The Land of Mystery by Edward Sylvester Ellis
CHAPTER XXXI.
A DESPERATE SCHEME.
Not another word was said. The question had been submitted to thearbitrament of chance and the New Englander had lost, and that, toowithout any suspicion on his part of the little trick played upon him.
Before resorting to the last opportunity, Long slipped through the backroom and ascertained the outlook there. He was surprised at theresult. Hardly a native was visible. It looked indeed as if they wereworking their way round to the front, and that some scheme of attackhad been agreed upon by the leaders from that point.
The Professor's survey confirmed the theory of his friend. TheMurhapas were more plentiful than ever. They appeared to bemarshalling along the bank of the Xingu, where there were so many thatit was impossible to count the heads and shoulders rising above theslope.
Waggaman was not in sight, though there could be no doubt that he wasthe inspiring spirit in the movement. All the indications were that arush had been agreed upon. Should it be permitted to come offunopposed in its incipiency, it would be all up with the men who haddefended themselves so bravely thus far.
"I will begin at the head of the row," said the Professor, "and you atthe foot; make every shot tell."
"All right; begin!"
The fusillade was opened the same instant. Both men fired rapidly,and, though they could not pause to make their aim as sure as theywished, and though it is not to be supposed that every shot waseffective, yet the execution was dreadful.
Arms were seen flung spasmodically upwards, figures leaped clear offthe ground and then fell back out of sight, shrieks and shouts filledthe air, and still the crack of the Winchesters continued withoutintermission.
One gratifying feature of the fearful scene was that the warriors beganflocking around to the front, though they kept well back, as if toavoid the murderous discharge. These new arrivals not only affordedadditional targets to the riflemen, despite their furious efforts toscreen themselves, but proved that the scheme of the defenders wasworking as they desired: the natives were swarming from the rear to thefront.
"Off with you; don't wait!" commanded the Professor.
"Good-bye!" was all that Jared Long said, as he darted from the side ofhis gallant friend and vanished.
Professor Grimcke took a few seconds to refill his magazine, when upwent his Winchester again and the furious discharges seemed to be morerapid than before.
It would naturally be supposed that if the assailants saw that both ofthe white men had concentrated their fusillade at the front, they wouldmake a dash to the rear. That, it may be said, would be the secondstep in the programme. It was calculated that the sudden volleys ofthe rifles would draw all the natives thither, and then, after learningwhat had taken place, a large part of them would rush back again.
The New Englander had been gone only a few minutes, when the Professorsaw evidences that the second step was about to be taken. The savageswere beginning to move back to the rear, though at a greater distancethen from the building than before.
All at once Grimcke ceased firing. While looking sharply out of thedoor, he mechanically refilled the magazine of his rifle from his stockof cartridges which was running low.
"Now or never!" he said to himself, and then, turning, he ran swiftlythrough the two rooms to the rear door, through which he boundedwithout a moment's hesitation.
He expected his flight would be announced by a series of shouts and astorm of poisoned javelins. He held his breath, and, as the secondspassed, began wondering whether there was a possibility after all ofsuccessfully following the footsteps of his friend.
He was encouraged by the sounds of the deafening tumult from the frontof the house. The Murhapas had swarmed into the front-room, provingthat they had decided upon making the very rush of which the defendersstood in such dread.
This, although only a momentary diversion, was immeasurably in favor ofthe daring attempt of the flying fugitive.
Lest the reader may pronounce the escape of these two white menincredible, we hasten to explain that which, if left unexplained, wouldwarrant such disbelief on the part of our friends.
The individual who gave the wild scheme an ending that otherwise itnever could have had, was Ziffak, the head chieftain of the Murhapas.He proved to be the all-potent factor in the terrible problem.
From what has been related about these strange inhabitants of the MattoGrosso, it need not be said that they were too cunning, if left tothemselves, to allow a door to stand open for their intended victims toescape, after penning them in such a trap.
Ziffak was the shrewdest member of the Murhapa tribe and much morefitted to be its ruler than King Haffgo. After bidding good-bye to thelovers, he hastened back to the middle of the village, where he arrivedafter the first disastrous repulse given his people by ProfessorGrimcke.
It took the fellow but a few moments to grasp the situation. He toldno one of the death of Burkhardt, but busied himself in learningprecisely how matters stood. Had he dared to do so, he would haveordered a cessation of the attack, but the latter was made by thedirect orders of King Haffgo, and Ziffak was not the chieftain to butthis head against a stone wall, by an open defiance of his royalbrother's authority.
The assault was under the direction of Waggaman himself. The king fromhis own door, where he could not be reached by any bullet of thedefenders, was watching the futile assault with an impatience and angerthat could hardly be restrained. His soul became like a volcano, as hesaw his brave warriors fall back, with many of them biting the dust.Had not the traditions of his country forbade such a proceeding, hewould have placed himself at the head of the natives and led thedecisive charge.
Seeing how it was at the front, Ziffak cautiously made his way to therear. There were few warriors there, and he instinctively felt that ifhis white friends were to get off at all, it must be through the rearopening.
While intently debating with himself what he could do to help them, hestealthily slipped down to where the large boat was lying under thebank. No one was near it, for the attention of all was concentrated onthe fight under way. Unobserved, he shoved the craft out into thestream and saw it drift with the current.
Returning to the rear of the besieged building again, he formed theplan of getting the warriors to the front and then dashing back andhelping them out. This was a wild scheme, and involved great personalrisk to himself, for he was sure to be punished for rendering aid whosediscovery was inevitable.
At the very moment he was about to make the attempt, Grimcke and Longgave him unexpected help by opening their united fire from the frontupon the warriors marshalling for the decisive charge.
This afforded him just the pretext he wanted, to order the Murhapas tohasten to the other side of the building to assist in what was incontemplation there, though, even with such a movement under way, itwill be seen that the right place for a portion of the savages was atthe rear, in order to head off the very thing that was attempted.
Thus it was, that, while the two explorers were congratulatingthemselves on the success of their clever scheme, they never suspectedthat its success was due to their giant friend, who kept himself sowell in the background that neither of them caught sight of him.
Having got his men away, Ziffak slipped back with the purpose ofcarrying out the rest of the plan he had formed; but before he couldreach the rear entrance, he caught sight of Professor Grimcke runninglike a deer toward the woods.
Ziffak was puzzled, not knowing that his friend had preceded him, andhe dashed into the building to hurry him out. As he came in at onedoor, Waggaman and the Murhapas swarmed in at the other, andpandemonium was let loose.
The certainty of another murderous fire from the rifles of thedefenders caused some lagging at the threshold, but those in the rearforced those at the front forward, and the next moment the mob wasinside.
Still there was no sound of firearms, though, the savages were crowdinginto both apartments. Some one kicked the ashes from the emb
Ziffak seemed to be in a towering rage because such a blunder had beenmade, and called upon the fleetest runners to follow him.
Out of the door he went as if shot from the throat of a columbiad, witha procession of sinewy-limbed warriors at his heels. All ran as fastas they could, though none were his equal in fleetness.
It need hardly be said that Ziffak took mighty good care that he didnot pursue the course of Professor Grimcke, and presumably that of hiscompanion who preceded him. Instead of aiming for the woods, hediverged toward the river, and seemed to find it necessary to shout andyell every second or two at the top of his voice.
His followers may have imagined he was laboring under uncontrollablerage or deemed it necessary to keep their courage up to the highestpoint by such means; but the two fugitives who had joined each other inthe woods, and were picking their way with the utmost care, held astrong suspicion that the prodigious shouts were intended for theirspecial benefit. At any rate, they accepted them as such, and tookpains to continue their flight in a different course from that of thehowling Murhapas.
It did not require Ziffak long to find out that the fugitives wereirrecoverably gone, and he came back with his report to the king.
There he was met by astounding news. Burkhardt had been slain by apoisoned javelin, and Ariel, the beloved daughter of the ruler, hadbeen seen in full flight toward the enchanted lake in the company ofthe execrated white man, Ashman. Pursuit was to be organized at once,and, though Ziffak was to take part, yet the chosen warriors were to beled by the king in person.