CHAPTER XI. AZURMA’S SEARCH.
Dick Vincey gave an agonizing cry as he saw his cousin disappear in theflame and smoke below them.
“He’s lost--he’s lost!” he almost wailed. “What will his parents saywhen I return without him?”
“It’s too bad,” said Martin Haypole, consolingly, “but I wouldn’t takeon so much, if I was you. You know none of us won’t ever git back terhome, anyway--we have took our oaths that we won’t never leave thisdod-rotted country.”
“Come,” remarked the professor, “let us get away from this place. Leois dead long before this--no earthly power could save him.”
“You are right,” assented Andrew Jones. “I am sorry, but it can’t behelped.”
“There is a possibility of his having passed through the flame andsmoke alive,” said De Amilo, the Spaniard; “but the rushing stream--ifhe is not drowned in that, he will be carried over a falls a fewhunderd yards further down, and be dashed to pieces on the rocks.”
No one in the party had the least doubt but that Leo Malvern was dead,and with a feeling of sorrow they turned from the spot and started forthe village.
“May de good Lor’ save him!” whined Lucky, the darky, wringing hishands. “Massa Leo was de bestest friend dis poor darky eber had, an’now him done gone an’ got killed. Oh, why did us eber come to deEberglades, anyhow?”
“It is my fault,” said Prof. Easy; “I had no business to induce him toaccompany me on my exploring tour. We have made many discoveries, butthis fearful accident spoils all the pleasure there is in it.”
“I don’t blame you, professor,” returned Dick. “It was our own freewills that brought both Leo and myself to the Land of Hez. Say no moreabout it, please.”
As soon as the village was reached, Dick at once apprised Queen Oliveof what had happened.
She sympathized with him, and tried to comfort him, at the same timesaying:
“There is a possibility that your cousin is not dead. If that is thecase, there is but one who could seek him out in the earth’s bowels andfind him.”
“Who is that one?” asked Dick, his hopes arising.
“Azurma,” was the reply. “She has claimed him for her husband, and ifsent to look for him, she would never come back without him.”
“Send her, then.”
“There will be no need of me sending her. When she hears what hashappened she will start at once on her own hook. She has been unable tosee Leo since she left him in the dark cavern, the reason being thatI ordered her not to do so, in punishment for leading you and yourcompanions from the magic chamber.”
The queen blew a tiny whistle, and a servant appeared.
“Send Azurma here,” said she, in Spanish.
The servant bowed and retired, and a few minutes later the beautifulHez girl appeared.
“What is it, O queen?” she asked. “Can I now be permitted to see myfuture lord and master?”
“You can; but you must first seek him out. He is lost, having falleninto the stream that flows through the Devil’s Kingdom. You are atliberty to go where you please in the Land of Hez.”
An expression of gratefulness, intermingled with fear, came over thegirl’s face, and then, without noticing Dick in the least, she bowedand retired.
The brave girl plodded on her way until she came to the point where thefour passages met, and here she came to a pause.
“He went down the stream that flows through the Devil’s Kingdom,” shemurmured, “and so must I, if I would find him. If he perished, then soshall I! I have said it, and my word shall not be broken!”
Then with an expression of determination upon her face, she starteddown the passage.
She only stopped for a moment to view the scene that had seemed such awonder to our friends, and then started off at right angles, with anidea of picking her way to the shores of the stream below, beyond thesmoke and fire.
That Azurma knew what she was doing was plainly evident, for after atedious descent of probably a mile, she came to the point she desiredto reach.
The roaring of the flames was behind her, and the swiftly rushing tidewas within a few feet of her on the right.
Eagerly she scanned the shores on either side of the subterraneanstream for a sign of Leo Malvern.
But not the least trace of him could she see.
But Azurma had not given up all hope yet.
With a resolute air she started along the shore in the direction thewater flowed.
She now could hear the roaring of the water as it dashed over thefalls, and her face paled.
Had the one she loved been swept over this?
The thought was a sickening one to her, and for a moment she totteredand almost fell to the ground.
Just then the girl caught sight of a number of footprints in the sand.
In a moment she was kneeling upon the ground examining them.
As soon as she saw that they were not made by her own people, a cry ofjoy escaped her lips.
As the reader has already surmised, they were the footprints of LeoMalvern and Reginald Lacy.
Full of hope now, that her mission would prove successful, Azurmafollowed the tracks.
She reached the mouth of the passage and was just about to enter itwhen a warning hiss told her that there was danger ahead.
The girl drew back with a half-smothered cry of alarm.
“The picuasus!” she cried, in her own tongue. “Oh! what shall I do now?”
She hastily withdrew from the mouth of the passage and looked about fora safe place of retreat.
As she did so an immense turtle appeared through the opening, andthrusting a horrible-looking head from its shell, peered around to findthe one who had disturbed it.
The moment the creature’s beadlike eyes rested upon Azurma atransformation took place.
From the appearance of a huge turtle, it suddenly changed to a spiderof the most gigantic proportions.
Long legs stretched out in every direction, and it began walking towardthe poor girl, with its body at least two feet from the ground.
Azurma stood as though petrified, her face the color of ashes.
With rapid strides the many-legged creature neared her.
When it had approached to within ten feet of her she seemed to regainher senses.
Uttering a wild shriek, she started to flee from the spot with all hermight.
An ominous hiss came from the picuasus, as Azurma called it, and thehorrible thing increased its speed.
Straight for the river the girl ran, and it was evident that ratherthan be torn to pieces by the underground denizen she would throwherself into the rushing water.
When within ten yards of the water’s edge Azurma stumbled and fell, andthe next instant the picuasus stretched forth its long tentacles toseize her.
But they did not reach. At that moment the report of a rifle rang out,and it tumbled to the ground in a heap.
Azurma was saved!