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r r
That was all. Ali ben Kadin rose and came toward her.
Meriem shrank back, horrified. The man seized her wrist.
"Come!" he commanded, and dragged her from The Sheik's tent
and to his own.
After they had gone The Sheik chuckled. "When I send her
north in a few months," he soliloquized, "they will know the
reward for slaying the son of the sister of Amor ben Khatour."
And in Ali ben Kadin's tent Meriem pleaded and threatened, but
all to no avail. The hideous old halfcaste spoke soft words
at first, but when Meriem loosed upon him the vials of her horror
and loathing he became enraged, and rushing upon her seized
her in his arms. Twice she tore away from him, and in one of
the intervals during which she managed to elude him she heard
Baynes' voice humming the tune that she knew was meant for
her ears. At her reply Ali ben Kadin rushed upon her once again.
This time he dragged her back into the rear apartment of his tent
where three Negresses looked up in stolid indifference to the
tragedy being enacted before them.
As the Hon. Morison saw his way blocked by the huge frame of
the giant black his disappointment and rage filled him with a
bestial fury that transformed him into a savage beast. With an
oath he leaped upon the man before him, the momentum of his body
hurling the black to the ground. There they fought, the black
to draw his knife, the white to choke the life from the black.
Baynes' fingers shut off the cry for help that the other would
have been glad to voice; but presently the Negro succeeded in
drawing his weapon and an instant later Baynes felt the sharp
steel in his shoulder. Again and again the weapon fell. The white
man removed one hand from its choking grip upon the black throat.
He felt around upon the ground beside him searching for some
missile, and at last his fingers touched a stone and closed
upon it. Raising it above his antagonist's head the Hon. Morison
drove home a terrific blow. Instantly the black relaxed--stunned.
Twice more Baynes struck him. Then he leaped to his feet and
ran for the goat skin tent from which he had heard the voice of
Meriem in distress.
But before him was another. Naked but for his leopard skin
and his loin cloth, Korak, The Killer, slunk into the shadows at
the back of Ali ben Kadin's tent. The half-caste had just dragged
Meriem into the rear chamber as Korak's sharp knife slit a six
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r r
foot opening in the tent wall, and Korak, tall and mighty, sprang
through upon the astonished visions of the inmates.
Meriem saw and recognized him the instant that he entered
the apartment. Her heart leaped in pride and joy at the sight
of the noble figure for which it had hungered for so long.
"Korak!" she cried.
"Meriem!" He uttered the single word as he hurled himself
upon the astonished Ali ben Kadin. The three Negresses leaped
from their sleeping mats, screaming. Meriem tried to prevent
them from escaping; but before she could succeed the terrified
blacks had darted through the hole in the tent wall made by
Korak's knife, and were gone screaming through the village.
The Killer's fingers closed once upon the throat of the hideous Ali.
Once his knife plunged into the putrid heart--and Ali ben Kadin
lay dead upon the floor of his tent. Korak turned toward Meriem
and at the same moment a bloody and disheveled apparition leaped
into the apartment.
"Morison!" cried the girl.
Korak turned and looked at the new comer. He had been about
to take Meriem in his arms, forgetful of all that might have
transpired since last he had seen her. Then the coming of the
young Englishman recalled the scene he had witnessed in the
little clearing, and a wave of misery swept over the ape man.
Already from without came the sounds of the alarm that the
three Negresses had started. Men were running toward the tent
of Ali ben Kadin. There was no time to be lost.
"Quick!" cried Korak, turning toward Baynes, who had scarce
yet realized whether he was facing a friend or foe. "Take her
to the palisade, following the rear of the tents. Here is
my rope. With it you can scale the wall and make your escape."
"But you, Korak?" cried Meriem.
"I will remain," replied the ape-man. "I have business with
The Sheik."
Meriem would have demurred, but The Killer seized them both
by the shoulders and hustled them through the slit wall and
out into the shadows beyond.
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r r
"Now run for it," he admonished, and turned to meet and
hold those who were pouring into the tent from the front.
The ape-man fought well--fought as he had never fought before;
but the odds were too great for victory, though he won that which
he most craved--time for the Englishman to escape with Meriem.
Then he was overwhelmed by numbers, and a few minutes later,
bound and guarded, he was carried to The Sheik's tent.
The old men eyed him in silence for a long time. He was
trying to fix in his own mind some form of torture that would
gratify his rage and hatred toward this creature who twice had
been the means of his losing possession of Meriem. The killing
of Ali ben Kadin caused him little anger--always had he hated
the hideous son of his father's hideous slave. The blow that this
naked white warrior had once struck him added fuel to his rage.
He could think of nothing adequate to the creature's offense.
And as he sat there looking upon Korak the silence was broken by
the trumpeting of an elephant in the jungle beyond the palisade.
A half smile touched Korak's lips. He turned his head a trifle
in the direction from which the sound had come and then there
broke from his lips, a low, weird call. One of the blacks
guarding him struck him across the mouth with the haft of his
spear; but none there knew the significance of his cry.
In the jungle Tantor cocked his ears as the sound of Korak's
voice fell upon them. He approached the palisade and lifting his
trunk above it, sniffed. Then he placed his head against the
wooden logs and pushed; but the palisade was strong and only
gave a little to the pressure.
In The Sheik's tent The Sheik rose at last, and, pointing
toward the bound captive, turned to one of his lieutenants.
"Burn him," he commanded. "At once. The stake is set."
The guard pushed Korak from The Sheik's presence. They dragged
him to the open space in the center of the village, where a high
stake was set in the ground. It had not been intended for
burnings, but offered a convenient place to tie up refractory
slaves that they might be beaten--ofttimes until death relieved
their agonies.
To this stake they bound Korak. Then they brought brush and
piled about him, and The Sheik came and stood by that he might
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r r
watch the agonies of his victim. But Korak did not wince even
after they had fetched a brand and the flames had shot up among
the dry tinder.
Once, then, he raised his voice in the low call that he had
given in The Sheik's tent, and now, from beyond the palisade,
came again the trumpeting of an elephant.
Old Tantor had been pushing at the palisade in vain. The sound
of Korak's voice calling him, and the scent of man, his enemy,
filled the great beast with rage and resentment against the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]