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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0ab910a --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #50719 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50719) diff --git a/old/50719-8.txt b/old/50719-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 0cd1b32..0000000 --- a/old/50719-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3334 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Juju, by Murray Leinster - -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: Juju - -Author: Murray Leinster - -Release Date: December 19, 2015 [EBook #50719] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JUJU *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - Juju - - Murray Leinster - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced - from The Thrill Book, October 15, 1919.] - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -AN AFRICAN NIGHT. - - -From the juju house the witch doctor emerged, bedaubed with colored -earths and bright ashes. The drums renewed their frantic, resounding -thunder. The torchbearers capered more actively, and yelled more -excitedly. The drumming had gone on all day and its hypnotic effect -had culminated in a species of ecstasy in which the blacks yelled and -capered, and capered and yelled, without any clear notion of why or -what they yelled. - -With great solemnity, the witch doctor led forward a young native girl, -her face bedaubed with high juju signs. She was in the last stage of -panic. If she did not flee, it was because she believed a worse fate -awaited her flight than if she submitted to whatever was in store for -her now. - -Two men stepped forward and threw necklaces of magic import about her -neck. Two other men who upon occasion acted as the assistants of the -chief witch doctor seized the girl's hands. The shouting mass of blacks -formed themselves into a sort of column. - -At the front were the drums, those incredible native drums hollowed -out of a single log, and which come from the yet unknown fastnesses -of the darkest interior, far back of Lake Tchad. Behind them came -the torchbearers, yelling a rhythmic chant and capering in almost -unbelievable attitudes as they passed along. Next came the witch -doctor, important and mysterious. Behind him came more torchbearers, -yelling hysterically at the surrounding darkness. Then came the two -assistants, dragging the young girl who was almost paralyzed with -terror. And the entire population of the village followed in their -wake, carrying flaming lights and yelling, yelling, yelling at the -eternally unamazed African forest. - -The tall, dank tree trunks loomed mysteriously above the band of -vociferous natives, with their thumping, rumbling, booming drums -sounding hollowly from the front of the procession. The lights wound -into the forest, deep into the unknown and unknowable bush. The yelling -became fainter, but the drums continued to boom out monotonously -through the throbbing silence of the African night. Boom, boom, boom, -boom! Never a variation from the steady beat, though the sound was -muted by the distance it had to travel before reaching us. - -I glanced across to where Evan Graham sat smoking. We were on the -veranda of the casa on his plantation, four weeks' march from the city -of Ticao, in the province of Ticao, Portuguese West Africa. From the -veranda we could see through the cleared way to the village, a half -mile away, and the whole scene of the juju procession had been spread -before our eyes like a play. - -It puzzled me. I knew Evan made no faintest attempt to Christianize his -slaves--and the villagers were surely his slaves--and yet, white men do -not often allow witch doctors to flourish in their slave quarters. And -the girl who had been led away--I had no idea what might become of her. -Voodoo still puts out its head in strange forms in strange places. It -might well be that some hellish ceremony would take place far back in -the bush that night. - -Whatever was to happen had been planned long before, because I had -arrived some four hours previously from a trip up beyond the Hungry -Country, and the drums were beating then. I looked curiously at Evan to -see what he thought of the open practice of juju by his slaves under -their master's eyes. His expression was inscrutable. I knew better than -to ask questions, but I could not help wondering what it all meant. -Evan was a queer sort, at best, but to allow his natives to practice -black magic--as was evidently the case here--before his very nose was -queerer than anything he had done before. - -He was not taken by surprise, I know. I had heard the drums that -afternoon, long before I entered the village. They were beating -with the rhythmic monotony that is so typical of the African when -he is disturbed in spirit and wants to be comforted, or when he is -comfortable and wants excitement. Either way will do. - -My "boys," wandering along in a more or less listless fashion with the -conventional forty-five pounds on their backs, had heard the drumming -and became more interested. My caravan did not close up, however. It -was spread out over anywhere from a mile to a mile and a half of the -old slave trail that goes down to Venghela, and those in the rear -hastened by precisely the same degree as those in front. - -According to instructions, the foremost pair halted while still half a -mile away from the village and waited for the rest of us to come up. -For three months I had been back inland, a part of the time back even -of the Hungry Country, where the grass is bitter to the taste, and all -the world is half mad for salt. For three months I had been moving -quickly and constantly. - -Having quit the country--I fervently hope for good--it will do no -harm to admit that my constant moving was due less to the demands of -business than to a desire to be elsewhere when the Belgian officials -arrived. The Belgian Kongo is just north of the province of Ticao, -and I had been skimming its edges, buying ivory and rubber from the -natives across the line. The colonial government does not encourage -independent traders, and it would not have been pleasant for me had -I been caught. In Ticao, of course, I was not molested. A small -honorarium to the governor of the province made him my friend, and my -conscience did not bother me. I paid ten times the prices the natives -usually got and I imposed no fines or contributions on the villages. -If you know anything about the Kongo, you will regard me as I regarded -myself--as more or less of a benefactor. - -After three months of that, though, and two or three close shaves -from a choice of fighting or capture, I was glad to get back to -civilization, even such civilization as Evan Graham's casa. Away from -Ticao, Evan Graham would have been shunned for the sort of man he was. -In Ticao, one is not particular. There are few enough Anglo-Saxon white -men of any sort--the two consuls, half a dozen missionaries, and about -three men like myself, who take chances in the interior. The rest of -the population is either Portuguese or black, preponderatingly black, -with a blending layer of half- and quarter-breeds. - -Evan was a cad and several different kinds of an animal, but he was -a white man, he talked English such as one hears at home, and he had -a pool table and civilized drinks all of four weeks' march from the -city of Ticao. I always stopped overnight with him on my way back from -the interior. I knew that he had bribed the governor to overlook the -law which prescribes that no white man shall settle more than forty -kilometers from a fort, because he wanted to have a free hand with -his natives. I knew, too, that he had no shred of title to the land -he tilled, or to the services of the natives he forced to work in his -fields. He had come out there with four or five of the dingy-brown -half-castes that are overseers for half the rocas in Ticao, had -frightened or coerced the inhabitants of three villages into signing -the silly little contracts that bind them to work for a white man for -so many years at ridiculous wage, and now had a plantation that was -tremendously profitable. - -I never had understood just how he made the blacks serve him so well. -He seemed to have them frightened nearly to death. Most plantations -have the slave quarters--the blacks are officially "_contrahidos_," or -contract laborers, but in practice they are slaves--most plantations -have the slave quarters surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, and let -savage dogs loose outside the fence at night, but Graham allowed his -natives to live in the villages they had occupied before his coming and -seemed to take no precautions against their running away. - -This open practice of juju before his eyes and apparently with his -consent was of a piece with the rest of his queerness. My own boys -always seemed to be glad to get away from the neighborhood of his -plantation. I had heard a word or two passed among them that seemed to -hint at a juju house in some secret clearing near the village. I had -thought it possible that it was by means of some mummery in that temple -that he kept his natives in hand, but juju is a dangerous thing for a -white man to meddle with. - -In any event it was none of my business. I was sitting on his porch, -one of his drinks at my elbow, smoking one of his cigarettes especially -imported from London, and it behooved me to display no curiosity unless -he should choose to speak. He looked over at me and smiled quizzically. - -"I wonder what those poor devils think they get by all that juju -palaver," he said ruminatively. - -"I don't know," I admitted. "My own boys are constantly at it, of -course. There's a witch doctor just outside of Venghela who'll be rich -when my caravan gets there, for his services in bringing my bearers -back without falling into the tender hands of our neighbors." - -My carriers were free men, whom I hired and paid. It would have been -cheaper to adopt the _servaçal_ system and buy contract slaves for -carriers, but being free men they served my purpose better. For one -thing, they gave the Kongo natives more confidence in me, and for -another, they traveled faster when there was danger of pursuit. A slave -would merely have changed masters if I had been caught, but these men -had something to lose. - -"I'm going to stop this juju sooner or later," said Graham lazily. -"My brother Arthur has come out and is up after a gorilla in the -Kongo--probably around where you've been--and he's been asking me to -hold on to a real juju doctor for him to interview. When he's through, -I think I'll stop all that. Queer old duck of a witch doctor here." - -He clapped his hands and one of the house servants came out with a -siphon and bottle of gin. The man was trembling as he stood beside his -master's chair. Graham snapped two or three words in the local dialect -and the man's knees threatened to give way. He fled precipitately into -the house and came out again--trembling more violently--with limes. - -"Never can train blacks properly," Graham grumbled, as he sliced a lime -in half and squeezed it into his tumbler. "Now, a Japanese servant is -perfect." - -He poured his gin and the seltzer fizzed into the glass. He lifted it -to his lips and drained it. - -"Japan?" I asked. "I've never been there." - -"I have," said Graham morosely. "Been everywhere. England, America, -Japan, India. All rotten places." - -"No rottener than this," I said disgustedly. "I had three weeks of -fever up in the Kongo, with a Belgian Kongo Company agent after me the -whole time. I'm still shaky from it. When I can go back to white man's -country again----" - -I stopped. Graham was lighting a cigarette, and I noticed that the -flame wavered as he held the match. There are some men who are cold -sober up to a certain point, and then what they have drunk takes hold -of them all at once. Graham was such a person. When he spoke again his -words were slurred and sluggish. - -"White man's country," he repeated uncertainly, and then made an effort -to speak clearly. "I'm goin' back some day. Got dear old home, family -servants, broad lawn--everything. Not mine though. Younger son. Had to -win hearth an' saddle of m'own. Arthur's got it all, damn him. Always -was lucky beggar. Got all family estates, all income, I got nothing. -Then I liked girl. Second cousin. Arthur got her, or goin' to. Engaged. -Damn lucky beggar. Always was lucky chap. Steady and dependable. Damn -stodgy, I think. Told him so. Called him a ---- ---- an' he kicked me -out. All because I got into trouble and signed his name to somethin', -to get out." - -"Easy there, Graham," I warned. "I don't want to hear anything, you -know." - -"You better not," he said suddenly, in a clear voice. He turned -beastlike eyes on me. "If anybody tries to pry into my affairs, they -don't get far." - -I blew a cloud of smoke over the railing of the veranda and said -nothing. Through the moonlit night the throbbing of the drums came -clearly to us sitting there. They beat on steadily, monotonously, -hypnotically. There was something strangely menacing in the rhythmic, -pulsing rumble. The cries of night birds and insects, and occasionally -an animal sound, seemed natural and normal, but the muttering of those -drums with that indescribable hollow tone they possess, seemed to -portend a strange event. - -"Juju," said Graham abruptly, "is the key to the African mind. I don't -give a damn for the natives. All I care about is what I can get out of -this country, but I say that juju is the key to the African mind." - -I smoked on a moment in silence. "I'd rather not meddle with it," I -remarked. "Sooner or later it means ground glass in your coffee of a -morning. Just before I left Ticao, Da Cunha found some in his. He shot -his cook and then found it was another boy entirely." - -"I'd have whipped him to death with a _chiboka_," said Graham viciously. - -"That's what Da Cunha did," I informed him mildly. "But the governor's -made him leave Ticao for six months. He's over in Mozambique." - -"My boys'll never dare try to poison me," declared Graham. He leaned -toward me in drunken confidence. "They believe that if they did----" - -"The procession has started again," I said, interrupting him. "I hear -the yelling." - -It was so. The drums still beat monotonously and rhythmically, but -beneath their deep bass muttering, a faint, high, continuous sound -could be heard. The procession seemed to be making its way back to the -village. - -"I'm goin' to bed," announced Graham sharply. "You go t' bed too. Don't -sit out here an' smoke. Go to bed." - -He stood up and waited for me to enter the house. Puzzled, and rather -annoyed, I went inside. I heard Graham walk heavily and uncertainly -through to the rear and heard him speak to several of the servants. The -contrast between his rasping, harsh tones and the frightened voices of -his servants was complete. They were very evidently in deadly fear of -him. - -The sound of the procession grew louder and louder. Something about it -perplexed me for a moment, but then I realized that it was not making -direct for the village. It was coming toward the house. I frowned a -moment, and looked to make sure that my automatic was handy and in -proper working order. - -The procession was very near. I looked out of the window and saw the -twinkling lights of the torches through the bush. The drums were -thunderous now, but the beat was not the war beat. It was purely -ceremonial. The yelling was high-pitched and continuous. - -The head of the procession emerged from the bush and advanced across -the clearing about the house. It swung and headed for the rear of the -house, and the long line of capering, torch-bearing humanity followed -it. - -The witch doctor came into view, and the girl. Her panic had reached -its pitch now. I have never seen such ultimate fear as was expressed on -that girl's face, outlined by the flickering light of the torches. The -procession moved until the end had passed beyond the rear corner of the -casa, then turned, and evidently turned again. - -I saw it moving back toward the village. A pregnant fact impressed -me. The native girl was missing. She had evidently been left behind -somewhere about the rear of the house. The yelling mass of black -humanity capered and shrilled its way down the cleared way to the -village and gathered in front of the juju house. - -Then some dance or ceremony seemed to begin. What it was, I do not -know. I was very tired and presently I went to sleep. But the drums -beat steadily, all night long. They entered the fabric of my dreams and -made my rest uneasy. It could not have been long before morning when I -awoke with a start and found myself sitting up with every nerve tense. -There was no sound, but I had a feeling as if I had been awakened by a -scream, somewhere about the house. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE SEEKER OF VENGEANCE. - - -The consul listened gravely while I told him about it. He had asked me -to give all the information I could about Graham. We were on the porch -of the consulate and the whole city of Ticao was spread out before us. -The sea pounded restlessly against the low bluffs upon which the city -was built, and surged angrily about the peninsula on which the fort is -situated. - -"I woke in the middle of the night," I concluded, "feeling that there -had been a scream somewhere in the house, but not another sound came. I -couldn't get to sleep again, and in the morning I noticed that the girl -who had seemed to be the center of interest in the juju procession had -been installed as a servant at the house. Another one of the servants -had vanished. The new girl looked pitifully scared, perpetually -panic-stricken, though the rest of the servants look frightened enough, -in all conscience. That's all I know." - -The consul tugged thoughtfully at his mustache. - -"Now why----" he began, and stopped. "The mail boat dropped two -Englishwomen here on her last trip, a Mrs. Braymore and a Miss -Dalforth. Charming women, both of them. They are calling on the -governor's wife this afternoon. They came to me and asked me to assist -them in getting up to Graham's plantation. They told me he was Miss -Dalforth's cousin." - -I nodded, frowning. "He said that his cousin--second cousin--would -possibly turn up. His brother is up in the Kongo somewhere trying to -bag gorillas and is going to come from there on through and stop at -his place. Miss Dalforth is probably the second cousin and is engaged -to the brother who is hunting." - -"Hm." The consul looked somewhat relieved. "I see. But why on earth -should two women want to go up there? Do you think they'd be safe?" - -"I don't know," I said dubiously. "There's no fort anywhere near, and -the natives are scared stiff. They might bolt, but Graham seems to have -them thoroughly in hand. If the ladies once reached the plantation, -they'd probably be safe enough, and Graham's brother could bring them -down to the coast again. The plantation is a queer place, though. I -think there's juju in the air. I'd discourage them from going, if I -could." - -"I've tried," said the consul. "I've informed them what sort the -Portuguese traders are, and told them I simply wouldn't let them go up -alone, or with one of those chaps as escort. I didn't know anything -about Graham. They inquired around for an escort, and one of the -missionaries mentioned you." - -"As a respectable person?" I asked with a smile. - -The consul nodded, matching my smile. "They have quite decided that -you are to escort them to Graham's plantation. I don't think you'll -refuse," he added, when I shook my head. "Miss Dalforth impressed me -as a young woman accustomed to having her way. She saw the governor -and smiled at him, and he agreed that you would be the best possible -person. In fact, he said he would ask you himself." - -"I'm not leaving for a month," I told him. "I've had enough of the back -country for at least that long, and my carriers need a rest." - -"We'll see," said the consul ruefully. "I'll wager she has you setting -out in a week." - -He was nearly right at that. I was introduced to the two of them, and -Miss Dalforth was all that he had said. I had to give my bearers a -rest, however, and it was two weeks before we set out. - -It was a hindrance, having women with me. They traveled in an ox -cart, and at nearly every stream the wheels had to be taken off and a -tarpaulin fixed about the body of the wagon to make it into a raftlike -float, in which they were ferried across. Had Miss Dalforth--or Alicia, -as I heard Mrs. Braymore call her--had Alicia been less charming, or -less anxious to cause as little trouble as possible, I would have -cursed them nearly the entire time. As it was, I bore the delays with -equanimity. - -They were delighted the first day when we went up the trail to -Venghela. I showed them the street lamp at which the great slave trail -from the interior ended, and they looked dubious. When I showed them -the Padre Silvestre's mission, with its three villages of redeemed -slaves, they grew a little bit white and quiet. - -The padre tried to persuade them not to go on, but as luck would have -it, a runner came in on his way to Ticao with a message from Graham. -His brother had arrived from the interior. That strengthened their -resolution. We continued the journey. - -While on the trail I could not speak to them, being busily engaged in -the supervision of my caravan. At night, however, we conversed. It was -good to hear cultivated white women talk again and talk about something -besides the slave traffic, the missionary women's sole topic when they -find a listener who can be trusted not to repeat their views to the -governor. - -The natives are kidnaped or captured far in the interior, brought down -to the coast, and frankly sold. Then they are interviewed and, after -making a mark upon a bit of printed paper, are considered to have made -a contract to serve a white man for four years at one milreis--about a -dollar--a month. - -To call it slave traffic is highly insulting to the Portuguese, but -to call it the _servaçal_ system is inadequate. They are _servaçaes_, -or _contrahidos_, which means contract laborers, in theory, but in -practice they are slaves. They never see their native villages again. -The slave trail from the interior is littered with the manacles used to -confine them, and there are gruesome relics all along the way, of those -natives who were unable to bear the hardships of the journey. - -I told them of these things. I told them of how the Padre Silvestre -sacrificed his very soul to keep his villagers from being sold again -as _servaçaes_, how the blacks rose on Da Vega's plantation and sacked -it, and all I knew of the whole disgusting system. I had no intention -of making myself a hero--and my conscience still hurts me when I think -of some of the things I grew absolutely accustomed to--but I did allow -myself to show my feelings on the subject of Portuguese government. - -Alicia listened, and one night when I had explained to them precisely -what it means for a black to be sent to the island of San Felipe or -Gomé, she held out her hand to me very gravely. - -"I think it is very brave of you," she said, "to stay here and do what -you can to help the poor blacks." - -I stared at her, tempted to laugh. "My dear young lady," I told her, -"I am an outlaw, practically, who trades with the Kongo natives and -attempts to elude the Belgian officials as much as possible. I'm -tolerated here in Ticao because I bribe the Portuguese. I'm no hero. To -the Belgians I am practically what an I. D. B. is in the Transvaal. And -you know what an illicit diamond buyer is considered." - -"I don't believe it," she said firmly. "I think you stay here to help -the poor natives." - -She was so beautifully sincere in attributing the noblest motives to -me that I could not laugh at her. Her blessed incomprehension made me -forbear to kick Mboka, who is my official gun bearer and lieutenant, -when he lost the bolt of my best rifle and threw away the weapon to -conceal his misdoing. I had to kick him twice over the day following -for the lapse, when he took advantage of my lenience and stole half of -my jam. - -She was a charming girl. Mrs. Braymore was suffering in the journeying -and stoically relapsed into silence to conceal her emotion, but Alicia -was perpetually lively and eager for new things of interest. - -She soon grew to adopt a tone of frank friendliness with me, and I -had to remind myself more than once that she was engaged to Graham's -brother, and that it would not do for me to fall in love with her. It -was odd about her engagement, though. She spoke of her fiancé quite -simply, but without any excess of affection. In fact, she confessed -that she thought of him more as a brother than anything else. All three -of them, Graham, his brother and Alicia, had been raised together and -were very much like brothers and sister. - -I told myself sternly that, no matter how she felt about her fiancé, -she was engaged to him, and I had better forget that she was delightful -to look upon and an amazingly good companion. I could not manage it, -however, and the last week of the trip was not easy for me. I had to be -friendly and no more. - -In a way I was very glad when we saw two khaki sun helmets coming -toward us, though I was much depressed at the thought of parting from -Alicia. I had sent a runner on ahead, and Graham and his brother met -us some four miles down the trail. I was pleasantly surprised at the -sight of Graham's brother. Years before he had been at a little English -seaside resort where I was spending the summer and we had grown very -friendly. He kissed Alicia in a brotherly fashion and shook hands with -me. - -"I perpetrate a bromide," he said quizzically. "The world is a small -place." - -"Arthur Graham!" I exclaimed. "I knew you in Clovelly six years ago." - -"You're right," he said cheerfully. "How are you now? Then you were -flirting mildly with a buxom Devon lassie." - -"And now we meet in darkest Africa," I said, smiling. "Let's move on." - -We went forward again, Alicia, in the ox cart, gayly retailing to the -two brothers our adventures on the trip up. I was rather surprised -to notice that both of them were heavily armed, and it bothered me a -little. It looked as if there were trouble with the natives. Each of -the two brothers carried a heavy repeating rifle besides an automatic -pistol in his belt, and Arthur looked decidedly worn, though I saw that -he was trying to conceal it from Alicia. - -My suspicion was confirmed when I observed that, though he tried not to -let Alicia see it, he was keenly searching the way ahead of us with his -eyes. He seemed particularly worried when we passed near a tree and his -grasp on his rifle tightened. Even after we were well away from it, he -looked back nervously. - -We passed around the village and reached the casa by another route, -Alicia chatting cheerfully with all of us from her seat in the cart. -Evan Graham seemed quite at ease and entered into her talk with real -interest, but Arthur--who as her fiancé should have been overjoyed to -see her--was nervous and preoccupied. His rifle was never far from a -position in readiness to fling it to his shoulder, and his eyes roved -restlessly about with a species of dread in them. I walked close to him. - -"Arthur," I said in a low tone that Alicia would not catch. "You're -nervous. Natives?" - -"They're acting queerly, but it's worse than that," he said in the same -low tone, glancing at Alicia to make sure her attention was elsewhere. -"I'd give anything I possess to have Alicia somewhere else. I'll tell -you later. Just keep your eyes open and, if you see anything, shoot -quickly." - -Evan did not seem to be worried. He was strolling leisurely along, -using his rifle as a walking stick, talking casually to Alicia. His -manners were very good and his voice was soft, very unlike the rasping -snarl I had heard him use to his servants. Looking closely at him, I -could see unmistakable signs that he had been drinking heavily of late. -He seemed quite sober to-day, though. The contrast between his careless -attitude and Arthur's worried air was striking. We saw one or two -natives on our way to the house, and they promptly hid themselves in -the bush. Arthur paid no attention to them. Whatever the trouble might -be, it was not the blacks that he feared, though he had said they were -acting queerly. - -He led me aside almost as soon as we reached the casa. I told Mboka to -pile and count the loads, and sent the carriers to the quarters they -would find ready for them. Evan was inside the house, installing Alicia -and Mrs. Braymore in their rooms, and showing them the servants who -would wait on them. Arthur came over to me with a worried frown. - -"I say, Murray," he told me nervously. "I'd ask you to take Alicia back -to the coast to-morrow if I dared, but she's here now, and it would be -just as dangerous for her to go back." - -"What's the matter?" I demanded. "It isn't the natives. What _is_ the -matter?" - -He looked about anxiously. "I shot a female gorilla up in the Kongo," -he said jerkily, "and her mate got away. He's followed my caravan ever -since, up to two weeks ago. Then I hit him with a lucky shot, but he -escaped. You know they will try to kill the slayer of their mate." - -"I know," I replied. "One of them followed me for three weeks once, -until I bushwhacked and killed him." - -"I shot this female," said Arthur quickly. "I shot her through the hip -and she screamed for her mate. She couldn't get away. He came crashing -through the trees, and I fired at him. I thought he'd vanished and went -up to the female. I finished her off, and then the male came for me. I -shot him through the arm and he made off. All that night he moaned and -shrieked around my camp. My boys were badly frightened. Next morning -he dropped from a tree inside the camp, knocked the heads of two of my -carriers together, and crushed in their skulls. I rushed out with a -gun and he disappeared. Three days later he dropped straight out of a -tree almost over my head and made for me. One of my boys was cleaning a -spear, directly in the path of the gorilla. He tried to run the beast -through, but it stopped long enough to break his neck and by that time -I'd got a gun. The gorilla disappeared again. From that time on it -haunted me. If one or two of my boys strayed from the camp, they didn't -come back. The beast has killed six of my best carriers and my gun -bearer. And I never got a fair shot at it! I fired at it two weeks ago -and I found blood where it had been, but no sign of the beast itself. -Since then I've been left in peace." - -"The animal may have dropped the trail, or it may be dead," I commented -thoughtfully, "but I don't blame you for wanting to be careful." - -"The thought of that huge ape perhaps lurking outside, perhaps about to -drop down at any moment, with Alicia here," said Arthur desperately, -"it's enough to drive a man insane. You know they carry off native -women sometimes. We've got to protect Alicia. If it kills me, it -doesn't matter. Evan won't believe it's around. He's going armed to -humor me, but the beast is near; it's somewhere about." - -I felt myself growing pale. A monstrous ape, lingering about the place -with malignant intent, and Alicia laughing unconsciously inside the -house, was enough to make me feel squeamish. I unconsciously tightened -my grasp on my rifle. Alicia came out on the porch at that moment and -beckoned to us. - -"We'll not mention this--yet," said Arthur, as we went up. - -I nodded. Alicia was all enthusiasm about the comforts Evan had -managed to put into his house so far inland, and when we sat down to -dinner, the bright silver and white tablecloth did give an effect of -civilization. When one looked at the black faces of the servants who -waited on us, and at the tattooing and nose rings that disfigured them, -however, the illusion vanished at once. - -I was a long time getting to sleep that night. The next morning would -see me going on my way into the interior, and I would in all likelihood -never see Alicia again. When I at last fell asleep, I was uneasy, and -when I woke, it was in a strangely silent house. Evan Graham's voice -aroused me. He was calling me to get up. His ease of manner and absence -of worry had vanished. Arthur, over his shoulder, looked even more -apprehensive than before. - -"Get up," said Evan briefly. "The servants skipped out during the -night. Your boys have gone, too. There's juju business going on. And -the oxen that pulled Alicia's cart have been clubbed to death in their -stalls." - -The servants had fled from the house. There was not another white -man within a hundred and fifty miles. All about us were natives who -might fear Evan Graham but certainly hated him, and somewhere in the -woods, we had reason to believe, a monstrous ape lurked, awaiting an -opportunity to wreak his bestial vengeance upon the slayer of his mate. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -EVAN'S SORTIE. - - -We explored the house first and came upon a surprise. The native girl -I had seen conducted to the house by the juju procession two months -before crouched in one corner. She was too much frightened to give any -coherent account of the other servants' leaving. - -They had simply gone, she said. No one had said anything to her, and -she had been left behind. The oxen lay in their stalls, their heads -beaten in with blows from a heavy iron bar that lay bent on the ground -beside them. Even my own boys had vanished. That struck me most -forcibly of all, because I had treated them well and had thought I -could count on as much loyalty from them as any white man can expect -from the average native. - -Mboka's defection really bothered me. I had believed well of him and -was in a way genuinely fond of him. He had gone with the rest, though. -The loads of the carriers lay in a huge pile. Small and precious -possessions of my boys lay about them. That was perhaps the queerest -part of the whole affair. In leaving secretly in the middle of the -night, the servants had not stopped to steal, or even to take with -them what was their own. They had apparently risen and stolen away in -shivering fear. - -We went back to the house from the servants' quarters full of rather -uneasy speculations. Juju was obviously at the bottom of whatever -was happening, and there is no telling what may enter the head of a -juju doctor. Passing through the rear rooms, Evan paused to order the -solitary native girl to prepare food for us. We went on to find Alicia -and Mrs. Braymore up and curious. They were on the front porch when -they heard us, and Alicia came inside to smile at all of us and ask -questions. - -"Where are all the servants, Evan?" she demanded. "We had not a drop of -water this morning. And what's happened to the native village? On the -way up here we saw lots of villages, but none of them were quite like -yours." - -We looked down at the squalid huts of the village. Not a sign of -life could be seen. Not one of the usually innumerable tiny fires of -a native village was burning, and the single street was absolutely -deserted. - -"We'll take a look at it," said Arthur grimly. "I don't like this -business. Murray, you'll come?" - -I picked up my rifle and moved forward. As we walked across the -clearing before the casa, Arthur turned to me. - -"Don't forget about that big ape, either. He's probably waiting for a -chance to drop out of a tree on top of us." - -It was a pleasant prospect. If we went down the cleared way toward -the village, we would be perfect targets for bowmen or spear throwers -from the bush on either side. If we went through the bush, we ran -an amazingly good chance of running up against the gorilla. And the -gorilla had learned cunning, too, and would not expose himself to a -shot if he could help it. He would wait patiently until the chance -came for him to rush upon us and crack our skulls together without our -having time to raise a firearm, or else, until he could reach a hairy -arm down and seize us---- - -I have seen iron bars bent and twisted by the hands of those big apes. -A sudden thought came to me. The iron bar in the stables, with which -the oxen had been clubbed to death! - -We made our way cautiously down to the center of the cleared space, -searching the bush on either side with our eyes, but affecting an -unconcerned air in case hidden watchers saw us. We came to the village -and strolled inside. It was absolutely deserted. Not one man, woman, or -child remained within it. Their possessions were undisturbed, save that -all their arms were gone, but cooking pots, carved stools, skin robes, -ornaments, minor fetishes, children's toys, everything else lay as it -had last been used by its owners. Only a few native dogs skulked around -the silent huts. There was not a single sign that gave a hint of the -reason for the mysterious exodus of the natives. - -"I've not been out here long," said Arthur crisply, "but I've learned -that when natives do inexplicable things, juju is at the bottom of it. -What do you say?" - -"I agree with you. I wish I could see some signs, though. I can read -some juju palaver. But there isn't a sign. No charms, no _spoor_ -whatever. We'll go back to the house and talk it over with Evan." - -We started slowly back toward the house. I was walking on ahead, -puzzling over the oddities of the situation and trying to piece -together a meaning in it all when Arthur stopped short. His voice -reached me, little more than a whisper. - -"Murray," he said sharply, "that pongo is trailing us." - -I listened, but could hear nothing. One would hardly expect a white -man's ears to detect a gorilla taking special pains to be quiet. Arthur -seemed to hear something, however. He quietly raised his rifle. I -followed the direction in which he was pointing, but could see nothing. -He fired. A branch swayed slightly where his bullet had grazed it, but -aside from that there was no sign. - -"I didn't see a thing," I remarked. - -Arthur shook his head. "It may be nerves," he said quietly. "That -damned beast has haunted me, but I think I saw it." - -We went on up to the house slowly. Just before we reached the porch -Arthur looked at me pitifully. - -"I heard it following us all the way," he told me. The perspiration was -standing out on his forehead. "It _is_ there, and it _is_ waiting for a -chance to revenge itself on me. And the beast has learned cunning! We -must look out for Alicia." - -I nodded. Evan was waiting for us. - -"Find anything?" he called down. "What did you shoot at?" - -"The gorilla," said Arthur in a low tone. "It's there and it's -determined. We'd better warn Alicia and Mrs. Braymore." - -Evan looked dubious. "Did Murray see it?" - -I shook my head. - -Evan frowned thoughtfully. "Arthur, old chap, it may be just nerves. -The women have enough to worry them with the way the natives are -acting, anyway. We'll keep a sharp lookout, of course. I'm going to -hunt up those natives, though." - -"They're your natives," I said, "but I question whether that's a wise -move. If it's just native foolishness, they'll come back. If not, -they're liable to be pretty--well, reckless." - -"They're my natives," said Evan angrily. "I don't intend to humor them. -I'll throw a scare into them that will last them ten years. If I know -anything of juju----" - -"What?" I asked. - -"They'll never dare breathe without permission hereafter," Evan said -grimly. - -He seemed to be in a cold fury. Remembering the abject fear in which -his slaves seemed to be all the time, I wondered what he might have -in store for them. I opened my mouth to protest against his trying to -look for his natives, but stopped. That juju house at which my boys had -hinted, concealed in some hidden clearing near the village, might hold -a secret by which he controlled them. In any event, he knew his own -natives best. - -We went into the house and sat down to breakfast. We must have made a -queer sight, sitting there before that spotless table, our clothing -disheveled and hastily donned, our rifles leaning against our chairs. -Neither Arthur nor myself could eat more than a little, but Evan's -appetite seemed undiminished. The native girl waited on us, the lurking -panic in her eyes never very far from the surface. It seemed nearest -when she looked at Evan. - -I was most worried about my own boys. It was decidedly queer that -they had deserted me, especially Mboka. He had been with me for all -of a year, and I had really grown to trust him. He had gone with the -others, though, and the very mystery of his disappearance seemed to add -somewhat to the menace of the silence that surrounded us. - -When I thought of it, however, it was no less odd that Evan's overseers -had vanished. From the nature of their position, they would be hated by -the other and full-blooded natives, and it was singular in the extreme -that they had gone with them. - -Then I remembered a tale I had once heard, of a mystic voodoo worship -that was spreading secretly over the whole of West Africa. The story -ran that an attempt was being made to band all the natives possible -together in this voodoo worship, and then at a given signal they were -all to rise. The Indian Mutiny would be repeated. Every white man on -the West Coast would be rushed by the nearest blacks, and the dominance -of the white race made a thing of the past, in Africa any rate. - -I felt cold at the thought that the attempt--which I had thought dead -these many years--might have been secretly and insidiously winning -converts all this time, and that all the blacks between us and the -coast might be risen and only waiting for courage to attack us. We were -the only whites in a hundred and fifty miles anyway, and if the strange -behavior of the natives meant mischief, we were probably doomed as it -was. It gave me a sickish feeling to think that the other might be -true, though, that a second mutiny was in progress. - -As if to confirm my belief, at just that moment, drums began to beat, -far off in the bush. To the south of us they began their monotonous, -rhythmic rumble. Boom, boom, boom, boom! Never a pause, never skipping -a beat, never altering in the slightest the hypnotic muttering. We -stopped eating and stared at each other. The drums throbbed on, -sullenly, far, far away. Evan grew angry at the insolence of his -slaves. I looked at Alicia and made a mental vow that my last cartridge -should be saved for her. Arthur listened with an air of detachment, and -then went on with his breakfast. - -The first drums had been beating for perhaps fifteen minutes when, to -the northeast, more drums took up the rhythmic pounding. Evan's eyes -narrowed. He went to a window and looked out. As he moved, he passed -close to the native girl, and she shrank back fearfully. While he -stared out across the clearing, a third set of drums began to beat--to -the northwest, this time. We were ringed in. - -Evan came to the table with a grim expression on his face. "The black -fools!" he said furiously. "They dared not come to me! I'll go to them -and put a stop to this!" - -"Evan!" exclaimed Alicia, frightened. "You'll stay here with us!" - -"This is no time for caution," said Evan grimly. "If we leave them -alone, they'll hold a juju palaver until they've gathered nerve to rush -us. I'll walk in on their council, and we'll see what happens." - -"I'll go," said Arthur, quickly sensing the psychology of the move Evan -proposed to make. "I'd better go." - -"It would be suicide!" Alicia exclaimed again. "One white man among all -those blacks. They could kill you in an instant." - -"That is precisely why they would be afraid to," I interposed. "The -mere fact that a white man dared walk into their palaver and order them -about, would frighten them. No negro would dare do it, and they would -not understand how a white man could. It's quite possible that a sheer -bluff may win out. Of course we've got to do something. I think I'd -better go, though. My boys are in that crowd and they're rather fond of -me, I believe. I'll have some of them halfway with me at the start." - -Evan shook his head. "Your boys are in that crowd," he said curtly, -"but the very fact that they're fond of you will make them kill you -that much quicker. You know natives. Now _my_ natives hate me like -poison, and there's not one of them but would kill me like a shot if he -dared. They'll be afraid when I drop in on them. I'm the one to go and -I'm going. Besides, I know the local dialect. You don't. You'll hear -one set of drums stop in half an hour." - -He picked up his rifle and went out of the door. Alicia watched him -leave, her face utterly pale. - -"He's going to his death!" she said in a whisper. "Stop him, oh, please -stop him!" - -"We're all in just as much danger as he is, dear," said Arthur -tenderly. "He's taking the one chance that may bring us out of this -without fighting. He'll go into the middle of that bunch of natives and -by sheer nerve frighten them into doing as he says. If all three of us -went, we'd be rushed on sight." - -Alicia's lips trembled, and Arthur tried to comfort her. I went to the -door and stood looking after Evan. It was illogical, but with all of us -very probably facing death, and certainly a siege, I was struck with a -pang of jealousy when I saw Arthur put his arms about Alicia's shoulder -to comfort her. Mrs. Braymore was white to the lips, but gamely tried -to be casual and cheerful. She came and stood by me as I looked out of -the door. - -"Quite frankly," she asked me quietly, "what are our chances?" - -"I don't know," I told her gloomily. "We don't even know what the -natives are up to yet. Those drums do not sound well. They may mean -anything and they may mean nothing." - -Mrs. Braymore looked at me searchingly. Any one could see that she was -frightened, but she was doing her best not to show it. - -"And if they mean--anything?" - -"There is a Portuguese fort a hundred and fifty miles away," I answered -grimly. "They might send soldiers to lift the siege on us if they hear -about it. I'm assuming we'll be besieged. Things look that way. Evan -must have treated his slaves worse than usual. Usually they simply run -away. It's not often they try anything of this kind. I don't like the -sound of those drums. That means organization and purpose. All I can -say is that I hope Evan succeeds with the natives." - -Mrs. Braymore blanched a little more, but smiled as bravely as she -could. - -"Well," she said quietly, "I know Alicia well enough to promise you -that we'll be as little of a drawback as possible. If you decide to try -anything drastic, such as attempting to escape through the bush, we'll -do our best to keep up. And I think both of us are fairly good shots." - -"I'm hoping there'll be no need for anything on that order," I said -with more respect than before in my tone. "We'll try to stick it out -here. My boys are loyal, I think, at least they've been loyal up to -now, and even if we are besieged, one of them will probably take a -message to the fort." - -I had little enough hope of that, Heaven knows, but I did not want Mrs. -Braymore to worry more than was necessary. She seemed to realize that I -was speaking more from my hopes than my beliefs, because she shrugged -her shoulders. - -"There's really no need to soften things for me," she said, "Alicia and -I won't----" - -She stopped and caught her breath. A shot had sounded, off in the bush -from the direction in which Evan had vanished. A second's interval, and -another shot. Then there was a horrid outcry, and a maniacal shrieking. - -"The gorilla," I snapped, and started down the steps with my rifle at -full cock. - -We heard a second outburst of the same beastlike sounds and a crashing -in the bushes. I raised my rifle. A figure showed dimly through the -bush. I fired vindictively. _Evan_ stumbled and fell in the clearing, -just out of the jungle! - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE FIRST VICTIM. - - -In a second he was up again, and ran desperately until he reached my -side. Blood was flowing down his cheeks from five deep scratches. - -"The pongo," he gasped. "Nearly did for me. Jumped me, but I got in -two shots. Then he grabbed for me but I got away. Stumbled just as you -fired. Damn lucky." - -I stood still, facing the menacing jungle, but not a sound came from it -except the monotonous, rhythmic beating of the drums from three sides, -where juju priests worked their followers into a frenzy of hatred -against the white men. Evan went slowly up to the house, exhausted and -shaken by his narrow escape from death. - -We held a council immediately. The drums on every side of us meant evil -brewing. So much was certain. For a white man to attempt to stop the -juju councils would be perilous in the extreme, but it was our only -chance. On the other hand, for one of us to get through the jungle -to take that desperate chance meant eluding the watchfulness of the -hate-mad gorilla, whose cunning was increasing. - -"I don't know how he got to me," said Evan, still shaking from the -unexpectedness of the whole affair. "I heard a snarl, and he was coming -for me not ten paces away. Startled, I pulled the trigger without -aiming, and he came on. I got my rifle halfway to my shoulder, when he -reached me. One of his great, hairy paws grasped the muzzle as I fired -the second time, while the other reached for my throat. When the rifle -went off, he started back and burst out in his screaming. It must have -burned or injured his paw. I turned and ran, but he had done this to me -in the meantime." - -His coat was half torn from him, and the deep scratches on his cheek -showed where the claws had just grazed his face. - -"I don't mind facing natives," Evan admitted in conclusion, "but I'll -tell you frankly I don't care to go through that jungle again while -that beast is in it." - -The eternal menace of the drums came to our ears, borne to us through -the open windows. Arthur began to pace up and down the room, cursing -under his breath. Alicia bit her lip and tapped nervously on the floor -with her foot. Mrs. Braymore carefully began to fold and refold her -handkerchief. Quite suddenly, I noticed that it was falling into shreds -beneath her fingers. Struggle as any of us would, our nerves were badly -worn. - -The strain grew worse during the day. There were two or three dogs -about the place, and it was curious to see them puzzled over our -abstraction. They kept alertly out of Evan's way, but they were -obviously disconcerted by the absence of the servants who usually -attended to them, and they looked at us with perplexity in their -eyes. They could get no attention from the solitary native girl who -remained. She had withdrawn into panic-stricken silence, serving us -when necessary, but spending most of her time in the room to which she -had been assigned. We had ordered her to leave the servants' quarters -and stay in the house itself. - -All the morning the drums beat rhythmically. During lunch they -continued their hypnotic muttering. And all afternoon they kept on, -kept on, until it seemed as if we would be crushed by their regular, -pulselike, ominous rumbling. Far off in the bush, where we could never -reach them, we knew juju councils were going on. Weirdly painted and -tattooed witch doctors whirled in their mystic dances and inflamed the -minds of the blacks against us. - -Men beat upon the drums and yelled and yelled, closing their eyes -and surrendering themselves to the ecstasy of the rhythm until they -became all but unconscious of the words they reiterated. Slowly and -surely the blacks were nerving themselves to lift their hands against -their masters. Given time, a drum and a rhythmic phrase, a native can -convince himself of anything simply by pounding on the drum and yelling -over and over the phrase that contains the idea. He will luxuriate -in the rhythm, he will hypnotize himself by the monotony of the drum -beats. He will go into an ecstasy, simply yelling over and over the one -phrase. - -Dinner that night was a repetition of breakfast and lunch. We sat -down to the table, our rifles by our sides, our movements jerky and -uncertain from the strain of waiting for we knew not what. The dogs lay -about on the floor, watching us anxiously. The single servant waited -on us, her face dull with apathy, though flickers of panic lighted -her eyes from time to time. And always we heard the drums beating far -off in the bush. I caught myself sitting with a fork full of food in -mid-air, listening to their sullenly menacing rumble. - -Arthur, Evan, and myself divided the night into watches. I took the -first, and waited tensely until after one o'clock. I heard nothing but -the muffled drumming to the northeast, northwest, and south. The moon -shone brightly down and made the clearing about the casa like a lake of -molten silver. I heard the noises of insects--the loud-voiced African -insects--and the cries of the night birds. I heard nothing else. The -night was quiet and peaceful, save for the ceaseless throbbing of the -drums all about. - -Evan relieved me. He came out on the porch and lit a cigarette. - -"That drumming gets monotonous." He yawned. "I wish they'd come on and -have the suspense over with." - -"If they come," I remarked, "we're done for." - -"Not necessarily. If we hold them off for a week and kill enough of -them, they'll get tired and go away." - -"That wouldn't help us much. I hardly see how we could make a hundred -and fifty miles through the bush with two women and no carriers." - -"We might try, anyway. Some of us would get through. You've heard -nothing?" - -"No," I replied. "Just the drums." - -I went indoors and lay down to sleep. When I surrendered myself to the -rhythm of the drumming, it put me quickly into a deep slumber. I knew -what the sound meant, that naked savages yelled and danced themselves -into a frenzy of hatred against us, but if one allowed it to become so, -it was very soothing. - -At one time I half started from my sleep. Some sound within the house -aroused me, but a moment later I heard Evan's footstep on the veranda -and recognized the sound of his shoe soles on the flooring. He was -humming a little tune to himself. I was reassured and slept again. - -I heard when Arthur relieved Evan, too. Their voices came clearly in to -me as they exchanged greetings. - -"Nothing new?" asked Arthur nervously. - -"No. I say, Arthur, the natives are taking a deuced long time to -get worked up to the sticking point. I had them pretty thoroughly -frightened. Perhaps they'll hold a big palaver for several days, yell -and dance themselves into exhaustion, and let it go at that. I've known -such things to happen. Our primitive ancestors used to hold hee-hee -councils and work off their surplus emotions in the same way. If this -juju festival lasts two days more, I think it will peter out and wind -up in a palm-wine debauch. Then they'll come back and be good!" - -"It's the gorilla I'm worried most about just now," said Arthur grimly. -"The natives are men, and you can anticipate their moves, but there's -no telling what an animal will do, particularly a pongo." - -Evan laughed. "I had a start just now," he said. "I heard a queer -sound in Biheta's room." Biheta was the native girl. "She gave a queer -gurgle. I didn't know what was up, and I went and peered in the door. -She was lying there quite still, evidently sound asleep. She must have -had a nightmare, but it gave me the creeps for an instant." - -Arthur seemed to pick up his rifle. - -"Well, I'm going indoors to get some beauty sleep," said Evan with a -yawn. "Cheer up, Arthur. There's a damn good chance that the natives -will just yell themselves hoarse and come peaceably back to work. As -long as the drums stay at a distance, we're all right. But wake all of -us if they stop." - -He came into the house and went into his own room. I dozed off again. -When I woke, it was well after daylight. Evan had stuck his head inside -my door and was grinning cheerfully. - -"Get up," he ordered. "Breakfast will be ready in a minute or two." - -I rolled out of bed and heard him go to the rear of the house. He -rasped out an order in the local dialect, but there was no reply. He -spoke again, harshly. There was still no reply. I heard him fling open -a door. Then he exclaimed aloud. - -"Arthur! Murray! Come here!" - -We went quickly, and into the room in which he was. It was the room -assigned to the native girl. Evan was standing over her couch, looking -grimly down at the figure lying there. - -The dull features of the girl were twisted into an expression of the -most horrible fear. It was appalling that such ultimate terror could -show itself upon a human face. The eyes were wide and staring, the -mouth was drawn back in a voiceless shriek of utter, despairing -fright. The hands were clenched so that the nails bit into the flesh of -the palms, and the head was oddly askew. The girl was dead. - -Evan lifted up her shoulders and the head fell back. - -"Neck broken," he said laconically. "The gorilla!" - -"Great Heaven!" said Arthur desperately, white as a sheet. "What next? -How did he get in here? Alicia!" He ran from the room and called -hoarsely. - -Alicia's voice answered instantly. "What's the matter?" - -"The native girl's dead, killed by the gorilla during the night. Are -you safe?" - -Alicia appeared in person and proved it. She was pale, but composed. - -"Where? What----?" - -I lost the rest of her question. Evan and myself were searching for the -gorilla's means of ingress and exit. The flimsily screened window was -intact. The door had been unlocked, but Evan remembered that he had -found it closed and had closed it again after peering into the room -during the night. - -Was it possible that the monstrous animal possessed the cunning to -unlatch the door gently before entering, and then the diabolical -forethought to latch it again on leaving? It seemed impossible, but -what other explanation was there? - -"He's been in the house," said Evan grimly. "Where is he now?" - -I went out and got one of the dogs. We brought it into the room and -it sniffed at the dead body. Then we led it about the house. Once we -thought it showed some excitement. It sniffed at the door of a room -that was used as a storeroom. - -With our rifles at the ready, we flung open the door. No sound -came from within. The dog, bristling, walked slowly into the room. -Cautiously, we followed. Boxes and bales were scattered all about, but -there was no sign of the animal that had killed the native girl. The -dog growled, and moved about, stiff-legged, but soon grew puzzled and -sniffed perplexedly all over the place. He could find nothing. - -We explored the room thoroughly, though with our hearts in our mouths. -Three men and a gorilla in a small store room would be unpleasant for -the men, armed though they might be. We could find no niche in which -the beast might have hidden, nor any evidence of his presence. After -a time the dog gave it up, and lay down on the floor with his tongue -lolling out. - -"Do you suppose it could be a black that killed her?" asked Arthur -suddenly. "A native would have known about the latch. One of them might -have crept into the house and killed the girl in punishment for her -having stayed behind when the rest left." - -"If he did," I remarked grimly, "it's safe to say we'd better not touch -any of the food he could have got at. Those voodoo poisons are deadly -things, and you can bank on it he was prepared to use them." - -"Hardly likely," said Evan. - -"It must have been a native," insisted Arthur anxiously. "No animal -would have had the cunning to creep in, kill the poor girl silently, -and then creep out again. It must have been one of the blacks." - -"Gorilla," said Evan, shaking his head. - -Arthur suddenly looked up. - -"I've got it! We'll take a photo of the girl's eyes. I saw a cloudy -form on the retina. I've got an insect camera in my luggage, and can -make sure what it was that frightened her that last moment of her life." - -The expression on the girl's face had been one of terrible fear. -Whatever it was that had killed her, she had seen it before she -died--seen and known it for a deadly and horrible thing. - -"Try it," I urged. "We can't be sure otherwise. If it was a native, our -food is poisoned for a certainty." - -Arthur went to his room and presently appeared with the queer camera. -It was a long box, and evidently the lens was one of great focal -length. It took Arthur a long time to adjust it properly. He proposed -to take advantage of the fact that the eye of a dead person will retain -for from twenty-four to forty-eight hours the impression of what it saw -last while living. A great many people think that the shining image on -the outer surface of the eye retains that picture, and wonder at it. As -a matter of fact the picture is kept on the retina, in the inside of -the eyeball. It is extremely difficult to photograph the retina without -dissecting the eye, but it can be done--as Arthur proceeded to prove. - -I went outside and searched around the house for possible footprints. -After a preliminary search, I got Evan to help me. We could find no -single sign of tracks leading toward or away from the house. There had -been a heavy dew, and the top layer of the earth was dark and damp. -Footprints would inevitably have been shown. When we had completed our -search, we stared at each other. Whatever or whoever had killed the -native girl must be still in the house. There were absolutely no signs -of his having left. - -We went inside. Beast or man, _something_ had been in the house, moving -quietly and undiscovered despite our watching. It had entered the room -occupied by the native girl and had awakened her. She had seen it, and -it had been a thing she recognized as frightful. Her horror-stricken -face was proof of that. It had been cunning enough to latch the door -of the room after the killing. That meant a native. On the other hand, -it had broken the girl's neck, a feat that would require incredible -strength. That spoke of a monstrous animal. We heard Arthur shuffling -about in his improvised dark room, and the clink of the dishes in which -he had mixed his solutions. - -How had the creature--man or beast--reached the house? How had it made -its way silently through the rooms at midnight, with one of us awake -and on guard? Could it be that one of the servants had remained, hidden -in some secret place while the others had left, and now prowled about -at night while the rest far off in the bush yelled and howled, drummed -and danced, and gradually became ripe to attack us? - -Arthur came out of his dark room with a glass plate in his hand. His -face was pale. - -"Look at this," he said quietly. "If you'll hold it so the light -strikes it diagonally, you'll see it in its proper lights and shades, -instead of reversed." - -The plate was still wet, where he had just taken it from the fixing -bath. We looked. We saw, running aimlessly here and there, curiously -like the branches of a tree, little dark lines. Those were the blood -vessels that nourished the eye. We gave no heed to them, however. The -sight that made both Evan and myself gasp was the strange picture that -we saw amid all those little blood vessels. - -There, distorted and hideous, menacing and terrible, we saw the cause -of the native girl's death, and of her terror. We saw the head of a -gorilla, with its horrible, discolored fangs protruding from blackened -lips in a grimace of unspeakable ferocity. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -AS BY MAGIC. - - -"And it's in the house," observed Evan grimly. "A full-grown beast -will weigh three hundred pounds, and he'd leave plenty of sign when -he walked. There are no tracks leading away from here. Murray and I -looked." - -Arthur was ashen as he stared at us. I felt rather shaky myself. The -thought of a creature like that in the same house, with Alicia exposed -to its insane rage at any moment it might choose to emerge from its -hiding place, was appalling. - -The two ladies were in the large front room. I went in and remained -with them, my rifle in my hand, while Arthur and Evan went over the -house again. They had the dogs with them, and they went into every room -and every corner, ready at any instant to face what is possibly the -most terrible of all wild beasts at close quarters. - -A full-grown gorilla has easily the strength of six or eight men, and -in a confined space firearms would be almost useless. I heard the dogs -pattering all through the house, sniffing eagerly everywhere they were -taken, but finding nothing. Again they seemed excited at the door of -the storeroom, and again they gave up the search after they had entered. - -Arthur rejoined me and Alicia with discouragement on every feature. - -"He isn't here," he said wearily, "and he is here. He was here and he -wasn't here. I don't know where he is!" - -Evan slumped into a chair, though it was noticeable that he kept his -rifle in his hands. Through the window came the menacing rumble of the -drums from all sides. - -"I think," said Alicia, with a ghastly attempt at a smile, "I think a -fit of hysterics would be a relief." - -She looked as if she meant it. All of us looked thoroughly on edge. -To have hostile drums beating all about you and to realize that a -hundred and fifty miles of jungle lie between you and the nearest help -is bad enough in itself. When you add to that the consciousness of -having hidden in the same house with you a beast almost human in its -cunning and fiendish in its hatred, with the face of the devil and the -strength of seven men, hysterics seem excusable. She did not give way, -however, though we all felt on the verge of hysteria from the strain. - -That day was one of the most terrible I have ever spent. It was not -that anything happened to make it terrible. The strain came from the -fact that nothing happened. If the beast were hidden about the house, -it did not show itself, but we did not hear a board creak or a curtain -swish against the window without turning with a start, prepared to face -anything and to fire vengefully into a hideous, furry form. - -The bush outside the casa seemed to take on a threatening aspect. The -house was built on a small elevation and we looked for miles over the -tops of trees, broken here and there by gaps which meant the existence -of clearings and open fields. The treetops were dancing from the heat. -The sun beat down with fierce intensity. Blasts of hot, humid wind blew -upon us and scorched us, but we paid no attention. And always, from the -mysterious, unknown and unknowable bush all around us, drums beat and -beat and beat tirelessly and ominously. - -When one of us went back to get food for the rest, he went with an -automatic held ready in his hand, and the other two were prepared -at any instant to hear a shot or the snarl that would mean the -reappearance of the gorilla. We were doubly besieged, by the natives -without and by the gorilla within. For fear of the natives in the bush, -we kept to the house. For fear of the gorilla in the house, we kept to -the one room. - -Toward evening insensibly we relaxed. No one could keep to such an -intensity of attention as we had maintained during the day. We ate a -sketchy meal at nightfall and dragged two cots into one of the rooms -adjoining the large front one in which we had stayed all day. We -explored the room thoroughly, and Alicia and Mrs. Braymore went in to -lie down. - -None of us thought of taking off our clothes. We three men prepared -for a night-long vigil. One of us would keep thoroughly awake, and the -other two would snatch such sleep as they could. - -Long hours passed. We felt sure that some time during the night the -beast would make his appearance. I sat alertly by a window, a dog at my -feet, listening to the night sounds outside and the ceaseless drumming -that meant the juju councils were debating whether the blacks were -sufficiently worked up to attempt an attack. - -Arthur and Evan reclined in their chairs and tried to doze, but there -was little rest for any of us. We could think of nothing but the animal -we felt sure would make some attempt upon us during the night. - -At one o'clock Evan took my place by the window with the dog at his -feet. I sat in one of the easier chairs and tried to relax, but it -was impossible. I was suddenly conscious of the overpowering heat and -humidity. I was bathed in perspiration. - -"I've got to have a drink," I said abruptly. "I need it." - -Arthur looked up wearily. - -"We all need a drink," he said. "It's in the back of the house, isn't -it?" - -We looked at each other uncertainly. - -"I'll go," said Arthur quietly. - -I interposed. "We'll both go. Here, in the light, Evan can see to shoot -if necessary. We'll use a flash lamp." - -It was curious that neither of us cared to walk through three rooms -and a hallway inside a house we had been in for days. That animal had -fretted our nerves badly. - -Slowly and cautiously we made our way through the dark rooms, searching -before us with the flash light. I can't speak for Arthur, but my breath -was coming quickly, and I heartily regretted having expressed a wish -for a drink. I would not back out now, though. - -We went cautiously and slowly out to the rear of the house. I was in -the act of reaching for the siphon of seltzer when we heard the dog -scream in pain and a shout from Evan. We rushed madly for the front, -our hearts in our mouths, and cursing our absence at such a critical -time. When we burst into the room, Evan was dashing out on the veranda, -and Alicia was in the act of emerging from the room into which she and -Mrs. Braymore had retired. Alicia had an automatic in her hand and, -though her face was full of dread, she was evidently prepared to face -anything. - -Arthur and myself were quickly by Evan's side and found him staring -about the darkness, his rifle half raised. - -"What is it?" Arthur demanded quickly. - -Evan's breath was coming in gasps. "I heard you two moving," he said -sharply, as one whose nerves are strained to the breaking point. "I -heard a noise from your direction. I turned to look at the door and -caught a movement at the window by my side. I jerked back and the dog -screamed. A long, hairy arm had reached in the window and seized him. -He was drawn through the window before I could lift my rifle, and the -arm vanished. It's the gorilla!" - -We listened, but the house was still. A faint moan came from the -courtyard, and I flashed the lamp down. The dog, flung bodily from the -porch, stirred feebly and stiffened. Its neck was broken. There on the -shadowed veranda, with the bright African moon shining pitilessly down -upon the hot, dank, fevered earth, the three of us swore nervously -while we stood with our rifles pointing in as many directions, hoping, -even praying for that monstrous ape to rush upon us. - -"He must have gone somewhere!" said Arthur despairingly. "Where _did_ -the beast go?" - -"Into the house, no," said Evan crisply. "Under the house, perhaps. The -roof, perhaps. We'll see." - -My legs crawled as I descended the stairs to the ground. The house was -raised from the ground on piles, and I could look clear underneath it. -The moon was shining down whitely, and I saw the pillars silhouetted -against the brightness on the other side. Half a dozen steps convinced -me that the animal was not beneath. It would have shown as a dark -outline. I tried to see up, over the roof, but could not. The roof -slanted just a little and I could not see the center. The house being -on an elevation, moreover, prevented me from backing off and getting a -clear view of the top. I called up to the other two on the porch. - -"He's not under the house, but I can't see the roof. He must be there." - -The tree trunks of the forest all about us echoed my words strangely. -I could see dim white blurs where the faces of the two brothers showed -their position. One of them moved oddly, and in a moment I saw that -Evan was swinging himself up the pillar before him. He grasped the edge -of the roof and drew himself up. In a second he dropped down again. He -spoke quietly enough to Arthur, but I heard his voice. - -"He's there, squatting on the ridge pole. Lord! What a monster he is!" - -"We must get the women out of the house," said Arthur sharply. "He may -tear up the roof and come inside. Alicia!" - -She had heard and came quickly out, Mrs. Braymore following her. We -built a small fire to keep insects away from them, and sat them on -chairs while we patroled the area about the house. The drums still beat -on all sides of us, but they had been relegated to a minor position -now. We subconsciously counted on their remaining a potential menace -only, until they stopped or drew nearer. The moon made the whole world -bright and shining. We could see clearly and distinctly. Nothing the -size of a rabbit could escape across that stretch of sward without our -observing it. - -Alicia and Mrs. Braymore watched the fringe of jungle while we posted -ourselves so that not even a cat could escape from the house without -being seen. I leaned on my rifle near the two ladies, my eyes fixed on -the edge of the roof, straining to catch a glimpse of the beast that -squatted up there. When I thought of it, it seemed stupid of us not to -have suspected that as a hiding place before. True, it was in clear -view of the sky, but a beast cunning enough to creep about the casa at -midnight as he had done, might possess the intelligence to reason that -there was the ideal hiding place for him. - -"Do you think there is any real danger from the natives?" Alicia -inquired hesitatingly. - -"When natives do inexplicable things, it is usually juju," I said -grimly. "And where there is juju there is usually danger. There is one -thing that can be said, though. While a native is making a noise, he is -rarely dangerous in bulk. As Evan pointed out, they may simply exhaust -themselves in yelling and dancing. I do not think it would be wise to -count on that, however." - -"Wouldn't it be the wisest thing to do, to simply try to make our way -secretly through the jungle to the nearest fort?" - -"It would be impossible," I told her frankly. "You don't know African -undergrowth. We might make four or five miles a day, with luck. And at -any moment in the twenty-four the natives might trail us. We'd have to -make a new trail, or use the native ones. Making a new trail, we'd be -followed and probably speared, besides the fact that our animal friend -would be haunting the treetops overhead, waiting for a moment when one -of us would be off our guard." - -Alicia shuddered. "But would you three try that if we weren't here?" -she insisted. - -"I think we'd wade into one of those juju councils," I remarked -vindictively. "I know I'd gladly join such a party. We'd probably -appear as suddenly as we could and start shooting. We might stampede -them, and a show of boldness would be our best play in any event. Of -course, if they rushed us, we'd be out of luck." - -"You mean----?" - -"There would be four or five hundred of them, and we might get ten -or perhaps fifteen apiece. They'd overwhelm us if they tried, but -the psychology would probably make us win out. The fact that we were -hunting them, instead of their hunting us, would frighten them." - -"Couldn't you do that now?" - -I shook my head. "Not with our friend the gorilla about. And we -wouldn't expose you two to the possibility of our failing. There'd be -nothing left for you but your own pistols." - -Alicia relapsed into silence. I saw her brow knitted as she tried -desperately to work out some plan by which we might fight the -incredible circumstances in which we found ourselves. Overhead, -the broad moon sailed serenely across the sky, shedding its rays -impartially down upon us, upon the shaggy, beastly ape squatting like -some demoniacal creature upon the ridgepole of the roof, and upon -yelling, capering blacks about the great fires they would have lit for -their juju ceremonies. - -Behind us, the busy, secretive life of the bush went on--all the -feedings and drinkings and matings and killings, all the comedies and -all the tragedies of the jungle. Things went on, sublimely indifferent -to our petty frights and fancies. The jungle attended to its business, -ignoring alike our strained attitudes as we sat in the moonlight and -waited for the sun to rise that we might slay a malignant ape, and the -yelling of self-hypnotism of the blacks as they danced about their juju -fires, working themselves into a frenzy of hatred against the white man. - -At last the moon dipped down toward the west, and the stars that had -watched our vigil in mild, blinking surprise grew pale at the signs -of dawn. The sky grew gray, then white. A high pallid veil hid the -deep-blue arch of the night, and turned slowly to golden yellow as the -sun rolled up. - -The mist curled aloft from the treetops as the first rays of the -morning swept across the land. We became aware that we had been cold -and that we now were warm. We waited eagerly until we should see the -roof of the casa, and be able to pick off with our rifles the beast -that lurked there. - -Morning had barely come when Evan clambered cautiously to the roof of -the servants' quarters behind the house itself. We had left several of -the dogs shut up in the house during the night. We knew that if the -beast came down into the place, they would make an outcry before all -were killed, at least. They had made no sound, but now one or two of -them came out on the veranda, wagging their tails amiably. - -Evan clambered to the roof of the servants' quarters, and Arthur passed -up his rifle. Evan stood erect and raised the weapon. Then he stopped. -From the ground, we saw him looking blankly at the roof of the house. -From where he stood, he could see it clearly. His expression was at -once amazed and apprehensive. - -The beast had not left the house, or we would have seen it. It had not -crossed the clearing. It had not entered the house, because the dogs -were unalarmed. It had not in any discoverable fashion escaped from its -position astride the ridge pole, but Evan told us and we immediately -verified the fact that it was no longer on the roof. It had not escaped -to the jungle. It had not secreted itself in the house; yet the -monstrous ape had vanished! - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -THE FORM THAT CREPT. - - -Again we searched the house from top to bottom. Again we led the -dogs into every nook and cranny. Again they sniffed anxiously in the -storeroom, but gave up the quest after a moment or so. In our search -of the greater part of the house the dogs had seemed more bored than -anything else. We had led them to the dog that had been killed, before -attempting to enter the house, and they smelled at his neck cautiously -and drew back with low growls. If the gorilla had been in the house, -they would surely have scented him and warned us. The only time they -gave any indication at all of interest, far less of excitement, was -when they sniffed at the storeroom door. Once inside, they moved about -aimlessly. - -We debated our next move. The gorilla simply could not be in the house. -With his ferocity, he would surely have made a move to attack one or -another of us during our searchings. At last Arthur found a sign that -reassured us as to his absence without lessening in the least the -mystery of his means of escape. Something had led him to scout around -the edge of the clearing surrounding the house. He straightened up with -a shout. - -"Look here!" - -We ran to him and looked where he pointed. There, on the earth, just -beneath the overhanging limb of the first of the jungle trees, were -the prints of strangely handlike toes. - -"Here's where he jumped for the lowest limb there," said Evan -excitedly. "See?" - -Directly above us a heavy limb spread out from the trunk of the tree. -Evidently the gorilla had leaped from that spot. How he had run across -the moonlit lawn under our very eyes remained inexplicable. Thinking -back, however, I remembered that once or twice wisps of infrequent -cloud had temporarily obscured the moon. Could he have seized one of -those moments of darkness? It seemed impossible, but there was no other -explanation that could be made. - -Somewhat reassured, we entered the house again. One of us stayed out on -the veranda, however, and watched to make sure the beast would attempt -no daring daylight rush on our stronghold. We planned to tether several -of the dogs that night to the piles which raised the house from the -ground. - -Evan was on the porch. He peered in at the window suddenly. - -"I'm going to take a look in the servants' quarters," he said abruptly. -"It's just occurred to me that the beast may have hidden in there and -made his break for the jungle from there. That would shorten the run he -would have to make." - -He moved away. I went back and tried to help Alicia prepare some food -for us all. We had had nothing since the night before and all were -ravenous. Arthur was sitting in the big front room, his head buried in -his hands, his rifle leaning on the arm of his chair. I put my rifle -against the wall and began to open the tins of preserved food, while -Alicia donned an apron and with a quaintly housewifely air lighted a -spirit lamp and heated water for our tea. Mrs. Braymore was gravely -tasting the tinned butter and making a wry face. It is poor stuff -until you get used to it. - -As I worked, I watched Alicia appreciatively, and far back in my mind -a little germ of hope sprang up. It suddenly occurred to me that she -had never shown that intense affection for Arthur one expects a woman -to show for the man she is going to marry. She appeared fond enough of -him, but she seemed nearly as fond of Evan. I remembered what I had -been told, that the three of them had been raised together as children -so they were little less than brothers and sister. - -That was Alicia's attitude. She treated Arthur as an elder brother of -whom she was immensely fond, but she did not treat him as a lover. It -was queer that, with drums beating rhythmically night and day in the -bush all around us, and in momentary danger from a monstrous gorilla, I -should stop and think of romance and the peculiarly trivial shades of -affection Alicia might show. - -She turned and smiled at me just then. - -"You look like a sword," she said mischievously, "a sword beaten into a -can opener." - -Mrs. Braymore joined in her smile. I suppose I must have looked rather -queer. A heavy cartridge belt was slung about my waist, and two -dull-metal automatics were stuck rakishly into it. I had not shaved for -three days. Every moment was too full of suspense to allow for thinking -of such minor things as shaving. - -"Well," I remarked amiably, "since it looks as if our friends in the -bush are going to do as Evan has suggested and yell themselves into -exhaustion without bothering us, and I shall soon revert to peaceable -pursuits, that doesn't matter. A sword is only useful on occasion, but -a can opener links us with civilization." - -"It would seem odd," said Alicia, "to have some one bring one's mail -in the morning, or to use a telephone." - -"There's a mail once in two weeks at Ticao," I said, "but it's four -weeks from England usually and often six." - -Mrs. Braymore joined in the conversation. "I should like to receive an -invitation to tea," she said wistfully. "I should like to go somewhere -to tea and have people talk interestedly of poetry, and the approaching -marriage of somebody's daughter, and what the curate said about the -possibility of repairing the parish house." - -We all laughed at the idea. I set down one of the tins of potted meat -and reached for another. - -"For myself----" I began and stopped short, every muscle tense. - -On the veranda outside the house I had heard a sound, the creaking of a -board as a heavy weight was put cautiously upon it. There was something -infinitely furtive in the sound. I listened and heard nothing more, but -was oppressed by a sense of danger. The sound had come from the front -of the house. I drew an automatic from my belt and silently passed it -to Alicia. She had heard nothing, but my expression warned her and she -took it quickly. Mrs. Braymore took the other. I picked up my rifle -from the side wall and tiptoed through the house toward the front. I -heard an almost unbelievable slight sound again from the porch. The -door into the front room was standing open. I slipped silently up to -the threshold. - -Arthur had heard. He was still sitting in the chair, but he was alert -and ready. His eyes were fixed on the window some fifteen feet from -him, and he was slowly and carefully bringing his rifle to bear. The -sun was shining from without and struck upon the curtains that hung -inside. Evan had made his house ready for the visitors he expected, and -every window was curtained. - -There was a moment of breath-taking suspense. Arthur, still seated lest -the sound of his rising alarm whoever or whatever was outside, was -bringing his rifle to his shoulder. I slipped into the room and came -to his side, my own rifle ready. Our eyes were fixed upon the window. -Then the slanting rays of the sun flung a shadow upon the curtain. The -thing was not yet before the window, but its shadow moved on before -it because of the position of the rising sun. We saw, cast in perfect -clearness upon the flimsy cloth, the silhouette of the head of the -gorilla! Its small ears lay back, its jaw protruded in that fearful -ferocity of the anthropoid tribe, and we saw it peering from right to -left in suspicious cunning. I held my breath, waiting for the moment -when we could fire. - -The head turned sharply, and I thought I saw the nostrils quivering. -Then, abruptly, it vanished, and a dog burst into frantic barking and -hysterical yelping on the veranda. Another instant and the dog screamed -in terror. There was a crash against the wall of the house, and the -yelping became a moan. - -Arthur and I had dashed for the door and now rushed down the veranda -with hearts thumping madly. One of the dogs was writhing in agony on -the floor. It had been flung against the house with terrific force and -now lay with broken ribs and backbone, dying. The gorilla had vanished. - -Evan appeared with his rifle ready, out of breath. "What's up?" he -demanded. "The beast again?" - -Arthur swore hysterically. "The damned beast is here!" he cried. "It's -_here_! It's hiding somewhere about!" - -We were all thoroughly reckless by now. We went after the huge ape with -the temerity that would have made the blood of any of us run cold in -a sober moment. We penetrated every corner of the house. We went over -every bit of the grounds. We clambered upon the roof and searched -there in foolhardy indifference to the danger we might be in if we only -located the animal. - -"I think it was hiding in the servants' quarters," said Evan grimly. -"I saw signs of its having been there. It must have grown shy when I -explored the place and it probably slipped off toward the house to -escape me. I don't see why it didn't make for the woods, though." - -None of us understood, but we went about our search as before. We found -absolutely nothing. At last we stopped and stared at one another. - -"We would have killed it in another moment," said Arthur despairingly, -"but the dog saw it and yelped. Then it ran." - -"Could it have made the woods before we got outside?" - -"Heaven only knows," said Arthur wearily. "I begin to believe the -natives have bewitched the thing to kill us all." - -"How many dogs have we left?" asked Evan suddenly. - -There were four or five of Evan's animals, and one or two of the -village dogs had begun to lurk about the house in hopes of food. There -was none left for them in the deserted village. - -"We'll tie up the dogs," said Evan. "We'll fasten one on the veranda at -the front, and another in the rear of the house. We'll put two on the -ground below, tethered to the piles, and spread the others in the rooms -here. Then the beast will have to kill them before it can get at as, -and we'll have some warning." - -We began to improvise collars for the native dogs and scattered the -others about as Evan had suggested. When we had finished, as far as -we could see there was absolutely no way for the gorilla to emerge -from his hiding place--if he were hiding in the house--without being -instantly detected by a dog. Certainly, he could not reach the house -from the bush without discovery and an alarm being given. - -With a dog in every room, dogs on the veranda, and others underneath -the building, we should have felt safe, but did not. There was -something uncanny in the appearances and disappearances of the -monstrous ape that left us apprehensive even when we had taken every -possible precaution to provide for its instant discovery if it made -another attempt to reach us. - -The pertinacity of the beast was appalling. To think of a colossal -anthropoid with the cunning of the devil himself, the strength of seven -men, and all the malignant hatred that possessed this one, to think of -such an animal lurking about seeking an opportunity to wreak vengeance -on one of our number was horrible. And it would not stop with one of -us if more than one were within its reach. Once in a killing rage, a -gorilla goes mad with blood lust. It would tear and rend, would crush -and utterly destroy. - -We were white and nervous from the strain long before. Now we went -about with something akin to hysteria just beneath the surface. There -was nothing we could _do_! We had to wait for the beast to reappear, -knowing that when it did, its coming would be cautious and cunning, its -patience infinite, its strength colossal and its hatred fiendish. Any -or all of us might expect at any instant to be gripped by a hairy arm -of incredible power, to see the bestial face of that demoniacal animal -grimacing at us in utter malignance. And we had before us the picture -of the vision that would confront us in such a case. The picture taken -from the native girl's retina was warning. Little, evil eyes glittering -fiercely, flat, horrible nose above a terrible mouth parted in insane -rage, and discolored fangs showing above the blackened lips. - -Action of any sort would have been a relief. We went through the -morning, making desperate efforts to stave off hysteria, and aware that -at any moment one of us might crack beneath the strain. - -Noon came. We ate mechanically. Evan was standing up better than any of -the rest of us. Alicia was quiet and still. Her eyes alone showed the -tension she felt. We were all keyed up to an almost unbearable pitch. -Queerly enough, in our absorption in the threat of the gorilla, we had -almost forgotten the drums that resounded on every side of us from the -bush. It was Mrs. Braymore who called our attention to them. - -"I wonder what's the matter with the drums?" she said wearily. "I've -been noticing them for the last ten minutes." - -We listened. The monotonous rhythm was still going on, rolling through -the hot midday air in muffled waves of sound. The drums seemed louder -than they had been. - -"They're beating more rapidly," Evan remarked in a puzzled tone. "They -were going along slowly. Now they're quite fast." - -Only one of the drums had quickened its beat, however. The others -thumped on monotonously. About four o'clock in the afternoon--allowing -the length of time necessary for a runner to get from the first village -to another--a second began to beat more furiously, and shortly after -dark, the third joined in the trilogy. Our dogs were moving restlessly -about, chafing because of being tied. We all were increasingly anxious, -but this new danger had, strangely enough, the effect of steadying us. - -We waited a long time, and at last the two women lay down to try -to rest. Through the moonlight night the drums rolled and rumbled. -Standing out on the veranda with my rifle in my hands, I listened -intently. I saw with some disquiet that the night threatened to become -cloudy, but hoped that the dogs would give warning of any danger that -might impend. For an hour I stood there, looking and listening. There -was no mistaking the new note of the drums. They meant resolution, -renewed activity. Faintly, beneath their muttering, I caught a high, -sustained ululation. The yelling of the natives had not been audible -before. Evidently they were in perfect frenzy. That meant that an -attack was imminent. - -Arthur came out on the veranda beside me. He listened as I was -listening. - -"They'll attempt to rush us in the morning, I suppose," he remarked -grimly. "They'll hardly try it before dawn, though. Blacks don't like -the nighttime." - -One of the dogs tied to a pile below the house growled softly. The dog -on the veranda echoed the growl. I glanced at him quickly. He had risen -and was standing tense, looking toward the edge of the bush. He growled -again. - -At just this moment, one of the little wisps of cloud overshadowed the -moon and left the courtyard in darkness. I moved quietly over beside -the dog and felt the hairs on his neck bristling. Finding him staring -steadfastly in one direction, I strained my eyes trying to pierce the -darkness. The cloud thinned a trifle and objects were dimly visible. I -saw a shape coming slowly and cautiously toward the house, a shape that -moved hesitatingly and furtively. - -Arthur exclaimed softly. "Murray, it's the gorilla!" - -The figure was hunched up and apelike. It moved awkwardly toward us. -The cloud thinned still more and we could distinguish its location -clearly, though it was still impossible for us to see distinctly. - -"For the body," Arthur whispered. - -We raised our rifles together and aimed carefully. Arthur's rifle -flashed, and mine an instant later. We heard a choking, beastlike cry, -and the figure toppled and fell. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -A STRANGE ALLY. - - -Evan rushed out from the interior of the house, rifle in hand. - -"What's up? The natives?" - -"We've got the gorilla, I think," said Arthur quietly. - -He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flash light. The three of -us started down the steps and approached the fallen figure cautiously. -As we drew near, we could hear it moaning. The moans were curiously -human. I glanced up at the sky. The last wisp of the cloud was just -passing before the face of the moon, and when I looked down again, the -figure was outlined in the pitiless glare of the moonlight. - -Evan uttered an exclamation. The moaning figure was not that of the -gorilla. It was a man, a black man, in the monkey skin of a juju -priest, with all the amulets and charms of his calling strung about -him. Evan started forward and shot out a string of questions in the -local dialect. I could not catch a word, but Evan's voice was stern and -angry. The moaning witch doctor spoke feebly, his voice growing weaker -and weaker, and his words interrupted by gasps of pain. At last he -choked and coughed weakly and was still. - -Evan turned to us in a towering passion. - -"Those damned natives are going to try to rush us at dawn! The witch -doctor came to put a spell on us so they'd succeed. Oh, when I get at -the black animals----" - -He burst out into a string of profanity. The slave owner in him had -come uppermost, and the news that his blacks were going to attack us -aroused his anger at their presumption more than his fear that they -might succeed. He stirred the dead figure with his foot. - -"They dare to threaten me!" he rasped. "I'll shoot one man in every -four of them! I'll whip the rest until they can't stand. I'll----" - -My old dislike of the man returned, I could not doubt his courage, but -I had never been particularly fond of the _servaçal_ system and had -their effort not imperiled the lives of the four of us, I would have -had the best of wishes for the natives in their attempt to liberate -themselves. - -"We'd better decide how we're going to stand them off before we decide -how we're going to punish them," I remarked. "There are three of us. -There are at least six hundred of them." - -Arthur suddenly turned with a start. - -"Alicia's in the casa," he said sharply, "and the beast may come back." - -He started for the house on a run. We heard his voice as he called -to Alicia and heard her answer. Evan and I followed more slowly, -discussing methods of protecting ourselves against the coming attack. - -"There's one thing," I observed thoughtfully, "with the bush about the -clearing full of natives, the gorilla will either keep a safe distance -away--as is most likely--or else will have to fight his way through to -get to us." - -"Perhaps," said Evan gloomily, his voice still full of anger toward the -blacks. "We'll worry about him when we have to. The important thing is -the siege we'll have to stand. If we can stop the first rush, I think -we'll be all right." - -"We're all right for ammunition?" I asked. - -He nodded. "I could outfit a small army from my gun chest and I've -ammunition to last a year." - -We mounted the steps of the casa. - -Alicia greeted us with a white face. "I can shoot," she told us both -bravely, "and I shan't mind shooting at these people." - -"You shall shoot," said Evan grimly, "if they get a foothold in the -house. Otherwise there's no need. You know enough not to be taken -alive." - -"I know," said Alicia quietly. - -The last I saw of her for an hour or more, she was going through Evan's -assortment of firearms, picking out a light rifle for her own use and -another for Mrs. Braymore. She already had a small-caliber automatic -pistol hidden in her bosom. - -For an hour or more we worked, moving the bundles Evan pointed out in -the storeroom to form a breastwork behind which the women would be -safe from stray shots. We tore up a section or so of flooring, too, -so we could fire down in case any of the blacks found a refuge from -our weapons beneath the house. Bars nailed across the openings at once -provided us with assurance that they could not climb up, and that we -would not accidentally fall through. We brought supplies of food and -water where they would be close at hand. - -For close quarters, we were depending on repeating shotguns loaded with -buckshot. Three of us with those weapons should be able to stop almost -any number of blacks. These lay close beside us. We had our rifles and -our pistols in addition. - -The drums were beating madly now. The high-pitched ululation that was -the blended note of all the frantic yelling came clearly to our ears. -When we had finished our preparations I went outside to listen. I -instantly realized that the drums were nearer, much nearer. The dogs -were excited and restless. - -"We'd better get the dogs up from the ground," I suggested. "They'll -only be killed." - -Evan went silently down and unleashed them. They were growling and -bristling, particularly those near the back. They seemed to realize the -imminence of danger. - -I looked at my watch. It lacked two hours of dawn. The drums were -growing louder and louder, and the yelling more distinct and defiant. -From three sides the drums closed in on us, and from three sides -choruses of high-pitched yells informed us of the hatred of the blacks -for their masters. Evan interpreted as he caught some of the words. - -"They say the juju has declared we are to be killed," he announced with -a faint smile. "We are to be slaughtered and our flesh boiled down -until the fat can be collected, when it will be used to light fires. -Pigs will feed upon us, and our bones will be scattered among the juju -priests of a thousand villages to tell them to rise and slay all white -men." - -The drums came up to the very edge of the clearing, and their -thunderous voices boomed with a full-throated bellow across the open -space in a deafening volume of sound. In the moonlight, we became -conscious of darker bodies moving among the bush. Evan sighted from an -open window and with compressed lips fired. There was a mocking yell. - -"They say our guns have been bewitched so we cannot harm them," he -informed us a second later. "Give me a shotgun." - -The load of buckshot gave better results. Two or three shrieks of pain -announced its arrival. Then the drums boomed forth more loudly. Evan -fired again and again. There was a yell of rage at the third shot, when -the resonant voice of the huge drum became muted and a mere shadow of -itself. - -"I was trying for the drum," he remarked. "They were brought from a -thousand miles inland, and there's no way to tell what price was paid -for that one." - -The two other drums hastily shifted their positions, and recommenced -their devil's tattoo. Emboldened by the fury of sound, one or two of -the more daring spirits ventured to advance a little way out in the -clearing to howl maledictions upon us. - -Arthur's rifle cracked spitefully, and mine followed. Two bold spirits -ceased to yell. - -From time to time, as we saw an opportunity and a target in the -moonlight, we shot vengefully into the bush, and several times cries of -different timbre from the hysterical yelling of the blacks followed our -shots. Once or twice, too, I had that curious feeling of certitude that -follows some shots, when one is confident he has hit his mark, though -no cry came to assure me. - -Evan fired again and again with his heavy shotgun, almost every deep -explosion being followed by a cry. The range was hardly more than a -hundred yards, and the buckshot carried that distance easily. Spreading -as it did, it had a daunting effect. - -Our object in taking the initiative was solely that of dampening the -blacks' enthusiasm. Allowed to cheer themselves with yells, they -would make a rush that would be formidable in the extreme, but if we -began to inflict losses before their attack began, the edge of their -determination would be taken off. They would no longer believe in the -efficacy of their juju to compass our destruction, and we would have -a fraction of that psychological superiority that the white man must -possess in order to handle natives, the complete possession of which -enables a single fever-ridden white man to cow and rule ten thousand -blacks. - -Evan made a tour of the house, to make sure that the natives were -equally reluctant to advance on all sides. We heard him fire twice -back there, and painful yells followed each shot. He rejoined us. - -"I'm going to take the rear," he said briefly. "They're in the bush all -around. I'll hold them off easily. They'll make their main rush from -this side, so you two stay together." - -Arthur's answer was a deliberate squeeze of his trigger. A yell -followed. - -"At a hundred yards," he commented, looking up, "one can make good -practice in moonlight like this." - -"Dawn soon," said Evan and went once more to the rear. We heard him -settling himself for the rush that we expected. - -So far, there had been nothing but yells from the natives. We knew they -had some firearms, but ammunition is very valuable in the bush. Natives -are never supposed to have arms of precision, and when they possess -modern rifles, they have to keep them concealed lest they be taken away -by the Portuguese; but now and then a black boy will make off with a -rifle and a store of shells, and there are other sources of supply. - -At that, though, rifles and ammunition are immensely valuable back in -the hill country. Up beyond the Hungry Country, I have known slaves to -be sold for three rifle cartridges apiece. In fact, my boy Mboka--now -run off in the bush with the rest of them--had cost me exactly six -.30-.30 shells. I had found him the slave of a portly Kuloga chieftain -who was about to sell him to a half-caste Arab for export to the Sudan. - -I had wondered why the house servants did not clean out the gun chest -when they ran away in the middle of the night, but thanked my luck that -they failed to do so. Half a dozen rifles in the hands of the blacks -would have made matters awkward for us at close quarters. Off in the -bush we could have disregarded them, as the native custom is to fill -the barrel with slugs and fire from the hip. Anything like accuracy is -impossible to them, of course. - -When the sky began to pale toward the east, however, they opened up. No -less than six firearms began to bellow at us, from an ancient fowling -piece of who knows what ancient lineage to a modern smokeless-powder -magazine rifle. The slugs and bullets tore through the flimsy walls of -the house, or else imbedded themselves with a thud in one of the posts -that supported the roof. Arthur and myself began to concentrate upon -those weapons. The black-powder arms showed their position at every -fire in the now growing dawnlight, and we fired vengefully at the puffs -of smoke. - -The sky was growing lighter now. The stars above us were paling and -winking feebly in an attempt to outshine the sun. The first dim -grayness became nearly white. The east turned from pallid luminosity to -rich rose and then to gold. The gold, in its turn, faded to yellow, and -the first rays of the sun struck the tips of the highest trees about -the clearing. The drumming became fast and furious. The fires of the -guns in the bush ceased for a moment, and wild yelling began. We heard -Evan firing occasionally from the rear of the house. Now his shots came -more rapidly. - -With a hideous yell, the fringe of bush about the casa erupted black -figures. Ancient spears, knobbed and gnarled war clubs, fiercely -pointed arrows, and occasional rusted and long-cherished firearms armed -the motley throng that ran yelling toward us. - -Arthur dropped his rifle and took up the repeating shotgun by his side. -I took my stand at a window and opened on the advancing mob. In such a -mass it was impossible to miss, and the buckshot was deadly. If we had -had sawed-off shotguns, the loads would have spread more and inflicted -more damage, but as it was we had merely to pull the triggers to see -one or more figures crumple or spin half around and fall. In their -state of frenzy, that did not stop the blacks. - -Evan's gun was booming from the rear of the house. Arthur's spoke with -a shattering roar. My own barked angrily. The drums in the bush were -pounding in a mad rhythm that made the universe a place of unbearable -sound. The yells, the shots, the cries, and the thunderous drumming -created an uproar in which I loaded my weapon and emptied it with a -sense of curious detachment. Alicia and Mrs. Braymore were behind the -breastwork we had made for them. I cannot speak for Mrs. Braymore, but -I glanced once at Alicia and saw her grimly holding her light rifle in -readiness. - -The blacks came on. The losses we inflicted went unnoticed. They -swarmed up the rise on which the house was built. We took heavy toll -of them, but from sheer weight of numbers their casualties seemed -insignificant. Their yells were deafening as they swept up the last -twenty yards. I emptied my shotgun and began to use my two automatics. - -A mass of black humanity flowed up the steps, though a gap in the -stream widened for a moment as Arthur poured the last shells from -his shotgun into them. They clambered the pillars that supported the -veranda and made for the windows. - -At that distance, barely ten feet, we could not miss. The veranda -was a shambles. They could not live there. Arthur and myself with an -automatic in each hand swept the place. I heard a shot and a yell -behind me. One of the openings in the floor showed the barrel of an -ancient musket that was just falling back. Alicia had fired down the -opening and undoubtedly saved my life. The musket was aimed directly -for my back, and would have torn my head from my body. - -There was a crashing, and an antique blunderbuss appeared through -a hole smashed in the flimsy side wall of the house. Arthur fired -quickly. Then I heard Evan cry out at the rear of the house. Before we -could move, there was an outburst of demoniacal, bestial screamings of -rage. To one who had once heard that sound, the noise was unmistakable. -The gorilla had appeared in a killing fury and was going for the -blacks, as their panic testified. In a moment the clearing was dotted -with running natives. They dared face our weapons, but the gorilla---- - -Evan's rifle was silent. There was an instant of almost unbearable -quietness. Then came a triumphant, horrible outcry from the beast. It -had slain. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -UNMASKED. - - -The quiet was deadly. Where five minutes before had been the yelling -of the natives and the roaring of the drums, the sharp cracks of our -rifles, and the bellowing of the native firearms, now there was not a -sound. - -Arthur and I, shaken by the suddenness of the transition, waited in -cold apprehension. Would the door from the rear of the house burst open -and the shaggy beast rage into the room, its colossal arms crushing -whatever might come within its grasp? Would we, the four in that one -room, fire futilely into its barrellike chest, and then be rent and -tore in the huge ape's hairy arms, while its great discolored fangs -sank into our flesh? - -The stillness was broken by a feeble sound, and we quivered, gripping -our rifles the more tightly. The tension was terrific. Another feeble -sound, a scraping sound. Then two or three faint jars, followed by an -uncertain, tottering footstep, and a second. We heard Evan's voice, -barely above a whisper, muttering pain-racked imprecations. - -The door opened slowly and he limped weakly into the room. His clothes -were torn and gory. Blood dripped from a deep cut across the back of -his hand. He stared at us uncertainly, and a look of relief came across -his face. - -"Well," he said slowly. "They've gone." - -Alicia, for the first time, gave way. She burst into sobs, against -which she struggled bravely. - -"The gorilla!" I snapped, fearful lest I too give way. - -Evan shook his head. "The blacks had crept up to and filled the -servants' quarters during the night. I suppose that's why the dogs -were restless. When they made a rush, they dashed out from there and I -couldn't stop them. They were inside, and I was just about gone when -the gorilla appeared from nowhere. I dare say I shouted, and then the -beast made for the blacks. I suppose it was as frightened as they were, -but it charged them, screaming with rage, and they ran. It got one of -them. The poor devil is out there now. I'd been knocked down and one of -the blacks was just about to finish me off when the brute appeared." - -"Where is it now?" - -Evan shook his head again. "I don't know where it went. It was going -for the blacks." - -Alicia stuffed her handkerchief into her mouth and tried desperately to -get a grip on herself again. - -"We'll go and look out at the back," said Arthur grimly. "You stay -here, Evan." - -We went cautiously out toward the rear. There lay one of the natives -with his neck broken, an expression of infinite horror on his face. -Others lay in twisted attitudes about the place, gaping wounds from -the buckshot at close range showing how desperately Evan had fought. Of -the gorilla there was no sign. We searched the place thoroughly, but -found nothing. - -We returned to the others, a curious lethargy settling upon us. We had -been at such high tension for so long that it was impossible to keep -keyed up. I, for one, felt an almost-overpowering desire to sleep. -Alicia had recovered her composure by now and was trying to bandage -Evan's hand. He was indifferently submitting, but after she had -finished, he looked at it and took the bandage off, substituting a mere -strip of adhesive for the many turns of the cloth. - -"I can handle my rifle like this," he said dully. - -Mrs. Braymore made coffee and we drank it in silence. Presently Arthur -motioned to the women to leave the room and began to tug at the bodies -lying on the floor. It was absurd for us to think of trying to bury -them. He dragged them to the edge of the veranda and dropped them over -the edge to the ground below. He moved jerkily, almost like a man -asleep. - -"No need to do that," said Evan suddenly, a little while later. - -Arthur stopped and looked at him questioningly. - -"We'll have to start for the coast," Evan explained uninterestedly. "We -can't stick it out here. The natives won't bother us now. The fight's -taken out of them." - -"But the gorilla?" - -"Have to chance it," said Evan slowly. "There's nothing else to do." - -"He'll get us within the first ten miles," I remarked, speaking with -difficulty because of the peculiar lethargy that affected us all. "You -know how he trailed Arthur." - -There was a moment's silence, then Arthur automatically resumed his -task. Alicia came into the room and silently gave us something to eat. -Arthur stopped dumbly and began to chew on his food, forgetting the -grisly labor he had been performing but a moment before. - -"We can't start to-day, anyway," he said after a little. "We've got -to rest. We're all in bad shape and we've two weeks' travel before we -reach another white man's house." - -Evan made some reply, but I did not catch it. I fell asleep with food -in my hands and slept like a dead man for hours. Alicia waked me at -noon to eat again. - -All that day we were possessed by a peculiar indifference, the result -of the reaction from the tension at which we had lived for so many -days. I woke with a start at three o'clock, hearing the dogs bark. Evan -came slowly into the room. - -"I let the dogs loose," he said, noticing my expression. "They were -whining." - -"We'll need them to-night, in case the beast comes back." I rose -stiffly and went back to douse my head with water. It roused me a -little and, after a cup of coffee, I joined the other two. We were all -languid and tired, but thoroughly awake now. - -"Of course we can't stay on here," Arthur was admitting, "but we -wouldn't have one chance in a hundred to make it through the jungle -with that ape following us. You've seen how it manages to reach the -house here." - -"I've figured," said Evan thoughtfully, "that it was in the fringe of -bush, and when the drums began to close in from three sides, it was -flushed out and came on to hide here in or about the house. It had -hidden here before." - -"Probably," Arthur agreed. "But that doesn't say how we're going -to elude it during a journey of a hundred and fifty miles without -carriers." - -Evan threw out his hands. "But what are we going to do?" He appealed to -me. "What do you think, Murray?" - -"If we stay here," I reasoned, "either we'll get him or he'll get us. -If we go, he'll probably get one or more of us and we may get him. But -we can't stay here. The only thing I can think of is that we had better -try for him to-night. With the dogs to warn us, we'll have a better -chance than before. If he doesn't come to-night, try to-morrow night. -Hang on here as long as we dare and then, if we must, try the trail. If -we could strike a caravan coming down from the Hungry Country, now----" - -Evan shook his head. "I haven't been very hospitable to the Portuguese -traders," he remarked. "They steal my slaves and sell them in Ticao. -They don't turn off the main slave trail to my villages any more." - -We were, silent for a moment or two. - -"Are there any of the rest barricades any short distance away?" asked -Arthur. "We might reach one of them and wait for a caravan to come." - -From time to time along the great slave trail from the interior, you -will find big inclosures made of tree trunks and filled with grass -huts. They were originally built for halting places for the caravans -that go up and down from beyond the Hungry Country. Of course they -are in ill repair because of the attacks of insects and rot upon dead -timber in that climate, but the carriers feel safer in them after -nightfall, and the slave traders find them convenient to avoid possible -attempts to escape off the part of the "voluntary labor recruits" they -are escorting to the coast. - -"We might try," I said doubtfully. "Frankly, I think the beast would -have as much chance at us there as here. If we happened on a caravan -right away, though, it would help." - -"Why doesn't the damned thing go away?" Arthur looked at us with -something of dread in his eyes. "I shot its mate four hundred miles -away, up in the Kongo. It trailed me those four hundred miles, making -attempt after attempt on me. I wounded it once, and got a fair shot at -it two weeks before Murray brought Alicia and Mrs. Braymore here. I -thought I had killed it then. It went off through the trees as if it -were badly injured. I'd made sure it was dead." - -He began to pace up and down the room nervously. - -"I've never known one so far from Kongo before," I said, in an attempt -to encourage him. "You know what animals are. They'll stick at a thing -for an amazing length of time and then will drop it like a shot. He may -get a touch of homesickness any day and swing off to the north again." - -"If he only would!" Arthur burst out. "I'm beginning to feel that he's -going to get me yet. Something tells me he's going to get me." - -"Nonsense," said Evan heartily. "Get a grip on yourself, old man." - -"If he killed me," Arthur muttered morosely, "he'd be satisfied. I'm -the one he's after. If he killed me, he might go off and leave the rest -of you in peace." - -"Don't be an ass, Arthur," I told him sharply. "The beast can't -distinguish between white men. He'd be just as apt to try to wipe out -the lot of us, and I have a strong objection to being wiped out." - -Arthur walked out on the veranda and stood there, leaning against the -side of the house and staring moodily off into the bush. Evan looked at -me significantly. - -"Nerves," he said quietly. "I feel the same way, but I'm trying not to -show it. I'll go and round up the dogs. I have a feeling that something -is due to happen to-night." - -I went out to the back. Alicia saw me passing her door and joined me, -leaving Mrs. Braymore behind. - -"Have you decided on your course?" she asked in a low voice. "You know -both of us are willing to do anything you think wise. You mustn't hold -back for fear we may not be able to stand hardships." - -I shook my head. "The only thing we can do," I said wearily, "is hope -the beast turns up to-night and that we kill him." - -Alicia put out her hand and let it rest on my shoulder in comradely -fashion. - -"Please don't be discouraged," she said urgently. "We've stood so much, -surely we can endure a little more." - -I tried to smile. "We'll stick it out. It must be much harder for you -and Mrs. Braymore." - -"Don't worry about us." Alicia shook her head decidedly. "It's -the waiting for the beast to come that worries you. We're growing -accustomed to grisly sights, but you'll never be used to just waiting. -Why, I've got so I can look at those poor natives and not even shiver." - -My eyes followed her glance. I smiled wryly. "It isn't pleasant for -me to look at that particular native," I remarked. "He was one of my -carriers. I bought and freed him when he was to be used for food--a -tribe in the interior. All my boys joined Evan's blacks." - -Alicia looked at me with her large eyes. "Let's go and talk to Arthur," -she said suddenly. "He needs cheering as much as you do." - -The veranda of the casa went all the way around it. Arthur, when I had -seen him, was leaning against the wall before the main door. Alicia and -I walked around the outside. - -"I didn't thank you for shooting down the hole in the flooring----" I -began, then quickly snapped my hand to the pistol at my belt. - -From inside the house had come a snarl! Before I could take another -step, I heard a queer, gurgling gasp and a sickening crack. In a second -I had bolted around the corner of the casa, rushing madly, my automatic -in my hand. Arthur had been leaning against the wall near one of the -windows. Now he was crumpling limply to the floor, while the curtains -behind him were still fluttering where the arms that had broken his -neck had beat jerked back. I dashed through the door, absolutely -desperate and utterly reckless. A dark form was bounding down the hall -that led to the rear. A frightened cry came from the room in which -Mrs. Braymore had been left. I ran down the passageway, furious and -desperate, I heard a door slam shut--the door of the storeroom! I made -for it, stumbled, and fell into the room on all fours. - -Evan Graham was in the room, trying to stuff a furry something into an -open box! As I sprawled on the floor he whirled and saw me. From his -lips issued the identical snarl I had heard five seconds before, and he -raised his automatic pistol and fired! - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -THE GORILLA'S SCREAM. - - -I came slowly back to consciousness, feeling weak and giddy. I essayed -to move and found I could not. I opened my eyes. Despite the gathering -darkness, I discovered that I was seated in a chair in the large room -of the casa. A second attempt to move disclosed the fact that I was -tied tightly. - -Alicia stared at me dumbly from an opposite chair, and Mrs. Braymore -sat in one corner, her face white and set and her eyes full of horror. -Evan was standing at his ease by the doorway, smoking with evident -enjoyment. - -In one of his hands he held a shaggy object that for some seconds held, -weakly, my half-focused attention. It was a baglike object, that yet -seemed to contain a framework. Not yet awake to full consciousness, -I saw that it was strangely animal. It was a mask in the perfect, -horrible likeness of a gorilla. - -Evan turned and saw my eyes open. "Well, Murray, old top," he said -amiably. "You caught me, didn't you?" - -My throat was dry and parched, and my shoulder ached abominably. "What -the devil?" I croaked weakly. - -"Give him some water, Alicia," said Evan cheerfully. "He's thirsty." - -Alicia gave me water. "He has my pistol," she whispered despairingly as -she bent over me. - -Full consciousness returned with a jerk. Evan had shot me. Evan had -snarled at me as he fired. Evan--why Evan must have killed Arthur! He -grinned approvingly as he saw me straighten in an instinctive effort to -break my bonds. - -"Ah, feeling better," he commented. "I'm sorry you caught me. I'd have -liked to take you back to Ticao and hear you tell the tale of this -week's work of ours. You always were a great one for telling tales, -Murray." - -He puffed luxuriously at his cigarette and looked at the gathering -darkness outside. - -"You're a connoisseur of tales, Murray, so I think I'll tell you one. -I'm going off to get in touch with my natives in a little while, as -soon as it's dark, but I've a few minutes to spare and might as well -be pleasant during that little while. I'm afraid I'll have to be -unpleasant later on, you know." - -"I didn't know." - -I have never found that losing one's head is an advantage under any -circumstances, so I prepared to make an effort to keep mine. Evan waved -his hand airily. - -"Oh, I'm going to be put to the unpleasant necessity of disposing of -you and Mrs. Braymore. No one could regret it more than I do, but the -necessity is there. You see, I was the gorilla." He indicated the -gorilla mask. "And it wouldn't do for you to tell that story about." - -"I can believe it," I admitted. My head was spinning, but I tried to -follow what he was saying in the hope of finding something therein to -my own advantage. - -"You understand, of course," said Evan cheerfully, "that I don't mean -that I was the beast whose mate Arthur so inconsiderately shot, or the -one who followed his caravan all the way here from the Kongo. That -was another gorilla altogether. I simply happen to be the one that -hung about the house here. Arthur shot the other one two weeks before -you came. It got away, but he must have wounded it fatally. Otherwise -it would have turned up long before. I'll admit that I was a little -nervous about the animal at first, but I soon realized that it must be -dead. I saw to it that Arthur was not similarly convinced, however. I -had already made more or less of a plan. You know about my slaves?" - -"No," I said rather weakly. I had lost a lot of blood. - -"I'd knocked about the West Coast for quite a while before I came -here." Evan stopped and drew up a chair. He sat down comfortably. -"I had learned the secret of controlling natives. As you know, that -secret is fear. I knew that if I could get, say, a village full of them -thoroughly afraid of me, they would be to all practical purposes my -slaves. Normal means of frightening them would have the disadvantage -of not frightening them too much to invoke juju to get rid of me. And -juju, invoked against a white man, means poison. The obvious solution -was to frighten them by means of the very juju they would use against -me." - -"Poison?" I asked. My head was spinning, but I tried not to show it. - -"No." Evan puffed casually upon his cigarette. "Poison would be the -result of the juju. I went at the fountain head. Kongo natives are -deadly afraid of gorillas, but just a little way from gorilla country, -the natives fear them vastly more than where familiarity has had time -to breed, if not contempt, at least some measure of accustomedness. The -natives here would be horribly afraid of them. I made my preparations -accordingly. Having bribed his excellency the colonial governor, and -having had this mask made and learned how to imitate to a fair degree -of perfection the cries of the beasts, I came out here. Have you seen -my mask?" - -He held it out for me to see, even going so far as to strike a light -so that I might examine the thing more closely. He held it before my -eyes and turned it about. It was an amazingly perfect bit of work, -perhaps larger than a normal skull of one of the beasts would be. For -all their size, their skulls are comparatively small. It was lifelike -to a surprising degree. The disgustingly human, and yet unhuman ears -stuck out against the skull. The jaw protruded in truly simian fashion, -and the caked, black lips were drawn back from discolored fangs in a -grimace of almost unimaginable ferocity. The broad, flat nostrils were -distended in rage, and the eyeholes of the mask sank deep back below -the low and beetling forehead. If small, glittering eyes had shone -evilly from those now blank holes, I would have been tempted to believe -that a live beast was before me. - -"Good work, isn't it?" asked Evan. "I came out here with my four -overseers, wandered into the village, and metamorphosed myself before -the villagers' eyes into a gorilla clad as a man, which at one moment -spoke with the voice of a man, ordering them to obey, and the next -screamed at them in tones of one of the monstrous apes of which they -were in such dread. I built myself this casa, demanded tribute of gums -and produce, started a small juju house off in a small clearing, and in -a couple of weeks had established myself as a deity, demanding to be -worshiped and sacrificed to, exacting all sorts of tribute, and so on. -Very profitable, I assure you. - -"They soon believed that I could change myself into a gorilla at will -and respected me immensely. I took care to throw a few scares into -them. In Japan, some years ago, I learned a small and very elemental -jujutsu trick which requires very little strength to break a man's -neck. A few broken necks, a few snarls, a scream or so of rage, and -they'd no more think of crossing my will than they'd think of jumping -into the fires of hell." - -"They attacked the house," I remarked, trying behind my back to wriggle -one of my hands free from the bonds that held it fast. - -"They'll suffer for that." Evan was smiling, but there was something -in his tone that made me feel slightly cold. "They'll suffer for that. -I told my juju priests to take the people off into the woods and keep -them busy with a juju council until I had finished my business with -you. They forced your boys to go with them. They simply got out of -hand, that's all. The witch doctor you and Arthur shot was coming to -tell me that they were out of control. If I had gone and appeared among -them, wearing my gorilla mask, and snarled at them once, they would -have been like lambs. I simply couldn't, get away from you people -without making you suspicious." - -"But what was the object of it all?" I demanded. I had found it -impossible to free even one hand. - -"Arthur was my elder brother," said Evan amiably. "Consequently, being -English, he had all the money in the family. I do not like West Africa. -If I disposed of Arthur, I could go back to England and live with some -comfort. I thought of shooting him and calling it an accident, but -people would talk, you know. When he came here with his tale of being -followed by a gorilla, I saw the possibilities. When I heard you people -were coming up, I saw I would have witnesses. My idea was to convince -you of the presence of a gorilla, break Arthur's neck precisely as I -did this afternoon, and return to England. I rather thought I would be -able to comfort Alicia, in time." - -Alicia shuddered. Evan grinned at her. - -"I shall comfort you, Alicia, but presently. My people will return, -Murray and your estimable chaperon will be disposed of, and you and -I will escape precariously to Ticao, telling the tale of hairbreadth -escapes during the uprising of my natives and during the trip." - -"Never!" said Alicia desperately. - -"Oh, yes." Evan was polite, but there was evil determination in his -tone. "You never cared much for Arthur, and I more than suspect you're -in love with Murray. You'll do as I say for his sake." - -There was mute interrogation in my expression. - -"Not to save your life, of course, Murray," Evan hastened to assure -me. "I really can't allow you to spread tales of what happened up -here. She'll be pleasant to make sure that you depart this life, -er--comfortably." - -Alicia looked at me in despair. - -Evan glanced out the window. "Not time for me to start off yet," he -remarked. "They'll have to go down and worship me when I turn up in -this little fixing." He indicated the gorilla-head mask in his hand. -"Is there anything that isn't clear to you?" - -"I don't understand anything," I said. - -"I'll begin at the beginning, in your own fashion. Let's see. Biheta. -You remember you were here the night she was installed in the casa? -One of my servants had been insolent. I sent word to the village -that Biheta was to be sent here to take the other's place. She was -frightened, and the juju ceremony you saw was for the purpose of -heartening her for the time she would spend in proximity to my godlike -person. When the other servants left, by my orders, she was too stupid -to go with them. She was perpetually frightened, anyway. You see, -she saw me dispose of the servant that had been insolent. Jujutsu is -useful. I'll show you how to break a neck." He started to rise, then -sank back in his chair. "Come to think of it, I need you to convince -Alicia that she had better do as I tell her. You will depart this life -to-morrow. As I was saying, Biheta stayed behind when she should have -cleared out with the others. So, in the middle of the night, while on -guard, I went into her room, wearing my mask. I made a noise, she woke, -saw me--and that was the end of that. The photograph of the retina of -her eye showed the face of this mask. Rather clever idea, don't you -think?" - -"Very," I admitted. - -"Thanks." Evan smiled sarcastically. "Well, Arthur just imagined he -heard the beast following him through the trees. He shot at nothing, -when you and he went down to explore the village. My own 'encounter' -with the animal when I started off in the jungle alone was purely -imaginary. I scratched my own face and jabbered like the gorilla -myself. Like this----" - -He emitted a succession of incredible sounds, so beastlike and -ferocious in their tones that I could hardly believe it was not an -animal uttering them. There was a peculiar echo from the bush outside. - -"The dogs were excited in the storeroom," Evan went on easily, "because -they could smell the fur of the mask I kept in a small box in there. -When I told that wild tale of a hairy arm reaching in at the window -and dragging the dog out, to fling it with a broken neck into the -courtyard, I need not say that I had done the killing. And my 'seeing' -the gorilla on the roof was more fiction. Of course he wasn't there at -dawn. I was laughing in my sleeve at you people all night long, while -we patrolled the courtyard. The silhouette of the gorilla's head you -two saw on the window curtain was the shadow of your humble servant. -I had decided that the play had gone far enough. The presence of the -gorilla had been proved. The three of you, my present audience, would -corroborate my story of the gorilla's having killed Arthur. I was on my -way to break his neck. You nearly got me that time, and I had to kill -the dog to get away. Then the natives got out of hand. I could have -stopped them by a simple appearance, but you people would have missed -me. I waited until they were near the house, then rushed out in my -mask, snarling and raging at them, and they ran. After that I hid the -mask quickly and pretended to you that I had been knocked down. It was -really very simple. With the natives quieted for a few days, I simply -carried out my plans to dispose of Arthur. I'm sorry I'll have to put -you two out of the way, but Arthur's dead, I'm his heir, I'm going to -marry Alicia and become a country gentleman in England, and I can't let -you two people talk." - -"You'll never dare take me to England," said Alicia, desperately white. - -"You'll marry me, Alicia," said Evan coolly. "You won't split. When you -see the preparations my natives will make for the entertainment of -Murray and Mrs. Braymore, you'll swear to anything, and you'll marry me -when we get to Ticao. You'll corroborate my tales of a slave uprising, -too. You don't know what can be done to Murray, and will be done before -he dies, unless you do as I say." - -Alicia moistened her lips. I saw her half close her eyes. - -Evan laughed. "It's about time for me to call on my natives. This will -be our wedding night, Alicia. One of the local witch doctors will marry -us, and the ceremony will be repeated when we get to Ticao. Murray and -Mrs. Braymore will be kept alive until to-morrow lest you refuse to go -through with the ceremony. If you hesitate, I dare say I'll be able to -make up your mind for you. Too bad I'll have to kill the other two, -though." He strolled over to the door. "I'll call up my natives. You'll -hear the gorilla again." - -Derisively he opened his lips and from them issued a strange cry, that -I had heard once before. It was the challenge of a bull ape to battle. -And--good Heaven! _It was answered!_ - -There was a snarl behind him. He turned with a gasp. There on the -veranda, leaping toward him, he saw, not a masquerading white man, -posing as a jungle god, but a colossal gorilla in actuality, gnashing -its teeth in rage, and with its huge, hairy arms outstretched. - -I shall remember Evan's shriek when the beast seized him, to the end of -my days. Sometimes, even now, I start up at midnight with the echo of -it in my ears. For one instant the two figures were outlined against -the fading light of the sky. Then the ferocious fangs buried themselves -in Evan's throat and the beast leaped clumsily to the ground, bearing -the still-struggling body in its immensely muscled arms. - -We heard the sounds from the courtyard, sounds at whose meaning I -do not wish to guess. And then our ears rang with the horrible, -incredible, terrifying scream of a gorilla that has made a kill. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -AT THE PADRE'S. - - -We passed through the night somehow. Alicia, half dead with terror, -managed clumsily to release me, but weak as I was from loss of blood, -we dared attempt nothing that night. - -In the morning the great ape was gone. I might as well say now that I -believe that it was the same animal that had trailed Arthur, and which -Arthur had gravely wounded some two weeks before our arrival. - -For three weeks it had hidden while the wound healed, and then came -cautiously toward the casa again. It heard Evan's first beastlike -cries, and its response was probably the queer echo I had thought I -heard from the bush. It crept forward, and when Evan derisively uttered -the challenge cry of the monster anthropoids, it had leaped to the -attack. - -Limited as is the intelligence of the creatures, it would never -distinguish between white men. A white man had killed its mate. It had -killed a white man. With the blood lust sated, by now the shaggy brute -was doubtless swinging rapidly through the treetops toward its Kongo -hunting grounds. - -That is my explanation. I know I never saw any other sign of the huge -gorilla either then or at any later time. I have told the tale on -different occasions to many different people, and my surmise has always -been accepted as correct. - -Our predicament was not entirely done away with by the disappearance -of the gorilla that had come to our deliverance so unexpectedly. We -were still a hundred and fifty miles from another white man or woman, -absolutely without carriers, and I was abominably weak from the wound -Evan had inflicted. Our chances looked slight indeed until nearly noon -of the next day. - -A very much ashamed, and a very apologetic black figure emerged from -the bush on the side farthest from the village. It was followed -by about forty other similarly ashamed and apologetic figures. I -recognized Mboka, my gun-bearer in the lead and had to struggle to -restrain an impulse to jump up and shout aloud to Alicia that we were -all right at last. - -Instead, I sat impassively on the veranda until Mboka stopped humbly -in the courtyard before me. I paid absolutely no attention, but smoked -indifferently as if his presence or absence were a matter in which -I had no concern. He waited and fidgeted, scraping his bare feet -embarrassedly on the ground, until at last I looked down and inspected -him impersonally. I looked away again. Presently, looking off through -the bush as if he were the most insignificant atom in the universe, I -remarked: - -"Pig!" - -Mboka beamed. It is the custom in West Africa for the lower in rank, -the inferior, to speak first, but Mboka was too ashamed to presume. He -stood there uneasily and tried to look apologetic while I informed him -that he had put me to some inconvenience, that he was to go and never -dare appear before me again. I added that I would see to it that no -other trader ever dreamed of employing him for any purpose whatever. - -It does not do for a white man to admit himself in any degree dependent -on a black. I told him that he need never come to me again and resumed -my stare into the bush. He may have had some idea of trying to bargain -with me, but my attitude put him back. He hesitatingly and humbly told -me what I already knew quite well, that he and the others had been -forced to accompany Evan's natives off into the bush. - -One or two of the carriers had been swept away by the fervor of the -juju council and had joined Evan's folk in their attack on us, but the -others had now fled to put themselves under my protection. They begged -that I would receive them again and assured me of their undivided -loyalty, if I would take them again into my service. - -I kept them waiting for an hour while I went indoors and ate a -leisurely breakfast. When I came outside again, I seemed to have -forgotten them. My indifference completed their subjugation. They were -abject in their pleadings for me to take them back. When I finally -consented, it was with the scornful statement that I was going to take -them to Ticao and discharge them from my service forever. - -They burdened themselves joyfully with the loads they had brought up -from Ticao and waited anxiously for me to announce my readiness to -start. Alicia and Mrs. Braymore would have to walk, as their ox-cart -was useless. I began the journey on foot, but could not keep up. I was -too weak. - -The second day I had to be carried in an improvised hammock, and the -third or fourth day I found myself in a raging fever. Alicia worked -over me bravely, but I lapsed into semidelirious feverishness in which -I was of no use whatever. - -I must credit Mboka with a great deal more faithfulness than I had -expected of him. He kept the carriers under an iron rule, and Alicia -told me later that the length of the journeys was stretched to the -greatest possible distance every day. With nothing but the scantiest -of medicines--as my own drug chest had been accidentally left behind -at Evan's deserted casa--she fought off the fever, but when we arrived -at the Padre Silvestre's mission, I was in very bad shape. The padre -doctored me, however, and in two weeks I had not only ceased my -delirium, but could move about a little. I remember the first evening I -was allowed to sit up. - -The padre, Alicia, and Mrs. Braymore had celebrated my recovery at -dinner that night, the padre making one of his graceful little speeches -on the subject. I am not of the padre's faith, but we are great -friends, and after dinner he announced that I might sit up. With great -ceremony they got me into a chair and made a great to-do over me. Then -they helped me to a chair on the little screened-in veranda of the -padre's house, where I could look out at the perfect African night and -see the small mission church, and farther off the village in which the -padre's converts live. - -Mrs. Braymore went back indoors to discuss with him some aid she -proposed to give the mission. She was an Episcopalian, but she had seen -the work the padre had done, and a difference of creed had long since -seemed unimportant. The main thing was that the natives needed aid. -Alicia and I on the veranda talked for a long time, disjointedly. - -"What will happen to Evan's plantation?" she asked presently, naming -the place with reluctance. - -"The natives will move away," I answered thoughtfully, "and a tradition -will grow up, making the casa the abode of a devil-god who will destroy -all comers. Slave caravans passing down the great slave trail will -make offerings to appease the evil spirits in the house, and a juju -house will appear, where the witch doctor will grow rich and fat on the -contributions he will exact. The casa itself will stand untenanted and -deserted, while tall grasses grow in the courtyard, and at last the -house will fall in shapeless ruins." - -"It was terrible there," said Alicia with a shudder. "And Evan--it -is almost unbelievable that he should have done what he did. He was -always a black sheep, but that----" - -I was silent for a moment. "He was planning to force you to marry him," -I said presently. "Not thinking of how you might feel for Arthur." - -"Arthur was like a brother," Alicia said sadly. "I was very, very fond -of him. We were engaged, but we had nearly agreed that we did not care -for each other enough to marry. I was very fond of him, though. I could -not have cared for him more if he had really been my brother." - -The great white African moon was silvering the whole earth with its -pale rays. From the village came negro voices, singing the native words -to an old, old devotional melody. From within the house came the rustle -of papers. The padre and Mrs. Braymore were going over the details of -the small hospital she proposed to erect for the mission. The padre -is an old man, and more than forty years of his life have been spent -at his little mission station, trying to help the natives despite the -Portuguese and the _servaçal_. Now, at last, he was to have adequate -equipment through Mrs. Braymore's generosity. - -She was going back to her beloved England, where she would go to her -five-o'clock teas and discuss the neighborhood gossip and hear the -curate talk about the possibility of repairing the parish house. I -knew she was glad that she could again sink into the pleasant rut of -well-to-do English country life. Alicia would go too, and I would see -her no more. It suddenly seemed unbearable that she should leave me. - -"I shall be leaving Ticao soon," I said abruptly. - -Alicia turned. Her face was grave and sweet in the half light. - -"Why? I thought----" - -"This is an evil country. White men denigrate and black men are like -beasts. I am sick of the place. I shall go back somewhere in the States -and see what I can find to do there." - -"I'm glad you're leaving Ticao," she said slowly. "I should not like -to think I would never see you again. We have grown to be very good -friends." - -I waited a moment or so and then said quietly: - -"When Evan was explaining to us after he had shot me, he said that he -would force you to do as he said by threats of my death by torture. You -remember?" - -Alicia nodded silently. - -"He said that he believed you cared a little for me. I have been hoping -very much that he was right. I'm more or less of a ne'er-do-well, but -if there's any hope for me, I'll try hard to change." - -I waited breathlessly for her to answer. She looked out at the -moonlight for what seemed an age-long time. At last she turned again to -me. I had a moment of panic, and then I saw that she was smiling. - -"Why, Murray," she said in a flash of mischief. "I may call on you to -change after a while, but for the present, say for the next ten or -twenty years, I think you're perfectly all right as you are." - -I had not thought myself so strong, but when I saw her smiling at me -with her face close to my own, my fever weakness left me and I reached -out my arms. Alicia was quite considerate of me. She struggled only a -very little. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Juju, by Murray Leinster - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JUJU *** - -***** This file should be named 50719-8.txt or 50719-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/7/1/50719/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -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: Juju - -Author: Murray Leinster - -Release Date: December 19, 2015 [EBook #50719] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JUJU *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> -<h1>Juju</h1> - -<p>Murray Leinster</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -The Thrill Book, October 15, 1919.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph3">Contents</p> - -<div class="center"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> -<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a></td><td align="left">AN AFRICAN NIGHT.</td></tr> -<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.</a></td><td align="left">THE SEEKER OF VENGEANCE.</td></tr> -<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a></td><td align="left">EVAN'S SORTIE.</td></tr> -<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></td><td align="left">THE FIRST VICTIM.</td></tr> -<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a></td><td align="left">AS BY MAGIC.</td></tr> -<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a></td><td align="left">THE FORM THAT CREPT.</td></tr> -<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a></td><td align="left">A STRANGE ALLY.</td></tr> -<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.</a></td><td align="left">UNMASKED.</td></tr> -<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX.</a></td><td align="left">THE GORILLA'S SCREAM.</td></tr> -<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X.</a></td><td align="left">AT THE PADRE'S.</td></tr> -</table></div> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" width="650" height="279" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a><br /> -<small>AN AFRICAN NIGHT.</small></h2> -</div> - - -<p>From the juju house the witch doctor emerged, bedaubed with colored -earths and bright ashes. The drums renewed their frantic, resounding -thunder. The torchbearers capered more actively, and yelled more -excitedly. The drumming had gone on all day and its hypnotic effect -had culminated in a species of ecstasy in which the blacks yelled and -capered, and capered and yelled, without any clear notion of why or -what they yelled.</p> - -<p>With great solemnity, the witch doctor led forward a young native girl, -her face bedaubed with high juju signs. She was in the last stage of -panic. If she did not flee, it was because she believed a worse fate -awaited her flight than if she submitted to whatever was in store for -her now.</p> - -<p>Two men stepped forward and threw necklaces of magic import about her -neck. Two other men who upon occasion acted as the assistants of the -chief witch doctor seized the girl's hands. The shouting mass of blacks -formed themselves into a sort of column.</p> - -<p>At the front were the drums, those incredible native drums hollowed -out of a single log, and which come from the yet unknown fastnesses -of the darkest interior, far back of Lake Tchad. Behind them came -the torchbearers, yelling a rhythmic chant and capering in almost -unbelievable attitudes as they passed along. Next came the witch -doctor, important and mysterious. Behind him came more torchbearers, -yelling hysterically at the surrounding darkness. Then came the two -assistants, dragging the young girl who was almost paralyzed with -terror. And the entire population of the village followed in their -wake, carrying flaming lights and yelling, yelling, yelling at the -eternally unamazed African forest.</p> - -<p>The tall, dank tree trunks loomed mysteriously above the band of -vociferous natives, with their thumping, rumbling, booming drums -sounding hollowly from the front of the procession. The lights wound -into the forest, deep into the unknown and unknowable bush. The yelling -became fainter, but the drums continued to boom out monotonously -through the throbbing silence of the African night. Boom, boom, boom, -boom! Never a variation from the steady beat, though the sound was -muted by the distance it had to travel before reaching us.</p> - -<p>I glanced across to where Evan Graham sat smoking. We were on the -veranda of the casa on his plantation, four weeks' march from the city -of Ticao, in the province of Ticao, Portuguese West Africa. From the -veranda we could see through the cleared way to the village, a half -mile away, and the whole scene of the juju procession had been spread -before our eyes like a play.</p> - -<p>It puzzled me. I knew Evan made no faintest attempt to Christianize his -slaves—and the villagers were surely his slaves—and yet, white men do -not often allow witch doctors to flourish in their slave quarters. And -the girl who had been led away—I had no idea what might become of her. -Voodoo still puts out its head in strange forms in strange places. It -might well be that some hellish ceremony would take place far back in -the bush that night.</p> - -<p>Whatever was to happen had been planned long before, because I had -arrived some four hours previously from a trip up beyond the Hungry -Country, and the drums were beating then. I looked curiously at Evan to -see what he thought of the open practice of juju by his slaves under -their master's eyes. His expression was inscrutable. I knew better than -to ask questions, but I could not help wondering what it all meant. -Evan was a queer sort, at best, but to allow his natives to practice -black magic—as was evidently the case here—before his very nose was -queerer than anything he had done before.</p> - -<p>He was not taken by surprise, I know. I had heard the drums that -afternoon, long before I entered the village. They were beating -with the rhythmic monotony that is so typical of the African when -he is disturbed in spirit and wants to be comforted, or when he is -comfortable and wants excitement. Either way will do.</p> - -<p>My "boys," wandering along in a more or less listless fashion with the -conventional forty-five pounds on their backs, had heard the drumming -and became more interested. My caravan did not close up, however. It -was spread out over anywhere from a mile to a mile and a half of the -old slave trail that goes down to Venghela, and those in the rear -hastened by precisely the same degree as those in front.</p> - -<p>According to instructions, the foremost pair halted while still half a -mile away from the village and waited for the rest of us to come up. -For three months I had been back inland, a part of the time back even -of the Hungry Country, where the grass is bitter to the taste, and all -the world is half mad for salt. For three months I had been moving -quickly and constantly.</p> - -<p>Having quit the country—I fervently hope for good—it will do no -harm to admit that my constant moving was due less to the demands of -business than to a desire to be elsewhere when the Belgian officials -arrived. The Belgian Kongo is just north of the province of Ticao, -and I had been skimming its edges, buying ivory and rubber from the -natives across the line. The colonial government does not encourage -independent traders, and it would not have been pleasant for me had -I been caught. In Ticao, of course, I was not molested. A small -honorarium to the governor of the province made him my friend, and my -conscience did not bother me. I paid ten times the prices the natives -usually got and I imposed no fines or contributions on the villages. -If you know anything about the Kongo, you will regard me as I regarded -myself—as more or less of a benefactor.</p> - -<p>After three months of that, though, and two or three close shaves -from a choice of fighting or capture, I was glad to get back to -civilization, even such civilization as Evan Graham's casa. Away from -Ticao, Evan Graham would have been shunned for the sort of man he was. -In Ticao, one is not particular. There are few enough Anglo-Saxon white -men of any sort—the two consuls, half a dozen missionaries, and about -three men like myself, who take chances in the interior. The rest of -the population is either Portuguese or black, preponderatingly black, -with a blending layer of half- and quarter-breeds.</p> - -<p>Evan was a cad and several different kinds of an animal, but he was -a white man, he talked English such as one hears at home, and he had -a pool table and civilized drinks all of four weeks' march from the -city of Ticao. I always stopped overnight with him on my way back from -the interior. I knew that he had bribed the governor to overlook the -law which prescribes that no white man shall settle more than forty -kilometers from a fort, because he wanted to have a free hand with -his natives. I knew, too, that he had no shred of title to the land -he tilled, or to the services of the natives he forced to work in his -fields. He had come out there with four or five of the dingy-brown -half-castes that are overseers for half the rocas in Ticao, had -frightened or coerced the inhabitants of three villages into signing -the silly little contracts that bind them to work for a white man for -so many years at ridiculous wage, and now had a plantation that was -tremendously profitable.</p> - -<p>I never had understood just how he made the blacks serve him so well. -He seemed to have them frightened nearly to death. Most plantations -have the slave quarters—the blacks are officially "<i>contrahidos</i>," or -contract laborers, but in practice they are slaves—most plantations -have the slave quarters surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, and let -savage dogs loose outside the fence at night, but Graham allowed his -natives to live in the villages they had occupied before his coming and -seemed to take no precautions against their running away.</p> - -<p>This open practice of juju before his eyes and apparently with his -consent was of a piece with the rest of his queerness. My own boys -always seemed to be glad to get away from the neighborhood of his -plantation. I had heard a word or two passed among them that seemed to -hint at a juju house in some secret clearing near the village. I had -thought it possible that it was by means of some mummery in that temple -that he kept his natives in hand, but juju is a dangerous thing for a -white man to meddle with.</p> - -<p>In any event it was none of my business. I was sitting on his porch, -one of his drinks at my elbow, smoking one of his cigarettes especially -imported from London, and it behooved me to display no curiosity unless -he should choose to speak. He looked over at me and smiled quizzically.</p> - -<p>"I wonder what those poor devils think they get by all that juju -palaver," he said ruminatively.</p> - -<p>"I don't know," I admitted. "My own boys are constantly at it, of -course. There's a witch doctor just outside of Venghela who'll be rich -when my caravan gets there, for his services in bringing my bearers -back without falling into the tender hands of our neighbors."</p> - -<p>My carriers were free men, whom I hired and paid. It would have been -cheaper to adopt the <i>servaçal</i> system and buy contract slaves for -carriers, but being free men they served my purpose better. For one -thing, they gave the Kongo natives more confidence in me, and for -another, they traveled faster when there was danger of pursuit. A slave -would merely have changed masters if I had been caught, but these men -had something to lose.</p> - -<p>"I'm going to stop this juju sooner or later," said Graham lazily. -"My brother Arthur has come out and is up after a gorilla in the -Kongo—probably around where you've been—and he's been asking me to -hold on to a real juju doctor for him to interview. When he's through, -I think I'll stop all that. Queer old duck of a witch doctor here."</p> - -<p>He clapped his hands and one of the house servants came out with a -siphon and bottle of gin. The man was trembling as he stood beside his -master's chair. Graham snapped two or three words in the local dialect -and the man's knees threatened to give way. He fled precipitately into -the house and came out again—trembling more violently—with limes.</p> - -<p>"Never can train blacks properly," Graham grumbled, as he sliced a lime -in half and squeezed it into his tumbler. "Now, a Japanese servant is -perfect."</p> - -<p>He poured his gin and the seltzer fizzed into the glass. He lifted it -to his lips and drained it.</p> - -<p>"Japan?" I asked. "I've never been there."</p> - -<p>"I have," said Graham morosely. "Been everywhere. England, America, -Japan, India. All rotten places."</p> - -<p>"No rottener than this," I said disgustedly. "I had three weeks of -fever up in the Kongo, with a Belgian Kongo Company agent after me the -whole time. I'm still shaky from it. When I can go back to white man's -country again——"</p> - -<p>I stopped. Graham was lighting a cigarette, and I noticed that the -flame wavered as he held the match. There are some men who are cold -sober up to a certain point, and then what they have drunk takes hold -of them all at once. Graham was such a person. When he spoke again his -words were slurred and sluggish.</p> - -<p>"White man's country," he repeated uncertainly, and then made an effort -to speak clearly. "I'm goin' back some day. Got dear old home, family -servants, broad lawn—everything. Not mine though. Younger son. Had to -win hearth an' saddle of m'own. Arthur's got it all, damn him. Always -was lucky beggar. Got all family estates, all income, I got nothing. -Then I liked girl. Second cousin. Arthur got her, or goin' to. Engaged. -Damn lucky beggar. Always was lucky chap. Steady and dependable. Damn -stodgy, I think. Told him so. Called him a —— —— an' he kicked me -out. All because I got into trouble and signed his name to somethin', -to get out."</p> - -<p>"Easy there, Graham," I warned. "I don't want to hear anything, you -know."</p> - -<p>"You better not," he said suddenly, in a clear voice. He turned -beastlike eyes on me. "If anybody tries to pry into my affairs, they -don't get far."</p> - -<p>I blew a cloud of smoke over the railing of the veranda and said -nothing. Through the moonlit night the throbbing of the drums came -clearly to us sitting there. They beat on steadily, monotonously, -hypnotically. There was something strangely menacing in the rhythmic, -pulsing rumble. The cries of night birds and insects, and occasionally -an animal sound, seemed natural and normal, but the muttering of those -drums with that indescribable hollow tone they possess, seemed to -portend a strange event.</p> - -<p>"Juju," said Graham abruptly, "is the key to the African mind. I don't -give a damn for the natives. All I care about is what I can get out of -this country, but I say that juju is the key to the African mind."</p> - -<p>I smoked on a moment in silence. "I'd rather not meddle with it," I -remarked. "Sooner or later it means ground glass in your coffee of a -morning. Just before I left Ticao, Da Cunha found some in his. He shot -his cook and then found it was another boy entirely."</p> - -<p>"I'd have whipped him to death with a <i>chiboka</i>," said Graham viciously.</p> - -<p>"That's what Da Cunha did," I informed him mildly. "But the governor's -made him leave Ticao for six months. He's over in Mozambique."</p> - -<p>"My boys'll never dare try to poison me," declared Graham. He leaned -toward me in drunken confidence. "They believe that if they did——"</p> - -<p>"The procession has started again," I said, interrupting him. "I hear -the yelling."</p> - -<p>It was so. The drums still beat monotonously and rhythmically, but -beneath their deep bass muttering, a faint, high, continuous sound -could be heard. The procession seemed to be making its way back to the -village.</p> - -<p>"I'm goin' to bed," announced Graham sharply. "You go t' bed too. Don't -sit out here an' smoke. Go to bed."</p> - -<p>He stood up and waited for me to enter the house. Puzzled, and rather -annoyed, I went inside. I heard Graham walk heavily and uncertainly -through to the rear and heard him speak to several of the servants. The -contrast between his rasping, harsh tones and the frightened voices of -his servants was complete. They were very evidently in deadly fear of -him.</p> - -<p>The sound of the procession grew louder and louder. Something about it -perplexed me for a moment, but then I realized that it was not making -direct for the village. It was coming toward the house. I frowned a -moment, and looked to make sure that my automatic was handy and in -proper working order.</p> - -<p>The procession was very near. I looked out of the window and saw the -twinkling lights of the torches through the bush. The drums were -thunderous now, but the beat was not the war beat. It was purely -ceremonial. The yelling was high-pitched and continuous.</p> - -<p>The head of the procession emerged from the bush and advanced across -the clearing about the house. It swung and headed for the rear of the -house, and the long line of capering, torch-bearing humanity followed -it.</p> - -<p>The witch doctor came into view, and the girl. Her panic had reached -its pitch now. I have never seen such ultimate fear as was expressed on -that girl's face, outlined by the flickering light of the torches. The -procession moved until the end had passed beyond the rear corner of the -casa, then turned, and evidently turned again.</p> - -<p>I saw it moving back toward the village. A pregnant fact impressed -me. The native girl was missing. She had evidently been left behind -somewhere about the rear of the house. The yelling mass of black -humanity capered and shrilled its way down the cleared way to the -village and gathered in front of the juju house.</p> - -<p>Then some dance or ceremony seemed to begin. What it was, I do not -know. I was very tired and presently I went to sleep. But the drums -beat steadily, all night long. They entered the fabric of my dreams and -made my rest uneasy. It could not have been long before morning when I -awoke with a start and found myself sitting up with every nerve tense. -There was no sound, but I had a feeling as if I had been awakened by a -scream, somewhere about the house.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a><br /> -<small>THE SEEKER OF VENGEANCE.</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>The consul listened gravely while I told him about it. He had asked me -to give all the information I could about Graham. We were on the porch -of the consulate and the whole city of Ticao was spread out before us. -The sea pounded restlessly against the low bluffs upon which the city -was built, and surged angrily about the peninsula on which the fort is -situated.</p> - -<p>"I woke in the middle of the night," I concluded, "feeling that there -had been a scream somewhere in the house, but not another sound came. I -couldn't get to sleep again, and in the morning I noticed that the girl -who had seemed to be the center of interest in the juju procession had -been installed as a servant at the house. Another one of the servants -had vanished. The new girl looked pitifully scared, perpetually -panic-stricken, though the rest of the servants look frightened enough, -in all conscience. That's all I know."</p> - -<p>The consul tugged thoughtfully at his mustache.</p> - -<p>"Now why——" he began, and stopped. "The mail boat dropped two -Englishwomen here on her last trip, a Mrs. Braymore and a Miss -Dalforth. Charming women, both of them. They are calling on the -governor's wife this afternoon. They came to me and asked me to assist -them in getting up to Graham's plantation. They told me he was Miss -Dalforth's cousin."</p> - -<p>I nodded, frowning. "He said that his cousin—second cousin—would -possibly turn up. His brother is up in the Kongo somewhere trying to -bag gorillas and is going to come from there on through and stop at -his place. Miss Dalforth is probably the second cousin and is engaged -to the brother who is hunting."</p> - -<p>"Hm." The consul looked somewhat relieved. "I see. But why on earth -should two women want to go up there? Do you think they'd be safe?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know," I said dubiously. "There's no fort anywhere near, and -the natives are scared stiff. They might bolt, but Graham seems to have -them thoroughly in hand. If the ladies once reached the plantation, -they'd probably be safe enough, and Graham's brother could bring them -down to the coast again. The plantation is a queer place, though. I -think there's juju in the air. I'd discourage them from going, if I -could."</p> - -<p>"I've tried," said the consul. "I've informed them what sort the -Portuguese traders are, and told them I simply wouldn't let them go up -alone, or with one of those chaps as escort. I didn't know anything -about Graham. They inquired around for an escort, and one of the -missionaries mentioned you."</p> - -<p>"As a respectable person?" I asked with a smile.</p> - -<p>The consul nodded, matching my smile. "They have quite decided that -you are to escort them to Graham's plantation. I don't think you'll -refuse," he added, when I shook my head. "Miss Dalforth impressed me -as a young woman accustomed to having her way. She saw the governor -and smiled at him, and he agreed that you would be the best possible -person. In fact, he said he would ask you himself."</p> - -<p>"I'm not leaving for a month," I told him. "I've had enough of the back -country for at least that long, and my carriers need a rest."</p> - -<p>"We'll see," said the consul ruefully. "I'll wager she has you setting -out in a week."</p> - -<p>He was nearly right at that. I was introduced to the two of them, and -Miss Dalforth was all that he had said. I had to give my bearers a -rest, however, and it was two weeks before we set out.</p> - -<p>It was a hindrance, having women with me. They traveled in an ox -cart, and at nearly every stream the wheels had to be taken off and a -tarpaulin fixed about the body of the wagon to make it into a raftlike -float, in which they were ferried across. Had Miss Dalforth—or Alicia, -as I heard Mrs. Braymore call her—had Alicia been less charming, or -less anxious to cause as little trouble as possible, I would have -cursed them nearly the entire time. As it was, I bore the delays with -equanimity.</p> - -<p>They were delighted the first day when we went up the trail to -Venghela. I showed them the street lamp at which the great slave trail -from the interior ended, and they looked dubious. When I showed them -the Padre Silvestre's mission, with its three villages of redeemed -slaves, they grew a little bit white and quiet.</p> - -<p>The padre tried to persuade them not to go on, but as luck would have -it, a runner came in on his way to Ticao with a message from Graham. -His brother had arrived from the interior. That strengthened their -resolution. We continued the journey.</p> - -<p>While on the trail I could not speak to them, being busily engaged in -the supervision of my caravan. At night, however, we conversed. It was -good to hear cultivated white women talk again and talk about something -besides the slave traffic, the missionary women's sole topic when they -find a listener who can be trusted not to repeat their views to the -governor.</p> - -<p>The natives are kidnaped or captured far in the interior, brought down -to the coast, and frankly sold. Then they are interviewed and, after -making a mark upon a bit of printed paper, are considered to have made -a contract to serve a white man for four years at one milreis—about a -dollar—a month.</p> - -<p>To call it slave traffic is highly insulting to the Portuguese, but -to call it the <i>servaçal</i> system is inadequate. They are <i>servaçaes</i>, -or <i>contrahidos</i>, which means contract laborers, in theory, but in -practice they are slaves. They never see their native villages again. -The slave trail from the interior is littered with the manacles used to -confine them, and there are gruesome relics all along the way, of those -natives who were unable to bear the hardships of the journey.</p> - -<p>I told them of these things. I told them of how the Padre Silvestre -sacrificed his very soul to keep his villagers from being sold again -as <i>servaçaes</i>, how the blacks rose on Da Vega's plantation and sacked -it, and all I knew of the whole disgusting system. I had no intention -of making myself a hero—and my conscience still hurts me when I think -of some of the things I grew absolutely accustomed to—but I did allow -myself to show my feelings on the subject of Portuguese government.</p> - -<p>Alicia listened, and one night when I had explained to them precisely -what it means for a black to be sent to the island of San Felipe or -Gomé, she held out her hand to me very gravely.</p> - -<p>"I think it is very brave of you," she said, "to stay here and do what -you can to help the poor blacks."</p> - -<p>I stared at her, tempted to laugh. "My dear young lady," I told her, -"I am an outlaw, practically, who trades with the Kongo natives and -attempts to elude the Belgian officials as much as possible. I'm -tolerated here in Ticao because I bribe the Portuguese. I'm no hero. To -the Belgians I am practically what an I. D. B. is in the Transvaal. And -you know what an illicit diamond buyer is considered."</p> - -<p>"I don't believe it," she said firmly. "I think you stay here to help -the poor natives."</p> - -<p>She was so beautifully sincere in attributing the noblest motives to -me that I could not laugh at her. Her blessed incomprehension made me -forbear to kick Mboka, who is my official gun bearer and lieutenant, -when he lost the bolt of my best rifle and threw away the weapon to -conceal his misdoing. I had to kick him twice over the day following -for the lapse, when he took advantage of my lenience and stole half of -my jam.</p> - -<p>She was a charming girl. Mrs. Braymore was suffering in the journeying -and stoically relapsed into silence to conceal her emotion, but Alicia -was perpetually lively and eager for new things of interest.</p> - -<p>She soon grew to adopt a tone of frank friendliness with me, and I -had to remind myself more than once that she was engaged to Graham's -brother, and that it would not do for me to fall in love with her. It -was odd about her engagement, though. She spoke of her fiancé quite -simply, but without any excess of affection. In fact, she confessed -that she thought of him more as a brother than anything else. All three -of them, Graham, his brother and Alicia, had been raised together and -were very much like brothers and sister.</p> - -<p>I told myself sternly that, no matter how she felt about her fiancé, -she was engaged to him, and I had better forget that she was delightful -to look upon and an amazingly good companion. I could not manage it, -however, and the last week of the trip was not easy for me. I had to be -friendly and no more.</p> - -<p>In a way I was very glad when we saw two khaki sun helmets coming -toward us, though I was much depressed at the thought of parting from -Alicia. I had sent a runner on ahead, and Graham and his brother met -us some four miles down the trail. I was pleasantly surprised at the -sight of Graham's brother. Years before he had been at a little English -seaside resort where I was spending the summer and we had grown very -friendly. He kissed Alicia in a brotherly fashion and shook hands with -me.</p> - -<p>"I perpetrate a bromide," he said quizzically. "The world is a small -place."</p> - -<p>"Arthur Graham!" I exclaimed. "I knew you in Clovelly six years ago."</p> - -<p>"You're right," he said cheerfully. "How are you now? Then you were -flirting mildly with a buxom Devon lassie."</p> - -<p>"And now we meet in darkest Africa," I said, smiling. "Let's move on."</p> - -<p>We went forward again, Alicia, in the ox cart, gayly retailing to the -two brothers our adventures on the trip up. I was rather surprised -to notice that both of them were heavily armed, and it bothered me a -little. It looked as if there were trouble with the natives. Each of -the two brothers carried a heavy repeating rifle besides an automatic -pistol in his belt, and Arthur looked decidedly worn, though I saw that -he was trying to conceal it from Alicia.</p> - -<p>My suspicion was confirmed when I observed that, though he tried not to -let Alicia see it, he was keenly searching the way ahead of us with his -eyes. He seemed particularly worried when we passed near a tree and his -grasp on his rifle tightened. Even after we were well away from it, he -looked back nervously.</p> - -<p>We passed around the village and reached the casa by another route, -Alicia chatting cheerfully with all of us from her seat in the cart. -Evan Graham seemed quite at ease and entered into her talk with real -interest, but Arthur—who as her fiancé should have been overjoyed to -see her—was nervous and preoccupied. His rifle was never far from a -position in readiness to fling it to his shoulder, and his eyes roved -restlessly about with a species of dread in them. I walked close to him.</p> - -<p>"Arthur," I said in a low tone that Alicia would not catch. "You're -nervous. Natives?"</p> - -<p>"They're acting queerly, but it's worse than that," he said in the same -low tone, glancing at Alicia to make sure her attention was elsewhere. -"I'd give anything I possess to have Alicia somewhere else. I'll tell -you later. Just keep your eyes open and, if you see anything, shoot -quickly."</p> - -<p>Evan did not seem to be worried. He was strolling leisurely along, -using his rifle as a walking stick, talking casually to Alicia. His -manners were very good and his voice was soft, very unlike the rasping -snarl I had heard him use to his servants. Looking closely at him, I -could see unmistakable signs that he had been drinking heavily of late. -He seemed quite sober to-day, though. The contrast between his careless -attitude and Arthur's worried air was striking. We saw one or two -natives on our way to the house, and they promptly hid themselves in -the bush. Arthur paid no attention to them. Whatever the trouble might -be, it was not the blacks that he feared, though he had said they were -acting queerly.</p> - -<p>He led me aside almost as soon as we reached the casa. I told Mboka to -pile and count the loads, and sent the carriers to the quarters they -would find ready for them. Evan was inside the house, installing Alicia -and Mrs. Braymore in their rooms, and showing them the servants who -would wait on them. Arthur came over to me with a worried frown.</p> - -<p>"I say, Murray," he told me nervously. "I'd ask you to take Alicia back -to the coast to-morrow if I dared, but she's here now, and it would be -just as dangerous for her to go back."</p> - -<p>"What's the matter?" I demanded. "It isn't the natives. What <i>is</i> the -matter?"</p> - -<p>He looked about anxiously. "I shot a female gorilla up in the Kongo," -he said jerkily, "and her mate got away. He's followed my caravan ever -since, up to two weeks ago. Then I hit him with a lucky shot, but he -escaped. You know they will try to kill the slayer of their mate."</p> - -<p>"I know," I replied. "One of them followed me for three weeks once, -until I bushwhacked and killed him."</p> - -<p>"I shot this female," said Arthur quickly. "I shot her through the hip -and she screamed for her mate. She couldn't get away. He came crashing -through the trees, and I fired at him. I thought he'd vanished and went -up to the female. I finished her off, and then the male came for me. I -shot him through the arm and he made off. All that night he moaned and -shrieked around my camp. My boys were badly frightened. Next morning -he dropped from a tree inside the camp, knocked the heads of two of my -carriers together, and crushed in their skulls. I rushed out with a -gun and he disappeared. Three days later he dropped straight out of a -tree almost over my head and made for me. One of my boys was cleaning a -spear, directly in the path of the gorilla. He tried to run the beast -through, but it stopped long enough to break his neck and by that time -I'd got a gun. The gorilla disappeared again. From that time on it -haunted me. If one or two of my boys strayed from the camp, they didn't -come back. The beast has killed six of my best carriers and my gun -bearer. And I never got a fair shot at it! I fired at it two weeks ago -and I found blood where it had been, but no sign of the beast itself. -Since then I've been left in peace."</p> - -<p>"The animal may have dropped the trail, or it may be dead," I commented -thoughtfully, "but I don't blame you for wanting to be careful."</p> - -<p>"The thought of that huge ape perhaps lurking outside, perhaps about to -drop down at any moment, with Alicia here," said Arthur desperately, -"it's enough to drive a man insane. You know they carry off native -women sometimes. We've got to protect Alicia. If it kills me, it -doesn't matter. Evan won't believe it's around. He's going armed to -humor me, but the beast is near; it's somewhere about."</p> - -<p>I felt myself growing pale. A monstrous ape, lingering about the place -with malignant intent, and Alicia laughing unconsciously inside the -house, was enough to make me feel squeamish. I unconsciously tightened -my grasp on my rifle. Alicia came out on the porch at that moment and -beckoned to us.</p> - -<p>"We'll not mention this—yet," said Arthur, as we went up.</p> - -<p>I nodded. Alicia was all enthusiasm about the comforts Evan had -managed to put into his house so far inland, and when we sat down to -dinner, the bright silver and white tablecloth did give an effect of -civilization. When one looked at the black faces of the servants who -waited on us, and at the tattooing and nose rings that disfigured them, -however, the illusion vanished at once.</p> - -<p>I was a long time getting to sleep that night. The next morning would -see me going on my way into the interior, and I would in all likelihood -never see Alicia again. When I at last fell asleep, I was uneasy, and -when I woke, it was in a strangely silent house. Evan Graham's voice -aroused me. He was calling me to get up. His ease of manner and absence -of worry had vanished. Arthur, over his shoulder, looked even more -apprehensive than before.</p> - -<p>"Get up," said Evan briefly. "The servants skipped out during the -night. Your boys have gone, too. There's juju business going on. And -the oxen that pulled Alicia's cart have been clubbed to death in their -stalls."</p> - -<p>The servants had fled from the house. There was not another white -man within a hundred and fifty miles. All about us were natives who -might fear Evan Graham but certainly hated him, and somewhere in the -woods, we had reason to believe, a monstrous ape lurked, awaiting an -opportunity to wreak his bestial vengeance upon the slayer of his mate.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a><br /> -<small>EVAN'S SORTIE.</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>We explored the house first and came upon a surprise. The native girl -I had seen conducted to the house by the juju procession two months -before crouched in one corner. She was too much frightened to give any -coherent account of the other servants' leaving.</p> - -<p>They had simply gone, she said. No one had said anything to her, and -she had been left behind. The oxen lay in their stalls, their heads -beaten in with blows from a heavy iron bar that lay bent on the ground -beside them. Even my own boys had vanished. That struck me most -forcibly of all, because I had treated them well and had thought I -could count on as much loyalty from them as any white man can expect -from the average native.</p> - -<p>Mboka's defection really bothered me. I had believed well of him and -was in a way genuinely fond of him. He had gone with the rest, though. -The loads of the carriers lay in a huge pile. Small and precious -possessions of my boys lay about them. That was perhaps the queerest -part of the whole affair. In leaving secretly in the middle of the -night, the servants had not stopped to steal, or even to take with -them what was their own. They had apparently risen and stolen away in -shivering fear.</p> - -<p>We went back to the house from the servants' quarters full of rather -uneasy speculations. Juju was obviously at the bottom of whatever -was happening, and there is no telling what may enter the head of a -juju doctor. Passing through the rear rooms, Evan paused to order the -solitary native girl to prepare food for us. We went on to find Alicia -and Mrs. Braymore up and curious. They were on the front porch when -they heard us, and Alicia came inside to smile at all of us and ask -questions.</p> - -<p>"Where are all the servants, Evan?" she demanded. "We had not a drop of -water this morning. And what's happened to the native village? On the -way up here we saw lots of villages, but none of them were quite like -yours."</p> - -<p>We looked down at the squalid huts of the village. Not a sign of -life could be seen. Not one of the usually innumerable tiny fires of -a native village was burning, and the single street was absolutely -deserted.</p> - -<p>"We'll take a look at it," said Arthur grimly. "I don't like this -business. Murray, you'll come?"</p> - -<p>I picked up my rifle and moved forward. As we walked across the -clearing before the casa, Arthur turned to me.</p> - -<p>"Don't forget about that big ape, either. He's probably waiting for a -chance to drop out of a tree on top of us."</p> - -<p>It was a pleasant prospect. If we went down the cleared way toward -the village, we would be perfect targets for bowmen or spear throwers -from the bush on either side. If we went through the bush, we ran -an amazingly good chance of running up against the gorilla. And the -gorilla had learned cunning, too, and would not expose himself to a -shot if he could help it. He would wait patiently until the chance -came for him to rush upon us and crack our skulls together without our -having time to raise a firearm, or else, until he could reach a hairy -arm down and seize us——</p> - -<p>I have seen iron bars bent and twisted by the hands of those big apes. -A sudden thought came to me. The iron bar in the stables, with which -the oxen had been clubbed to death!</p> - -<p>We made our way cautiously down to the center of the cleared space, -searching the bush on either side with our eyes, but affecting an -unconcerned air in case hidden watchers saw us. We came to the village -and strolled inside. It was absolutely deserted. Not one man, woman, or -child remained within it. Their possessions were undisturbed, save that -all their arms were gone, but cooking pots, carved stools, skin robes, -ornaments, minor fetishes, children's toys, everything else lay as it -had last been used by its owners. Only a few native dogs skulked around -the silent huts. There was not a single sign that gave a hint of the -reason for the mysterious exodus of the natives.</p> - -<p>"I've not been out here long," said Arthur crisply, "but I've learned -that when natives do inexplicable things, juju is at the bottom of it. -What do you say?"</p> - -<p>"I agree with you. I wish I could see some signs, though. I can read -some juju palaver. But there isn't a sign. No charms, no <i>spoor</i> -whatever. We'll go back to the house and talk it over with Evan."</p> - -<p>We started slowly back toward the house. I was walking on ahead, -puzzling over the oddities of the situation and trying to piece -together a meaning in it all when Arthur stopped short. His voice -reached me, little more than a whisper.</p> - -<p>"Murray," he said sharply, "that pongo is trailing us."</p> - -<p>I listened, but could hear nothing. One would hardly expect a white -man's ears to detect a gorilla taking special pains to be quiet. Arthur -seemed to hear something, however. He quietly raised his rifle. I -followed the direction in which he was pointing, but could see nothing. -He fired. A branch swayed slightly where his bullet had grazed it, but -aside from that there was no sign.</p> - -<p>"I didn't see a thing," I remarked.</p> - -<p>Arthur shook his head. "It may be nerves," he said quietly. "That -damned beast has haunted me, but I think I saw it."</p> - -<p>We went on up to the house slowly. Just before we reached the porch -Arthur looked at me pitifully.</p> - -<p>"I heard it following us all the way," he told me. The perspiration was -standing out on his forehead. "It <i>is</i> there, and it <i>is</i> waiting for a -chance to revenge itself on me. And the beast has learned cunning! We -must look out for Alicia."</p> - -<p>I nodded. Evan was waiting for us.</p> - -<p>"Find anything?" he called down. "What did you shoot at?"</p> - -<p>"The gorilla," said Arthur in a low tone. "It's there and it's -determined. We'd better warn Alicia and Mrs. Braymore."</p> - -<p>Evan looked dubious. "Did Murray see it?"</p> - -<p>I shook my head.</p> - -<p>Evan frowned thoughtfully. "Arthur, old chap, it may be just nerves. -The women have enough to worry them with the way the natives are -acting, anyway. We'll keep a sharp lookout, of course. I'm going to -hunt up those natives, though."</p> - -<p>"They're your natives," I said, "but I question whether that's a wise -move. If it's just native foolishness, they'll come back. If not, -they're liable to be pretty—well, reckless."</p> - -<p>"They're my natives," said Evan angrily. "I don't intend to humor them. -I'll throw a scare into them that will last them ten years. If I know -anything of juju——"</p> - -<p>"What?" I asked.</p> - -<p>"They'll never dare breathe without permission hereafter," Evan said -grimly.</p> - -<p>He seemed to be in a cold fury. Remembering the abject fear in which -his slaves seemed to be all the time, I wondered what he might have -in store for them. I opened my mouth to protest against his trying to -look for his natives, but stopped. That juju house at which my boys had -hinted, concealed in some hidden clearing near the village, might hold -a secret by which he controlled them. In any event, he knew his own -natives best.</p> - -<p>We went into the house and sat down to breakfast. We must have made a -queer sight, sitting there before that spotless table, our clothing -disheveled and hastily donned, our rifles leaning against our chairs. -Neither Arthur nor myself could eat more than a little, but Evan's -appetite seemed undiminished. The native girl waited on us, the lurking -panic in her eyes never very far from the surface. It seemed nearest -when she looked at Evan.</p> - -<p>I was most worried about my own boys. It was decidedly queer that -they had deserted me, especially Mboka. He had been with me for all -of a year, and I had really grown to trust him. He had gone with the -others, though, and the very mystery of his disappearance seemed to add -somewhat to the menace of the silence that surrounded us.</p> - -<p>When I thought of it, however, it was no less odd that Evan's overseers -had vanished. From the nature of their position, they would be hated by -the other and full-blooded natives, and it was singular in the extreme -that they had gone with them.</p> - -<p>Then I remembered a tale I had once heard, of a mystic voodoo worship -that was spreading secretly over the whole of West Africa. The story -ran that an attempt was being made to band all the natives possible -together in this voodoo worship, and then at a given signal they were -all to rise. The Indian Mutiny would be repeated. Every white man on -the West Coast would be rushed by the nearest blacks, and the dominance -of the white race made a thing of the past, in Africa any rate.</p> - -<p>I felt cold at the thought that the attempt—which I had thought dead -these many years—might have been secretly and insidiously winning -converts all this time, and that all the blacks between us and the -coast might be risen and only waiting for courage to attack us. We were -the only whites in a hundred and fifty miles anyway, and if the strange -behavior of the natives meant mischief, we were probably doomed as it -was. It gave me a sickish feeling to think that the other might be -true, though, that a second mutiny was in progress.</p> - -<p>As if to confirm my belief, at just that moment, drums began to beat, -far off in the bush. To the south of us they began their monotonous, -rhythmic rumble. Boom, boom, boom, boom! Never a pause, never skipping -a beat, never altering in the slightest the hypnotic muttering. We -stopped eating and stared at each other. The drums throbbed on, -sullenly, far, far away. Evan grew angry at the insolence of his -slaves. I looked at Alicia and made a mental vow that my last cartridge -should be saved for her. Arthur listened with an air of detachment, and -then went on with his breakfast.</p> - -<p>The first drums had been beating for perhaps fifteen minutes when, to -the northeast, more drums took up the rhythmic pounding. Evan's eyes -narrowed. He went to a window and looked out. As he moved, he passed -close to the native girl, and she shrank back fearfully. While he -stared out across the clearing, a third set of drums began to beat—to -the northwest, this time. We were ringed in.</p> - -<p>Evan came to the table with a grim expression on his face. "The black -fools!" he said furiously. "They dared not come to me! I'll go to them -and put a stop to this!"</p> - -<p>"Evan!" exclaimed Alicia, frightened. "You'll stay here with us!"</p> - -<p>"This is no time for caution," said Evan grimly. "If we leave them -alone, they'll hold a juju palaver until they've gathered nerve to rush -us. I'll walk in on their council, and we'll see what happens."</p> - -<p>"I'll go," said Arthur, quickly sensing the psychology of the move Evan -proposed to make. "I'd better go."</p> - -<p>"It would be suicide!" Alicia exclaimed again. "One white man among all -those blacks. They could kill you in an instant."</p> - -<p>"That is precisely why they would be afraid to," I interposed. "The -mere fact that a white man dared walk into their palaver and order them -about, would frighten them. No negro would dare do it, and they would -not understand how a white man could. It's quite possible that a sheer -bluff may win out. Of course we've got to do something. I think I'd -better go, though. My boys are in that crowd and they're rather fond of -me, I believe. I'll have some of them halfway with me at the start."</p> - -<p>Evan shook his head. "Your boys are in that crowd," he said curtly, -"but the very fact that they're fond of you will make them kill you -that much quicker. You know natives. Now <i>my</i> natives hate me like -poison, and there's not one of them but would kill me like a shot if he -dared. They'll be afraid when I drop in on them. I'm the one to go and -I'm going. Besides, I know the local dialect. You don't. You'll hear -one set of drums stop in half an hour."</p> - -<p>He picked up his rifle and went out of the door. Alicia watched him -leave, her face utterly pale.</p> - -<p>"He's going to his death!" she said in a whisper. "Stop him, oh, please -stop him!"</p> - -<p>"We're all in just as much danger as he is, dear," said Arthur -tenderly. "He's taking the one chance that may bring us out of this -without fighting. He'll go into the middle of that bunch of natives and -by sheer nerve frighten them into doing as he says. If all three of us -went, we'd be rushed on sight."</p> - -<p>Alicia's lips trembled, and Arthur tried to comfort her. I went to the -door and stood looking after Evan. It was illogical, but with all of us -very probably facing death, and certainly a siege, I was struck with a -pang of jealousy when I saw Arthur put his arms about Alicia's shoulder -to comfort her. Mrs. Braymore was white to the lips, but gamely tried -to be casual and cheerful. She came and stood by me as I looked out of -the door.</p> - -<p>"Quite frankly," she asked me quietly, "what are our chances?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know," I told her gloomily. "We don't even know what the -natives are up to yet. Those drums do not sound well. They may mean -anything and they may mean nothing."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Braymore looked at me searchingly. Any one could see that she was -frightened, but she was doing her best not to show it.</p> - -<p>"And if they mean—anything?"</p> - -<p>"There is a Portuguese fort a hundred and fifty miles away," I answered -grimly. "They might send soldiers to lift the siege on us if they hear -about it. I'm assuming we'll be besieged. Things look that way. Evan -must have treated his slaves worse than usual. Usually they simply run -away. It's not often they try anything of this kind. I don't like the -sound of those drums. That means organization and purpose. All I can -say is that I hope Evan succeeds with the natives."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Braymore blanched a little more, but smiled as bravely as she -could.</p> - -<p>"Well," she said quietly, "I know Alicia well enough to promise you -that we'll be as little of a drawback as possible. If you decide to try -anything drastic, such as attempting to escape through the bush, we'll -do our best to keep up. And I think both of us are fairly good shots."</p> - -<p>"I'm hoping there'll be no need for anything on that order," I said -with more respect than before in my tone. "We'll try to stick it out -here. My boys are loyal, I think, at least they've been loyal up to -now, and even if we are besieged, one of them will probably take a -message to the fort."</p> - -<p>I had little enough hope of that, Heaven knows, but I did not want Mrs. -Braymore to worry more than was necessary. She seemed to realize that I -was speaking more from my hopes than my beliefs, because she shrugged -her shoulders.</p> - -<p>"There's really no need to soften things for me," she said, "Alicia and -I won't——"</p> - -<p>She stopped and caught her breath. A shot had sounded, off in the bush -from the direction in which Evan had vanished. A second's interval, and -another shot. Then there was a horrid outcry, and a maniacal shrieking.</p> - -<p>"The gorilla," I snapped, and started down the steps with my rifle at -full cock.</p> - -<p>We heard a second outburst of the same beastlike sounds and a crashing -in the bushes. I raised my rifle. A figure showed dimly through the -bush. I fired vindictively. <i>Evan</i> stumbled and fell in the clearing, -just out of the jungle!</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a><br /> -<small>THE FIRST VICTIM.</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>In a second he was up again, and ran desperately until he reached my -side. Blood was flowing down his cheeks from five deep scratches.</p> - -<p>"The pongo," he gasped. "Nearly did for me. Jumped me, but I got in -two shots. Then he grabbed for me but I got away. Stumbled just as you -fired. Damn lucky."</p> - -<p>I stood still, facing the menacing jungle, but not a sound came from it -except the monotonous, rhythmic beating of the drums from three sides, -where juju priests worked their followers into a frenzy of hatred -against the white men. Evan went slowly up to the house, exhausted and -shaken by his narrow escape from death.</p> - -<p>We held a council immediately. The drums on every side of us meant evil -brewing. So much was certain. For a white man to attempt to stop the -juju councils would be perilous in the extreme, but it was our only -chance. On the other hand, for one of us to get through the jungle -to take that desperate chance meant eluding the watchfulness of the -hate-mad gorilla, whose cunning was increasing.</p> - -<p>"I don't know how he got to me," said Evan, still shaking from the -unexpectedness of the whole affair. "I heard a snarl, and he was coming -for me not ten paces away. Startled, I pulled the trigger without -aiming, and he came on. I got my rifle halfway to my shoulder, when he -reached me. One of his great, hairy paws grasped the muzzle as I fired -the second time, while the other reached for my throat. When the rifle -went off, he started back and burst out in his screaming. It must have -burned or injured his paw. I turned and ran, but he had done this to me -in the meantime."</p> - -<p>His coat was half torn from him, and the deep scratches on his cheek -showed where the claws had just grazed his face.</p> - -<p>"I don't mind facing natives," Evan admitted in conclusion, "but I'll -tell you frankly I don't care to go through that jungle again while -that beast is in it."</p> - -<p>The eternal menace of the drums came to our ears, borne to us through -the open windows. Arthur began to pace up and down the room, cursing -under his breath. Alicia bit her lip and tapped nervously on the floor -with her foot. Mrs. Braymore carefully began to fold and refold her -handkerchief. Quite suddenly, I noticed that it was falling into shreds -beneath her fingers. Struggle as any of us would, our nerves were badly -worn.</p> - -<p>The strain grew worse during the day. There were two or three dogs -about the place, and it was curious to see them puzzled over our -abstraction. They kept alertly out of Evan's way, but they were -obviously disconcerted by the absence of the servants who usually -attended to them, and they looked at us with perplexity in their -eyes. They could get no attention from the solitary native girl who -remained. She had withdrawn into panic-stricken silence, serving us -when necessary, but spending most of her time in the room to which she -had been assigned. We had ordered her to leave the servants' quarters -and stay in the house itself.</p> - -<p>All the morning the drums beat rhythmically. During lunch they -continued their hypnotic muttering. And all afternoon they kept on, -kept on, until it seemed as if we would be crushed by their regular, -pulselike, ominous rumbling. Far off in the bush, where we could never -reach them, we knew juju councils were going on. Weirdly painted and -tattooed witch doctors whirled in their mystic dances and inflamed the -minds of the blacks against us.</p> - -<p>Men beat upon the drums and yelled and yelled, closing their eyes -and surrendering themselves to the ecstasy of the rhythm until they -became all but unconscious of the words they reiterated. Slowly and -surely the blacks were nerving themselves to lift their hands against -their masters. Given time, a drum and a rhythmic phrase, a native can -convince himself of anything simply by pounding on the drum and yelling -over and over the phrase that contains the idea. He will luxuriate -in the rhythm, he will hypnotize himself by the monotony of the drum -beats. He will go into an ecstasy, simply yelling over and over the one -phrase.</p> - -<p>Dinner that night was a repetition of breakfast and lunch. We sat -down to the table, our rifles by our sides, our movements jerky and -uncertain from the strain of waiting for we knew not what. The dogs lay -about on the floor, watching us anxiously. The single servant waited -on us, her face dull with apathy, though flickers of panic lighted -her eyes from time to time. And always we heard the drums beating far -off in the bush. I caught myself sitting with a fork full of food in -mid-air, listening to their sullenly menacing rumble.</p> - -<p>Arthur, Evan, and myself divided the night into watches. I took the -first, and waited tensely until after one o'clock. I heard nothing but -the muffled drumming to the northeast, northwest, and south. The moon -shone brightly down and made the clearing about the casa like a lake of -molten silver. I heard the noises of insects—the loud-voiced African -insects—and the cries of the night birds. I heard nothing else. The -night was quiet and peaceful, save for the ceaseless throbbing of the -drums all about.</p> - -<p>Evan relieved me. He came out on the porch and lit a cigarette.</p> - -<p>"That drumming gets monotonous." He yawned. "I wish they'd come on and -have the suspense over with."</p> - -<p>"If they come," I remarked, "we're done for."</p> - -<p>"Not necessarily. If we hold them off for a week and kill enough of -them, they'll get tired and go away."</p> - -<p>"That wouldn't help us much. I hardly see how we could make a hundred -and fifty miles through the bush with two women and no carriers."</p> - -<p>"We might try, anyway. Some of us would get through. You've heard -nothing?"</p> - -<p>"No," I replied. "Just the drums."</p> - -<p>I went indoors and lay down to sleep. When I surrendered myself to the -rhythm of the drumming, it put me quickly into a deep slumber. I knew -what the sound meant, that naked savages yelled and danced themselves -into a frenzy of hatred against us, but if one allowed it to become so, -it was very soothing.</p> - -<p>At one time I half started from my sleep. Some sound within the house -aroused me, but a moment later I heard Evan's footstep on the veranda -and recognized the sound of his shoe soles on the flooring. He was -humming a little tune to himself. I was reassured and slept again.</p> - -<p>I heard when Arthur relieved Evan, too. Their voices came clearly in to -me as they exchanged greetings.</p> - -<p>"Nothing new?" asked Arthur nervously.</p> - -<p>"No. I say, Arthur, the natives are taking a deuced long time to -get worked up to the sticking point. I had them pretty thoroughly -frightened. Perhaps they'll hold a big palaver for several days, yell -and dance themselves into exhaustion, and let it go at that. I've known -such things to happen. Our primitive ancestors used to hold hee-hee -councils and work off their surplus emotions in the same way. If this -juju festival lasts two days more, I think it will peter out and wind -up in a palm-wine debauch. Then they'll come back and be good!"</p> - -<p>"It's the gorilla I'm worried most about just now," said Arthur grimly. -"The natives are men, and you can anticipate their moves, but there's -no telling what an animal will do, particularly a pongo."</p> - -<p>Evan laughed. "I had a start just now," he said. "I heard a queer -sound in Biheta's room." Biheta was the native girl. "She gave a queer -gurgle. I didn't know what was up, and I went and peered in the door. -She was lying there quite still, evidently sound asleep. She must have -had a nightmare, but it gave me the creeps for an instant."</p> - -<p>Arthur seemed to pick up his rifle.</p> - -<p>"Well, I'm going indoors to get some beauty sleep," said Evan with a -yawn. "Cheer up, Arthur. There's a damn good chance that the natives -will just yell themselves hoarse and come peaceably back to work. As -long as the drums stay at a distance, we're all right. But wake all of -us if they stop."</p> - -<p>He came into the house and went into his own room. I dozed off again. -When I woke, it was well after daylight. Evan had stuck his head inside -my door and was grinning cheerfully.</p> - -<p>"Get up," he ordered. "Breakfast will be ready in a minute or two."</p> - -<p>I rolled out of bed and heard him go to the rear of the house. He -rasped out an order in the local dialect, but there was no reply. He -spoke again, harshly. There was still no reply. I heard him fling open -a door. Then he exclaimed aloud.</p> - -<p>"Arthur! Murray! Come here!"</p> - -<p>We went quickly, and into the room in which he was. It was the room -assigned to the native girl. Evan was standing over her couch, looking -grimly down at the figure lying there.</p> - -<p>The dull features of the girl were twisted into an expression of the -most horrible fear. It was appalling that such ultimate terror could -show itself upon a human face. The eyes were wide and staring, the -mouth was drawn back in a voiceless shriek of utter, despairing -fright. The hands were clenched so that the nails bit into the flesh of -the palms, and the head was oddly askew. The girl was dead.</p> - -<p>Evan lifted up her shoulders and the head fell back.</p> - -<p>"Neck broken," he said laconically. "The gorilla!"</p> - -<p>"Great Heaven!" said Arthur desperately, white as a sheet. "What next? -How did he get in here? Alicia!" He ran from the room and called -hoarsely.</p> - -<p>Alicia's voice answered instantly. "What's the matter?"</p> - -<p>"The native girl's dead, killed by the gorilla during the night. Are -you safe?"</p> - -<p>Alicia appeared in person and proved it. She was pale, but composed.</p> - -<p>"Where? What——?"</p> - -<p>I lost the rest of her question. Evan and myself were searching for the -gorilla's means of ingress and exit. The flimsily screened window was -intact. The door had been unlocked, but Evan remembered that he had -found it closed and had closed it again after peering into the room -during the night.</p> - -<p>Was it possible that the monstrous animal possessed the cunning to -unlatch the door gently before entering, and then the diabolical -forethought to latch it again on leaving? It seemed impossible, but -what other explanation was there?</p> - -<p>"He's been in the house," said Evan grimly. "Where is he now?"</p> - -<p>I went out and got one of the dogs. We brought it into the room and -it sniffed at the dead body. Then we led it about the house. Once we -thought it showed some excitement. It sniffed at the door of a room -that was used as a storeroom.</p> - -<p>With our rifles at the ready, we flung open the door. No sound -came from within. The dog, bristling, walked slowly into the room. -Cautiously, we followed. Boxes and bales were scattered all about, but -there was no sign of the animal that had killed the native girl. The -dog growled, and moved about, stiff-legged, but soon grew puzzled and -sniffed perplexedly all over the place. He could find nothing.</p> - -<p>We explored the room thoroughly, though with our hearts in our mouths. -Three men and a gorilla in a small store room would be unpleasant for -the men, armed though they might be. We could find no niche in which -the beast might have hidden, nor any evidence of his presence. After -a time the dog gave it up, and lay down on the floor with his tongue -lolling out.</p> - -<p>"Do you suppose it could be a black that killed her?" asked Arthur -suddenly. "A native would have known about the latch. One of them might -have crept into the house and killed the girl in punishment for her -having stayed behind when the rest left."</p> - -<p>"If he did," I remarked grimly, "it's safe to say we'd better not touch -any of the food he could have got at. Those voodoo poisons are deadly -things, and you can bank on it he was prepared to use them."</p> - -<p>"Hardly likely," said Evan.</p> - -<p>"It must have been a native," insisted Arthur anxiously. "No animal -would have had the cunning to creep in, kill the poor girl silently, -and then creep out again. It must have been one of the blacks."</p> - -<p>"Gorilla," said Evan, shaking his head.</p> - -<p>Arthur suddenly looked up.</p> - -<p>"I've got it! We'll take a photo of the girl's eyes. I saw a cloudy -form on the retina. I've got an insect camera in my luggage, and can -make sure what it was that frightened her that last moment of her life."</p> - -<p>The expression on the girl's face had been one of terrible fear. -Whatever it was that had killed her, she had seen it before she -died—seen and known it for a deadly and horrible thing.</p> - -<p>"Try it," I urged. "We can't be sure otherwise. If it was a native, our -food is poisoned for a certainty."</p> - -<p>Arthur went to his room and presently appeared with the queer camera. -It was a long box, and evidently the lens was one of great focal -length. It took Arthur a long time to adjust it properly. He proposed -to take advantage of the fact that the eye of a dead person will retain -for from twenty-four to forty-eight hours the impression of what it saw -last while living. A great many people think that the shining image on -the outer surface of the eye retains that picture, and wonder at it. As -a matter of fact the picture is kept on the retina, in the inside of -the eyeball. It is extremely difficult to photograph the retina without -dissecting the eye, but it can be done—as Arthur proceeded to prove.</p> - -<p>I went outside and searched around the house for possible footprints. -After a preliminary search, I got Evan to help me. We could find no -single sign of tracks leading toward or away from the house. There had -been a heavy dew, and the top layer of the earth was dark and damp. -Footprints would inevitably have been shown. When we had completed our -search, we stared at each other. Whatever or whoever had killed the -native girl must be still in the house. There were absolutely no signs -of his having left.</p> - -<p>We went inside. Beast or man, <i>something</i> had been in the house, moving -quietly and undiscovered despite our watching. It had entered the room -occupied by the native girl and had awakened her. She had seen it, and -it had been a thing she recognized as frightful. Her horror-stricken -face was proof of that. It had been cunning enough to latch the door -of the room after the killing. That meant a native. On the other hand, -it had broken the girl's neck, a feat that would require incredible -strength. That spoke of a monstrous animal. We heard Arthur shuffling -about in his improvised dark room, and the clink of the dishes in which -he had mixed his solutions.</p> - -<p>How had the creature—man or beast—reached the house? How had it made -its way silently through the rooms at midnight, with one of us awake -and on guard? Could it be that one of the servants had remained, hidden -in some secret place while the others had left, and now prowled about -at night while the rest far off in the bush yelled and howled, drummed -and danced, and gradually became ripe to attack us?</p> - -<p>Arthur came out of his dark room with a glass plate in his hand. His -face was pale.</p> - -<p>"Look at this," he said quietly. "If you'll hold it so the light -strikes it diagonally, you'll see it in its proper lights and shades, -instead of reversed."</p> - -<p>The plate was still wet, where he had just taken it from the fixing -bath. We looked. We saw, running aimlessly here and there, curiously -like the branches of a tree, little dark lines. Those were the blood -vessels that nourished the eye. We gave no heed to them, however. The -sight that made both Evan and myself gasp was the strange picture that -we saw amid all those little blood vessels.</p> - -<p>There, distorted and hideous, menacing and terrible, we saw the cause -of the native girl's death, and of her terror. We saw the head of a -gorilla, with its horrible, discolored fangs protruding from blackened -lips in a grimace of unspeakable ferocity.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a><br /> -<small>AS BY MAGIC.</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>"And it's in the house," observed Evan grimly. "A full-grown beast -will weigh three hundred pounds, and he'd leave plenty of sign when -he walked. There are no tracks leading away from here. Murray and I -looked."</p> - -<p>Arthur was ashen as he stared at us. I felt rather shaky myself. The -thought of a creature like that in the same house, with Alicia exposed -to its insane rage at any moment it might choose to emerge from its -hiding place, was appalling.</p> - -<p>The two ladies were in the large front room. I went in and remained -with them, my rifle in my hand, while Arthur and Evan went over the -house again. They had the dogs with them, and they went into every room -and every corner, ready at any instant to face what is possibly the -most terrible of all wild beasts at close quarters.</p> - -<p>A full-grown gorilla has easily the strength of six or eight men, and -in a confined space firearms would be almost useless. I heard the dogs -pattering all through the house, sniffing eagerly everywhere they were -taken, but finding nothing. Again they seemed excited at the door of -the storeroom, and again they gave up the search after they had entered.</p> - -<p>Arthur rejoined me and Alicia with discouragement on every feature.</p> - -<p>"He isn't here," he said wearily, "and he is here. He was here and he -wasn't here. I don't know where he is!"</p> - -<p>Evan slumped into a chair, though it was noticeable that he kept his -rifle in his hands. Through the window came the menacing rumble of the -drums from all sides.</p> - -<p>"I think," said Alicia, with a ghastly attempt at a smile, "I think a -fit of hysterics would be a relief."</p> - -<p>She looked as if she meant it. All of us looked thoroughly on edge. -To have hostile drums beating all about you and to realize that a -hundred and fifty miles of jungle lie between you and the nearest help -is bad enough in itself. When you add to that the consciousness of -having hidden in the same house with you a beast almost human in its -cunning and fiendish in its hatred, with the face of the devil and the -strength of seven men, hysterics seem excusable. She did not give way, -however, though we all felt on the verge of hysteria from the strain.</p> - -<p>That day was one of the most terrible I have ever spent. It was not -that anything happened to make it terrible. The strain came from the -fact that nothing happened. If the beast were hidden about the house, -it did not show itself, but we did not hear a board creak or a curtain -swish against the window without turning with a start, prepared to face -anything and to fire vengefully into a hideous, furry form.</p> - -<p>The bush outside the casa seemed to take on a threatening aspect. The -house was built on a small elevation and we looked for miles over the -tops of trees, broken here and there by gaps which meant the existence -of clearings and open fields. The treetops were dancing from the heat. -The sun beat down with fierce intensity. Blasts of hot, humid wind blew -upon us and scorched us, but we paid no attention. And always, from the -mysterious, unknown and unknowable bush all around us, drums beat and -beat and beat tirelessly and ominously.</p> - -<p>When one of us went back to get food for the rest, he went with an -automatic held ready in his hand, and the other two were prepared -at any instant to hear a shot or the snarl that would mean the -reappearance of the gorilla. We were doubly besieged, by the natives -without and by the gorilla within. For fear of the natives in the bush, -we kept to the house. For fear of the gorilla in the house, we kept to -the one room.</p> - -<p>Toward evening insensibly we relaxed. No one could keep to such an -intensity of attention as we had maintained during the day. We ate a -sketchy meal at nightfall and dragged two cots into one of the rooms -adjoining the large front one in which we had stayed all day. We -explored the room thoroughly, and Alicia and Mrs. Braymore went in to -lie down.</p> - -<p>None of us thought of taking off our clothes. We three men prepared -for a night-long vigil. One of us would keep thoroughly awake, and the -other two would snatch such sleep as they could.</p> - -<p>Long hours passed. We felt sure that some time during the night the -beast would make his appearance. I sat alertly by a window, a dog at my -feet, listening to the night sounds outside and the ceaseless drumming -that meant the juju councils were debating whether the blacks were -sufficiently worked up to attempt an attack.</p> - -<p>Arthur and Evan reclined in their chairs and tried to doze, but there -was little rest for any of us. We could think of nothing but the animal -we felt sure would make some attempt upon us during the night.</p> - -<p>At one o'clock Evan took my place by the window with the dog at his -feet. I sat in one of the easier chairs and tried to relax, but it -was impossible. I was suddenly conscious of the overpowering heat and -humidity. I was bathed in perspiration.</p> - -<p>"I've got to have a drink," I said abruptly. "I need it."</p> - -<p>Arthur looked up wearily.</p> - -<p>"We all need a drink," he said. "It's in the back of the house, isn't -it?"</p> - -<p>We looked at each other uncertainly.</p> - -<p>"I'll go," said Arthur quietly.</p> - -<p>I interposed. "We'll both go. Here, in the light, Evan can see to shoot -if necessary. We'll use a flash lamp."</p> - -<p>It was curious that neither of us cared to walk through three rooms -and a hallway inside a house we had been in for days. That animal had -fretted our nerves badly.</p> - -<p>Slowly and cautiously we made our way through the dark rooms, searching -before us with the flash light. I can't speak for Arthur, but my breath -was coming quickly, and I heartily regretted having expressed a wish -for a drink. I would not back out now, though.</p> - -<p>We went cautiously and slowly out to the rear of the house. I was in -the act of reaching for the siphon of seltzer when we heard the dog -scream in pain and a shout from Evan. We rushed madly for the front, -our hearts in our mouths, and cursing our absence at such a critical -time. When we burst into the room, Evan was dashing out on the veranda, -and Alicia was in the act of emerging from the room into which she and -Mrs. Braymore had retired. Alicia had an automatic in her hand and, -though her face was full of dread, she was evidently prepared to face -anything.</p> - -<p>Arthur and myself were quickly by Evan's side and found him staring -about the darkness, his rifle half raised.</p> - -<p>"What is it?" Arthur demanded quickly.</p> - -<p>Evan's breath was coming in gasps. "I heard you two moving," he said -sharply, as one whose nerves are strained to the breaking point. "I -heard a noise from your direction. I turned to look at the door and -caught a movement at the window by my side. I jerked back and the dog -screamed. A long, hairy arm had reached in the window and seized him. -He was drawn through the window before I could lift my rifle, and the -arm vanished. It's the gorilla!"</p> - -<p>We listened, but the house was still. A faint moan came from the -courtyard, and I flashed the lamp down. The dog, flung bodily from the -porch, stirred feebly and stiffened. Its neck was broken. There on the -shadowed veranda, with the bright African moon shining pitilessly down -upon the hot, dank, fevered earth, the three of us swore nervously -while we stood with our rifles pointing in as many directions, hoping, -even praying for that monstrous ape to rush upon us.</p> - -<p>"He must have gone somewhere!" said Arthur despairingly. "Where <i>did</i> -the beast go?"</p> - -<p>"Into the house, no," said Evan crisply. "Under the house, perhaps. The -roof, perhaps. We'll see."</p> - -<p>My legs crawled as I descended the stairs to the ground. The house was -raised from the ground on piles, and I could look clear underneath it. -The moon was shining down whitely, and I saw the pillars silhouetted -against the brightness on the other side. Half a dozen steps convinced -me that the animal was not beneath. It would have shown as a dark -outline. I tried to see up, over the roof, but could not. The roof -slanted just a little and I could not see the center. The house being -on an elevation, moreover, prevented me from backing off and getting a -clear view of the top. I called up to the other two on the porch.</p> - -<p>"He's not under the house, but I can't see the roof. He must be there."</p> - -<p>The tree trunks of the forest all about us echoed my words strangely. -I could see dim white blurs where the faces of the two brothers showed -their position. One of them moved oddly, and in a moment I saw that -Evan was swinging himself up the pillar before him. He grasped the edge -of the roof and drew himself up. In a second he dropped down again. He -spoke quietly enough to Arthur, but I heard his voice.</p> - -<p>"He's there, squatting on the ridge pole. Lord! What a monster he is!"</p> - -<p>"We must get the women out of the house," said Arthur sharply. "He may -tear up the roof and come inside. Alicia!"</p> - -<p>She had heard and came quickly out, Mrs. Braymore following her. We -built a small fire to keep insects away from them, and sat them on -chairs while we patroled the area about the house. The drums still beat -on all sides of us, but they had been relegated to a minor position -now. We subconsciously counted on their remaining a potential menace -only, until they stopped or drew nearer. The moon made the whole world -bright and shining. We could see clearly and distinctly. Nothing the -size of a rabbit could escape across that stretch of sward without our -observing it.</p> - -<p>Alicia and Mrs. Braymore watched the fringe of jungle while we posted -ourselves so that not even a cat could escape from the house without -being seen. I leaned on my rifle near the two ladies, my eyes fixed on -the edge of the roof, straining to catch a glimpse of the beast that -squatted up there. When I thought of it, it seemed stupid of us not to -have suspected that as a hiding place before. True, it was in clear -view of the sky, but a beast cunning enough to creep about the casa at -midnight as he had done, might possess the intelligence to reason that -there was the ideal hiding place for him.</p> - -<p>"Do you think there is any real danger from the natives?" Alicia -inquired hesitatingly.</p> - -<p>"When natives do inexplicable things, it is usually juju," I said -grimly. "And where there is juju there is usually danger. There is one -thing that can be said, though. While a native is making a noise, he is -rarely dangerous in bulk. As Evan pointed out, they may simply exhaust -themselves in yelling and dancing. I do not think it would be wise to -count on that, however."</p> - -<p>"Wouldn't it be the wisest thing to do, to simply try to make our way -secretly through the jungle to the nearest fort?"</p> - -<p>"It would be impossible," I told her frankly. "You don't know African -undergrowth. We might make four or five miles a day, with luck. And at -any moment in the twenty-four the natives might trail us. We'd have to -make a new trail, or use the native ones. Making a new trail, we'd be -followed and probably speared, besides the fact that our animal friend -would be haunting the treetops overhead, waiting for a moment when one -of us would be off our guard."</p> - -<p>Alicia shuddered. "But would you three try that if we weren't here?" -she insisted.</p> - -<p>"I think we'd wade into one of those juju councils," I remarked -vindictively. "I know I'd gladly join such a party. We'd probably -appear as suddenly as we could and start shooting. We might stampede -them, and a show of boldness would be our best play in any event. Of -course, if they rushed us, we'd be out of luck."</p> - -<p>"You mean——?"</p> - -<p>"There would be four or five hundred of them, and we might get ten -or perhaps fifteen apiece. They'd overwhelm us if they tried, but -the psychology would probably make us win out. The fact that we were -hunting them, instead of their hunting us, would frighten them."</p> - -<p>"Couldn't you do that now?"</p> - -<p>I shook my head. "Not with our friend the gorilla about. And we -wouldn't expose you two to the possibility of our failing. There'd be -nothing left for you but your own pistols."</p> - -<p>Alicia relapsed into silence. I saw her brow knitted as she tried -desperately to work out some plan by which we might fight the -incredible circumstances in which we found ourselves. Overhead, -the broad moon sailed serenely across the sky, shedding its rays -impartially down upon us, upon the shaggy, beastly ape squatting like -some demoniacal creature upon the ridgepole of the roof, and upon -yelling, capering blacks about the great fires they would have lit for -their juju ceremonies.</p> - -<p>Behind us, the busy, secretive life of the bush went on—all the -feedings and drinkings and matings and killings, all the comedies and -all the tragedies of the jungle. Things went on, sublimely indifferent -to our petty frights and fancies. The jungle attended to its business, -ignoring alike our strained attitudes as we sat in the moonlight and -waited for the sun to rise that we might slay a malignant ape, and the -yelling of self-hypnotism of the blacks as they danced about their juju -fires, working themselves into a frenzy of hatred against the white man.</p> - -<p>At last the moon dipped down toward the west, and the stars that had -watched our vigil in mild, blinking surprise grew pale at the signs -of dawn. The sky grew gray, then white. A high pallid veil hid the -deep-blue arch of the night, and turned slowly to golden yellow as the -sun rolled up.</p> - -<p>The mist curled aloft from the treetops as the first rays of the -morning swept across the land. We became aware that we had been cold -and that we now were warm. We waited eagerly until we should see the -roof of the casa, and be able to pick off with our rifles the beast -that lurked there.</p> - -<p>Morning had barely come when Evan clambered cautiously to the roof of -the servants' quarters behind the house itself. We had left several of -the dogs shut up in the house during the night. We knew that if the -beast came down into the place, they would make an outcry before all -were killed, at least. They had made no sound, but now one or two of -them came out on the veranda, wagging their tails amiably.</p> - -<p>Evan clambered to the roof of the servants' quarters, and Arthur passed -up his rifle. Evan stood erect and raised the weapon. Then he stopped. -From the ground, we saw him looking blankly at the roof of the house. -From where he stood, he could see it clearly. His expression was at -once amazed and apprehensive.</p> - -<p>The beast had not left the house, or we would have seen it. It had not -crossed the clearing. It had not entered the house, because the dogs -were unalarmed. It had not in any discoverable fashion escaped from its -position astride the ridge pole, but Evan told us and we immediately -verified the fact that it was no longer on the roof. It had not escaped -to the jungle. It had not secreted itself in the house; yet the -monstrous ape had vanished!</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a><br /> -<small>THE FORM THAT CREPT.</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>Again we searched the house from top to bottom. Again we led the -dogs into every nook and cranny. Again they sniffed anxiously in the -storeroom, but gave up the quest after a moment or so. In our search -of the greater part of the house the dogs had seemed more bored than -anything else. We had led them to the dog that had been killed, before -attempting to enter the house, and they smelled at his neck cautiously -and drew back with low growls. If the gorilla had been in the house, -they would surely have scented him and warned us. The only time they -gave any indication at all of interest, far less of excitement, was -when they sniffed at the storeroom door. Once inside, they moved about -aimlessly.</p> - -<p>We debated our next move. The gorilla simply could not be in the house. -With his ferocity, he would surely have made a move to attack one or -another of us during our searchings. At last Arthur found a sign that -reassured us as to his absence without lessening in the least the -mystery of his means of escape. Something had led him to scout around -the edge of the clearing surrounding the house. He straightened up with -a shout.</p> - -<p>"Look here!"</p> - -<p>We ran to him and looked where he pointed. There, on the earth, just -beneath the overhanging limb of the first of the jungle trees, were -the prints of strangely handlike toes.</p> - -<p>"Here's where he jumped for the lowest limb there," said Evan -excitedly. "See?"</p> - -<p>Directly above us a heavy limb spread out from the trunk of the tree. -Evidently the gorilla had leaped from that spot. How he had run across -the moonlit lawn under our very eyes remained inexplicable. Thinking -back, however, I remembered that once or twice wisps of infrequent -cloud had temporarily obscured the moon. Could he have seized one of -those moments of darkness? It seemed impossible, but there was no other -explanation that could be made.</p> - -<p>Somewhat reassured, we entered the house again. One of us stayed out on -the veranda, however, and watched to make sure the beast would attempt -no daring daylight rush on our stronghold. We planned to tether several -of the dogs that night to the piles which raised the house from the -ground.</p> - -<p>Evan was on the porch. He peered in at the window suddenly.</p> - -<p>"I'm going to take a look in the servants' quarters," he said abruptly. -"It's just occurred to me that the beast may have hidden in there and -made his break for the jungle from there. That would shorten the run he -would have to make."</p> - -<p>He moved away. I went back and tried to help Alicia prepare some food -for us all. We had had nothing since the night before and all were -ravenous. Arthur was sitting in the big front room, his head buried in -his hands, his rifle leaning on the arm of his chair. I put my rifle -against the wall and began to open the tins of preserved food, while -Alicia donned an apron and with a quaintly housewifely air lighted a -spirit lamp and heated water for our tea. Mrs. Braymore was gravely -tasting the tinned butter and making a wry face. It is poor stuff -until you get used to it.</p> - -<p>As I worked, I watched Alicia appreciatively, and far back in my mind -a little germ of hope sprang up. It suddenly occurred to me that she -had never shown that intense affection for Arthur one expects a woman -to show for the man she is going to marry. She appeared fond enough of -him, but she seemed nearly as fond of Evan. I remembered what I had -been told, that the three of them had been raised together as children -so they were little less than brothers and sister.</p> - -<p>That was Alicia's attitude. She treated Arthur as an elder brother of -whom she was immensely fond, but she did not treat him as a lover. It -was queer that, with drums beating rhythmically night and day in the -bush all around us, and in momentary danger from a monstrous gorilla, I -should stop and think of romance and the peculiarly trivial shades of -affection Alicia might show.</p> - -<p>She turned and smiled at me just then.</p> - -<p>"You look like a sword," she said mischievously, "a sword beaten into a -can opener."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Braymore joined in her smile. I suppose I must have looked rather -queer. A heavy cartridge belt was slung about my waist, and two -dull-metal automatics were stuck rakishly into it. I had not shaved for -three days. Every moment was too full of suspense to allow for thinking -of such minor things as shaving.</p> - -<p>"Well," I remarked amiably, "since it looks as if our friends in the -bush are going to do as Evan has suggested and yell themselves into -exhaustion without bothering us, and I shall soon revert to peaceable -pursuits, that doesn't matter. A sword is only useful on occasion, but -a can opener links us with civilization."</p> - -<p>"It would seem odd," said Alicia, "to have some one bring one's mail -in the morning, or to use a telephone."</p> - -<p>"There's a mail once in two weeks at Ticao," I said, "but it's four -weeks from England usually and often six."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Braymore joined in the conversation. "I should like to receive an -invitation to tea," she said wistfully. "I should like to go somewhere -to tea and have people talk interestedly of poetry, and the approaching -marriage of somebody's daughter, and what the curate said about the -possibility of repairing the parish house."</p> - -<p>We all laughed at the idea. I set down one of the tins of potted meat -and reached for another.</p> - -<p>"For myself——" I began and stopped short, every muscle tense.</p> - -<p>On the veranda outside the house I had heard a sound, the creaking of a -board as a heavy weight was put cautiously upon it. There was something -infinitely furtive in the sound. I listened and heard nothing more, but -was oppressed by a sense of danger. The sound had come from the front -of the house. I drew an automatic from my belt and silently passed it -to Alicia. She had heard nothing, but my expression warned her and she -took it quickly. Mrs. Braymore took the other. I picked up my rifle -from the side wall and tiptoed through the house toward the front. I -heard an almost unbelievable slight sound again from the porch. The -door into the front room was standing open. I slipped silently up to -the threshold.</p> - -<p>Arthur had heard. He was still sitting in the chair, but he was alert -and ready. His eyes were fixed on the window some fifteen feet from -him, and he was slowly and carefully bringing his rifle to bear. The -sun was shining from without and struck upon the curtains that hung -inside. Evan had made his house ready for the visitors he expected, and -every window was curtained.</p> - -<p>There was a moment of breath-taking suspense. Arthur, still seated lest -the sound of his rising alarm whoever or whatever was outside, was -bringing his rifle to his shoulder. I slipped into the room and came -to his side, my own rifle ready. Our eyes were fixed upon the window. -Then the slanting rays of the sun flung a shadow upon the curtain. The -thing was not yet before the window, but its shadow moved on before -it because of the position of the rising sun. We saw, cast in perfect -clearness upon the flimsy cloth, the silhouette of the head of the -gorilla! Its small ears lay back, its jaw protruded in that fearful -ferocity of the anthropoid tribe, and we saw it peering from right to -left in suspicious cunning. I held my breath, waiting for the moment -when we could fire.</p> - -<p>The head turned sharply, and I thought I saw the nostrils quivering. -Then, abruptly, it vanished, and a dog burst into frantic barking and -hysterical yelping on the veranda. Another instant and the dog screamed -in terror. There was a crash against the wall of the house, and the -yelping became a moan.</p> - -<p>Arthur and I had dashed for the door and now rushed down the veranda -with hearts thumping madly. One of the dogs was writhing in agony on -the floor. It had been flung against the house with terrific force and -now lay with broken ribs and backbone, dying. The gorilla had vanished.</p> - -<p>Evan appeared with his rifle ready, out of breath. "What's up?" he -demanded. "The beast again?"</p> - -<p>Arthur swore hysterically. "The damned beast is here!" he cried. "It's -<i>here</i>! It's hiding somewhere about!"</p> - -<p>We were all thoroughly reckless by now. We went after the huge ape with -the temerity that would have made the blood of any of us run cold in -a sober moment. We penetrated every corner of the house. We went over -every bit of the grounds. We clambered upon the roof and searched -there in foolhardy indifference to the danger we might be in if we only -located the animal.</p> - -<p>"I think it was hiding in the servants' quarters," said Evan grimly. -"I saw signs of its having been there. It must have grown shy when I -explored the place and it probably slipped off toward the house to -escape me. I don't see why it didn't make for the woods, though."</p> - -<p>None of us understood, but we went about our search as before. We found -absolutely nothing. At last we stopped and stared at one another.</p> - -<p>"We would have killed it in another moment," said Arthur despairingly, -"but the dog saw it and yelped. Then it ran."</p> - -<p>"Could it have made the woods before we got outside?"</p> - -<p>"Heaven only knows," said Arthur wearily. "I begin to believe the -natives have bewitched the thing to kill us all."</p> - -<p>"How many dogs have we left?" asked Evan suddenly.</p> - -<p>There were four or five of Evan's animals, and one or two of the -village dogs had begun to lurk about the house in hopes of food. There -was none left for them in the deserted village.</p> - -<p>"We'll tie up the dogs," said Evan. "We'll fasten one on the veranda at -the front, and another in the rear of the house. We'll put two on the -ground below, tethered to the piles, and spread the others in the rooms -here. Then the beast will have to kill them before it can get at as, -and we'll have some warning."</p> - -<p>We began to improvise collars for the native dogs and scattered the -others about as Evan had suggested. When we had finished, as far as -we could see there was absolutely no way for the gorilla to emerge -from his hiding place—if he were hiding in the house—without being -instantly detected by a dog. Certainly, he could not reach the house -from the bush without discovery and an alarm being given.</p> - -<p>With a dog in every room, dogs on the veranda, and others underneath -the building, we should have felt safe, but did not. There was -something uncanny in the appearances and disappearances of the -monstrous ape that left us apprehensive even when we had taken every -possible precaution to provide for its instant discovery if it made -another attempt to reach us.</p> - -<p>The pertinacity of the beast was appalling. To think of a colossal -anthropoid with the cunning of the devil himself, the strength of seven -men, and all the malignant hatred that possessed this one, to think of -such an animal lurking about seeking an opportunity to wreak vengeance -on one of our number was horrible. And it would not stop with one of -us if more than one were within its reach. Once in a killing rage, a -gorilla goes mad with blood lust. It would tear and rend, would crush -and utterly destroy.</p> - -<p>We were white and nervous from the strain long before. Now we went -about with something akin to hysteria just beneath the surface. There -was nothing we could <i>do</i>! We had to wait for the beast to reappear, -knowing that when it did, its coming would be cautious and cunning, its -patience infinite, its strength colossal and its hatred fiendish. Any -or all of us might expect at any instant to be gripped by a hairy arm -of incredible power, to see the bestial face of that demoniacal animal -grimacing at us in utter malignance. And we had before us the picture -of the vision that would confront us in such a case. The picture taken -from the native girl's retina was warning. Little, evil eyes glittering -fiercely, flat, horrible nose above a terrible mouth parted in insane -rage, and discolored fangs showing above the blackened lips.</p> - -<p>Action of any sort would have been a relief. We went through the -morning, making desperate efforts to stave off hysteria, and aware that -at any moment one of us might crack beneath the strain.</p> - -<p>Noon came. We ate mechanically. Evan was standing up better than any of -the rest of us. Alicia was quiet and still. Her eyes alone showed the -tension she felt. We were all keyed up to an almost unbearable pitch. -Queerly enough, in our absorption in the threat of the gorilla, we had -almost forgotten the drums that resounded on every side of us from the -bush. It was Mrs. Braymore who called our attention to them.</p> - -<p>"I wonder what's the matter with the drums?" she said wearily. "I've -been noticing them for the last ten minutes."</p> - -<p>We listened. The monotonous rhythm was still going on, rolling through -the hot midday air in muffled waves of sound. The drums seemed louder -than they had been.</p> - -<p>"They're beating more rapidly," Evan remarked in a puzzled tone. "They -were going along slowly. Now they're quite fast."</p> - -<p>Only one of the drums had quickened its beat, however. The others -thumped on monotonously. About four o'clock in the afternoon—allowing -the length of time necessary for a runner to get from the first village -to another—a second began to beat more furiously, and shortly after -dark, the third joined in the trilogy. Our dogs were moving restlessly -about, chafing because of being tied. We all were increasingly anxious, -but this new danger had, strangely enough, the effect of steadying us.</p> - -<p>We waited a long time, and at last the two women lay down to try -to rest. Through the moonlight night the drums rolled and rumbled. -Standing out on the veranda with my rifle in my hands, I listened -intently. I saw with some disquiet that the night threatened to become -cloudy, but hoped that the dogs would give warning of any danger that -might impend. For an hour I stood there, looking and listening. There -was no mistaking the new note of the drums. They meant resolution, -renewed activity. Faintly, beneath their muttering, I caught a high, -sustained ululation. The yelling of the natives had not been audible -before. Evidently they were in perfect frenzy. That meant that an -attack was imminent.</p> - -<p>Arthur came out on the veranda beside me. He listened as I was -listening.</p> - -<p>"They'll attempt to rush us in the morning, I suppose," he remarked -grimly. "They'll hardly try it before dawn, though. Blacks don't like -the nighttime."</p> - -<p>One of the dogs tied to a pile below the house growled softly. The dog -on the veranda echoed the growl. I glanced at him quickly. He had risen -and was standing tense, looking toward the edge of the bush. He growled -again.</p> - -<p>At just this moment, one of the little wisps of cloud overshadowed the -moon and left the courtyard in darkness. I moved quietly over beside -the dog and felt the hairs on his neck bristling. Finding him staring -steadfastly in one direction, I strained my eyes trying to pierce the -darkness. The cloud thinned a trifle and objects were dimly visible. I -saw a shape coming slowly and cautiously toward the house, a shape that -moved hesitatingly and furtively.</p> - -<p>Arthur exclaimed softly. "Murray, it's the gorilla!"</p> - -<p>The figure was hunched up and apelike. It moved awkwardly toward us. -The cloud thinned still more and we could distinguish its location -clearly, though it was still impossible for us to see distinctly.</p> - -<p>"For the body," Arthur whispered.</p> - -<p>We raised our rifles together and aimed carefully. Arthur's rifle -flashed, and mine an instant later. We heard a choking, beastlike cry, -and the figure toppled and fell.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a><br /> -<small>A STRANGE ALLY.</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>Evan rushed out from the interior of the house, rifle in hand.</p> - -<p>"What's up? The natives?"</p> - -<p>"We've got the gorilla, I think," said Arthur quietly.</p> - -<p>He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flash light. The three of -us started down the steps and approached the fallen figure cautiously. -As we drew near, we could hear it moaning. The moans were curiously -human. I glanced up at the sky. The last wisp of the cloud was just -passing before the face of the moon, and when I looked down again, the -figure was outlined in the pitiless glare of the moonlight.</p> - -<p>Evan uttered an exclamation. The moaning figure was not that of the -gorilla. It was a man, a black man, in the monkey skin of a juju -priest, with all the amulets and charms of his calling strung about -him. Evan started forward and shot out a string of questions in the -local dialect. I could not catch a word, but Evan's voice was stern and -angry. The moaning witch doctor spoke feebly, his voice growing weaker -and weaker, and his words interrupted by gasps of pain. At last he -choked and coughed weakly and was still.</p> - -<p>Evan turned to us in a towering passion.</p> - -<p>"Those damned natives are going to try to rush us at dawn! The witch -doctor came to put a spell on us so they'd succeed. Oh, when I get at -the black animals——"</p> - -<p>He burst out into a string of profanity. The slave owner in him had -come uppermost, and the news that his blacks were going to attack us -aroused his anger at their presumption more than his fear that they -might succeed. He stirred the dead figure with his foot.</p> - -<p>"They dare to threaten me!" he rasped. "I'll shoot one man in every -four of them! I'll whip the rest until they can't stand. I'll——"</p> - -<p>My old dislike of the man returned, I could not doubt his courage, but -I had never been particularly fond of the <i>servaçal</i> system and had -their effort not imperiled the lives of the four of us, I would have -had the best of wishes for the natives in their attempt to liberate -themselves.</p> - -<p>"We'd better decide how we're going to stand them off before we decide -how we're going to punish them," I remarked. "There are three of us. -There are at least six hundred of them."</p> - -<p>Arthur suddenly turned with a start.</p> - -<p>"Alicia's in the casa," he said sharply, "and the beast may come back."</p> - -<p>He started for the house on a run. We heard his voice as he called -to Alicia and heard her answer. Evan and I followed more slowly, -discussing methods of protecting ourselves against the coming attack.</p> - -<p>"There's one thing," I observed thoughtfully, "with the bush about the -clearing full of natives, the gorilla will either keep a safe distance -away—as is most likely—or else will have to fight his way through to -get to us."</p> - -<p>"Perhaps," said Evan gloomily, his voice still full of anger toward the -blacks. "We'll worry about him when we have to. The important thing is -the siege we'll have to stand. If we can stop the first rush, I think -we'll be all right."</p> - -<p>"We're all right for ammunition?" I asked.</p> - -<p>He nodded. "I could outfit a small army from my gun chest and I've -ammunition to last a year."</p> - -<p>We mounted the steps of the casa.</p> - -<p>Alicia greeted us with a white face. "I can shoot," she told us both -bravely, "and I shan't mind shooting at these people."</p> - -<p>"You shall shoot," said Evan grimly, "if they get a foothold in the -house. Otherwise there's no need. You know enough not to be taken -alive."</p> - -<p>"I know," said Alicia quietly.</p> - -<p>The last I saw of her for an hour or more, she was going through Evan's -assortment of firearms, picking out a light rifle for her own use and -another for Mrs. Braymore. She already had a small-caliber automatic -pistol hidden in her bosom.</p> - -<p>For an hour or more we worked, moving the bundles Evan pointed out in -the storeroom to form a breastwork behind which the women would be -safe from stray shots. We tore up a section or so of flooring, too, -so we could fire down in case any of the blacks found a refuge from -our weapons beneath the house. Bars nailed across the openings at once -provided us with assurance that they could not climb up, and that we -would not accidentally fall through. We brought supplies of food and -water where they would be close at hand.</p> - -<p>For close quarters, we were depending on repeating shotguns loaded with -buckshot. Three of us with those weapons should be able to stop almost -any number of blacks. These lay close beside us. We had our rifles and -our pistols in addition.</p> - -<p>The drums were beating madly now. The high-pitched ululation that was -the blended note of all the frantic yelling came clearly to our ears. -When we had finished our preparations I went outside to listen. I -instantly realized that the drums were nearer, much nearer. The dogs -were excited and restless.</p> - -<p>"We'd better get the dogs up from the ground," I suggested. "They'll -only be killed."</p> - -<p>Evan went silently down and unleashed them. They were growling and -bristling, particularly those near the back. They seemed to realize the -imminence of danger.</p> - -<p>I looked at my watch. It lacked two hours of dawn. The drums were -growing louder and louder, and the yelling more distinct and defiant. -From three sides the drums closed in on us, and from three sides -choruses of high-pitched yells informed us of the hatred of the blacks -for their masters. Evan interpreted as he caught some of the words.</p> - -<p>"They say the juju has declared we are to be killed," he announced with -a faint smile. "We are to be slaughtered and our flesh boiled down -until the fat can be collected, when it will be used to light fires. -Pigs will feed upon us, and our bones will be scattered among the juju -priests of a thousand villages to tell them to rise and slay all white -men."</p> - -<p>The drums came up to the very edge of the clearing, and their -thunderous voices boomed with a full-throated bellow across the open -space in a deafening volume of sound. In the moonlight, we became -conscious of darker bodies moving among the bush. Evan sighted from an -open window and with compressed lips fired. There was a mocking yell.</p> - -<p>"They say our guns have been bewitched so we cannot harm them," he -informed us a second later. "Give me a shotgun."</p> - -<p>The load of buckshot gave better results. Two or three shrieks of pain -announced its arrival. Then the drums boomed forth more loudly. Evan -fired again and again. There was a yell of rage at the third shot, when -the resonant voice of the huge drum became muted and a mere shadow of -itself.</p> - -<p>"I was trying for the drum," he remarked. "They were brought from a -thousand miles inland, and there's no way to tell what price was paid -for that one."</p> - -<p>The two other drums hastily shifted their positions, and recommenced -their devil's tattoo. Emboldened by the fury of sound, one or two of -the more daring spirits ventured to advance a little way out in the -clearing to howl maledictions upon us.</p> - -<p>Arthur's rifle cracked spitefully, and mine followed. Two bold spirits -ceased to yell.</p> - -<p>From time to time, as we saw an opportunity and a target in the -moonlight, we shot vengefully into the bush, and several times cries of -different timbre from the hysterical yelling of the blacks followed our -shots. Once or twice, too, I had that curious feeling of certitude that -follows some shots, when one is confident he has hit his mark, though -no cry came to assure me.</p> - -<p>Evan fired again and again with his heavy shotgun, almost every deep -explosion being followed by a cry. The range was hardly more than a -hundred yards, and the buckshot carried that distance easily. Spreading -as it did, it had a daunting effect.</p> - -<p>Our object in taking the initiative was solely that of dampening the -blacks' enthusiasm. Allowed to cheer themselves with yells, they -would make a rush that would be formidable in the extreme, but if we -began to inflict losses before their attack began, the edge of their -determination would be taken off. They would no longer believe in the -efficacy of their juju to compass our destruction, and we would have -a fraction of that psychological superiority that the white man must -possess in order to handle natives, the complete possession of which -enables a single fever-ridden white man to cow and rule ten thousand -blacks.</p> - -<p>Evan made a tour of the house, to make sure that the natives were -equally reluctant to advance on all sides. We heard him fire twice -back there, and painful yells followed each shot. He rejoined us.</p> - -<p>"I'm going to take the rear," he said briefly. "They're in the bush all -around. I'll hold them off easily. They'll make their main rush from -this side, so you two stay together."</p> - -<p>Arthur's answer was a deliberate squeeze of his trigger. A yell -followed.</p> - -<p>"At a hundred yards," he commented, looking up, "one can make good -practice in moonlight like this."</p> - -<p>"Dawn soon," said Evan and went once more to the rear. We heard him -settling himself for the rush that we expected.</p> - -<p>So far, there had been nothing but yells from the natives. We knew they -had some firearms, but ammunition is very valuable in the bush. Natives -are never supposed to have arms of precision, and when they possess -modern rifles, they have to keep them concealed lest they be taken away -by the Portuguese; but now and then a black boy will make off with a -rifle and a store of shells, and there are other sources of supply.</p> - -<p>At that, though, rifles and ammunition are immensely valuable back in -the hill country. Up beyond the Hungry Country, I have known slaves to -be sold for three rifle cartridges apiece. In fact, my boy Mboka—now -run off in the bush with the rest of them—had cost me exactly six -.30-.30 shells. I had found him the slave of a portly Kuloga chieftain -who was about to sell him to a half-caste Arab for export to the Sudan.</p> - -<p>I had wondered why the house servants did not clean out the gun chest -when they ran away in the middle of the night, but thanked my luck that -they failed to do so. Half a dozen rifles in the hands of the blacks -would have made matters awkward for us at close quarters. Off in the -bush we could have disregarded them, as the native custom is to fill -the barrel with slugs and fire from the hip. Anything like accuracy is -impossible to them, of course.</p> - -<p>When the sky began to pale toward the east, however, they opened up. No -less than six firearms began to bellow at us, from an ancient fowling -piece of who knows what ancient lineage to a modern smokeless-powder -magazine rifle. The slugs and bullets tore through the flimsy walls of -the house, or else imbedded themselves with a thud in one of the posts -that supported the roof. Arthur and myself began to concentrate upon -those weapons. The black-powder arms showed their position at every -fire in the now growing dawnlight, and we fired vengefully at the puffs -of smoke.</p> - -<p>The sky was growing lighter now. The stars above us were paling and -winking feebly in an attempt to outshine the sun. The first dim -grayness became nearly white. The east turned from pallid luminosity to -rich rose and then to gold. The gold, in its turn, faded to yellow, and -the first rays of the sun struck the tips of the highest trees about -the clearing. The drumming became fast and furious. The fires of the -guns in the bush ceased for a moment, and wild yelling began. We heard -Evan firing occasionally from the rear of the house. Now his shots came -more rapidly.</p> - -<p>With a hideous yell, the fringe of bush about the casa erupted black -figures. Ancient spears, knobbed and gnarled war clubs, fiercely -pointed arrows, and occasional rusted and long-cherished firearms armed -the motley throng that ran yelling toward us.</p> - -<p>Arthur dropped his rifle and took up the repeating shotgun by his side. -I took my stand at a window and opened on the advancing mob. In such a -mass it was impossible to miss, and the buckshot was deadly. If we had -had sawed-off shotguns, the loads would have spread more and inflicted -more damage, but as it was we had merely to pull the triggers to see -one or more figures crumple or spin half around and fall. In their -state of frenzy, that did not stop the blacks.</p> - -<p>Evan's gun was booming from the rear of the house. Arthur's spoke with -a shattering roar. My own barked angrily. The drums in the bush were -pounding in a mad rhythm that made the universe a place of unbearable -sound. The yells, the shots, the cries, and the thunderous drumming -created an uproar in which I loaded my weapon and emptied it with a -sense of curious detachment. Alicia and Mrs. Braymore were behind the -breastwork we had made for them. I cannot speak for Mrs. Braymore, but -I glanced once at Alicia and saw her grimly holding her light rifle in -readiness.</p> - -<p>The blacks came on. The losses we inflicted went unnoticed. They -swarmed up the rise on which the house was built. We took heavy toll -of them, but from sheer weight of numbers their casualties seemed -insignificant. Their yells were deafening as they swept up the last -twenty yards. I emptied my shotgun and began to use my two automatics.</p> - -<p>A mass of black humanity flowed up the steps, though a gap in the -stream widened for a moment as Arthur poured the last shells from -his shotgun into them. They clambered the pillars that supported the -veranda and made for the windows.</p> - -<p>At that distance, barely ten feet, we could not miss. The veranda -was a shambles. They could not live there. Arthur and myself with an -automatic in each hand swept the place. I heard a shot and a yell -behind me. One of the openings in the floor showed the barrel of an -ancient musket that was just falling back. Alicia had fired down the -opening and undoubtedly saved my life. The musket was aimed directly -for my back, and would have torn my head from my body.</p> - -<p>There was a crashing, and an antique blunderbuss appeared through -a hole smashed in the flimsy side wall of the house. Arthur fired -quickly. Then I heard Evan cry out at the rear of the house. Before we -could move, there was an outburst of demoniacal, bestial screamings of -rage. To one who had once heard that sound, the noise was unmistakable. -The gorilla had appeared in a killing fury and was going for the -blacks, as their panic testified. In a moment the clearing was dotted -with running natives. They dared face our weapons, but the gorilla——</p> - -<p>Evan's rifle was silent. There was an instant of almost unbearable -quietness. Then came a triumphant, horrible outcry from the beast. It -had slain.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a><br /> -<small>UNMASKED.</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>The quiet was deadly. Where five minutes before had been the yelling -of the natives and the roaring of the drums, the sharp cracks of our -rifles, and the bellowing of the native firearms, now there was not a -sound.</p> - -<p>Arthur and I, shaken by the suddenness of the transition, waited in -cold apprehension. Would the door from the rear of the house burst open -and the shaggy beast rage into the room, its colossal arms crushing -whatever might come within its grasp? Would we, the four in that one -room, fire futilely into its barrellike chest, and then be rent and -tore in the huge ape's hairy arms, while its great discolored fangs -sank into our flesh?</p> - -<p>The stillness was broken by a feeble sound, and we quivered, gripping -our rifles the more tightly. The tension was terrific. Another feeble -sound, a scraping sound. Then two or three faint jars, followed by an -uncertain, tottering footstep, and a second. We heard Evan's voice, -barely above a whisper, muttering pain-racked imprecations.</p> - -<p>The door opened slowly and he limped weakly into the room. His clothes -were torn and gory. Blood dripped from a deep cut across the back of -his hand. He stared at us uncertainly, and a look of relief came across -his face.</p> - -<p>"Well," he said slowly. "They've gone."</p> - -<p>Alicia, for the first time, gave way. She burst into sobs, against -which she struggled bravely.</p> - -<p>"The gorilla!" I snapped, fearful lest I too give way.</p> - -<p>Evan shook his head. "The blacks had crept up to and filled the -servants' quarters during the night. I suppose that's why the dogs -were restless. When they made a rush, they dashed out from there and I -couldn't stop them. They were inside, and I was just about gone when -the gorilla appeared from nowhere. I dare say I shouted, and then the -beast made for the blacks. I suppose it was as frightened as they were, -but it charged them, screaming with rage, and they ran. It got one of -them. The poor devil is out there now. I'd been knocked down and one of -the blacks was just about to finish me off when the brute appeared."</p> - -<p>"Where is it now?"</p> - -<p>Evan shook his head again. "I don't know where it went. It was going -for the blacks."</p> - -<p>Alicia stuffed her handkerchief into her mouth and tried desperately to -get a grip on herself again.</p> - -<p>"We'll go and look out at the back," said Arthur grimly. "You stay -here, Evan."</p> - -<p>We went cautiously out toward the rear. There lay one of the natives -with his neck broken, an expression of infinite horror on his face. -Others lay in twisted attitudes about the place, gaping wounds from -the buckshot at close range showing how desperately Evan had fought. Of -the gorilla there was no sign. We searched the place thoroughly, but -found nothing.</p> - -<p>We returned to the others, a curious lethargy settling upon us. We had -been at such high tension for so long that it was impossible to keep -keyed up. I, for one, felt an almost-overpowering desire to sleep. -Alicia had recovered her composure by now and was trying to bandage -Evan's hand. He was indifferently submitting, but after she had -finished, he looked at it and took the bandage off, substituting a mere -strip of adhesive for the many turns of the cloth.</p> - -<p>"I can handle my rifle like this," he said dully.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Braymore made coffee and we drank it in silence. Presently Arthur -motioned to the women to leave the room and began to tug at the bodies -lying on the floor. It was absurd for us to think of trying to bury -them. He dragged them to the edge of the veranda and dropped them over -the edge to the ground below. He moved jerkily, almost like a man -asleep.</p> - -<p>"No need to do that," said Evan suddenly, a little while later.</p> - -<p>Arthur stopped and looked at him questioningly.</p> - -<p>"We'll have to start for the coast," Evan explained uninterestedly. "We -can't stick it out here. The natives won't bother us now. The fight's -taken out of them."</p> - -<p>"But the gorilla?"</p> - -<p>"Have to chance it," said Evan slowly. "There's nothing else to do."</p> - -<p>"He'll get us within the first ten miles," I remarked, speaking with -difficulty because of the peculiar lethargy that affected us all. "You -know how he trailed Arthur."</p> - -<p>There was a moment's silence, then Arthur automatically resumed his -task. Alicia came into the room and silently gave us something to eat. -Arthur stopped dumbly and began to chew on his food, forgetting the -grisly labor he had been performing but a moment before.</p> - -<p>"We can't start to-day, anyway," he said after a little. "We've got -to rest. We're all in bad shape and we've two weeks' travel before we -reach another white man's house."</p> - -<p>Evan made some reply, but I did not catch it. I fell asleep with food -in my hands and slept like a dead man for hours. Alicia waked me at -noon to eat again.</p> - -<p>All that day we were possessed by a peculiar indifference, the result -of the reaction from the tension at which we had lived for so many -days. I woke with a start at three o'clock, hearing the dogs bark. Evan -came slowly into the room.</p> - -<p>"I let the dogs loose," he said, noticing my expression. "They were -whining."</p> - -<p>"We'll need them to-night, in case the beast comes back." I rose -stiffly and went back to douse my head with water. It roused me a -little and, after a cup of coffee, I joined the other two. We were all -languid and tired, but thoroughly awake now.</p> - -<p>"Of course we can't stay on here," Arthur was admitting, "but we -wouldn't have one chance in a hundred to make it through the jungle -with that ape following us. You've seen how it manages to reach the -house here."</p> - -<p>"I've figured," said Evan thoughtfully, "that it was in the fringe of -bush, and when the drums began to close in from three sides, it was -flushed out and came on to hide here in or about the house. It had -hidden here before."</p> - -<p>"Probably," Arthur agreed. "But that doesn't say how we're going -to elude it during a journey of a hundred and fifty miles without -carriers."</p> - -<p>Evan threw out his hands. "But what are we going to do?" He appealed to -me. "What do you think, Murray?"</p> - -<p>"If we stay here," I reasoned, "either we'll get him or he'll get us. -If we go, he'll probably get one or more of us and we may get him. But -we can't stay here. The only thing I can think of is that we had better -try for him to-night. With the dogs to warn us, we'll have a better -chance than before. If he doesn't come to-night, try to-morrow night. -Hang on here as long as we dare and then, if we must, try the trail. If -we could strike a caravan coming down from the Hungry Country, now——"</p> - -<p>Evan shook his head. "I haven't been very hospitable to the Portuguese -traders," he remarked. "They steal my slaves and sell them in Ticao. -They don't turn off the main slave trail to my villages any more."</p> - -<p>We were, silent for a moment or two.</p> - -<p>"Are there any of the rest barricades any short distance away?" asked -Arthur. "We might reach one of them and wait for a caravan to come."</p> - -<p>From time to time along the great slave trail from the interior, you -will find big inclosures made of tree trunks and filled with grass -huts. They were originally built for halting places for the caravans -that go up and down from beyond the Hungry Country. Of course they -are in ill repair because of the attacks of insects and rot upon dead -timber in that climate, but the carriers feel safer in them after -nightfall, and the slave traders find them convenient to avoid possible -attempts to escape off the part of the "voluntary labor recruits" they -are escorting to the coast.</p> - -<p>"We might try," I said doubtfully. "Frankly, I think the beast would -have as much chance at us there as here. If we happened on a caravan -right away, though, it would help."</p> - -<p>"Why doesn't the damned thing go away?" Arthur looked at us with -something of dread in his eyes. "I shot its mate four hundred miles -away, up in the Kongo. It trailed me those four hundred miles, making -attempt after attempt on me. I wounded it once, and got a fair shot at -it two weeks before Murray brought Alicia and Mrs. Braymore here. I -thought I had killed it then. It went off through the trees as if it -were badly injured. I'd made sure it was dead."</p> - -<p>He began to pace up and down the room nervously.</p> - -<p>"I've never known one so far from Kongo before," I said, in an attempt -to encourage him. "You know what animals are. They'll stick at a thing -for an amazing length of time and then will drop it like a shot. He may -get a touch of homesickness any day and swing off to the north again."</p> - -<p>"If he only would!" Arthur burst out. "I'm beginning to feel that he's -going to get me yet. Something tells me he's going to get me."</p> - -<p>"Nonsense," said Evan heartily. "Get a grip on yourself, old man."</p> - -<p>"If he killed me," Arthur muttered morosely, "he'd be satisfied. I'm -the one he's after. If he killed me, he might go off and leave the rest -of you in peace."</p> - -<p>"Don't be an ass, Arthur," I told him sharply. "The beast can't -distinguish between white men. He'd be just as apt to try to wipe out -the lot of us, and I have a strong objection to being wiped out."</p> - -<p>Arthur walked out on the veranda and stood there, leaning against the -side of the house and staring moodily off into the bush. Evan looked at -me significantly.</p> - -<p>"Nerves," he said quietly. "I feel the same way, but I'm trying not to -show it. I'll go and round up the dogs. I have a feeling that something -is due to happen to-night."</p> - -<p>I went out to the back. Alicia saw me passing her door and joined me, -leaving Mrs. Braymore behind.</p> - -<p>"Have you decided on your course?" she asked in a low voice. "You know -both of us are willing to do anything you think wise. You mustn't hold -back for fear we may not be able to stand hardships."</p> - -<p>I shook my head. "The only thing we can do," I said wearily, "is hope -the beast turns up to-night and that we kill him."</p> - -<p>Alicia put out her hand and let it rest on my shoulder in comradely -fashion.</p> - -<p>"Please don't be discouraged," she said urgently. "We've stood so much, -surely we can endure a little more."</p> - -<p>I tried to smile. "We'll stick it out. It must be much harder for you -and Mrs. Braymore."</p> - -<p>"Don't worry about us." Alicia shook her head decidedly. "It's -the waiting for the beast to come that worries you. We're growing -accustomed to grisly sights, but you'll never be used to just waiting. -Why, I've got so I can look at those poor natives and not even shiver."</p> - -<p>My eyes followed her glance. I smiled wryly. "It isn't pleasant for -me to look at that particular native," I remarked. "He was one of my -carriers. I bought and freed him when he was to be used for food—a -tribe in the interior. All my boys joined Evan's blacks."</p> - -<p>Alicia looked at me with her large eyes. "Let's go and talk to Arthur," -she said suddenly. "He needs cheering as much as you do."</p> - -<p>The veranda of the casa went all the way around it. Arthur, when I had -seen him, was leaning against the wall before the main door. Alicia and -I walked around the outside.</p> - -<p>"I didn't thank you for shooting down the hole in the flooring——" I -began, then quickly snapped my hand to the pistol at my belt.</p> - -<p>From inside the house had come a snarl! Before I could take another -step, I heard a queer, gurgling gasp and a sickening crack. In a second -I had bolted around the corner of the casa, rushing madly, my automatic -in my hand. Arthur had been leaning against the wall near one of the -windows. Now he was crumpling limply to the floor, while the curtains -behind him were still fluttering where the arms that had broken his -neck had beat jerked back. I dashed through the door, absolutely -desperate and utterly reckless. A dark form was bounding down the hall -that led to the rear. A frightened cry came from the room in which -Mrs. Braymore had been left. I ran down the passageway, furious and -desperate, I heard a door slam shut—the door of the storeroom! I made -for it, stumbled, and fell into the room on all fours.</p> - -<p>Evan Graham was in the room, trying to stuff a furry something into an -open box! As I sprawled on the floor he whirled and saw me. From his -lips issued the identical snarl I had heard five seconds before, and he -raised his automatic pistol and fired!</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a><br /> -<small>THE GORILLA'S SCREAM.</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>I came slowly back to consciousness, feeling weak and giddy. I essayed -to move and found I could not. I opened my eyes. Despite the gathering -darkness, I discovered that I was seated in a chair in the large room -of the casa. A second attempt to move disclosed the fact that I was -tied tightly.</p> - -<p>Alicia stared at me dumbly from an opposite chair, and Mrs. Braymore -sat in one corner, her face white and set and her eyes full of horror. -Evan was standing at his ease by the doorway, smoking with evident -enjoyment.</p> - -<p>In one of his hands he held a shaggy object that for some seconds held, -weakly, my half-focused attention. It was a baglike object, that yet -seemed to contain a framework. Not yet awake to full consciousness, -I saw that it was strangely animal. It was a mask in the perfect, -horrible likeness of a gorilla.</p> - -<p>Evan turned and saw my eyes open. "Well, Murray, old top," he said -amiably. "You caught me, didn't you?"</p> - -<p>My throat was dry and parched, and my shoulder ached abominably. "What -the devil?" I croaked weakly.</p> - -<p>"Give him some water, Alicia," said Evan cheerfully. "He's thirsty."</p> - -<p>Alicia gave me water. "He has my pistol," she whispered despairingly as -she bent over me.</p> - -<p>Full consciousness returned with a jerk. Evan had shot me. Evan had -snarled at me as he fired. Evan—why Evan must have killed Arthur! He -grinned approvingly as he saw me straighten in an instinctive effort to -break my bonds.</p> - -<p>"Ah, feeling better," he commented. "I'm sorry you caught me. I'd have -liked to take you back to Ticao and hear you tell the tale of this -week's work of ours. You always were a great one for telling tales, -Murray."</p> - -<p>He puffed luxuriously at his cigarette and looked at the gathering -darkness outside.</p> - -<p>"You're a connoisseur of tales, Murray, so I think I'll tell you one. -I'm going off to get in touch with my natives in a little while, as -soon as it's dark, but I've a few minutes to spare and might as well -be pleasant during that little while. I'm afraid I'll have to be -unpleasant later on, you know."</p> - -<p>"I didn't know."</p> - -<p>I have never found that losing one's head is an advantage under any -circumstances, so I prepared to make an effort to keep mine. Evan waved -his hand airily.</p> - -<p>"Oh, I'm going to be put to the unpleasant necessity of disposing of -you and Mrs. Braymore. No one could regret it more than I do, but the -necessity is there. You see, I was the gorilla." He indicated the -gorilla mask. "And it wouldn't do for you to tell that story about."</p> - -<p>"I can believe it," I admitted. My head was spinning, but I tried to -follow what he was saying in the hope of finding something therein to -my own advantage.</p> - -<p>"You understand, of course," said Evan cheerfully, "that I don't mean -that I was the beast whose mate Arthur so inconsiderately shot, or the -one who followed his caravan all the way here from the Kongo. That -was another gorilla altogether. I simply happen to be the one that -hung about the house here. Arthur shot the other one two weeks before -you came. It got away, but he must have wounded it fatally. Otherwise -it would have turned up long before. I'll admit that I was a little -nervous about the animal at first, but I soon realized that it must be -dead. I saw to it that Arthur was not similarly convinced, however. I -had already made more or less of a plan. You know about my slaves?"</p> - -<p>"No," I said rather weakly. I had lost a lot of blood.</p> - -<p>"I'd knocked about the West Coast for quite a while before I came -here." Evan stopped and drew up a chair. He sat down comfortably. -"I had learned the secret of controlling natives. As you know, that -secret is fear. I knew that if I could get, say, a village full of them -thoroughly afraid of me, they would be to all practical purposes my -slaves. Normal means of frightening them would have the disadvantage -of not frightening them too much to invoke juju to get rid of me. And -juju, invoked against a white man, means poison. The obvious solution -was to frighten them by means of the very juju they would use against -me."</p> - -<p>"Poison?" I asked. My head was spinning, but I tried not to show it.</p> - -<p>"No." Evan puffed casually upon his cigarette. "Poison would be the -result of the juju. I went at the fountain head. Kongo natives are -deadly afraid of gorillas, but just a little way from gorilla country, -the natives fear them vastly more than where familiarity has had time -to breed, if not contempt, at least some measure of accustomedness. The -natives here would be horribly afraid of them. I made my preparations -accordingly. Having bribed his excellency the colonial governor, and -having had this mask made and learned how to imitate to a fair degree -of perfection the cries of the beasts, I came out here. Have you seen -my mask?"</p> - -<p>He held it out for me to see, even going so far as to strike a light -so that I might examine the thing more closely. He held it before my -eyes and turned it about. It was an amazingly perfect bit of work, -perhaps larger than a normal skull of one of the beasts would be. For -all their size, their skulls are comparatively small. It was lifelike -to a surprising degree. The disgustingly human, and yet unhuman ears -stuck out against the skull. The jaw protruded in truly simian fashion, -and the caked, black lips were drawn back from discolored fangs in a -grimace of almost unimaginable ferocity. The broad, flat nostrils were -distended in rage, and the eyeholes of the mask sank deep back below -the low and beetling forehead. If small, glittering eyes had shone -evilly from those now blank holes, I would have been tempted to believe -that a live beast was before me.</p> - -<p>"Good work, isn't it?" asked Evan. "I came out here with my four -overseers, wandered into the village, and metamorphosed myself before -the villagers' eyes into a gorilla clad as a man, which at one moment -spoke with the voice of a man, ordering them to obey, and the next -screamed at them in tones of one of the monstrous apes of which they -were in such dread. I built myself this casa, demanded tribute of gums -and produce, started a small juju house off in a small clearing, and in -a couple of weeks had established myself as a deity, demanding to be -worshiped and sacrificed to, exacting all sorts of tribute, and so on. -Very profitable, I assure you.</p> - -<p>"They soon believed that I could change myself into a gorilla at will -and respected me immensely. I took care to throw a few scares into -them. In Japan, some years ago, I learned a small and very elemental -jujutsu trick which requires very little strength to break a man's -neck. A few broken necks, a few snarls, a scream or so of rage, and -they'd no more think of crossing my will than they'd think of jumping -into the fires of hell."</p> - -<p>"They attacked the house," I remarked, trying behind my back to wriggle -one of my hands free from the bonds that held it fast.</p> - -<p>"They'll suffer for that." Evan was smiling, but there was something -in his tone that made me feel slightly cold. "They'll suffer for that. -I told my juju priests to take the people off into the woods and keep -them busy with a juju council until I had finished my business with -you. They forced your boys to go with them. They simply got out of -hand, that's all. The witch doctor you and Arthur shot was coming to -tell me that they were out of control. If I had gone and appeared among -them, wearing my gorilla mask, and snarled at them once, they would -have been like lambs. I simply couldn't, get away from you people -without making you suspicious."</p> - -<p>"But what was the object of it all?" I demanded. I had found it -impossible to free even one hand.</p> - -<p>"Arthur was my elder brother," said Evan amiably. "Consequently, being -English, he had all the money in the family. I do not like West Africa. -If I disposed of Arthur, I could go back to England and live with some -comfort. I thought of shooting him and calling it an accident, but -people would talk, you know. When he came here with his tale of being -followed by a gorilla, I saw the possibilities. When I heard you people -were coming up, I saw I would have witnesses. My idea was to convince -you of the presence of a gorilla, break Arthur's neck precisely as I -did this afternoon, and return to England. I rather thought I would be -able to comfort Alicia, in time."</p> - -<p>Alicia shuddered. Evan grinned at her.</p> - -<p>"I shall comfort you, Alicia, but presently. My people will return, -Murray and your estimable chaperon will be disposed of, and you and -I will escape precariously to Ticao, telling the tale of hairbreadth -escapes during the uprising of my natives and during the trip."</p> - -<p>"Never!" said Alicia desperately.</p> - -<p>"Oh, yes." Evan was polite, but there was evil determination in his -tone. "You never cared much for Arthur, and I more than suspect you're -in love with Murray. You'll do as I say for his sake."</p> - -<p>There was mute interrogation in my expression.</p> - -<p>"Not to save your life, of course, Murray," Evan hastened to assure -me. "I really can't allow you to spread tales of what happened up -here. She'll be pleasant to make sure that you depart this life, -er—comfortably."</p> - -<p>Alicia looked at me in despair.</p> - -<p>Evan glanced out the window. "Not time for me to start off yet," he -remarked. "They'll have to go down and worship me when I turn up in -this little fixing." He indicated the gorilla-head mask in his hand. -"Is there anything that isn't clear to you?"</p> - -<p>"I don't understand anything," I said.</p> - -<p>"I'll begin at the beginning, in your own fashion. Let's see. Biheta. -You remember you were here the night she was installed in the casa? -One of my servants had been insolent. I sent word to the village -that Biheta was to be sent here to take the other's place. She was -frightened, and the juju ceremony you saw was for the purpose of -heartening her for the time she would spend in proximity to my godlike -person. When the other servants left, by my orders, she was too stupid -to go with them. She was perpetually frightened, anyway. You see, -she saw me dispose of the servant that had been insolent. Jujutsu is -useful. I'll show you how to break a neck." He started to rise, then -sank back in his chair. "Come to think of it, I need you to convince -Alicia that she had better do as I tell her. You will depart this life -to-morrow. As I was saying, Biheta stayed behind when she should have -cleared out with the others. So, in the middle of the night, while on -guard, I went into her room, wearing my mask. I made a noise, she woke, -saw me—and that was the end of that. The photograph of the retina of -her eye showed the face of this mask. Rather clever idea, don't you -think?"</p> - -<p>"Very," I admitted.</p> - -<p>"Thanks." Evan smiled sarcastically. "Well, Arthur just imagined he -heard the beast following him through the trees. He shot at nothing, -when you and he went down to explore the village. My own 'encounter' -with the animal when I started off in the jungle alone was purely -imaginary. I scratched my own face and jabbered like the gorilla -myself. Like this——"</p> - -<p>He emitted a succession of incredible sounds, so beastlike and -ferocious in their tones that I could hardly believe it was not an -animal uttering them. There was a peculiar echo from the bush outside.</p> - -<p>"The dogs were excited in the storeroom," Evan went on easily, "because -they could smell the fur of the mask I kept in a small box in there. -When I told that wild tale of a hairy arm reaching in at the window -and dragging the dog out, to fling it with a broken neck into the -courtyard, I need not say that I had done the killing. And my 'seeing' -the gorilla on the roof was more fiction. Of course he wasn't there at -dawn. I was laughing in my sleeve at you people all night long, while -we patrolled the courtyard. The silhouette of the gorilla's head you -two saw on the window curtain was the shadow of your humble servant. -I had decided that the play had gone far enough. The presence of the -gorilla had been proved. The three of you, my present audience, would -corroborate my story of the gorilla's having killed Arthur. I was on my -way to break his neck. You nearly got me that time, and I had to kill -the dog to get away. Then the natives got out of hand. I could have -stopped them by a simple appearance, but you people would have missed -me. I waited until they were near the house, then rushed out in my -mask, snarling and raging at them, and they ran. After that I hid the -mask quickly and pretended to you that I had been knocked down. It was -really very simple. With the natives quieted for a few days, I simply -carried out my plans to dispose of Arthur. I'm sorry I'll have to put -you two out of the way, but Arthur's dead, I'm his heir, I'm going to -marry Alicia and become a country gentleman in England, and I can't let -you two people talk."</p> - -<p>"You'll never dare take me to England," said Alicia, desperately white.</p> - -<p>"You'll marry me, Alicia," said Evan coolly. "You won't split. When you -see the preparations my natives will make for the entertainment of -Murray and Mrs. Braymore, you'll swear to anything, and you'll marry me -when we get to Ticao. You'll corroborate my tales of a slave uprising, -too. You don't know what can be done to Murray, and will be done before -he dies, unless you do as I say."</p> - -<p>Alicia moistened her lips. I saw her half close her eyes.</p> - -<p>Evan laughed. "It's about time for me to call on my natives. This will -be our wedding night, Alicia. One of the local witch doctors will marry -us, and the ceremony will be repeated when we get to Ticao. Murray and -Mrs. Braymore will be kept alive until to-morrow lest you refuse to go -through with the ceremony. If you hesitate, I dare say I'll be able to -make up your mind for you. Too bad I'll have to kill the other two, -though." He strolled over to the door. "I'll call up my natives. You'll -hear the gorilla again."</p> - -<p>Derisively he opened his lips and from them issued a strange cry, that -I had heard once before. It was the challenge of a bull ape to battle. -And—good Heaven! <i>It was answered!</i></p> - -<p>There was a snarl behind him. He turned with a gasp. There on the -veranda, leaping toward him, he saw, not a masquerading white man, -posing as a jungle god, but a colossal gorilla in actuality, gnashing -its teeth in rage, and with its huge, hairy arms outstretched.</p> - -<p>I shall remember Evan's shriek when the beast seized him, to the end of -my days. Sometimes, even now, I start up at midnight with the echo of -it in my ears. For one instant the two figures were outlined against -the fading light of the sky. Then the ferocious fangs buried themselves -in Evan's throat and the beast leaped clumsily to the ground, bearing -the still-struggling body in its immensely muscled arms.</p> - -<p>We heard the sounds from the courtyard, sounds at whose meaning I -do not wish to guess. And then our ears rang with the horrible, -incredible, terrifying scream of a gorilla that has made a kill.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a><br /> -<small>AT THE PADRE'S.</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>We passed through the night somehow. Alicia, half dead with terror, -managed clumsily to release me, but weak as I was from loss of blood, -we dared attempt nothing that night.</p> - -<p>In the morning the great ape was gone. I might as well say now that I -believe that it was the same animal that had trailed Arthur, and which -Arthur had gravely wounded some two weeks before our arrival.</p> - -<p>For three weeks it had hidden while the wound healed, and then came -cautiously toward the casa again. It heard Evan's first beastlike -cries, and its response was probably the queer echo I had thought I -heard from the bush. It crept forward, and when Evan derisively uttered -the challenge cry of the monster anthropoids, it had leaped to the -attack.</p> - -<p>Limited as is the intelligence of the creatures, it would never -distinguish between white men. A white man had killed its mate. It had -killed a white man. With the blood lust sated, by now the shaggy brute -was doubtless swinging rapidly through the treetops toward its Kongo -hunting grounds.</p> - -<p>That is my explanation. I know I never saw any other sign of the huge -gorilla either then or at any later time. I have told the tale on -different occasions to many different people, and my surmise has always -been accepted as correct.</p> - -<p>Our predicament was not entirely done away with by the disappearance -of the gorilla that had come to our deliverance so unexpectedly. We -were still a hundred and fifty miles from another white man or woman, -absolutely without carriers, and I was abominably weak from the wound -Evan had inflicted. Our chances looked slight indeed until nearly noon -of the next day.</p> - -<p>A very much ashamed, and a very apologetic black figure emerged from -the bush on the side farthest from the village. It was followed -by about forty other similarly ashamed and apologetic figures. I -recognized Mboka, my gun-bearer in the lead and had to struggle to -restrain an impulse to jump up and shout aloud to Alicia that we were -all right at last.</p> - -<p>Instead, I sat impassively on the veranda until Mboka stopped humbly -in the courtyard before me. I paid absolutely no attention, but smoked -indifferently as if his presence or absence were a matter in which -I had no concern. He waited and fidgeted, scraping his bare feet -embarrassedly on the ground, until at last I looked down and inspected -him impersonally. I looked away again. Presently, looking off through -the bush as if he were the most insignificant atom in the universe, I -remarked:</p> - -<p>"Pig!"</p> - -<p>Mboka beamed. It is the custom in West Africa for the lower in rank, -the inferior, to speak first, but Mboka was too ashamed to presume. He -stood there uneasily and tried to look apologetic while I informed him -that he had put me to some inconvenience, that he was to go and never -dare appear before me again. I added that I would see to it that no -other trader ever dreamed of employing him for any purpose whatever.</p> - -<p>It does not do for a white man to admit himself in any degree dependent -on a black. I told him that he need never come to me again and resumed -my stare into the bush. He may have had some idea of trying to bargain -with me, but my attitude put him back. He hesitatingly and humbly told -me what I already knew quite well, that he and the others had been -forced to accompany Evan's natives off into the bush.</p> - -<p>One or two of the carriers had been swept away by the fervor of the -juju council and had joined Evan's folk in their attack on us, but the -others had now fled to put themselves under my protection. They begged -that I would receive them again and assured me of their undivided -loyalty, if I would take them again into my service.</p> - -<p>I kept them waiting for an hour while I went indoors and ate a -leisurely breakfast. When I came outside again, I seemed to have -forgotten them. My indifference completed their subjugation. They were -abject in their pleadings for me to take them back. When I finally -consented, it was with the scornful statement that I was going to take -them to Ticao and discharge them from my service forever.</p> - -<p>They burdened themselves joyfully with the loads they had brought up -from Ticao and waited anxiously for me to announce my readiness to -start. Alicia and Mrs. Braymore would have to walk, as their ox-cart -was useless. I began the journey on foot, but could not keep up. I was -too weak.</p> - -<p>The second day I had to be carried in an improvised hammock, and the -third or fourth day I found myself in a raging fever. Alicia worked -over me bravely, but I lapsed into semidelirious feverishness in which -I was of no use whatever.</p> - -<p>I must credit Mboka with a great deal more faithfulness than I had -expected of him. He kept the carriers under an iron rule, and Alicia -told me later that the length of the journeys was stretched to the -greatest possible distance every day. With nothing but the scantiest -of medicines—as my own drug chest had been accidentally left behind -at Evan's deserted casa—she fought off the fever, but when we arrived -at the Padre Silvestre's mission, I was in very bad shape. The padre -doctored me, however, and in two weeks I had not only ceased my -delirium, but could move about a little. I remember the first evening I -was allowed to sit up.</p> - -<p>The padre, Alicia, and Mrs. Braymore had celebrated my recovery at -dinner that night, the padre making one of his graceful little speeches -on the subject. I am not of the padre's faith, but we are great -friends, and after dinner he announced that I might sit up. With great -ceremony they got me into a chair and made a great to-do over me. Then -they helped me to a chair on the little screened-in veranda of the -padre's house, where I could look out at the perfect African night and -see the small mission church, and farther off the village in which the -padre's converts live.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Braymore went back indoors to discuss with him some aid she -proposed to give the mission. She was an Episcopalian, but she had seen -the work the padre had done, and a difference of creed had long since -seemed unimportant. The main thing was that the natives needed aid. -Alicia and I on the veranda talked for a long time, disjointedly.</p> - -<p>"What will happen to Evan's plantation?" she asked presently, naming -the place with reluctance.</p> - -<p>"The natives will move away," I answered thoughtfully, "and a tradition -will grow up, making the casa the abode of a devil-god who will destroy -all comers. Slave caravans passing down the great slave trail will -make offerings to appease the evil spirits in the house, and a juju -house will appear, where the witch doctor will grow rich and fat on the -contributions he will exact. The casa itself will stand untenanted and -deserted, while tall grasses grow in the courtyard, and at last the -house will fall in shapeless ruins."</p> - -<p>"It was terrible there," said Alicia with a shudder. "And Evan—it -is almost unbelievable that he should have done what he did. He was -always a black sheep, but that——"</p> - -<p>I was silent for a moment. "He was planning to force you to marry him," -I said presently. "Not thinking of how you might feel for Arthur."</p> - -<p>"Arthur was like a brother," Alicia said sadly. "I was very, very fond -of him. We were engaged, but we had nearly agreed that we did not care -for each other enough to marry. I was very fond of him, though. I could -not have cared for him more if he had really been my brother."</p> - -<p>The great white African moon was silvering the whole earth with its -pale rays. From the village came negro voices, singing the native words -to an old, old devotional melody. From within the house came the rustle -of papers. The padre and Mrs. Braymore were going over the details of -the small hospital she proposed to erect for the mission. The padre -is an old man, and more than forty years of his life have been spent -at his little mission station, trying to help the natives despite the -Portuguese and the <i>servaçal</i>. Now, at last, he was to have adequate -equipment through Mrs. Braymore's generosity.</p> - -<p>She was going back to her beloved England, where she would go to her -five-o'clock teas and discuss the neighborhood gossip and hear the -curate talk about the possibility of repairing the parish house. I -knew she was glad that she could again sink into the pleasant rut of -well-to-do English country life. Alicia would go too, and I would see -her no more. It suddenly seemed unbearable that she should leave me.</p> - -<p>"I shall be leaving Ticao soon," I said abruptly.</p> - -<p>Alicia turned. Her face was grave and sweet in the half light.</p> - -<p>"Why? I thought——"</p> - -<p>"This is an evil country. White men denigrate and black men are like -beasts. I am sick of the place. I shall go back somewhere in the States -and see what I can find to do there."</p> - -<p>"I'm glad you're leaving Ticao," she said slowly. "I should not like -to think I would never see you again. We have grown to be very good -friends."</p> - -<p>I waited a moment or so and then said quietly:</p> - -<p>"When Evan was explaining to us after he had shot me, he said that he -would force you to do as he said by threats of my death by torture. You -remember?"</p> - -<p>Alicia nodded silently.</p> - -<p>"He said that he believed you cared a little for me. I have been hoping -very much that he was right. I'm more or less of a ne'er-do-well, but -if there's any hope for me, I'll try hard to change."</p> - -<p>I waited breathlessly for her to answer. She looked out at the -moonlight for what seemed an age-long time. At last she turned again to -me. I had a moment of panic, and then I saw that she was smiling.</p> - -<p>"Why, Murray," she said in a flash of mischief. "I may call on you to -change after a while, but for the present, say for the next ten or -twenty years, I think you're perfectly all right as you are."</p> - -<p>I had not thought myself so strong, but when I saw her smiling at me -with her face close to my own, my fever weakness left me and I reached -out my arms. Alicia was quite considerate of me. She struggled only a -very little.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Juju, by Murray Leinster - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JUJU *** - -***** This file should be named 50719-h.htm or 50719-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/7/1/50719/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -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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