WE LOOK INTO DANGER’S EYES
The capture was so sudden that it took me a moment to collect my wits.
Although bruised and bumped to some extent I had not been much hurt,
and even before I was jerked to my feet I cried aloud to my men:
“Get into the car and watch out! Don’t mind me. Take care of
yourselves.”
They obeyed promptly, but none too soon; for scarcely had they closed
the door when a shower of arrows rattled against the dome. All
subterfuge and arbitration was now at an end; they had at last “shot
the arrow” and we might expect in the future nothing but implacable
hatred.
My captors--two stalwart chiefs--having raised me to my feet now held
me firmly secured by means of the thong lasso which still encircled my
body. The coils pinioned my elbows so closely to my sides that I could
not even withdraw my hands from the pockets of my jacket.
They had begun to hurry me toward the king’s house when a roar of
dismay broke from the group we had just left. I turned half around
and saw that the automobile had made a short circle and was plunging
straight at the king and his warriors. Some were wise enough to scatter
from its path, but the more dignified hesitated and were bowled over
like a company of wooden soldiers and tossed in every direction.
The lightness of the machine prevented many serious casualties,
however, and while Duncan chased them here and there, managing the huge
automobile with consummate skill, the warriors gathered up the stunned
and maimed and, dodging the onslaught as nimbly as they could, fled
into the palace and houses where the terrible monster could not follow
them.
Forgetting for the moment my own unenviable plight, I laughed heartily
at the exhibition until the two chiefs pushed me roughly toward a
doorway and so along the narrow hall and into the big courtyard.
Here the chiefs began to gather, muttering angrily at their recent
discomfiture and casting upon me glances of such malignity that they
had the effect of sobering me effectually.
The king came limping in and dropped upon his bench with a brow like a
thundercloud. He had not been much injured, but his royal dignity had
suffered a severe blow.
While one man held the loose end of my lasso and guarded me, the others
all ranged themselves back of the king, who said, with what appeared to
me to be unseemly haste:
“What shall be the fate of the white stranger?”
“Death!” they cried, in a fierce chorus.
“And at once,” added Nalig-Nad. He glanced around him. “To you,
Tetch-Tsa, I allow the privilege.”
A stout young fellow with considerable of the royal green in his robe
stepped forward with a grim smile and drew his long knife. As I looked
at him I clutched with my fingers the handles of the two self-cocking
revolvers that were fortunately in my jacket pockets, and which I had
been secretly holding when the coil of the lasso settled over me. I
was not able to move my arms because of the thong that pressed them
against my body, but I pointed the barrel of the right hand weapon as
accurately as I could toward my proposed executioner. When he was but a
few paces off I blazed away at him.
At the first shot he paused, as if astonished; at the second he threw
up his arms and tumbled over.
Instantly I whirled and fired at the man behind, and my position was
so awkward and my aim so uncertain that I emptied the chambers of the
revolver in quick succession to make sure one bullet would take effect.
He staggered back and released the thong, and even while I loosed the
slip-noose I ran toward the hall and made my best speed for the door.
The thong tripped me as it dropped to my feet and I fell just in time
to escape a spear that was hurled after me. Another, as I jumped up,
slipped past my right ear, and a third slashed my hip. But I fled for
dear life and in a jiffy was free of the house and heading across the
enclosure toward the automobile.
They saw me coming and opened the door for me to tumble in. A spear
crashed into the netted glass just as the door swung into place again,
hurled with such force that its point stuck half way into the car and
taught us we were not so secure within the dome as we had imagined.
But now I lay panting upon the floor while Bryonia emptied a couple of
revolvers into the crowd of my pursuers and brought them to an abrupt
halt.
“Getting a little warm,” remarked Duncan Moit, calmly. “I’m not sure,
Sam, whether we can stick out the day or not.”
“Glad you escape, Mars’ Sam!” said Nux, bending over me. “Bad hurt?”
“I guess not,” I answered, still breathing hard.
The black unfastened my clothing, which was saturated with blood just
over the left hip. The spear had cut an angry looking gash in the
flesh as a passing reminder of what it might do if better aimed, but
fortunately the wound was not deep and on account of its location would
cause me little trouble beyond a slight stiffness. Nux began to dress
it as well as he could by tearing up a shirt for bandages and applying
plenty of sticking plaster from the supply we had brought with us. I
thought he made a very good job of it, being somewhat skilled in the
treatment of flesh wounds myself.
I could imagine how furious the San Blas would be at my escape. They
did not venture out into the open space after these two repulses, but
hung around the doorways in an alert and vigilant way, being very sure
that we could not get out of the enclosure and would be unable to defy
them for any length of time.
Duncan rather expected the princess to appear, as she had promised in
case of open warfare; but either she did not consider the emergency had
yet arisen or she had been prevented from acting as she wished.
“I won’t go without her, though,” he muttered, decidedly.
“Tell me,” said I, “what is your object in wanting to wait until
to-morrow before escaping from here? I can’t see that another day will
bring any better condition to our captivity, and it’s a settled fact
that we can’t get the machine out of this enclosure, in any event.”
“Perhaps I ought to explain,” he began, and then paused for a long
time, as if absorbed in deep thought.
“Take your time, Duncan,” I remarked, impatiently.
He did not notice the sarcasm, but my voice aroused him and he said:
“Perhaps you remember that I once told you I used a glycerine explosive
of my own invention to prime the engines of this automobile. In
starting, a tiny drop is fed into the cylinders to procure the air
compression which furnishes the motive power.”
“I remember; go ahead.”
“The feeding chamber is supplied with enough of this explosive to
run the machine a year or more,” he continued; “but when I made it,
in my own laboratory, the apparatus required was so complicated and
expensive that I decided to manufacture an extra supply, to use in
other machines which I intended to build later.”
“I see.”
“This reserve supply, in a powerfully concentrated form, I now have
with me.”
“Oh! Isn’t it dangerous, old man?” I asked, glancing around uneasily.
“Properly applied it might blow all Panama to atoms,” he returned
vaguely. “But it cannot be accidently exploded while it remains in the
place I have provided for it.”
“Where is that?”
He reached down and removed a square trap in the floor of the car.
Leaning over, I discovered a small cylindrical jar, having the capacity
of about a quart, which was suspended at one side of the driving shaft.
The straps that held it in place allowed it to swing in any direction
with the movement of the machine, but any sudden jar was impossible.
“Is it like nitro-glycerine?” I asked, eyeing the cylinder with an
involuntary shudder.
“Not at all,” replied the inventor, calmly closing the trap again. “It
is a much more powerful explosive, in its concentrated form, but may
be diluted to any strength desired. The mechanism I have invented for
its application renders it perfectly harmless when exploded in atomic
quantities in the engines, although ordinary concussion would, as in
the case of nitro-glycerine, explode the condensed contents of the
extra cylinder.”
“I think I now comprehend your idea,” said I.
“Yes, it is very simple. Under cover of darkness I propose to bore a
hole in that barrier and fill it with my explosive. In the morning
I will blow up the wall and in the excitement that follows run the
machine through the gap and escape.”
“Very good!” I exclaimed, joyfully. “Then all we need do is to keep
these Indians at bay until we have an opportunity to do the job.”
“Otherwise,” said he, musingly, “I would have to throw some of the
explosive at the wall, and that attempt might prove as dangerous for us
as are the fierce San Blas themselves.”
The Indians seemed for some time unwilling to resume the attack. It was
the middle of the afternoon before the king sent a messenger from his
council chamber to say that all friendship had now ceased and we must
consider ourselves completely in his power. If the Senator Nux and the
Honorable Bryonia would leave the village alone and on foot, Nalig-Nad
would guarantee their safe conduct to the border, and thus they would
be permitted to escape. The white men and their devil-machine were
alike doomed, and could in no way survive the vengeance of the Techlas.
And, unless Nux and Bry abandoned us at once, they must perish with us.
This proposition enabled us to gain the desired respite. Bryonia
pretended to consult with Nux and then answered the messenger that they
would decide the matter at daybreak the following morning. At that time
the final answer of the two kings would be given to Nalig-Nad, and they
intimated that they might possibly decide to abandon the miserable
whites and save their own skins.
Whether this proposition was satisfactory or not to the king and his
council did not appear; but the San Blas evidently decided to wait, for
they did not molest us again that day.
As night approached we were somewhat worried lest they should resume
the attempts to burn us; but they must have been satisfied of the
impossibility of such a proceeding. No bonfires were lighted, which
suited our plans admirably.
The moon, however, was brilliant during the first part of the night,
and by its rays we could see that watchers were maintained in several
places, so we were unable to do more than restrain our impatience as
best we might. Moit raised the trap and carefully removed the cylinder
that contained the explosive from its suspended position, placing it on
the seat beside him. The very sight of the thing filled me with terror,
and both Nux and Bry moved as far away from it as possible--as if that
would do any good if it went off. But the inventor had handled it so
often that he did not fear it as we did, and taking an empty glass
bottle that was about as big around as your little finger he unscrewed
the cap of the cylinder and calmly filled the bottle from its contents.
I watched him as if entranced, and thought the liquid resembled castor
oil in color and consistency. When the bottle was filled Duncan corked
it and put it in his inside pocket, afterward replacing the cylinder
and strapping it into place.
And now he rummaged in his box of tools and took out a brace and a long
bit that was about a half inch in diameter. He also picked out a piece
of red chalk and placed that too in his pocket.
We were all ready, now, but had to wait, although the strain began to
tell upon our nerves.
Finally the moon passed behind the king’s house and sank so low that
the building cast a black shadow over the enclosure, throwing both the
automobile and the barricaded archway into intense darkness.
“In an hour more day will break,” whispered Duncan in an anxious voice.
“We must work quickly now, or we are lost.”
He started the machine moving so slowly that it merely crept toward the
wall. The watchers had doubtless retired, for we heard no sound of
movement in the sleeping village.
When we had approached quite near to the barricade Moit softly opened
the rear door, left the car, and crawled on hands and knees to the
wall. We showed no light at all, and from the automobile I lost sight
of our friend altogether.
But presently I could hear the faint sound of the augur as it ground
its way into the clay wall. Duncan started at about the middle of the
barricade, but bored his hole slanting downward, so that the explosive
would run into the cavity without danger of escaping. It did not take
him more than a few minutes to complete his task, and before long he
was back in the car again, holding the empty bottle before our faces
with a smile of satisfaction.
And now the machine crept inch by inch back to its former position, and
we were ready for the day to break.