How he managed to avoid the point of the weapon he never could tell. But he did it somehow.
The sudden disappearance of Jai Singh over the precipice disturbed the Golden Scarab warrior, and his spear dropped almost to his side.
He did not hesitate to fight, however.
It was a desperate combat in which Chick found himself. Even without the threatening spear, there was peril enough to have satisfied the most reckless searcher for adventure.
Chick noted, even as he grasped the fellow’s two arms in his strong hands and forced him backward, that there were certain points of resemblance between the dark, scowling faces before him and those he had glimpsed in the forest when the poisonous snake had made an end of the fanatical “holy man” who had tortured Adil.
“It’s one of the same gang,” thought Chick. “Those fellows weren’t down the river for nothing.”
He and his foe were both on the very brink of the precipice. The ledge was only a few feet wide. To make it worse, the ledge sloped slightly toward the great chasm, and Chick instinctively drew back as he felt himself slipping toward the edge.
“One of us has to go over,” he muttered. “I’ll try to prevent the pair of us taking the leap. But—”
There was a sudden movement by the native, as he glared evilly into Chick’s face, and Chick felt himself going past his enemy and slipping!
For one wild moment he glanced about him, to see whether there was hope of rescue anywhere.