King of Fang and Claw | Page 6

in the brief hush of silence with
which the jungle paid tribute to the sun's glory, they heard the sound for
which they had been waiting.
The jungle had humming noises of its own. But the distant drone of a
powerful motor floated unmistakably across the still air. Rand leaped at
once to his waiting pile of brush. With hands that trembled slightly in
their eagerness he scratched a match and set it ablaze. Then, after a
moment, he seized the damp tarpaulin and blanketed the flames.
The drone of the approaching plane grew steadily louder. Whipping
back the tarpaulin, Rand set a great puff of black smoke skyward. Then
hastily he blanketed the fire again, to repeat the operation.
The last slanting rays of the sun picked out a glinting speck in the sky

and turned it to shining gold. It grew slowly larger until it resembled a
giant, iridescent dragon fly soaring far above the earth.
"John!" called Constance anxiously. "He's going to miss us. He's
bearing north instead of west!"
Rand flung a hasty glance upward. He whipped up a last cloud of
smoke from his fire, then clutching the tarpaulin, he raced down to the
shore of the lake.
The plane loomed larger now but its nose was not pointed directly for
the clearing. And it was riding high--much higher than Rand would
have wished. With a sinking feeling at the pit of his stomach, he
realized that from where the unknown pilot rode in his cockpit, the
wreckage of Rand's ship was hidden by the towering trees and the
clearing itself was scarcely visible.
Swiftly he splashed out into the lake until the water rose above his
waist and waved the tarpaulin over his head. But the plane held to its
steady course and did not falter.
Though he knew the pilot could not hear him, he cried out hoarsely. He
flapped the heavy tarpaulin until his arms ached. But neither the rising
column of smoke from the clearing nor his wildly gesticulating figure
were seen. The motor of the ship in the air rose to a high crescendo,
then diminished again as it continued on.
Not until it had become a vanishing dot in the blue did John Rand's
arms drop. Wearily he plodded back to his wife and child. Constance
made a manful effort to conceal her bitter disappointment. She smiled,
a little tremulously.
"Well, it looks as though we've failed to thumb a ride."
Rand dropped the tarpaulin and sank down beside her. "Pooh! This is a
main highway. Busy traffic. There'll be another along in a moment."
Then, more soberly, he went on. "He'll be back--probably tomorrow. It
was the sunset. If he had come an hour earlier, he'd have spotted me at

the edge of the lake. Or if he'd come an hour later, he'd have seen the
light of the fire. Better luck next time."
But in the most important aspect of this optimistic prediction, Rand was
wrong. True, the plane came again on the next day--and one the day
after that. But each time it was farther from their lonely camp. The last
time it appeared, it was but a dim speck far towards the horizon.
Helplessly they watched it vanish from their sight and no amount of
forced good humor could hide the ache in their hearts.
Then three days passed and though they strained eyes and ears, the ship
did not come again Reluctantly they had to voice the dismal conclusion
that their would-be rescuers had given them up to the jungle.
Constance consoled herself with the thought that as soon as her leg had
mended, they would begin the long over-land trek that would carry
them out of the wilderness. Her husband would not deprive her of this
meager consolation but he realized that until the long rainy season Was
ended--and it had just set in, in earnest--they must remain in their
lonely outpost.
They were both astounded and in a measure glad, to hear young David
declare that he liked the jungle and had no desire to leave it. The fact
that he was thoroughly enjoying their enforced sojourn in the wilds
lightened their own burden.

CHAPTER IV
The Jungle Takes Its Toll
It was exactly a week since the mighty Zar had watched the strange
bird come swooping down to rest in the clearing. Now curiosity stirred
again in his mind. For a long while he hesitated, remembering the alien
emotion he had felt for the first time at the sight of the grotesque, two
legged creature. Then impelled by a fascination he could not resist, he

headed for the camp.
He had not travelled far when he came to an abrupt halt. His head came
up and sniffed the air with flaring nostrils. The