Page:Weird Tales v01n01 (1923-03).djvu/169

168 corroborated by Ornburi and the blacks. Such things are not uncommon among the Islands. Both volunteered to aid him in running down the supposed murderer. For the supremacy of the white man must be maintained for the common good of all.

It was near the end of the second day that they found that for which they were searching. Beside a skeleton lay a skull, the point of an arrow driven through the temple. A great ant hill close by told a grisly story.

That one of Kimball's bullets had found its mark there was little doubt. Tulagi, wounded nigh unto death, had, nevertheless, stopped long enough to hack off the ghastly souvenir, then made his way back toward the hills as best he could.

Exhausted from loss of blood, he had dropped, only to fall a victim to the ants.

IV.

S THE three white men made their way toward the clearing, the sight of a schooner anchored close to the Scary-Saray met their gaze. Drawn up on the beach, close to the house, was a whale boat.

"From the looks of her, that'll be Captain Grant's Dolphin from Malatita," Donaldson remarked, shading his eyes from the glare of the sun. "Didn't know he ever got this far. Ever see her, Kimball? She's a peach!"

Before Kimball, walking slightly behind the others and carrying the skull, could make a reply, a man and woman emerged from the house to meet them. Donaldson turned quickly.

"That's her!" he exclaimed. "Prettiest girl on the Islands. Hide that damned skull, Kimball! It's no sight for a woman of her breeding to see."

They were a scant hundred yards apart now, the girl waving her handkerchief to them.

"It's a wonder you wouldn't stay at home to welcome your guest, Karl" she called out. "And Fred Hansen—where is he?"

Kimball strode ahead of the others.

"Gladys!" he exclaimed.

"Hide that damned skull, I tell you!" Donaldson growled in an undertone.

They were almost together now. Kimball shoved the skull under his coat. As he did so, it nearly dropped from his sweaty hands and, in an effort to hold it, his finger slid into one of the eyeless sockets.

The point of the arrow, protruding through the bone, scratched his skin. For the moment he forgot it in the happiness of meeting the woman he loved.

"Dad wanted to make a trading trip out this way, and brought me along for the company," she was saying, as he stepped forward to grasp her outstretched hand. "Say that you're surprised to see me."

Before she could reach him, his legs doubled under him and he fell forward. The skull, dropping from beneath his coat, rolled and bounded half a dozen yards away, bringing up at the foot a little hummock.

They leaped forward to catch him as he fell. But tothey were too [sic] late. With a mighty effort he raised himself to his knees.

"Hansen!" he screamed. "I killed him! He swore that he'd get even, and he has! The—damned—thing—was poisoned!"

He pitched forward onto his face.

At the foot of the hummock, the skull grinned sardonically.