The Monster Men Read online

  11

  "I AM COMING!"

  The morning following the capture of Virginia Maxon by Muda Saffir,Professor Maxon, von Horn, Sing Lee and the sole surviving lascar fromthe crew of the Ithaca set out across the strait toward the mainland ofBorneo in the small boat which the doctor had secreted in the junglenear the harbor. The party was well equipped with firearms andammunition, and the bottom of the boat was packed full with provisionsand cooking utensils. Von Horn had been careful to see that the boatwas furnished with a mast and sail, and now, under a good breeze theparty was making excellent time toward the mysterious land of theirdestination.

  They had scarcely cleared the harbor when they sighted a ship far outacross the strait. Its erratic movements riveted their attention uponit, and later, as they drew nearer, they perceived that the strangecraft was a good sized schooner with but a single short mast and tinysail. For a minute or two her sail would belly with the wind and thevessel make headway, then she would come suddenly about, only to repeatthe same tactics a moment later. She sailed first this way and thenthat, losing one minute what she had gained the minute before.

  Von Horn was the first to recognize her.

  "It is the Ithaca," he said, "and her Dyak crew are having a devil of atime managing her--she acts as though she were rudderless."

  Von Horn ran the small boat within hailing distance of the dismastedhulk whose side was now lined with waving, gesticulating natives. Theywere peaceful fishermen, they explained, whose prahus had been wreckedin the recent typhoon. They had barely escaped with their lives byclambering aboard this wreck which Allah had been so merciful as toplace directly in their road. Would the Tuan Besar be so good as totell them how to make the big prahu steer?

  Von Horn promised to help them on condition that they would guide himand his party to the stronghold of Rajah Muda Saffir in the heart ofBorneo. The Dyaks willingly agreed, and von Horn worked his small boatin close under the Ithaca's stern. Here he found that the rudder hadbeen all but unshipped, probably as the vessel was lifted over the reefduring the storm, but a single pintle remaining in its gudgeon. A halfhour's work was sufficient to repair the damage, and then the two boatscontinued their journey toward the mouth of the river up which thosethey sought had passed the night before.

  Inside the river's mouth an anchorage was found for the Ithaca near thevery island upon which the fierce battle between Number Thirteen andMuda Saffir's forces had occurred. From the deck of the larger vesselthe deserted prahu which had borne Bulan across the strait was visible,as were the bodies of the slain Dyaks and the misshapen creatures ofthe white giant's forces.

  In excited tones the head hunters called von Horn's attention to theseevidences of conflict, and the doctor drew his boat up to the islandand leaped ashore, followed by Professor Maxon and Sing. Here theyfound the dead bodies of the four monsters who had fallen in an attemptto rescue their creator's daughter, though little did any there imaginethe real truth.

  About the corpses of the four were the bodies of a dozen Dyak warriorsattesting to the ferocity of the encounter and the savage prowess ofthe unarmed creatures who had sold their poor lives so dearly.

  "Evidently they fell out about the possession of the captive,"suggested von Horn. "Let us hope that she did not fall into theclutches of Number Thirteen--any fate would be better than that."

  "God give that that has not befallen her," moaned Professor Maxon."The pirates might but hold her for ransom, but should that soullessfiend possess her my prayer is that she found the strength and themeans to take her own life before he had an opportunity to have his waywith her."

  "Amen," agreed von Horn.

  Sing Lee said nothing, but in his heart he hoped that Virginia Maxonwas not in the power of Rajah Muda Saffir. The brief experience he hadhad with Number Thirteen during the fight in the bungalow had ratherwarmed his wrinkled old heart toward the friendless young giant, and hewas a sufficiently good judge of human nature to be confident that thegirl would be comparatively safe in his keeping.

  It was quickly decided to abandon the small boat and embark the entireparty in the deserted war prahu. A half hour later saw the strangelymixed expedition forging up the river, but not until von Horn hadboarded the Ithaca and discovered to his dismay that the chest was noton board her.

  Far above them on the right bank Muda Saffir still squatted in hishiding place, for no friendly prahu or sampan had passed his way sincedawn. His keen eyes roving constantly up and down the long stretch ofriver that was visible from his position finally sighted a war prahucoming toward him from down stream. As it drew closer he recognized itas one which had belonged to his own fleet before his unhappy encounterwith the wild white man and his abhorrent pack, and a moment later hisheart leaped as he saw the familiar faces of several of his men; butwho were the strangers in the stern, and what was a Chinaman doingperched there upon the bow?

  The prahu was nearly opposite him before he recognized Professor Maxonand von Horn as the white men of the little island. He wondered howmuch they knew of his part in the raid upon their encampment.Bududreen had told him much concerning the doctor, and as Muda Saffirrecalled the fact that von Horn was anxious to possess himself of boththe treasure and the girl he guessed that he would be safe in the man'shands so long as he could hold out promises of turning one or the otherover to him; and so, as he was tired of squatting upon theuncomfortable bank and was very hungry, he arose and hailed the passingprahu.

  His men recognized his voice immediately and as they knew nothing ofthe defection of any of their fellows, turned the boat's prow towardshore without waiting for the command from von Horn. The latter,fearing treachery, sprang to his feet with raised rifle, but when oneof the paddlers explained that it was the Rajah Muda Saffir who hailedthem and that he was alone von Horn permitted them to draw nearer theshore, though he continued to stand ready to thwart any attemptedtreachery and warned both the professor and Sing to be on guard.

  As the prahu's nose touched the bank Muda Saffir stepped aboard andwith many protestations of gratitude explained that he had fallenoverboard from his own prahu the night before and that evidently hisfollowers thought him drowned, since none of his boats had returned tosearch for him. Scarcely had the Malay seated himself before von Hornbegan questioning him in the rajah's native tongue, not a word of whichwas intelligible to Professor Maxon. Sing, however, was as familiarwith it as was von Horn.

  "Where are the girl and the treasure?" he asked.

  "What girl, Tuan Besar?" inquired the wily Malay innocently. "And whattreasure? The white man speaks in riddles."

  "Come, come," cried von Horn impatiently. "Let us have no foolishness.You know perfectly well what I mean--it will go far better with you ifwe work together as friends. I want the girl--if she is unharmed--andI will divide the treasure with you if you will help me to obtain them;otherwise you shall have no part of either. What do you say? Shall webe friends or enemies?"

  "The girl and the treasure were both stolen from me by a rascallypanglima, Ninaka," said Muda Saffir, seeing that it would be as well tosimulate friendship for the white man for the time being atleast--there would always be an opportunity to use a kris upon him inthe remote fastness of the interior to which Muda Saffir would leadthem.

  "What became of the white man who led the strange monsters?" asked vonHorn.

  "He killed many of my men, and the last I saw of him he was pushing upthe river after the girl and the treasure," replied the Malay.

  "If another should ask you," continued von Horn with a meaningfulglance toward Professor Maxon, "it will be well to say that the girlwas stolen by this white giant and that you suffered defeat in anattempt to rescue her because of your friendship for us. Do youunderstand?"

  Muda Saffir nodded. Here was a man after his own heart, which lovedintrigue and duplicity. Evidently he would be a good ally in wreakingvengeance upon the white giant who had caused all hisdiscomfiture--afterward there was always the kris if the other should
become inconvenient.

  At the long-house at which Barunda and Ninaka had halted, Muda Saffirlearned all that had transpired, his informants being the two Dyaks whohad led Bulan and his pack into the jungle. He imparted theinformation to von Horn and both men were delighted that thus theirmost formidable enemy had been disposed of. It would be but a questionof time before the inexperienced creatures perished in the denseforest--that they ever could retrace their steps to the river was mostunlikely, and the chances were that one by one they would be dispatchedby head hunters while they slept.

  Again the party embarked, reinforced by the two Dyaks who were only tooglad to renew their allegiance to Muda Saffir while he was backed bythe guns of the white men. On and on they paddled up the river,gleaning from the dwellers in the various long-houses information ofthe passing of the two prahus with Barunda, Ninaka, and the white girl.

  Professor Maxon was impatient to hear every detail that von Hornobtained from Muda Saffir and the various Dyaks that were interviewedat the first long-house and along the stretch of river they covered.The doctor told him that Number Thirteen still had Virginia and wasfleeing up the river in a swift prahu. He enlarged upon the valorshown by Muda Saffir and his men in their noble attempt to rescue hisdaughter, and through it all Sing Lee sat with half closed eyes,apparently oblivious to all that passed before him. What were theworkings of that intricate celestial brain none can say.

  Far in the interior of the jungle Bulan and his five monsters stumbledon in an effort to find the river. Had they known it they were movingparallel with the stream, but a few miles from it. At times it woundin wide detours close to the path of the lost creatures, and again itcircled far away from them.

  As they travelled they subsisted upon the fruits with which they hadbecome familiar upon the island of their creation. They sufferedgreatly for lack of water, but finally stumbled upon a small stream atwhich they filled their parched stomachs. Here it occurred to Bulanthat it would be wise to follow the little river, since they could beno more completely lost than they now were no matter where it shouldlead them, and it would at least insure them plenty of fresh water.

  As they proceeded down the bank of the stream it grew in size untilpresently it became a fair sized river, and Bulan had hopes that itmight indeed prove the stream that they had ascended from the ocean andthat soon he would meet with the prahus and possibly find VirginiaMaxon herself. The strenuous march of the six through the jungle hadtorn their light cotton garments into shreds so that they were allpractically naked, while their bodies were scratched and bleeding fromcountless wounds inflicted by sharp thorns and tangled brambles throughwhich they had forced their way.

  Bulan still carried his heavy bull whip while his five companions werearmed with the parangs they had taken from the Dyaks they hadoverpowered upon the island at the mouth of the river. It was uponthis strange and remarkable company that the sharp eyes of a score ofriver Dyaks peered through the foliage. The head hunters had beenengaged in collecting camphor crystals when their quick ears caught thenoisy passage of the six while yet at a considerable distance, and withready parangs the savages crept stealthily toward the sound of theadvancing party.

  At first they were terror stricken at the hideous visages of five ofthe creatures they beheld, but when they saw how few their numbers, andhow poorly armed they were, as well as the awkwardness with which theycarried their parangs, denoting their unfamiliarity with the weapons,they took heart and prepared to ambush them.

  What prizes those terrible heads would be when properly dried anddecorated! The savages fairly trembled in anticipation of thecommotion they would cause in the precincts of their long-house whenthey returned with six such magnificent trophies.

  Their victims came blundering on through the dense jungle to where thetwenty sleek brown warriors lay in wait for them. Bulan was in thelead, and close behind him in single file lumbered his awkward crew.Suddenly there was a chorus of savage cries close beside him andsimultaneously he found himself in the midst of twenty cutting,slashing parangs.

  Like lightning his bull whip flew into action, and to the astonishedwarriors it was as though a score of men were upon them in the personof this mighty white giant. Following the example of their leader thefive creatures at his back leaped upon the nearest warriors, and thoughthey wielded their parangs awkwardly the superhuman strength back oftheir cuts and thrusts sent the already blood stained blades throughmany a brown body.

  The Dyaks would gladly have retreated after the first surprise of theirinitial attack, but Bulan urged his men on after them, and so they wereforced to fight to preserve their lives at all. At last five of themmanaged to escape into the jungle, but fifteen remained quietly uponthe earth where they had fallen--the victims of their own overconfidence. Beside them lay two of Bulan's five, so that now thelittle party was reduced to four--and the problem that had facedProfessor Maxon was so much closer to its own solution.

  From the bodies of the dead Dyaks Bulan and his three companions,Number Three, Number Ten, and Number Twelve, took enough loin cloths,caps, war-coats, shields and weapons to fit them out completely, afterdiscarding the ragged remnants of their cotton pajamas, and now, evenmore terrible in appearance than before, the rapidly vanishing companyof soulless monsters continued their aimless wandering down the river'sbrim.

  The five Dyaks who had escaped carried the news of the terriblecreatures that had fallen upon them in the jungle, and of the awfulprowess of the giant white man who led them. They told of how, armedonly with a huge whip, he had been a match and more than a match forthe best warriors of the tribe, and the news that they started spreadrapidly down the river from one long-house to another until it reachedthe broad stream into which the smaller river flowed, and then ittravelled up and down to the headwaters above and the ocean far belowin the remarkable manner that news travels in the wild places of theworld.

  So it was that as Bulan advanced he found the long-houses in his pathdeserted, and came to the larger river and turned up toward its headwithout meeting with resistance or even catching a glimpse of thebrown-skinned people who watched him from their hiding places in thebrush.

  That night they slept in the long-house near the bank of the greaterstream, while its rightful occupants made the best of it in the junglebehind. The next morning found the four again on the march ere the sunhad scarcely lighted the dark places of the forest, for Bulan was nowsure that he was on the right trail and that the new river that he hadcome to was indeed the same that he had traversed in the Prahu withBarunda.

  It must have been close to noon when the young giant's ears caught thesound of the movement of some animal in the jungle a short distance tohis right and away from the river. His experience with men had taughthim to be wary, for it was evident that every man's hand was againsthim, so he determined to learn at once whether the noise he heard camefrom some human enemy lurking along his trail ready to spring upon himwith naked parang at a moment that he was least prepared, or merelyfrom some jungle brute.

  Cautiously he threaded his way through the matted vegetation in thedirection of the sound. Although a parang from the body of avanquished Dyak hung at his side he grasped his bull whip ready in hisright hand, preferring it to the less accustomed weapon of the headhunter. For a dozen yards he advanced without sighting the object ofhis search, but presently his efforts were rewarded by a glimpse of areddish, hairy body, and a pair of close set, wicked eyes peering athim from behind a giant tree.

  At the same instant a slight movement at one side attracted hisattention to where another similar figure crouched in the underbrush,and then a third, fourth and fifth became evident about him. Bulanlooked in wonderment upon the strange, man-like creatures who eyed himthreateningly from every hand. They stood fully as high as the brownDyak warriors, but their bodies were naked except for the growth ofreddish hair which covered them, shading to black upon the face andhands.

  The lips of the nearest were raised in an angry snarl that exposedw
icked looking fighting fangs, but the beasts did not seem inclined toinitiate hostilities, and as they were unarmed and evidently butengaged upon their own affairs Bulan decided to withdraw withoutarousing them further. As he turned to retrace his steps he found histhree companions gazing in wide-eyed astonishment upon the strange newcreatures which confronted them.

  Number Ten was grinning broadly, while Number Three advanced cautiouslytoward one of the creatures, making a low guttural noise, that couldonly be interpreted as peaceful and conciliatory--more like a felinepurr it was than anything else.

  "What are you doing?" cried Bulan. "Leave them alone. They have notoffered to harm us."

  "They are like us," replied Number Three. "They must be our ownpeople. I am going with them."

  "And I," said Number Ten.

  "And I," echoed Number Twelve. "At last we have found our own, let usall go with them and live with them, far away from the men who wouldbeat us with great whips, and cut us with their sharp swords."

  "They are not human beings," exclaimed Bulan. "We cannot live withthem."

  "Neither are we human beings," retorted Number Twelve. "Has not vonHorn told us so many times?"

  "If I am not now a human being," replied Bulan, "I intend to be one,and so I shall act as a human being should act. I shall not go to livewith savage beasts, nor shall you. Come with me as I tell you, or youshall again taste the bull whip."

  "We shall do as we please," growled Number Ten, baring his fangs. "Youare not our master. We have followed you as long as we intend to. Weare tired of forever walking, walking, walking through the bushes thattear our flesh and hurt us. Go and be a human being if you think youcan, but do not longer interfere with us or we shall kill you," and helooked first at Number Three and then at Number Twelve for approval ofhis ultimatum.

  Number Three nodded his grotesque and hideous head--he was so coveredwith long black hair that he more nearly resembled an ourang outangthan a human being. Number Twelve looked doubtful.

  "I think Number Ten is right," he said at last. "We are not human. Wehave no souls. We are things. And while you, Bulan, are beautiful,yet you are as much a soulless thing as we--that much von Horn taughtus well. So I believe that it would be better were we to keep foreverfrom the sight of men. I do not much like the thought of living withthese strange, hairy monsters, but we might find a place here in thejungle where we could live alone and in peace."

  "I do not want to live alone," cried Number Three. "I want a mate, andI see a beautiful one yonder now. I am going after her," and with thathe again started toward a female ourang outang; but the lady bared herfangs and retreated before his advance.

  "Even the beasts will have none of us," cried Number Ten angrily. "Letus take them by force then," and he started after Number Three.

  "Come back!" shouted Bulan, leaping after the two deserters.

  As he raised his voice there came an answering cry from a littledistance ahead--a cry for help, and it was in the agonized tones of awoman's voice.

  "I am coming!" shouted Bulan, and without another glance at hismutinous crew he sprang through the line of menacing ourang outangs.