Tom, Ned and Mr. Damon sprinted then, and there was need to, for the foremost of the galloping horses was not a hundred feet away. Then came Eradicate, leading the mule that had at last consented to hurry. The natives, with San Pedro, were already at the rocks, waiting for the white hunters with the deadly electric rifles.
"If they stampede our mules we"ll be in a pickle!" murmured Ned.
"I guess those ropes will hold unless they bite them through,"
remarked Tom.
"Yes, they sure hold," cried San Pedro, and indeed one had to shout now to be heard above the thundering of the horses. Now the tethered mules were lost to sight in the mult.i.tude of the other steeds all about them.
"Come on, Ned!" yelled Tom, as he sighted his rifle. "Pump it into them! We must turn them, or they may come over this way, and if they do it will be all up with us."
"Shoot to kill?" asked Ned, as he drew back the firing lever of his electric rifle.
"No, only a stunning charge. Those horses are valuable, and there"s no use killing them. All we want to do is to turn them aside."
"That"s right," agreed Mr. Damon, forgetting in the excitement of the moment to bless himself or anything. "We"ll only stun them."
The rifles were quickly adjusted to send out a comparatively weak charge of electricity, and then they were trained on the dense ma.s.s of horses, while the three marksmen began working the firing levers.
At first, though horse after horse fell to the ground, stunned, there was no appreciable effect on the thousands in the drove. The poor mules were hidden from sight, though by reason of divisions in the living stream of animals it could still be told where they were tethered, and where the horses separated to go past them.
Fortunately the ropes and pegs held.
"Fire faster!" cried Tom. "Shoot across the front of them, and try to turn them to one side."
From the rocks, behind which the natives and our friends crouched, there came a steady stream of electric fire. Horse after horse went down, stunned but not badly hurt, and in a few hours the beasts would feel no ill effects. The firing was redoubled, and then there came a break in the steady stream of horseflesh.
Some hesitated and sought to turn back. Others, behind, pressed them on, and then, as if in fear at the unknown and unseen power that was laying low animal after animal, the great body, of horses, suddenly turned at right angles to their course and broke away. There were now two bodies of the wild runaways, those that had pa.s.sed the tethered mules, and those that had swung off. The stampede had been broken.
"That"s the stuff!" cried Tom, jumping up from behind the rocks, and swinging his hat. "We"ve turned them."
"And just in time, too," added Ned, as he joined his chum. Then all the others leaped up, and the sight of the human beings completed the scare. The stampeding animals swung off more than before, so that they were nearly doubling back on their own trail. The others thundered off, and the ground was strewn with unconscious though unharmed animals.
"One mule gone!" cried San Pedro, hastily counting the still tethered animals which were wildly tugging at their ropes.
"Never mind," spoke Tom, "it"s the one with some of that damaged bartering stuff I intended for trading. We can afford to lose that.
Rad, is your animal all right?"
"He suah am, Ma.s.sa Tom. Dish yeah mule am almost as sensible as Boomerang, ain"t yo"?" and Eradicate patted the big animal he was leading.
"I"ll send a man down the trail, and maybe he can pick up the missing one," said San Pedro, and while the other natives were quieting the restless mules, one tall black man hastened in the wake of the retreating horses.
He came back in an hour with the missing animal, that had broken its tether rope and then, after running along with the wild horses had evidently dropped out of the drove. Aside from the loss of a small box, there had been no damage done, and the cavalcade was soon under way once more, leaving the motionless horses to recover from the effects of the electricity.
"Bless my saddle pad!" cried Mr. Damon. "I don"t think I want to go through anything like that again."
"Neither do I," agreed Tom. "We are well out of it."
"How much you take for one of them rifles?" asked San Pedro admiringly.
"Not for sale," answered Tom with a laugh.
They camped in a fertile valley that night, and had a much-needed rest. As yet Tom had made no inquiries as to the location of giant land from any of the natives of the villages or towns through which they pa.s.sed. He knew as soon as he did begin asking questions, his own men would hear of it, and they might be frightened if they knew they were in an expedition the object of which was to capture some of the tall men.
"We"ll just go along for a few days more," said Tom, to Ned, "and then, when I do spring my surprise, they"ll be so far from home that they won"t dare turn back. In a few days I"ll begin making inquiries."
They traveled on for three days more, ever heading north, and coming more into the warmer climate. The vegetation began to take on a more tropical look, and finally they reached a region infested with many wild beasts and monkeys, and with patches of dense jungle on either side of the narrow trail. Fruits, tropical flowers and birds abounded.
"I think we"re getting there," remarked Tom, on the evening of the third day after his talk with Ned. "San Pedro says there"s quite a village about half a day"s march ahead, and I may learn something there. I"ll know by to-morrow whether we are on the right trail or not."
The natives were getting supper, and Eradicate was busy with a meal for the three white hunters. Mr. Damon had strolled down to the bank of a little stream, and was looking at some small animals like foxes that had come for their evening drink. They seemed quite fearless.
Suddenly something long, round and thick seemed to drop down out of a tree close to the odd gentleman. So swift and noiseless was it that Mr. Damon never noticed it. Then, like a flash something went around him, and he let out a scream of terror.
San Pedro, who was nearest to him, saw and heard. The next instant the black muleteer came rushing toward the camp, crying:
"He is caught in a rope! Mr. Damon is caught in a rope!"
"A rope!" repeated Ned, not understanding.
"Yes, a rope in a tree. Come quickly!"
Tom caught up one of the electric rifles and rushed forward. No sooner had he set eyes on his friend, who was writhing about in the folds of what looked like a big ship cable, then the young inventor cried:
"A rope! Yes, a living rope! That"s a big boa constrictor that has Mr. Damon! Get a gun, Ned, and follow me! We must save him before he is crushed to death!"
And the two lads rushed forward while the living rope drew its folds tighter and tighter about the unfortunate man.
CHAPTER XII
A NATIVE BATTLE
"Bless my--!" but that was as far as poor Mr. Damon could get. The breath was fairly squeezed out of him by the folds of the great serpent that had dropped down out of the tree to crush him to death.
His head fell forward on his breast, and his arms were pinioned to his sides.
"Quick, Ned!" cried Tom. "We must fire together! Be careful not to hit Mr. Damon!"
"That"s right. I"ll take the snake on one side, Tom, and you on the other!"
"No! Then we might hit each other. Come on my side. Aim for the head, and throw in the highest charge. We want to kill, not stun!"
"Right!" gasped Ned, as he ran forward at his chum"s side.
San Pedro, and the other natives, could do nothing. In the gathering twilight, broken by the light of several campfires, they stood helpless watching the two plucky youths advance to do battle with the serpent. Eradicate had caught up a club, and had dashed forward to do what he could, but Tom motioned him back.
"We can manage," spoke the young inventor.