Jan of the Jungle Page 12

  A week later the permanent camp was completed. There was a cabin for the doctor and Santos, in one end of which a small room was partitioned off by means of stout wooden bars. This, the doctor called his cancel, or jail, and it was here that he intended to imprison Jan until he should be ready to take part in the terrible climax to his revenge which he head planned and toward which end his life, since the birth of the boy, had been devoted with a fervor worthy of a better cause.

  There was also a bunk house and cook shack for the Indians.

  But while all this was taking place, Santos was doing a certain amount of planning in the furtherance of his own ends. It was not necessary, he thought, to capture Jan in order to entice Ramona away from the hacienda. This could easily be done by sending her a short note imitating Jan's writing.

  Without broaching his plan to the doctor, whom he knew would frown on it because it might interfere with his own scheme, Santos took two of his Indians into his confidence, offering each an immense sum of money for his part in the crime. Soon it would be necessary to send some one back to the hacienda for supplies, and when this time came he meant to detail his two accomplices for the work.

  CHAPTER XXI. FORBIDDEN GROUND

  AT THE THUNDEROUS roar of the beast just above their heads, about to spring, Jan and Koh both leaped forward as if propelled by a powerful springboard, and ran as fast as they could. There was the thud of an immense body on the spot they had just vacated, followed by the gallop of huge pads and the rattle of long claws on the stones.

  They had not gone far when Jan knew, by the increasing proximity of the sounds from behind, that the great beast was rapidly gaining on them. He threw a quick glance over his shoulder, and recognized it instantly from a picture he had seen in Ramona's book-a giant cave bear.

  Knowing that further flight was useless, and that unarmed as he was he would be quickly pulled down and devoured, he decided to stake everything on the chance that he might be able to outwit this terrible enemy. Suddenly halting in his tracks, he turned and faced his pursuer.

  The bear instantly came to a sliding halt, alert for a trap or ambush. When it appeared to have satisfied itself that no hunters lurked nearby, and that it was confronted only by a single unarmed man-for Koh had continued his running, not knowing that Jan had stopped-it reared up on its hind legs, head and shoulders taller than a tall man, and advanced, roaring thunderously.

  Jan raised the carcass of the little eohippus over his head, then hurled it straight at the oncoming beast. It just grazed one furry ear and alighted some ten feet behind the bear. But in the instant of its passing the monster had got a whiff of its favorite food, the elusive but toothsome little dawn horse.

  Suddenly dropping to all fours, the bear turned arid started toward the carcass. Jan took advantage of this by adding to the distance between himself and the monster. The beast heard him and swung about again, undecided whether to take the game already killed or pursue that which was still alive.

  But the bear was not the only carnivore in the vicinity that had scented freshly killed eohippus. A slinking, dog-like beast came trotting down the trail, sniffing hungrily, and keeping a wary eye on the bear. The latter did not hear it until it loosened a small stone. Then it swung about with a snail.

  The presence of the new brute, which Jan recognized as a hyaenodon, decided the issue. With a fierce roar of rage, the bear sprang for the intruder just as it was about to seize the prize. The hyaenodon leaped back out of reach of the great, flailing claws, and squatted on its haunches. It could not hope to get a full meal now, but it would wait with doglike patience until the bear had finished, hoping that the lordly beast might leave a few edible scraps.

  Jan did not wait to see more, but hurried on after his companion. He found Koh coming toward him a few hundred feet down the trail.

  "I missed you," said the prince, "and so came back, fearing the bear had caught you."

  "There is still danger," said Jan. "I gave it the eohippus, but that will only be a mouthful for such a big brute. Come on."

  They set off at a stiff trot, which either of the youths was capable of keeping up for hours. Presently Koh stopped and caught his companion's arm.

  "Look!" he cried, excitedly. "A boat!"

  The sun was dropping behind the tree-clothed river bluffs as they hurried down the bank to examine their prize: It was only a crude dugout canoe with one paddle and a barbed, three-pronged fishing spear lying in the bottom. But to these two it was as welcome as the most luxurious and palatial yacht.

  "Get in the other end," said Koh. "I'll push off."

  Jan did as he was bidden. He had had no experience with canoes except as a passenger, and bowed to his friend's superior knowledge and skill.

  Koh lifted the anchor, a stone with a rope around it, into the boat. Then he pushed off, scrambled aboard, and seized the paddle.

  He had not taken two strokes when there came an angry shout from the river bank. A bearded, sun-bronzed white man, naked save for breech-clout and sandals, ran down to the water's edge and launched a long spear at them. It flew high, but Jan stood up and caught it.

  "Come back, thieves!" shouted the man on the bank. "Come back, cowards, and I will kill you with my bare hands!"

  Koh was using the paddle with considerable dexterity.

  "Too bad to take his boat," he said. "Evidently he is a fisherman, and this is his means of livelihood." He shouted over his shoulder to the raging man on the bank. "We'll leave your boat on the island for you-straight across. Come over the bridge and get it."

  In reply, the man hurled after them a choice collection of Satmuan curses. Then the darkness descended suddenly, and he faded from view.

  Koh was an expert with the paddle, and it did not take him long to reach the opposite shore. The prow grounded among some rushes, and Jan, leaping out, dragged it up until more than half of the boat was out of the water. He retained the spear which the bearded man had cast at him, and Koh followed with the fishing spear.

  For some time they splashed through a grassy marsh. Presently they struck higher ground, and entered a thick, dark wood. Here were many strange smells and sounds. Great beasts crashed through, the scents of which were totally unfamiliar to Jan. Weird cries, shrieks, bellows and roars resounded in the darkness, unlike anything he had ever heard in his own jungle. These made him cautious, so he progressed but slowly.

  Koh had never been in the jungle at night before, and though he was a brave youth his nerves were constantly on edge at each new noise. He was following Jan, holding onto the butt of his spear, so they would not become separated in the inky darkness.

  There were mighty, flesh-eating killers abroad in the jungle. No mistake about that. From time, to time they heard the plaintive death cries of helpless creatures dragged down by carnivores, and the struggles' of others.

  With immense relief they emerged from the jungle about midnight. The moon had risen, and they saw through a ten-foot barricade of heavy posts, set about four inches apart, a rolling plain covered with short grass. Busily cropping this grass with their parrot-like beaks, singly and in scattered groups, were several hundred of the terrible, three-horned mounts of the Satmuans.

  One triceratops grazing near them evidently heard them or caught their scent, for it lowered its immense head and charged belligerently, clear up to the paling. There it stopped, snorting and pawing the earth.

  "It looks as if we will have to go around this pasture," said Koh. "I'd rather go back into that dark jungle than climb in there with those brutes."

  "If they are so fierce, how is it that the soldiers and hunters can ride them?" asked Jan.

  "They learn to know their masters and their masters' people," replied Koh. "They are fighting beasts, you know, ridden by fighting men, and to them all strangers are enemies. Unless restrained by their riders, they will attack any strangers they meet. These beasts are quite docile among Satmuans, but they attack strangers, and will even attack other beasts of their own kind belong
ing to strangers."

  As they circled the pasture near the paling, the immense brute inside kept pace with their progress. But presently tiring of this, or perhaps convinced that they were not going to enter, it left them with a contemptuous snort, to return to its feeding.

  At last Jan and Kob drew near to a long row of low sheds, near which were a number of small, round buildings with lights shining from their windows.

  "The stables," said Koh, "and the houses of the keepers."

  They circled once more, this time through a grove of orange trees planted in straight rows. This brought them up against the northwest wall of the city-a wall fifty feet high, smooth and unscalable. At intervals of five hundred feet along this wall were guard towers, in each of which was a sentinel.

  "Well, here we are," whispered Koh, "This is as far as I can guide you. I don't know of any way we can get into the city except as prisoners."

  "There must be some way," said Jan. "Let us look."

  They circled to the left, keeping to the shadow of the wall so they would not be seen from above, until they were scarcely a quarter of a mile from the great, arched north gate. 'This Koh assured Jan, had been closed for the night, and would be guarded by not less than fifty men.

  CHAPTER XXII. A PERILOUS VISIT

  AS THEY STOOD there talking, Jan took hold of a thick creeper which bad grown up the side of the wall, and pulled it to throw it out of his way. To his surprise, it clung to the wall. He pulled harder, but it would not budge. Then he stepped away from the wall and looked upward. Half a dozen creepers like this one had climbed side by side, almost to the summit.

  "Come!" he whispered to Kob. "Here is a way into the city."

  Tearing off a branch of the vine, he made both ends fast to the hunting spear and slung it over his back that he might have the use of both hands. Koh did likewise with the fishing spear. Then Jan sprang up the vine with ape-like agility, and the prince, after waiting until they were about twenty feet apart in order that their combined, weight would not be on the same tendrils at the same time, followed.

  When he reached the top of the wall, Jan moved with extreme caution. His position was about halfway between two sentry towers. The sentry on his left was standing in front of the tower, leaning on his longbow and looking out toward the bridge. At first he could not see the one on his right, but he presently made out his huddled form leaning against the tower, asleep.

  Very carefully, Jan drew himself up, and flattening, wormed across the edge of the wall. It was about three feet thick at the upper edge. Just behind it was a row of terraces, each three feet wide, and with a drop of the same distance to the next, reaching clear to the ground. He crawled down onto the first terrace and unslinging his spear, waited. In a moment he was joined by Koh, and the two noiselessly descended the terraces until they reached the ground.

  The part of the city in which they found themselves was a residence section of flat-roofed buildings set closely together, their fronts level with the paved street. Lights showed in a few of the houses, but most of them were dark, showing that their occupants had retired.

  After following the wall for some distance, they came to a narrow street, lighted only by the rays of the moon, and now nearly deserted.

  "This street must lead to the palace," said Koh, "for I have heard that the city is laid out like the web of a spider, with streets branching out in all directions, but all centered at the Imperial Palace. The palace, with its gold dome, represents the sun, and the streets branching out from it, the rays. There are concentric circles of narrower streets connecting the ray streets."

  "Then let us follow this street," said Jan.

  "Dressed as we are," replied Koh, "that would be an impossibility. The streets are constantly patrolled and we would be seen and captured."

  "And where would we be taken?"

  "Probably to the palace for judgment. Ordinary prisoners would be taken before a magistrate, but because I am of royal blood and you are a stranger in the valley we would probably be taken before the emperor, himself."

  "After all," mused Jan, "it would be the easiest way to get there."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Leave your spear here and follow me."

  Jan discarded his hunting spear and started down the street. Kob dropped the fishing spear and followed. The first person they passed wore the garb of a merchant. He stared at them as if he could not believe his eyes, but they walked on, ignoring him.

  They saw two more men approaching. Moonlight glinted from their polished armor and the tips of their spears.

  "The patrol!" whispered Koh.

  "Good!" replied Jan.

  He swaggered straight toward the oncoming figures. Kob followed his example. Soon the clank of armor and weapons was audible. It grew louder. Jan thought the two would pass them by, unnoticed, but suddenly as they were abreast, one turned.

  "Halt!" he commanded.

  Jan and Koh stopped in their tracks. The two in armor sauntered over, peering at them.

  "A strange pair," said the first, staring beneath his raised visor.

  "By the long slim beak of Tehuti!" exclaimed the other. "A savage dressed in the skin of an animal!"

  "And this other!" said the first. "Pierce me through, if he wears not the scarlet of the royal house of Kan! Who are you two?" he demanded:

  "I am Kob of Temukan," said the prince.

  "And I am Jan."

  "Jan of where? Of what?"

  The youth hesitated for a moment.

  "Jan of the jungle," he replied.

  "Of the jungle? You look the part. Where are you going?"

  "We were on our way to the palace."

  "To the palace! You hear him, Batau? They were going to the palace-a jungle savage and a yellow prince! No doubt they intended calling on his imperial majesty, the emperor."

  "No doubt, Pebek. They are visiting royalty-a prince of Temukan and a prince of the jungle. It would be discourteous to let them go unattended."

  "They should have a guard of honor. We will go with them to the palace." Pebek bowed ironically to the two youths. "You will permit us to escort you. Proceed."

  The two youths moved forward, each with a spear point at his back.

  On their way to the palace they met a few straggling townsmen. These stared, but made no comment. Soon they stood before the great arched gate of the palace grounds. Here were fully fifty golden-armored warriors on guard. Jan began to realize the magnitude of the task he had undertaken.

  At a word from their captors the gates swung open, and they were allowed to pass.

  "This place is easier gotten into than out of," muttered Koh.

  "So it seems," replied Jan, "but we are not ready to leave, yet."

  "Silence you two," growled Batau, and prodded Jan with his spear point.

  With the pain of that wound, Jan's carefully thought out plan was forgotten. It transformed him, in an instant, to a raging jungle creature.

  He whirled with a snarl of rage and, seizing the shaft of the spear, snapped it off. Balancing it for a moment, he hurled the resulting three-foot javelin with all his might. It struck Batau in the left eye and entered his brain, killing him instantly.

  Pebek had attempted to come to the rescue of his comrade, but he had immediately been set upon by Koh. His movements impeded by the weight of his armor, the warrior was far too slow for his agile adversary. He had dropped his long spear, useless at such close quarters, and was drawing his sword, when Koh snatched his dagger from his belt and struck for his neck, just above the rim of his breast plate. The slim blade went home to the jugular, and Pebek, after staggering blindly for a moment, slumped to the ground, blood oozing from between the joints of his armor.

  "Quick!" pasted Koh. "Let us get them out of sight. If they are discovered the whole palace guard will be after us."

  They swiftly dragged the two fallen warriors into the shrubbery that bordered the path. Then they returned and picked up the weapons that had been dropped, retu
rning into the shrubbery with these.

  Scarcely had they reached their place of concealment when they heard the march of approaching warriors.

  "They heard, and are after us," said Jan.

  "I think not," replied Koh. "It is probably a squad from the palace to relieve the watch at the gate. They keep step, and are not hurrying. But when they reach the gate, look out."

  Koh's surmise was proved correct, when a few moments later fifty spear-men filed past, looking neither to the right nor left. As soon as they had passed, each youth armed himself with the sword and dagger of his fallen foe-man. Then they hurried away toward the palace.

  "How do you expect to find Chicma in that great building?" asked Koh, as they stood in a little clump of tall trees, looking up at the massive structure with its towers, turrets and balconies.

  "By her scent, if she is there," replied Jan. He was looking up at the tall tree beneath which they were standing. Its branches brushed the railing of an upper balcony.

  At this moment there came a shout from the gate-the sound of armed men running through the shrubbery.

  "Follow me," said Jan. "I see a way into the palace, where they will least expect to find us."

  He sprang up into the tree, and climbed rapidly. The prince followed more slowly, unable to compete with the ape-like agility of his companion. When he reached the limb that brushed the balcony, Jan swung out on it, caught the railing, and drew himself up. At the rear of the balcony a hinged window stood open. The room behind it was in darkness.

  Creeping over to the opening, Jan investigated the room with twitching, sensitive nostrils. His nose told him that people had been there recently, but that it was unoccupied now. Koh came silently over the railing.

  Excited shouts came up to them from the ground, cries of rage. The two bodies had been discovered.

  Jan led the way into the darkened room. At the far end, he saw a faint blur of light, and went directly toward this. It came from behind a heavy curtain which draped a doorway. Cautiously he moved the curtain a little way. Outside was a narrow hall, lighted at intervals by lamps hung on wall brackets. The oil burning in them gave off a mild, sweet aroma that reminded Jan of flowers.