“Thank God! you have, Jacob,” returned the other fervently. “For a moment I thought that you were only one of the fantastic visions that have visited my brain lately.”
“My poor brother,” exclaimed the millionaire, “but now thank heaven you are restored to your friends.”
“But how did you ever find me? I never deemed it possible that rescuers could find their way to this place where that villain Broom, after stealing the pearl, marooned me.”
“Ah, so the pearl is gone,—but never mind that now. I would not have given your life for an ocean-full of pearls,” declared the millionaire happily, “but I must introduce our friends who have shared with me the hardships of the trail.”
The boys, and then Salloo, added their congratulations to Mr. Jukes, while the women and children gathered round and chattered frantically. It was plain that they objected to all this, yet did not see how to stop it. The white men’s weapons glinted menacingly and there were no warriors in the village.
“And now let us hasten away from here,” said Jerushah Jukes. “The men are off on a fighting expedition and I might have escaped but without food or weapons I could never have made my way to the coast through the jungle. I suppose that is the reason they did not tie me up.”
“Undoubtedly,” said the millionaire, “but I’m forgetting something,” and he doled out to the two old men a reward, much over what they had demanded. They chattered their thanks glibly, making all sorts of gesticulations of gratitude.
“It’s all like a dream to me so far,” said Jerushah Jukes, as they made their way back through the cave and past the “haunted” waterfall. “Broom sent me up here with a guard of his men. The tribe appeared to be friendly to him and agreed to keep me prisoner as long as he wished. But my poor crew? What has become of them?”
“That we do not know yet,” said Mr. Jukes, “but we will talk later. I want to put all the distance I can between this tribe and our party as soon as we can. Those women will give the alarm although they dared not make an active protest.”
But as they emerged from the cave they met with a rude shock. A party of warriors with frizzed hair and war-paint daubing their bodies barred the way.