Adventure, February 20, 1922 — page 130: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

128 girl’s aim and intention, because the tiger- ish speed and. ferocity of the blow she struck at Oagadi’s head took him so com- pletely by surprize that he really had no chance to avoid it. However, though she missed his head, the blade bit savagely into his scrawny shoulder, and his scream of rage and pain, rising out of that pit of murderous darkness like a cry from out of the mouth of the pit itself, told her that the blow was good. Ilona did not ‘strike a second time. She was but one against many and, obeying Benniba’s or- ders, she dived. Oagadi’s boys had followed Benniba’s action instantly, because this was a thing - that had to be finished, leaving no trace, and while Oagadi himself urged them frothily on he prayed for the arrivaleof Ogulo-of-the- long-arms, and cursed the house of Agwala to its foundations till there were no more words upon his tongue; then fainted in a pool of his own blood. _ Benniba’s canoe, being empty, was al- lowed to drift, and Benniba himself, swim- ming under water for a while, came to the surface again within a few yards of the bobbing shell, but made no effort to take ‘possession of it. The vague outlines of heads, principally distinguished by the sputtering breaths they drew and by the hoarse whispered orders of one to the other, were all about him; and so dark was it that, just as it was impossible for him to recog- nize Ilona among them, so was it impossi- ble for his enemies to recognize him without the privilege of closer scrutiny than he per- mitted them. In fact, as has happened many times in fights that are fought in the dark, numbers were a disadvantage. Oagadi’s boys were confused and disorganized. They struck even at each other and did no small amount of damage in that way. Benniba, however, | suffered from no such handicap. He marked his man, slipped under water again, and attacked from behind. A pow- erful arm wound round his victim’s throat; a swift snatch at the mouth; his victim re- linquished a machete with a ‘gurgling cry of pain; and Benniba was armed and gone again. ‘ij ] SWIFT, yet cautious, while con- Pa Z fusion was heaped upon confusion, Benniba swam in search of Ilona, making the most of his opportunities the while. Once, however, when he came to > Adventure the surface between two of Oagadi’s boys— where only one had been before—both were so near that they recognized him instantly and struck almost simultaneously. One missed completely and plunged ‘gurglingly under water as a result of his own wasted force. But the other Benniba felt a burning, searing pain on the left side of his head—felt the blade of the machete glance off his shoulder, taking a bit of the shoulder with it, then struck at his adversary with all the power- that was in him. The man did not even sigh. But al- most before he had disappeared from sight, Benniba also vanished. When he came up again he felt dizzy and sick, so that nothing was very distinct, but he saw that his canoe had drifted into the creek side and that there were several of Oagadi’s boys between, and no sign of Ilona anywhere. He was on the point of diving again when one of Oagadi’s boys uttered a curious startled whine and plunged sidewise as if to avoid a blow from behind. ‘Those nearest him immediately broke and scattered in momentary panic, and in that instant, with a hoarse shout which he intended Tlona to hear, Benniba struck out for the ‘Canoe. A shrill female cry answered him—a fear- some sound filled with awful triumph—and in the succeeding second there came another scream of mortal agony as yet one more of Oagadi’s sons threw his arms high above his head and drank long and deep of the waters of Atba Creek. His panic-stricken brothers called to one. another for help and instructions. With the voice of Oagadi no longer heard among them, and the long arms of Ogulo, particu- larly effective in work of that kind, having failed to arrive according to schedule, their depleted forces were seized with a sense of disaster. — The darkness and the individual fear of being isolated-made them seek to huddle to- gether, so that when Ilona reached Ben- niba’s side and swam a little in the rear asa . good wife should, Oagadi’s sons either did not clearly observe the joining of the enemy forces, or were too much exercised about their own safety to think coherently of a method of attack. If Benniba paid any attention to Ilona she was not aware of it, and when he gripped the gunwale of the canoe and guided s comicboo (E(0)