Under the most favorable circumstances they were disgusting-looking creatures; but now, when by reason of his dangerous position every disagreeable object was magnified, they seemed positively repulsive. He attempted to brush away three or four which had fastened on the back of his hand, and to his mingled surprise and horror they clung the tighter.
Taking hold of one with his thumb and finger he was forced to use no slight amount of strength in removing it, and then a cry of terror burst from his lips as he discovered that the repulsive thing was sucking his blood.
He was covered with forest-leeches, which had attached themselves to him during his flight through the woods, and his sudden and excessive weakness arose from the enormous quantities of life-blood which they had drained from his veins. For the instant his dangerous predicament was forgotten in this new cause for alarm, and during five minutes he paid but little attention to the fact that he was sinking deeper and deeper into the mire while pulling the tiny vampires from his flesh.
Once these pests were removed, however, all the horrors of his situation came upon him with redoubled force.
He was alone in a swamp, which continued to engulf him despite all efforts, and it seemed certain that life, so painful but a short time previous, was about to be extinguished.
However much one may wish for the approach of death, he instinctively struggles against it when the summons comes. So it was with Philip. An hour ago suffocation in the marsh would have seemed preferable to the dangers by which he was surrounded; and yet, when the supreme moment was so near at hand, the desire for life became strong once more.
Any efforts of his were useless, and to summon aid would be to call around him the enemies from whom he had been endeavoring to escape; but now that it was a question of life or death, he did not hesitate.
Again and again he cried for help, knowing that if his words were not understood, those who had probably been sent in search of him would be attracted to the spot by his voice. The exertion necessary to make this appeal caused him to sink deeper and deeper in the treacherous mud, but he continued to shout until the rustling of foliage warned him that help, even though attended by danger, was at hand.
He expected to see the grinning face of Goliah or some of his adherents, and even these would have been welcome; but to his inexpressible delight it was the faithful chimpanzee who had responded to his cry for help.
Alice recognized his danger at once, and wasted no time in investigations. With one paw clutching the trunk of a tree, which grew on solid ground, she extended the other to him, and he grasped it with the same desperate energy that a drowning man does the plank pushed out to save him from death.