Part 93 (2/2)
It is his last and only chance. But at that moment two reports ring out through the forest. With a groan poor Tambusa sways, and then topples heavily forward into the bed of the rivulet ten feet beneath; and his fierce pursuers rus.h.i.+ng up, find only a corpse. He has escaped the most terrible side of their ruthless vengeance, to wit, hours of frightful torture; but he has lost his life--rather has he given it devotedly in exchange for that of the man who has twice already saved it.
So there he lies, this young hero--a naked savage, but a hero for all that--dead among the ferns and rocks beneath the ma.s.s of foliage and trailing creepers, which the sun's rays can scarcely penetrate, slain by his own countrymen. He has given his life in satisfaction of the debt incurred and the promise made long ago--given it in exchange for that of his benefactor--”a life for a life.”
VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
VAE VICTIS!
Great was the astonishment in camp when the man who had been given up as hopelessly missing, and whom everybody by this time had come to think of as dead, turned up safe and sound. Jaded and worn out, however, he sought his tent at once, excusing himself from receiving the hearty congratulations of his friends until after the sleep of which he stood so sorely in need.
Waking at last he opened his eyes, with a start, upon the genial countenance of the Irish doctor.
”Hallo, McShane!”
”An' what the divil have ye been up to now, Claverton?” began that worthy, without any further ceremony. ”Here ye've managed to get off bein' made mincemeat of by the niggurs, and, not content with that, ye must get to punching a fellow's head, and now he wants to have a shot at ye, av course.”
”Does he?” said Claverton, drily.
”He does.”
”H'm! Well, sit down and have a pipe, McShane, and we'll talk it quietly over.”
”Ah! that sounds better,” said the good-natured Irishman, in a tone of relief, for he was hoping that the affair might admit of a settlement.
”See here, now--what's it all about? Truscott wants to parade you, and sent me to arrange matters, and that's about the size of it. Now who acts for you?”
”No one.”
”No one? Well, then, I suppose you'll shake hands together, and say you're both made fools of yourselves,” said McShane, brightening up.
”You're quite wrong, McShane. I'm going to give your friend the fullest satisfaction--when, where, and as soon as he pleases,” and the look in the speaker's eyes caused the Irishman's hopes to fall to the ground.
”When I said no one acted for me, I meant it. I'm going to act for myself, or better still, you can act for both.”
”Och! an' it's balderdash ye're talkin',” rejoined the other, angrily.
”How the divil can I be second to both? Bedad, an' who ever heard of such a thing! I'D have nothing to say to it, I tell ye.”
”Well, then, you see, McShane, it'll amount to this--that we shall go out without any seconds at all; which will probably mean that the first of us who catches sight of the other will blaze away; for I don't trust our friend any more than I do Sandili himself. _I'm_ quite ready, however; but I don't intend to run any other fellow's head into this business. Who is there, for instance? Brathwaite--family man; Hicks, ditto; and so on. Poor Jack might have done, but he's pa.s.sed on his cheque. No; as you have agreed to act for the other fellow, well and good; I'm quite satisfied. But, I tell you, there's no one I can rely upon.” And lighting his pipe he pa.s.sed the match to his companion, with a hand as steady as a rock.
For a long time McShane was firm. He would have nothing to do with so preposterous an arrangement--it wasn't fair to him--and so on. But, eventually, seeing that they were determined to fight, and would probably do more mischief if left to themselves, he reluctantly agreed to act. They were a couple of fools, he thought; and would wing each other, perhaps; but on any graver contingency the light-hearted Irishman never reckoned.
”That's all right, McShane,” said Claverton. ”I shall leave everything to you, as far as your man is concerned, and if there's any advantage to be had it shall be yours.”
Then they arranged that the affair should come off that same night towards ten o'clock, in a lonely glen at a safe distance from the camp, and known to both of them. But, to avoid suspicion, they agreed to leave the camp at different times, and to ride in different directions.
”I tell you what it is, Claverton, this fellow's a d.a.m.ned good shot,”
said McShane, as he got up to leave.
”Is he? All the better--for him. But how d'you know?”
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