CHAPTER XVI.

DISCOVERED.

Cummings was bringing up the rear during this march across the city, and when Jake halted he naturally thought it was in obedience to some signal made by Poyor, therefore he remained silent until hearing Neal say imploringly:

"Go on, Jake. Don't stop now when we have a chance of getting away in safety, for what is gold in comparison with life?"

"Have you halted with any idea that it may be possible to carry anything off with us?" Cummings asked, speaking in a whisper, and Jake replied in the same cautious tone:

"That's the size of it. You brought us here with the promise that we could make ourselves rich, and when the first little thing goes wrong you run. Now I will do as I please."

"It is nothing less than suicide. We have before us a journey so long and difficult that however small a burden you may have to carry, it will seem all too heavy."

By this time Poyor turned back to learn the cause of the halt, and when it was explained he said gravely:

"Each instant we stand here brings death so much nearer. Even at this moment watchful eyes may be upon us, and once we are discovered flight will be almost impossible."

The little party stood directly in front of what was evidently the main entrance to the temple. It was formed of twenty slender shafts of white stone which in the moonlight looked translucent, and each column upheld a grotesque figure composed of what appeared to be silver.

"I am goin' to have one of them images, no matter what happens," Jake said doggedly. "I don't care how much of a tramp there is before us, and the more the thing weighs the better I'll be pleased, for it's the first chance I ever had to make myself rich."

"But think of us," Teddy whispered. "We all run the risk of being killed because of what you propose to do."

"There's no need of your waitin' here. Go on, an' I'll take care of myself. I ain't such a chump as not to be able to find my way out."

"It must be as he says. We can wait no longer," Poyor said peremptorily. "Better one should die than all," and, seizing Neal by the shoulder, he literally dragged him away.

Cummings did the same by Teddy, and as the boys were thus forced from the place they saw Jake trying to make his way up one of the smooth shafts.

"It is cruel to leave him when you know he will be killed," Neal said as he struggled in vain to release himself from the Indian's grasp.

"He knows the danger, and will not come. We must care for ourselves. Now remain quiet; there has been too much noise and too long a delay."

Poyor was walking at a pace so rapid that the boys were forced to run; but before they reached the next intersecting street a loud crash was heard from the direction of the temple, and Cummings whispered:

"He has toppled over one of the columns, and discovery is now certain. He has insured our destruction as well as his own."

The words had hardly been uttered when shouts were heard from different portions of the city, and, as if he had sprung from the ground, a man appeared directly in their path.

A second's delay would have been fatal. Poyor, releasing his hold of Neal, dashed forward with the agility of a cat, and springing upon the stranger bore him to the ground.

There was a short, sharp struggle which lasted while one might possibly have counted ten, and then the man lay motionless while Poyor, grasping Neal by the arm once more, darted on down the street.

Now it seemed as if the entire city had been aroused. On every hand could be heard shouts as if of command and cries of surprise and anger. The sound of footsteps in the rear told that the pursuit had already begun, and it was a race for life with the odds fearfully against the fugitives.

"You must run now as you never did before," Cummings said sharply to Teddy. "There can be no thought of fatigue until we reach some shelter where it will be possible to make a stand."

"I can hold out as long as Neal; but neither of us are a match for Poyor."

"He could run all day."

Two moments later, when they were nearing a broad street which Cummings fancied led to the woods on the eastern side of the city, Poyor slackened his pace to say:

"There is one close behind who must be stopped. Will you do it, or shall I?"

"Help Teddy along, while I try it."

As the Indian took Teddy by the arm, thus having a boy on either side of him, Cummings unslung the rifle which had been strapped over his shoulder, and, wheeling suddenly, raised it at a man who was not more than forty yards in the rear.

"Don't shoot! It's me!" a familiar voice cried, and as Cummings turned to resume the flight he muttered to himself:

"It's a pity they haven't caught you. But for your folly we could have passed through the city unobserved."

Jake no longer believed the Chan Santa Cruz Indians to be such a peaceable race. When, as Cummings had suspected, the shaft he was trying to climb toppled over, he was able to escape injury by leaping to one side, and immediately made an effort to detach the statue which was cemented firmly to the stone.

It seemed to him that he had but just begun the task when two men rushed from the interior of the temple. Fortunately for him they were unarmed or his term of life would have expired at that moment; but as it was one of them seized a fragment of the stone as he turned to run, and threw it with such accuracy of aim that Jake's cheek was cut from the eye to the chin as smoothly as if done with a razor.

With the blood streaming down his face Jake ran for dear life in the direction taken by the remainder of the party, and now fully realizing the danger he had brought upon them.

"I deserve to be killed," he said to himself, "and if that Poyor don't try to even up things with me for this night's job it'll be because he's a better Indian than I ever gave him credit for."

When the remainder of the party reached the end of the broad street with the welcome shelter of the forest not more than half a mile away, Jake was ten or twelve yards in the rear, and three times that distance behind him were a dozen men who appeared to be gaining each instant.

Again Poyor spoke to Cummings, and again the latter stopped suddenly and wheeled about: but this time there was no warning shout to prevent the rifle from being discharged.

There was a loud report, a cry of pain from one of the pursuers, and all halted for an instant to aid their wounded companion.

When Cummings turned to continue the flight Jake was by his side, saying as they ran:

"If it comes to close quarters I'll drop behind, and make as long a fight as I can, which will give the rest a chance to gain on the crowd."

"They would surely kill you. There could be no hope in a hand to hand struggle."

"I know that, and it will be no more than I deserve. If I hadn't been such a fool you would have got through without turning a hair."

This confession and the proposition to sacrifice himself had the effect of dissipating Cummings' anger, and he said decidedly:

"We will stick together and take even chances. No matter what has been done one shall not be sacrificed to save the rest unless I, who brought you here, am that one."

To carry on any extended conversation and at the same time continue the pace was out of the question, and during the next five minutes not a word was spoken.

Now there were two dozen pursuers, and the boys had become so nearly exhausted that Teddy felt positive that he could not keep on his feet long enough to reach the forest.

Poyor, seeing that both the boys had nearly run their race, shouted in his own language a few words to Cummings, clasped his panting companions by the waist, and, although thus burdened, soon drew away from both the white men.

Nearer and nearer come the pursuers.

Once more Cummings halts, discharges his rifle, and then presses forward.

Poyor gains the shelter while the others are a hundred yards away, and allowing the boys to drop to the ground, he unslings Neal's gun, stands at the very edge of the cover where he fires two shots just in time to save the remainder of the party.

"We must not stop here," he says as Cummings comes to a halt by his side. "Help the boys, and leave me here long enough to hold them in check until you have put considerable distance between the crowd and yourselves."

Cummings waited only until he had given the Indian his own rifle and some cartridges, for it was a more effective weapon than Neal's, and then he and Jake did as directed.

Traveling in as nearly a straight line as possible they marched rapidly, while behind them could be heard shot after shot, telling that Poyor was doing his duty.

"If he can keep that up long enough we shall give them the slip after all," Jake said, speaking with difficulty as he gasped for breath.

"There are others to be met. Between here and the coast is a line of sentinels who may be more vigilant than those in the swamp."

Now that the pace was slower, and because of the assistance rendered, Neal and Teddy were able to make their way unaided, and the former said as he pushed Cummings from him:

"I am all right now. You have as much as you can do to take care of yourself, and it is not fair to half carry me as you and Poyor have been doing."

"It hasn't been such a very hard job; but I'm perfectly willing to give it up if you are feeling better."

"We are both in fair condition," Teddy replied, and being relieved of the burdens the men were able to travel more rapidly.

During the next ten minutes not a word was spoken, and then Cummings said as he halted:

"We'll take a little rest, for I am nearly blown."

All threw themselves on the ground where they lay panting until, recovering somewhat, Jake asked:

"How is Poyor to find us in this thicket? He can't follow a trail in the darkness."

"He will succeed in doing so as— Say, are you wounded?"

"One of those fellows cut my cheek open with a rock; but beyond the pain I don't reckon there's been any great damage done."

"You are fortunate that it was not inflicted by an arrow or spear. Let me try to bandage it, for the loss of blood will tell upon you if we continue this gait very long."

With strips torn from Jake's shirt the wound was bound up in an awkward fashion, and Cummings said as he finished the work:

"When Poyor comes he will gather a certain leaf which has healing properties, and in a short time all the pain will go away; but I fancy you'll carry that scar to your grave."