It seemed to Bruce that he had been suddenly flung back into antiquity and that Nero sat yonder, squinting through his polished emerald. The great, tawny African brutes blinked and turned their s.h.a.ggy heads this way and that, uneasily. Kathlyn stood very still. How, how could they save her? At length the lions espied her, attracted by the white of her robe. One bounded forward, growling. The others immediately started in pursuit.
Suddenly the center of the arena opened and a tremendous roar followed.
A low wail of terror ran round the arena. Surely this Mem-sahib had all the G.o.ds with her. A great crevice had opened up between Kathlyn and the lions, one of which lay dead. Then came the rush toward the exits, a mad frantic rush. Not even Umballa, who knew that not the G.o.ds, but man had contrived this havoc, not even Umballa waited, but fled, beating down all those who blocked his path.
Bruce and Ramabai dropped over the railing to Kathlyn"s side. But the key upon which their escape depended would not unlock the door.
CHAPTER V
THE COURT OF THE LION
When Bruce dropped down into the arena to Kathlyn"s side he had never given a thought to the possibility of the key not being the right one.
Trapped!--and Ahmed but a few yards away with a zenana gharry, ready to convey them to the camp, freedom! It took the heart out of him for a moment. The confusion all about, the pall of dust, the roaring of the frightened lions which had escaped destruction, the shrill cries of the panic-stricken populace, who now looked upon the white Mem-sahib as the daughter of Shaitan, these dulled his inventive faculties for the nonce. Here was the confusion, properly planned, and he could not make use of it. Possibly, when no further explosion shook the air, the mob and the soldiers would return out of curiosity. And then, good-by!
But the sight of a lion emerging from the murk, the wrong side of the crevice, roused him thoroughly.
"Save yourself!" said Kathlyn in despair: "there is no possible way of saving me. I have never in all my life injured any one, and yet G.o.d makes me go through all this. . . . I am mad, you are, the whole world is! . . . Run!"
Bruce laughed; it was that kind of laughter with which men enter battle. He drew Lal Singh"s revolvers and thrust one into her hand.
"Shoot at the keyhole. Leave the lion to me. With the pandemonium no one will note the shots, or if they do, will think that more explosions are on the way. I"ll get you out of this nightmare; that"s what I was born for."
"Nightmare!"
"There, now!"--as Kathlyn leaned dizzily against one of the supports.
"I"ve gone through a good deal," she said. Without more ado she pressed the muzzle of the revolver into the keyhole and fired. She heard a shot behind her, another and another; but she kept on firing into and about the keyhole till the revolver was empty.
A firm hand drew her aside.
"The lion?"
"Gone to sleep. Let me have a whack at that door."
"Where"s Ramabai?"
"Went back over the wall. Probably to warn Ahmed; maybe gone directly off toward camp. Anyhow, he has faith in me."
"And, oh! so have I, so have I!"
Bruce bore his weight savagely against the door, once, twice, thrice; and pitched forward on his knees, outside. He was up instantly. He caught Kathlyn by the hand and hurried her along; and all she could think of was Winnie romping toward the canopied studio, her father half asleep on the veranda and the leopard cat sprawled on the divan!
"Sahib! Huzoor!" a voice called. "This way!"
"Ahmed! Ahmed!" cried Kathlyn.
"Yes, heaven born; but hurry, hurry! Umballa will return to search as soon as he can get the better of his legs. Siva take that battery that was worn out! Heaven born, you are now a queen in fact. . . ."
"I want to go home, Ahmed, home!"
"Here"s the gharry. Here, Sahib!" He held out a handful of cartridges toward Bruce. "These fit Lal Singh"s pistols. Hurry, hurry!"
Bruce helped Kathlyn into the vehicle and jumped in beside her, and Ahmed struck the horse. The gharry was a rickety old contrivance, every hinge creaking like some lost soul; but Ahmed had reasoned that the more dilapidated the vehicle, the less conspicuous it would be. He urged the horse. He wanted the flying mob to think that he was flying, too, which, indeed, he was. The gharry rolled and careened like a dory in a squall. A dozen times Bruce and Kathlyn were flung together, and quite unconsciously she caught hold of his lean, strong brown hand. It would not be true to say that he was unconscious of the act.
Presently they entered the paved streets of the bazaars, and the going improved. Kathlyn leaned back.
"I am Kathlyn Hare, and this is the year . . ."
"Come now, Miss Kathlyn, no thinking; leave the whole business to me, the worry and the planning. If we can reach my elephants, all right; we"ll be in Delhi within seven days. The rest of the going will be as simple as falling off a log."
That Yankee phrase did more to rehabilitate her than all his a.s.surances.
From time to time Bruce stole a glance through the curtained window.
Stragglers were hastening along close to the walls, and there were soldiers who had forgot to bring their guns from the elephant arena.
Once he heard the clatter of hoofs. A horseman ran alongside the gharry, slowed up, peered down and shrugged. Kathlyn shrank toward Bruce. The rider proceeded on his way. Ahmed recognized him as the amba.s.sador from the neighboring princ.i.p.ality, ruled by a k.u.mor, who was in turn ruled by the British Raj. Kathlyn could not shut out the leer on his face.
By midafternoon the gharry reached Bruce"s camp. Ramabai and Pundita greeted Kathlyn with delight. All their troubles were over. They had but to mount the elephants and ride away.
"Ahmed," urged Kathlyn, "leave the gharry and come with us."
"No, Mem-sahib,"--Ahmed gazed at her strangely--"I have work to do, much work. Allah guard you!" He struck the horse with his bamboo stick and careened away.
"Let us be off!" cried Bruce. "We have sixty miles to put between us and freedom in fact. We can not make the railway. Ali, pack! Go to the bungalow and remain there. You will be questioned. Tell the truth. There is not an elephant in the royal stables that can beat Rajah. All aboard! No stops!"--smiling as he helped Kathlyn into the howdah. "We shall be forced to ride all night."
The elephants started forward, that ridden by Bruce and Kathlyn in the lead, Ramabai and Pundita following a few yards in the rear.
"Mr. Bruce, I am sure Ahmed has some information regarding father. I don"t know what. Who knows? They may have lied to me. He may be alive, alive!"
"I"ll return and find out, once I"ve got you safe. I don"t blame you for thinking all this a nightmare. G.o.d knows it is nightmarish. Do you know, I"ve been thinking it over. It appears to me that the king latterly took a dislike to his protege, Umballa, and turned this little trick to make him unhappy. I dare say he thought your father wise enough to remain away. Umballa hangs between wind and water; he can go neither forward nor backward. But poor Ramabai back there will lose his gold for this."
"Ramabai has always been very kindly to the poor, and the poor man generally defends his benefactor when the night-time comes. To Umballa I was only a means to the end. If he declared himself king, that would open up the volcano upon which he stands; but as my prince consort, that would leave him fairly secure."
"Only a means," mused Bruce inwardly, stealing a glance at her sad yet lovely profile. Umballa was a man, for all his color; he was human; and to see this girl it was only human to want her. "Your father was one of the best friends I had. But, oddly enough, I never saw a photograph of you. He might have been afraid we young chaps . . ." He paused embarra.s.sedly. "If only you had taken me into your confidence on board the _Yorck_!"
"Ah, but did you offer me the chance?" she returned.
"I never realized till now that a chap might be too close lipped sometimes. Well, here we are, in flight together!"
That night for the first time in many hours Kathlyn closed her eyes with a sense of security. True, it was not the most comfortable place to sleep in, the howdah; there were ceaseless rollings from side to side, intermingled with spine racking b.u.mps forward, as the elephant occasionally hastened his stride. Kathlyn succeeded in stealing from the G.o.d of sleep only cat naps. Often the cold would awaken her, and she would find that Bruce had been bracing her by extending his arm across the howdah and gripping the rail.
"You mustn"t do that," she protested feebly. "You will be dead in the morning."
"You might fall out."
"Then I shan"t go to sleep again till the journey ends. You have been so good and kind to me!"