The savage bounded towards us as we appeared in the entry, and, grinning
fiercely, showed his white, protruding teeth.
"The Great Tamil commands his prisoners to appear before him again," he
cried. "He would fain learn something of the land whence they came." We
looked into each other's faces irresolute for a minute. If we advanced
from the cave we might be at once surrounded and slain, yet we were
unable to tell how many of the Tamils held the way between us and the
path down which we had come when entering the grotto.
"Tell him that we are ready to follow him," said Denviers to Hassan;
then turning to me he whispered: "Harold, watch your chance when we are
before this motionless nigger whom they call the Great Tamil. If I can
devise a scheme I will endeavour to find a way to surprise them, and
then we must make a dash for liberty." The Tamils, however, made no
attempt to touch us as we passed out before them and followed the
messenger sent to summon us to appear again before their monarch. The
grotto was still gloomy, for the light of day did not penetrate well
into it. We could, however, see clearly enough, and the being before
whom we were brought a second time seemed more repulsive than ever. We
noticed that the limbs of his subjects were tattooed with various
designs as they stood round us and gazed in awe upon the silent form of
their monarch.
"The Great Tamil would know whether ye have yet decided to give up your
belts and weapons, that they may adorn his abode with the rest which he
has accumulated," said the savage who stood by the monarch's spear, as
he pointed to a part of the grotto where we saw a huge heap of what
appeared to us to be the spoils of several wrecks. Our guide interpreted
my companion's reply.
"We will not be disarmed," answered Denviers. "These are our weapons of
defence; ye have your own spears, and they should be sufficient for your
needs."
"Ye will not?" demanded the savage, fiercely.
"No!" responded Denviers, and he moved his right hand to the belt in
which his pistols were.
[Illustration: "DENVIERS RUSHED FORWARD."]
"Seize them!" shrieked the impassioned savage; "they defy us. Drag them
to the mortar and crush them into dust!" The words had scarcely passed
his lips when Denviers rushed forward and snatched the mask from the
Tamil sitting there! The savages around, when they saw this, seemed for
a moment unable to move; then they threw themselves wildly to the ground
and grovelled before the face which was thus revealed. The motionless
arm of the form made no attempt to move from the side where it hung to
protect the mask from Denviers' touch, for the rigid features upon which
we looked at that moment were those of the dead!
"Quick, Harold!" exclaimed Denviers, as he saw the momentary panic which
his action had caused among the superstitious Tamils. "On to the entry!"
We bounded over the guards as they lay prostrate, and a moment
afterwards were rushing headlong towards the entrance of the grotto. Our
escape was by no means fully secured, however, for as we emerged we
found several Tamils prepared to bar our further advance.
Denviers dashed his fist full in the face of one of the yelling savages,
and in a moment got possession of the spear which he had poised, while
the whirl of Hassan's blade cleared our path. I heard the whirr of a
spear as it narrowly missed my head and pierced the ground before me.
Wrenching it out of the hard ground I followed Hassan and Denviers as
they darted up the zigzag path. On we went, the savages hotly pursuing
us, then those in the van stopped until the others from the cave joined
them, when they all made a mad rush together after us. Owing to the path
zigzagging as it did, we were happily protected in a great measure from
the shower of spears which fell around us.
We had nearly reached the top of the path when, turning round, I saw
that our pursuers were only a few yards away, for the savages seemed to
leap rather than to run over the ground, and certainly would leave us no
chance to reach our boat and push off from them. Denviers saw them too,
and cried to me:--
"Quick, Harold, lend Hassan and me a hand!" I saw that they had made for
a huge piece of granite which was poised on a hollow, cup-like base, and
directly afterwards the three of us were behind it straining with all
our force to push it forward. The foremost savage had all but reached us
when, with one desperate and successful attempt, we sent the monster
stone crashing down upon the black, yelling horde!
We stopped and looked down at the havoc which had been wrought among
them; then we pressed on, for we knew that our advantage was likely to
be only of short duration, and that those who were uninjured would dash
over their fallen comrades and follow us in order to avenge them. Almost
immediately after we reached the spot where our boat was moored we saw
one of our pursuers appear, eagerly searching for our whereabouts. We
hastily set the sail to the breeze, which was blowing from the shore,
while the savage wildly urged the others, who had now reached him, to
dash into the water and spear us.
Holding their weapons between their teeth, fully twenty of the blacks
plunged into the sea and made a determined effort to reach us. They swam
splendidly, keeping their fierce eyes fixed upon us as they drew nearer
and nearer.
"Shall we shoot them?" I asked Denviers, as we saw that they were within
a short distance of us.
"We don't want to kill any more of these black man-eaters," he said;
"but we must make an example of one of them, I suppose, or they will
certainly spear us."
I watched the savage who was nearest to us. He reached the boat, and,
holding on by one of his black paws, raised himself a little, then
gripped his spear in the middle and drew it back. Denviers pointed his
pistol full at the savage and fired. He bounded completely out of the
water, then fell back lifeless among his companions! The death of one of
their number so suddenly seemed to disconcert the rest, and before they
could make another attack we were standing well out to sea. We saw them
swim back to the shore and line it in a dark, threatening mass,
brandishing their useless spears, until at last the rising waters hid
the island from our view.
"A sharp brush with the niggers, indeed!" said Denviers. "The worst of
it is that unless we are picked up before long by some vessel we must
make for some part of the island again, for we must have food at any
cost."
We had not been at sea, however, more than two hours afterwards when
Hassan suddenly cried:--
"Sahibs, a ship!"
Looking in the direction towards which he was turned we saw a vessel
with all sails set. We started up, and before long our signals were
seen, for a boat was lowered and we were taken on board.
"Well, Harold," said Denviers, as we lay stretched on the deck that
night, talking over our adventure, "strange to say we are bound for the
country we wished to reach, although we certainly started for it in a
very unexpected way."
[Illustration: "HE BOUNDED COMPLETELY OUT OF THE WATER."]
"Did the sahibs fully observe the stone which was hurled upon the
savages?" asked Hassan, who was near us.