CHAPTER XXIX.
GUY SAVES SIR ARTHUR.
This new alarm, coming just at the uncertain period of their struggle,was quite enough to strike despair to the hearts of all.
"That was Sir Arthur's voice we heard first," exclaimed Forbes. "And itis Canaris who is shouting for help. What are we going to do about it?"
"Tell him to hold out for a moment," cried Guy. "I'll wind up thisaffair pretty quick."
Raising the axe, he made a sudden dart forward and buried the blade deepin the serpent's head. It was a clever stroke and so forcible that theaxe was jerked from his hand.
The colonel dragged him hastily back, but the danger was over. Themonster was thrashing the blood-stained sand in his death agonies,powerless to do further harm.
Canaris was still calling for help, and, leaving their dying antagonist,the others plunged across the island. The Greek was running up and downthe strip of sand, and far out on the lake the canoe was visible in theradius of light, with Sir Arthur standing erect in the bow.
"He won't take the paddle!" exclaimed Canaris. "He says there issomething splashing in the lake beyond him. He's a dead man if hedoesn't get back to the island."
"Sir Arthur," shouted the colonel, "come back; paddle for your life. Doyou hear me?"
The only response was a cry of fright. Sir Arthur was plainly too dazedto be capable of action. He had just wakened, and the horror of hissituation was too much for him.
"Save me! Save me!" he cried. "The serpent is coming; I can hear itsplashing the water."
"Take the paddle," shouted Guy, "and steer for the island. If you don'tyou are lost."
This seemed to arouse the imperiled man to action. He snatched up apaddle and, dropping to his knees, drove the canoe forward with franticstrokes.
His companions encouraged him with cheering words as he came nearer. Theisland was barely twenty yards distant when the paddle slipped from hisgrasp. He turned round, apparently to pick up another, and then threwhimself with a dismal cry to the bottom of the canoe.
The cause of his new and sudden fright was readily seen. On the edge ofthe gloom, not many yards beyond the canoe, a violent agitation of thewater was visible. There undoubtedly was another large serpent inpursuit, and at that moment it looked very much as though Sir Arthurwas doomed.
In spite of all the frantic shouts and directions of his friends hecontinued to utter piteous appeals for help from the bottom of thecanoe. When at length he _did_ recover enough self-control to take holdof another paddle, a serpent's head and body were actually in sight,approaching at a rapid speed.
Not only was Sir Arthur's life now at stake, but, in addition, guns,canoe, and all would be lost, thus leaving the rest of the party unarmedon the island, at the mercy of the ravenous serpents who appeared toswarm in the lake.
One of those sudden impulses common to his nature now flashed into Guy'smind, and, without giving himself a second for deliberation, he flungoff jacket and shoes, and before anyone could raise a hand to restrainhim, dived headforemost into the lake.
He came to the surface within ten yards of the canoe, which was makingbut feeble progress under Sir Arthur's erratic strokes.
Swimming hand over hand, Guy reached the bow and quickly drew himselfover the side, just as the pursuing serpent came within seven or eightyards of the stern of the canoe.
His original intention to paddle for the island was instantly abandoned.Bidding Sir Arthur work lustily, he snatched up his rifle and took acareful aim at the approaching monster, who was snorting and hissing ina truly frightful manner.
The sharp report came at once, producing a thousand echoes through thehollow vault of the cavern, and under cover of the drifting smoke, whichfor the moment concealed the result of the shot, Guy sprang to SirArthur's aid with another paddle.
Half a dozen of his powerful strokes brought the canoe within a yard ofthe shore. A terrific splashing in his rear, as well as the loud shoutsof his friends, warned Guy of the imminence of danger.
Fairly pushing Sir Arthur out of the canoe into the water, waist deep,he tossed the provisions far out on the island, caught up the guns, andmade a frantic leap. He landed on the edge of the sand, and wasinstantly caught by eager arms, and pulled far up the beach. He turned,to realize with a shudder the narrowness of his escape.
Made furious by the bullet hole which Guy had put in his spotted skin,the monster threw himself on the abandoned canoe, which they had beenunable to save, and with a sickening crunch it was shivered to ashapeless mass of fragments, under the pressure of the mighty coils.Then, as the serpent flung himself on shore, they realized that it wastime to act. A blazing torch in the Greek's hand lit up the scene asGuy cocked his rifle and awaited an opportunity for a shot.
It was not slow in coming. As the long neck and head darted forward, Guyfired, and the bullet tore its way through the reptile's throat.
There was no necessity for a second shot. The death-agony began rightthere, and in its convulsive throes the serpent flung himself back intothe water, and with a final quiver disappeared in the depths of thelake, leaving a trail of blood on the silvery white sand.
With expressions of gratitude for their escape, all hurried down to thebroken canoe.
"A hundred men could never put this together again," said Guy, as hepulled a couple of floating fragments from the water.
The torches and rugs were easily procured, and laid away to dry, but thelamp and the oil-flask could not be found. They were probably at thebottom, but no one cared to dive after them.
"That was the closest shave I ever saw," said the colonel. "I gave youboth up for lost, and as for that daring act of yours, Chutney, I cannotfind words to express my admiration. You saved Sir Arthur's life."
Guy modestly made no reply. He calmly pulled on his jacket and shoes,and suggested that they cross the island and take a look at the otherserpent.
The reptile was found to be quite dead, and little wonder, after all thespears that had entered his coils. As near as they could judge, he wasbetween thirty and forty feet long, with a body as thick as a small keg.The skin was repulsive and slimy, of a dirty green color.
"It's a regular sea-serpent," said Melton. "What a sensation a monsterof this kind would make if he were put on exhibition at the Zoo."
"And the other one was fully as large," added Guy. "That makes no lessthan four we have already encountered. There must be a great many in theriver and lake."
One glimpse of the creature sickened Sir Arthur. He turned away and satdown on the edge of the raft.
Up to this moment the excitement had banished all else from their minds.They had fought a desperate fight for life and conquered. At the veryflush of their success the shadow of certain death returned, blacker andmore forbidding than ever, and in a moment their triumphant feelingswere changed to deepest melancholy.
A short time before, under the influence of the colonel's philosophicalwords, they had felt in some manner resigned to a fate that nothingcould avert. Now it was ten times more horrible and loathsome tocontemplate, ten times harder to realize.
Absurd as it seemed, fresh hope sprang up in their hearts, and theytried to reason themselves into the belief that some unlooked-for chanceof escape would offer itself yet.
Even the colonel's mood had changed, and it was easy to see that he wasstruggling with some terrible emotion.
The desire for life that was strong within him suggested to Guy a newplan; nothing, indeed, that offered any hope of escape, but merely asolution to his curiosity.
He remembered that on each occasion when their canoe had been caught bythe influx of the river it had been carried direct to this island, afact which seemed to prove the existence of a sluggish current throughthe center of the lake.
Did this current continue on past the island, and if so, whither did itlead?
A solution to these two problems Guy was curious to obtain.
It served to occupy his mind, to keep his thoughts from dwelling on thehorrible fat
e that was in store for him.
It was more than likely, he told himself, that whirlpools would be foundin the center of the lake. Well, drowning would be an easy deathcompared to the lingering tortures of starvation.
Guy in the Jungle; Or, A Boy's Adventure in the Wilds of Africa Page 30