“Bududreen,” said von Horn, when the two had reached a safe distance from the enclosures, “there is no need of mincing matters—something must be done at once. I do not know how much you know of the work that Professor Maxon has been engaged in since we reached this island; but it has been hellish enough and it must go no further. You have seen the creatures in the campong next to yours?”
“I have seen,” replied Bududreen, with a shudder.
“Professor Maxon intends to wed one of these to his daughter,” von Horn continued. “She loves me and we wish to escape—can I rely on you and your men to aid us? There is a chest in the workshop which we must take along too, and I can assure you that you all will be well rewarded for your work. We intend merely to leave Professor Maxon here with the creatures he has created.”
Bududreen could scarce repress a smile—it was indeed too splendid to be true.
“It will be perilous work, Captain,” he answered. “We should all be hanged were we caught.”
“There will be no danger of that, Bududreen, for there will be no one to divulge our secret.”
“There will be the Professor Maxon,” urged the Malay. “Some day he will escape from the island, and then we shall all hang.”
“He will never escape,” replied von Horn, “his own creatures will see to that. They are already commencing to realize the horrible crime he has committed against them, and when once they are fully aroused there will be no safety for any of us. If you wish to leave the island at all it will be best for you to accept my proposal and leave while your head yet remains upon your shoulders. Were we to suggest to the professor that he leave now he would not only refuse but he would take steps to make it impossible for any of us to leave, even to sinking the Ithaca. The man is mad—quite mad—Bududreen, and we cannot longer jeopardize our own throats merely to humor his crazy and criminal whims.”
The Malay was thinking fast, and could von Horn have guessed what thoughts raced through the tortuous channels of that semi-barbarous brain he would have wished himself safely housed in the American prison where he belonged.
“When do you wish to sail?” asked the Malay.