A brown
hand shot down with a keen blade and severed the strap about his
waist and giant muscles lifted him bodily from his seat. Usanga
clawed the air and shrieked but he was helpless as a babe. Far
below the watchers in the meadow could see the aeroplane careening
in the sky, for with the change of control it had taken a sudden
dive. They saw it right itself and, turning in a short circle, return
in their direction, but it was so far above them and the light of
the sun so strong that they could see nothing of what was going on
within the fuselage; but presently Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick gave
a gasp of dismay as he saw a human body plunge downward from the
plane. Turning and twisting in mid-air it fell with ever-increasing
velocity and the Englishman held his breath as the thing hurtled
toward them.
With a muffled thud it flattened upon the turf near the center of
the meadow, and when at last the Englishman could gain the courage
to again turn his eyes upon it, he breathed a fervent prayer of
thanks, for the shapeless mass that lay upon the blood-stained turf
was covered with an ebon hide. Usanga had reaped his reward.
Again and again the plane circled above the meadow. The blacks, at
first dismayed at the death of their leader, were now worked to a
frenzy of rage and a determination to be avenged. The girl and the
ape-man saw them gather in a knot about the body of their fallen
chief.
Pages:
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255