Thunder Jim Wade

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Thunder Jim Wade Page 32

by Henry Kuttner


  The rushing torrent lifted them, bore them forward. Wade had a flashing glimpse of the red-lit dungeon, and then the tunnel swallowed him. Battling in the grip of the racing waters, the two men were swept into the depths of the tube that led down to the marsh.

  The walls were rough, scraping skin from Wade’s arms and back. He held his breath, striving to retard his progress. At last his foot caught in a projection, and the mad rush was halted. But there was still the clinging Tabin Naung to reckon with, and the sawbwa was mad with murder-frenzy.

  He had lost his sword. His muscular hands crept up and gripped Wade’s jaws, seeking to pry them open so that the white man would drown. Agonizing pain shot through Thunder Jim’s head. He doggedly kept his teeth clamped together.

  One of the sawbwa’s hands started feeling for his eyes. Wade rolled his head aside, braced himself, and reached out savagely. His fingers found Tabin Naung’s thick throat.

  It was the throat of a bull, corded with muscle, hard and strong. To squeeze it was like trying to crush rock. But once Wade’s hands had found their grip, they did not loosen. They tightened inexorably.

  The flood tore at him, seeking to dislodge him from his precarious foot grip. Tabin Naung kept trying to force his jaws apart. The pain in his lungs was flaming agony. And the native’s probing fingers were stabbing at his eyes.

  Instinctively Wade kept rolling his head to avoid being blinded. He must do that. He must keep his grip. He must not open his mouth. These thoughts hammered at his brain. But it was not conscious thought that kept his hands clamped tight about that bull throat. It was something more, a relentless fury that feared death less than failure. Thunder Jim Wade kept his promises.

  When at last something gave and snapped beneath Wade’s fingers, he did not realize it. Only when a limp body slipped away from him and was carried down by the flood did he understand that he had won. Then, blindly, like a robot, he tried to crawl back up the tunnel.

  A few minutes ago that would have been impossible. But now the flood was decreasing in volume. There was an air-space above the water, and this gave Wade strength to continue. Up and up, a nightmare climb through the flood, until somehow the ordeal was ended, and friendly hands were helping him clamber into the dungeon.

  He breathed deeply, staring around. Kamanthi was free of her chains. Natthiya stood beside her, relief in his wrinkled face. And the hands that had helped Wade climb from the tube were those of Marat and Argyle.

  “Okay, Jim?” the latter asked quietly.

  “Yes. It’s finished.” The black, cold stare of glacial fury died from Wade’s eyes. “Tabin Naung’s dead.”

  Natthiya broke in. “The waters will be gone in a short time. The false sawbwa’s men broke and fled; they could not fight without him. And those faithful to Kamanthi broke their way into the temple through the ill-repaired gates to run down our enemies and slay them.”

  “It’s over,” Marat nodded. “You can take it easy, Jim. The job’s done.”

  * * * * *

  THREE days later the Thunderbug stood ready for departure. As Marat had said, the job was done. Kamanthi ruled Palinwa-land once more, and the people were content as they formerly had been. Ruthless ambition and greed were gone from the island in the swamp.

  The altar containing the transmutation device was no longer in existence. Wade had induced Kamanthi to destroy it completely. He had explained to her the dangers of such a secret, and she had agreed that it would be a menace to the peace of Palinwa.

  “Learn its secret, if you can,” she had said. “And then destroy it.”

  This Wade had done. Later he would puzzle out the formulae he had copied in his notebook, and, perhaps, attempt to duplicate the experiment of the ancient scientists. But the secret would never be known to anyone else but Wade and his two colleagues.

  They stood beside the Thunderbug now, the morning mists coiling whitely around them. Kamanthi and Natthiya alone were present in the little clearing. The priest’s withered face twisted into a smile.

  “I am sorry you must go,” he said simply. “Later, perhaps, you will return?”

  “Palinwa is your home whenever you wish,” Kamanthi added. She was not wearing her ceremonial garb now, and had the correct number of arms. Her skin was a becoming shade of tan. She was decidedly pretty.

  “We’ll be back,” Wade said. “I’d like to clean up that swamp, for one thing. And you may want to open a road to the outside world.”

  “Perhaps,” the girl pondered. “I must learn more of your world first. Whatever will be best for my people, I shall do. But now you have left your—what is the word?—your radio, and taught Natthiya how to operate it. So we can speak together even though you go beyond the great swamp, and I can tell you what I decide.”

  “Fair enough,” Wade said, and turned toward the Thunderbug. There was nothing else left to say. The present task was completed.

  Five minutes later the black plane rose lightly into the air and fled up through the mists above the Waters of Death, leaving the island behind like the figment of a dream. Once more Thunder Jim Wade had battled evil and treachery—and had won.

  He swung the Thunderbug south toward Mandalay.

  END

  Table of Contents

  Thunder Jim Wade: The Complete Series

  Copyright Page

  Table of Contents

  Book I - Thunder Jim Wade

  Chapter I: The Statue

  Chapter II: Man Missing

  Chapter III: At Lao Chen’s

  Chapter IV: The Thunderbug

  Chapter V: Jungle Terror

  Chapter VI: Juggernaut

  Chapter VII: Over the Mountains

  Chapter VIII: Hidden Valley

  Chapter IX: Test for the Thunderbug

  Chapter X: Escape to Minos

  Chapter XI: Besieged City

  Chapter XII: The Minotaur’s Lair

  Chapter XIII: The Labyrinth

  Chapter XIV: Out of the Jaws of Death

  Chapter XV: Vengeance of the Minotaur

  Book II - The Hills of Gold

  Chapter I: Holy War

  Chapter II: Strange Civilian

  Chapter III: Resourceful Enemies

  Chapter IV: Death of a Dancer

  Chapter V: The Forgotten of God

  Chapter VI: The Hills of Gold

  Chapter VII: A Holy Ally

  Chapter VIII: Forced Flight

  Chapter IX: Allah Pays his Debts

  Book III - The Poison People

  Chapter I: Gas in the Wilds

  Chapter II: Via the Dead

  Chapter III: Being Kidnaped is Easy

  Chapter IV: The Scourge of Crime

  Chapter V: The Sun God

  Chapter VI: Invitation to a Fortress

  Chapter VII: The Factory in the Jungle

  Chapter VIII: Back to the Thunderbug

  Chapter IX: Dellera Loses his Head

  Book IV - The Devil’s Glacier

  Chapter I: An Incredible Discovery

  Chapter II: The Thunderbug Takes Off

  Chapter III: Attack and Repulse

  Chapter IV: The Challenge

  Chapter V: Fabulous Treasure

  Chapter VI: The Chamber of Torture

  Chapter VII: War—and Peace

  Book V - Waters of Death

  Chapter I: Gold and Head-hunters

  Chapter II: Land Below the Mist

  Chapter III: Six-armed Goddess

  Chapter IV: Victory Magic

  Chapter V: Tabin Naung’s Treachery

  Chapter VI: Captured!

  Chapter VII: Conquest of the Temple

 

 

 
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