With an exclamation of impatience, Bomba broke the spell that was stealing over him and leaped to his feet.
“Bomba will go!” he cried, and his vibrant voice rang out like a challenge through the jungle. “Is Bomba a woman to listen to such things and tremble? Shall he whimper as the monkey whimpers when he hears the roar of the jaguar? No! Bomba will go. He will face the jaguars. He will face the ghosts. He will face the demons. Bomba has spoken!”
Ashati gave vent to a wailing cry and Neram covered his face with his hands. In their superstitious fancy Bomba was already as good as dead.
“Bomba is brave,” Ashati moaned, “but it is not well to brave the things that come from another world.”
“Bomba’s life is his own,” returned the lad. “He does with it as he wills. He would rather die than have it said that Bomba was afraid.”
There was silence for a time following his declaration. The ex-slaves were wrapped in gloom. They loved Bomba, and would have given their lives for him. But they knew the boy well enough to be sure that he would not recede an inch from the plan that he had formed.
Bomba himself was thinking deeply. It had been in his mind to ask Ashati and Neram to accompany him. The loneliness of his days and nights was wearing upon him. It would be good to have companionship, some one to whom he could talk at times and unburden his heart. Then, too, Ashati and Neram were skilled in woodcraft and could be of service to him in this wild and unknown part of the country.
But he dismissed the thought almost as soon as it came to him. He did not want to drag them into danger. It was his own personal errand on which he was going, and he himself must face all that was involved in it. He knew that they would go if he asked them, even though they felt sure that they were going to their death. There was no limit to their devotion. But he would not accept the sacrifice.
Something of what he was thinking must have been felt by them, for Ashati came to him, prostrated himself on the ground and put Bomba’s foot upon his neck.
“Ashati will go with Bomba,” he said. “Bomba is Ashati’s chief. Twice he has saved Ashati’s life. His life belongs to Bomba.”