The grey dusk was becoming night when among the dark stems of the trees
we saw some black form move over the ground. We could scarcely
distinguish it as it crawled over the bamboo logs and made a rasping
noise as it clung to the ladder. The door of the hut yielded to it, and
a minute after it again emerged and bore with it the terrified Kachyen.
We crept after it as it dragged its captive down the avenue, striving
our utmost to make out its shape. One thing we could tell, which was
that the creature was not upright; but our movement behind it was
apparently known, for it struggled to move quicker over the ground with
its human burden.
[Illustration: "IT AGAIN EMERGED."]
"Shall I shoot it?" I whispered to Denviers, as my nerves seemed to be
almost unstrung at the unknowableness of the creeping thing.
"You would more likely kill the man," he responded. "Follow as
noiselessly as you can--it will not let its prey escape, be sure of
that. Once we track it to its haunt we will soon dispatch it, big and
fierce as it seems."
We drew nearer and nearer to it, until it had passed half-way down the
avenue, then it seemed to become lost to our view, although we were, as
we knew, close to it. I felt Denviers' hand upon my shoulder, and then
he whispered:--
"The Kachyen is being dragged up a tree just in front--look!" I could
just distinguish something moving up the trunk, when suddenly the
captive, who had hitherto been apparently paralyzed with terror, uttered
a cry and then must have succeeded in disengaging himself from the
dreadful thing that had held him, for the noise of someone falling to
the ground was heard, and a minute after we distinguished the form of a
man rushing headlong back to the village for safety.
We did not anticipate such an event, and were contemplating a search for
the captor of the Kachyen, when a cold sweat broke out upon me, for the
clammy claws of the man-hunter had touched me! The sensation which
seized me was only of short duration, for I felt myself released just as
Denviers said:--
"Harold, the Kachyen has fled, and his captor, determined to secure its
prey, has betaken its crawling body after him. If only we had a light! I
saw something like a black shadow moving onwards; get your pistol ready
and follow." I just distinguished Denviers as he passed on in front of
me, Hassan coming last. When we reached the hut of the Maw-Sayah we
stopped at once, for, from the cry which came from it, we rightly
surmised that the terrible seeker for human prey had made for this
place, thinking, in its dull intelligence, that its captive had
returned. We thrust ourselves into the hut, and saw by the red firelight
a sanguinary contest between the Maw-Sayah and the black object which we
had endeavoured to track. Thinking that the Kachyen was being destroyed,
the juggler had not fastened his door, and the enraged man-eater had
seized him as he rested on the ground, quite at its mercy!
The Maw-Sayah was struggling with his bony hands to extricate himself
from the clutches of a monstrous tree-spider! We had seen, on an island
in the South Seas, several cocoa-nut crabs, and this reptile somewhat
resembled them, but was even larger. Grasping the juggler with several
of its long, furry-looking claws, it fixed its glaring red eyes in mad
anger upon him as he grasped in each hand one of its front pair of
legs, which were armed with strong, heavy-looking pincers. He besought
us wildly to shoot, even if we killed him, held as he was by his
relentless foe.
"Harold," cried my companion, "keep clear, and look out for yourself
when I fire at this reptile; most likely it will make for one of us." He
drew right close to it, and thrusting the barrel of his pistol between
its eyes touched the trigger. The explosion shook the hut, its effect
upon the spider being to cause it to rush frantically about the floor,
dragging the Maw-Sayah as if he were some slight burden scarcely
observable.
[Illustration: "A RELENTLESS FOE."]
"You missed it!" I cried. "Look out, Hassan, guard the doorway!" The
Arab stood, sword in hand, waiting for it to make for the entrance,
while Denviers exclaimed:--
"I shot it through the head!" and a minute afterwards the trueness of
his aim was manifest, for the claws released, and the Maw-Sayah, wounded
badly, but saved, stood free from the muscular twitchings of the dead
spider.
"You scoundrel!" said Denviers to him, "I have a good mind to serve you
the same. You deserve to die as so many of these simple-minded,
credulous Kachyens have done." I thought for one brief second that my
companion was about to kill the juggler, for through all our adventures
I had never seen him so thoroughly roused. I stood between them; then,
when Denviers quickly recovered his self-command, I turned to the
Maw-Sayah and asked:--
"If we spare your life, will you promise to leave this village and never
to return?" He turned his evil-looking but scared face towards us
eagerly as he replied:--
"I will do whatever you wish." Denviers motioned to him to rest upon the
ground, which he did, then turning to me, said:--
"It is pretty apparent what this juggler has done. The man who first
reported the discovery of this Nat, as the foolish Kachyens call it,
simply disturbed a monstrous spider which had lived in the trees which
he felled--that accounts for his seeing it. Finding animal food scarce,
the reptile ventured into this village and tried to get into one of the
huts. Its exertions were rewarded by the Kachyen coming to the door,
whom it accordingly seized. To continue its plan, which proved so
successful, needed very little reasoning power on the part of such a
cunning creature. No doubt this Maw-Sayah purposely left the door of his
hut unfastened each seventh night, and the spider thus became accustomed
to seek for its victim there, I daresay it came the other nights, but
the juggler was then careful enough to keep his hut well fastened."
"What do the sahibs propose to do?" interrupted Hassan. Denviers turned
to him, as he responded:--
"We will wait for daybreak; then, having dragged the dead spider out
where the Kachyens may see that it is no longer able to harm them, we
will take this Maw-Sayah down the mountain path away from the village as
poor as he came."
[Illustration: "YOU SCOUNDREL!"]
"A good plan," I assented, and we followed it out, eventually leaving
the juggler, and climbing once more into the howdah upon the elephant,
which we found close to the spot where we had left it, secured from
wandering far away by the rope which Hassan had used to hinder its
movements.
We entered Bhamo, and while we took a much-needed rest, our guide--as we
afterwards learnt--searched for and found the fugitive Kachyen, who, on
hearing that his safety was secured, hastily departed to the village to
rejoice with the rest of his tribe that the so-called Nat would not do
them any more injury.
_From Behind the Speaker's Chair._