders, but he had managed to +clear his name and along the Ivory Coast enjoyed the reputation of +being an honest, reliable man. He had joined the boys' camp a few +days before and his manner of coming was this. + +While everybody was busy getting things in shape there had come a +loud hail from the quarters of the native helpers, just outside the +white man's encampment, announcing that a canoe was coming up the +river. All hands had hastened to the river bank to find de Barros +just putting his foot ashore from the canoe in which two natives had +paddled him from the coast. He had with him some bales of cotton +goods and a few gewgaws of various kinds and was bound, so he said, +on a trading expedition into the back country. Further down the +river he had heard, he explained, that the boys were camped where he +found them, and he had determined to pay them a visit. The brief +stay that the boys had interpreted this as meaning, however, had +extended itself into three days and still Diego showed no +inclination to leave. + +"If he doesn't move on soon I shall be compelled to ask him to go," +said Frank in an annoyed tone to Harry. "I don't want to be +inhospitable, but we can't afford to have strangers hanging round +the camp, there is too much at stake." + +Harry agreed with him and the two boys decided to tell the Portuguese +that evening as tactfully as possible that they were on a private +enterprise and could not accommodate strangers. This decision +arrived at, Frank turned to the steel strong box that was never out +of his sight and drew from it the precious map of the Moon Mountains. +Seated at the little camp-table--(the conversation just related had +taken place in the Boy Aviators' tent)--the two pored over the +document for hours. With dividers, compass and parallel rulers Frank, +who was a skilled navigator, laid out an aerial course that would +bring them, he calculated, unerringly to the spot marked by a red +cross where--so old Luther Barr declared--lay the ivory that was to +save Mr. Beasley from financial ruin and disgrace. + +Frank laid his finger on the spot and exclaimed enthusiastically: + +"There it is, Harry, and we are not so far from it now. In a few +days we shall know whether we are on a wild-goose chase or not." + +"Why, no doubt has ever entered your head that the ivory is there?" +questioned Harry. + +"Well, old fellow, you know there are others interested in this +ivory beside ourselves--Muley-Hassan for instance." + +"You think he had got ahead of us?" + +"I did not say I thought so, I only say that it is possible that he +may have done so." + +"How could he have got wind of our coming?" + +"In Africa there is a sort of underground wire for news," replied +Frank. "I have no doubt that hundreds of natives far in the +interior are by this time apprised of our coming." + +Harry looked alarmed. + +"That's bad," he said. + +"Well, it couldn't be helped: but we may have other enemies nearer +at hand." + +"What do you mean?" + +"That I don't like the looks of that Portuguese fellow. If he got +wind of what we are doing he would be likely to ruin the whole +object of our expedition." + +"That's so. We'll have to get rid of him." + +"Well, we are going to, and if he won't go for gentle means we'll +try rough ones." + +"Hullo, what's that?" exclaimed Harry suddenly. + +The flap at the end of the tent toward which both of their backs had +been turned had been suddenly drawn aside and in one quick, backward +glance Harry made out the smiling figure of de Barros standing in +the doorway. It might have been fancy, but he thought for a minute +that the Portuguese had a peculiarly villainous expression on his +dark, handsome features. + +"Ah, senors," he said, as Frank, with a quick movement swept the map +off the table--but not before de Barros's quick eyes had spied it. +Fearing to replace the precious chart in the strong box, while the +Portuguese lingered, Frank tucked it into his pocket. + +"Ah, senors, good afternoon," grinned the unwelcome visitor. "I +have come to say 'adios.' I am going up the river to-night and may +not see you again for a long time." + +"I am sorry to have you leave," said Frank with a heartfelt wish +that de Barros would hasten his departure. + +"I knew you would be," smiled the Portuguese, "but it is the lot of +man to meet and part. Adios, senors, I go to make ready." + +He vanished as suddenly as he had come upon the scene. + +"What do you make of that?" inquired Harry. + +"I don't know what to think. I have an idea that he was listening +to every word of our conversation just now and that he saw the map +before I had time to sweep it off the table." + +Harry looked vexed. + +"That's tough luck," he said. "If he overheard even a part of our +talk he must realize the object of our presence in Africa. And," he +went on, "I don't know a man on the Dark Continent whom I would +trust less than Diego de Barros, even the little we've seen of him." + +"It can't be helped now," said Frank briefly; "come on, let's go and +put the finishing touches on the good old Eagle." + +They worked the rest of the afternoon putting the big aeroplane in +shape for her flight to the Moon Mountains which it had been +determined to make the next day. It was almost dusk when Harry, who +was working over the engines, asked Frank for the reserve park-plug +box. + +"It's in one of the canoes. I'll go and get it," said Frank, and at +once set off toward the river bank for that purpose. His path led +through a thick grove of bamboos which hid him from the view of the +camp after he had traversed a short distance. As he merged on the +river bank, whistling softly to himself, the young leader suddenly +felt himself pinioned by arms that seemed of enormous strength-- +though, as the attack had come from behind, he could not see the +faces of his assailants. The next minute he was lying flat on his +back, bound and helpless with a bit of greasy cloth shoved in his +mouth for a gag. + +"Keep still, senor, and you shall not be hurt;" said a quiet voice +near at hand, and Frank saw bending above him the sallow features of +the smiling Portuguese. + +"I just have to trouble you for that map I saw you put in your +pocket, that is all," went on his captor, while the two huge negroes +who had made Frank prisoner stood to one side immovable as carved +figures, + +"It is lucky for me that you came down to the river bank," grinned +the Portuguese as he ran his hand over Frank's clothes, to ascertain +the hiding-place of the precious map of the ivory cache, "otherwise +I should have had to delay my departure till to-night, and possibly +have cut your throat while you slept." + +Frank felt as if his heart would burst with rage and mortification +as the greasy, smiling Portuguese deliberately drew out the +priceless document and gazed at it in triumph. He laid it on the +ground beside him while lie resumed his search for other clues. + +"That ivory belongs to my master--Muley-Hassan--now," he sneered; +"did you think for a minute that we would ever let you white fools +get it back again." + +It was well for the Portuguese that Frank's hands were not free +then. Had they been the dark-skinned traitor would have had a fight +on his hands in a few seconds. But suddenly events took a strange +turn. + +The two blacks uttered a sharp cry of warning as the bushes parted +and a huge form dashed out, whirling about its head a glistening +axe. + +It was Sikaso! + +The next minute would have been Diego's last but that his two +followers lifted him to his feet and, picking him up like a child, +ran for his canoe with him. With a few rapid strokes they were in +midstream and paddling up the river with powerful strokes while +Sikaso raged impotently on the shore. + +"Oh for one of the white men's fire-tubes!" he sighed, and even as +he spoke a sharp reminder of the efficiency of these same +"fire-tubes" whizzed past his ear in the shape of a bullet from +Diego's revolver. + +In a few steps the old black was beside his young leader and with a +couple of strokes of his keen blade had set him free. + +"Quick, Sikaso; the canoes--we must pursue him. Call the boys and +Ben while I cast off the canoes. Quick, we have not a minute to +lose." + +Although Diego in his hurry had not carried off the map but left it +lying on the ground, still Frank realized that the Portuguese had +not actually needed the document to aid Muley-Hassan to find the +cache. The Arab was no doubt familiar with the location anyway, but +to head off all danger of the boys getting there first, it was vital +to stop Diego at all costs. In a few bounds Frank reached the +little indentation in the bank where the canoes were kept. + +As he gained it he fell back with a groan and, brave boy as he was, +he leaned weakly against a tree for support as the true extent of +the crushing disaster that had occurred was borne in on him. + +The canoes were gone! + +The cunning rascal, Diego, had devised his plan well. + +The painters of all the craft had been cut, and by this time they +were doubtless miles down the stream. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A BATTLE IN THE AIR + +The consternation with which the news of the loss of the canoes was +received by the young adventurers may be imagined. It meant that +they were cut off from communication with the coast entirely unless +some unforeseen circumstances arose. But in spite of the oppression +that naturally affected them at the first news of their serious loss, +Frank's confident manner had its effect in restoring some sort of +hope. Like the born leader that he was, Frank, the minute he +recovered from the first effects of his bitter dismay, set about +cheering up the others. + +"We've always got the Golden Eagle," he comforted, "and anyway it's +likely if no one stops them, that some at least of the canoes will +drift down the river to the coast. M. Desplaines will no doubt be +able to surmise something serious has happened when he hears of +their arrival and will send aid. In the meantime we have to +consider what we are to do about the ivory cache." + +As a matter of fact, as the boys learned later, none of the canoes +ever reached the coast, being intercepted by river-tribes. + +"I vote for going ahead," cried Harry, catching the optimistic note +that his brother's words conveyed. + +"That's the stuff," cried the young leader, "that is exactly what I +was going to propose." + +"How about you, red-top?" asked Billy turning to Lathrop. + +"Of course I'm on," was the reply. + +"I hate to dash your enthusiasm," said Frank, "but you fellows must +see that it is impossible for all of us to go. My plan is to take +Ben Stubbs along and leave you fellows and Sikaso here to guard the +camp. Then, too, there is the possibility of a relief expedition +arriving as soon as they discover that we have lost our canoes." + +Old Sikaso leant apart on his mighty war-axe. He seemed to regret +heartily that he had not had an opportunity of testing its metal on +the head of the knavish Portuguese. + +"What do you say to that plan, Sikaso?" asked Frank, who already +placed a high value on the old warrior's judgment. + +"That it is good, my white brother. Sikaso will stay with the +four-eyed one and the ruddy-haired one and we will see that no harm +comes to the camp of the young white warriors." + +"It is well," replied Frank, who was falling into a trick of +addressing the stately Krooman in the same grandiloquent fashion as +the latter was in the habit of using, "I place my trust in you." + +"Hum," snorted Billy, "four-eyes and red-top that's a nice +combination for you! I'd like to do something to show that old chap +that we can do just as much as anyone else when it comes to a +show-down." + +This remark, however, was made sotto voce to Lathrop, as Billy +really stood in great awe of the six foot-two of ebony flesh and +muscle that was Sikaso. + +But Stubbs was delighted at his selection to accompany the boys in +their aerial dash for the ivory cache. He spent half the night by +lantern light pottering about the great craft and stocking her up +with provisions and equipment for the journey. By the time he had +finished it was almost midnight and he turned in to join the boys in +the land of dreams where Frank and Harry, and doubtless the others, +too, were already busy shooting down Diegos and hippopotami and +flitting through the air above the great African forest and +performing all sorts of wonderful feats. + +At dawn everybody was up and about and after farewells had been said +the Chester boys and their sturdy old companion clambered into the +chassis of their craft. Frank had already laid out his course, +which lay about two points west of north. The boy calculated that +this direction would bring them within a few miles at any rate of +the cache. To find it they would have to trust to persistence and a +modicum of luck. + +Old Sikaso, who had, of course, never seen anything even remotely +resembling an aeroplane, stood apart from the excited group +clustered about the big craft and gazed at it with astonishment, not +unmixed with awe. The other Kroomen--the packers and camp-workers, +however, gathered close about the machine and the boys had a lot of +trouble keeping their busy fingers from unscrewing nuts and +loosening turnbuckles. + +"Anything more like a pack of monkeys on a picnic I never saw," +exclaimed Billy as for the twentieth time he chased a long, skinny +native away from the propellers, where he would have assuredly been +decapitated if he had remained till the engine was started. + +A few turns with the clutch thrown out showed the engine was running +as true as on the day the Golden Eagle made her trial trip. The +muffler was cut out and the effect of the wide-open exhaust on the +Kroomen was magical. Within a second from the time that Harry threw +in the switch and the gatling gun uproar of the exhaust made itself +manifest, not a solitary one was to be seen. From the greenery of +the jungle that rimmed the clearing, however, their frightened faces +could be seen peering, like some strange sort of fruit among the +tropical growth. Only old Sikaso stood his ground. + +But even that stolid old warrior grasped his great war-axe a little +tighter and stood erect as if about to face an unknown enemy as jets +of blue flame and smoke shot from the detonating exhaust. + +"All ready, Harry?" cried Frank to the younger boy who was at his +old station by the engines. + +"Ay, ay!" came the response in a hearty tone. "Then let her go." + +With a quick movement Frank threw in the clutch. + +The mighty propellers began to beat the air with the whirring sound +of a swarm of gigantic locusts in full flight, and after a short run +the great aeroplane took the air in a long graceful rising arc. +Half an hour later, to the watchers in the camp, she was little more +than a speck against the sky. + +Frank, his eye constantly on the compass, kept the ship on a true +course for the Moon Mountains which, now that they were flying far +above the dense forest region, lay a rugged mass of blue and brown, +piled like some giant's playthings--on the northwestern horizon. + +Even from the distance at which the boys viewed them they conveyed +an almost sinister impression in their rugged shapes. Their harsh +outlines cut the sky in a serrated line like the teeth of a huge +saw. + +"Look, look, Frank!" shouted Harry suddenly as they were passing +high over a small clearing. + +Both Frank and Ben peered over the side in answer to the boy's +excited hail. + +Far below them was a strange sight. + +In the center of the clearing were four huge African elephants +solemnly conducting a sort of Brobdingnaggian game of tag. One of +the great beasts would tap the other with its trunk and then would +scamper away till it in turn was "tapped" by a blow that would have +swept a small regiment off its feet. + +Frank pushed over a lever and swung the ship in a circle so that +they might watch the great animals to better advantage. Suddenly +the boys saw one of the elephants, evidently seized by sudden rage, +start goring one of its companions with its huge tusks. The +attacked animal had no chance, and but for the boys would speedily +have been killed. + +"I'm going to give that big bully a shot," exclaimed Harry, and he +got out one of the heavy rifles from the rack under the starboard +transom. + +"Wait, I'll drop a bit," said Frank. + +In response to his manipulation the aeroplane dropped till she +hovered not more than two hundred feet above the great animals. +Then a strange thing happened. The shadow of the craft fell upon +the center of the clearing in front of the dueling beasts and the +on-looking pachyderms, and as it did so the bully stopped goring its +mate and gave a snort of astonishment. + +Its note of surprise quickly changed to a loud trumpet of terror as +the great pachyderm saw swooping above it what must have appeared to +it an aerial inhabitant even larger than itself. Its note of fright +was echoed in a chorus that sounded like an assemblage of cracked +trumpets as the others also sensed the impending danger. + +"Now let him have it," shouted Frank. + +Harry's rifle cracked and the big bully staggered. Twice more the +boy fired and the huge creature staggered on to its knees and then +with a mighty groan rolled over on its side. The others, even the +wounded one, had made off as soon as they had caught sight of the +hovering Golden Eagle. + +Even from the height at which they were the boys could see that the +dead animal had an enormous pair of tusks, no doubt extremely +valuable. + +"We ought to have them there figure-heads," commented Ben Stubbs. +"What do you say if we drop down and get them?" + +Frank looked at his watch. It was half-past nine. + +"We cannot be more than a hundred miles now from the foot of the +range," he said, "and I suppose we have plenty of time. We might as +well drop and get them as let some native tribe have the find and +then get skinned out of them by an Arab trader." + +As he spoke the boy set the planes for descending and the Golden +Eagle settled down--after a few minutes rapid falling--fairly in the +center of the clearing. It was almost a fairylike spot. On every +side it was hedged in by the densest jungle vegetation, the solid +walls being broken here and there by elephant paths leading off into +the green tangle. + +The little glade in which the Golden Eagle had settled was covered +with short, yellow grass and had been trampled almost bare of +vegetation, apparently by the gambols of countless generations of +elephants. + +"This must be one of the elephant playgrounds I have read about," +exclaimed Harry, looking about him. + +"No doubt it is," replied Frank. "But look at those tusks, why +there's ivory enough there alone to give us all a nice wad of pocket +money." + +Ben Stubbs, with one of the small axes, at once set about hacking +out the dead elephant's huge tusks and a long job it was. Finally, +however, he managed to cut them free and clear and the boys loaded +them into the aeroplane. + +"Now we are all ready for a fresh start," said Frank as they +clambered in after him and settled down in their places; but a +startling interruption occurred. + +With a wild yell, that struck a sudden chill to the heart of every +one of the little group, a band of beings that at first sight looked +like nothing so much as huge gorillas, burst from the forest on +every side. + +Their heads were misshapen and flat and their protruding lips were +daubed with white and red clay which gave them a ghastly unearthly +look. From their ears hung huge ivory pendants. They carried +elephant skin shields and were armed with spears and bow and arrows. +As if they did not consider themselves sufficiently hideous, several +of the tribe had cut their faces in long stripes and the hardly +healed scars of these wounds rendered their already sinister faces +terrifying indeed. + +Desperately Harry threw over the wheel and the engines started +faithfully to respond but not before half a dozen of the savages had +thrown themselves on to the aeroplane. + +Their weight held her down although she scudded over the ground; and +in the meantime the other natives started pouring a shower of arrows +and spears into her. Fortunately none of these struck the boys +although Frank felt an arrow whiz through the loose sleeve of his +shirt. + +"Get those fellows off or I can't get the ship up," he yelled. + +Harry and Ben Stubbs fired their automatics into the clinging mass +of savages. + +Two dropped and the aeroplane began to rise but the others +desperately clung on. + +"Get 'em off," shouted Frank, as he desperately strove to raise the +air-craft. + +As he spoke he fell back with a cry of pain. + +An arrow had struck him on the shoulder inflicting a painful wound. + +Like a flash Harry took in the situation and leaped to the steering +wheel. As he did so the savage with whom he had been contending +clambered clear into the chassis. At the same instant Ben Stubbs' +revolver dispatched the last of the men clinging to the planes and +the Golden Eagle began to rise. + +As she shot upward the savage who had climbed into the chassis gave +a wild shriek of real terror. But his outburst didn't come before +he had made a savage lunge at Ben Stubbs with a short heavy knife. +The solo adventurer dived under the black's arm and struck it upward +as he lunged and the weapon went whirling groundward out of the +air-ship. + +With a cry of despair the savage rushed to the edge of the car and +was about to throw himself into empty air when Ben leaped forward to +try to restrain him. + +But it was too late. + +As the boys' sturdy companion gallantly attempted to save the +savage's life a flight of arrows whizzed up from below. + +With a groan the man on the edge of the car pitched forward into +open space, pierced to the heart with an arrow sped by one of his +own tribesmen. Down he shot like a stone to the earth below, while +the Golden Eagle--as if rejoicing in her escape, shot upward and +onward. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE VOICE OF THE MOUNTAIN + + +Frank's wound fortunately turned out to be nothing very serious-- +though painful enough--and after it had been treated with +antiseptics from the medicine chest he declared that, aside from the +stiffness and soreness, he felt no ill effect. + +"Those fellows certainly gave us a sample of what we may expect," +remarked Harry, examining the hole in his shirt where the arrow had +ripped through. + +"It was quite as narrow an escape as I care to experience," agreed +Frank. "How about you, Ben?" + +"Wall," said the old adventurer, "I don't know as how I think that +kind of excitement is as beneficial fer the health as the rest +cure." + +Meanwhile the Golden Eagle, plowing through the clear African air at +fifty miles an hour, rapidly drew nearer and nearer to the +mysterious Moon Mountains. + +As they neared the range the extraordinary character of it was +revealed more and more clearly. Seamed with deep gloomy abysses and +almost bare of vegetation, except a few scanty groves of palms and +the hardier tropical trees, they seemed indeed fitted to be the +theater of dark mysteries and the haunt of savage tribes. + +"Well," exclaimed Harry, as be scrutinized the strange mountain mass +through the glasses, "I should say that if those Winged Men are to +be found anywhere, here is where they'd reside." + +"I should think they'd use their wings to get out--a nastier looking +lot of mountains I never saw," was Ben's reply. + +Frank made no comment, but the sinister character of the mountains +they were so rapidly approaching impressed itself on his mind +nevertheless. Eagerly he scanned the range for the first sign of +"The Upturned Face." Harry and Ben, too, gave quite as eager +scrutiny toward the discovery of this striking mark of the ivory's +hiding-place. + +All at once it shot into view with a suddenness that made the boys' +beads swim. + +It was as clear as daylight. The line of the mountain for which +Frank had the Golden Eagle II now directly headed was unmistakably +the outline also of a hawk-nosed facet. + +If the mountains themselves had an evil, menacing look, the stone +face possessed this same quality in an infinitely greater degree. + +"Well, if we've got to go looking for ivory right under that face +the sooner we find it the better," exclaimed Ben. "I'd hate to be +shipmates with the fellow who sat for that portrait." + +"No human being ever sat for it, Ben," laughed Frank; "it's a mere +freak of nature which has so disposed the mountain mass at this +point as to give the semblance of what the map-maker terms The +Upturned Face." + +"Well, if I had a mug like that I'd turn it down instead of up +before some one did it for me," was Ben's comment. + +The Golden Eagle landed on a plateau about halfway up the mountain, +beneath the upturned face. It made an almost ideal camping-place, +considering the rugged nature of their surroundings. In one part of +it a small grove of bananas and palms had taken root, and their +smiling greenery offered a refreshing contrast to the dark +oppressive gloom of the giant rock masses piled all about. From the +center of this oasis in the rocky range bubbled a tiny spring of +water as clear and cold as if it had been filtered and iced. +Frank's first act was to send out a wireless to the River Camp, +telling of their arrival. + +"Well, thank goodness, we've got something green and pleasant to +look at," remarked Ben, as they set about transforming the chassis +of the Golden Eagle into a comfortable tent by means of running up +the canvas curtains on the aluminum frames provided for that +purpose. Thus equipped, the chassis served the uses of an improved +tent, as the floor was well above the ground and out of all danger +of the unwholesome, vapors rising from the ground and also the +scorpions and other reptiles. + +But if the oasis itself was a pretty spot, it was made doubly so by +the contrast it afforded to the scenery surrounding it. On all +sides shot up frowning walls of rugged black rock which seemed to +have been torn and ripped in some remote period by a terrific +convulsion of nature. In places, too, the rock masses seemed to +have been seared by subterranean fires. Frank gazed upward at the +terrific character of the scenery about them. + +"We shall need the rope-ladder," he announced suddenly after a long +silence. + +"The rope-ladder?" inquired Harry, "what for?" + +Frank laughed. + +"I mean the rope-ladder we use in the Golden Eagle. As you know, +the only way to locate the cache is to strike a direct line down +from the nose of the upturned face. That will bring us to the small +cairn or pile of rocks that marks the Arab's hiding-place." + +"He could hardly have chosen a better," remarked Harry. "Who would +ever guess, unless they had the key to the mystery, that these +mountains held such a fortune in tusks." + +The rest of that day was spent in overhauling the outfit which they +would need to use on their expedition of the morrow. Luckily the +boots they wore had been fitted with "hob-nails" so that they were +ideal for the tough climb that they had ahead of them. Each member +of the three was to carry a pick and of course they all were to be +armed, carrying several rounds of ammunition each in their +cartridge-belts. + +That night after a supper of fried ham, canned corn and pancakes--all +cooked by the skilful Ben over a fire of wood collected from the +little grove--Frank sent out a wireless to the members of the camp +on the river bank and felt much reassured when Lathrop's "All +well--good luck," came back through the air. It was delightfully +cool on the mountain-side after the oppressive fetid air of the +river and its neighborhood, and as Ben had remarked before they +turned in: + +"Fine weather for sleeping." + +But sleep would not come to Frank. He tossed and turned on his +transom bed and several times gazed out into the night through the +canvas curtains. An unaccountable feeling of unrest possessed him. +Could they get the ivory out of the cache before Muley-Hassan and +his band arrived by land? + +Fast as they had traveled through the air Frank realized that the +Arab, who doubtless by this time had been informed by the +treacherous Diego of the boys' bold dash, would push on at furious +speed in order to head them off. That he would come accompanied by +a well-armed band Frank could not doubt. He and Harry and Ben could +only put up a feeble resistance against such an attack. There was +only one chance to secure the ivory and that was to get at it before +the Arab arrived. It all depended then on how quickly they could +find the cache. Frank lit the lantern and shielding it so that it +would not strike in the eyes of his sleeping brother, drew out the +map and scanned it attentively. + +Yes, here were the directions written in the queer hand of +Muley-Hassan's follower. + +"A line from the nose straight down to the cairn of stones." + +It seemed simple enough and certainly the nose of the Upturned Face +was as clearly to be made out as a ship at sea. But Frank had been +too long trained in the hard school of adventure to underestimate +the difficulties of any piece of work. They faced a hard job and +none realized the fact better than the young leader. + +At last he blew the lantern out and once more composed himself to +sleep. He was just dozing off when a sufficiently startling +interruption occurred. One which drove all further thoughts of rest +from his head. + +It was an extraordinary sound that brought the boy out of his bed +with a bound and caused him to clutch his revolver with a heart that +beat loud and thick in spite of himself. + +Clutching his weapon the boy rushed to the door of the chassis tent +and gazed out. + +There was a bright moon which threw into inky blackness the +depressions of the rugged mountains and threw up their projections +into a blue glare. It was almost as light as day under that +wonderful African moon. Had there been any one near the boy must +have been able to see them. + +But look as he would there was not a soul in sight. All about him +stretched the barren frowning mountains sleeping under the moon. + +But the sound that he had heard? + +There was no mistaking it. It had been too like the low humming of +a human voice for him to have been misled. Perhaps he had been +dreaming? + +But as if to give the lie to any such supposition the strange sound +that had so alarmed him at that moment made itself manifest once +more: + +"A-hooo-A-AH-HOOO-00-a-ho-ho-ho-o-!" + +It started softly and gradually ran up the scale till it reached a +crescendo shout and then died out in a soft sound like a woman's +wail. Heard anywhere the sound would have been alarming enough, but +coming as it did in the midst of these unknown, mysterious Mountains +of the Moon it struck a chill to the boy's heart and caused his +scalp to tighten in a manner that even the bravest man or boy in the +world would have had no reason to feel shame over. + +A human enemy, a foe he could see, Frank would have faced with iron +nerve; but this strange wailing noise coming from what quarter of +the compass he could not judge--was so uncanny that he was really +disturbed. He bounded into the chassis and roused Ben and Harry. +He had hardly whispered to them the extraordinary intelligence when +again the voice arose. + +"A-ho-ho-h-o-o-o-A-h-hoo-ho-AH-HO-HO-O-O-O-AH-ho-h-o-o-o-o-o-o!" + +"Well, who?" roared Ben angrily, "come out and show yourself, you +human hyena, and I'll put so much lead in your system you'll be +worth a nickel a pound. Come, you old Ah-Hoo, and I'll show you who +I am quick enough--shiver my topsails!" + +But the only reply to Ben's tirade was the dismal echo of his voice +among the rocky chasms. + +"Shiver my topsails!" roared the echo and then the hills bandied the +cry about from ridge to ridge till it died out in a whisper: + +"My topsails!" + +"Hum," remarked Ben, "I don't think I'll talk so loud around here. +There seem to be a lot of folks listening. Such a dreary hole as +this I never--" + +"Never," sighed the echoes, "--never." + +"Here, I can't stand this," cried Harry. "I'm going to send a +bullet up there the next time that fellow starts 'Ah-hooing."' + +But as the strange mournful cry rang out once more the boys paused +in bewilderment. + +There was no locating the sound. + +It seemed to fill the air. To come from every quarter of the +compass at once. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE ARAB'S CACHE + + +The mysterious cries were not repeated that night although the boys +laid awake till daylight listening for any repetition. No theory +they could advance, although these ranged all the way from cannibals +and gorillas to ghosts, had any effect on the solution of the +mystery. They finally agreed to trust to solving it in some chance +way, and like sensible boys did not continue to worry themselves +over the unsolvable. + +Frank's first action was to send out a wireless to the river camp +and to his great relief he found that events there were still +proceeding with the same regularity as before. Nothing had occurred +to mar the even life of the young adventurers left behind. This was +the tenor of the message, but there was something about it that +worried Frank. Lathrop, he knew, was an expert wireless operator, +but the sending that he performed that morning was so jerky and +irregular that the rankest amateur might have done better. + +"What is the matter?" asked Frank sharply after the sending had +become even more unskilled and shaky. + +There was no answer; which caused Frank a vague feeling of +apprehension. He speedily drove this impression from his mind, +however, with: + +"Pshaw! the sleepless night I passed has made me nervous." + +After breakfast there was so much to be done that there was no more +time to waste on gloomy forebodings and the boys started, as soon as +the camp had been put in order, on their expedition up the +mountain-side to the Upturned Face--which was to be the starting +point for the uncovering of the secret ivory hoard. + +The climb was quite as stiff as Frank had anticipated and, laden as +they were with the rope-ladder and the other equipment, it was +rendered even tougher. All three carried water-canteens covered +with wet felt, containing half-a-gallon each. Frank had insisted on +this as it was doubtful if they could find water at the summit of +the mountain. + +As the sun rose higher in the sky and beat down on the bare rock +ridges over which the adventurers were making their way, it became +as uncomfortable as any expedition on which the boys had ever beer +engaged. + +"Talk about New Mexico or Death Valley," exclaimed Harry, "I feel +like a piece of butter rolled up in a paper and I've melted." + +"I feel like a Welsh rarebit myself," laughed Frank, "how about you, +Ben?" + +"I feel like a pot of boiling tar with a fire lighted under me," +growled the veteran angrily; "consarn these rocks, I'd give a whole +lot for a bit of that shade we left behind us." + +Despite the discomfort and the heat, however, they struggled on up +the mountain-side, frequently using the rope-ladder to get over +rough places, and at about noon they stood beneath the steep rock +cliff that formed the nose of the upturned face. + +It was easy enough then to reach a spot below the tip and Frank, +with a long cord he had brought for the purpose, laid out a straight +line from the point down the southern slope of the mountain-side. +While they were busy about this they were startled by a repetition +of the same strange cry, half-warning, half-savage, that they had +been so alarmed by the night before. + +"A-ho-o-o-o-AH-H-O-O-O-a-h-o-o-hoo-o-o-o-o!" + +"Great Scott," yelled Harry, "what on earth do you think of that?" + +Frank--considerably startled himself--had, however, made a +determined effort to ascertain the source of the sound as it rose +and fell in its strange cadence. + +"I've got it!" he shouted; now with a cry of triumph. + +"Got what?" cried Harry, as if he feared his brother had suddenly +become infected with some strange complaint--"rabies or the pip?" + +"The noise--I mean I know where it comes from," cried the excited +boy. + +"Where?" chorused Ben and Harry. + +"From somewhere about the Upturned Face," cried Frank triumphantly, +"Hark!" + +The strange wailing cry rang out once more. They all listened +intently. + +Sure enough it seemed to proceed from the sinister countenance +carved in the living rock above them. + +"Well, here's where we end this mystery for all time," shouted +Frank, drawing his revolver, "who is game to follow me?" + +Of course Harry and Ben rushed to his side, and while the echo of +the mysterious cry was still sobbing and sighing among the crags +they dashed back up the mountain-side utterly oblivious now to the +heat or anything but their determination to discover who or what had +uttered the extraordinary cry. The side of the nose--or the nostril +so to speak--was formed of a wall of rock fully twelve feet in +height. + +"You fellows give me a boost up there and I'll travel right along +the face till I find out where the racket comes from." + +On Ben's strong shoulders Frank was soon hoisted up to a height +where he could lay hold of a projecting bit of rock and shin himself +up on to the top of the nose. + +"Look out he doesn't think you are a fly and try to brush you off," +laughed Harry from below. + +"No danger of that," shouted back Frank, "unless I lit on him in the +Golden Eagle." + +The surface of the face was as remarkable as its profile. + +Apparently some forgotten tribe had at some time or other been +struck by the facial outline of the rocks and had cut into the flat +surface, which was upturned to the sky, eyes and a mouth, the latter +well provided with teeth, in each of which was drilled a tiny +triangular hole. + +While Frank was puzzling over the meaning of these apertures there +came a repetition of the weird cry, but this time the lad was so +startled that he almost lost his balance and fell backward. + +The call seemed to proceed from his very feet. Then, all at once, +he realized what it was. + +The strange sounds proceeded from the mouth of the stone face. + +Frank ran to the edge of the steep declivity that formed the nose. + +"Say, Harry, and you too, Ben, examine the surface below there very +carefully for any holes. They will probably be small ones and in a +row." + +"None this side," announced the searchers after a lengthy quest. + +"Try the other," ordered Frank. + +They did so and after a few minutes of careful scrutiny Harry +shouted that they had found a row of small holes pierced in the rock +just below where Frank stood. + +"Then we have solved the mystery of the voice," exclaimed Frank. + +"What do you mean?" demanded Harry. + +"That it is nothing more or less than an arrangement of holes +through which, when the wind blows in a stiff puff, air is forced +with violence enough to cause the cry that disturbed us so much last +night," was the reply. + +This indeed was the solution, and had the boys known it there are +many such rocks in Africa, carved out by some forgotten race, and +the weird cries that the vent-holes give out in the wind doubtless +acted as a powerful "fetish" to keep away troublesome enemies. + +"No wonder the niggers down below don't come near the Moon +Mountains," said Harry, as they all buckled over the simple +explanation of the phenomenon that had caused them so much alarm. +"I wouldn't care to, myself, unless I knew just what made that cry." + +"It certainly was as depressing as anything I ever heard," said +Frank, "and now having solved the great mystery--let's get back to +work." + +The three adventurers went at the job with a will. The line was +about a hundred feet long and the method of procedure was this: +Frank tested the straightness of the line, as accurately as possible +with his eye, while Ben and Harry carried it stretched between them. +The end of each hundred feet was signalized by a stone, and Harry, +who was at the end of the line, carried his end to this mark before +they laid out a fresh hundred feet. In this way they must have +measured off very nearly half-a-mile of the mountain-side when Frank +gave a sudden sharp cry and pointed to a depression in the dark +range immediately below them. As the others looked they echoed his +cry and gave a dash forward. + +Directly beneath them, about in the center of the little dip, was a +cairn of rough stones perhaps four feet in height. In a few bounds +they had reached the pile, which they knew meant the discovery of +the ivory cache and the end of the most difficult part of their +expedition. Little did they imagine the amazing things that were +yet to happen to them and of which they were but on the threshold. + +"Good Lord, look at that, boys!" exclaimed Frank, as they stood at +the foot of the cairn. + +There was a good reason for the boy's exclamation. + +Distributed around the base of the pile were a dozen or, more human +skulls. + +"Are they those of white men?" asked Harry in an awed tone. Frank +shook his head. + +"No, they are those of negroes I believe," he replied after a +careful examination, "and I imagine that Muley-Hassan killed them +after they erected the cache so that they would not be able to +spread the knowledge of its whereabouts to any of the marauding +tribes who might even brave the ghostly voice when such a great +treasure of ivory tempted." + +A shout from Ben, who had been walking round the pile examining it +from every view-point interrupted them. They looked up and saw the +old adventurer pointing to the mountain summit where it cut the sky. +Outlined against the deep azure was the object that had caused his +exclamation. It was the figure of a man that had apparently been +watching them intently. + +But as they gazed the strange, crouched form suddenly vanished. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE AGE OF SIKASO + +It was late afternoon of the day that Frank, Harry and Ben had left +the River Camp. Lathrop, Billy, Barnes and old Sikaso had wandered +into the jungle with their rifles, intent on bringing down some sort +of game to replenish the camp larder. For hours they tramped about +in the thick jungle and a fair measure of success had fallen to +their rifles. Shortly before sundown the trio met in a glade not +more than a mile from the camp and compared notes. To Billy's gun +had fallen a plump young deer and Lathrop had brought down, not +without a feeling of considerable pride, a species of wild hog which +Sikaso proclaimed with a grunt was "heap good." + +Flushed with triumph and carrying their own bag, the young hunters +set out for the camp, arriving there at dusk. As has been told, it +was not long after that that Frank's wireless from the Moon +Mountains winged its way through the air and Lathrop was able to +flash back in response an "all-well" message. The boys turned in +early, Billy and Lathrop to their tent and old Sikaso to the rough +shelter he had contrived for himself and which he declared was far +more comfortable than any tent. Like a wild beast the savage old +warrior disliked to have anything approaching a roof over him. It +appeared to savor too much of a trap of some kind. + +Billy might have been asleep five hours or so and it was approaching +midnight when he heard a noise outside the tent door and a second +later old Sikaso announced his presence by a whispered: + +"Awake, Four-eyes, there is danger." + +"What do you mean, Sikaso," demanded the half asleep reporter, +"danger to our friends?" + +"No; to us, and here and soon," was the disquieting response, +"arouse your friend. We have no time to lose." + +Billy was wide awake now and made a motion as if he would light the +lantern. + +Sikaso stopped him with a quick gesture. + +"Do not light the lamp, my white brother," he whispered in the same +tense tones, "to do so would be to reveal to those who are now +approaching that we are awake and expect them. Rather let us +pretend that we are unaware that they come and spring upon them like +the leopard when she is least expected." + +"Yes, but--" exclaimed Billy in a bewildered tone, "what do you +mean, Sikaso, what enemies are coming? How do you know that they +are approaching?" + +"I have seen it in the smoke," was the somber reply; "the smoke +never lies. After I lay down on my skins I could not sleep, I felt +there was danger approaching us. From where I knew not. So I made +the "fetish" fire. In it I saw a band of men coming toward us down +the river and at the head of them was a dark man--a man you know +well, my white brother with the four eyes." + +"Diego!" exclaimed Billy divining the other's thought. + +"Yes, Diego; cursed be the day that my war-axe did not cleave his +ugly skull; but beside Diego there is another. Hearken to the words +of Sikaso, the elephant in his rage is not more merciless, the +serpent not more cunning, the crocodile not more savage in onslaught +than this other. He is Muley-Hassan, the Arab, and the deeds he has +done, my brother, when recounted turn strong men's blood to water." + +Small wonder that Billy, as he hastily roused Lathrop, felt a +shudder run through him. He had heard enough from Frank of the ways +of Muley-Hassan to know that they could not well fall into the hands +of a more pitiless foe and that now, with the Golden Eagle gone and +the Boy Aviators already at the ivory cache, it was probable that +the slave-dealer's rage would render him even more savage than was +his wont. + +In a few rapidly whispered words Billy apprised Lathrop of the +situation. Like Billy, the other boy had no lack of pluck but his +heart sank, as had his companion's, as he sensed the full meaning of +Sikaso's warning. + +"But perhaps the smoke was mistaken," he said eagerly, willing to +grasp even at that straw of hope; but the old warrior's answer +dashed his aspirations to the ground. + +"The smoke is never mistaken," he said simply; but with such calm +conviction that the boys, despite themselves, realized that the old +Krooman had really the knowledge of grave peril approaching. + +"Had we not better arm the other Kroomen?" asked Billy anxiously. + +"It would be useless," was Sikaso's reply, "they are cowards. At +the first sight of blood they would run to the forest like the sons +of weaklings that they are." + +"We must rouse Professor Wiseman at once," cried Billy. + +"It is well," muttered Sikaso, "we shall need every man who can hold +a rifle to-night but the professor is old, my brothers, and his +heart is as a woman's." + +"Well, he'll have to fight," said Billy with bloodthirsty determination. +"I for one am not going to stand calmly by and have my throat cut, or +worse still be taken prisoner by this old Muley-Hassan." + +Old Sikaso glanced approvingly at him. + +"Well spoken, Four-eyes," said he; "spoken like a son of a warrior." + +Billy's ears tingled at the compliment, which was really in the old +African's opinion the highest that could be paid to a man or a boy, +and hurried off to wake "the bugologist" as be disrespectfully +termed the professor. To his surprise, for he more than half +expected an outbreak, Professor Wiseman did not appear particularly +concerned at the news that Diego, and Muley-Hassan were--as the boys +had every reason to believe--at that moment advancing on the camp. + +"I will dress myself with all alacrity," he said, "and join you in +your tent, but I must say I don't believe in all this witchcraft." + +"Will this Muley-Hassan be well armed?" asked Billy, in a voice +which was rather shaky, of their black friend. + +"Plenty rifles," was Sikaso's brief reply. + +"Don't you want a rifle or at least a heavy caliber shotgun?" asked +Billy. + +The old warrior laughed and swung his mighty axe round his head till +the blade flashed like a continuous band of steel and the air +whistled at the cleavage of the sharp edge. Then he began to sing +softly a war-song which may be roughly rendered in English thus: + + "At dawn I went out with my axe into the red fight; + Like the grass before the fire, like the clouds before the wind, + I drove them. I, Sikaso, I drove them. + There were rivers that day; but the rivers were red. + They were the rivers of the blood of my enemies; + With my war-axe I killed them. + This is the song of mighty Sikaso, and his terrible axe of death." + +Although the boys of course did not understand the words, the fierce +voice in which the old warrior intoned the chant made them realize +what a terrible foe he was likely to prove in battle. But now as +Sikaso brought his song to a conclusion and rested his axe on the +ground, leaning on its hilt, he suddenly stiffened into an attitude +of close attention. + +"Hark, my white brothers!" he cried, "the war-eagles are gathering +for the slaughter." + +But the slight sound the keen ears of the savage had caught without +difficulty was longer in making itself manifest to the two white +boys. After a few minutes of listening, so intense as to be +painful, they likewise, however, distinctly heard the regular, +rhythmic dip of paddles coming down the river. + +"There are six war canoes full of them," announced, Sikaso, with +almost a groan, after he had given close attention to the sounds. +"Alas, my white brothers, there is little use of our giving battle." + +"Well, I for one am not going to give up without dropping a few of +the cowardly wretches," cried Billy. + +"Nor I," echoed Lathrop, enthused by Billy's brave example. + +The old warrior's eyes kindled as he gazed at the two brave young +Americans, each clutching his rifle and waiting for the moment to +arrive when they could use them. + +"If we only had had time to throw up a stockade, my brothers, we +might have driven them off yet," he cried. + +"Well, we'll give as good an account of ourselves as possible," +declared Lathrop. + +And now began what has been acknowledged to be the most trying part +of any engagement, from a duel to a battle--the waiting for +hostilities to begin. It seemed that an interminable time had +elapsed from the moment that they heard the first "dip-dip" of the +paddles to the sharp crack of a twig sounded in the jungle directly +ahead of them. The snapped branch told them that the enemy's +outposts were reconnoitering to see that the camp was actually, as +it seemed to be, wrapped in sleep. + +Apparently the scout, whoever he was, was soon convinced of the fact +that the adventurers were slumbering, for he advanced boldly from +the dark sheltering shadows of the jungle and emerged into the +bright moonlight which flooded the clearing in which the camp stood. + +Billy raised his rifle to his shoulder and the next minute would +have been the savage scout's last had not old Sikaso sternly seized +and lowered the weapon, saying in a tense whisper: + +"The time is not yet ripe, my brother. To fire now would be +unnecessarily to give the alarm. Wait until they are massed thick +and then fire into the bodies of the Arab dogs." + +The scout didn't waste much time in reconnoitering. After a short +time spent in peering about he dived once more into the forest and +Billy whispered to Lathrop: + +"Now it's coming, old man." + +And come it did. + +Five minutes after the scout had dived back into the forest a dozen +dark forms crept from the bush and stealthily advanced toward the +tent. + +The leader had reached the door and Billy was frantically imploring +old Sikaso to let him shoot when an appalling shriek rent the air. + +The old Krooman's axe flashed once in the moonlight and the leader +of the attacking party lay dead at the tent door, severed almost to +the chest. + +There was not a second's time, however, to take in what had +happened. In a flash the whole horde was upon them, and Billy and +Lathrop began firing desperately into the mass of foemen who +appeared to spring from every side of the clearing at once. + +Even in this extremity a strange thought flashed across Billy's, +mind: + +"Where was Professor Wiseman?" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +IN THE HANDS OF SLAVE-TRADERS + + +The ebon form of the Krooman giant seemed everywhere at once. + +In the moonlight his terrible axe flashed incessantly and every time +it fell a shriek or a muffled groan showed that it had found its +fatal mark. The huge form of the warrior black seemed, however, to +bear a charmed life. Again and again one of the attacking force +would fire at him, but the bullets seemed to be warded off by some +supernatural force. He was immune alike to bullets and arrows--with +which latter the natives attached to Muley-Hassan's force battled. + +Billy and Lathrop fought with unflinching courage, pouring out a +leaden hail into the onslaught that again and again seemed as if it +must drive the attacking force back. But fighting at such +desperately uneven odds could not in the nature of things last long. +There came a minute when Billy, turning to reload, found that before +he could snatch up a handful of cartridges a huge Arab was on top of +him. + +Lathrop's clubbed rifle struck the fellow helpless the next minute +and sent his long, cruel knife with a ringing crash to the floor. + +Before Billy's half breathed "Thanks, old man," had left his lips, +however, another of Muley-Hassan's followers had rushed in and the +moment would have been Lathrop's last but that Billy drove his fist +into the fellow's face with a crashing blow that knocked him on the +top of his fallen comrade. It was hand-to-hand fighting then with a +vengeance. Billy seized hold of the muzzle of an Arab's revolver as +it was thrust into his very face, and twisted it upward as it was +discharged. Seizing up a camp chair Lathrop swung it round his head +like a club and scattered the brains of a native follower of +Muley-Hassan. + +But strategy was to put an abrupt end to the fight even if it could +have continued much longer. + +Billy was bleeding from a cut over the forehead which blinded him, +and Lathrop had got two nasty knife thrusts, one in the arm and the +other in the fleshy part of the calf of his leg, when they were +suddenly attacked from the rear by half-a-dozen slavers. The next +minute, wounded and bound, they were as helpless as two captured +puppies. + +The fight was over, but the Arabs had come out of it with a badly +crippled force. + +Of the twenty-five men who had attacked the adventurers' camp ten +had been killed outright and half a dozen others so badly wounded +that they could not move. Hardly one of them had not received some +minor injury, and the very fact that they had made such a poor +showing against two American boys and a Krooman armed only with an +axe, filled Muley-Hassan with savage rage. + +Furiously the slave-dealer ordered the two boys brought before him. +A huge fire had been lighted by his followers and in the glare cast +by this he received them. It was a wild scene and the two boys +hardly knew whether they were awake or dreaming, as they were +roughly hustled into the presence of their captor. + +Diego de Barros, his cruel, thin lips curled in a sneer that showed +his yellow teeth, stood by the side of Muley-Hassan, the latter a +tall determined-looking man with a crisp, curly black beard and a +sinister cast of features. A long burnoose of white, worn after the +Arab style, hung from his head and framed his dark features, which +were just then overspread by a frown as black as thunder. + +Outside the circle of firelight lay the bodies of the victims of the +Krooman's axe and the boys' bullets. All who could do so of +Muley-Hassan's followers were gathered about him, as the two young +Americans were brought face to face with the man they had such good +reason to fear. + +"So these are the young Americans?" he asked as Billy and Lathrop +returned his hawk-like gaze unflinchingly. + +"No, sir," spoke up Diego, "they are not. Wiseman has just told me +that the Chester boys have flown in their air-ship and these are the +cubs left behind to guard the camp." + +At Wiseman's name mentioned in such a connection both the boys +started. + +"What! they have gone?" thundered the Arab chief. + +"Yes, sir," stammered Diego, his coward nature aroused at the sight +of his superior's fury. + +"And by this time they are rifling the ivory cache. That fool +Wiseman shall pay dearly for this. Bring him to me," shouted the +Arab. + +Desperate as was the boys' position they could not restrain a start +of amazement as Professor Wiseman, his face pale as ashes to his +very lips, came tremblingly forward. + +"You were attached to this boys' camp to prevent by all means their +sailing till I attacked the camp and made them prisoners, were you +not?" demanded Muley-Hassan angrily. + +Wiseman stammered something in reply. + +"You are a coward as well as a fool," went on the slave-dealer, a +cruel sneer breaking over his face; "but you have blundered for the +last time. Take this fool away and kill him!" he ordered, turning +away as if there was an end of the business. + +Pitiful cries broke from the lips of the unhappy professor as he +heard his death-warrant thus pronounced. He threw himself on his +knees and begged and pleaded in a loud screeching tone for a little +more time. But the chief was obdurate. + +"Take him away," was all he said, and his men, not daring to disobey +his orders any longer, fairly dragged the unfortunate prisoner +toward the river bank. There was a short, sharp scream that chilled +every drop of blood in the boys' bodies and then a splash. +Professor Wiseman had paid the price of his treachery. + +It was not till long after that the boys heard the full measure of +his villainy. How posing as a naturalist he had wandered up and +down the Ivory Coast for years acting as the secret agent of +Muley-Hassan and making arrangements for the smuggling of slaves and +illicitly procured ivory out of the country. He was too +accomplished a rascal to be suspected and his learned appearance +made it still more improbable that he should be engaged in any +illegal trafficking. It was small wonder, too, that he had started +when Frank mentioned the name of Luther Barr, for it was Luther Barr +whom he had betrayed to Muley-Hassan and advised him of the +whereabouts of the wily old New Yorker's ivory cache. As soon as he +heard Frank mention the name he had of course surmised that the +pretended hunting expedition was merely a blind to cover a bold dash +to recover the ivory, though how they were to discover its +whereabouts he could not imagine till, by prying and listening, he +learned that they had a map of the locality of the stolen stuff. + +He had then dispatched native canoe-men to Muley-Hassan and apprised +him of the coming of the boys, and Diego had been at once sent out +by the Arab to secure possession of the map if possible and, failing +that, to destroy the boys' canoes. That the aeroplane would also +have been put out of commission there is little doubt, if Diego or +Wiseman could have found an opportunity. The brutal Arab could then +have disposed of the expedition at his leisure. But the Golden +Eagle II was too closely guarded for the two spies to be able to +harm it. + +The Kroomen porters attached to the camp had, as old Sikaso had +forecast, fled into the jungle at the first attack of the Arab's +followers and they did not put in an appearance till long after the +marauders had left the camp. + +But what puzzled the boys, as they stood facing the Arab with +Professor Wiseman's scream still ringing in their ears, was "What +had become of the old warrior." + +He could not have turned traitor. His valiant behavior in the +skirmish made that impossible to consider a minute. But it was +equally certain that he was nowhere to be seen. What could have +become of him? A dread that he was dead oppressed both boys as they +stood there waiting for the Arab to speak. + +Muley-Hassan seemed to be considering. + +He twisted the ends of his jet-black mustaches like a man lost in +thought, and the firelight playing on his bold reckless features +showed there an expression of deep perplexity. But it was no +question of mercy that was agitating his mind. + +It was whether he would kill the boys right there or sell them into +slavery. + +To his money-making mind the latter idea commended itself. Two +strong youths such as they were would fetch a good price anywhere, +and so it came about that Billy and Lathrop--who had fully expected +to share the Professor's fate--were flung by no gentle hands into +their bullet-riddled tent and left to pass the night as best they +could. Two men were posted to watch them and a rough cuff on the +head rewarded Billy's single attempt to speak to Lathrop. + +The next day at dawn the camp was the scene of great activity. The +dead were carried into the forest a short distance and buried, while +the wounded were attended to with such rough surgery as Muley-Hassan +knew. In this work Diego, his lieutenant, who seemed to be a sort +of Jack-of-all-trades-outside of his regular occupation of +scoundrel-aided him; bandaging the, cuts and extracting the bullets +of his companions with some skill. + +The boys were then given to eat some sort of stew in a big wooden +basin and being just healthy American boys and not heroes of romance +they ate heartily of the compound and felt better. Muley-Hassan +himself examined the cut on Billy's forehead and Lathrop's two +wounds and pronounced them mere scratches. + +Just as it appeared that a start was about to be made the signal +bell of the wireless rang. As our readers know it was Frank +signaling from the Moon Mountains. + +A sudden idea seemed to strike Diego at this. He called +Muley-Hassan aside and talked earnestly with him for a few seconds, +then he came up to the boy and demanded fiercely which one of them +it was that understood wireless. + +Lathrop replied that he did, and the next minute wished that he had +bitten out his tongue before he had admitted it; for Diego, in a +rough tone, ordered him to sit down at the instrument and reply that +all was well at the River Camp. + +"And, mind you, youngster--no tricks," he said savagely, "or I'll +kill you as dead as mutton. I understand the Morse code myself and +can tell what you are sending; and send slow so that I can get every +letter." + +Lathrop was in a quandary. To refuse to sit down at the instrument +meant instant death. + +He could tell that by the look in Diego's eyes and from what he had +seen of him he knew he would not stop at a little thing like a +murder to drive home a point. + +The question was, did the man really understand telegraphy? If he +didn't and was only, bluffing Lathrop determined to inform Frank of +the true state of affairs. Otherwise it would do neither himself +nor the others any good to try to trick Diego. + +With a prayer on his lips that the Portuguese might not have been +stating the truth about his knowledge of wireless the boy started to +send. He had in his mind the message he would try to get through: + +"We have been attacked. Get help and follow us." + +But he had hardly tapped out with a hesitating finger the first word +of his message when he felt a bullet whiz by his ear and the report +flashed so close to him that it deafened him and scorched his skin. + +"Thought I was bluffing did you, eh?" sneered the Portuguese, "come +now, no tricks; send out what I tell you or the next bullet will +come closer." + +And so it came about that the queer hesitating message that Frank +received at Moon Mountains was sent out. + +Immediately it was dispatched Muley-Hassan gave the order to advance +and his ragged followers, carrying the worst wounded in improvised +litters, set out toward the northwest. + +"We are going to the Moon Mountains," whispered Billy to Lathrop, +"at least it looks that way. I overheard Muley-Hassan say to Diego +that we'd have to hurry to get the ivory--" + +Lathrop's reply was cut short by a scene that sent the angry blood +to both boys' faces. + +Before the camp was abandoned for good and the plunge into the +forest began, Muley-Hassan gave a sharp order and directed several +of his men set about demolishing the camp. Diego himself smashed +the field wireless of which Frank and Harry had been so proud. He +hacked it to atoms with one of the heavy axes. The tents and +provision boxes were next piled in a heap and set in a blaze. + +As the column of dark smoke rose from the ruins of the once happy +camp into the clear sky the order to advance was given and the train +once more moved forward. + +They had hardly deserted the clearing before, from the river bank, +half a hundred wild figures appeared. + +They were similar in appearance--only even more wild-looking than +the savages fought off by Frank, Harry and Ben the previous day. +Like the others their slashed and scarred faces and clay-daubed lips +showed them to belong to one of the fierce cannibal tribes of the +Bambara region. + +Their leader, a tall, thin savage of exceptionally repulsive +appearance, motioned with his fingers to his thick lips for absolute +silence among his followers. + +Clutching their great broad-headed war-spears the next moment the +savages slipped into the forest in the direction the Arab and his +band had gone. Steadily they advanced with the quiet stealthy tread +of panthers on the track of their prey. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +GORILLAS--AND AN AERIAL TOW-LINE + + +The mystery of the man on the hill bade fair to be an unsolved one, +for although the boys watched for some time with considerable +anxiety he did not reappear. This feature of the incident set them +to comparing notes and they found that their impression of the +apparition differed considerably. Both Frank and Harry were ready +to swear that he was a black man, while Ben Stubbs was equally +convinced that his skin was of a reddish hue. All three, however, +agreed that he was weaponless so far as could be seen, and his +attitude appeared to be more one of interested curiosity than of +actual hostility. + +"Well, there's no use wasting time in speculation," said Frank at +last, "more especially as it does not look as if we can get any +nearer to solving the problem in that way. The thing to do now is +to get at the ivory and that as quickly as possible. If that man is +the forerunner of a band that means to attack us, it is all the more +reason that we should get a move on." + +"Right you are, Captain," assented Ben, "and here goes!" + +With a mighty swing of his pick the former prospector dislodged a +pile of the rough stones of which the cairn was composed and the +boys, too, laid on with a will. In an hour or so all that was left +of the once lofty cairn was a few big rocks. + +Excitement ran fairly to fever heat as the last obstruction that lay +between the adventurers and the ivory hoard was cast aside. + +In a few minutes now, if all went well, they would be in possession +of the treasure. More than once as they worked, Frank drew his +field-glasses out of their case and scanned the surrounding +wilderness of rocky chasms and swept the green jungle that lay +stretched like an emerald ocean far below, but each time he replaced +them with a sigh of relief. So far there was no sign of any rivals' +approach, although Frank well knew that by this time Muley-Hassan +must be upon his way to contest the boys' claim to the ivory. + +As the last stone was chucked aside with a mighty heave by the +combined forces the perspiring adventurers broke into a hearty cheer. + +Beneath it was a wooden trap-door which had a ring placed in the +middle evidently for the purpose of lifting it. Frank gave it a +heft, but the weight was too much for even his wiry muscles; but +when Ben and, Harry assisted him the door gave with a jump that +threw them all to their feet. + +Scrambling up in a second they rushed to the edge of the hole +revealed by the uplifting of the wooden cover. What they saw showed +them instantly that their wildest hopes had not been overdrawn. +There, at their feet, lay a king's ransom in yellow ivory. + +From the hole rose a fetid, sickening odor that at first was almost +overpowering. It came from the rotting flesh that still adhered to +the roots of many of the huge trunks. + +With a cheer Harry was about to spring down into the aperture when +Frank, with a quick exclamation, drew him back. + +"Jump back for your life!" he shouted. + +Harry was accustomed to obeying his brother in everything, and jump +backward he did with an agility that would have done credit to a +gymnast. Before he could ask a question Frank's revolver cracked +and a little spit of dust shot up almost at his very feet. + +There lay a tiny snake viciously wiggling about in its death agony, +pierced through by Frank's bullet. + +It was a rock adder--one of the deadliest of African snakes. Barely +more than three inches in length, and a dull gray in color, it was +small wonder that Harry in his excitement had not seen it as he was +about to jump almost upon it. + +"We shall have to be careful," said Frank, as he kicked aside the +still writhing body of the disgusting looking reptile. "There is +just a chance that Muley-Hassan, with the cunning of an Arab, may +have put several more of those customers in here to guard his +ivory." + +It was therefore cautiously that the boys proceeded to work at +getting the ivory out of the hole and although they killed three +more of the venomous reptiles it seemed more probable that they had +got in by accident than that the Arab slave-dealer had deliberately +placed them there. By mid afternoon a big pile of ivory lay ready +for transportation to the Golden Eagle Il and only a few more tusks +remained in the hole. + +"How are we ever going to get the tusks down the hill to the Golden +Eagle II?" asked Harry as he gazed at the formidable pile. + +"I have a better plan than that," replied Frank, "we will bring the +Golden Eagle II here." + +"What?" gasped both his listeners. + +"Why not? It will be a ticklish job to land her on this spot, but I +think I can do it. I mean to try anyhow." + +"You are risking breaking up the ship," objected Harry. + +"On the other hand, if we don't get this ivory out of here in jig +time Muley-Hassan will be here with a big force and we shall +assuredly all have our throats cut." + +This argument proved insurmountable, and while Ben was left by the +ivory Harry and Frank hurried down the steeps to the plateau on +which they had left the Golden Eagle II. It was the work of a few +minutes to tune her up. In a brief time from the moment they had +left the ivory cache, considering the clamber they had had, the boys +were in the air and headed for the spot where they had left the +hoard. + +But as they rose into the air they were startled by the sound of a +shout and then another and another, then carne a volley of shots. + +What could be the matter? + +The shooting evidently was taking place at the spot where they had +left Ben to guard the ivory. + +Muley-Hassan! was the first thought that shot through Frank's brain. + +The next minute, however, he dismissed the idea as absurd. The +Arab, even by the swiftest marching, could not have reached the Moon +Mountains in such record time unless he also had an air-ship, which +Frank knew was impossible. + +As the ship soared higher and rushed straight as an arrow through +the air to the ivory cache a strange sight was revealed to the two +young voyagers. High up on the mountain-side they could see Ben +struggling with what appeared to be dozens of naked savages. The +boys could see his gallant resistance as he swung his clubbed rifle +again and again at his savage opponents. Several of them lay dead +on the ground about him, but those that remained were attacking him +with what seemed demoniacal fury. + +"Good Lord," gasped Frank, "what on earth can have happened?" + +"They're cannibals!" gasped Harry. + +"No--no," exclaimed Frank hastily, "they're--give me the glasses +quick, Harry--that's right--I thought so. They're not savages, but +worse almost." + +"What do you mean?" + +"That they are gorillas!" + +At her utmost speed the big aeroplane bore down on the scene of the +unequal combat between Ben Stubbs and the savage beasts. + +The boys could see that one of the brutes had seized their stalwart +companion's rifle from him and with incredible strength had broken +it in half as if it had been a wooden toy. The next minute Harry's +rifle spoke and the gorilla that had just performed the miraculous +feat of strength fell dead. With a shriek of rage the others turned +to see whence came this new enemy. + +At the sight of the great aeroplane bearing down upon them they at +first started to flee with howls of terror, but the next minute they +rallied and with low growls of rage, that bared their cruel fangs, +they deliberately waited to see what this strange object might be. + +This gave Ben a brief respite and he occupied it by reloading his +revolver. The boys were delighted to see by this that their brave +comrade was not seriously injured. + +But now the Golden Eagle II was ready to settle and Frank, guiding +his aerial steed with one hand, grasped his revolver with the other, +for it was evident that the rush would come as they struck the +ground. And come it did. As the wheels of the aeroplane struck the +earth and Frank threw in the brakes sharply crashing into a rocky +wall, with a howl of defiance the whole horde of man-like brutes +rushed down on the air-craft with wicked rage in their spiteful +little red eyes. + +The leader of them, a huge "old man" gorilla, brandished an immense +stone which he hurled with vicious energy at the new arrivals. +Luckily it fell short of the air-ship or it would have crashed +through the plane covers and have seriously crippled, if not ruined, +the air-ship. + +The boys' rifles cracked simultaneously and two of the attackers +rolled over, with horrible human-like cries, but the leader, the bad +"old man," was still in the field. As he saw his fellows fall he +gave a mighty yell of rage and hatred that seemed to come from the +depths of his hairy chest, and beating rapidly on it, as if it were +a war-drum he rushed straight at the aeroplane. + +"Don't let 'em get near the engines," was all Frank had time to +shout before the avalanche of hairy, ill-smelling brutes was upon +them. Some of them had armed themselves with rocks which they +hurled with ferocious force. Others used nothing but their bare +hands. Some of them, wounded as they were, fought with added +fierceness. Desperately the boys fought them off and when the +magazines of the rifles and revolvers were emptied they fell back on +their hunting knives. + +Frank had made a furious lunge at the "old man" and missed him by a +hair's-breadth when he felt two great hairy arms encircle him from +behind and the hot breath of one of his horrible opponents whistling +savagely in his ear. He tried to lunge backwards at the creature, +but toppled over and fell sprawling. In a flash the "old-man" +gorilla was on him when Ben's revolver cracked and the "old-man," +badly wounded, sprang high into the air and rolled over and over, +clutching his head with both his huge hands and screaming in an +agonized manner. + +The fall of their leader seemed to discourage the others. They +fought on for a while but it was half-heartedly. The boys had had +time in the brief pause that followed the killing of the "old-man" +to reload, and with their rifles newly charged they were in position +to make terrible reprisals on the gorilla band for the mischief they +had wrought. The monsters evidently were about to quit the battle +when suddenly a cry rang through the air that ended the fight more +abruptly than even the boys' bullets could have done. + +"Ah-o-o-o-o-AH-O-O-O-O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!" + +It was the voice of the mountain once more. + +With yells of dismay and terror the remainder of the gorilla band +instantly dashed up the rocky mountain-side dragging with them, in +grotesquely human fashion some of their wounded. Several of these, +however, still lay on the ground and the boys put them out of their +misery with a few well-directed shots. A pathetically human look +lingered in the eyes of some of the injured gorillas and Harry burst +out with: + +"This is awful work. I'd rather fight a dozen bands of cannibals +than have to do this." + +"And yet," replied Frank, "if we hadn't killed them they'd have +killed us." + +At last the unpleasant work was over and the ivory was rapidly +loaded into the aeroplane. But here an unanticipated difficulty +manifested itself. Obviously the aeroplane would be too heavily +laden if she attempted to carry all or even a good part of the +ivory. + +"Now we are stuck," cried Harry. + +"Hold on," exclaimed Frank with a smile, "I anticipated this. We +are going to turn the Golden Eagle into a tow-boat." + +"A tow-boat?" + +"That's what I said." + +"What do you mean?" + +Frank, in reply, bent over the stem-locker of the aeroplane and drew +out what Harry instantly recognized as the silk envelope of an +experimental dirigible they had built the year before. + +"Now then," said Frank, "give a hand here." + +They all three pulled and hauled till the envelope was spread level +on the ground, all folds and creases having been carefully shaken +out. + +"Well," said Harry, "this would carry an awful weight of ivory, but +how are you going to inflate it?" + +"With these cylinders," was the answer as Frank opened the +store-room below the floor of the Golden Eagle and pointed to a +dozen cylindrical steel receptacles. "They contain more than enough +pure hydrogen gas at a high pressure," he explained, "to inflate the +bag." + +In his enthusiasm Harry waved his helmet and Ben did the same. + +"An aerial express, hurray!" + +The inflation hose was soon connected to the first of the cylinders +and with a hiss the gas rushed into the bag when a turn of the +wrench set free the precious stuff. Slowly the big yellow envelope +swelled and assumed shape until by the time the last cylinder was +empty it was tugging and straining to rise. But the boys had +weighted it down with rocks and pegged its net ropes to the ground. + +The ivory was loaded into a sort of rope basket, like those used to +hoist cargo aboard a ship, and in a short time, so quickly did they +work, they were ready for the air, so far as what Harry called "the +airbarge" was concerned. + +"We shall have to strip the Eagle," decided Frank, when the +inflation job was finished. + +"Of everything that we can spare," added Harry, setting to work at +once to rip the transoms and detach the bolts that held the heavy +wireless apparatus in place. As he did so, Frank was moved by a +sudden thought. + +"Hold on a second, Harry," he shouted, "I'll call up the river camp +before we cut off all communication." + +Rapidly he sent out the call. Again and again his nervous finger +agitated the key--but there was no response. + +"They--they don't answer," gasped Frank at last--heavy anxiety in +his tones. + +"Oh, Frank, do you think anything serious is the matter?" cried +Harry. + +"It may only be that the apparatus is out of order," replied the +elder brother seriously; "but it looks bad. That field wireless was +in prime condition and it would be next to impossible for them to +fail to receive our call." + +"Well, there is only one thing to be done," remarked the practical +Ben Stubbs. + +"And that is--?" queried Harry. + +"To get back there as soon as possible, for if they need us they +need us dern bad," was the energetic reply. + +Half an hour later the Golden Eagle, stripped of all her heavy gear +and only carrying just enough gasoline to get her to the river camp, +where the adventurers expected to find a reserve supply, rose slowly +into the air with her queer tow tugging behind on the wireless +ground rope. The boys had cached the wireless apparatus and the +other gear, to be called for at some more opportune time. To their +great regret, also, they had had to leave some of the ivory behind +them. But the majority of what they did not dare trust to the +gas-bag they carried in the chassis. Luckily for them there was +hardly a breath of wind and the novel carrier towed well. + +As the occupants of the great aeroplane gazed back at the sinister +Moon Mountains as they fast faded out--they saw silhouetted against +the evening sky a dark figure. + +It was recognized at once as one of the beaten gorillas scouting to +see if the terrible white men had really gone. + +"There's the man we saw this afternoon," laughed, Frank, as with +rapidly beating propellers the Golden Eagle II winged her way with +the convoy toward the River Camp. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +AN ESCAPE--AND WHAT CAME OF IT + + +From the pace at which Muley-Hassan's band traversed the jungle +paths it was evident to the two young captives that there was +imperative need in Muley-Hassan's mind of arriving somewhere at a +set time. The usual noonday rest, which even the avaricious +slave-trader was in the habit of taking, was not observed and the +travelers pressed straight on. Lathrop and Billy were almost ready +to drop with fatigue when that evening, just at dusk, they arrived +at the bank of a muddy river which Muley-Hassan, impatient as he was +to proceed, decided it would be unwise to ford till daylight--when +they could look for a good crossing place. At the spot which they +had halted, the stream--swollen apparently by rains in the +mountains--roared between its banks, in a dark chocolate-colored +flood. + +Muley-Hassan himself was the only one of his band provided with a +tent, or anything resembling one, and the boys shared the common bed +of the rest of the party--which was the ground. A more unwholesome +resting-place in Africa, particularly on the steamy, swampy banks of +a river, could hardly be imagined. So indeed Muley-Hassan seemed to +think, for after a short time, during which the boys vainly tried to +secure some sleep, he ordered Diego to provide them with blankets to +place between themselves and the bare earth. + +"I expect to get a good price for them eventually," he said, "and I +don't want to lose them unless I have to." + +As the boys' wrists and ankles were bound with tough grass while +there was no particular attempt made to watch them, and soon the +snores of the camp bespoke that it was at rest. Then it was that +Billy whispered to Lathrop. + +"Now's our time to try for it!" + +"Try for what?" whispered back Lathrop in an inert tone. + +"To get away." + +"What!" + +"I mean it. I found a sharp stone imbedded in the ground near to me +and I have nearly sawed through my wrist-bands." + +After a few seconds' more vigorous scraping against the stone, Billy +whispered: + +"My hands are free. Wait till I wiggle my fingers and get up some +circulation and then we'll make our attempt--" + +When he had once more got full control of his cramped fingers Billy +stooped cautiously over and loosened the thongs about his ankles. +So tightly had they been drawn, though, that it took some little +time to get the cramps out of them. At last, however, the boy +succeeded in restoring the circulation and then he was ready for the +most daring step of his attempt. Cautiously he fell on his hands +and knees and began to crawl toward the nearest of the sleeping +slave-traders. + +"What are you going to do, Billy?" asked Lathrop, in an agony of +fear lest the man should awaken. + +"Watch me," was the young reporter's reply, as on his stomach he +wiggled painfully across the few yards separating him from the +sleeping man. In reality it took only a few minutes, but to both +the boys the period of time occupied seemed interminable. + +But it was no time to hurry things. One false step night cost them +their lives and Billy realized this. + +With the slow deliberate movement of a snake he, reached out his +hand when he got near enough and took from the sleeping man's side +his long curved Arab scimitar. Then he glided back to Lathrop as +silently as he had left. + +He had just reached his resting-place when there was a stir from the +further side of the camp. Like a rabbit ducking into its hole Billy +was under his blanket and apparently fast asleep in a second. But +his heart beat so loudly that it felt to him that anyone who was not +deaf could hear it a hundred yards away. + +The man who had moved was Diego and the boys could hear his cat-like +footfalls as he neared their sleeping-places. Once he stumbled over +one of the sleeping men and the aroused one rose with a start and +called wildly: + +"What is it?" + +"Hush, Adab," cautioned Diego, "it is I--Diego. I'm going to give +an eye to those two American brats." + +"They're tied up hard and fast enough," chuckled the other. + +"If they were of any other nationality--yes;" was Diego's reply, +"but these Yankees are brave and clever enough to escape from almost +any trap." + +"You bet we are," thought Billy to himself, giving a realistic +snore. + +Although he did not dare to open his eyes, the young reporter could +feel Diego standing over them in the moonlight and gazing down at +them to ascertain if they were still "hard and fast," as the other +had expressed it. + +For an instant a terrible thought flashed across Billy's brain. + +"Suppose Diego should take an idea to examine their thongs?" + +But the lieutenant of Muley-Hassan apparently was satisfied, for +after a few minutes' scrutiny he turned to go Billy could hear his +feet scrape as he swung around. + +At almost the same instant the night was filled with savage cries +and the camp was thrown into confusion by an onrush of wild figures +before whose spears the half-awakened Arabs were slaughtered like +sheep. + +Not realizing in the least what was happening, Billy yet conjectured +that the Arabs were just then too busy to pay any attention to +himself and Lathrop. With two slashes of the stolen scimitar he +severed Lathrop's bonds and dragging him to his feet dived into the +forest. + +As they entered its recesses a fleeing Arab, still clutching his +rifle, dashed by them and an instant later fell dead. He had been +speared through the back. + +Billy, with a quick inspiration, seized the dead man's long rifle +and his ammunition pouch and, followed by the bewildered Lathrop, +plowed desperately forward into the screen of the jungle. + +Behind them they heard cries for mercy and fierce shouts from the +attacking savages. At first the cries and imprecations of the +slave-traders predominated and then, by the altered sounds that came +from the scene of the fighting and the crashing of the Arabs' +volleys, the boys realized that the tide of battle had changed and +that the Arabs were driving back the attacking force. + +"What do you suppose happened, Billy?" asked Lathrop, only half +awake, as the boys, with the fleetness and endurance that desperate +need lends, plunged deeper and deeper into the forest. + +"Why, that some cannibal tribe that Muley-Hassan pillaged for slaves +at some time has trailed him and attacked him," hazarded the +reporter. + +How near he came to the truth our readers know. The band that had +made the midnight attack was the same that had painstakingly trailed +Muley-Hassan since he destroyed the boys' camp on the river bank. + +"But the Arabs have beaten them off?" queried Lathrop. + +"Evidently," replied Billy, as the volleys died out and victorious +Arab shouts were beard. "Hark at that! It's really too bad. I'd +like to have seen old Muley and his precious band driven into the +river. But if they have driven off the savages they'll be thinking +about chasing us." + +As he spoke there came a low, growling sound that seemed to proceed +from some distance, but nevertheless filled the air. It rumbled and +rolled above them like-- + +"Thunder!" exclaimed both boys in the same breath. + +"We've got to find shelter of some kind, quick," exclaimed Billy; +"these tropical storms are unlike our little disturbances, and if we +get caught among these trees in one, of them we stand a good chance +of being killed. It looks like we've jumped out of the frying-pan +into the fire." + +Without the least idea in which direction they were proceeding, the +two chums struggled bravely on, Billy encouraging the flagging +Lathrop from time to time with a joke, though these latter were, as +Billy admitted to himself: + +"Pretty dismal!" + +At length, just as dawn was beginning to break, they found +themselves facing a steepish cliff of rough rocks. + +"Well, here's where we turn back," remarked Billy, bitterly +discouraged nevertheless. + +If they were lost in this equatorial forest, what chance did they +stand of ever seeing their home and friends again? + +As for Lathrop he sat down on a rock overgrown with a kind of +monstrous lichen and gave way to tears. But not for long. Lathrop +was a plucky enough lad, and as Billy truthfully remarked: + +"We are going to have enough water before long without our turning +on the weeps." + +So Lathrop braced up and the boys looked about them. To their +intense joy they soon spied in the rocks, a short distance from +where they then were, a dark hole partly overgrown by creepers, +which was evidently the entrance to a cavern. At the same instant +there began a mighty pattering on the leaves of the dense tropic +growth all about them, and a louder growl of thunder announced that +the storm that had been heralded a few hours before was about to +break. + +"Well, me for that African Waldorf-Astoria," cried Billy, grasping +his rifle and making a dive for the hole. Lathrop followed him and +as soon as they were inside the cave he lit a match from his +waterproof box. + +"Looks to me like there might be snakes in here," he whispered, awed +by the darkness and silence of the place. + +"Rats," laughed Billy, although he himself felt by no means sure +that at any moment some scaly monster might not descend from the +roof; "but I'll tell you what we'll do. Light a fire." + +"How are we to get wood?" asked the practical Lathrop. + +"There's plenty of it right at the mouth of the cave. I'll get a +few armfuls and in a minute we'll have things snug." + +The young reporter hastened to the cave mouth and in a few trips had +gathered up several huge armfuls of wood-drift of all kinds from +under the great trees all about. He was just re-entering the cave +when there came a flash of blinding light so brilliant that it +seemed as if the sky itself had split wide open. A bluish glare +enveloped the forest and the lightning flash was instantly followed +by a crash of thunder that shook the ground under the boys' feet. + +"Well, they don't do things by halves in this country," remarked +Billy as he re-entered the cave after a second of being temporarily +stunned by the terrific flash. + +It didn't take the boys long to have their wood in a blaze and as +the smoke did not, as they had feared, fill the cavern, they assumed +that there must be some opening above through which it escaped. +This fact they verified shortly when, after the storm had been +waxing in fury for half-an-hour, a perfect torrent of water came +tumbling in from the rear of the rocky cavern. + +"Hark!" exclaimed Billy as the boys busied themselves trying to +scrape out a water-course that would divert the flood from their +fire. From far in the rear of the cave came a plaintive sound of +"Mi-ou, Mi-ou." + +"Cats!" cried Lathrop. + +"Cats nothing," was Billy's scornful reply; "here, let's have a +look." + +He seized a blazing brand out of the fire and hastened to the place +from which the sounds emanated. + +"Come here, quick, Lathrop," he cried. The younger lad scurried +back and found Billy bending over a roughly constructed nest or bed. +On it lay four tiny, fuzzy yellow things. They were "meowing" at +the tops of their voices as the torrent of water that had annoyed +the boys dripped into their snug nesting-place. At the same instant +the boys became aware of a sickening odor of decaying flesh. + +"Come on! we've got to get out of here quick as quick as we can," +exclaimed Billy as they hastened towards the fresh air. + +"Why, what is it, Billy?" asked Lathrop. + +"I don't know; but I think that those are lion cubs--they look like +the ones I've seen in the Bronx Zoo," was the young reporter's +reply, "and if they are, this is no place for us. Come on--the +storm is letting up. Let's get out quick before the old ones get +back." + +The storm, with the suddenness with which these furious tropical +disturbances arise and vanish, had indeed gone and the sun was +shining down once more on the drenched jungle, which glittered with +diamond like spangles as the rays struck the dripping fronds and +branches. But the boys had no eyes for the scene about them, +beautiful as it was, for as they emerged from the cave a low growl +greeted them. + +Crouched on the ground--her tail lashing the earth like a cat's when +it is about to spring--was a huge tawny lioness--her cruel green +eyes fixed full upon them. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE FLYING MEN + + +For a breath the boys stood petrified and then Billy hastily slipped +a cartridge into the rifle he had taken from the dead slave-trader. +But even as he did so the lioness curved her lithe body, as if her +backbone had been a steel spring, and launched her great form +through the air. + +That minute would have been Billy's last--for in his excitement he +pulled the trigger before he had brought the rifle to his shoulder +and the bullet whistled harmlessly into the air--but for a strange +thing that now occurred. + +While the tawny brute was in mid-spring, her cruel claws outspread +to maul the unhappy reporter, a great spear whizzed straight at her +and buried itself in her heart just behind the left shoulder. With +a howl of pain the brute fell short in her spring and, before she +could make another attack, Billy had reloaded and sent a bullet +crashing between her eyes. As the lioness rolled over dead, the +tall form of a. savage sprung out of the jungle and stood for a +second gazing at the boys, as much astonished, it seemed, at them as +they were at him. + +Billy, seeing that the best plan was to be pacific, threw down his +rifle and cried: + +"Seesenab," (peace); the word be recollected hearing the big Krooman +use the day that he attempted to take his unlucky photographs. + +"Seesenah--white boys," replied the other, the latter words in fair +English and in a deep guttural tone, coming forward with the head of +his other spear held downward in token of peace. "From where come +the white boys--what do they in our land?" was his next question. + +"We are lost," explained Billy, "and we are also, blamed hungry," he +added, in a burst of confidence. + +The savage smiled and rubbed his stomach. + +"That's the idea," cried the irrepressible reporter. "Heap--empty-- +savee?" + +The man leant over the dead lioness and, using his spear-point as a +skinning knife, rapidly stripped her of her hide. Then, swinging +the pelt over his shoulder he motioned to the boys to follow him. + +"I don't know where the dickens he means to take us," confided Billy +to Lathrop as they obediently trailed along behind, "but so long as +we get something to eat I'm so hungry that I don't care if we get +eaten the next minute." + +"That's just the way I feel," agreed Lathrop, "and anyhow he seems +to be a pretty decent sort. He saved your life, that's one thing +sure." + +"I guess I'll never make a mighty hunter," said Billy dolefully, +"there was a chance to make real Bwana Tumbo shot and I missed it." + +The savage stalked along in front of them for some distance till +they suddenly emerged on a small clearing by a river bank, in which +a rough native camp had been pitched. The tents of grass occupied +by the hunters being of a peculiar conical shape, like the pointed +caps that used to be labeled "Dunce." + +Much excitement was created by the arrival of the two boys and their +companion, and the hunters crowded round the chums while their guide +explained with a wealth of gesture the incident of the killing of +the lioness, and also the fact that the boys were very hungry. + +Several of the men instantly filled wooden bowls with something from +a pot that simmered over the fires and the bowls were thrust before +the two ravenous boys. As there were no forks of course the boys +used their fingers. But this did not interfere with their appetite +and after they had put away two bowls apiece the savages' opinion of +them evidently rose considerably. Among the West African natives a +big eater is esteemed as a mighty man. Lathrop was considerably +embarrassed, however, while he satisfied his hunger by the attention +the hunters bestowed on his red hair. Several of them came up +behind him and rubbed their hands in it as if they imagined it +possessed some sort of medicinal value. Had any one at home dared +to take such liberties with the boy's rubicund locks there would +have been a fight right away, but Lathrop felt that the best policy +to assume in the present situation was silence, and as the old ship +captain said to his mate, "dem little of that." + +"I say, Billy," whispered Lathrop suddenly, as, after eating the +stew, they watched the hunters piling their belongings into their +canoes, "you don't suppose they mean to fatten us up to eat us, do +you?" + +"Well, we can't starve even if that is the reason," replied the +practical Billy, "but so far they seem friendly enough. They have +not even taken my rifle away." + +"That looks encouraging, certainly," replied Lathrop; "if only we +knew where Frank and Harry and good old Ben were we might find this +all very interesting, as it is though--" + +"We've got to make the best of it," chimed in Billy, "come on. See +old job-lots is signing to us to come down and get in a canoe." + +"Whatever they mean to do with us they seem determined to make us +comfortable," remarked Billy, as the boys took their seats in a +canoe in which skins had been piled to make an easy seat. + +For most of that afternoon they paddled steadily up the brown river, +the savages singing from time to time an unending sort of chant, +that sounded like nothing so much as a continuous repetition of: + +"I-told-you-so. I-told-you-so. I--told-YOU-SO." + +"Hum," commented Billy, "if anyone had told me so I'd have stayed in +New York." + +At length after what seemed endless hours of paddling and chanting +the river took an abrupt turn and the boys found themselves at the +foot of a steep cliff that towered up, it seemed, for six hundred +feet at least. It was formed of black basalt and was crowned with a +fringe of contrasting vegetation, but the most remarkable thing +about it was that its surface was literally honeycombed with small +holes from which, as the canoe cortege drew up, innumerable heads +were poked. + +An astonishing thing, however, about the men who scrutinized the +lads from their lofty watch-towers, was that they were several +degrees lighter in complexion than the boatmen and almost as white +as the boys in fact. Their features, too, were different. As the +boys looked in wonderment at this extraordinary dwelling-place and +its equally strange inhabitants, Billy gave an excited shout: + +"Great jumping horn-toads, look at that!" + +One of the light-colored men had emerged from his, hole and with as +little concern as if he were taking a walk had suddenly launched +himself into space. But instead of falling to the ground or into +the river, as the boys had fully expected to see him do, he floated +gracefully to the opposite bank of the river with as little effort +as a settling bird. + +"Good land of hot-cakes, Lathrop, do you realize where we are?" +almost shrieked the excited Billy. + +"In the village of the Flying Men," stammered Lathrop, as, one after +another, the inhabitants of the rock holes dropped from their aeries +and floated groundwards. As the boys watched they saw distinctly +that each man, from his wrist to his side, was possessed of a sort +of leathery fiber like that of bat's swing, and that as their arms +were of unusual length this fiber supported them in their downward +flights like a parachute. + +"I'll never call any one a liar again as long as I live," choked out +Billy, as one after another these strange beings gathered in a +chattering group on the river bank. + +"But they can't fly upward," exclaimed Lathrop, pointing eagerly to +where some of the gliders, having swum the river, were nimbly +clambering up a grass rope-ladder to their homes. + +"Oh, gee! if I only had a camera," groaned Billy. + +"It will be no use telling anyone about this even if we do get out +of here, they'll say that we have had a rarebit dream." + +"That's so," assented Lathrop, "and honestly, Billy, are you sure we +are awake?" + +"Sure," replied the reporter giving himself a vicious pinch, and +exclaiming "Ouch!" + +But there was no time to talk further. Their guide now came up to +them and jumping into their canoe paddled them to where the end of +the rope-ladder dangled in the stream. He pointed upward for them +to ascend. But Billy's curiosity would not let him mount before he +had asked a question. + +"Who are these people?" he asked in, for him, an awed tone. + +"Very old-time people," rejoined their guide. "We hunt for them, +work for them. They the same as fetish."' + +The boys mounted the ladder slowly. + +Unused as they were to such a contrivance it required all their +nerve to keep on going up, as they swung at a higher and higher +altitude above the river. Neither of them dared to look down, as +they were certain that they would be overcome by dizziness. + +With their eyes glued to the rock in front of them, they mounted +what seemed to be endless rungs till at last they found themselves +at the top of the ladder and facing a large opening cut in the rock. + +As they found out later, this was the main entrance to the dwelling +of this strange community and from it various galleries and passages +branched off to their separate dwelling-places. Each family lived +in a rock house exactly adapted to the size of the circle. There +were six stories, so to speak, of these dwelling-places, but they +all communicated, either by means of stair-ways cut in the rock or +inclined galleries, with the main passage at the entrance of which +the chums now stood. + +Their guide, who was immediately behind them on the swaying ladder, +took the lead as soon as the three stood side by side on the summit, +and escorted them down the long passage. Before they started he +took from a bracket in the wall a kind of torch, made of some +resinous wood unfamiliar to the boys. Striking piece of flint +against his spear blade he soon produced light and holding the torch +high above his head, so that its light shone on the walls, rendered +glossy by the rub of uncounted ages of greasy elbows and bodies, he +led the way down the passage. The boys could feel that after +walking a short distance it took a sudden rise and yet further a +cool wind began to blow in their faces. + +About a hundred yards from the spot where they first noticed the air +stirring in their hair the boys and their guide emerged on a scene +whose beauty at first shock almost took the lads' breath away. + +Before them stretched a fertile valley neatly divided into patches--each +hedged off in squares in which flourished all sorts of vegetables, +including sweet corn and potatoes and several other less familiar +varieties. In pastures, fenced in with mathematical regularity by +hedges of the African cactus thorn, herds of humped cattle were feeding +contentedly in the mellow glow of the setting sun, occasionally lowing +softly, which latter made Billy, as he expressed it, "long for the old +farm." + +The Winged Men likewise cultivated, it seemed, fruits of many kinds +and had also stockades in which poultry, of breeds strange to the +boys, but undoubtedly sprung from the aboriginal African fowl, were +abundant. + +It seemed as if they had struck a land in which the inhabitants +lived an ideal life, surrounded as they were by every comfort and +necessity that one could imagine; but that even they were distressed +by the raids of enemies transpired when the boys' guide, whose name +they had learned by this time was Umbashi, pointed to the west in +which the setting sun was now kindling a ruddy glow and said: + +"Sometime elephant come--then much trouble." + +Of the full significance of those words, however, neither boy +dreamed as, after a supper of fresh corn, bitter melon, stewed deer +meat and a dessert formed of some sort of custard they sank to sleep +on their couches of skins, spread for them by Umbashi's direction in +a vacant dwelling in the cliff face. + +Their slumber senses carried them back to New York and Billy was in +the midst of escorting Umbashi in full war paint through the office +of the New York Planet, followed by hordes of joshing reporters and +inquisitive office boys, who wanted to know whether he'd match his +dusky friend to fight Jim Jeffries, when he was awakened by Umbashi +himself, who in a few words told him it was morning and time to get +up and dress swiftly, as the King of the Flying Men wanted to see +him and his young companion at once. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +FOOLING AN ARAB CHIEF + + +"Frank, what do you make of it?" + +"Harry, I don't know what to think." + +"Ain't nuffin fer it but ter keep on hopin' fer the best, as the +feller said when they had a rope around his neck fer horse-stealing +and was about to string him up." + +The three--Frank and Harry Chester and Ben Stubbs--were standing +round the charred remains of their once lively, well-equipped +camp--where they had arrived that morning at daybreak after a +tiresome night spent circling about in the moonlight trying to +locate it--and now the reason why they had failed to see the white +tents was fully apparent by their blackened sites. + +"Billy and Lathrop have been carried off!" It was Harry who spoke. + +"Beyond a doubt. I thought at first that the raid must have been +made by cannibals, but cannibals do not carry rifles, as a rule, and +look here." Frank stooped and picked up half-a-dozen cartridges of +the kind used by the Arab slave-traders. + +"You know there were no shells like that in our party," he went on, +"but I can see by the collection of empty shells in the place where +the tent stood that Billy and Lathrop must have put up a hot +defense." + +"Frank, do you--you don't think, do you--" Harry burst out. + +"That they have been killed?" Frank finished for him. "No, I do +not. Unless they fell in the fight and then we should have seen +their bodies down with the others by the river. No, it is my idea +that they have been carried off to be sold as slaves. They would +have a high market value you know." + +Harry groaned. + +"But don't you think there is a chance of our getting them back?" + +Frank's face grew grave. + +"Of course we are going to try every means in our power, but once in +the hands of that scoundrel Muley-Hassan it is doubtful if we ever +see them again. There is only one thing for us to do." + +"And that is--?" + +"To get back to the Moon Mountains at once. But we have no +gasoline." + +This was a stunning blow; in the excitement their of fuel had not +occurred even to the farseeing Frank. They had had, as our readers +know, to leave most of their gasoline at the Moon Mountains in order +to lighten the aeroplane. Without it they could not move an inch in +their air-craft. Harry tested the tank. Only a few paltry gallons +remained--not enough to drive the aeroplane ten miles. + +As the boys stood, struck dumb by the realization of the disaster +that had overtaken them, Ben Stubbs, who had been down to the river +bank, reappeared. + +"Look here!" he exclaimed, holding out at arms length a long white +cloak. One glance at the garment was enough--it was an Arab article +of dress. There was no further doubt about it, then. Muley-Hassan +and his men had carried off Billy and Lathrop. + +"But that's not the most extraordinary part of it," went on Ben; +"while there are half a dozen of the Arabs' canoes down there, there +are a lot of others, that must have belonged to a bunch of natives +from their shiftless look--and I could see the bare imprint of the +savages' feet in the mud, coming after the Arabs had trod around +there." + +This was a new mystery. Apparently, then, a tribe of cannibals had +been on the trail of the Arabs who had carried off their two young +companions. This could only mean one thing, that they meant to +punish the Arab slave-dealers for some outrage and, while this would +have been quite satisfactory to the boys under other conditions, as +things were it meant that there would be a fight in which both +Lathrop and Billy would probably be seriously wounded, if not +killed. How wrong this surmise was we know, and it serves to show +how very wide of the mark it is possible for the constructors of a +theory to steer. + +And here for a time we will leave our despairing friends while we go +back to the Moon Mountains. + +The outline of the Golden Eagle II, in her flight to the river camp, +had not faded out on the twilight sky, before, through the jungle at +the foot of the Moon Mountains, a strange figure pushed its way. It +was Sikaso, but a changed Sikaso from the agile muscular black who +had wielded his axe with such terrible effect at the fight of the +evening before. His ebony body was cut and scarred with the signs +of his battle with the thorns and saw-bladed grasses of the dense +forest, across which he had cut in desperate haste, scorning all +paths in order to warn the Boy Aviators and their chum Ben of the +rapid approach of Muley-Hassan. With that strange instinct that +white men in Africa recognize in certain of the natives as a sixth +sense, the giant black had read in a fire kindled after the battle, +that the boys were at that moment in the Moon Mountains, and had at +once set out--exhausted as he was--at top speed on the long journey. +Only a man of his adamantine strength could have endured the +hardships and it had fatigued even his iron frame, as was evident by +his stumbling footsteps as he made his way up the side of the +mountain--pausing from time to time as if to listen to the +whisperings of his mysterious instinct. + +Billy and Lathrop, half inclined to accuse the old black in their +minds of base desertion, did him a gross injustice. After he had +seen the two boys taken prisoners, the old warrior had realized that +he could be of far more use to them at liberty than he would be if +made captive by Muley-Hassan. Indeed there was no doubt in his own +mind that the Arab would put him to death instantly if he ever got +his hands on him. He had therefore built a fetish fire and in it +had made out distinctly Frank and Harry and Ben in their air-ship, +encamped on the mountain-side, and had set out without delay at the +peculiar jog-trot by which the native bush-runners can cover daily +as much ground, and more, than a horse. + +But the huge Krooman was doomed to as bitter a disappointment as the +youths he was in search of had experienced at their return to the +river camp. He found the spot on which the Golden Eagle had rested +deserted, but still urged on by his strange sense of locality he +finally stumbled upon the ivory cache. + +"Um, big fight here," he mused to himself as he gazed about him at +the mangled bodies of the gorillas which showed black as ink on the +rocks in the sharp, brilliant moonlight. The heap of uncollected +ivory was the next thing to attract his eye and with a guttural +grunt the negro helped himself to a drink of water from his skin-bag +while he sat down to ponder. He did not waste much time in +reflection. Springing to his feet he vanished down one of the dark +recesses of the mountain-side and was gone about an hour. When he +returned he picked up an armful of the ivory--a load that would have +staggered three ordinary men--and, hefting it easily in his arms, +vanished with it into the dark shadows. For two hours he worked +steadily and at the close of that period there was not enough ivory +left about the cache to make a watch-charm of. Old Sikaso had found +a new hiding place for the stuff the boys were compelled to leave. + +Then he sat himself once more down on the rock, and leisurely +smashing to pieces with his inseparable axe, the wooden cover that +had been over the cache, he selected, with a good deal of care one +of the dead gorillas. Having found the one that seemed to suit him; +he cut off from its flank a hunk of meat with his keen weapon and +producing a flint and steel soon had the meat toasting over a blaze. +When it was done to his satisfaction he leisurely ate it and washed +it down with a draught from his skin-bag. He then cooked several +more pieces of gorilla meat which he tucked in his waist-band, and +shouldering his axe and humming to himself his grim war-song, he set +out at the same swinging dog-trot on his long trip to the river +bank. With the vitality common to such men, his brief rest and +refreshment had rendered his tired frame as vigorous as ever and +there was no trace of fatigue in the steady trot of the ebony figure +as it plunged into the dark forest and vanished. + +A second later, however, the figure reappeared as a noise of voices +was heard drawing nearer down a forest trail. Throwing himself on +his face and lying as motionless as a fallen log, the Krooman +watched as Muley-Hassan and his followers--almost worn out and sadly +diminished in numbers since their fight with the boys and with the +cannibals--appeared. True, they had beaten the latter off, but at +great loss to themselves, and the few men that now limped forward-- +urged on only by the fierce voice of Diego and Muley-Hassan-- +appeared ready to drop in their tracks from exhaustion. + +"A hundred pounds of ivory to every man of you if we get there +before they have cleaned the place out," the Arab was shouting by +way of encouraging his men. Old Sikaso, with a grim chuckle, +watched them make their way up the mountain-side and then laughed +softly to himself as their imprecations of rage and fury broke out +as they reached the cache--and found it empty! + +Somewhat cheered by the vigorous Ben, who proposed to paddle down +the river to the nearest settlement himself the next day, if some +news were not heard of Billy and Lathrop, the boys were preparing +for bed that evening--the bed consisting of the floor of the Golden +Eagle's stripped cabin--when they were startled by Ben holding up a +warning finger. + +"Hark!" he exclaimed eagerly. + +The boys listened. + +"There's somebody coming," were Ben's next words. + +Sure enough drawing closer every minute they could hear a soft +patter-patter coming down a jungle-trail and evidently, by the +sound, heading for the camp. + +"Who can it be?" exclaimed Frank in a low tone, not daring even to +mention the wild hope that surged in his heart. For a minute he +thought that it might be the missing chums, and that even Harry and, +to a less degree, Ben, shared his thought he saw by their parted +lips and tensely strained eyes. + +In absolute silence they listened as the footfalls drew in toward +them, but not by even the wildest stretch of the imagination could +they make out more than one man's footsteps. + +Instinctively each member of the party raised his revolver as the +bushes parted and from them tottered a man who was very evidently in +the last stages of exhaustion. The figure staggered forward to the +aeroplane as the boys and Ben lowered their revolvers, seeing that, +whoever the newcomer was there was no fear of violence from him. It +was Ben who recognized him first: + +"Sikaso!" he cried, as the figure crumpled up in a heap, completely +exhausted. + +The boys rushed to the fallen man's side as they heard the name. +They bathed the huge black's head with water and after a few minutes +he opened his eyes and recognized them with a faint smile. After he +had been given some nourishment he completely recovered from his +spell of weakness which be called: + +"Big fool--all same woman," quite omitting to state that he had +traveled almost eighty miles since the preceding midnight. + +The boys sat late listening to what the black had to tell of the +attack on the camp--of Professor Wiseman's treachery and death--and +of the carrying off of the boys. Then Sikaso went on to gleefully +relate, while they warmly clasped his mighty hands, how he had +hidden the rest of the ivory and how he had seen Muley-Hassan pass +on his way to the rifled hiding place. + +"But Billy and Lathrop, Sikaso, tell us quick, were they with +Muley-Hassan?" + +The black shook his head slowly. + +"No see Four-Eyes--no see Red Head," he said sorrowfully. + +The last ray of hope concerning the fate of the two young +adventurers seemed to have been extinguished. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE "ROGUE" ELEPHANT + + +In the meantime Billy and Lathrop, having been introduced to the +chief, were making themselves very much at home in the village or +cliff colony of the Flying Men. The morning after the day of their +arrival a hunting expedition was organized by their new-found friend +and in company with a dozen or more of the Flying Men, and the +ordinary natives, who seemed to occupy the position of inferiors to +their winged masters, the expedition set out. + +They crossed the fields and garden patches that the boys had +observed the evening before and, after traversing a few miles of +swampy ground overgrown with a tough yellow grass, they plunged into +a forest of mahogany and silk cotton trees. + +It was while crossing the expanse of yellow grass at Billy performed +a feat that caused all of them to hold him as a mighty hunter. They +had been pushing their way along a narrow trail with the tops of the +vegetation waving a good three feet above their heads, when there +was a sudden grunt heard ahead and the noise of great rushing +through the wiry grass. + +"Big pig," announced the boys' friend as the others got their spears +ready to cast. Billy and Lathrop in their eagerness plunged on +ahead of the others--Lathrop with a small spear and his +revolver--which by the way was useless, he having expended all his +cartridges--and Billy with the Arab rifle. Suddenly from dead ahead +of the two boys there was a savage squeal and, before either of them +realized what had happened, a boar with gleaming white tusks and +bristly hair rushed out of the tangle and squarely charged them. + +Lathrop went down before his furious onslaught and in his fall +carried Billy to the ground with him. In another moment both boys +would have been badly gored, perhaps killed, had not the reporter, +in the very instant that the boar with wickedly gleaming little red +eyes turned to attack Lathrop with his fierce tusks, raised himself +on one arm and fired. The bullet struck their assailant full in the +ear and penetrated the brain. With a surprised squeal he turned and +ran a few feet and then dropped dead. The rest of the hunting part +came up at this moment and Billy received warm congratulations--which, +as he did not understand, meant as much as most of such felicitations. + +It was not long after this incident that the plunge into the cool +darkness of the forest began. The men went warily--as if expecting +to be attacked at any moment--and the boys, on inquiring of their +guide the reason for this caution, only received the reply that +elephant tracks had been seen and that as a "rogue" elephant had +lately been doing great damage to the crops of the cliff-dwellers +they were anxious to kill him if possible. + +A rogue elephant is one that has become estranged from the rest of +his kind by reason of his fierce intractability. He is in fact what +in the west is described, in speaking of a horse, as "loco" or +crazy. Such animals--they are generally males--are extremely +dangerous to hunt and are generally given a wide berth. They are +mischievous in the extreme, moreover, and do great damage, seemingly +wantonly, to any crops or garden patches that they may find in their +neighborhood. Usually the natives are too terrified to offer any +resistance and placidly allow the animal to devastate to the bent of +his will. The cliff dwellers, however, had suffered so much from +the depredations of this particular animal that they were determined +to drive him out of their neighborhood, and that was the real +purpose of the hunting party. + +"Well, it looks as if we are in for a good exciting morning of it," +remarked Billy as they trudged along beneath trees that shot up to +unknown heights with great rope-like creepers dangling from their +upper branches, looking like ladders leading up into "Jack in the +Beanstalk-land." Occasionally a patch of blue could be sighted +through the tree-tops, but for the most part the hunters progressed +along the floor of the forest under a regular roof of greenery. +There was plenty of life in this tipper story of the earth jungle. +Troops of monkeys with chattering and gesticulations swung from +bough to bough and looked in wonder on the invaders of their realm +and then, taking imaginary fright, galloped off through the +tree-tops in panic, only to stop a little distance further on and +throw down fruit or bits of stick at the men below them. Gorgeous +birds, too, flitted about like jewels seen in a setting of green +velvet, while underfoot there was no lack of life either. Strange +insects, shaped like sticks or leaves or even bits of moss, +attracted the attention of the alert boys although they passed over +hundreds of such nature mimics unnoticed, owing to the perfection of +their mimicry. + +At last the leader of the party called a halt and they sat down to +eat some of the cassava and manioc cakes they had brought with them. +The meal was washed down with a sour drink--something like +buttermilk--contained in a huge earthen jar that one of the inferior +tribe carried. They were in the midst of it when one of the hunters +sprang to his feet with a guttural exclamation. + +"Arjah!" he exclaimed and, though the boys did not understand his +tongue, his attitude of alert attention signified that he said +"Listen" as clearly as if he had used the word. + +In an instant all of the party were on their feet and listening +keenly. After a few seconds of strained attention the boys became +aware of a sort of dull pounding sound which seemed to come from +some distance. It sounded almost like the regular beat of a large +drum. The air seemed to vibrate with it. + +He leader of the party spoke a few words rapidly to the others and +they all joined in a responsive shout which seemed to be one of +assent to some proposition that had been made by him. + +"He say elephant dance," said Umbashi; "him very dangerous when +dance. He ask them they willing to go on. They all say yes." + +Lathrop looked alarmed. + +"Say, Billy," he whispered as they moved forward, "I don't mind a +little danger, but going up against an elephant with a few tin +spears looks to me like being little above the limit." + +"Cheer up," replied the irrepressible reporter, "we've got to go on +now. It would never do for us to show the white feather at this +stage of the game. The tribe would regard us as miserable cowards +and perhaps even put us to death." + +So with faces that one at least of them had some difficulty to +render' expressive of calm repose the two American boys marched +along with the others. As they advanced the drumming grew louder +and they could feel the earth shake as the ponderous beast that +caused it went through his strange exercise. + +The leader worked round till the party was advancing against the +wind, as elephants have a keen scent, and had they traveled along +down the wind he would have been sure to have taken alarm and dashed +off only to return and do more damage later on. In this way the +party was enabled to work up to within a few yards of the great +beast without his having any warning of their approach. It was a +strange sight they beheld as they stood on the edge of the little +clearing where the great beast was going through his dance. With +his trunk curled high above his great head the big pachyderm was +solemnly twirling round and round in a sort of slow waltz and every +time he brought a foot down it was with a crash that shook the +forest about him. He was a ferocious looking brute, with a wicked +gleam in his small eye that boded ill for anyone who should happen +to get in his path. One of his tusks was broken off short, +doubtless in some fight with another of his kind, and his body was +plowed with scars and cuts--the relics of former battles. +Altogether he was as wicked and menacing a looking brute as the boys +had ever seen. + +Suddenly he sighted the attacking party. The dance instantly +stopped and he stood stock-still for an instant gazing at them while +they promptly made for the trees and clambered up them by means of +the lanyards of creepers that swung down from the tops. + +Billy and Lathrop, however, were too much astonished by the sudden +turn events had taken to follow the example of the savages and so +stood gazing awestricken at the elephant while he gazed at them in +apparent amazement at two boys having the temerity to face him in +his native forest. + +The situation was not to last long, however. Their guide, with the +rest of the party, had hastily clambered into the trees and now he +called to the boys loudly: + +"Climb! climb!" + +But the churns were too late. + +As they turned to obey his instructions the great brute charged with +a furious trumpet. + +His first onslaught the boys avoided by slipping behind a tree, more +from instinct than anything else. The impetus of the maddened +animal's charge carried him by the tree and before he could stop +himself and turn his ponderous body for a fresh attack he had gone +some yards beyond the boys. + +Bellowing with fury the huge creature made ready for a fresh charge, +but by this time Billy and Lathrop had seized the creepers and were +both several feet above the ground. In his haste, however, Billy's +luckless rifle twisted between his legs and almost caused a +disaster. For a second he hung helpless, trying to kick the weapon +free. But it hung by its leather shoulder band and he was unable to +do so instantly. + +The boy, with a despairing cry, gazed at the onrushing elephant and +could almost feel himself being seized by its mighty trunk and +dashed to death, when a pair of strong, black arms seized him and +dragged him up to a place of safety. The man who had taken this +risk was their friend Umbashi, and as Billy thanked him he felt a +feeling of real respect for this half naked savage who had risked +his life to save another's. + +After two or three more charges the animal seemed to get tired of +this method of attack and stood beneath the tree shaking with rage, +very much like a bull that has driven a boy to refuge in an +apple-tree. It was evident that it was time to either kill the +brute or drive him off unless the party desired to spend an +unlimited time in the trees. + +"The fire-weapon," shouted Billy's friend, "use the fire-weapon." + +Billy raised the long Arab weapon and fired. The bullet struck the +elephant on the right ear with no more effect than to further anger +him. + +"Aim between the eyes," cried the savage. + +Billy felt for a fresh cartridge and made a discovery. + +In scrambling up the tree he had ripped off the skin bag and his +store of Arab cartridges, none too many, lay on the ground at the +foot of the tree. When this intelligence was communicated to the +tribesmen clinging in the other trees they held a shouted +consultation the result of which was that, to the boys' amazement, +one of them deliberately dropped to the ground and attracting the +elephant's attention began to run him in circles. Now as the man +could run fast and from time to time another took his place and the +elephant had to use a lot of effort in turning corners, it soon +became evident that the big pachyderm was tiring of the exercise. + +It was evidently the intention of the natives to run him out and +then spear him to death--but an unexpected happening put an end to +this method of elephant hunting. One of the men who was worrying +the great animal, much after the manner of a bull-fighter, suddenly +caught his foot on a root and fell headlong. A shout went up as the +others realized that he was doomed to almost certain death. Billy +and Lathrop averted their eyes. It was terrible to have to sit +there powerless and watch the sacrifice. + +But even as they listened with sickened ears for the death-cry of +the unfortunate victim and whilst the elephant's trumpet of triumph +was still resounding, one of the flying men dropped, knife in hand, +from his tree on to the monster's back. + +He landed right behind the great creature's ears and as the animal +threw back his trunk to whisk him off and annihilate him be plunged +his weapon through the soft folds of skin at the base of the huge +skull clear down into the brain. + +It was a mortal wound. + +As the elephant stopped short in his charge and began to stagger in +his death throes the Flying Man slipped to the ground and picked up +his comrade, who had swooned from terror. + +Ten minutes later the great rogue elephant was beyond all further +mischief and the boys joined as heartily as any of the others in +congratulating the brave man whose unparalleled feat of heroism had +saved his comrade's life. + +The man's name was Aga, and the boys had reason later on to remember +him for another deed which affected them even more nearly than the +slaying of the elephant. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A LINK FROM THE PAST + + +On their triumphal return to the cliff with the tusks of the slain +elephant as trophies of the hunt a strange spectacle met the boys' +eyes. Clustered about a sort of altar, which they had not noticed +before, was a group of the cliff-dwellers who seemed to be deeply +interested in something that was going forward. A loud sound of +chanting and intoning of what seemed to be a solemn ritual was the +first inkling the boys had of what was going on. + +On joining the throng the lads found that it was some sort of a +religious ceremony that was being proceeded with. A group of men in +white flowing robes and high conical hats--decorated with mystic +symbols worked out in precious stones that looked like rubies and +emeralds, though of such size that this seemed scarcely +credible--were walking round and round the altar in a sort of what +the irreverent Billy termed "a cakewalk." Pausing at each corner +and revolving slowly, three times they intoned the weird chant. + +Suddenly the music took on a louder tone arid several men with +clashing cymbals joined in. The auditors, too, fell flat on their +faces and Billy and Lathrop, on the former's suggestion, did the +same. + +"Not to do as the others are doing might cost us our heads," sagely +remarked the diplomatic Billy, "and I need mine in my business." + +Whatever the nature of the ceremony, it was now evidently +approaching a climax. The chanting grew louder and more furious and +the cymbal players clashed their huge metal instruments together +with a deafening clangor. Suddenly, from the passage from which the +galleries branched off, there appeared six men clad in robes of +flaming scarlet and conical caps of the same color. + +They formed an escort to a pitiable figure. + +That of a white bearded man who was bent with years and whose eyes +gazed vacantly about him as he stumbled along between the red-robed +dignitaries. But it was not his age and not his feebleness that +made the boys' hearts beat quicker and caused a galvanic shock to +shoot through them. + +The man was white. + +There was no doubt about it. In spite of his sun-browned skin and +the barbarous ornaments that covered him, the figure in the center +of the red-robed group was a Caucasian--perhaps an American--a +fellow countryman. + +And now the boys noticed with a shudder that in the hands of each of +the red-robed men was a knife of some sort of stone--perhaps flint. +These cruel looking weapons they brandished as they slowly paced +forward in time to the chanting. + +But their captive--if he were a captive seemed indifferent to all +this. His dull eyes gazed straight ahead of him as if he were +hypnotized--or, as was more probable, under the influence of some +drug. As the group approached the altar the chanting suddenly +stopped and the onlookers rose to their feet. From the altar now +arose a thin spiral of smoke, the offspring of a fire kindled by one +of the priests. + +The sun was just setting and showed like a blood-red ball, through +the mist that arose from low-lying garden lands. As its disk +touched the horizon the chanting broke out afresh and the red-robed +men seizing the old white man as if he were a beast dragged him +forward and threw him on the altar. + +And now for the first time came to the chums the horrifying +realization of what the scene they were witnessing really meant. + +The man was about to be sacrificed! + +But even as the red-robed men raised their knives in unison and were +about to give them the downward lunge that would extinguish the life +of their feeble victim--and as the other priests and the audience +turning toward the setting sun, chanted louder and more +vociferously--a startling interruption occurred. + +"By the holy poker you're not going to kill that old man while I can +prevent it." + +It was Billy Barnes; his face white and his lips set in a thin line +of determination. + +As he spoke utterly oblivious to the fact that not one of the men +could understand him--Lathrop, pale-faced also, stepped forward by +his side. + +And there stood the two American boys while the auditors--at first +dumb with amazement--began to buzz angrily like a nest of disturbed +hornets. + +One of the white-robed priests gave a sharp order and once more the +red-garbed executors raised their knives. + +Billy quietly, though his heart was beating almost to suffocation, +slipped a cartridge from the recovered bag into his Arab rifle. He +leveled it at the red-robed knife wielders. + +"The first man that moves I'll shoot!" + +Although the words were as unintelligible to the priests and the +cliff-dwellers as any that had gone before, the gesture with which +Billy raised the rifle to his shoulder and covered the group was +eloquent enough. And as it happened, the delay saved the old man's +life; for while they hesitated the sun rushed below the horizon and +the swift African night fell. A loud groan from the crowd announced +that the hour for the culmination of the sacrifice had passed and +that for the time being the intended victim's life was saved. + +But for the boys the situation was serious enough. Powerless to +resist such numbers they were seized by scores of the winged men and +hustled into the passage, which was lit up by blazing torches of the +same resinous wood that their guide had used on the first night that +they came there. They were hurried along, their feet hardly +touching the ground, till they reached one of the diverging +galleries. Down this their captors shoved them till they reached a +small cubical cell--windowless and without ventilation. Into this +they were thrust and a huge stone door that hinged on some +contrivance the boys could not understand swung to upon them with a +dull bang. But a few minutes later it reopened and another prisoner +was thrust in. + +It was the aged captive whose life Billy had saved! + +This much they saw in the momentary glare of the torches and then as +the door closed the darkness--so black that you could feel it--shut +down again. But Billy's reportorial curiosity, even in this +situation, was still predominant. + +"Who are you?" he asked eagerly of the new arrival, whose face he +could not see and whose presence he could only guess at by the +temporary revelation of the torch-light. + +The only answer was a groan; but a few seconds later a voice that +sounded strange from long disuse or unaccustomedness to the use of +the English language replied: + +"I have not heard a white man speak for forty years." + +"What?" exclaimed the thunderstruck Billy. + +"What I say is true and when you hear my name you will perhaps +realize that fact. I am George Desmond the American explorer." + +"The George Desmond who was lost in 1870?" cried Billy, almost +choking with excitement. + +"The same," was the reply in the same rusty voice, "like the sound +of a long disused door swinging on its hinges," was the way Billy +described it afterward in the article he wrote about the finding of +George Desmond. + +"But George Desmond was a man of thirty-five!" protested Billy, +"when he was lost." + +"And I am seventy-five," went on the sad voice in the blackness, "I +was captured by the winged men in 1870. I have kept the record of +the long years on a notched stick. I never expected to hear the +sound of a fellow countryman's voice again." + +The poor tired voice broke down, and in the darkness through which +they could not see the boys heard the old man weeping. + +"Great cats!" groaned Billy to Lathrop, whose hand he held so that +they could be near together in the awful blackness, "forty years +without seeing a white face--jumping horn-toads, what a fate!" + +But the old man's soft weeping stopped presently and in a firmer +voice he said: + +"My wife and my sons? Can you tell me anything of them?" + +As a newspaper man Billy recollected very clearly the space that had +been given some five years before to the death, at a ripe old age, +of the wife of George Desmond the lost explorer. + +"She is dead," he said gently. + +They heard the castaway sigh, and then he asked in a voice he strove +to render firm, but which trembled in spite of itself: + +"And my sons?" + +"They are all alive and in business in New York," said Billy. "Your +wife died believing to the end that you would come back. They +placed her chair so that she could face the east. She died at +daybreak with her eyes turned toward the sea beyond which lay +Africa." + +"Africa!" echoed the tired, disused voice. "Africa! it has cost me +everything I had." + +There was silence for some time after this. Neither of the boys +wanted to intrude on the silent grief of the explorer so strangely +found, though each was dying to ask him a host of questions. It was +the aged man himself who broke the silence at length. + +"But I am selfish," he exclaimed. "I should have thanked you before +this for saving my life. The priests were determined that, as I was +old and useless, my life should be offered to the Sun-god to appease +a sickness that has of late carried off hundreds of the Flying Men. +They are a dying race, young men. As a man of science, I predict +that in five years or less there will not be a single one of the +once numerous tribe alive. I have studied them closely and can +predict their extinction." + +"Then you have not been a prisoner always?" asked Billy. + +"No, my young friend, I have not. When first I came here I was +received warmly and was paid high honors. I was allowed to record +my observations in writing--fortunately I carried a supply of ink +and paper." + +"You still have the manuscript?" gasped Billy, with the reporter's +instinct to the fore. + +"I have," sighed old Mr. Desmond, "in the cell that I so long called +home then, the pages still lie. But I have neglected them for many +years. I had no more writing materials when I used up my slender +supply and I never thought to regain civilization. + +"But now did you ever get here?" asked the amazed Billy. + +"That is a long story," replied the captive, "but briefly told, it +is as follows: In the season of 1870, as you perhaps know, my +ill-fated expedition left Grand Bassam. My avowed object was to +collect specimens and data for the Smithsonian Institute, but my +real and secret desire was to find the tribe of Flying Men of whose +existence I had heard in a fragmentary way on previous expeditions +to the West Coast. I have found them--" he went on with a heavy +sigh--"but at what a cost--at what a cost!" + +There was silence for a few minutes and then the old voice went on, +gaining in strength as he proceeded, and resumed acquaintance with +words to which his tongue had been long unused. + +"My expedition, as you know, was never heard of again. The reason +was this. In some way the Arab slave-traders--who were thick in +this district then and plied their nefarious trade almost +openly--gained the belief that my expedition was a pretense for a +plan of espionage on them and they attacked my camp one night and +slaughtered every man in it but myself. Why they did not kill me +I do not know, unless it was because of the intercession of a young +Arab, a mere youth and the son of the chief. I have never forgotten +his name or his kindness." + +"What was his name?" asked Billy, who was deeply interested and +wanted to get every detail of the extraordinary story. + +"Muley-Hassan!" was the amazing reply. + +"Muley-Hassan," echoed Billy, "why, he is the most cold-blooded +fiend in the slave-trade to-day." + +"Perhaps," answered the old man, "but he was good to me when he was +a young man and I have never forgotten it." + +"Well," he went on, picking up his narrative, "it was not long +before retribution overtook the Arabs. One night their camp was +attacked by a tribe whose village they had raided and sacked some +time before and only a few of them escaped, among them must have +been Muley-Hassan, though, till you told me of him, I believed him +dead. The savages, seeing that I was not one of the Arab race took +care of me and I fared well at their hands. But a great longing to +see civilization--to clasp my wife in my arms, to see my children +and America once more, was always with me, and one night I escaped +from their village. I wandered half-delirious from fever and +starvation for many days after that, for I lost my way in the +forest, and, as I had no compass, wandered aimlessly seeking a river +by which I might follow down to the coast. One night such a sharp +attack of fever overtook me that I was-stricken unconscious. I gave +myself up for dead before I lost my senses and only recollect +awaking in this village. From that day to this, although I have +repeatedly endeavored to escape I have never been able to do so. +The ladder is guarded day and night,"--(this information dashed a +half-formed hope in Billy's mind of escape by that way,) "and it +would be suicide to attempt to penetrate the great jungles on the +other side. I thought to end my days here, but I never dreamed till +the other day that my life was destined to end as it would have, had +it not been for your brave intervention. + +"The malady of which I have spoken has devastated almost every +family in the cliff and at the instigation of Agagi, the head +priest--a man who has always hated my influence over his people--I +was blamed by the other priests for being the cause of the +affliction. + +"They pretended to have a revelation from the Sun-god stating that +if my life were sacrificed the curse that rested on the +cliff-dwellers would be removed. Accordingly I was seized and +chained and would certainly have died had it not been for you. But +alas, young men, I fear you are doomed to forfeit your lives as the +cost of rescuing an old man who is not long for this life in any +event. I wish that you had been far away and had never had the +brave impulse to risk your young lives for my worthless old one." + +Now it is a remarkable thing, but Billy, who should have replied to +the aged man in all sorts of high-sounding language, could find +nothing to reply to this but: + +"Oh, that's all right." + +"I think you are the bravest boys I have ever heard of," the old man +was beginning when a soft "hiss-s-st!" caused them all to turn their +eyes to the direction in which they knew the door lay, and from +which the sound had proceeded. + +"H-s-s-s-t," came the sound again. + +Did it mean a friend or an enemy? + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +FRIENDS IN NEED + + +They were not kept long in suspense. After being assured that their +attention was attracted, the voice that had made the hissing signal +whispered through some aperture of which the boys had no knowledge: + +"Listen to me, white boys, and you, too, old man, you can escape if +your hearts are stout." + +Stunned by the suddenness of this joyful news the boys sat silent. + +"Are you listening, white boys?" said the voice impatiently. + +"Yes--yes," whispered Billy eagerly. + +"Then when a man comes in a short time to you with food and drink do +not touch it, for it is poisoned with a deadly drug; but curb your +appetite. In a short time the same man will come back to see if you +have yet become insensible. Then you must be of stout heart and +leap upon him and kill him. After that leave your cell and I will +show you how to gain freedom." + +The boys had recognized the voice at once as that of their friendly +guide, though why he should have taken such a risk to aid them did +not manifest itself till he whispered: + +"And as a reward, I ask of the fat white boy with the glass eyes his +fire-weapon which assuredly contains a great fetish and of the +red-headed one some of his hair for a fetish also. Of the old man I +would have the round box containing the strange god that says by day +and by night 'tick-tick'." + +"He means my watch," answered the old man, "it was a present from my +dead wife to me on our wedding day, but he shall have it." + +The boys also promised their "fetishes." + +There was a guttural sound of satisfaction from outside the cell as +the bargain was struck and then all was silent. + +How they passed the time till the door swung open and the man whom +their friend had foretold would bring them food and drink appeared, +they never knew; but somehow it went. The new comer set the stuff +down without a word and then stuck the flaming torch he carried in a +niche in the wall so that they might have light to eat by. He made +several gesticulations intended, apparently, to signify that what he +had set before them was very good. + +"Hum," said Billy when he had gone, "I'd as soon eat a mess of toads +as touch any of this stuff--although it smells mighty good," he +added regretfully, "and I'm hungry enough to gobble up a crocodile, +claws and all." + +But they all abstained from touching it and spent the time between +the second promised visit discussing whether they would carry out +the instructions of the friendly savage. + +"But we can't kill the fellow," objected Lathrop. + +"Certainly not," replied Billy; "but, now that we have a light, I +see that there is a nice convenient chain fastened to the wall over +there. There would be no objection to our gagging him, to prevent +any outcry, and then hitching him up with it." + +"But he is a pretty husky-looking customer," objected Lathrop; +"suppose we can't overcome him?" + +"We'll have to take our chances on that," said Billy decisively. +"Now what I propose is, that when he comes back we all he stretched +out as if the drug had overcome us and then, when I give the word, +we all jump on him." + +He looked doubtfully at the old man as he spoke. There was no +question that in such a struggle the explorer would be worse than +useless. Mr. Desmond himself agreed with Billy and it was arranged +that while the two boys grappled with the negro that the old man +should pull the door to--in the event of its being left open--so +that no noise of the struggle might penetrate into the passage +outside. + +The little party immediately spread themselves out on the floor in +well simulated insensibility and waited with hearts that beat +uncomfortably quick for the decisive moment to arrive. + +Failure meant death but, as Billy had put it, they were due to die +anyhow it seemed and they owed it to themselves to make as brave an +effort as possible to escape such a fate. + +At last they heard a fumbling at the door and the man who had +brought them the drugged food entered the cell. He scrutinized them +with a grunt of satisfaction and going up to each one shook him by +the shoulder to see if they were only asleep or really insensible. +Apparently he was satisfied from their inertness that the drug had +worked, for he muttered to himself rapidly in the unknown tongue as +he concluded his examination. + +Then he turned to pick up the earthen dishes, stooping over with his +back to Billy Barnes as he did so. + +It was Billy's move! + +Like a flash the young reporter--who had earned an enviable record +on the gridiron and crew at Columbia University--was on the savage's +back while Lathrop rushed at the fellow as he straightened up and +gave him a low tackle. As Billy leaped he had dug his fingers into +the fellow's windpipe to choke any outcry, and when Lathrop seized +him by the legs he toppled over like a felled ox without uttering a +sound. Billy rolled from under him as he fell backward and the +man's head struck the stone floor with a terrific crash. + +He was knocked insensible by the fall. The moment to escape had +arrived! + +Rapidly the boys tore a strip off Billy's shirt and formed it into a +gag. With other strips they tied the insensible man's hands behind +his back and manacled his legs. + +"He won't come to for quite a while after the crack he got," +remarked Billy; "but in case he does, he won't be able to attract +attention for a long time." + +Then, as cautiously as though stepping on eggs, they tiptoed out +into the passage--after extinguishing the torch--and the next minute +were startled to be suddenly halted by a form that ran right into +them in the blackness. + +The next minute, however, their anxiety was relieved. It was +Umbashi who had collided with them and accompanying him was Aga, the +man who killed the rogue elephant. It appeared that the two had +agreed to divide the fetishes their captives were to give them in +return for their freedom. And Aga at once, with a stone knife, cut +off two generous locks of Lathrop's hair. + +"But how are you to get my gun," objected Billy, "the priests took +it from me?" + +"I already have it, Boy-of-the-eyes-of-glass," replied the engaging +cliff-dweller. "I stole it from the old head-priest while he slept. +But you must give it me of your own free will, or it will not be +good 'fetish.'" + +Of course Billy willingly "gave." + +To get the watch they had to traverse what seemed to Billy and +Lathrop in their feverish excitement miles and miles of passages. +But apparently the cliff-dwellers all went to bed early and slept +sound for they encountered no one, and their guides did not seem to +be in any anxiety over the possibility of discovery. Once they got +a chill of horror when just before they left the cell door Aga, who +carried a sharp knife--the same with which he had dispatched the +elephant and cut Lathrop's hair--signified his intention of cutting +the unconscious meal-bringer's throat. It was with great difficulty +that the boys dissuaded him from this barbaric act, the horror of +which did not seem to appeal either to him or his savage companion. + +Once in old Desmond's cell it did not take long to get the watch--an +aged gold key-winder--and present it to the delighted savages. But +several precious minutes were lost in showing the two how to wind it +up. They regarded the key with quite as much veneration as the +watch. The boys saw the old man's eyes filled with tears as he +handed it over and Billy, as he saw the inscription on it, in a +quaint, old-fashioned script, realized why. + +"To my dear husband, George Desmond, on our wedding day, May 24th +1874;" it read. With the signature "Mary Desmond." + +Before they left the place that had been his home for the majority +of his long life, the old man carefully drew from beneath the palm +fiber covering of the niche that served him as a bed a pile of +yellowed paper, covered closely with fine writing in a clear, bold +hand. The pages had been written many years before old age had +seized their author's hand and paralyzed his strength. + +Billy realized with a thrill that these papers contained, the +imperishable record of the long-lost scientist's observations and +commentaries on the mysterious Flying Men. + +But it was no time to linger in speculations. + +Hastily thrusting the papers into the bosom of his shirt the aged +man signified to his guides that he was, ready, and they left the +chamber that had housed him for so many years--without regret on his +part you may be sure. + +Silently as cats they slipped down the corridor and, after about a +quarter of an hour of traversing its smooth floor, they found +themselves at the hole which gave egress to the outside world and +from which hung the rope-ladder by which they were to descend to +freedom. + +Aga and the other savage gave grunts of pleasure and even laughed +softly as the boys' with a horrified start, almost stumbled over a +recumbent figure. + +It was that of the guard of the ladder. + +He lay as if dead--his body right across the narrow entrance. The +moonlight from the outside that flooded the entrance showed that his +mouth was open and his eyes closed. + +A sudden rage filled Billy as he looked on the victim of what seemed +to him to have been a wanton murder. + +"You have killed him," he said raising his voice imprudently in his +anger. + +"Hush, boy-with-the-glass-eyes," exclaimed Urnbashi, "he is not +dead. In a few hours he will be as well as you or I, but he will +recollect nothing. We have given him the sleeping root that brings +oblivion." + +And now it was time to take the final step. + +"A canoe with food and a jar of water is at the foot of the ladder," +whispered their guide, "and the current will carry you down toward +the coast. It will not be a hard journey except for the Tunnel of +the Roaring Waters. Only a few men have navigated that and escaped +alive, but you will be compelled to traverse it to reach the coast." + +"Can we not leave the canoe and go overland round the tunnel?" asked +Billy rightly conjecturing that their guide referred to a place +where the river ran underground when he spoke of the Tunnel of the +Roaring Waters. + +"That cannot be done," was the African's reply. "The swamps where +the sleeping death (the sleeping sickness) lies are all about it. +Only by way of the Tunnel of the Roaring Waters can you escape." + +"There is one other way," began Aga, "but that lies through the +forest." + +"We will take it rather than risk navigation in such a torrent as +you describe," decided Billy after the remark of Aga had been +translated to him. + +But before the two savages could say more there came a distant +booming borne down the rocky tube of the corridor. + +It was the far-off confused sound of excited voices. + +"Quick! glass-eyes, your escape has been discovered; you haven't a +moment to lose!" cried Umbashi. + +It was only too evident that he spoke the truth. The roar of the +searchers' angry voices was rapidly ringing louder. + +"Take this, white boys, and defend yourselves to the death rather +than be recaptured," said their friend as he thrust a stone knife +into Billy's hand. + +The old man and Lathrop were already half-away down the swaying +ladder. + +"Be careful, for the river is swollen with the melting snows of the +mountains and runs as if a million demons were in its soul to-night," +warned Unbashi. + +With a quick "Good-bye" to the men who risked their lives to rescue +them, Billy took his place on the swinging ladder and followed the +others down. + +They were not a second too soon. + +Even as they took their places in the canoe and Billy prepared to +slash the grass-rope that held it, the clamor drew close to the +mouth of the tunnel. + +From the foot of the cliff the chums and their aged companion saw +torches glowing and could perceive Aga and the other pointing at +them and evidently explaining to the tribesmen that they had tried +to stop their flight. Billy was glad to see that apparently their +explanations were accepted and they were not suspected of having +aided the escaping prisoners. + +With a quick slash of his flint knife, the young reporter severed +the rope at which the canoe was straining till it was taut as a +piano wire. There were several other canoes lying alongside and +before he cast loose Billy cut the detaining ropes of these also. + +"Now they'll have to swim if they want to get us!" he exclaimed as +the canoe, released from its bondage, shot forward on the boiling +current at a dizzy rate. + +But he had reckoned without the flying men. Dozens of them had +dropped from their holes and having gained the opposite bank started +in pursuit of the boys and the old explorer, who lay as if overcome +at the bottom of the canoe. Many of the strange beings carried bows +and arrows and they sent their shafts whizzing in a shower at the +canoe. One pierced its side and Billy had to stop the hole with a +strip torn from his already ripped-up shirt. + +But fortunately, except for a slight scratch on Billy's forearm, +none of the arrows did much harm to the voyagers themselves, and +borne on the swift current the canoe soon outdistanced her pursuers. + +As the sound of their shouting grew faint behind them, Billy and +Lathrop grasped the paddle with which they strove to keep the boat +on a straight course--there was no need to propel her. + +The young reporter realized that three lives--his own, Lathrop's and +that of the long missing explorer depended alone now on their skill +and grit. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE SMOKE READER + + +And now we must leave the floating canoe with its occupants and turn +to the River Camp, where we left the Boy Aviators overcome with +anxiety as to the fate of their young comrades. The situation was +indeed one calculated to try the stoutest heart. There was only one +drop of sweet in their cup of bitter. + +Harry, poking about among the ruins of the deserted camp, had +discovered several cans of gasoline that the raiders had overlooked. +They formed sufficient fuel with the picric cakes that Frank still +had a supply of, to drive the big aeroplane for several hundred +miles if the wind conditions were favorable. + +But leave the river camp the boys dare not, for they realized that +if Billy and Lathrop did manage to make their escape, they would, if +possible, come back there. True, it was a chance so remote as to +appear almost impossible, but under the circumstances even the +shadow of a hope seemed to assume substance. And so they waited, +and had been waiting, while the stirring events we have related had +been happening to their missing chums. + +As if to add to their oppression, old Sikaso mooned about the camp, +his eyes rooted to the ground in moody absorption and muttering to +himself, "five go--three come back," till Frank angrily ordered him +to stop. The realization that his gloomy prophecy seemed only too +likely to be fulfilled, however, did not tend to relieve the +situation. + +"If we do not hear from them to-morrow, we shall be compelled to +take to the air and fly to the coast," said Frank as they sat that +evening round a camp-fire which had been lighted to keep away +marauding lions, whose roars ever and anon shook the forest. At +such times old Sikaso's eyes wandered longingly to his great +war-axe. There is little doubt that he would have liked to work off +his gloomy feelings by tackling a lion single-handed with his +weapon. + +"You think, then, it isn't worth while waiting if we have heard no +news by then?" asked Harry. + +"It isn't that," said Frank in reply, "but we have not provisions +left to more than tide us over another day. What the Arabs didn't +destroy they spoiled." + +Harry nodded his head silently. + +Cruel necessity, it seemed, was to compel them to evacuate the camp, +to which they still clung in the hope the lost adventurers might +return. + +It was in vain Ben Stubbs cracked his jokes that night and related +all sorts of droll sea yarns in the hope of cheering up his young +companions. For the first time since he had known them it looked as +if the Boy Aviators had really lost all hope, and truly the facts +seemed to warrant the stoutest-heart in the world being downcast--to +say the least. + +Suddenly without a word old Sikaso left the fire and strode off into +the forest. He was gone for more than an hour and when he came back +his look of gloom had vanished. For him he was almost cheerful. + +He swung his terrible axe in all sorts of fantastic evolutions and +hummed to himself his grim chant with a fierce sort of joy. + +"White boys, the smoke is going to tell me things to-night," he +exclaimed suddenly. "When the moon reaches to the top of the sky I +shall tell you news of the four-eyed one and of the red-headed." + +Impatiently they waited till the moon reached her zenith and then +watched wonderingly while the old savage built a small fire of +sticks, over each one of which he mumbled something in African. + +"What good does he suppose all this hocus-pocus is going to do us?" +muttered Harry irritably, "as if an old fire could tell us anything +we didn't know already. It's all rubbish, I say." + +"I'm not so sure," remarked Frank thoughtfully. "We have already +seen something of what his skill can do and I don't mind letting him +see if he can't conjure up something to give us a ray of hope." + +"Oh bosh, Frank," replied Harry, "if he ever did get anything right +through this rigmarole and hanky-panky it was simply because he had +good luck. That's all." + +"For my part, I've knocked around the world too much to be so cock +sure of some things as some young chaps seem to be," put in Ben +Stubbs, with a chuckle, looking up from the frying-pan that he was +scouring with sand. + +Harry looked abashed and said nothing. + +If old Sikaso had heard any of this colloquy he made no sign, but +with the face of a graven image went about his preparations. Slowly +he struck the sparks from his never-failing flint and steel, and a +few seconds later the little fire was sending up a blaze. + +"Do you see anything?" asked Frank. + +"Too soon now, wait till smoke come," he said, and resumed his +intense watching of the fire. + +After a delay that seemed maddening, to two at least of the group +that was watching, the old Krooman announced that all was ready. + +Even Harry felt a thrill of interest as the old man began to spin +slowly on his toes round the column of smoke, chanting slowly some +strange mixture of savage music which was, as Frank guessed, an +incantation to the fetish that, as he believed, dwelt in the smoke. +As the smoke grew thicker he cast some sort of powder from a +skin-bag into it and instantly a thick yellow column of vapor shot +up. + +The whole forest about seemed impregnated with the strong odor of +the stuff and the boys' eyes smarted. Old Sikaso kept up his dance, +bending lower and lower till it seemed that he must be actually +inhaling the pungent, acrid smoke. + +As this strange scene progressed, Frank felt his eyes begin to grow +dim and an unaccountable languor fill his limbs. His head swam +round and he desired nothing so much as to lie down and sleep---and +yet a compelling power forced him to keep his eyes fixed on the +column of smoke over which the aged Krooman was now stooping with +outspread hands. + +Suddenly he gave a sharp cry--an exclamation almost of command. + +"Look--look, white boys, and you, old man of the sea and the forests +of the far-off land, and I shall show you the magic of the sleeping +heart of Africa." + +With eyes that started from his head Frank gazed, in obedience to a +majestic sweep of the African's hand, full into the ascending column +of yellowish smoke. + +The languor the boy had felt at first had now quite left him and he +was only intent on seeing what was about to transpire. + +Sikaso's voice once more rose in his dismal chant and he cast more +of the powder from his skin-bag into the fire. The smoke pillar +grew to an immense size and, as he gazed at it, before Frank's +amazed eyes a scene as strange to him as any he had ever set eyes +on, began slowly to take shape. + +There was a river edge with mighty banks at the summit of which +waved fronds of tropical plants and in which huge beasts, that he +recognized as hippopotami, wallowed and sputtered. An unhealthy +steam arose from the banks and the river boiled angrily along +between its confines in a dark mud-colored flood. + +So far the scene was not unlike the river in which he and Harry had +so nearly lost their lives, but as he gazed the details grew +clearer, as if it had been a magic lantern view, growing by degrees +stronger and every outline of the tropical view was suddenly thrown +into strong relief. + +All at once the boy uttered a sharp cry, which was echoed by his +brother and Ben. Old Sikaso never moved a muscle but kept on +chanting. + +Into the center of the wonderful smoke picture there had swum a +canoe. + +And in it were seated Billy Barnes and Lathrop! + +With them, too, was the figure of a venerable white bearded man who +seemed to be about to collapse. From time to time he raised himself +feebly and gazed ahead. Frank could see Billy at such times stoop +forward and speak to him. + +The boys' plight was evidently a terrible one. + +Their clothes were ripped and torn and Billy's shirt scarcely +covered his body; which was a mass of cuts and scratches. A great +cloud of mosquitoes hung about the canoe, clearly maddening its +occupants with their myriads of tiny stings. The faces of both the +young navigators were drawn and lined with anxiety as they paddled +ahead in the turbulent current. + +"See," cried Sikaso harshly, as the picture faded, "do the white +boys still doubt?" + +"No, no!" cried Harry. "Show us more, Sikaso." + +The Krooman cast more of the magic powder into the dying fire and +again a thick pillar of smoke curled upward. + +His low crooning chant then began once more. + +As before the picture did not assume shape at once but swam, as it +were, slowly into view. This time the surroundings had changed. +There was a look of agonized terror on the faces of all the +occupants of the canoe as she seemed to be literally hurled forward +upon a current that ran as swiftly as a mill race. + +The frail craft rocked terribly and once or twice she shipped some +water that Lathrop instantly bailed out with a shallow earthen dish. + +Frank could almost hear the roar of the water as he gazed in silent +fascination on the mysterious pictures of the smoke. + +And now the apprehension on the faces of the occupants of the canoe +was agonizing to watch. Once Frank saw the old man arise as if to +cast himself into the water rather than face what lay ahead, but +Lathrop instantly drew him back. + +Again the picture died out and again the old Krooman. threw on more +powder. As the smoke rolled up once more no one spoke. The +situation was far too tense for that. + +The scene now seemed to show that indeed all was over with the +occupants of the canoe. The frail craft was seen to be in a tunnel +of rough stone through which the roaring vortex of the waters poured +with such violence that the boys and their aged companion were +continually drenched with spray. Lathrop had hard work to keep the +craft free of water now, and bailed incessantly. The old man was on +his knees his hands clasped and his lips moving as if in prayer. +Billy, his face set, sat in the stern. Again and again with a quick +twist of his paddle he saved the canoe from annihilation in the +boiling current. + +It was an agonizing scene to watch, and to the onlookers it seemed +as real as if they had been gazing at the peril itself instead of +its counterfeit presentment in smoke-pictures. + +At last the walls of the tunnel were seen to widen out and the +current to move more slowly. Frank gave a sigh of relief which was +echoed by the others as the canoe emerged from the subterranean +river into a broad lagoon with low banks covered with tropical +verdure and seemingly, from the absence of steaming vapors a healthy +spot. But even as the canoe entered the quiet waters a great body +projected itself through the water followed by three other bulky +forms. + +They were recognized instantly by the watchers as hippopotami. + +The leader of the animals made straight for the canoe, and the +watchers trembled as they looked, for it was evident that one snap +of the creatures' huge jaws would cave in the side of the canoe as +if it were an eggshell. + +With trembling excitement the Boy Aviators saw their young +companions with both paddles make desperately for the shore, but +before they reached it one of the hippopotami intercepted them, and +with a charge of angry fury literally tossed the boat clean out of +the water. + +A second later the gazers at the smoke pictures saw the two missing +adventurers and their aged unknown companion struggling in the +water. It seemed that all was over when a strange interruption +occurred. + +A long, dark horny head with two cruel eyes and rows of saw-like +teeth in its long jaws, sped through the waters. The hippopotamus +turned savagely on the intruder and the two snapped savagely at each +other for several minutes when the crocodile, mortally wounded to +judge by the red swirl on the surface of the stream, made off. + +But Billy and Lathrop were seen to have taken advantage of the brief +breathing spell it gave them. In a few strong strokes they had swum +with the aged man to shallow water and quickly waded ashore. They +were safe then for the time being. But for how long? + +Frank saw the two comrades gaze about them in despair at the +wilderness of jungle that closed about them on every side. He saw +them cast horrified looks at each other at the situation in which +they found themselves--lost in the trackless African forests. + +The next minute the old man fell forward on his face and lay still. +Whether he was dead or unconscious, Frank could not, of course, +tell--and then the smoke died out, and the picture faded. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE CHUMS RESCUED BY AEROPLANE + + +Hope had almost died in the boys' hearts at the scene they had +witnessed by means of powers that seemed incredible to them, but +which several well known travelers have told us are not uncommon +among certain natives of West Africa. But old Sikaso was destined +to raise their hopes. + +"We will save Four-Eyes and the Red-Headed one," he exclaimed +suddenly. + +"But how?" chorused the amazed three. + +"In the ship that like the bird can cleave the air we will fly to +them," was the astonishing reply. + +"But we do not know where they are," objected Harry. + +"I do," was the quiet response. + +"What?" + +"Say that again!" + +"Well, I'll be hornswoggled!" + +These exclamations came from each of the three in turn. + +"They are on the banks of a river which I know well. In the smoke I +recognized it. Few men have ever navigated the Tunnel of Death and +came out to tell the tale, but your great white Fetish must have +looked after them." + +"You know the river?" + +"Well do I know it white boy," replied the Krooman. "In the days +when my limbs were supple I have hunted and fished there with others +of my tribe." + +"You can guide us to it?" + +"I can." + +"When?" + +"As soon as it is dawn." + +"How far is it from here?" + +"Not more than a hundred and fifty miles." + +Frank held up a moistened finger. The air was as calm as a +mill-pond. + +"We can make that distance in a little more than four hours," he +announced. + +It was Sikaso's turn to be astonished. + +"Of a truth the magic of the white man is not as the magic of the +black man, but it is good," he said; "yes, it is good. In four +hours. That is indeed mighty magic." + +"Who can the old man be whom we saw with them?" asked Harry eagerly, +his mind no longer containing an ounce of skepticism to the marvels +he had seen. + +"I have no idea," rejoined Frank, "but he was white evidently." + +"I've seen his picture some place, sometime--or some chap that +looked a powerful sight like him, only younger," said Ben, who +doubtless had a vague recollection of the once widely distributed +photographs of the missing explorer Desmond. + +"I am afraid that he was seriously ill, or even dying, from the last +glimpse we had of him," said Frank gravely. + +"Why could you not show us more smoke pictures Sikaso?" asked Harry +eagerly. + +"I have no more of the powder left," replied the old Krooman bending +over his beloved axe and feeling the edge with a critical thumb. +"Moreover, the smoke does not reveal the future." + +There was, naturally enough, no thought of sleep that night, and so +excited were the boys that they did not even feel the want of it. A +huge shallow pit was dug back in the forest and the ivory taken from +the chassis of the aeroplane and the aerial express wagon cached +there and leaves and grass strewn over the place to make it as +inconspicuous as possible. This was done before the aeroplane was +got in readiness for the dash to the rescue. + +"For," said Frank, "old Muley-Hassan, when he finds we have +overreached him, may take a fancy to come back and try to wipe us +out." + +"Muley-Hassan will not fight with the few men he has left," sagely +remarked old Sikaso; "when he has many he is brave as a lion, but +when his followers are few he fights like the fox with wits against +wits and few are his match for cunning." + +As the day-life of the jungle--which has a nightlife as well as a +daylight one--as the day-life of the forest began with the first +ghostly gray of the dawn the boys swallowed a hasty meal, though +they were almost too excited to eat in spite of Ben Stubbs' +insistence that they take some nourishment. At the old sailor's +suggestion, too, the car of the Golden Eagle II was packed with food +for the castaways, who surely, from the latest glimpse they had had +of them, must be in dire straits. + +These preparations completed, they clambered into the car of the +air-ship and with Frank at the wheel and the old Krooman at his +elbow to direct the course they were to take, they left the ground +and were soon flying through a breathless environment at sixty miles +an hour. + +The Golden Eagle II was on her way to the rescue. + +"It is the end." + +These words came from the feeble lips of Mr. Desmond as he lay +beneath a rough screen of leaves and branches which the boys had +erected to keep the heat of the African day from the dying man--for +that he was dying they sadly realized. + +The excitement of their flight and the peril of the subterranean +river had been too much for the enfeebled frame and George Desmond's +troubled soul was on its way to more peaceful rest than he had known +in many years. + +"Is there nothing we can do for you, sir?" asked Billy eagerly, +bending over the dying man and taking his hand-which, despite the +heat, was as cold as ice, between his. + +"Nothing," whispered Desmond faintly, and then, with a supreme +effort, he spoke once more. + +"My papers--the history of the Flying Men." + +He feebly indicated that he wished Billy to take them from his +shirt. + +The young reporter swiftly drew out the yellowed manuscript and +reverently laid it before the fast-fading eyes. A faint smile +overspread the aged man's careworn face. + +"I commend them to your care," he said, as though every word now +cost him an effort. "You have told me you are a newspaper +reporter--you will see that they are given to the world?" + +Billy once more taking the fast passing man's hand promised to +fulfill this sacred trust. + +"Read me the dedication," was the next whispered request of George +Desmond. + +In a trembling voice Billy read the words inscribed on the first +page of the yellowed manuscript. + +"To my dear wife Mary this volume is dedicated by her affectionate +husband the Author." + +"I never thought when I wrote those words I should die like this," +exclaimed the dying man, "but it was to be. I always hoped that +some day I would escape; but now that I have won freedom, rest seems +to mean more to me than all else beside." + +The tears welled into the eyes of both boys as with a resigned sigh +George Desmond composed himself as if to sleep. + +It was about five minutes later, and Billy still held the old man's +hand, when the long-lost explorer raised himself on his elbow and +shading his eyes with his trembling hand gazed in front of him as if +he saw a vision. + +"Mary--" he cried in a loud voice and fell back dead. + +And so died George Desmond, the famous African traveler, almost +within sight of the civilization to which he had so long dreamed of +returning. + +The shocked and grieved boys had hardly recovered their composure +after this tragic termination of a brave man's life when Lathrop, +who had been gazing despairingly about him gave a great shout. + +The next minute it was echoed by Billy. + +Half mad with joy the boys embraced each other and shook hands till +it seemed they would fall off, and performed a dozen mad antics. + +For, winging its way steadily toward them, though still at a great +distance, was an aeroplane that they had no difficulty in +recognizing at once as the Golden Eagle II. + +There is no need to detail the scene that ensued when, fifteen +minutes later, the great air-craft settled down on the river bank +and the ravenous boys--who had long since exhausted the provisions +in the boat--had been fed, and plied with questions till they had to +stop eating to talk and stop talking to eat, at short intervals. + +To the great joy of old Sikaso, who regarded it as a personal +vindication of his powers, every detail of the trip through the +subterranean river and the subsequent peril into which they had +fallen was substantiated by Billy and Lathrop as having occurred +exactly as it did in the smoke pictures. But there was a note of +sadness amid all their joy in the death of the old explorer. On the +river bank they dug a grave and marked it with a pile of rocks and +there the remains of George Desmond rest for all time in the country +to whose exploration he gave his life. + +The Golden Eagle II had to make two trips between the river camp and +the outlet of the subterranean river as, stout craft though she was, +her gasoline supply was getting so low that Frank did not dare to +run her at top speed and consequently she would not carry more than +three passengers. By nightfall, however, the reunited adventurers +were all seated about their campfire and talking and retelling all +that had happened to each other during their separation. + +Their conversation was interrupted by a strange happening. + +The puff-puff of the steam launch that had brought them tip the +river was suddenly heard and as she drew alongside the steep bank a +familiar figure stepped from her side into the bright moonlight. + +Not one of the party that did not give a start of amazed surprise as +in the newcomer they recognized: + +Luther Barr, of New York! + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +LUTHER BARR'S TRICK + + +The astonishing meeting in the remote wilds of the African forest +with a man they instinctively mistrusted bereft the lads of words +for an interval. + +Frank was the first to find his voice: + +"Why, Mr. Barr, what are you doing here?" he exclaimed amazedly. + +But if the boys seemed astonished Mr. Barr retained his usual +icicle-like attitude. Except that he was dressed in tropical white +and wore a huge pith helmet which set above his ill-favored features +"like a mushroom over a toad," as Billy described it later, he might +have just stepped out of his office on Wall Street, instead of from +a wheezy launch on a steaming subequatorial river. + +"Good-evening, boys, a little late for dinner, I see, but I daresay +you can cook me something. After dinner I want to talk to you. I +have come a long way for the purpose so you can guess my business is +of importance." + +"Of importance? I should say so;" sputtered the irrepressible +Billy. "Pray did you come by air-ship, Mr. Barr?" + +"No, sir, I came in my yacht the Brigand. She is almost as fast as +a liner and as I came direct to this port I didn't take more than +half the time occupied by you boys on the voyage." + +"You had a good trip?" asked Frank as Mr. Barr sat down and began +eating the hastily prepared meal which Ben served him. + +"Yes, splendid;" said Mr. Barr, "we had one misfortune though. When +we were two days out my captain--a splendid man, boys--slipped on +the wet foredeck as the yacht was plowing through a heavy sea and +struck on his head on a stanchion." + +"I hope he was not badly hurt," said Frank. + +"He is dead," said Mr. Barr, calmly stuffing half a sweet potato +into his capacious mouth. + +The boys gave an exclamation of concern. + +"Yes, it was very annoying," commented Mr. Barr. + +"You see I have had to trust since to the navigation of my mate, and +while he is a careful fellow he is not much good as a navigator, and +in addition to that he is a drinking man. I am afraid that he may be +ashore now in my absence and indulging his taste for strong drink." + +"I should have thought you would have forbidden him shore leave," +commented Harry. + +"No good, my dear boy, that fellow would swim ashore even if the +harbor were swarming with sharks, to gratify his disgusting taste." + +"But now," he continued with a change of tone, "to business. You +have got the ivory? + +"We have," replied Frank. + +"Where?" + +"We have it here," was the quiet rejoinder. + +"What!" an amazed tone. + +"What I tell you is true," and Frank-foolishly as he admitted +afterward-led the way to the cache in the forest; "it is buried here +so as to be safe from marauders." + +Mr. Barr seemed lost in thought for a few minutes then he suggested +a return to the camp-fire. Once there he drew out a paper from his +pocket-book. + +"Many things have happened since you left New York, boys," he said +quietly, through a feverish gleam in his deep, crafty eyes belied +his outward calm. + +"This paper," he continued, holding it out, "is signed by Mr. +Beasley, it resigns to me all claim in the ivory and I am here to +take it."' + +"Let me look at that paper." + +It was Lathrop who spoke. + +The boy's cheeks were angrily flushed and his eyes bad a dangerous +flash. + +"That is not my father's signature!" + +"What do you mean?" + +"Exactly what I say--that this writing which purports to be my +father's was never penned by him." + +"You are making a rash assertion." + +"I am fully prepared to prove it when we get back to New York." + +"And in the meantime the Boy Aviators retain their claim on the +ivory that we fought so hard to get," put in Frank. + +Old Mr. Barr turned on him with a wolfish fury. + +Indeed in his rage he resembled nothing so much as a long, lean, +timber wolf deprived of his expected prey. + +"We will see all about that!" he raged. "There is a law in Fort +Assini though there may not be here. I have this paper here which +in the eyes of the law is a legal transfer to me of Beasley's claim +on the ivory. It is mine now and I mean to have it." + +Frank's heart sank. He did not know much about law and it looked as +if old man Barr held the upper hand. + +"But that is not my father's signature or writing," cried Lathrop. + +"That will be a matter for the American courts to decide," was the +frigid reply. + +"I shall lay the whole matter before M. Desplaines--the consular +agent of our government," cried Frank at last. + +"It is too late to do that," retorted Mr. Barr, "anticipating that +there would be some trouble I have already engaged a lawyer and M. +Desplaines will keep his hands off this affair." + +"Why did you anticipate trouble?" shot out Frank, "was it because +you knew that signature was false?" + +For a fragment of a second the old man's pale face grew paler--or +rather turned a sickly yellow. + +"Bah," he said the next minute, "this is a business matter and not +one for boys to enter into. I will see that you are well paid for +your part of the work. If you like I will write you a check now." + +He drew out an ever-ready check-book and fountain pen. + +"I would rather have fair play than money," was Frank's stinging +retort. + +"And so say we all of us," chorused Harry, Billy and Lathrop. + +Mr. Barr was plainly irritated. In a snappish tone he said at +length: + +"If you can show me where I am to sleep I think I will go to bed. I +am very tired. We will discuss this matter further to-morrow." + +Ben Stubbs, with a very ill grace, made up a bed for the New Yorker +at some distance from the others. + +"I'd like to stuff it full of barb-wire," he confided to Frank +afterward. + +As for Sikaso, he eyed old Mr. Barr from time to time, and then eyed +his axe in a way that made it very plain that the two were connected +in his mind in a manner that would have made it very uncomfortable +for the old financier. + +But if Mr. Barr felt the atmosphere of repugnance to him that +pervaded the camp he did not show it. + +He rolled up in his blanket as if he had been used to a rough bed +all his life and was soon apparently wrapped in deep sleep. The +boys, tired out as they were and not a little downcast at the turn +events had taken, soon followed him. An hour later the River Camp +was as silent as a graveyard with the exception of Ben Stubbs' +mighty snores. + +It was then that old Mr. Barr, who had seemed so sound asleep, +cautiously raised his head from his blankets and peered about him. + +After a few minutes of this he slipped into the few clothes he had +discarded when he went to bed and tiptoed past the sleeping +adventurers down to the river bank and the launch. + +There was an evil smile on his face as he went that to those who +knew Luther Barr would have said as plain as print "Some mischief is +in the wind." + + * * * * * * * + +When the boys awoke the next morning the sun was streaming down on +their sleeping place with a strength that showed that it had been up +some time. With a start Frank sat up and looked about him. + +What was the matter with him? His eyes felt heavy and his throat +was parched. In his ears, too, there was a wild ringing sound and +his limbs felt stiff and inert. Shouting to the others, who were +gazing about them in a bewildered sort of way, Frank described his +symptoms. + +They all felt as badly as he did. + +"I feel like I'd been boiled in the ship's boiler along with the +cook's dish-rags," announced Ben Stubbs. + +Even old Sikaso shook his head mournfully and said that he didn't +feel at all well. + +"I wonder how old man Barr feels?" said the irreverent Billy rubbing +his red-rimmed eyes. + +The next minute there was a shout of astonishment from them all. + +Mr. Barr's blankets were empty and he was nowhere to be seen about +the camp! + +Forgetting their painful feelings in the shock of this discovery the +boys hastened to the river bank to see if by any chance he was down +at the steam launch. + +The launch, too, was missing! + +With a cry of rage Ben Stubbs shook his fist down the river. + +"I see it all, boys," he exclaimed. "The old scallywag drugged +us--doped us--that's why we feel so badly and--" + +"Howling bob-cats! I'll bet he's stolen a march on us and got away +with the ivory,"--this was Billy. + +There was a rush for the spot in which the precious stuff had been +cached. + +A few broken tusks lay there. + +But of the great hoard that the Boy Aviators had worked so +faithfully to salvage not a vestige remained. + +"Bilked, by the great hornspoon!" yelled Ben. + +"But not beaten yet," was Frank's calm rejoinder. "Come on, boys, +we've got to be stirring. Barr's got a long start of us, but we'll +get him yet. Ben, you and Sikaso will take one of the Arabs' +canoes--the ones they left at the river bank when they started after +us--Harry, Billy, Lathrop and I will fly to the coast in the Golden +Eagle II. We've just enough gasoline." + +"All right, sir," said Ben, touching his forelock with an old sailor +trick--a token of respect involuntarily forced from him by Frank's +manly promptitude in taking the bull by the horns, "We're with you +to the last ditch, the top of the main-top gallant, the bottom of +the deep-blue sea, or the ends of the earth." + +"That goes for us too, Frank," supplemented Billy. + +"And count me in on that," cried Lathrop. + +As for Harry, he gripped his brother's hand and the boys at once set +about their preparations to outwit their treacherous enemy. In the +midst of their bustle an interruption as utterly unexpected as it +was for a moment alarming occurred. + +The bushes parted and from them there stepped no less a person than +Muley-Hassan. + +He was followed a minute later by half-a-dozen fatigued-looking +followers. + +The boys' hands flew to their revolvers and Ben grabbed up a rifle. +Sikaso's ever-ready axe was in the air in a second. + +But the Arab put up his hand. + +"I have not come to fight but to bargain," he said. + +"You have beaten me at every point of the game. Diego is dead--" + +"Dead," cried Frank. + +"He was bitten by an adder as we were vainly searching for the +ivory," said the Arab sadly, "he died almost instantly." + +Of course the boys felt no sorrow for the death of the treacherous +scamp and did not pretend to. They had no great reason to love +Muley-Hassan either, so Frank said coldly: + +"What is it you want?" + +"Permission to take my canoes and leave this cursed country +forever." + +Frank waved toward the river. + +"Your canoes are where you left them the night you made the cowardly +attack on our camp. You can have them all but one. That one we +need." + +"Alas," sighed the Arab, "I do not need as many as I did when I +came. Of all my followers these alone remain." + +He pointed to the scant six, skinny, fever-stricken wretches who +stood behind him. + +"Good-by," said the stately Arab, holding out his hand in farewell, +"we shall never meet again, but I shall ever remember that you dealt +by me far better than I would have dealt by you." + +"At all events you have one good deed to look back to in your life," +exclaimed the impulsive Billy. + +The Arab looked at him questioningly. + +"You saved George Desmond's life," said the reporter shortly. + +"That was many years ago," said the Arab with a start of recognition +at the name of the dead explorer, "I have changed since." + +With a wave of the hand he strode to the river's edge and +half-an-hour later he and the remnant of his band were out of sight +round a bend in the upper river. + +At almost the same instant the boys soared aloft in the Golden Eagle +II, and the chase for the ivory was on. + +Below the flying aeroplane Ben Stubbs and old Sikaso--the latter as +silent as ever--paddled down the river in silence. + +It was a time for deeds, not talk. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +ABOARD "THE BRIGAND" + + +The Brigand, a black, schooner-rigged yacht of about 1800 tons, with +a yellow funnel amidships, and flying the red and blue burgee of the +Transatlantic Yacht Club, lay at anchor on the rolling blue swells +off the harbor of Assini in the early dawn of the day following the +treachery of Luther Barr. Her crew--for the most part a riff-raff +collection picked up in a hurry, for the old man had only made up +his mind to make his daring grab for the ivory at the last +minute--lolled about the decks idly. There was no one aboard to give +command, for Jack Halsey, the mate who had been in command since the +death of the captain had gone ashore the night before. + +As old Barr had prophesied, the mate's love for strong liquor had +overcome him and he was now lying hopelessly intoxicated in a low +drinking den. The raw "trade gin" that he had drunk had rendered +him insensible and so he would remain for many hours to come. + +Some sort of animation diffused itself among the crew as they saw a +low-laden launch headed toward them from the shore. In it were +seated Luther Barr and several negroes including the black captain. + +"Here, you lazy loafers!" hailed Barr, who was evidently in a bad +temper and also in a furious hurry, as the launch ranged alongside, +"bear a hand here and rig a sling and get this stuff aboard." + +The "stuff" referred to was the priceless collection of ivory which +lay higgeldy-piggeldy in the bottom of the launch just as it had +been thrown in by the negroes in Barr's pay. Anticipating that the +boys would put up a stiff fight for the ivory he had taken the +precaution to hire these ne'er-do-wells, who would do anything, from +cutting a throat to stealing a chicken, for pay. Barr had paid them +well and when he had arrived at the camp he had taken the precaution +to leave them down the river about half-a-mile while he went on +alone with the launch and her captain to see how the land lay. When +he realized that the boys were not fooled by his forged order from +Mr. Beasley he decided to use the chloroform he had bought for just +such an emergency, and then rousing his followers when the boys were +drugged it had not taken long with their united efforts to load the +ivory. + +Urged on by Barr's promise of a large reward the captain of the +launch had spun his little vessel down the river at top speed and +thus had been able to make the coast in record time. + +"Where in thunder is that mate Halsey?" roared Barr as he saw the +bos'n--a seedy-looking fellow from the London slums--taking charge +of the transfer of the ivory from the launch to the deck of the +Brigand. + +"He went ashore last night," rejoined the other. + +"And I suppose he is helplessly drunk now," raged Barr. "How in the +name of fortune are we going to get the yacht out of here?" + +"Wait till he gets sober," was the bos'n's grunted reply as the men +hastily transferred the last of the precious freight of tusks to the +Brigand's deck. + +Barr jumped to the accommodation ladder and was aboard in a second, +despite his apparent feebleness. His face was distorted with rage +and cupidity. + +"We have got to get out of here at once--now do you understand?" he +roared, crazed with rage. + +"I'll give a thousand dollars to the man that will get me out of +this harbor and well off to sea." + +"If it comes to that I guess I can take a chance of navigating the +yacht even if I don't hold a master's ticket," replied the bos'n. + +"But are you a navigator?" questioned Barr eagerly + +"Well, Mr. Barr, I held a master's ticket once before drink got me +and I piled my ship on a reef," was the answer. + +"You're good enough for me!" shouted Barr overjoyed, "and now we'll +up anchor and get away from this abominable coast." + +He scanned the sky shoreward anxiously. He did not confide to his +new captain, however, the fact that at any moment he expected to see +swift vengeance in the shape of the Golden Eagle II pursuing him. + +With the roustabout crew that had been shipped in New York from a +West Street boarding-master it took some time to get the anchor +broken out--the men going at their work sulkily. At last, however, +it was "up and down" as the sailors say, and Luther Barr himself +signaled on the engine-room telegraph "Full speed, ahead." The +engines of the yacht begin to revolve and the crafty old pillager +almost gave a cry of joy as he felt the vibration beneath his feet. + +The Boy Aviators could not cross the Atlantic in the aeroplane and +there would not be a ship leaving the coast for a month. + +Luther Barr chuckled. + +He had beaten the boys at their own game. + +By the time they arrived in New York the ivory would have been sold +in London and he would be traveling in Europe on his ill-earned +gains. That Beasley (his unsuspecting partner) would be ruined gave +the money-crazed old man no care at all. + +But even as the launch cast loose from the moving yacht and headed +back to the shore--her occupants greedily fingering the bills Barr +had given them for their work--Barr, from his station on the bridge, +gave a start and an exclamation. + +High in the air, and not more than ten miles inland, a black object +that looked like a huge bird, but which Barr knew in his guilty soul +was the Golden Eagle II, was rapidly winging its way toward them. + +"More steam," he shouted down the tube to the engineer and the +yacht, a long creamy wave curving away from her sharp black bow, +began to move even faster. + +"What are we making?" Barr asked eagerly of the late bos'n who, +binoculars in hand, was taking the ship out through the treacherous +harbor entrance as confidently as if he were once more a captain. + +"Twelve knots," was the reply. + +"We must do better," raged Barr. + +"Impossible!" was the answer. "We are risking the yacht now. I am +not familiar with this harbor and there are shoals and reefs all +about us stretching many miles out to sea. At any moment, unless we +proceed cautiously, we may run aground. Five knots would suit me +better than twelve." + +Barr chafed silently. The reply was unanswerable. + +Better to go slow than to run the ship ashore. Suddenly he snatched +the binoculars from the man beside him and turned them on the +aeroplane. He almost uttered a cry of triumph as the craft swung +into his field of vision. + +There was something the matter with her. + +She was no longer rushing straight ahead. + +As Luther Barr watched her he saw the great aircraft swoop in a huge +circle above the town and then settle down so swiftly that it looked +as if she must have been dashed to pieces. But the town was hidden +behind a point and he could not see it. + +"I hope she has been dashed to pieces," he gritted between his teeth +savagely, "that would mean the saving of a lot of trouble for me." + +But even as he prepared to put the binoculars back in the pocket +alongside the binnacle with an evil smile playing about his thin +lips, there came a startling shock. + +Barr was almost thrown from his feet and only saved himself from +falling by grasping a stanchion. The ship quivered from stem to +stern as if she had been hit a staggering blow. + +"We've struck a reef!" exclaimed the late bos'n. + +"A reef!" yelled Barr, beside himself with fury. + +"I told you we would if you insisted on keeping up such a speed," +angrily replied the other. + +Beside himself with rage Barr picked up a heavy belaying pin to +which, the signal halyards had been attached and struck the man +before him a terrible blow with it. + +Fortunately for his intended victim--for Barr in his rage would not +have cared had he killed him--he ducked just in time and the blow +was a glancing one. The man came at him like a tiger, but Barr, +quick as a flash, slid his hand into his coat pocket. + +"If you advance a step nearer I'll blow your brains out," he said +coldly. + +There was a glitter in his eyes that showed he meant what he said +and with a muttered: + +"I'll get even with you, Barr, as sure as my name is Al Davis," the +late captain of the Brigand left the bridge. + +Barr's active mind was at work at once planning schemes to get the +ivory off immediately. Accustomed to crises of all kinds, the +recent scene with the man Davis hadn't even warmed his chilly blood. + +Calling the engineer he ordered an immediate inspection to be made. +The result was discouraging. The Brigand lay with her bow hard and +fast on a low sunken reef and while there was no apparent leak the +chief engineer shook his head at the vessel's plight. + +That there was grave danger was evidenced a short while after when +the fire-room force--which had been ordered to keep steam up in the +hope of backing the ship off later--came pouring on deck crying that +there was three feet of water in the fire-room. + +"That settles it," said the chief. "We are on a doomed ship." + +"The boats! The boats!" shouted the men. + +"Stay where you are," bellowed Barr, mad with rage, "get that ivory +off first." + +"To blazes with your ivory," shouted a grizzled old fireman, "do you +think we are going to perish aboard here for such an old skinflint +as you?" + +"Why, if we had time we'd run you up at your own main-gaff you old +land-shark," shouted another. + +"Come on! the boats--the boats!" they yelled. + +Barr stood irresolute while they lowered the four boats that the +Brigand carried and piled into them. The shore was only a few miles +off and they would reach it in a few hours. + +While Barr hesitated he felt the ship give a lurch. She was +settling! + +That decided him. + +Ivory or no ivory he feared such a death as he felt convinced would +come to any one unfortunate enough to be aboard the ship in a few +hours' time even more than he did the loss of the ivory. + +"Hold on!" he shouted to the men in the boats, "I'm coming along." + +"Not much you ain't," yelled Davis--the man he had dealt the blow +to, "you stay there and rot with your ivory--you old crook." + +With mocking laughs the men pulled away and Luther Barr, master of +millions, was left alone on the sinking yacht. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE BOY AVIATORS HOLD A WINNING HAND + + +The cause of the sudden swoop of the Golden Eagle II that Barr had +seen from the yacht with such satisfaction was the need of +replenishing her gasoline tank. The big craft landed in the dusty +public square of the city where pretty well every one in the town +was on hand when her runners and pneumatic tired supporting wheels +struck the ground. The young adventurers were out of her in a few +minutes and the first man to grasp their hands was M. Desplaines. + +"I am delighted to see you," he exclaimed, "but if you anticipated +catching Luther Barr you are too late." + +"We saw his yacht steaming out to sea," rejoined Frank, "but if only +we can get more gasoline we can catch him yet." + +"What, you mean to pursue him?" + +"We certainly do. He has stolen the ivory that we recovered at so +much risk to ourselves." + +"I didn't realize, of course, what your errand was," said M. +Desplaines in reply, "till Mr. Barr arrived here in his yacht the +other day and informed me that you had stolen a cache of ivory +belonging to him and asked my aid to help in capturing you. I had +no means of disproving his story so I lent him the steam launch, but +I see now by his action in hastening to the yacht that he is, as you +say, the real thief." + +Hastily Frank told a part of their adventures and if he had had any +remaining doubt of the boys' sincerity the consular agent was soon +convinced of the truth of their story and of the villainy of Barr. + +"I can get you some gasoline--," he said. "A merchant here in town +recently bought a launch and as the freight boats do not touch in +here often he has laid in a large supply of the fuel. I have no +doubt that at my request he will be glad to sell you as much as you +require." + +This was good news indeed, and the boys hastened round to the house +of M. Desplaine's friend. To their unspeakable regret, however, he +was absent on a fishing expedition in his launch. + +"If that isn't tough luck," exclaimed Billy disgustedly, "what can +we do now?" + +"Wait till he gets back or else break into his warehouse," said +Harry. + +"We cannot commit burglary," said Frank, "we shall have to wait." + +M. Desplaines invited the party to lunch at his house but as may be +imagined they did not eat much. Each was in too much of a hurry to +ascertain if the fisherman had not returned. Immediately the meal +was dispatched, therefore, they hastened out into the street and +here they encountered a strange scene. + +A score or more of rough-looking characters had just landed from +four ship's boats that lay moored at the small wharf. They had +joined forces with the crew of the launch that had aided in the +ivory hunt and all were bent on a carouse. The boys were hardly +able to speak from excitement when they read on the stern of each of +the boats the words "Brigand N. Y." + +"Those boats are from Barr's yacht," cried Frank. + +"So they are," cried M. Desplaines, "and from some of these men +perhaps we shall be able to hear what has happened." + +It was an easy matter to get the story from the crew. + +The only trouble was they all wanted to talk at once. Bit by bit, +however, the boys got the story and learned that the Brigand was +sinking with a big hole in her bottom. While the others were +talking a tall man, who formed part of the crew that had just +landed, beckoned Frank aside: + +"Come here, young master," he said, "I want a word with you. You +are one of the Boy Aviators?" + +"I am!" replied Frank, "who are you?" + +"My name's Al Davis; I was a skipper once--but never mind that now. +But if you want to make a piece of money out of salvage I'll tell +you how if you make it worth my while." + +"What is it you have to tell me?" asked Frank. + +For reply the man put his hand up to Frank's ear and whispered +cautiously. + +"Is that worth anything?" he asked after he had imparted the +information. + +"Well I should say so," cried Frank joyously, and he slipped the man +a bill of large denomination. + +"I'll buy everybody a drink," shouted Davis, shuffling off. + +"Come on, boys, we've no time to lose!" Frank exclaimed the next +minute and they hastened round to the house of M. Desplaines' +friend. + +This time that worthy was at home and greeted them warmly. He had a +plentiful stock of gasoline more than enough, he said--and he gladly +sold them all they wanted. + +In a few minutes the Golden Eagle II's main and reserve tanks were +replenished to the full and the boys were ready for a record flight +to the wreck. + +So far Frank had not divulged to the others what his information +concerning the wreck was that he had received from Davis, and he did +not now though he felt sorely tempted to. + +Amid cheers from the crowd the Golden Eagle II, with all the +adventurers aboard, soared once more into the air; but this time +headed out to sea. They had not risen a hundred feet before they +sighted the wreck, which had struck round a low point out of sight +from the town. She lay, a dismal-looking object, heeled over to one +side; but Frank saw, to his intense joy, that there was still a +feeble curl of smoke coming from her stack. + +This meant that the water had not yet extinguished her fires and was +favorable to the daring plan he had conceived. + +As the Golden Eagle II drew nearer, the figure of old Luther Barr +could be plainly seen rushing about on the upper bridge. + +He seemed demented with terror. + +"Save me! save me! the ship is going down!" he cried in agonized +tones, as a few minutes later the aeroplane swung in big circles +above his head. + +The boys, despite their righteous anger at the wicked old man, yet +could not help feeling some pity mingled with their amusement as the +old coward ran about the bridge like a crazy man. + +"We'll get you off if you'll agree to do something for us," hailed +Frank through his megaphone as the aeroplane soared in big circles +round the wreck and the distracted old man. + +"Anything, anything!" cried back old Barr piteously. + +"Will you sign a release for the ivory you stole from us, admitting +your theft?" asked Frank. + +"Yes, yes, my boys. I'll sign anything, but get me off. I don't +want to die like this. Oh this is a terrible end!" + +"What are you going to do, Frank?" asked Billy, as the Golden Eagle +II, in obedience to Frank's controlling hand, began to drop. + +"You see that sand bank that the falling tide has exposed," was +Frank's reply. + +They all nodded. + +"I am going to land there and we can wade through the water to the +yacht. I judge the water isn't more than three feet deep at the +deepest part." + +The landing was made without a hitch--the sand being of the +hard-ribbed variety that covers the numerous reefs along the west +African coast. + +After a short interval of wading the boys stood on the deck of the +Brigand, where she hung on the edge of the reef. Frank's sharp eyes +noticed that except for her forefoot the vessel was in deep water, +as the reef dropped off quite abruptly. + +Old Barr received them with almost hysterical joy. + +"This is better than I deserve, boys; better than I deserve," he +kept repeating. + +"You had better stop your sniveling," said Frank sharply, thoroughly +disgusted with the cowardly old rascal. "Where are pens, ink and +paper?" + +The ivory merchant led the way to the chart-house. "Be quick, +boys--she might sink," he stuttered. + +The document that Frank dictated, Luther Barr signed and the others +witnessed, read like this: + +I, Luther Barr, of New York, do here by deed, make over and assign +to the Boy Aviators--namely Frank and Harry Chester, William Barnes +and Lathrop Beasley, all my share, claim or equity in the ivory +which I wrongfully stole from them, which fact I with shame +acknowledge. I hereby affix my signature which I admit in the +presence of witnesses to be my true manner of signing." + +"Now," said Frank, "just to show we are not mean, there is some +ivory left in the Moon Mountains, near the spot which is indicated +on your map. Sikaso, a faithful Krooman, hid it for us when we +could not carry it away. If you find it you can have it." + +The old man rubbed his hands in greedy glee. + +"Oh thank you, boys; thank you, I'll find it, I'll find it," he +croaked, his wrinkled old face wreathed in smiles. + +"Lathrop," ordered Frank, "you and Billy take Mr. Barr back to +shore. Harry and I will stay here. + +"We have a lot to do. Leave the Golden Eagle ashore to be packed +and forwarded later. Hurry back in the launch." + +"What are you going to do?" demanded Barr. + +"I think that your interest in our movements ceased with the signing +of this paper," rejoined Frank. + +At that moment the Brigand gave a violent shudder as if she was +indeed about to go down. With a shrill scream of terror old Barr +ran out on deck and hastily clambered down on to the reef. From +there he waded with Billy and Lathrop to the Golden Eagle II, and +was taken ashore. + +"Now then to work," said Frank as the aeroplane winged her way +shoreward with their enemy. + +"What are you going to do?" demanded Harry in an astonished tone. +There didn't seem to be much to do to his mind but wait till they +were taken off the stranded yacht by the launch. + +"You'll see," replied Frank. "In the first place, Harry, the +Brigand was never in any danger of sinking. She is as sound as a +dollar." + +"Are you crazy?" cried Harry, "why there's a lot of water in her +engine-room. She must have sprung a leak as big as a house." + +Frank laughed. + +"There are more ways of killing a cat than by choking it with +cream," was his cryptic remark. "What would you say if I told you +that in an hour's time we, will have every drop of water out of the +yacht, and that following that we will have her afloat again at +high-water." + +"That you are a marvel." + +"Well, it's going to happen--come with me." + +Frank led the way to the engine-room. + +"Luckily I know something about marine engines since we took that +trip on the gun boat in Nicaragua." + +He examined the gauges. They showed sixty pounds of steam still in +the boilers. + +"Not much--but enough," was Frank's comment. He then turned to two +valve wheels on the working platform and started to screw them up. + +"What in the world are you doing?" asked Harry. + +"Closing the sea-cocks which were opened by Al Davis, the former +bos'n, in revenge for a blow Luther Barr struck him when the ship +went aground," was Frank's astonishing reply. + +"But how in thunder do you know about that?" + +"Davis told me while you were trying to get something out of those +fellows who were all gabbling at once." + +"And when you have closed up the sea-cocks?" + +"Then I shall start the centrifugal pumps going to empty the +engine-room, and we'll soon have her as sound as a dollar." + +Luckily the water had not, as Frank had surmised, reached the fires, +and though low there was enough pressure of steam to run the pumps +till the boys were able to work in the stoke-hold. Then both boys +set to work with a will and soon had the furnaces going full-blast, +and the steam gauges registered seventy, then eighty and then one +hundred and fifty pounds. + +"There, that will do," exclaimed Frank, as, pretty well tuckered +out, they threw aside their shovels. "Now we have to wait for the +tide and reinforcements." + +They had not long to wait. + +Of course at the height the tide now was the reef was pretty well +covered and it would have been impossible to make a landing in the +air-ship, so Billy had chartered the power launch of the friend who +had sold them the gasoline. + +Ben Stubbs and Sikaso, who had arrived late that' afternoon, were on +board the little craft and Ben's loud "Ahoy!" brought the Boy +Aviators to the rail on the jump--waving and shouting greetings. + +But there were others in the launch, and among them the boys spied +several faces of bronzed men who looked thorough seamen. M. +Desplaines, who was in the launch, explained that they had formed +part of the crew of a steamer that had been wrecked down the coast +some weeks previously. They had been waiting for a ship and were +willing to work their passage home: to New York. Among them was +their captain, a good seaman and a former yacht skipper. + +"But--but," said Frank amazedly, as the men piled on board and the +boys all shook hands madly with everybody. "We can't take this +yacht--it isn't ours, we have no right." + +M. Desplaines held out a piece of paper; smiling as he did so. It +was covered with writing in Luther Barr's cramped hand and was a +characteristic document. Stripped of its legal phraseology it was +an agreement to the effect that if the boys would make no salvage +charges for saving the yacht, they could have her free of cost to +sail back to New York. + +"But," said Frank, "how did he know we intended to save her?" + +"'The man Davis got boisterously drunk and when arrested admitted +that the yacht was in no danger and that he had flooded her +stoke-hold out of revenge," explained M. Desplaines. + +"In that case, why does not Mr. Barr come back to New York on her?" +demanded Frank. + +The consular agent smiled. + +"He thinks he is on the track of more ivory and has already engaged +part of an expedition," he replied. "To tell you the truth, his +anxiety to save expense on the yacht has had quite as much to do +with his loaning her to you as anything else. He expects you to pay +the crew. If you wish to go back to New York on this yacht I will +have your aeroplane dismantled and forwarded by freight." + +"Well," laughed Frank, "will we, boys?" + +"I should say we will!" came in a chorus. + +"And steam back to old New York?" + +"You bet." + +As Frank had anticipated, at flood-tide the yacht was backed off +under her own power and then came the time for farewells--and warm +ones they were. To Sikaso the boys presented a rifle and an +automatic revolver as the noble old fellow would not hear of taking +money. The last glimpse they had of their black friend, as the +yacht headed due west for America, he was standing gloomily in the +stern of the launch--one hand on his faithful axe and the other +raised against the blue sky as if in benediction. + +"Well," said Frank, as the distance shut out the picture, "we are +bound for home at last." + +"What ever will they say when they hear of our adventures?" cried +Harry. + +"And the recovery of the ivory?" chimed in Lathrop, "my father's +business is saved. We must cable from the Canaries of our success." + +"And the narrative of George Desmond and our own experiences with +the Flying Men?" chimed in Billy. + +"Oh, you'll have to can that rarebit dream!" cried Harry. + +"I will not!" exclaimed Billy indignantly. "I'm going to print it." + +"On the funny page maybe. I'd like to see the newspaper that would +publish such a yarn." + +Alas for poor Billy! Harry was right. + +Nobody would believe his strange tale and last he grew tired of +telling it, and even to hardly credit it himself. + +As for George Desmond's time-yellowed pages they repose in the +Smithsonian Institute, and after a learned wrangle between savants +of all countries--lasting many months--it was agreed that the poor +explorer must have lost his mind and that the narrative of the +Flying Men was the offspring of a brain crazed by suffering. + +"It's a strange termination to our adventures to be steaming home on +Barr's yacht," said Frank, after a long pause in which they had all +gazed back at the fast dimming shore of the Dark Continent. + +"I should say so," cried Lathrop. "It's as near as I ever want to +get to him, too." + +"Same here," joined in Billy, "but I don't suppose we shall ever +hear from him again." + +But Billy was wrong. + +The boys did hear from Luther Barr again and in an extraordinary +manner. The malevolent old man was to be the cause of some +surprising adventures in which the boys at the risk of their lives +were once more pitted against powerful enemies. + + With what flying colors they emerged from their dangers, +difficulties and adventures will be told in the next volume of this +series--"THE BOY AVIATORS' TREASURE QUEST; or THE GOLDEN GALLEON." + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy Aviators in Africa +by Captain Wilbur Lawton + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY AVIATORS IN AFRICA *** + +This file should be named tbvfr10.txt or tbvfr10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, tbvfr11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, tbvfr10a.txt + +Produced by Sean Pobuda + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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