Bride of the Serpent God | Page 4

and their region extends down river a half-day's ride at least, even in your swift craft."
Several of the men scattered up the bank, and though the Jungle Lord in no way betrayed the knowledge, his searching eyes knew the men were on the lookout for others who might be in company with the jungle couple. With regret, he remembered his bow and quiver of arrows lying where he had left them by a shrub, and his heavy spear resting against a tree where he had placed it after dispatching the lion.
From two of the natives padding about in the clearing above them came surprised exclamations. They had come on the bodies of the slain beasts. They called to their leader, and Helene and Ki-Gor accompanied him to the spot. He looked at the big bodies, studying the wounds, and with a tone of unbelieving admiration in his voice he asked Ki-Gor, "Who did this?"
"I did," the Jungle Lord stated simply, without any trace of boastfulness for to him the deed was not in the least unusual.
"You are a great warrior to have done this singlehanded," commented the tall black man, his uneasy eyes weighing and appraising Ki-Gor again. "What is your name?"
"I am Ki-Gor," was the answer.
"I am Basru," the native volunteered. "I come from a place of great warriors, but by the golden moon, I know no other man who could have performed such a deed as this."
He turned away to go, barking a command for his men to board the canoe. As though trained to obey, the natives turned toward the craft. The hostility Ki-Gor had sensed lurking in the strangers, he suddenly thought, seemed unwarranted. The bronzed jungle man moved to accompany the native leader to the riverbank. It was this momentary relaxation of his instinctive guard that Ki-Gor was long to regret. As the Jungle Lord walked along with Basru toward the boat, he paid little attention to the two big natives who lingered behind their fellows and now ambled slowly along at his back.
Basru raised his hand as though to stroke his hair, and at this signal, the two black men who trailed behind flung themselves on Ki- Gor's back. The completely unexpected onslaught sent the Jungle Lord crashing to his knees under the shocked eyes of Helene before he knew what was happening.
But Ki-Gor's trained reflexes changed him into a raging fury by the time he struck the earth. He made no single outcry, but fought silently, desperately, terribly, from the first moment he could bring his great muscles into play. His steel-hard hands caught hold of one of the native's ankles and the sheer overwhelming pressure of his grip burst the man's skin and flesh as he tore him down within closer reach. He snapped the native's neck like a rotten twig and lashed out with mighty blows that caved in the ribs of the other native.
The treacherous Basru, seeing that the massive white man was recovering his footing, picked up a big rock and darted in behind Ki- Gor. The native smashed the rock down once, twice, against Ki-Gor's skull. This cowardly blow accomplished what the two natives had failed to do. Ki-Gor pitched face forward like a felled ox. Helene screamed in horror as she saw her beloved mate lying crumpled, blood gushing from his head.
In panic she started to throw herself at Ki-Gor, but ruthless hands caught her arms and drew her back.
Basru's cruel eyes shifted from the fallen Jungle Lord to the sobbing girl. "You'll have no further need of him, woman. He's dead, or if he's not, he soon will be."
At an order from Basru, Helene was taken to the boat, but it took three men to force the struggling girl along. The hard-faced native leader glanced at Ki-Gor's unmoving form, debated a moment, then directed the white man also be brought along to the boat.
"The great Serpent God will smile on us for this day's work," Basru said in a pleased voice. "Even as the High Priestess ordered us, we have found a worthy sacrifice for the Festival of the Seventh Moon."
The tall leader jumped into the war canoe to see personally to the binding of Helene's wrists and ankles. She was forced to lie down in the bow of the boat, so that her red hair and fair skin could not be detected by anyone watching from shore. Satisfied that the girl was safely tied and placed, Basru ordered the boat cast off. His eye ran down the row of men waiting with paddles ready, and came to light on the big form of Ki-Gor. The natives had carried the white man and placed him in the boat, assuming from Basru's directions that he intended taking the Jungle Lord along.
"We have no use for that lifeless