SISTER JESSIE
For a moment there was a lull in the noise. The firing had ceased, the
skyrockets and Roman candles had died away. The aerial bombs no longer
crashed like thunder overhead.
The attacking party, flushed with victory, ceased for the time their
cries of delight at the ease with which they had driven off their
enemies.
As for the kidnapping natives, they were no longer in sight, for they
had slunk off into the jungle, fearing the just vengeance of those whom
they had despoiled and captured.
“Jessie! Jessie!” shouted Mr. Duncan again. “Are you here? We have come
to save you.”
There was silence again, and then from one of the smaller huts, near
the one where the king had dwelt, came girlish tones.
“Who is calling me? Yes, I am here. Oh, Mr. Brown, is that you? What
has happened? Where is Mrs. Brown? Oh, what is going on?”
“Jessie! Jessie!” called another voice--one that seemed to come from
an adjoining hut. “I did not call. I don’t know what to make of it. My
wife is here, but she has fainted. I can’t get out. I’m tied. So is
she. Can you escape and tell me what it is? I fear the village is on
fire. I heard guns----”
“So did I. Oh! if it is only a rescue----” her voice faltered and she
could be heard to sob.
“It is a rescue!” shouted Joe. “Dad and I have come for you, Jessie.
I’m your brother. Father is here!”
“Father--brother!” faltered the tones. “I have none. I am all alone----”
“Hurry out before the hut catches fire!” cried Mr. Duncan, who, in
rushing toward the rude building, had stumbled and fallen.
“I am a prisoner--tied fast,” the girl’s voice answered. “Oh! whoever
you are, save us!”
“Come on,” yelled Blake. “This whole place will be on fire in a few
minutes. We’ve got to get ’em out!”
They dashed for the huts. It was a matter of seconds only to tear aside
the grass cloth that served as doors. Then the flames from several
burning huts lighted up the interior.
Joe, leaping inside the one whence the girl’s voice had come, saw tied
to the centre pole a maiden. With his knife he slashed the bonds of
twisted fibre and, catching her in his arms as she fell forward, he
cried:
“Jessie! Jessie! I’ve found you at last. Here she is, Dad!”
Mr. Duncan rushed in. Taking the burden from Joe he carried the girl
out of the hut, the roof of which had already caught. In the light of
the fire he looked at her pale face.
“Yes, it is Jessie--my Jessie!” he exclaimed as he kissed her. “Though
I have not seen her since she was a baby I would know her anywhere. Oh,
Jessie, we have you again! I have my son and daughter now!”
The girl opened her eyes. Wonderingly she looked at Joe and his father.
“Is it--is it really true?” she faltered.
“It is!” Joe assured her. “Blake, come over here and let me introduce
you to Sister Jessie.”
“Say, this is no time for introductions!” cried C. C. Piper, breaking
in on the happy little party. “This is a fierce fire. We’ve got to
rescue those missionaries and skip. This whole place will go!”
“Oh, yes, dear Mr. and Mrs. Brown!” cried Jessie. “We must save them.”
“It’s all right. I got them out,” said Sergeant Hotchkiss. “They were
tied to the centre pole of their hut, but here they are all safe. Not
harmed a bit,” and he stood to one side to disclose those whom he had
rescued.
“Oh, Jessie! can it be true that we are saved?” cried a lady, as she
rushed up and clasped the girl in her arms. “I had almost given up
hope.”
“The Lord is very good to us,” said a man’s voice behind her, and then
Mr. Brown went on: “Dear friends, we cannot thank you enough. It is all
a mystery to me. I do not even know you, but can it be possible that
our dear little missionary helper has found the relatives she suspected
she had, but about whom she was never sure--can she have found them in
this strange fashion?”
“No, we found her!” cried Joe, laughing. “But it’s all the same!”
“Come, hurry away from here!” cried C. C. Piper. “It’s getting too hot.
We can talk later.”
“That’s right,” agreed Mr. Brown.
“What about the native prisoners?” asked Mr. Duncan. “We should save
them, too.”
“They are not confined in any huts,” said Mr. Brown. “They were treated
as slaves, but not tied up. I fancy they escaped when you drove the
others off by your shots. Oh, it seems too good to be true!”
A hasty investigation showed no captives in the huts that were not yet
afire, and had there been any in the blazing ones they would have made
the fact known by their yells. The rescuing party now withdrew to a
safe place, and took possession of some huts that were in no danger of
catching fire, as the wind blew away from them.
It was light enough to see to make a camp now, the first flush of dawn
coming in the east. The porters, with shouts of joy, took possession
of the property of the scattered kidnappers. There was plenty of food,
without going back to the camp of our friends in the jungle, and soon
everyone was fairly comfortable.
As daylight grew there came straggling back some of the Christianized
natives who were captured at the time the missionary workers were, and
they were made welcome. But none of the kidnappers came back.
The story of the raid on the mission station was well enough known not
to need repeating, and then Jessie told how she had come to take up
with missionary work.
She had always wondered about herself since a small child, and had
made some effort to trace her parentage, without result. Finally she
had been, in a sense, adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Brown and had traveled
with them extensively, acting as a helper in their missionary work and
eventually coming to Africa.
Of the horrors of the raid and the terrors of their trip through the
jungle and as captives little was said. They wanted to forget it.
Jessie told how, in a moment amid the mad scenes, she had written the
message in the Bible and tossed it out, hoping some friend would find
it.
“And it will be easy to forget all the sad scenes now that I have a
father and a brother,” said Jessie, as she looked at them both fondly.
“Our trip ended most successfully,” said Blake. “Not only did we get
some of the best moving pictures ever filmed, but we found what we came
after--Sister Jessie.”
“And what will you do next?” the rescued girl wanted to know, when they
had related their strange adventures since coming to Africa, and had
told of their work in filming many weird scenes.
“It’s hard to say,” replied Joe. “Things seem to come our way most
unexpectedly.” But what they did next and what happened to them will be
told of in the next book of this series, to be called “The Movie Boys
in Earthquake Land”; or “Filming Pictures Amid Strange Perils.”
After a rest in the partially burned African village the expedition
was reformed and with the former captives--white as well as black--the
start for Entebbe was made. There were hardships on the way, but they
put up with them as best they could. The boys got several more fine
films of wild animals, some secured with no little danger, and they
shot some big game.
“I wouldn’t have missed this for the world,” said Blake when they were
on the steamer on the way to New York, accompanied by C. C. Piper, Mr.
Duncan, Jessie, of course, and Mr. and Mrs. Brown. For the missionaries
decided to take a vacation, as Mrs. Brown was very nervous because of
her captivity.
“It sure was great,” declared Joe. “I hope our circus man likes the
films.”
And that he did need not be doubted, for Blake and Joe were by this
time experts in the moving picture business. And thus, safely on their
way to New York, we will take leave of our heroes and their friends.
THE END
The Movie Boys Series
_By_ VICTOR APPLETON
THE MOVIE BOYS ON CALL,
or Filming the Perils of A Great City. _Published January 2, 1926_
THE MOVIE BOYS IN THE WILD WEST,
or Stirring Days Among the Cowboys and Indians.
_Published January 28, 1926_
THE MOVIE BOYS AND THE WRECKERS,
or Facing the Perils of the Deep. _Published February 28, 1926_
THE MOVIE BOYS IN THE JUNGLE,
or Lively Times Among the Wild Beasts. _Published March 28, 1926_
THE MOVIE BOYS IN EARTHQUAKE LAND,
or Filming Pictures and Strange Perils. _Published April 28, 1926_
THE MOVIE BOYS AND THE FLOOD,
or Perilous Days on the Mighty Mississippi. _Published May 28, 1926_
THE MOVIE BOYS IN PERIL,
or Strenuous Days Along the Panama Canal. _Published June 28, 1926_
THE MOVIE BOYS UNDER THE SEA,
or The Treasure of the Lost Ship. _Published July 28, 1926_
THE MOVIE BOYS UNDER FIRE,
or The Search for the Stolen Film. _Published August 28, 1926_
THE MOVIE BOYS UNDER UNCLE SAM,
or Taking Pictures for the Army. _Published September 28, 1926_
THE MOVIE BOYS’ FIRST SHOWHOUSE,
or Fighting for a Foothold in Fairlands.
_Published October 28, 1926_
THE MOVIE BOYS AT SEASIDE PARK,
or The Rival Photo Houses of the Boardwalk.
_Published November 28, 1926_
THE MOVIE BOYS ON BROADWAY,
or The Mystery of the Missing Cash Box.
_Published December 28, 1926_
THE MOVIE BOYS’ OUTDOOR EXHIBITION,
or the Film that Solved the Mystery. _Published January 28, 1927_
THE MOVIE BOYS’ NEW IDEA,
or Getting the Best of Their Enemies. _Published February 28, 1927_
THE MOVIE BOYS AT THE BIG FAIR,
or The Greatest Film Ever Exhibited. _Published March 28, 1927_
THE MOVIE BOYS’ WAR SPECTACLE,
or The Film that Won the Prize. _Published April 28, 1927_
Garden City Publishing Co., _Inc._
Garden City New York
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Perceived typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.
The Table of Contents has been added for the reader’s convenience.