Dave Fearless and the Cave of Mystery; or, Adrift on the Pacific

by Roy Rockwood

  CHAPTER XXVIII

  A WILD RIDE

  "All aboard, mate!" shouted Daley.

  "Keep together," called out Dave.

  "It's going to be a tussle," panted the sailor. "My, but she's askittish one."

  Daley had mounted one of the _dadons_ after cutting its tether. Davehad succeeded in landing himself on the back of another.

  The _dadons_ were horses in all things except a peculiarly long mane anda head shaped like that of a zebra.

  The minute Dave got mounted he managed to form the tether into a kind ofa nose loop, but he could get no control of the animal under him. Hecould simply hold on.

  Both _dadons_ were wildly averse to being ridden. That on which Daleyrode made a blind dash through the corral ropes, and Dave's animalfollowed him.

  Some darts rained about the fugitives for a minute or two.

  Then disappointed howls alone told of the natives they had eluded.

  "Try to stop," shouted Dave to Daley, who was in the lead, after theyhad made a reckless rush of fully two miles across a great level stretchof heather.

  But Daley did not hear Dave or was unable to heed him. He kept straighton. The heather ended. A great range of hills presented. As Daley andhis steed turned into these, Dave lost sight of them.

  He had given a thought to Jones and Lewis and felt it his and Daley'sduty to look up the fellows, even if their courage had failed them at acritical moment.

  Dave, however, could not stop the _dadon_ he rode. The animal wasperfectly uncontrollable. It went like a flash, snorting frightfully,blindly grazing tree branches that hung over the rough route, and onceor twice Dave was nearly swept from its back.

  He could now only assume that Daley was somewhere ahead, that sooner orlater the animal the sailor rode, superior to Dave's own in speed, wouldtire out and slow down.

  "We mustn't become separated," Dave told himself. "Ah, there he is."

  Dave caught a flashing view of steed and rider at a break in the hills.Then they disappeared. He held on tightly, hoping his tarpan wouldfollow its mate.

  It was now daylight. The scenery about was indescribably wild andgrand. Now they had reached a broad and level plateau. There would bea clear space, then a dense timber stretch.

  This alternation kept up for many a mile.

  "Where is Daley?" was the anxious theme of Dave's thoughts. "I am goingto control this animal," he decided doughtily, a minute later.

  Dave tried to form the loose end of the tether into some kind of abridle. Jolted about, forced to cling closely at least with one handall of the time, however, for fear he would be thrown off, Dave had toabandon this experiment.

  "The sea!" he cried suddenly, catching a distant view of it. "That'sall right," said Dave. "Whether ahead or behind, Daley will make forthe seashore. Maybe he's there now. Whoa! Whoa! I've got to jump.Too late!"

  The animal had been dashing down an incline for some time. Emergingfrom a belt of verdure with startling suddenness, a sheer dip to theedge of a cliff was visible.

  The _dadon_ could not stay its course. It fairly slipped the length ofthe dip. So fast did the animal go that Dave had not time to leave itsback before its flying hoofs had struck nothingness.

  Forty feet down a dead-water bay showed, dotted with islands. Thesensation of descent was one of breathlessness.

  The animal struck the water squarely with its forefeet. Steed and riderwere borne under completely.

  Dave arose, free from the animal at last.

  He floated, catching his breath, and saw the _dadon_ swim towards theshore and go scampering out of sight along the wooded beach.

  "Well," commented Dave, "here's an adventure. I'm thankful for wholebones. I hope that Daley has fared quite as luckily."

  Dave swam ashore. He sat down by some bushes and took off his coat, todry it in the sun. Under the bushes was plenty of dead wood, and hereached out and secured two pieces to form a sort of clothes-bar.

  These he had arranged in due order. Dave reached for a third piece. Heseized what he supposed to be a fragment of old wood. It felt soft,yielding, and drew away from his hand with startling suddenness.

  "Eh, why," cried Dave. "A human foot!"

  The object had disappeared, but there was a rustling under the densefoliage of the bushes.

  "I'll have this out," declared Dave, and jumped to his feet and pulledaside the bushes.

  Cowering on the ground, his face showing alarm and suffering, a pitiful,pleading look in his eyes, was a dusky native.

  "The outcast--the man I saw with the priest of the tribe two days ago,"exclaimed Dave. "Yes, it's the same man."

  Dave was tremendously worked up at this recognition. He stood regardingthe native speculatively. He fully realized that this meeting mightmean a great deal to himself and his friends.

  Had he not seen the person now before him give a lot of the treasuregold pieces to the priest of the tribe?

  Was he not then as now persuaded that the outcast knew where the rest ofthe treasure was secreted?

  "Why," said Dave, "this man holds the key to the whole situation. Nowthen, my friend, you and I must understand one another."