Chapter 35
A SCREAM AND—SILENCE
I am afraid that no one slept very well after that.
It was about seven o'clock when we left that place. And I confess that I was more uneasy, more troubled than I would have cared to acknowledge. For we were headed toward the spot—at any rate, in the direction—whence had come that scream. What would we find there? Would we find anything?
We did.
We had gone about an eighth of a mile. The disposition of our little party was as it had been the day before; Rhodes and Ondonarkus, that is, were in the lead, followed by Drorathusa, then came Nandradelphis and Silvisiris, whilst Zenvothunbro and myself formed the rear-guard. Had my own wishes in the matter been followed, Rhodes and I would have been together. The formation assumed was, as I believe I have mentioned, the one that Drorathusa herself desired. The idea, of course, was to have the front and rear protected each by one of the mysterious weapons of the mysterious stranger-men, which weapons, undoubtedly, were far more formidable in the imagination of Drorathusa and her companions than they were in reality.
Certainly our revolvers were in every way excellent weapons, but I could not help wishing that they had a heavier bullet.
As has been said, we had proceeded about a furlong. The dense and tangled undergrowth had forced us away from the stream, to a distance of perhaps three hundred feet.
At the moment a sound had fetched me up and my exclamation had brought the party to a sudden halt.