WAR IS DECLARED
Next morning we made an unpleasant discovery.
When we brought the automobile around to the front of the house again
we found that during the night the natives had bricked up the entrance
arch to a height of some four feet above the ground, using blocks of
baked clay cemented together with some preparation that we were not
familiar with.
This action was intended to imprison the automobile within the wall and
prevent our running out on another excursion, as we had the day before.
At first sight it appeared that the device was successful. A small hut
had been torn down to provide the material, and the blocks were thick
and hard as rock.
Duncan frowned as he looked at the barrier, and remarked:
“Then it is to be war.”
“I knew that last night,” said I, “when they tried to smoke us out or
burn us up.”
“Let us give them a good volley from our revolvers,” he suggested,
angrily.
“Don’ do dat, seh,” said Bry, earnestly. “Wait first till dey shoot
arrows. We make b’lieve we frien’s as long as we can. It gives us time
to think what we do.”
“Evidently,” said I, “the council of chiefs has advised the king to
make short work of us. We have probably been condemned already, and all
that now holds them in check is their uncertainty of the best way to
vanquish us.”
“They are a little awed by our wonderful powers, I am sure,” declared
Moit.
“Quite probable,” I replied. “Is there any way to get over that wall,
Duncan?”
He did not answer at once, but looked reflectively at the archway.
“We can leave this place tomorrow morning,” said he, finally; “but I do
not see how we can accomplish the feat before then. Do you imagine we
can hold the natives at bay another day?”
“We can try,” I said as cheerfully as I could.
But the prospect was not an enticing one, and I began to bitterly
regret our folly in ever entering a place wherein we could be so easily
imprisoned.
“If we get out,” said Nux, “then we mus’ fight our way all time. If we
bold an’ quick, we get away all right.”
Nux didn’t speak often, but his judgment was pretty good.
“I want those diamonds,” I said; “and I’m going to have them. If we go
back empty-handed we have made a failure of the expedition.”
“To let a lot of ignorant natives triumph over the greatest invention
of the century is absurd--it’s fairly criminal!” added Moit. “I’m not
afraid to tackle the whole San Blas nation in this car.”
“Too bad you didn’t make it a man-o’-war,” said I, with a laugh. “If we
had a gattling gun aboard we’d have everything our own way.”
We raised the curtains, and while Bry openly got the breakfast ready I
took careful note of our surroundings.
Some twenty warriors, armed with spears and bows, were in sight,
lounging in doorways or leaning silently against the various buildings.
They were watching us closely, no doubt; but there was no open attempt
to attack us as yet.
After a brief conference we decided not to put down the top again,
as the San Blas might take a notion to shoot at any time, and their
arrows, while they might not penetrate the netted glass of the dome,
might mow us down quickly if we were exposed to them.
But I did not like to acknowledge that we were afraid, either; so I let
down the steps and opened the rear door, and Bry and Nux and myself all
descended to the ground and grouped ourselves carelessly near the car,
leaving Moit alone in the machine.
As soon as we appeared the natives began to come nearer, in a curious
observant crowd. Then one who was doubtless a chief came forward and
said that the King Nalig-Nad desired his brother kings to attend him
at once in his palace.
“In our country,” answered Bry, gravely, “it is the custom when kings
meet to honor each other in turn. Yesterday we waited upon Nalig-Nad;
today he must wait upon us.”
“But he is the great King of the Techlas!” protested the other, as if
amazed that the command could be disregarded.
“And we are the mighty Kings of Tayakoo, which numbers more people than
the leaves of the forest,” replied Bry, drawing himself up proudly and
frowning upon the other. “Take your master our answer, slave!”
The fellow obeyed; but the king was in no hurry to come.
His daughter arrived, though, fresh and beautiful as a rose in bloom,
and the natives made way for her as she pressed through the group.
“A greeting to my friends!” she said in English, and peered into the
car in search of Duncan Moit.
“Enter, Princess,” said I, holding open the door.
She accepted the invitation frankly, and Duncan took her hand and
pressed it to his lips as an old time courtier would have done. She
was very sweet and lovely, this Indian maiden, and I did not blame the
inventor for worshipping her as he evidently did.
“You cannot today with me run away,” she said, laughing and pointing a
slender finger at the barricade.
“You are wrong, Ilalah,” answered Moit, smiling into her fair face.
“When I wish to go the walls cannot stop me. But we would like to stay
another day in your village.”
She became serious at this. Thinking someone in the crowd might
understand the English language as well as she did, I motioned to Nux
and Bry to enter the car, and I followed them and closed the door.
“Listen, then,” she said, seeming to be glad of the seclusion. “The
king, who is my father, is angry because you have told lies to him.
There was a council of the chiefs last night. The white men are to be
captured and shot with arrows. The magic machine that is a bird and
a fish will be destroyed, and the two black kings may then go free
because they speak in our tongue, and are therefore brothers.”
“That is pleasant news,” said Duncan. “When will they do this?”
“To-day, if they can. I was with them at the council. I told them that
I loved you, and would make you the mate of the Princess Ilalah. But to
that my father would not agree. He says you must die.”
Duncan took her hand and kissed it again, very gratefully and with a
look of joy and animation upon his face that fairly transformed it.
“Did not this make you afraid?” I asked the girl, surprised that she
seemed to accept her lover’s cruel fate so lightly.
“Oh, no,” she replied. “For the white Chief I love is greater than the
San Blas. He will save himself and fly, and I will go with him.”
“Will you?” cried Duncan, earnestly.
“And why not?” she asked, frankly. “Will the doe leave the stag she has
chosen? Could I be happy or content without my white chief?”
“Here is a case of love at first sight, with a vengeance!” I said,
greatly amused at the girl’s bold declaration. But Moit frowned upon me
angrily and his eyes flashed.
“Shut up, you pig!” he growled, and suddenly I felt ashamed of myself
for not better appreciating the maiden’s brave honesty.
“Is there no way, Ilalah, to make your father wait until to-morrow
morning?” he asked, turning again toward the girl.
“Why should he wait?” she returned.
“I have summoned mighty powers to my assistance,” declared Moit, after
a moment’s thought, “and it would please me to await their arrival. It
will make me stronger; but I am not afraid if your people begin the war
at any time.”
“And to-morrow morning?”
“Then, at daybreak, you must come to me, and we will go away and leave
your people.”
“That is good,” she said, joyfully. “I will try to make my father wait,
and to-morrow I will give up my power to go with my white chief.”
“What is your power, Ilalah?” asked Duncan, puzzled by the expression.
“After my father, I am the ruler of the Techlas, which you call the San
Blas. When the king dies, I am queen, with power of life and death over
my people. But the king my father hates white men, who may not live if
they enter his kingdom, so I must go with my mate to another country
where the king does not hate him, or to his own country, where he will
rule.”
This willing abdication of a throne for the sake of a man whom she
had known only for a day aroused my wonder. But I could not fail to
admire the girl’s courage, and indeed to rule the San Blas was no great
privilege, in my estimation.
“If your father makes war to-day,” said Duncan, “fly here to me at
once. Then, if I escape, we will never more be separated.”
She promised readily to do this, and leaving the car rejoined her women
and moved away to enter the palace.
I noticed that while she had abandoned all--her life, her prejudices
and her kingdom--for her white lover, Duncan Moit had promised nothing
in return except that they would not be separated. The thought made me
sorry for the poor maid; but it was none of my affair.
Bye and bye the king came out, followed by his chief men and
counsellors, in an imposing group.
As he approached, Bry and Nux again descended from the car and stood
by the steps, and I followed and took up a position just behind them.
Duncan, as before, remained inside. We were all prepared to act quickly
in an emergency, but our plan was to secure a truce in some way until
another morning. I could not understand why Moit desired the delay so
earnestly, but was willing to assist him to obtain it.
The king was plainly annoyed at the refusal of the black kings to come
into his dwelling. His face still wore its calm expression but his eyes
snapped ominously.
“My brothers,” said he, “we do not like your white slaves. Years ago
the whites wronged the Techlas most cruelly, and the law of our nation
is to put all white people to death who enter our country. I am sorry
to take away your property, but the slaves must die.”
“My brother,” answered Bry, “see how much more we love you than you
love us. We could kill you in a flash, even where you stand. We could
destroy your village and all your people. If we so desired, there would
be no more a nation of Techlas on the face of the earth. But we let you
live, because we have called you our friend. To break that friendship
would be to destroy yourselves. I beg you will not again ask us to give
up our slaves to your cruel and unjust vengeance.”
It did me much good to watch Nalig-Nad’s face. He did not like to risk
defying the unknown power of the strangers, but if his own authority
was thus ignored he would hereafter be a king only in name. Some of his
chiefs were glancing at one another significantly, while others were
clearly uneasy at our domineering attitude.
I stood with my hands in the pockets of my jacket and a grin of
amusement on my face when the king’s roving eyes suddenly observed me.
I suppose his forbearance could not withstand the white boy’s audacity,
for he raised his hand and at the signal a coil of rope shot through
the air and a loop settled over my body and clutched me firmly around
the chest.
Instantly I was jerked from my feet and dragged into the group of
warriors, all of whom, as if the action had been preconcerted, sprang
forward with their spears levelled threateningly at Nux and Bry.