The Land of Mystery by Edward Sylvester Ellis
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE POISONED ARROW.
Such being the case, Ashman concluded that the time had arrived when heshould also take a hand.
Ziffak and King Haffgo placed their backs against the face of therocks, along which the ledge ran, so as to open a clear course for thearcher. The latter fitted his arrow with great care and thenstraightening up drew back the string and slowly levelled, the missileat the head and breast of the American.
"Does that fool imagine I am going to keep still and let him practiceon me?" the latter asked himself, an instant before discharging hisrifle, whose bullet went straight through the dusky miscreant and senthim toppling off the side of the ledge as dead as dead could be.
Not only that, but the ball wounded the warrior directly behind him,causing him to utter a howl which rang with piercing force from side toside of the cavern of diamonds.
This prompt act caused something like a panic, Ziffak seemed the mostterrified of any. Facing about, he flung his arms aloft and shouted tothe rest to hurry away before the white man killed them all.
They lost no time in obeying, and it was noticeable that King Haffgo,being well at the rear, added his frenzied commands for his warriors tolose no time in leaving the fatal spot.
Ashman could have sent a succession of shots along the ridge, as theparty scrambled away, which would have toppled the dusky barbarians offlike so many ten-pins; but he had no desire to inflict needlessslaughter, and, in answer to the appeal of the shrinking Ariel, he hadpromised her that, so far as he was concerned, her parent shouldreceive no harm.
He therefore contented himself with watching them, until a bend in theledge hid them from sight, with the exception of their heads, and they,too, soon disappeared; because the frightened warriors, glancing back,and seeing their peril, crouched low to escape the bullets which theyseemed to expect would come whistling about their crowns.
As long as the natives kept at such a distance, they could do no harmto the defenders; for they were too far off to make use of theirjavelins, and the single archer left was not likely to attempt to bringhis weapon into play.
Naturally, Ashman and Ariel, finding they were left to themselves for atime, fell to speculating upon what was likely to be the next move oftheir enemies. He believed they would make an attempt to bridge thechasm separating them, a task which, as will be seen, was comparativelyeasy of accomplishment.
But should such a structure be laid, it must be so strait that only onecould pass at a time, and the American could pick them off as often asthey presented themselves. There were now no firearms at the commandof the Murhapas, unless some one recovered the weapon of Burkhardt, andeven then, Ashman would feel little fear of harm from the savages.
Ariel thought her parent and his little company would simply keep guardat the entrance of the cavern, in order to intercept them, if theydiscovered some way of re-crossing the chasm and attempted to leave.
But both were wrong.
The young man was resolved that no march should be stolen upon him. Itwas impossible for the Murhapas to pass far enough around to leave theplace, without being seen, provided he kept unremitting watch, which hefelt competent to do for a number of hours to come.
If the siege was prolonged, he could take turns with Ariel, whosebright eyes were quicker of perception than his.
In the cavern of diamonds, there was no means of telling when it wasday or night on the earth outside. Lit by the eternal fires of thevolcano, it was always day; but he carried a watch, which told him thatthe night was far advanced, and that the bright sun would soon shineupon mountain, forest, and river again, though his heart sank at thefaint prospect of it ever being his privilege to greet the orb again.
The incidents of the next hour mystified both Ashman and Ariel.
The first movement which attracted their notice, was Ziffak, who,rising to the upright posture, so that his immense shoulders were inplain sight, was seen picking his way along the ledge, until he reachedthe opening on the other side. Through this he passed and was seen nomore.
It was useless to speculate as to the meaning of this proceeding, whichcould not be explained until made clear by occurrences themselves. Itwas safe to assume, however, that it was ostensibly in the interests ofKing Haffgo, and therefore against those of the fugitive lovers.
Probably a half-hour after the disappearance of the chieftain, two ofthe party were seen stealing along the ledge in the direction of theentrance to the cavern. These, however, were of such slight stature,when compared with Ziffak, and they made such efforts to conceal theirmovements, that it was hard to follow or identify them. Ashman thoughtthat Haffgo was one of the number, but he could not make certain, and,since Ariel did not catch as favoring a glimpse as he, she could giveno help in solving the question.
The best solution of the singular acts was that while the Murhapasseemed to try to hide themselves from the lovers, they still took painsto allow enough to be disclosed to reveal the movements, which theywished the couple to observe.
And here again, both Ashman and Ariel were in error.
Strange that a possibility which had once been thought of by the twodid not occur again to them.
King Haffgo, despite his confidence in Ziffak, began to feel somedistrust of him. His refusal to attempt the leap of the chasm, and hisformer friendship for the explorers, might have been reasonablyexplained, but his failure to drive his javelin through the white man,who was so near and who never stirred from his position, could not bean accident. He knew the marvellous skill of the head chieftain, whocould have had but one cause for missing Ashman: that was anintentional deviation of his weapon, which, slight though it was,proved as effective as if hurled in the opposite direction.
And yet, shrewd as was Ziffak; he really believed he had deceived hisroyal brother. No suspicion of the distrust in the mind of the kingcame to the chieftain, when he was directed to return to the villageand bring ten more warriors with him.
But this errand secured the absence of Ziffak for a couple of hours atleast, and that was the sole purpose of Haffgo in sending him out ofthe cavern of diamonds.
When the chieftain was gone, the archer was directed to ascertain howfar he could steal around the cavern, by taking the opposite course.Haffgo followed, directing the others to stay where they were untilfurther orders were given them.
The archer set out at once, ahead of the king, both doing their best toavoid detection.
Fortune favored them in an unexpected manner. The ledge was foundeasier of travel than they expected, and, by using great care, theyworked their way to a point less than two hundred feet from where thefugitives were standing on guard. They had traversed the wholedistance, too, without detection.
When King Haffgo peered carefully over the shoulders of the crouchingbowman, he saw the couple standing with their backs toward him, as theyfaced the chasm which had been found impassable for the Murhapas.
The slumbering anger in the parent's breast was kindled to a whiteheat, when he observed the white man holding the hand of his daughter,and he saw him lean over and touch his lips to hers. He whispered tothe warrior to lose no time.
The latter quickly examined his arrows, and picked out the one whichnot only seemed the best, but was most plentifully provided with thedeadly poison. This was speedily fitted to the string, and hedeliberately took aim, his nerves like steel, for the king hadwhispered to him that he must not fail.
At the instant the string twanged, something caused Ariel to lookbehind them.
She uttered a faint scream as she caught sight of the two crouchingfigures. She descried a flitting shadow which she knew was theapproaching missile on its deadly mission.
Knowing that it was aimed at her lover, she threw both her arms aroundhis neck and interposed her body to protect him while he stoodbewildered, not comprehending what it all meant.
Her figure was too slight to serve the purpose of a shield. Thepoisoned arrow whizzed straight at the breast of A