United States or Saint Barthélemy ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Even as he spoke the hillsmen gave the word, and two score men ran down behind the rocks, mounted, and were instantly away by the road that led to the Koongat Bridge. The tall hillsman turned to the lad. "You are beaten by travel," said he. "Come, eat and drink, and rest." "I have sworn to breakfast where Pango Dooni bides, and there only will I rest and eat," answered the lad.
The Arab captain looked very much taken aback, while he cast savage glances at poor Pango; he saw, however, that the game was up, and that it was useless any longer to attempt deceiving the English officer. Tom immediately ordered him and several of his crew to get into the boat, which conveyed them on board the Bellona, under charge of Alick.
He took from his pocket Pango Dooni's gift and gave it to the lad, and three times he whispered in his ear the tribe-call and the countersign that he might know them. The lad repeated them three times, and, with his finger, traced the countersign upon the stone.
"A man will ride for a face that he loves, even to the Dreadful Gates," answered Tang-a-Dahit. "But what is this of the men of my clan?" Then the lad told him of those whose heads hung on the rear Palace wall, where the Dakoon lay dying, and why he rode to Pango Dooni. "It is fighting and fighting, naught but fighting," said Tang-a-Dahit after a pause; "and there is no peace.
If for her sake he came secretly, daring death, wouldst thou stand " The man's eyes lighted. "If there were such truth in any man," he interrupted, "I would fight, follow him, and serve him, and my city should be his city, and the knowledge of my heart be open to his eye." Cumner's Son turned and called to Pango Dooni and his son, and they came forward. Swiftly he told them all.
Only Pango Dooni himself was silent, for he was thinking much of what should be done at Mandakan. They came out upon the plateau where the fortress stood, and five hundred mounted men marched past, with naked swords and bare krises in their belts, and then wheeled suddenly and stood still, and shot their swords up into the air the full length of the arm, and called the battle-call of their tribe.
"I recollect all about you, and if you wish it you shall come on board again, but I want first to know who all those people are." "All slavy, slavy," answered Pango. "Dey jus' dress up, an' when I tell cap'n dat trick no do, he cut me down an' try to kill me." "There is no time to be lost; take him up on deck, and we will soon show the skipper that you speak the truth," said Tom.
Crushed now, he could never rise again. Pango Dooni had carefully picked the hillsmen whom he had sent to the Bazaar, and their captain was the most fearless and the wariest fighter from the Neck of Baroob, save Pango Dooni himself. Boonda Broke was abroad still. He had escaped from the slaughter before the Residency and was hidden somewhere in the city.
There was no living being to be seen; only the rock-strewn plain and the woods beyond. He called aloud, but nothing answered; he called again the tribe-call of Pango Dooni's men, and a hundred armed men sprang up. "I am a brother-in-blood of Pango Dooni's Son," said he. "Tang-a-Dahit rides for his life to the Bar of Balmud. Ride forth if ye would save him."
Dismounting, Tang-a-Dahit stood before his father. "Have the Dakoon's vermin fastened on the young bull at last?" asked Pango Dooni, his eyes glowering. "They crawled and fastened, but they have not fed," answered Tang-a-Dahit in a strong voice, for his wounds had not sunk deep.
Word Of The Day