With them, too, was the figure of a venerable white bearded man who seemed to be about to collapse. From time to time he raised himself feebly and gazed ahead. Frank could see Billy at such times stoop forward and speak to him.
The boys" plight was evidently a terrible one.
Their clothes were ripped and torn and Billy"s shirt scarcely covered his body; which was a ma.s.s of cuts and scratches. A great cloud of mosquitoes hung about the canoe, clearly maddening its occupants with their myriads of tiny stings. The faces of both the young navigators were drawn and lined with anxiety as they paddled ahead in the turbulent current.
"See," cried Sikaso harshly, as the picture faded, "do the white boys still doubt?"
"No, no!" cried Harry. "Show us more, Sikaso."
The Krooman cast more of the magic powder into the dying fire and again a thick pillar of smoke curled upward.
His low crooning chant then began once more.
As before the picture did not a.s.sume shape at once but swam, as it were, slowly into view. This time the surroundings had changed.
There was a look of agonized terror on the faces of all the occupants of the canoe as she seemed to be literally hurled forward upon a current that ran as swiftly as a mill race.
The frail craft rocked terribly and once or twice she shipped some water that Lathrop instantly bailed out with a shallow earthen dish.
Frank could almost hear the roar of the water as he gazed in silent fascination on the mysterious pictures of the smoke.
And now the apprehension on the faces of the occupants of the canoe was agonizing to watch. Once Frank saw the old man arise as if to cast himself into the water rather than face what lay ahead, but Lathrop instantly drew him back.
Again the picture died out and again the old Krooman. threw on more powder. As the smoke rolled up once more no one spoke. The situation was far too tense for that.
The scene now seemed to show that indeed all was over with the occupants of the canoe. The frail craft was seen to be in a tunnel of rough stone through which the roaring vortex of the waters poured with such violence that the boys and their aged companion were continually drenched with spray. Lathrop had hard work to keep the craft free of water now, and bailed incessantly. The old man was on his knees his hands clasped and his lips moving as if in prayer.
Billy, his face set, sat in the stern. Again and again with a quick twist of his paddle he saved the canoe from annihilation in the boiling current.
It was an agonizing scene to watch, and to the onlookers it seemed as real as if they had been gazing at the peril itself instead of its counterfeit presentment in smoke-pictures.
At last the walls of the tunnel were seen to widen out and the current to move more slowly. Frank gave a sigh of relief which was echoed by the others as the canoe emerged from the subterranean river into a broad lagoon with low banks covered with tropical verdure and seemingly, from the absence of steaming vapors a healthy spot. But even as the canoe entered the quiet waters a great body projected itself through the water followed by three other bulky forms.
They were recognized instantly by the watchers as hippopotami.
The leader of the animals made straight for the canoe, and the watchers trembled as they looked, for it was evident that one snap of the creatures" huge jaws would cave in the side of the canoe as if it were an eggsh.e.l.l.
With trembling excitement the Boy Aviators saw their young companions with both paddles make desperately for the sh.o.r.e, but before they reached it one of the hippopotami intercepted them, and with a charge of angry fury literally tossed the boat clean out of the water.
A second later the gazers at the smoke pictures saw the two missing adventurers and their aged unknown companion struggling in the water. It seemed that all was over when a strange interruption occurred.
A long, dark h.o.r.n.y head with two cruel eyes and rows of saw-like teeth in its long jaws, sped through the waters. The hippopotamus turned savagely on the intruder and the two snapped savagely at each other for several minutes when the crocodile, mortally wounded to judge by the red swirl on the surface of the stream, made off.
But Billy and Lathrop were seen to have taken advantage of the brief breathing spell it gave them. In a few strong strokes they had swum with the aged man to shallow water and quickly waded ash.o.r.e. They were safe then for the time being. But for how long?
Frank saw the two comrades gaze about them in despair at the wilderness of jungle that closed about them on every side. He saw them cast horrified looks at each other at the situation in which they found themselves--lost in the trackless African forests.
The next minute the old man fell forward on his face and lay still.
Whether he was dead or unconscious, Frank could not, of course, tell--and then the smoke died out, and the picture faded.
CHAPTER XXI
THE CHUMS RESCUED BY AEROPLANE
Hope had almost died in the boys" hearts at the scene they had witnessed by means of powers that seemed incredible to them, but which several well known travelers have told us are not uncommon among certain natives of West Africa. But old Sikaso was destined to raise their hopes.
"We will save Four-Eyes and the Red-Headed one," he exclaimed suddenly.
"But how?" chorused the amazed three.
"In the ship that like the bird can cleave the air we will fly to them," was the astonishing reply.
"But we do not know where they are," objected Harry.
"I do," was the quiet response.
"What?"
"Say that again!"
"Well, I"ll be hornswoggled!"
These exclamations came from each of the three in turn.
"They are on the banks of a river which I know well. In the smoke I recognized it. Few men have ever navigated the Tunnel of Death and came out to tell the tale, but your great white Fetish must have looked after them."
"You know the river?"
"Well do I know it white boy," replied the Krooman. "In the days when my limbs were supple I have hunted and fished there with others of my tribe."
"You can guide us to it?"
"I can."
"When?"
"As soon as it is dawn."
"How far is it from here?"
"Not more than a hundred and fifty miles."
Frank held up a moistened finger. The air was as calm as a mill-pond.
"We can make that distance in a little more than four hours," he announced.