Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-12-10
CHAPTER XVI.

searching for signs Of Jane Porter
the futility of their venture became
more and more apparent, but the
grief of the old man and the hopeless
eyes Of the young Englishman pre-
vented the kind hearted D'Arnot
from turning back.
He thought that there might be
bare possibility Of finding her body OF
the remains Of it, for he was positive
that she had been .devoured by some
beast Of prey.
It was slow work. Noon found them
but a few miles inland. They halted
for a brief rest then, and after push
ing on for q short distance further
one of the men discovered a well
marked trial.
It was an old elephant track, and
D'Arnot, after consulting with Profes-
sor Porter and Clayton, decided to
follow 1t.
The path wound through the jungle
in a northeasterly direction, and along
1t the column moved in single file.
Lieutenant DArnot was in the lead
and moving at quick pace, for the
trail was comparatively open. Imme-
diately behind him came Professor
Porter, but as he could not keep pace
with the younger man DArnot was a
hundred yards in advance when sud-
denly a half dozen black warriors
rose about him.
DArnot gave warning shout to
his column as the blacks closed on
him, but before he could draw his
revolver he had been pinioned and
dragged into the jungle.
His cry had alarmed the sailors
and a dozen of them sprang forward
past Professor Porter, running up the
trail to their officers aid.
They did not know the cause OF
his outcry, only that it was a warning
of danger ahead.
They had rushed past the spot
where D'Arnot had been seized when
a spear hurled from the jungle trans
fixed one Of the men, and then a vol
ley of arrows fell among them.
Raising their carbines, they fired
into the underbush in the direction
from which the missiles had come.
BY this time the balance of the
party had come up, and volley after
volley was fired toward the conceal
ed foe. It was these shots that Tar
zan and Jane Porter had heard.
Lieutenant Charpentier, who had
been bringing up the rear of the COL
umn, now came running to the scene
and on hearing the details Of the am
buscade ordered the men to follow
him and plunged into the tangled
vegetation.
In an instant they were in hand
to hand fight with some fifty black
warriors Of Mbonga's village. Arrows
and bullets flew thick and fast.
Queer African knives and French
gun butts mingled fer moment in
savage and bloody duels, but soon the
natives fed into the jungle, leaving
the Frenchmen to count their losses
Four Of the twenty were dead, a
dozen others were wounded, and Lieu
tenant D'Arnot was missing. Night
was falling rapidly.
There was but one thing to do
make camp where they were until
daylight.
This work was not completed until
long after dark, the men building a
huge fire in the center Of the clearing
to give them light to work by.
When all was a safe as could be
made from the attack Of wild beasts
and savage men Lieutenant Charpen-
tier placed sentries about the little
camp, and the tired and hungry men
threw themselves upon the ground to
sleep.
The groans Of the wounded, min
gled with the roaring and growing of
the great beasts, kept sleep except in
its most fitful form from the tired
eyes. It was a sad and hungry party
that lay through the long night pray
ing for dawn.
The blacks who had seized D'Arnot
had not waited to participate in the
fight. They hurried their prisoner
along, the sounds Of battle growing
fainter and fainter as they drew away
from the contestants until there sud-
denly broke upon D'Arnot vision a
good seized clearing, at one end OF
which stood thatched and palisaded
village.
A cry went up within the palisade.
A great throng Of women and children
rushed out to meet the party.
And then began for the French Off
Ger the most terrifying experience
which men can encounter upon earth
the reception Of white prisoner into
a village of African cannibals.
They fell upon DArnot tooth and
nail, beating him with sticks and
stones and tearing at him with claw
like hands. Every vestige Of clothing
was torn from him, and the merciless
blows fell upon his bare and quivering
flesh.
But not once did the Frenchman cry
out in pain. A silent prayer rose that
he be quickly delivered from his tor
ture.
The death he prayed for was not to
be so easily had. Soon the warriors
beat the women away from their
prisoner.
He was to be saved for nobler sport
than this, and, the first wave Of their
passion having subsidized, they con-
tented themselves with crying out
taunts and insults and splitting upon
him.
Presently they gained the center OF
the village There D'Arnot was bound
securely to the great post from which
no living man had ever been released
A number Of the women scattered
to their several huts to fetch pots
and water, while others built a row
of fires on which portions of the
feast were to be boiled.
The festivities were delayed, await