Argosy All-Story Weekly, July 1, 1922 — page 99: what you’re looking at

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

THE JU-JU MAN. mile up the bed of the stream, there was a great shoulder of rock that jutted out and cut off all view of what lay beyond. De- posits of mica dotted its surface, catching and reflecting the rays of the sun, and sparkling with a cheerful promise of treas- ure at hand. For all Burk knew the massive butte might conceal the rocky sign post that he hunted, and he waved his hand to Lom- bo to indicate the direction that they should now take. ~-- Anoka, as ever at his chief’s elbow, inter- jected a remark whose tone struck ominous- ly on the ears of the white men, though the words meant little. The fetish doctor was distinctly sulky, and it soon became plain that Lombo was attempting to placate him. Apparently he succeeded, for Anoka sub- sided into silence. “I caught just one word of that lingo,” confided Smale as the march was resumed a minute later, ‘‘ and that was ‘ map.’ ” ‘“H-m!” Burk looked thoughtful. ‘It’s pounds to pence the beggar was insisting on a glimpse of it.” ‘“‘'We can let them see it if it comes to a pinch,” the Boer decided. ‘ Half the direc- tions are written in English, and a precious lot of good that will do him.” A stony, twisting path brought them from the crest of the hill to the edge of the river bed. Celia was forced to leave her litter and scramble down the hillside, so steep was the descent in spots. It would have been dangerous to risk these places with the clumsy stretcher. It worried and annoyed the Irishman to notice that Anoka was sending curious and speculative glances at the girl; Burk was quite alive to the possibility of some savage stealing the girl and selling her into cap- tivity for the price, perhaps, of one good debauch. He finally scowled at the African with such a threatening mien that the Bolo- lo thereafter kept his eyes sullenly fixed on the ground beneath his feet. If the drop from the hill to the valley was difficult their way along the edge of the river was undiluted agony. There was not the faintest semblance of a path. Sharp stones and treacherous, rounded pebbles played havoc with their feet and tempers. The barefooted savages fared better than 889 the leather-shod white men, but at the end of a mile they would gladly have halted for a rest. Luckily for them all this distance carried them around the grim butte whose jutting mass had obstructed their view of the far- ther valley, and it was Burk who gave a shout of pleasure at the sight of a huge bowlder that reared itself in the air scarcely half a mile ahead. It was shaped to the perfect form of a pyramid. In the exuberance of his spirits Burk swung a heavy hand upon his friend’s shoul- der, nearly bowling over the smaller man. ‘* By gad, we’ve done it!” he cried. “ Hit it within a mile on the very first try. <A bit of all right—what?” Smale grunted non-committally. Even the sight of their goal did not revive his drooping spirits. Instead of eying it with the rapt enthusiasm displayed by the Irish- man, he turned away his gaze almost imme- diately and searched the barren landscape to their rear. ““What’s the matter?” asked Burk. ‘““N-nothing! Guess I’m seeing things. I thought a while ago that I spotted some one dodging behind a rock a mile or more back of us.” “Let ‘em dodge!” cried the jubilant ad- venturer. ‘“ We're strong enough to hold our own against a hundred will-o’-the- wisps.” The Boer permitted his doubts to be silenced, but in proof of his anxiety he sud- denly unslung his heavy rifle from his back and looked carefully to its efficiency. Burk hurried to the head of the line to apprise Lombo of the good news. The Bololo’s eye lit up with a swift gleam of avarice as he learned that they had reached the end of their journey. “You know where him gold?” Burk winked at him jovially. “Tell you later,” he promised. They reached the pyramidal rock and halted. The warriors threw down their weapons and the bags of supplies that they carried and settled themselves to rest in whatever shade they could find. The heat, Smale commented, would have baked bread, and the surface of the rocks would have fried a salamander. comicloool C©