Adventure, February 20, 1922 — page 129: what you’re looking at

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

Up-Stream Segwanga Creek, and had crossed it to enter the much narrower side creek which, with many twistings and turnings, led to the vil- lage of Atba, where Benniba lived, their op- portunity to place as much distance be- tween themselves and the ape-like dwarf came in real earnest, because the moment they made the turn they were out of Ogulo’s range of vision. Instantly, with a low Jakri guttural, Ben- niba set a pace that made Ilona grin with ex- ultation because her strength was strained ' to the utmost to keep up with it. Atba Creek was black as crape. The overhanging bush upon either side provided excellent cover for an ambush every inch of the way, and they both knew enough of na- tive tactics to know that, if a trap awaited them, Ogulo and his brothers represented simply the door that would close upon them from behind when they entered it. Somewhere ahead, if Ilona was right, Oagadi, showing no sign of his late after- noon drunkenness, waited with others of his breed-in careful or casual concealment, and the more casual it seemed, me more deadly it was.sure to be. Benniba had removed his coat and Ilona could see his broad, powerfully muscled back, naked to the waist, glisten dully with the sweat of effort as her eyes began to pierce the dark more easily. Her own - bright-yellow overcloth. had slipped from its loose twist-knot fastening and fallen away from her almost completely, denuding her of all but a short knee-length waist-cloth. As her slender, round arms lifted the single-bladed paddle and swept it down again in a perfect arc, the astonishment of the onlooker would not have been caused so much by the grace and beauty of the move- ment as by the fierce and savage power that was behind it. If Ogulo followed, he did so hopelessly. His heavy trade canoe was-no match for Benniba’s light-traveling shell in a test of speed, and it had not, quite obviously, been intended to be. Unless, finding himself out- witted by Ilona’s shréwdness and intuition, he had transferred himself to a lighter canoe —which was always a possibility—it was reasonably sure that he could be counted out of such developments as might transpire. When they had passed the deserted “‘ju- ju beach” of a defunct native trader, and were heading into the Stygian darkness of a sharp curve that gave no hint of what might 127 lie beyond it, they knew that there, or no- — where, their real danger lay. Yet they did not slacken speed in the least; simply held to the middle of the creek and swept around the bend without looking to right or left, in the hope that, if Oagadi awaited them be- yond the curve, the surprize would be his rather than theirs. It was theirs. They did sweep round the bend at top speed, peering into the dark till their sweat- blurred eyes smarted with the strain of it. And nothing happened. There was no sign of Oagadi’s canoe with its little deck and its awning of rough native mats; nor of any other canoe, for that matter. Not for a little while. Then, just as Benniba had slackened pace a little, a fair-sized canoe of about eight pad- dles loomed leisurely out -of the blackness ahead. It had no awning, and apparently was in no hurry to reach whatever destina- tion it had in mind. The only suspicious circumstance about it was that, instead of hugging the bush as ambling canoes usually do, it was out in midstream, and when Ben- niba veered off to give it as wide a margin as possible, it swerved perceptibly; then, in reply to a low, sharp order from some one in command, it shot forward with such speed and suddenness that only the greatest dexterity on Benniba’s part avoided his much lighter canoe being rammed amidship. To avert that calamity, Benniba did not trust to speed. With a sharp twist of his paddle, he pulled the canoe’s nose round to meet the rush of the heavier craft, so that the effect of the collision was simply a scraping, bumping sideswipe, which had two immediate results that precipitated chaos. It brought Benniba’s canoe alongside the other and revealed to Ilona’s eyes in a hazy, but none the less decisive fashion, the identity of Oagadi, who had apparently ‘stripped his canoe of its awning in -an effort to disguise it. At once some of Oagadi’s boys gripped the gunwale of Benniba’s canoe to prevent it from sheering off, and in a moment more paddles would give way to machetes in their hands. Benniba knew that, and with a shouted order, which Ilona could not fail to hear, he plunged into the water, expecting her to follow. But Ilona had work to do, and the ma- chete that had been under her feet played a noble part in it. Only the Frcs bobbing movement of the canoes spoiled the. <=) CO (E@AMiicel ovexe) i”