“But suppose the king says no, and insists on your brother marrying his daughter with or without your father’s leave, what’s to be done then?”
“We must cut and run,” I exclaimed; “I should be very sorry to treat the young lady ill, but if her father insists on my marrying her, I shall regret having been the means of saving her from the wild man of the woods. I certainly thought that he would be grateful to me for what I had done, but I confess that he exhibits his gratitude in a very awkward manner as far as I am concerned. However, there is no use talking about the matter any longer, I’m getting very sleepy, and should be glad to turn in and get a quiet snooze, after spending the last three nights up trees.”
My companions were ready enough to follow my advice, and we all wrapped ourselves up in the pieces of matting with which our new friends had supplied us, and went to sleep.
Chapter Twelve.
We find we are not to be idle—A Buffalo hunt—Two good shots—Again at the buffalo—A strange steed and rider—I shoot both, and save Ombay’s life—Much beautiful game—A commotion in the village—Our sleep disturbed—The ape skin destroyed by the ants—Tom’s plan of escape—Prince Ombay sees through it—A grand hunt—A novel use for a net—Kill thirty head of game—Will Tom take the Princess off my hands—A delightful surprise—The marriage—A noisy wedding breakfast—A barbarous dance—The native idols—Native superstitions—We determine to make our escape.
We were allowed a day to rest after our long journey, and were supplied with abundance of food, but we soon found that our entertainers had no intention that we should eat the bread of idleness. Prince Ombay, as we called him, came to see us early the second morning after our arrival, and began talking away at a great rate. We nodded our heads to show that we were listening, but as we could not understand more than every tenth word he uttered, Charley summoned Aboh.
“Him say go out hunting, kill big beast horns on head.”
“I suppose he means buffalo,” observed Charley.