CHAPTER XVII.
WHAT BEFELL DOC CLANCY.
It will now be the proper thing for us to follow Doc Clancy and see howthe villain fared after his escape from our friends.
The bullet from the rifle of Lank Edwards had not touched him, but,seeing his companion fall, he concluded to do likewise, for fear hemight be fired upon again.
When he sprang upon his horse again and dashed away, he did not turn hishead to see whether his friend had been killed or not, but galloped awayfrom the spot with all the speed his horse could command.
What the dead man had told our friends about the herd of horses with hisdying breath was true.
The two scoundrels had followed the roadway to the massive iron gate,and here discovered the queerly mounted animals waiting to get insidethe wall.
They thought it best to leave, and when the herd followed them, DocClancy was in high glee.
He thought he would surely best Van and his party now. But the readerknows how well he succeeded.
When the fleeing scoundrel had placed a quarter of a mile betweenhimself and our friends, he turned in the saddle and saw them digging ahole in the ground.
"The poor devil must be dead," he muttered. "Well, I'll have to go italone now. I suppose I had better make direct for that gate and try andget inside it and make friends with the people who live there. If I cando that, I may be able to set them against that young upstart, VanVincent, and the rest of his gang. Well, I'll try it, anyhow. Heregoes."
Clancy did not halt until he reached the gate, and he was just wonderinghow he was going to get through, when it opened.
Without any hesitation, the villain rode through, the herd of horsesfollowing him.
It was now dark, but he determined to let the horses take him to wherethey belonged. He had not proceeded very far before he noticed a numberof ruined stone buildings, but as the animals did not appear to want tostop at any of these, he kept on.
When he had covered perhaps three miles over the hard, level road, hebeheld a city before him--such as he had never beheld before.
We say a city, for though it did not contain over two hundred buildings,yet it was a city as far as its general appearance went. All itsbuildings were tall and beautiful, and built of stone, while the streetswere broad and well paved.
The moment Doc Clancy entered it with the herd of horses at his back, anumber of men rushed out to meet him and proceeded to catch the horses.
As the moon was now covered with heavy clouds for the first time thatnight, Clancy was not observed at all, and his horse was led away withthose who had the dummies on their backs.
They were all placed in a large, comfortable stable, and then the menproceeded to remove the figures from their backs.
Doc Clancy now began to grow very uneasy.
He began to think of what would happen when they discovered that one ofthe animals had a real man on its back.
But the villain was desperate, and determined not be killed or captured.
Watching his opportunity, he slid from his horse's back, and thenquickly removed the rude bridle from its head.
"Now," thought he, "I'll lay low till these fellows go out. Then I'llsneak outside myself and see what sort of a place this is."
This was a successful move, the men not noticing the deception at all.
Fifteen minutes later they left the stable. It was now raining, but DocClancy determined to go out, just the same.
Pushing his way between the horses, who were now munching their eveningmeal in a contented manner, he at length reached the door.
"This is a pretty tough night to go out, when you have nice, dryquarters like this to stay in; but I must see what sort of a place I amin, and work a way to make myself welcome," muttered Clancy, as hebuttoned his coat about his neck.
The next moment he stepped outside in the storm.
The lights from houses on all sides of him could be seen, and heconcluded to approach one of them and look in the window.
Selecting the nearest house for his purpose, he began crawlingstealthily toward it.
In less than two minutes he was at the window.
A muffled cry of astonishment escaped the villain's lips as he peeredin.
He was gazing into an oblong room, furnished something after theOriental fashion.
The walls and ceiling seemed to be a glittering mass of gold and silver,and the light from a score of candles, thrust in candlesticks of thesame metal, made the scene a dazzling one, to say the least.
Reclining on a divan was a woman, or, rather, a girl, for she could nothave been over sixteen years of age.
She, too, looked like one of the dazzling beauties of the Orient, andwas robed like the women of Egypt.
As Doc Clancy gazed at the ravishingly beautiful creature, his eyessparkled.
"By Jove!" he muttered; "if I could only make friends with the people ofthis place, and then marry that girl, I think I should be as happy as aking. If I only dared, I would open the window. My! what a beautifulcreature! I'll do it, anyhow."
Seizing the sash, he thrust it aside, and then sprang into the room witha single bound.
Foolish man! That was the very worst thing he could have done, and ifhe had only stopped to think he would never have done it.
As Clancy landed upon the floor the girl sprang from the divan anduttered a wild scream of terror.
"Keep still, my girl; I'm not going to harm you," Clancy hastened toexclaim.
But that one scream did the business.
The next instant a curtain was thrown aside and half a dozen men rushedin.
Before Doc Clancy could make a move, he was seized and thrown upon hisback on the floor.
A silken cord was wound tightly about his arms and legs, and then in atwinkling of an eye he was whisked from the room.
His captors did not stop until they had descended a flight of stonesteps, and Doc Clancy, who was now thoroughly frightened, felt a draughtof chilly air blowing upon him.
Along a damp passage he was conducted, the men carrying lighted candlesto show them their way.
Suddenly they came to a halt in a large, cellar-like chamber, anddeposited their prisoner on the ground.
"I say," pleaded Clancy, "let me go, won't you? I'll get out of yourcountry right away, if you will."
"Silence! you dog of an Englishman," exclaimed one of the men. "You mustdie! You sealed your death warrant when you dared to enter the privateapartment of one of our chiefs' daughters."
"Oh, I know you will save me," whined the wretch. "You can speak mylanguage, and surely you will not see me killed just because I came toyour city a stranger and made a mistake."
"It matters not whether I speak your language or not. To-morrow you mustbe thrown in the lion's den; you must beg him to spare you, not us."
As if to doubly seal Doc Clancy's death sentence, a terrible roar rangout close at hand.
The villain had journeyed far enough through the African wilds to knowwhat caused it.
It was the roar of a hungry lion.
"That is the fellow you will have to meet in the morning," said the manwho had before addressed him. "We will place you in this pit next tohim. Sleep well!"
Without any further ceremony, a door was opened and Doc Clancy, stillbound hand and foot, was tumbled into a pit about twenty feet square.