"Take her, Cimbula! She is yours!"
"Cimbula, hal!" boomed the Gorols, and the ex-queen Vanga added: "Death to Tahara!"
CHAPTER VI
HOT WORK
"Come on, Dan, here"s where the fun begins," cried d.i.c.k Oakwood.
By the light of pitch torches he reviewed his army, the Taharans under Raal; blond, stalwart fighters; and the Gorols, commanded by Kulki.
The Gorols were more numerous but though they were tough and wiry fellows, they were not equal to the Taharans in size or war-like powers. Dark-skinned and hairy, they resembled an army of giant apes as they slouched in the ranks, while the Taharans stood proudly upright and at their chief"s signal, raised their stone weapons aloft and gave a mighty cheer.
d.i.c.k, with Dan beside him as his chief lieutenant, gave final instructions to his two troop leaders.
"You, Kulki, go first with your Gorols. Climb silently down the cliffs to the south of the Big Spring where the Arabs are camped. When you are all on the plain, light your torches, plant them in the ground among the brush and raise a great uproar of shouting the war cries. Do you understand?"
"I understand, O Tahara!"
"Then when the Arabs rush to attack you, meet them with a shower of arrows and quietly climb part way up the cliffs. Leave the torches in the ground to deceive the Arabs and as they charge upon that spot, you can shoot at them from the cliffside with more arrows."
"I hear, Master, I obey!" said Kulki.
"Good! Make sure that every man knows what he is to do."
d.i.c.k turned to Raal and continued:
"You, Raal, take your brave Taharans down the cliff to the north of the Arab camp. Be quiet and give no alarm. Then when the Gorols raise the war cry and the Arabs rush to fight them off, follow with your Taharans and attack the enemy from the rear. Use bows and arrows first; then rush in with stone axes and flint knives. In a hand-to-hand fight, their long guns will be useless."
"I hear, Master. I rejoice in a hand-to-hand battle."
"Good! I will be in a position to oversee the battle, for Dan and I will climb down the cliff above the Big Spring, and when your Taharans charge, I will join you."
Dan reminded his friend, "Be sure to tell them about the signal for attack."
d.i.c.k replied. "You are right.--This is the signal. You, Kulki, when you reach your position, will give a long call like the hyena. Raal will answer with a wolf howl. When you hear the howl of the wolf, it is the signal to open the battle."
"I hear, O Tahara."
"We obey, O Master."
The two chiefs saluted and withdrew to their troops and the climb down the cliffs began, silently in the night.
d.i.c.k and Dan looked down over the edge of the cliffs and saw the camp fires of the Arabs below them, with shadowy figures moving about or squatting by the glowing coals.
Then the two boys began their slow difficult climb down the rocky face, using every care to move quietly. A single rock dislodged and bouncing down the cliffside would put the Arabs on guard and this must be a surprise attack to be a successful one.
When d.i.c.k and Dan finally reached a ledge about a hundred feet above the camp, they were only too glad to sit there and rest. The descent of that steep slope in the dark was hard work; their hands were scratched and bleeding and their muscles felt the strain.
"We will just sit here and take it easy for a while," said d.i.c.k.
"It is like being in a circus waiting for the show to begin," replied Dan. "If only----"
"I know what you"re going to say," d.i.c.k chuckled, "if only we had a couple of bags of peanuts and a bottle of pop, it would be perfect."
Dan admitted, laughingly, that refreshments would be welcome, but d.i.c.k grabbed his friend"s arm.
"Look yonder, Dan."
"Where?"
"Up near the mouth of Cimbula"s cave. What"s going on there?"
"Men with torches. That"s funny! It"s the wrong direction for the torches to appear."
"And there has been no signal yet."
"This is something that is not on the program. Jumping Jiminy! I hope it"s not going to spoil our party."
Things moved rapidly.
A procession with torches appeared from the wrong direction and at the head of a crowd of grotesquely painted figures, leaped and cavorted an unearthly apparition in feathered head-dress and fur tufts.
"Cimbula!" gasped d.i.c.k.
"What is that old fool up to?" Dan exclaimed.
"They are leading some prisoner among them," said d.i.c.k. "It looks like a girl, but her face is covered with her hair."
"It"s a Taharan girl. Cimbula must be trying to buy off the Arabs with the gift of a slave."
"What a dog!"
"He is wrecking our whole plan of battle."
The boys looked on in suspense as the witch-doctor approached the Arab camp, capering and shaking his rattling gourd. The others who followed were imitating him, for Cimbula had decided that a magic dance of demons would terrify the raiders, and therefore he had dressed up a dozen of Wabiti"s men in a garb like his own and painted their bodies with stripes and daubs of white.
Whirling and leaping the demon dancers approached the Arab camp, while one of the natives brandished a flint knife above the head of the bound victim.
"If the Arabs take fright at this hocus-pocus, they are bigger fools than I take them to be," growled d.i.c.k.
"More likely they are laughing at the medicine-man," Dan exclaimed.
"Look, they are rushing the procession."
With shouts of derision the Arabs leaped to their horses and raced toward the intruders, No shots were fired. The Arabs did not want to kill the demon dancers, but shrieked with laughter as they charged them, bowled over Cimbula and scattered his followers.