Jim Meets with a Surprise
It was an exciting and an anxious moment for Jim and his comrades as
they saw the strangers bounding towards them, and for one brief instant
our hero hesitated, wondering whether he ought to respect the white flag
which the leader of this new band bore. He had already arrested
Tomkins's intention of firing on them, and now peremptorily restrained
the others.
"Stop!" he shouted. "Not a shot. I believe they are friends. Why, as I
live, if that isn't a white man at their head!"
But the light just now was not so good as it had been. The moon was
waning, and the dawn half broken. In consequence, though the party
anxiously watching the strangers from the rocky eminence could make out
their numbers, and each individual member of the band, they could
distinguish nothing more than that. Phineas drew in a deep breath. He
had learned to trust Jim's judgment, but on this occasion he feared
greatly that he was making a gigantic error.
"Gee!" he cried in anxious tones. "Supposing they are enemies like the
rest. They will cut us to pieces. Get ready to shoot, you men."
"By de poker, but if dey not friends, den Tom talk to them same as he
talk wid de oders," growled the negro. "But me tink Massa Jim right;
Massa Jim neber make mistake."
It was like the huge fellow to support his young master, of whom he had
an absurdly high opinion; but Sam and Ching were just as emphatic.
"Not need fear rumpus any longer," said the former, dropping the butt of
his weapon to the ground. "Massa Jim know what him talking about. No
flies on him anyway."
"He, he, he! Velly nice for dis party," lisped the Chinaman. "A minute
ago me tink soon hab ebelyting ober. Soon be chopped to little pieces,
same as Ching chop de meat for de stew. But now ebelyting jolly. Yo see
precious soon. Ching knowee well dat dat a white man. Him seen him
before; him know de movement of him legs. Him and Ching great friends
some time ago."
Could it be true? Even Jim, as he anxiously watched the approaching
band, and with no little doubt as to their friendly intentions, could
not fail to observe that the leader, who in the dim light had the
appearance of being a white man, certainly walked in a manner with which
he was familiar. The swift fling of the legs reminded him of someone;
but whom? Where had he known that someone? That was the question. Less
than a minute later he was staggering backwards as if someone had struck
him a heavy blow. As for the strangers, there was now no doubt that a
white man led them. A tall, thin young man, with somewhat cadaverous
cast of countenance, halted within ten paces of the party, still waving
his white banner, and gave vent to a cry of astonishment, a cry which
Jim echoed. Then Sadie, half-hidden behind the men of her party, pushed
her way resolutely through them, ran forward, and gazed at the man. In
an instant she had thrown herself upon him.
"Jim!" she screamed; "it's George, George come back to life! George
alive, when we thought he was dead in the jungle."
[Illustration: "IT'S GEORGE, GEORGE COME BACK TO LIFE!"]
The meeting staggered our hero. He could hardly believe that it could be
his brother, he whom they had lost in the jungle now so long ago. Even
the strong grip which George gave him failed to convince.
"How's it happened?" demanded Jim. "We settled that you were dead, that
the fever had killed you, and that you had fallen in some hollow in the
jungle. Who are all these men here? How is it that you have turned up
right away at the very instant when help is wanted? My head is all of a
whirl: I guess I'm getting silly."
"Then you needn't blame yourself," came George's answer. "Reckon you'd
be a strange fellow if you weren't a little bit overcome by my turning
up after you'd given me over for dead. But, see here, Jim; I'm your own
brother George right enough, though how it comes that I am still alive
and kicking is a long story. As to how I arrived here on time, that's
much simpler. The natives I have been living with are at daggers drawn
with a tribe over by the lagoon, and have been greatly troubled because
some beggarly European rascals have been selling guns and powder to
them. For three months past I've been a kind of king amongst them, and
of course I've taken steps to have that other tribe watched. Well, we
heard that an expedition was coming this way. We shadowed the natives
through the forest, and then heard a shot. Later we followed again, and
then there was heavy firing. I made out your party from the edge of the
jungle, and I reckoned that I would help. Of course I couldn't tell who
was in the right. I only knew that the natives who are enemies of ours
were attacking a small party, and so I decided to help the weaker side.
Here we are, seventy of us in all, and quite sufficient to make short
work of those fellows. Now tell me all about the bother."
As rapidly as possible Jim told him how Jaime and his rascally comrades
had abducted Sadie, and how he had followed.
"It's a precious long yarn, like yours," he laughed, gripping George's
hand for the twentieth time, for even now he found it hard to believe
that this good news was actually and really true. "But, to begin with, I
took a job on the Panama Canal."
"Won a job is truer, I guess," interrupted Phineas, who was beaming on
our young hero and his long-lost brother. "Won a job on the Panama
Canal, sir. Let me tell you that this young Jim of yours has done mighty
well since you took it into your head to clear off into the jungle. To
begin with, he started right off for New York; for he had to find a job
somewhere. Then there was a collision. The ship foundered, and I was
left aboard her when the crew took to the boats. Jim there swam out and
saved me. Give you my word, the risk he ran makes my hair stand on end
even nowadays. Of course I was grateful. After all, life's pleasant
to a man working on the canal; there's a real interest in it. I
offered to get our young friend a job, and house his sister. That's how
the business started. He won the job, siree; won it outright and by as
fine a show of grit as ever you could come across."
George's sallow, fever-haunted face brightened at the words: he
stretched forward a hand to grip his brother's, and then to take that of
Phineas.
"It's the one thing that has troubled me ever since I was lost in the
forest," he said feelingly. "There was always Sadie, and what had
happened to her. I knew that Jim and the boys would stick to her and
support her; but the willingness to do so doesn't make it always
possible. Guess I owe you a lot, Mr. Phineas, and Jim's my own brother.
I always knew he had grit."
"See here," burst in Phineas, who seemed to have suddenly found a loose
tongue, "you don't owe me a cent's worth. I'll get ahead with this yarn,
for this young Jim ain't likely to give it all. And ef I wasn't to tell
every word, there's Tom and Sam and Ching would soon see that the news
reached you. Eh, boys?"
In the fading moonlight Tom gave an expansive, seven-foot grin, and
wagged his head. Sam's little eyes twinkled brightly, while the Chinaman
undid his pigtail, and coiled it again, glancing from one to the other.
"If you not guess dat Mass Jim play de game, den you velly stupid, sah,"
he said. "But you know him from de days when we were all on de salvage
boat. Massa Jim a demon to work, and never know what it am to fear."
"Listen to this," went on Phineas, wagging a finger at the three, to
silence them. "There were a number of Spaniards aboard the boat that
foundered. They fought for the boats, and Jim and Tom had a stand-up
fight with them, supporting the captain and crew thoroughly. Well, Jim
here knocked a rascal down, who, it turned out, was one of a gang of
ruffians who had been infesting ports along the Gulf of Mexico, and who
of late had been carrying on their evil practices on the canal zone.
This rascal was brought back to Colon with the others, and the gang
began operations again. But this particular man imagined he had a grudge
against Jim. He deliberately fired at him one night when in my quarters.
Of course we followed, that is, Jim and his boys did. They tracked the
fellow to a house where the gang were situated, and as a result, when
the police arrived, three of the gang were taken, though not until Jim
had nearly lost his life. Two got away, and the police followed right
away along the coast, across a lagoon to the jungle 'way ahead of us.
There was a fight between themselves and the native tribe these rascals
had taken refuge with, while the two men were killed or severely
wounded. Back comes Jim, takes on a special job on the works, and then
gets mixed up with the remainder of the gang. They play all sorts of
tricks, and finally rob the Commission offices, and, as a special mark
of their hatred to Jim, abduct Sadie. There we are, siree. Right down to
the present moment. Jim and the boys went off this very evening, crept
up to the gang, and brought away the girl and the plunder. You've seen
what followed."
The sallow face of the man who had so suddenly joined the party lit up
again, while he regarded his brother in a manner somewhat different from
that he had been accustomed to aboard the salvage boat. For then Jim had
appeared as only a boy to George. But now it was as a man that his
brother found him, a young, strenuous, self-possessed man, who, without
a shadow of doubt, had been winning the golden opinion of those with
whom he had come in contact. In place of being stranded by his past
misfortunes, and finding life a struggle, George had now learned that
Jim was prospering, that he had won a lucrative job on the canal works,
and later, when Phineas was able to speak further with him, that there
were many amongst the officials who predicted that our hero would rise
high, and would, when he was a little older, fill a position of
responsibility.
"And so you rescued Sadie, and took their plunder from them!" gasped
George. "That's a good beginning, and those bodies lying out there show
that your party has done well in the attack. Now let me give a little
further information. Guess those rascals you followed across the lagoon
were wounded only, for our tribe have had certain news that two white
men were with their enemies. Guess they've come along with this second
party, and have now joined hands with the men you tracked to this spot.
Who's leader here?"
Phineas jerked his head in Jim's direction, while Tomkins, who had stood
near at hand all the while, grinned ever so little.
"Young, ain't he?" he asked, in his usually blunt manner. "But there
ain't no flies on him, siree. He's shown us how to move, has Mister
Jim."
"Then what do you propose? Stay here and build up a barricade of stones,
or attack the enemy boldly?" asked George.
Jim did not answer for the moment. He knew that even now that his party
had been so well reinforced it was smaller in numbers than the enemy. To
march out across the open would certainly lead to great loss, for most
of the natives with Jaime and his ruffians were armed with firelocks. On
the other hand, there was not much to be gained by staying in their
present position, for that would carry them no nearer to safety.
Unless----
To the surprise of all he suddenly struck his thigh with the palm of his
hand, and gave a shout of triumph. He was in the very act of telling
those who stood around what plan he suggested, when a rifle snapped from
the forest, and a bullet whistled just overhead. Then a storm of balls
came swishing out over the open, and were followed by the appearance of
the enemy. They swarmed from the shadows, massed in one corner, and
then, to the thunderous beat of native drums came racing forward.
"Back to your places," shouted Jim. "Fire as soon as you are in
position. George, how many of your men are armed with guns?"
"Thirty at the most; they trust to spears and a long curling knife."
"One more question; did those rascals see you join us?"
"Certain to have done so," answered George. "But whether they have a
correct idea of our numbers is an altogether different matter."
"Then line up all the men without guns at the back of the firing party.
When I give the word, lead them out against the enemy; we must drive
them back whatever happens."
The ten minutes which followed were full of movement, and were, in fact,
more than strenuous; for Jaime was desperate. He was furious to have
been worsted so easily, and, reviewing the whole affair, it made him
tremble with rage when he recollected that all his carefully made plans
had come to naught. The greatest blow of all was that the treasure which
he had stolen had been taken from him, and that by four men alone,
simply because he himself had relaxed his usual caution. It was
therefore with shouts of rage that he led the enemy. Dashing forward at
the head of some hundred and fifty of them, he urged them on in spite of
the bullets which hissed through their ranks. He himself seemed to bear
a charmed life; for though Tomkins made more than one effort, he failed
signally to bring the robber chief to the ground. Always his bullet
struck the man on one or other side, or him who was following.
"Thunder!" shouted the policeman at last, angry at his want of success.
"That's the fifth time I've drawn a bead on him and missed. See if I
don't do it this time. It's the only thing that'll save us."
He leant his cheek against the butt of his rifle with more than usual
care, and pulled steadily on his trigger. Then he jerked the weapon
backward with an exclamation of disgust, and rapidly pushed a charge of
cartridges into his emptied magazine; for Jaime was still untouched. The
bullet intended for him had struck one of his white followers, and those
who watched saw the man pitch forward with arms and legs outspread, and
come with a thud to the ground. Nor did he move a muscle afterwards. By
then Jaime and those with him were within twenty yards of the eminence.
"Ready?" asked Jim, placing himself beside George at the head of his
natives, while the ever-watchful Tom came sidling up to him, his rifle
gripped in his enormous hands. "Then charge!"
George shouted. A man amongst the natives blew on a horn, while another
beat a drum. Then some forty of them launched themselves past the firing
line, and fell upon the charging enemy furiously. At once it became
evident that the fight was to be one to a finish. The men who had
followed George had without doubt the greatest hatred for those others,
and for that reason fought with a ferocity which was terrible. Shouts of
consternation came from the enemy at their sudden appearance. Men in
rear turned and fled, while those in the van came to a halt. Jaime
turned and beckoned to them. In the short space at his disposal he
threatened his followers. Then he and those with him were overwhelmed.
In one brief minute the rush of Jaime and his supporters was converted
into a mad retreat, with a band of dusky men in rear of them slashing
and cutting desperately. As for Jim and George, they were carried
forward by the natives, and, with the lusty Tom beside them, thrust
their way far in amongst the flying enemy, striking right and left with
their rifles. Nor was Tom satisfied with that. The negro was possessed
of enormous strength, and nothing could resist him. He dashed far beyond
his comrades, discarding his rifle. His ponderous fists shot out in
every direction, flooring the enemy; then, catching sight of Jaime
struggling amidst the natives, and possessed, it seemed, with the same
terror which had suddenly assailed them, Tom leapt at him, covering the
ground in enormous bounds, and easily clearing a path before him. In a
trice he was level with the robber, and though the latter turned and
endeavoured to bring a weapon to bear on the negro, the gallant Tom was
too quick for him. He had him by the collar in an instant, the fingers
of his right hand encircled the back of the neck, causing the wretch to
drop his revolver and shriek. Then, just as had happened earlier on, the
man was swung like a bale into the air, and was whirled above the heads
of the others.
"By de poker, but dis time yo not get 'way!" bellowed Tom, mad with
excitement. "Yo not get back to dem scum to lead dem against Missie
Sadie. See here, me break yo neck if yo move. Me crush ebery bone in yo
body. Yo hear dat? Den keep quiet or me pound yo to a jelly."
The miserable fellow was not able to move so much as a finger, so firmly
did Tom grip him; and if he imagined that his comrades would help him,
he was much mistaken. For they were terrified, and fled back to the
forest with George's men hanging on behind them. Indeed, in five minutes
there was not a trace of the enemy, save the numerous bodies which lay
in the open. There was only Jaime de Oteros, a prisoner now, cringing
at the feet of our hero, and looking askance at the panting men about
him.
"Now, sah," said Tom, drawing in a deep breath, "not want dis scum any
longer. Suppose we hang um straight off and so save heap ob trouble."
"Tie him up fast, and set a watch over him," commanded Jim promptly.
"Now, George, I'm ready to give you my plan for the future. I was about
to do so when the enemy charged. But, first, are they likely to leave
us?"
George shook his head promptly, then exchanged a few words with one of
the natives who was evidently of some importance. "They will stay there
in the forest," he said at last. "They have the great advantage of
possessing rifles, and guess they still far outnumber us. So they'll lie
there in hiding, and pepper us whenever we show a finger. If we go out
to attack them, they will break up and move away; but if we attempt to
make for Colon, they will hang on our flanks and kill us little by
little."
"Then we'll keep them hanging about in the forest. See here, George,"
said our hero eagerly. "This party of mine was to be merely a sort of
cutting-out expedition. We rode hard in order to come up with this
ruffian Jaime, and rescue Sadie. The main party was to steam to the
lagoon, and there attack the natives. They were then to endeavour to
join hands with us. Seems to me we have an excellent chance of a
combined movement. We stay here, and make pretence that we dare not
move. Meanwhile you send off a couple or more men to our other party.
When could they reach us?"
"To-morrow morning, perhaps a little earlier. Gee, this is a good plan!
The head of the lagoon is only a bare twenty miles from us. My men could
reach the spot by late this afternoon. Your other party would march
right off, and, allowing for the difficulties of getting through the
jungle, could be here even earlier than I said. It's a fine move; fine,
and will be just the thing to put an end to this matter."
"And your men could start at once, and leave without the enemy being the
wiser?"
Once more George appealed to the native chief, and presently returned to
his brother. "They shall go at once. We will send two parties,
consisting of three men each. They will slip away from this spot without
anyone seeing them, and will each bear the same message. They will march
back with your people, and will crawl in here to let us know of their
arrival."
Jim called Phineas and Tomkins to him, and discussed the plan with them
for a few moments. Then, as all agreed with it, George nodded to the
native. Almost instantly six men stood forward from amongst the seated
throng, their eyes shining in the sunlight, for by now broad day was
upon them. A few guttural words were spoken, then, one by one, the
natives wormed their way from the eminence. Jim could hardly have
believed it possible that men could leave the spot without watching eyes
discovering them; but he had never watched such natives as these before,
nor seen how it was possible to take advantage of hollows and boulders.
"Gone!" said George, at length, giving vent to a sigh of satisfaction.
"Now I suppose we can settle down to the ordinary life of those who are
besieged?"
"Which reminds one of breakfast. Ching!" shouted our hero. "Breakfast
for our party, and slippy with it," he commanded, when the Chinaman had
put in an appearance. "I suppose your natives will fend for themselves,
George?"
"They are almost vegetarians," came the answer, "and each man carries
sufficient with him to appease a hearty appetite and to slake his
thirst. That's the best of their diet. It supplies food and drink at the
same moment. And talking of vegetarians reminds me of myself; you
remember I was down with fever?"
"And dived overboard when delirious," Jim nodded.
"And swam like a maniac till I reached the jungle. Well, I must have
raced through it for a couple of miles or more before I came to a stop.
At last I dropped down in the very middle of a camp formed by these
natives. I was dead beat, raving with fever, and as weak as a child. By
all accounts, too, guess I had hardly a shred of clothing left on me,
and my skin was torn by brambles. By good luck, anyway, I had stumbled
amongst natives who had met white men before, and had no particular
dislike for them. In fact, they have an absurdly high idea of them. They
treated me like a brother. They looked upon me from the first as if I
were a great chief, and fed me with fruits taken in the forest. And it
seems that fever is not unknown amongst them. You see, they don't
inhabit the swamp lands, so they do not often come in contact with
malaria. Guess they ain't acclimatized to fever the same as other
natives who live on the lagoons; in consequence they get attacks
whenever they come down to the water, and have learned how to treat
their patients. I mended slowly. For weeks I couldn't walk, and had to
be carried on a form of stretcher; but I shook off the fever. Life
became altogether more pleasant, and though, of course, I was longing to
get back to settled parts, so as to rejoin you and Sadie, yet, while I
was tied by weakness, I admit that I found life pleasant, and kinder
hosts I could not have wished for. At last I was about strong enough to
travel, and had already arranged for an escort to take me to Colon when
this affair turned up. Gee! It's the strangest thing that ever happened.
To think that in place of discovering you in New York, or somewhere in
the States, you should have run up against me out in this jungle!"
They chatted for long over their breakfast, Jim learning every detail of
his brother's life, while George gathered a good deal of what had
happened at Colon. But from Phineas he heard fuller particulars.
"You can't expect the lad to talk about himself," he told George. "It's
dead against his modest nature. But he's done fine. He's shown real grit
from the beginning, and alongside of it a determination to get on and a
common sense that was bound to win advancement. He's earning good wages.
Jim is well enough off at this moment to offer you a home, and can
support you till you also are earning wages. Mark this too: if we come
out of this soundly, and Jim gets back to Colon with those dollars, the
Commission will have heaps of praise and thanks to give. Shouldn't
wonder if it resulted in further advancement. I know he's young; but
guess that don't matter. America's a go-ahead country. She don't reckon
a man to be a Solomon just because he's old and wears hair on his face,
no more than she reckons that a youngster without a line on his lip is
clear out of sense. She judges a man by what he does, and gives her
favours without thought of years and appearance. Well, here's Jim young
enough we'll allow; but he's done things. His name's known better than
the Police Major's from end to end of the canal works. He's come out
trumps on every occasion, and if he wins home now I say it'll be a
triumph."
Let the reader imagine George's amazement at all he heard, for he had
always looked upon Jim as too young for serious consideration. And here
he was, a man in effect, though hardly come to that station in point of
years; but a man for all that, and already occupying a fine position. It
afforded food for thought, and for long George sat sucking the stem of
the pipe which Tomkins had generously loaned to him. And all the while
bullets flickered from the jungle; they clipped corners from the
boulders, smashed heavily against trees on the far side of the clearing,
or sent spurts of dust into the sunlit air. It was an occupation, in
fact, to watch the result of the enemies' efforts, and to speculate on
the effect of the next shot. But it was an occupation also which was apt
to become monotonous. Men fell asleep, in spite of the bullets, and only
wakened now and again when the thumping of a native drum warned of a
possible rush; but though the enemy massed at times, and seemed on the
point of charging, they never actually came into the open. They
contented themselves with more or less continuous firing.
"Which don't hurt a fly, and only makes a chap hungry," said Tomkins, as
he lay on his back in the shelter cast by a boulder. "But guess we shall
want to be careful once the darkness comes. If there's a bright moon
it'll be right enough; if not, there'll be ructions."
The hours dragged by slowly, and at length evening arrived. Jim looked
overhead anxiously, and noted that thick banks of clouds were floating
in the sky, while the moon would not rise for two hours.
"It'll be dark in an hour," he said, stretching himself beside Phineas
and his brother. "I've been talking to Tomkins, and he agrees with me
that the most dangerous time will be before the moon rises, which means
that the enemy may attack immediately night comes. Have either of you a
suggestion to offer?"
"Just this," answered George. "As soon as it is sufficiently dark we'll
send my fellows into the jungle across there. They'll be back within
five minutes with as much firewood as we want. Then we'll lay a pile
some twenty yards from our position, and so all round this eminence.
Once in position we'll set fire to them, and the glow should last till
the moon helps us."
The scheme found approval with Jim and Phineas at once, so that, as soon
as it was dark enough, George sent a dozen of his natives creeping into
the forest. They were back within a few minutes, and at once others
helped them to place the wood they had brought in piles all round the
eminence. The last match was being lighted when the silence of the
forest was suddenly broken by the beating of a drum. And then a horde of
natives launched themselves into the clearing.