Bones of the River (26 page)

“I hope he means ‘island,’” said Sanders, “but we have no volcanic patches in this territory. Now, if we were near Kilamansaro–”

“I imagine Bones is preparing his report for his unfortunate college,” said Hamilton drily.

But in the night Sanders was wakened by the sergeant of the guard.

“Lord, the beater of the
lokali
says that there is bad trouble by the hot lake, and that Tibbetti has fought M’suru and has been taken prisoner.”

A few minutes later Sanders knocked at the door of Hamilton’s bedroom.

“The
Zaire
leaves at daybreak,” he said.

*  *  *

A spy came to M’suru with news of the fugitives.

“They have made a hut near the Lake of Devils,” he said. “Also, M’suru, there have been terrible happenings, for land came up from the water and then went down again.”

M’suru had some difficulty in persuading his followers to continue with him, but at last the terror he could inspire overcame their fear of the unknown and they went on, and as the sun was setting their fearful eyes rested on the sombre scene.

In a vast desert of yellow earth the lake lay blood-red in the dying light of the sun. lt was shaped like an egg, and on the narrower end a misty blue haze rested.

“O ko, this is bad!” said M’suru in dismay, and pointed.

On the farther shore his sharp eyes had seen the moored canoe, and on the slope above the tiny green tent that marked the tent of Lieutenant Tibbetts.

“Sandi!” said one of M’suru’s men, and the chief snarled round at him.

“You are a fool,” he said, “for Sandi is on his big ship. Therefore this must be a trader. Show me where Kimi and the man live.”

The spy pointed to a far green belt, and M’suru grunted his satisfaction.

In the hour before the dawn he reached the hut, and not all the magic of the Ghost Spear availed Mabidini. Him they crucified to a tree. Kimi died earlier and more mercifully. Bones, in the frenzy of exploration, heard the shrieks and went, revolver in hand, to discover the cause.

“I see you, Mabidini!”

M’suru was frothing at the mouth as he howled his hate at the dying man. He heard a shout behind him and turned, his spear poised.

Twice Bones fired and twice missed. The second shot struck the tortured Mabidini and passed him out of the world. Then, in a frenzy of fear, one of M’suru’s men threw a spear. The point caught the bough of a bush, but the ironwood handle, spinning round, struck Bones in the throat, and he stumbled, gasping.

For a second M’suru hesitated, his spear raised, and then the knowledge that the white man would not be alone decided him. He flew down the slope toward the lake, his followers behind him. Far away to the left he saw the red tarboshes of two Houssas. They were at such a distance that he could safely make for the camp where the canoe was moored.

He saw the soldiers running, heard the wrathful yell of Bones racing behind, and made his decision. He was in the canoe, hacking with his razor-sharp hunting spear at the native rope that bound it.

“Shoot!” roared Bones.

The Houssas dropped to their knees, and two bullets struck the water left and right of the racing canoe.

M’suru was steering for the opposite bank, and Bones knew enough of native marksmanship to hope that anything but a chance bullet would catch the flying murderer.

“Cease fire,” he ordered as the breathless soldiery came up to him. M’suru would keep.

“Go back to a little hut by the trees and bury a woman; also take down Mabidini of the Ochori, who is fastened by a spear to a tree,” he said, and, when the men’s backs were turned, watched the canoe.

It had reached the centre of the lake, and the paddles were moving more leisurely.

“You nasty fellow,” said Bones, and said no more, staring open-mouthed at what he saw.

The surface of the lake had become strangely agitated. Great waves were sweeping outward toward the shores, and in the middle there appeared a dark mass, which must have been at least two hundred feet in length.

The men in the canoe were at the western end of the amazing upheaval, and M’suru, seeing the thing, changed his course.

He saw more than Bones, for suddenly the canoe turned and came back toward the camp, the paddlers working frantically.

And then there came up from the depths of the lake a great spade-shaped head. It rose higher and higher at the end of a neck that seemed thin in comparison. Towering over the canoe, the head darted down with incredible swiftness. There was a huge splash. Bones, frozen with horror, saw the head moving about in the water, as the bill of a duck moves when feeding. Another second, and the island had disappeared, and only two fragments of the canoe broke the smooth expanse of water.

*  *  *

“I
knew
that you’d see an ichthyosaurus,” said Hamilton. “Bones, you’re incorrigible! You had two fellows there who could have corroborated your yarn, and what did you do with ’em? Sent them away! Oh, Bones, Bones!”

Lieutenant Tibbetts groaned in the agony of his soul.

“My dear old officer… I saw it! A hundred yards long, old officer… I
wasn’t
dreaming.” He was almost in tears.

The
Zaire
had pushed her way through the weed-grown river, and lay under the sloping bank of the lake. Sanders had listened in silence to the narrative of his subordinate.

“Bones, I believe you,” he said, to Hamilton’s amazement.

“You believe it, sir?”

Sanders nodded. “Such things have been seen in the volcanic areas in East Africa…it is possible.”

He had intended returning immediately he had discovered that the garbled story of Bones’ capture was untrue – to what watchful tribesman he owed the warning he never discovered. But now he decided to wait, and again, to Hamilton’s surprise, had the
Zaire
taken back to the Little River.

“But surely, sir – ” began Hamilton.

“You never know,” said Sanders.

He spent the night with Hamilton, filling a small iron water-tank with a variety of explosives, and the Captain of Houssas warmed to his task. In the early morning Hamilton fixed a time fuse, and the tank, balanced on the steamer’s foredeck, was ready to drop as the
Zaire
moved slowly to midstream.

“Take the starboard gun, Bones,” said Sanders, and Bones crouched at the Hotchkiss, his finger on the brass trigger.

“I don’t know whether I’m dreaming,” said Hamilton, “but I certainly feel that Bones is going to owe us an apology after this!”

Sanders swung the
Zaire
to midstream, and, jamming over the telegraph to full speed, gave a signal to the Houssas in the bow. The tank dropped with a splash as the
Zaire
swung round and headed for the river, her stern wheel revolving furiously. They reached the weed-grown river mouth and slowed.

“That will do,” said Sanders, watch in hand, and stopped the engines.

“Bones!” whispered his superior. “You’ve fooled the Commissioner!”

At that moment there was a quivering thud of sound – a white geyser of water leapt up in the centre of the lake, and – that was all.

“Nothing!” said Hamilton.

The word was hardly out of his mouth when the waters of the lake began to rock and toss, and out of the depths arose that horrible spade-shaped head. Higher and higher the neck emerged.

“Bang!”

The Hotchkiss spat viciously, and somewhere near the fearful head a blue-black ball of smoke came into being. When it had gone there was no head – nothing but the boiling, bubbling waters and the flash of a great, dead-white surface like the belly of a fish.

“I wouldn’t write about this if I were you, Bones,” said Sanders later.

“Dear old sir,” confessed Bones, “my jolly old hand is too shaky to write – I’m stickin’ to the dinkey little monkeys with pants.”

[Note: Where supported by the reading device, access keys are 1-9, and then a,b etc. where needed (sometimes also requiring Ctrl, Alt, Cmd etc.)]

[1]
Letter.

[2]
Doughty.

[3]
“Mystery” and “secret” are synonymous terms in the Lamongo tongue.

[4]
There are patches of land on the river, in which the germs of lockjaw abound.

[5]
Teeth = ivory tusks.

[6]
= one hundred: that is, every hundred paces.

Dates given are for year of first publication.

These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels

These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels

These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels

These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels

These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels

Published by House of Stratus

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