DESPERATE CHANCE
The great in the of Rajah Muda Saffir's had in other as well as his, and avarice; so that as it had been the of his it now proved the to another to turn the to his own profit, and to the final of the Malay.
The Ninaka of the Signana Dyaks who Muda Saffir's saw his the of the river, but the word of that would have sent the to up the was not given. Instead a for speed ahead the the hides; and when Muda Saffir rose to the surface with a for help upon his Ninaka to him in derision, his to the of the nearest crocodile.
In Muda Saffir called the most terrible of Allah and his Prophet upon the of Ninaka and his to the generation, and upon the of his forefathers, and upon the which from the of his long-house. Then he and toward the shore.
Ninaka, now in of the and the girl, was rich indeed, but with Muda Saffir he to he of the white girl for a price that would make it while to be with the and of her. He had had some of white men in the past and that were the to those who the white man's women. All through the of the long night Ninaka the question deeply. At last he to Virginia.
"Why the big white man who leads the us?" he asked. "Is it the he desires, or you?"
"It is not the chest," the girl. "He to take me to my father, that is all. If you will return me to him you may keep the chest, if that is what you wish."
Ninaka looked at her for a moment. Evidently then she was of some value. Possibly should he her he a from the white man. He would wait and see, it were always an easy to himself of her should require. The river was there, deep, dark and silent, and he place the for her upon Muda Saffir.
Shortly after day Ninaka his the long-house of a peaceful river tribe. The he in the close by his boat, and with the girl the that to the of the structure, which, away for three hundred yards upon its tall piles, a centipede.
The in the long-house every to Ninaka and his crew. At the former's Virginia was away in a dark sleeping in one of the rooms which opened along the for the full length of the house. Here a native girl her food and water, sitting, while she ate, in of the white skin and of the female.
At about the time that Ninaka his upon the beach the long-house, Muda Saffir from the safety of the upon the saw a familiar up the stream. As it approached him he was about to call to those who it, for in the he saw a number of his own men; but a second as the came opposite him him to his and into the verdure, for his men five of the terrible that had such with his expedition, and in the he saw his own Barunda in with the white man who had them.
As the about a in the river Rajah Muda Saffir arose, his in the direction it had and, and volubly, each in the of the Barunda and the Ninaka. Then he his watch for the prahu, or smaller which he time would from up or the river to his rescue, for who of the would to the powerful Rajah of Sakkan!
At the long-house which Ninaka and his crew, Barunda and Bulan stopped with theirs to obtain food and rest. The quick of the Dyak the of Rajah Muda Saffir where it upon the beach, but he said nothing to his white of what it augured—it might be well to how the land he himself too to either faction.
At the top of the he was met by Ninaka, who, with horror-wide eyes, looked upon the that up the in the wake of the Dyaks and the white giant.
"What it mean?" the to Barunda.
"These are now my friends," Barunda. "Where is Muda Saffir?"
Ninaka his thumb toward the river. "Some has well," he said significantly. Barunda smiled.
"And the girl?" he continued. "And the treasure?"
Ninaka's narrowed. "They are safe," he answered.
"The white man wants the girl," Barunda. "He not that you are one of Muda Saffir's people. If he that you the of the girl he would the truth from you and then kill you. He not for the treasure. There is in that great for two, Ninaka. Let us be friends. Together we can it; otherwise neither of us will any of it. What do you say, Ninaka?"
The scowled. He did not the idea of his prize, but he was to that Barunda the power to him of it all, so at last he acquiesced, though with grace.
Bulan had near this conversation, unable, of course, to a single word of the native tongue.
"What the man say?" he asked Barunda. "Has he anything of the the girl?"
"Yes," the Dyak. "He says that two hours ago such a passed on its way up river—he saw the white girl plainly. Also he they are bound, and how, by through the on foot, you may them at their next stop."
Bulan, no treachery, was all to be off at once. Barunda that in case of some possible the to return the river it would be well to have a at the long-house to them. He to the of this party. Ninaka, he said, would to Bulan and his men through the to the point at which they might to Muda Saffir.
And so, with the girl he fifty of him, Bulan started off through the with two of Ninaka's Dyaks as guides—guides who had been well by their as to their duties. Twisting and through the of and close-growing, trees the little party of eight and into the labyrinth.
For hours the was continued, until at last the halted, to each other as to the proper direction. By they to Bulan that they did not agree upon the right to from there on, and that they had that it would be best for each to a little way in the direction he the right one while Bulan and his five where they were.
"We will go but a little way," said the spokesman, "and then we shall return and lead you in the proper direction."
Bulan saw no in this, and without a of sat upon a tree and his two into the in opposite directions. Once out of of the white man the two and met a in the of the party they had deserted—in another moment they were for the long-house from which they had started.
It was an hour that to enter Bulan's head, and as the day on he came to that he and his pack were alone and in the of a and of jungle.
No sooner had Bulan and his party in the than Barunda and Ninaka to with the and the girl and push on up the river toward the wild and regions of the interior. Virginia Maxon's of had been as no of the party appeared as the day on. Somewhere her upon the river she was sure a long, narrow native was being in pursuit, and that in of it was the who was now for a moment from her thoughts.
For hours she her over the of the that was her and into the wild of Borneo. On either they occasionally passed a native long-house, and the girl not help but wonder at the and peace which over these little settlements. It was as though they were along a in the center of a community; and yet she that the men who upon the verandahs, upon their cigarettes or nut, were all hunters, and that along the above them the of their prowess.
Yet as she from them to her new she not but that she would in one of the settlements they were passing—there at least she might an opportunity to with her father, or be by the party as it came up the river. The idea upon her as the day until she the time in for some means of should they but touch the momentarily; and though they twice her were too to permit her the opportunity for her plan into action.
Barunda and Ninaka their men on, with rests, all day, did they after night had closed upon the river. On, on the up the which had now to a narrow stream, at with a that the of the strong, paddlers.
Long-houses had more and more until for some time now no of had been visible. The was and the the of the trees more open. Virginia Maxon was almost with as the of her position upon her. Each of those was her and from friends, or the possibility of rescue. Night had fallen, dark and impenetrable, and with it had come the that in when the sun has his post.
Barunda and Ninaka were together in low gutturals, and to the girl's and it possible that she alone must be the of their plotting. The was through a of and water where the spread out into a little just above a narrow through which they had just their way by of the most on the part of the crew.
Virginia the two men near her furtively. They were in their conversation. Neither was looking in her direction. The of the were all toward her. Stealthily she rose to a position at the boat's side. For a moment she paused, and then, almost noiselessly, and the black waters.
It was the of the that Barunda to look about to the for the disturbance. For a moment neither of the men the girl's absence. Ninaka was the to do so, and it was he who called to the to the to a stop. Then they the river with the current, and about above the for an hour.
The moment that Virginia Maxon the close above her she out the surface for the upon the opposite to that toward which she had into the river. She that if any had her the they would naturally to her on her way toward the nearest shore, and so she took this means of them, although it meant nearly the to be covered.
After a the surface the girl rose and looked about her. Up the river a yards she the of water upon the prahu's as they her to a stop in to Ninaka's command. Then she saw the dark of the war-craft toward her.
Again she and with for the shore. The next time that she rose she was to see the close her. The were the slowly in her direction—it was almost upon her now—there was a from a man in the bow—she had been seen.
Like a she once more and, turning, out the boat. When she came to the surface again it was to herself as from as she had been when she the prahu, but the was now her, and she set out once again to her way toward the of line which near and yet, as she knew, was some from her.
As she swam, her mind, with the terrors of the night, of the she had of the which of the of Borneo. Again and again she have that she some huge, her in the of this unknown river.
Behind her she saw the turn up stream, but now her mind was with a new danger, for the girl that the was her more than she had imagined. Already she the of the river as it rushed, wild and tumultuous, through the entrance to the narrow her. How it was to she not guess, or how to the death of the toward which she was being by an force; but of one thing she was certain, her was waning, and she must the bank quickly.
With energy she out in one last to the shore. The of the was upon her, like a hand up out of the river to her to death. She her quickly—her now were and futile. With a prayer to her Maker she her hands above her in the last of the to at thin air for support—the and her toward the gorge, and, at the same her touched and closed upon something which low above the water.
With the last of that in her poor, Virginia Maxon to the support that a Providence had into her hands. How long she there she knew, but a little returned to her, and presently she that it was a low from a tree upon the bank that had saved her from the river's maw.
Inch by she herself toward the bank, and at last, weak and panting, to the of that to the water's edge. Almost tired, Nature her into a sleep. It was when she awoke, that the tall had her from a of and was her in his arms to her to her father.
Through open she saw the through the above her—she at the of her dream; full returned and with it the that she was in truth being close by arms against a that to the of a heart.
With a start she opened her wide to look up into the of a outang.
