INTO SAVAGE BORNEO
Von Horn cursed the chance that had snatched the girl from him, but he tried to content himself with the thought that the treasure probably still rested in the cabin of the Ithaca, where Bududreen was to have deposited it.He wished that the Dyaks would take themselves off so that he could board the vessel and carry the chest ashore to bury it against the time that fate should provide a means for transporting it to Singapore.
In the water below him floated the Ithaca's masts, their grisly burdens still lashed to their wave swept sides.Bududreen lay there, his contorted features set in a horrible grimace of death which grinned up at the man he would have cheated, as though conscious of the fact that the white man would have betrayed him had the opportunity come, the while he enjoyed in anticipation the other's disappointment in the loss of both the girl and the treasure.
The tide was rising now, and presently the Ithaca began to float.No sooner was it apparent that she was free than the Dyaks sprang into the water and swam to her side.Like monkeys they scrambled aboard, swarming below deck in search, thought von Horn, of pillage.
He prayed that they would not discover the chest.
Presently a half dozen of them leaped overboard and swam to the mass of tangled spars and rigging which littered the beach.Selecting what they wished they returned to the vessel, and a few minutes later von Horn was chagrined to see them stepping a jury mast--he thought the treasure lay in the Ithaca's cabin.
Before dark the vessel moved slowly out of the harbor, setting a course across the strait in the direction that the war prahus had taken.When it was apparent that there was no danger that the head hunters would return, the lascar came from his hiding place, and dancing up and down upon the shore screamed warlike challenges and taunts at the retreating enemy.
Von Horn also came forth, much to the sailor's surprise, and in silence the two stood watching the disappearing ship.At length they turned and made their way up the stream toward camp--there was no longer aught to fear there.Von Horn wondered if the creatures he had loosed upon Professor Maxon had done their work before they left, or if they had all turned to mush as had Number Thirteen.
Once at the encampment his questions were answered, for he saw a light in the bungalow, and as he mounted the steps there were Sing and Professor Maxon just coming from the living room.
"Von Horn!" exclaimed the professor."You, then, are not dead;but where is Virginia? Tell me that she is safe.""She has been carried away" was the startling answer.
"Your creatures, under the thing you wished to marry her to, have taken her to Borneo with a band of Malay and Dyak pirates.I was alone and could do nothing to prevent them.""God!" moaned the old man."Why did I not kill the thing when it stood within my power to do so.Only last night he was here beside me, and now it is too late.""I warned you," said von Horn, coldly.
"I was mad," retorted the professor."Could you not see that I was mad? Oh, why did you not stop me?
You were sane enough.You at least might have forced me to abandon the insane obsession which has overpowered my reason for all these terrible months.I am sane now, but it is too late--too late.""Both you and your daughter could only have interpreted any such action on my part as instigated by self-interest, for you both knew that I wanted to make her my wife," replied the other."My hands were tied.
I am sorry now that I did not act, but you can readily see the position in which I was placed.""Can nothing be done to get her back?" cried the father.
"There must be some way to save her.Do it von Horn, and not only is my daughter yours but my wealth as well--every thing that I possess shall be yours if you will but save her from those frightful creatures.""The Ithaca is gone, too," replied the doctor."There is only a small boat that I hid in the jungle for some such emergency.It will carry us to Borneo, but what can we four do against five hundred pirates and the dozen monsters you have brought into the world?
No, Professor Maxon, I fear there is little hope, though I am willing to give my life in an attempt to save Virginia.You will not forget your promise should we succeed?""No, doctor," replied the old man."I swear that you shall have Virginia as your wife, and all my property shall be made over to you if she is rescued."Sing Lee had been a silent listener to this strange conversation.An odd look came into his slant eyes as he heard von Horn exact a confirmation from the professor, but what passed in his shrewd mind only he could say.
It was too late to attempt to make a start that day for Borneo, as darkness had already fallen.Professor Maxon and von Horn walked over to the workshop and the inner campong to ascertain what damage had been done there.
On their return Sing was setting the table on the verandah for the evening meal.The two men were talking, and without making his presence noticeable the Chinaman hovered about ever within ear shot.
"I cannot make it out, von Horn," Professor Maxon was saying."Not a board broken, and the doors both apparently opened intentionally by someone familiar with locks and bolts.Who could have done it?""You forget Number Thirteen," suggested the doctor.
"But the chest!" expostulated the other."What in the world would he want of that enormous and heavy chest?""He might have thought that it contained treasure,"hazarded von Horn, in an innocent tone of voice.
"Bosh, my dear man," replied Professor Maxon."He knew nothing of treasures, or money, or the need or value of either.
I tell you the workshop was opened, and the inner campong as well by some one who knew the value of money and wanted that chest, but why they should have released the creatures from the inner enclosure is beyond me.""And I tell you Professor Maxon that it could have been none other than Number Thirteen," insisted von Horn.
