We went in single
file, one man almost touching the other, to be sure we'd all stay
together. I'd hear a bird go whizzing away at a distance, and it
appeared to me that there was no call for it to light out with us two
or three hundred feet away from it; and then there were queer noises
which I couldn't just place as coming from birds. I don't know why I
noticed these things, but I did, just the same, though I didn't say
anything to the other boys, because they'd probably thought I was
losing my nerve. And, besides, there wasn't time to talk.
"It took us more than an hour to reach the level where the village was,
and it was long after midnight when we, keeping in the shadow of the
cliff, started toward the bridge over the canyon, which led to the cave
where we thought we'd find the treasure.
"We'd got pretty near the bridge, Taggart and me in the lead, Nebraska
and Taylor stringing along behind, when I heard a sudden scuffling and
looked around. It wasn't so dark on the level as it had been in the
woods, and I saw a dozen dark figures grouped around Nebraska and
Taylor. The dark figures were all about us, and more were coming from
the huts, all yelling like devils. And they were men, too; they'd been
hiding in the huts; they'd discovered us the day before and suspected
what we came for.
Pages:
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91