I crept a little way in two or three directions, but he was not with us,
and I said so.
"How dare he go!" the doctor said angrily. "He will ruin our plans!
What's that?"
"Gyp!" I said, as the dog crept up to us and thrust his head against my
hand. "Jack Penny is getting anxious. It is a signal for us to come
back."
"How do you know?"
"We agreed upon it," I said. "He was to send the dog in search of us if
we did not join him in two hours; and if we were in trouble I was either
to tie something to his collar or take it off."
"Do neither!" said the doctor quietly. "Look! they are lighting a fire.
The others must have come back."
I turned and saw a faint glow away over the right corner of the hut; and
then there was a shout, and the shrill cries of some women and children.
In a moment there was a tremendous excitement in the hut before us, the
savages swarming out like angry bees, and almost at the same moment the
whole shape of the great long hut stood out against the sky.
"The village is on fire!" whispered the doctor. "Back, my boy!
Francis, quick!"
He shook the sleeping man, whom all at once I could see, and he rose
rather feebly. Then we backed slowly more and more in amongst the
trees, seeing now that one of the light palm-leaf and bamboo huts was
blazing furiously, and that another had caught fire, throwing up the
cluster of slight buildings into clear relief, while as we backed
farther and farther in amongst the trees we could see the blacks--men,
women, and children--running to and fro as if wild.
"Now would be the time," said the doctor. "We might take advantage of
the confusion and get your father away."
"Yes!" I cried excitedly. "I'm ready!"
"Stop for your lives!" said a voice at our elbow, and turning I saw Mr
Francis, with his swarthy face lit up by the fire. "You could not get
near the hut now without being seen. If you had acted at the moment the
alarm began you might have succeeded. It is now too late."
"No, no!" I cried. "Let us try."
"It is too late, I say," cried Mr Francis firmly. "The village is on
fire, and the blacks must see you. If you are taken now you will be
killed without mercy."
"We must risk it," I said excitedly, stepping forward.
"And your father too."