The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-01-16

The boy was sitting down and groan-
ing, his arms clasping his bent knees.
his head dropped forward and rolling
painfully back and forth. For fear Of
poison, Sheldon had Immediately scarf
fed the wound and injected perman-
ganate Of potash; but in spite Of the
precaution the shoulder was swelling
rapidly.
Wen take him on to where Tudor
is lying" Joan said The walking
will help to keep up his circulation
and scatter the poison Adamu Adam,
you take hold that boy. Maybe he will
want to sleep. Shake him up. II he
sleep he die"
The advance was more rapid now,
for Binu Charley placed the captive
bushman In front Of him and made
him clear the runway Of traps. Once.
at a sharp turn where a mans Shout
der would unayoidably brush against
a screen Of leaves, the bushman dis
played great caution as he spread the
leaves aside and exposed the head Of
sharp pointed spear, SO set that the
casual passerby would receive at the
iedst Il nasty scratch.
The sun sinking behind a lofty west
ern peak brought on an early but lin
gering twilight. and the expedition
plodded on through the evil forest
the place Of mystery and fear, Of
death swift and silent and horrible.
Of british appetite and degraded In
stinct, of human life that still wallow-
ed In the primeval slime, Of savagery
degenerate and abysmal
They turned aside from the runway
at place indicated by Binu Charley
and came to an immense banyan tree
half an acre In extent that made In
the innermost heart Of the jungle a
denser jungle OF its own. From out Of
it's black depths came the voice Of
man singing in a cracked eerie voice.
MY word, that big fella marster he
| no der
The singing stopped, and the voice,
faint and weak, called out a hello
Joan answered, and then the voice ex-
planned:
I'm not wandering. l was just sing
ing to keep my spirits up. Have you
| got anything to eat!
Tudor. having pulled through the
| fever and started to mend, was still
| frightfully weak and very much starry
| ed So badly swollen was he from
mosquito bites that his face was IN
| recognizable Joan had her own ONT
| ments along and she prefaced their
| application by fomenting his swollen
| features with hot clothes. Sheldon,
! with an eye to the camp and the
! preparations for the night, looked on
| and felt the pangs of Jealousy at ev-
cry contact of her hands with TudOr's
| face and body. Somehow. engaged In
their healing ministrations. they no
longer seemed to him boys hands.
The mornings action had been set
| tied the night before. Tudor was to
stay behind in his banyan refuge and
| gather strength while the expedition
! proceeded. On the far chance that
| they might rescue even one solitary
| survivor Of Tudor's party. Joan was
fixed In her determination to push on.
With Tudor. Adamu Adam and Arahu
were to stop as guards.
Binu Charley led the way, by proxy,
| however, for by means of the poison
ed spear he drove the captive BUSH
man ahead. They plodded on, pant
| ing and sweating in the humid, stag
nant air. They were immersed in q
sea of wanton. prodigal vegetation.
Caught by surprise fifteen feet In
| the air above the path in the forks Of
many branched tree, bushman
dropped like a shadow. naked as on
| bis natal morn. 1t was hard for them
| to realize that it was man. for be
seemed a weird jungle sprite. a goblin
| of the forest. Only Binu Charley was
not perturbed. He flung his poisoned
| spear over the head of the captive at
| the fiitting form. 1t was Il mighty
cast, well intended, but the shaaoW.
| leaping. received the spear harmlessty
! between the legs and, tripping upon
! 1t, was flung sprawling. Before be
! could get away Binu Charley was
| upon him. clutching him by his snow
/ white hair. He was only a young man
and a dandy at that, his face black
! ened with charcoal, his hair whitened
! with wood ashes, with the freshly
severed tail of a wild pig thrust
| through his perforated nose and two
! more thrust through his ears. His
only other ornament was a necklace
/ Of human finger bones. At sight of
! their other prisoner he chartered in
| high QuerulouS falsetto, with pucker-
/ ed brows and troubled. wild animal
/ eyes He was disposed OF along the
middle of the line, one Of the Poonga-
! Poonga men leading him at the end
/ of a length of bark rope.
/ CLOSE up he stop" Binu Charley
! warned them in whisper.
/ Even as be spoke. from high over
head came the deep resonant boom of
/ a village drum. But the beat was slow
/ There was no panic in the sound The
runway now became a deeply worn
| path, rising SO steeply that several
| times the party paused for breath.
One man with q rife could hold 1t
/ against a thousand" Sheldon whisper
ed to Joan And twenty men could
| hold it with spears and arrows"
| They came out on the village, sit
uated on a small. upland plateau, grass
| covered and with only occasional trees.
There was a wild chorus Of warning
cries from the women, and spears and
arrows began to fall among the In
vaders. At Sheldon's command the
| Tahitians and Poonga-Poonga men got
| into action with their rifles. The spears