AT BAY.
Ariel flitted so rapidly along the ledge that her lover felt obliged to
ask her to desist, as he found it difficult to keep pace with her.
The narrow path ascended more rapidly than before, and he saw they were
steadily climbing toward the top of the roof. The shelly support to
their feet, too, became less substantial, crumbling and giving way at a
rate that threatened the most serious consequences.
He again cautioned the maiden, who seemed to dart over the rocky ground
with the graceful ease of a bird, and without producing any more
effect, with her dainty sandals.
Suddenly she paused. She had reached the margin or break in the ledge.
A chasm, whose black depths the eye could not fathom, yawned between
her and the support on the opposite side.
"We will make our stand here," said he; "keep behind me--"
He checked himself in astonishment; for, at that moment, she bounded as
lightly across as a fawn. He never would have permitted it had he
dreamed of her intention; but it was done.
He could only follow, and, gathering his muscles, he ran rapidly the
slight distance and bounded from the support.
It was a tremendous leap, and, for one instant, he believed he would
fail; but he cleared the chasm of breathless darkness and landed on the
edge, where, for a single second, he tottered between life and death.
But, at the critical instant, a tiny hand was outstretched, and,
seizing one of the fluttering arms, his poise was restored, and he
stood firmly by her side.
Even then, as he stepped forward, the ground crumbled and gave way for
fully two feet, the debris rattling down the abyss as long as the ear
could detect the sound, growing fainter and fainter as it hastened
toward the far-away bottom.
"There is no one in that party except Ziffak who can leap it now," said
Ashman, gazing with a shudder behind him.
By this time the pursuers were close at hand and gaining fast.
The ledge led straight away and upward for a hundred feet, when it
terminated at a point in the dome as high as the middle portion. There
the rocks were piled in irregular masses, and, knowing they could go no
further, Ashman resolved that the last stand should be made there.
As he hurried onward, another shout fell upon his ear. It was a
different voice, and he recognized it as Waggaman's, who was leading
the advance.
The fugitive glanced backward, while toiling up the slope, and saw that
the white man in his eagerness was fully a rod ahead of the herculean
Ziffak, while the rest were stringing along behind him.
He might have wondered how the chieftain contrived to lose so much
ground had he not seen him clambering to his feet. It followed that he
must have fallen in his hurry to get forward.
"We have them!" shouted the exultant convict; "there is no escape; they
are cornered!"
The words were yet ringing in his mouth, when he came to a stop.
He had reached the edge of the abyss and might well pause before trying
to leap across.
The fierce king called to him to make the jump. It had been done not
only by the man, but by the girl who preceded him; why should he
hesitate?
Spurred by the taunt, the white man withdrew a few paces, and, like
Ashman, ran swiftly, the next instant his body rising in air, as he
made the fatal effort.
The American stood coolly watching the result. If the miscreant
succeeded, where it looked impossible, he meant to shoot him. Thus the
prospect before the convict could not have been worse.
It was a tremendous leap indeed, and the fellow struck the opposite
ledge with his chest, his feet dropping below.
In his furious efforts to save himself, he let go of his weapon, which
went ringing down the chasm, and seized the ledge with both hands.
Even then, had the ground been firm, he might have succeeded, but it
gave way like rotten ice, and, with a shriek of agony, he vanished
forever from the sight of men.
The frightful occurrence brought the pursuers to a halt and gave the
fugitives a minute or two in which to prepare for the end.
Ariel, by command of her lover, placed herself behind the rocks and
bowlders, where she was secure against any of the missiles, that were
sure to be soon flying through the air. Ashman also placed himself so
that all of his body was hidden, except his head and shoulders, but his
Winchester was thrust out, ready for instant use. He was resolved that
no one of the party should leap that chasm and live after reaching the
other side.
There were two exceptions, be it remembered, to this resolution.
Ziffak, being next to Waggaman, approached the chasm, where he also
stopped and peered into the impenetrable depth, his dusky face showing
a horrified expression at the awful fate that had befallen the foremost
of the little party.
Ashman, who was closely watching the chieftain with a natural wonder us
to how he would conduct himself (for he did not waver in his faith that
the giant was still loyal to him), saw him suddenly raise his eyes and
gaze at the opposite ledge, which was fully two feet above that upon
which he was standing.
Haffgo was immediately behind him, and peering under his arms at the
opening. There being no room for the two to stand beside each other,
this was the nearest position he could secure.
Beyond him the other figures could be partly discerned, all standing
motionless until some way should present itself for their advance.
Ashman observed the chieftain, as his eyes followed the ledge until
they rested upon him, crouching behind one of the bowlders with his
rifle leveled at the war party.
The two looked into each other's eyes for a single instant, when
Ziffak, knowing he could not be seen by any of those behind, contracted
his brows and moved his lips.
He did not speak, for that would have "given the whole thing away," but
his dusky mouth was contorted with such vigorous care that the words
were understood, as readily as if shouted aloud.
They formed the single sentence,
"_I am your friend!_"
No need of saying that, for, as we have stated, Fred Ashman had never
doubted it.
Haffgo now began urging his brother to make the leap, which had proven
the death of Waggaman, saying, with reason, that the strength and
activity of the head chieftain of the Murhapas were sure to carry him
over where no one else could succeed.
The two talked in their native tongue, but their meaning was so clear
that the American needed no one to interpret the words.
Ziffak replied that he would gladly do so, but for the treacherous
character of the other side of the ledge. He showed that considerable
had fallen away, and intimated that the fugitives had loosened it for
the purpose of entrapping all the party just as Waggaman had been
entrapped.
Then the king took another look at the chasm. It so happened that
while he was doing this, a large slice of the ledge sloughed off and
went down the abyss, after the miserable wretch who must have been
lying at that moment a shapeless mass far down the fearful gorge.
Haffgo could not gainsay such testimony, and, for the first time, his
face showed an expression of disappointment. It was not the look of a
baffled man, but of one forced to see a sweet pleasure deferred.
He had only to peer up the ledge, as it led toward the roof, to realize
that the fugitives were as safely caged as if bound and secured in his
own home.
They had penetrated as far as possible in the cavern of diamonds. If
the pursuers could not reach them, neither could they return over the
chasm by which they had attained the spot where they still defied him.
The most athletic man living could not leap across that chasm, nor
could it be passed until it was bridged artificially, and that could
only be accomplished from below, where the pursuers were glaring
across. They might erect a structure, if, the king so willed, which
would open a way of advance; but he was in no mood to care for or think
of anything of the kind.
Haffgo now talked earnestly for a few minutes to his head chieftain.
The latter listened respectfully, nodding his head several times in
acquiescence. Then he suddenly looked up the ledge again, steadied
himself for an instant, and hurled his javelin with terrific force at
the head of Ashman.
It was done with such incredible deftness that the American had no time
in which to dodge the fearful missile. Had it been accurately aimed,
it would have been driven straight through his skull!
But it missed by a hair's breadth, shooting up to the roof, where it
struck the rock with such violence that the head was shattered and the
remaining portion fell uselessly down among the rocks.
It was a close call, but Ashman was not frightened; he knew why it
missed him.
He now sighted along the barrel, as if he meant to shoot the chieftain,
who instantly ducked his head, and began crowding backward. It was the
first time King Haffgo had been placed in such a grave situation, and
he was panic-stricken. He turned so suddenly and began crowding to the
rear so hard, that he came within a hair of precipitating himself and
those immediately behind him from the ledge.
But Ashman did not pull trigger. He could not do so without
endangering the lives of Ziffak and the king, and as yet the other
warriors had made no demonstration against him.
But, seeing that the white man did not fire, Ziffak seemed to gather
courage and straightened up again. The king passed his own javelin to
him, and he glared up the ledge as if looking for another favorable
chance to launch, it with greater effect than before.
Ashman, who was narrowly watching every movement of his enemies, now
observed that the warrior directly behind the king, carried a bow and
arrow, and he was in the act of fitting a missile to the string, with
the evident intention of trying his hand at the business in which the
head chieftain had failed only a minute before.