Trapped!
For a moment Terry withdrew her face from the opening, then like a flash
she had scrambled through the hole at the surface and was standing in
plain view of the flyer. What's more, she was sobbing and shaking her
fist toward Joe Arnold.
"It's _Skybird_! He's taking our plane!" she cried.
As if mocking her, _Skybird_ flipped its tail gracefully and zoomed into
the blue.
As Terry stepped on to the plateau, the women surrounded her, trying to
hide her from the man watching them from above. Terry could not be sure
that he had seen her, but Prim had no doubt in the matter.
"Now you've done it, Terry Mapes!" she cried. "Why don't you think
before you do such a thing? You're apt to get these people into trouble!
Joe said he'd clean them out!"
"Oh, I know, Prim. I'm sorry I did it, but just then I couldn't help it.
I was crazy! I can't bear to have _Skybird_ used by a smuggler. I'll
feel as if my little plane were dirty after he's had his hands on her.
Prim, what are we going to do?"
But Prim had no suggestions to offer. They were prisoners without
question. How long they would have to remain here, she had no idea. They
knew only too well what their father and mother were thinking. If Allan
and Syd had escaped destruction in the storm, their report would leave
no doubt in Dick's mind, at least, that the girls had been lost in the
hurricane. Terry knew that the suspense would mean torture for her
parents. How thankful she was that Sally Wyn was with them to comfort
them and, with her cheerful ways, keep them hoping that all was well.
If Dick and Alice could only have seen them surrounded by a horde of
blacks, they would not have been any more hopeful of their final escape.
Joe Arnold had flown off into the blue with _Skybird_, and Terry's heart
was sore and bitter with anxiety and anger against her father's enemy.
If she could have known Joe's thoughts at that moment, she would have
realized that she was in grave danger. Joe Arnold had planned to search
for the girls as soon as the important matter of the smuggled silk had
been attended to. He guessed that Terry was on her way to Peter
Langley's mine to plead with him to renew the contract and extend the
option on the flying field. He had an idea that she was carrying some
money.
Joe Arnold was not in a hurry. He had the girls safely on the island.
They were his prisoners. He could take his time in getting the papers
from them and not run any risk by rushing it. So when the captain of the
tramp steamer decided not to leave the harbor that night, Joe and Bud
were only too glad to go on board for a good meal, and it was well on
toward morning when they reached their huts and prepared to sleep.
In the morning when Joe Arnold went to find the girls, they had
disappeared. Pedro seemed truthful when he declared that his people knew
nothing about them.
"If we see 'em, we catch 'em for you!" he said.
Pedro's savage grin assured Joe that he would be only too glad to do it
and was eager to earn the reward which Joe offered to any of the tribe
who would bring the girls to him.
But it did not take Joe long to suspect that the blacks were protecting
the girls. He threatened Pedro with destruction of his village, he swore
that no one would be left alive on the island, but the chief merely
nodded and promised that he would find the girls and bring them to the
camp.
Joe knew that he did not dare to molest the blacks. He could rage and
threaten, but he dared not carry out his threats. Once angered, they
were ugly and he and Bud might be caught and tortured.
So Joe and Bud decided to wait their chance. Whenever the work at the
beach let up for a moment, Bud set out in search of Terry and Prim. He
was anxious to curry favor with Joe by finding the girls himself and
bringing them into camp.
So as soon as Joe Arnold flew off in _Skybird_ with a load of smuggled
silk to be turned into the much needed cash, Bud took this chance to
look about the island.
He left Pedro in charge at the beach and began wandering around the
jungle, skirting the island. With the Big Chief out of the way he
thought he could terrify the other members of the tribe and learn where
the girls were hidden.
But Pedro had suspected his plan and, taking a short cut through the
jungle, he hurried to the cave and talked to the girls.
"Let him come!" cried Terry. "I'm not afraid of Bud Hyslop. He's a big
braggart, but it's all a bluff. He's just a coward!"
"I'd like to get Bud down in this cave and keep him here," said Prim
angrily. "I'd like to keep him here forever."
"I can't see how that would help any," answered Terry. "What we want to
do is to get away from the island and down to Peru with this paper. And
we'll not get away by making a prisoner of Bud. That won't help in the
least."
Pedro was shaking his head. He frowned and his face looked fierce and
cruel. The girls felt shudders go through their bodies and realized that
the tribe might be really savage if roused to anger.
Suddenly Pedro spoke, and in his halting, broken sentences he expressed
his ideas. Bud was on the way to the new village, and when he came, if
he made trouble, it would be good to put him down in the cave. Besides
they might make him talk so that they would know what Joe Arnold was
planning to do.
"And where will _we_ stay?" asked Terry.
"My house!" replied the chief with a wave of his hand toward the hut.
"Pedro's house, your house!" And Rosa led the girls inside the hut.
Pedro covered the opening to the cave with straw mats and giving orders
for his followers to guard the girls well, he left to go back to the
beach.
But Terry and Prim were far less comfortable here than they had been in
the cave. Here there was not a breath of wind, for Pedro's wife seated
herself in the opening and kept out what little air there was.
Finally Terry could stand it no longer. She jumped up and shoved Rosa
aside. The big black woman laughed as she watched Terry and Prim mopping
the perspiration from their faces.
At that moment one of the half grown native girls ran with a cry of fear
to Rosa. She pointed back toward the far side of the ridge, where a man
was scrambling up to the settlement.
There was no time to hide away. Terry and Prim stood face to face with
Bud Hyslop.
Bud laughed as he had seen Joe Arnold do, a sarcastic, triumphant laugh.
He moved toward the girls aggressively, but Rosa was by their side and
was shoving them gently but firmly backward.
"You're to come with me, girls!" exclaimed Bud. "Hurry up and get going!
I've got you now!"
Rosa pulled them back with a vigorous hand as Bud rushed at them. But
his foot slipped, he stumbled and sprawled headlong for a second then
went sliding down through the earth. For Rosa had cleverly moved around
the straw mats in a straight line from Bud, and when he charged at them,
the force of his stride sent him slipping and sliding down the slippery
walls of the cave. He did not stop until he had bumped all the way down
and splashed into the dark waters below.
"Help, help!" he cried. "You black rascals, get me out of here!"
A young native hauled him out to safety. Bud was half stunned and glad
enough to stay in the cave for a little while until he could think what
to do. He finally called Terry, but the girl refused to go down into the
cave to talk to him.
Hour after hour slipped by. Bud saw none of the brilliant colors of the
crystals. He was sore and disgusted, his plans had all gone wrong, and
instead of being praised by Joe, he would be despised and blamed and
ridiculed.
A strong guard was placed at the opening of the cave and Terry and Prim
could enjoy the air. Muggy and oppressive though it was, it was better
than the stifling closeness of the hut.
Rosa glowed with triumph, taking all the credit to herself for trapping
Bud, and for the rest of the day she was in high spirits, commanding the
young blacks as if they were her slaves.
It seemed to Terry and Prim that these people were eating half their
time. Huge amounts of fish and fruit were consumed. They started at
sunrise and only ended at bedtime.
Terry and Prim slept that night in the chief's hut, with the faithful
Rosa sleeping on a mat before the door. They rose at dawn when the
blacks began to stir.
It was still early in the morning when they heard the drone of a motor
in the sky and hurried into the hut. For now the real trouble was
beginning. Joe Arnold had returned. _Skybird_ soared, banked and circled
about the island. Joe headed her low over the plateau, so low that
Terry, peering through the matted vines, saw Joe's face distinctly. His
grin of triumph was always unpleasant, now it was threatening as well.
Terry's face went white with anger as she saw _Skybird_.
"How dare he use our little plane for his shady business! The crook!"
she exclaimed.
If Terry and Prim could have heard the Big Chief when Joe Arnold
returned to the beach, they would not have been so trusting. For Pedro
told Joe that his men had captured the girls and had them safely in the
cave. Bud Hyslop was there now to guard them.
Joe nodded approvingly. Things seemed to be working out just as he
planned. His trip to the mainland had been successful and now he was
free to fly to South America where he would attend to that little matter
of taking up the option on the Dick Mapes Flying Field. But in the
meantime he would search the girls and see if they were carrying the
money.
"Guess I'll go on up and take a look at them," said Joe carelessly. "You
might fill up the plane with gasoline. I may need to go out on another
trip soon."
As Joe followed the path through the jungle he thought to himself. "You
have to handle these savages rough! If I hadn't threatened to kill them
all, they'd have turned against me. Some day I'll have a big base here
and they'll all be working for me like slaves."
But Joe had come by the jungle path and the girls were fully warned of
his approach. Rosa went to meet Joe Arnold with a broad grin on her
face.
Terry's heart sank as she watched from the shelter of the hut. She
gripped Prim nervously. They clung together in terror. Why had they been
so easily fooled? There was Rosa telling Joe that she had the girls
safely trapped, waiting for him. The girls shrank back in the hut afraid
to come out and face the man who had them in his power. With the whole
tribe on Joe's side, there was little chance of escape. This was the
end.
"I'd have sworn they were real friends," whispered Prim in a frightened
voice. "It would be lots better to be on that island with wild beasts
than here with these treacherous savages."
But just then they heard Rosa directing Joe Arnold to the cave. With the
few words of English she knew she was telling him that the girls were
prisoners in the big cave. "You go down!" she said.
"Sure!" replied Joe with a broad smile. "I'll kill two birds with one
stone. I've always wanted to see the inside of one of those big caves.
And when I find those girls, I have a few things to say to them." Joe
put his leg down the opening and felt for the rock. Then his other leg
found a foothold. As his head disappeared. Bud's voice called to him.
"Watch out, Joe, they're tricky! The girls are not here!"
But it was too late. When Joe started to scramble out of the cave,
shouting his threats, he was thrust back by a huge black, who held a
long knife in his hand. Down he tumbled, bruised and shaken.
At that moment Terry and Prim rushed out of the hut and saw Joe
disappear. "Now is our chance to get away, Prim!" cried Terry. "Let's
get to the beach!" Terry grabbed up her flying coat and helmet.
"Hurry, hurry, Terry, he may get out!" cried Prim. Her face was white
with the strain.
Terry was saying goodbye to Rosa and the other women of the village. She
was trying to express her thanks. It seemed ungrateful to hurry away
without a farewell. But Rosa shook her head and shoved Terry ahead of
her toward the jungle path, calling back in a shrill voice to the women.
Suddenly Terry started and looked upward. "Listen Prim. It's a plane!"
She had heard the distant hum of an airplane motor and was searching the
sky anxiously. Then through the trees she saw the plane driving toward
them.
"Who is it, Terry?" asked Prim.
"I wish I knew. Maybe it is a friend of Joe Arnold's," replied Terry as
she gazed with dread toward the plane that was coming nearer and nearer
to the island.
Now the plane was circling above them. The girls watched with anxiety as
the pilot put it into a long, fast dive toward the near-by clearing.