The Man from Brodney's Part 42

Deppingham sprang to his feet with a fierce oath on his lips. His usually l.u.s.treless eyes were gleaming with something more than despair; there was the wild light of unmistakable relief in them. It was as if a horrid doubt had been scaled from the soul of Lady Deppingham's husband.

"We must follow!" shouted his lords.h.i.+p, preparing to lower himself into the jagged opening. "We may be in time!"

"Stop, Deppingham!" cried Chase, leaping to his side. "Don't rush blindly into a trap like that. Let's consider for a moment."

They had it back and forth for many minutes, the united efforts of the three men being required to keep the half-frantic Englishman from rus.h.i.+ng alone into the pa.s.sage. Reason at last prevailed.

"They've got an hour or more start of us," argued Chase. "Nothing will be accomplished by rus.h.i.+ng into an ambush. They'd kill us like rats.

Rasula is a sagacious scoundrel. He'll not take the entire responsibility. There will be a council of all the head men. It will be of no advantage to them to kill the heirs unless they are sure that _we_ won't live to tell the tale. They will go slow, now that they have the chief obstacles to victory in their hands."

"If they will give her up to me, I will guarantee that Lady Agnes shall relinquish all claim to the estate," announced the hara.s.sed husband.

"They won't do that, old man. Promises won't tempt them," protested Chase. "We've got to do what we can to rescue them. I'm with you, gentlemen, in the undertaking, first for humanity's sake; secondly, because I am your friend; lastly, because I don't want my clients to lose all chance of winning out in this controversy by acting like confounded a.s.ses. It isn't what Sir John expects of me. Now, let's consider the situation sensibly."

In the meantime, the anxious coterie in the chateau were waiting eagerly for the return of the searchers. Night had fallen swiftly. The Princess and Drusilla were walking restlessly back and forth, singularly quiet and constrained. The latter sighed now and then in a manner that went directly to the heart of her companion. Genevra recognised the futility of imposing her sympathies in the face of this significant reserve.

Drusilla made one remark, half unconsciously, no doubt, that rasped in the ears of the Princess for days. It was the cold, bitter, resigned epitome of the young wife's thoughts.

"Robert has loved her for months." That was all.

Mr. and Mrs. Saunders, thankful that something had happened to divert attention from their own conspicuous plight, were discoursing freely in the centre of a group composed of the four Englishmen from the bank, all of whom had deserted their posts of duty to hear the details of the amazing disappearance.

"It's a plain out and out elopement," said Mrs. Saunders, fanning herself vigorously.

"But, my dear," expostulated her husband, blus.h.i.+ng vividly over the first public use of the appellation, "where the devil could they elope to?"

"I don't know, Tommy, but elopers never take that into consideration. Do they, Mr. Bowles?"

Mr. Bowles readjusted the little red forage cap and said he'd be hanged if he knew the eloping symptoms.

At last the four men appeared in the mouth of the cavern. The watchers below fell into chilled silence when they discovered that the missing ones were not with them. Stupefied with apprehension, they watched the men descend the ladder and cross the bridge.

"They are dead!" fell from Brasilia Browne's lips. She swayed for an instant and then sank to the ground, unconscious.

In the conference which followed the return of the searchers, it was settled that three of the original party should undertake the further prosecution of the hunt for the two heirs. Lord Deppingham found ready volunteers in Chase and the faithful Selim. They prepared to go out in the hills before the night was an hour older. Selim argued that the abductors would not take their prisoners to the town of Aratat. He understood them well enough to know that they fully appreciated the danger of an uprising among those who were known to be openly opposed to the high-handed operations of Rasula and his const.i.tuency. He convinced Chase that the wily Rasula would carry his captives to the mines, where he was in full power.

"You're right, Selim. If he's tried that game we'll beat him at it. Ten to one, if he hasn't already chucked them into the sea, they're now confined in one of the mills over there."

They were ready to start in a very short time. Selim carried a quant.i.ty of food and a small supply of brandy. Each was heavily armed and prepared for a stiff battle with the abductors. They were to go by way of the upper gate, taking chances on leaving the park without discovery by the sentinels.

"We seem constantly to be saying good-bye to each other." Thus spoke the Princess to Chase as he stood at the top of the steps waiting for Selim.

The darkness hid the wan, despairing smile that gave the lie to her sprightly words.

"And I'm always doing the unexpected thing--coming back. This time I may vary the monotony by failing to return."

"I should think you could vary it more pleasantly by not going away,"

she said. "You will be careful?"

"The danger is here, not out there," he said meaningly.

"You mean--me? But, like all danger, I soon shall pa.s.s. In a few days, I shall say good-bye forever and sail away."

"How much better it would be for you if this were the last good-bye--and I should not come back."

"For me?"

"Yes. You could marry the Prince without having me on your conscience forevermore."

"Mr. Chase!"

"It's easier to forget the dead than the living, they say."

"Don't be too sure of that."

"Ah, there's Selim! Good-bye! We'll have good news for you all, I hope, before long. Keep your eyes on Neenah. She and Selim have arranged a set of signals. Don't lie awake all night--and don't pray for me," he scoffed, in reckless mood.

The three men stole out through the small gate in the upper end of the park. Selim at once took the lead. They crept off into the black forest, keeping clear of the mountain path until they were far from the walls.

It was hard going among the thickly grown, low-hanging trees. They were without lights; the jungle was wrapped in the blackness of night; the trail was unmade and arduous. For more than a mile they crept through the unbroken vegetation of the tropics, finally making their way down to the beaten path which led past the ruins of the bungalow and up to the mountain road that provided a short cut around the volcano to the highlands overlooking the mines district in the cradle-like valley beyond.

Deppingham had not spoken since they left the park grounds. He came second in the single file that they observed, striding silently and obediently at the given twenty paces behind Selim. They kept to the gra.s.sy roadside and moved swiftly and with as little noise as possible.

By this time, their eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness; they could distinguish one another quite clearly. The starlight filtered down through the leafy canopy above the road, increasing rather than decreasing the density of the shadows through which they sped. None but strong, determined, inspired men could have followed the pace set by the lithe, surefooted Selim.

Mile after mile fell behind them, with no relaxation of energy or purpose. Chase found time and opportunity to give his thoughts over to Genevra. A mighty longing to clasp her in his arms and carry her to the ends of the earth took possession of him: a longing to drag her far from the conventions which bound her to a world he could not enter into. Down in his heart, he knew that she loved him: it was not a play-day folly with her. And yet he knew that the end would be as she had said. She would be the wife of the man she did not love. Fate had given her to him when the world was young; there was no escape. In story-books, perhaps, but not in real life. And how he had come to love her!

They were coming to the ridge road and Selim fell back to explain the need for caution. The ridge road crept along the brow of the deep canyon that ran down to the sea. This was the road, in all likelihood, he explained, that the abductors would have used in their flight from the cavern. Two miles farther south it joined the wide highway that ran from Aratat to the mines.

Selim crept on ahead to reconnoitre. He was back in ten minutes with the information that a party of men had but lately pa.s.sed along the road toward the south. Their footprints in the soft, untraveled road were fresh. The stub of a cigarette that had scarcely burned itself out proved to him conclusively that the smoker, at least, was not far ahead of them.

They broke away from the road and took a less exposed course through the forest to their right, keeping well within earshot of the ridge, but moving so carefully that there was slight danger of alarming the party ahead. The fact that the abductors--there seemed to be no doubt as to ident.i.ty--had spent several hours longer than necessary in traversing the distance between the cave and the point just pa.s.sed, proving rather conclusively that they were enc.u.mbered by living, not dead, burdens.

At last the sound of voices came to the ears of the pursuers. As they crept closer and closer, they became aware of the fact that the party had halted and were wrangling among themselves over some point in dispute. With Selim in the lead, crawling like panthers through the dense undergrowth, the trio came to the edge of the timber land. Before them lay the dark, treeless valley; almost directly below them, not fifty yards away, cl.u.s.tered the group of disputing islanders, a dozen men in all, with half as many flaring torches.

They had halted in the roadway at the point where a sharp defile through the rocks opened a way down into the valley. Like snakes the pursuers wriggled their way to a point just above the small basin in which the party was congregated.

A great throb of exultation leaped up from their hearts, In plain view, at the side of the road, were the two persons for whom they were searching.

"G.o.d, luck is with us," whispered Chase unconsciously.

Lady Agnes, dishevelled, her dress half stripped from her person, was seated upon a great boulder, staring hopelessly, lifelessly at the crowd of men in the roadway. Beside her stood a tall islander, watching her and at the same time listening eagerly to the dispute that went on between his fellows. She was not bound; her hands and feet and lips were free. The glow from the torches held by gesticulating hands fell upon her tired, frightened face. Deppingham groaned aloud as he looked down upon the wretched, hopeless woman that he loved and had come out to die for.

Bobby Browne was standing near by. His hands were tightly bound behind his back. His face was blood-covered and the upper part of his body was almost bare, evidence of the struggle he had made against overwhelming odds. He was staring at the ground, his head and shoulders drooping in utter dejection.

The cause of the slow progress made by the attacking party was also apparent after a moment's survey of the situation. Three of the treasure chests were standing beside the road, affording seats for as many weary carriers. It was all quite plain to Chase. Rasula and his men had chanced upon the two white people during one of their trips to the cave for the purpose of removing the chests. Moreover, it was reasonable to a.s.sume that this lot of chests represented the last of those stored away by Von Blitz. The others had been borne away by detachments of men who left the cave before the discovery and capture of the heirs.

Rasula was haranguing the crowd of men in the road. The hidden listeners could hear and understand every word he uttered.