THE FIGHT IN THE TUNNEL.
We must now return to Jack, whom we left crouching at the end of the
tunnel which led to the outer cave, and awaiting the onslaught of
three powerful Kachins.
As the natives drew step by step along the tunnel towards Jack, he
balanced the great broadsword he held by both hands, and poised it
ready to strike at the foremost. Though he was greatly out-numbered,
yet he held one advantage. The forms of his enemies were clear against
the sunlight which poured into the mouth of the outer cave. He could
see every movement they made, but they could not see him. The inner
cave was very dimly lighted, and, coming from the bright light
without, his enemies could not mark that Jack was waiting for them.
A second advantage he enjoyed was that they did not know that he was
armed. They knew that they had stripped him of every weapon when he
was first seized, and now they did not dream that he had secured a
_dah_ for himself, and was thoroughly resolved to make the deadliest
use of it before he would submit to capture.
On crept the Kachins in the boldest fashion, urged forward not merely
by their native bravery, but convinced that they had before them the
simplest of tasks, the seizing of an unarmed lad who would surrender
at sight of their weapons.
At the next moment they were terribly undeceived. Fetching a sweeping
blow, Jack cut down the leading Kachin with a terrific stroke. The
edge of the keen, heavy blade fell at the point where neck and
shoulder meet, and the doomed man was nearly cut in two. He dropped
with a single groan, and the two men behind caught him by the feet and
dragged him swiftly back.
Jack drew a deep breath, regained his heavy weapon, and poised it
anew. But for the moment he was left in peace. The group in the outer
cave had gathered about the fallen man. They uttered loud cries of
surprise when they saw the deep and dreadful wound he had received
with such terrible force from the dah. "_Dah! dah!_" Jack heard the
name of the native sword pass from lip to lip, and knew that they had
recognised by what weapon that frightful slicing blow was delivered.
But in another moment he recognised how grim and fell were these
people who were his foes. As coolly as though it were but a dog that
Jack had slain with that tremendous blow, the Strangler lifted the
dead Kachin and tossed him carelessly aside. Saya Chone said a sharp
word, and a fresh man stepped forward, drawing his _dah_ with a grin
as he was ordered to join his companions in a fresh assault. Jack knew
these little men in blue kilts to be brave to desperation, utterly
careless of life, either their own or another's, and he braced
himself once more for the struggle.
But this time the Kachins came on in different order, and in a
different fashion. A sudden flare of yellow light filled the tunnel,
and Jack saw that two men marched ahead, each with his _dah_ ready to
strike, and that behind them the third man held a flaming torch. He
saw at once how cunning was the trick. The glare would flash over the
assailant's shoulders straight into his eyes, confusing him, while
they would be lighted perfectly to the attack.
In a second Jack had devised a plan of meeting this danger. He dropped
his _dah_ over his left arm, bent and seized a huge pebble from the
floor. He poised the stone for an instant, then flung it with great
power. At this short range he struck the mark to a hair, and his mark
was the grinning face of the Kachin who carried the torch, and
rejoiced that his friends would now make short work of the fierce
young Feringhee who had hidden in the cave.
The dark face of the native was wrinkled with a savage smile, and all
his gums were on view when the heavy stone struck into his open mouth
with a crash of splintering teeth. The first pebble was followed by a
second, which took him between the eyes. Stunned and blinded, he
reeled back and dropped the torch. His comrades, bereft of their
guiding light, upon which they had counted so much, hesitated for a
moment and hung upon the next step. There was no hesitation with Jack.
Things stood at too desperate a pass with him that he should let
things hang in the wind. No sooner did he see the Kachin with the
torch reel back and drop the firebrand, than he swung his weapon on
high and darted at the two men who had halted in the tunnel. As he did
so he let out a mighty shout. Shout and blow fell together on the
hesitating Kachins. Both thrust their _dahs_ forward to parry the
unseen assault.
Jack's weapon fell with a ringing clash of steel across the _dah_ of
the leading man, beat it down, went on, and bit deeply into the
Kachin's skull. The latter reeled against his companion and clutched
him. For a second they swayed, then both men fell heavily together to
the ground.
Lying helpless as they were at his feet, it was a mere matter of a
couple of blows for him to utterly destroy both, and so lessen the
number of his enemies. But Jack could not strike fallen men. He
returned to his own end of the tunnel, and allowed them to creep back
to the outer cave, the wounded man crawling slowly after his friends.
This second repulse seemed to put Saya Chone and the Strangler beside
themselves with fury. They screamed invective and insult against Jack,
and threatened him with the most frightful penalties when he should
fall into their hands. Both had a perfect command of some of the worst
language in English that Jack had ever heard, but he took it all for
what it was worth, clutched his faithful broadsword tighter still, and
waited to see what their next attempt would be. He still cherished a
hope of escape. He had crippled pretty well half of the attacking
force, and if he could but hold them off till darkness came, there
might be an opportunity of escape in the moonless night.
"There were only four Kachins with them," thought Jack, "and the
natives they have picked up from the neighbouring village may be
dismissed as fighting men, if they are anything like the chaps who are
somewhere behind me here. The half-caste and the Malay seem to keep
out of the scrimmages. If I only have a bit more luck, I can chew them
up enough perhaps to make them sheer off and leave me alone."
As far as appearances went, they were leaving him alone now. But Jack
knew that appearances are too often deceitful. The outer cave looked
perfectly empty. Neither sign nor sound of human presence was given.
Saya Chone and the Strangler had gone away, leaping down from the
mouth of the outer cave to the ravine. But Jack was certain that the
unwounded Kachins were still lurking in the cave out of his sight, and
he had no intention whatever of creeping out and engaging in a
hand-to-hand struggle with the iron-limbed little mountaineers. Fully
half an hour passed in this profound silence. Jack kept the sharpest
look-out, but could catch no sign to show that his lair was still
watched.
"If they can wait," thought Jack, "so can I. I'll not stir an inch
from my cover, however silent they may be."
At that instant he caught a sharp, low cry of surprise behind him. He
whirled round swiftly, for in his intentness he had actually forgotten
the two Panthays, his fellow-prisoners. With a gasp of relief, Jack
found that it was the elder Panthay who had called out. The two men
had been crouching in a corner of the inner cave, and had given no
sign of their presence while Jack struggled with his foes. Now one was
calling out, and both were pointing upwards.
Jack took a step back from the mouth of the tunnel and looked aloft.
The rift in the rock forty feet above, which lighted the cave, was
obscured and darkened. In a moment he saw that the gap was filled with
a human body, and that a Panthay was peering down upon them.
"What's this game?" thought Jack. "They've climbed up to that hole,
but unless I obligingly stand under it, and let them drop a stone on
my head, I don't see what they get by it."
Little did the heroic lad dream of the fearful use to which his
enemies meant to put the rift in the rock high above him.