Argosy, Vol. 117, No. 2 — page 48: what you’re looking at

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

198 tered by a rhinoceros or by a herd of bison, they might get to fighting among them- selves—one can never tell! Lying on the platform and peering through the leaves, the artist and the girl saw Meng and his warriors, bending close to the ground, questing back and forth like hounds that have lost the scent, searching for the tale told by the prints in the long grass. They saw the negroes follow the tracks into the glade, find the place where the two had rested by the brook, pick up the trail there and follow it to the foot of the tree, and back again to the bank of the stream. From time to time one or another of the hunters dropped on all fours and sniffed at the grass, and at last the band came to a halt under the tree whence En-ro and Va- m’rai watched. They spoke together for an instant, then Meng, thrusting the haft of his ax through his girdle and casting his spear on the ground, set himself to climb. En-ro picked. up his throwing-stick, fitted.a dart to the cup, and waited. Higher and higher climbed the giant negro, nearer and nearer, and still En-ro waited, tense, his nostrils quivering. Soon Meng was on a level with the platform, and En-ro rese to his feet with a fierce, deep- throated roar. He swept the throwing-stick forward—the haft snapped in two—the dart flew far over Meng’s head—a fero- cious yell of exultation broke from the waiting negroes—and En-ro dropped flat on the platform barely in time to escape a storm of darts that whistled and snapped through the branches of the oak. Meng climbed and slid to the ground, and spoke briefly to his men, and he evidently had changed his plan, for the negroes spread out and began to climb the oak and nearby trees, making a circle about the quarry. Helpless, En-ro and Va-m’rai watched as the negroes climbed about them and closed in on al} sides, and the Carver of Tusks knew that they meant to take him alive. Nearer and nearer came the hunters, crawl- ing out on the limbs of the other trees, till at a cry from their leader they dropped to- gether on the little platform, and En-ro, ax THE ARGOSY. in his right hand and dagger in his left, leaped to his feet to meet the rush. Then followed a desperate fight. En-ro with ax and dagger, Va-m’rai with skinning- knife, struggled, struck, bit, kicked, clawed, fought with hands and feet, with weapon and teeth and fist—but in silence, for the Ta-an uttered no sound in battle. But the negroes! Yells and curses tore the silence of the little glade, screams and groans of agony, the crash and thud as fall- ing bodies smashed through the branches to the ground, the panting of breathless men, the creak as the boughs of the oak sagged and bent and sprang under the weight of the stamping, surging fighters. En-ro struck but once with his ax before the attackers pressed too close for him to swing—but the negro plunged headlong to the earth, his chest crushed by the terrific blow. Va-m’rai stooped under an upraised arm and stabbed another in the belly, and he too fell, clutching one of his fellows and carrying him to death. En-ro jabbed his fist in Meng’s face and the Bison staggered backward, tripped, and fell, whirling over and over till he hung, head on one side and feet on the other, belly down, across -a branch twenty feet below. Again and again En-ro was borne down by weight of numbers, but ever he strug- gled to his feet and fought, blinded by the blood running into his eyes, half stunned by the blow that had laid open his scalp from front to back, till at last a negro, leap- ing on him from behind, clasped his legs around En-ro’s body, pinning his arms to his sides and throwing him face down on the branches. Instantly three others seized him and tied his hands and feet with rawhide thongs, and at the same moment Va-m’rai, stunned by a blow from a fist that landed full on the back of her neck, was seized and tied, and the fight was over. The fugitives were quickly lowered from the tree, and their feet unbound, hobbles arranged so that they could walk with short steps, and Va-m’rai was revived by water thrown on her face. While this was going on En-ro counted with satisfaction seven negroes stretched on the grass, dead or writhing in agony, but com ebooks (C@