Jean was led to a stone door, and a huge man in a sweaty loincloth came forward, pulled back a bolt, took hold of a heavy ring, and tugged it open. Foulness sprang from inside the room and landed on Jean. Her stomach twisted, and for a moment, the smell of human excrement, sweat, and misery was so strong she thought she might throw up.
The woman said something Jean couldn't understand, and the next moment the leash was being loosened from her throat, and she was shoved into the dungeon. The door slammed and the light went away and the darkness and stench gathered about her like a foul wool sock being pulled over her head.
Then Jean heard movement in the darkness. Something was scuttling toward her.
Cannon said, "Now, this time, we got to take another finger and palm another coal. How does that set with you?"
Billy was lying on his back, his hands and feet bound, his hands forced open and held wide by leather strips and deeply buried wooden pegs. Blood was running freely from his recently amputated little finger. He reflexively tried to push the smoldering coal out of the palm of his hand, but the way it was pegged and tied down, he could not. He succeeded only in flexing the muscles in his hand enough to roll the coal a little to the left where it found fresh flesh to burn.
Billy bit his lip to keep from giving them the pleasure of a scream.
When Wilson and Cannon had found Hanson and Billy, they had immediately set about quizzing them in their own inimitable style. They wanted to know where fee rest of the safari had gone.
Hanson, knowing that once that information was revealed they had about as much chance as a tick in a tar bucket, had said: "They went to find the treasure of the lost city of Ur."
At those words, the eyes of Wilson and Cannon had lit up, and Hanson knew he had a bargaining chip. Wilson and Cannon were decent trackers, but they weren't at the level of the Urs, and shortly after Hanson and Billy were captured, the renegades had bound them and set about trying to find the path the warriors had taken on their of own, but could not. The Urs, through superior woods-manship, had successfully concealed their trail. Had Hanson merely held back the direction the safari had taken, the two men might have become bored with them, killed them, and gone about their business, guessing as to the whereabouts of the city. But now, thinking they were close on the trail of gold, they were adamant in their desire for directions. Specific directions.
So now Hanson and Billy were in the midst of being interrogated. Renegade-style. It wasn't an easy way to exist, but Hanson felt it would steal them some time.
"Look here," Wilson said, as he leaned over Billy.
"This guy here, Cannon, he don't mind doing this all day. I don't care for it none. Ain't my way. Just tell us where they went."
Billy had caught on to Hanson's ploy and was doing his best to maintain. Already Hanson had lost a finger and had his hands burned, but he had not given up the information they wanted. The pain had been so intense, Hanson had passed out twice. Billy wished he could pass out, but something seemed to be holding him awake. He hurt something awful; why didn't he just pass out?
"I can make it quick," Wilson said. "Cut your throat. A bullet. It's all over, know what I mean? You don't tell us nothing, it's gonna turn out that way anyway, but after some time. Eight fingers and two thumbs later. Enough hot coals to burn to the bone. And there's other places we can cut and burn. I can make you a list."
"Thanks," Billy said. "But I do not need a list."
Wilson smiled. "You're a tough little monkey, aren't you?"
"Cannot say I feel all that tough," Billy said.
"Yeah, well, let me tell you this," Cannon said, slapping the dying coal from Billy's hand. "I got another coal here, and we're gonna put mat in your other hand. Maybe against a bare foot, down your pants. You like that idea?"
"It does not appeal," Billy said. "No, sir."
"Listen here," Wilson said, "you and your boss, you ought to talk. We got some idea where we're going', anyway, we just want to make the trip easier. We ain't got so much supplies that we need to be running off in all directions, see. For all we know they went up."
"No," Billy said, "they did not go up. That much I can help you with."
"I'll get another coal," Cannon said.
Cannon came back from the fire balancing a coal on the flat of his knife. He smiled at Billy, said, "Where's this one gonna go, my man?"
"We get what we want from you," Wilson said, "we find this place easier, we end all this business quick. You just die. You don't suffer and die, you just die."
"I don't think so," Hanson said.
"Hey, look who's stirrin'," Cannon said. "Maybe I ought to give him the coal."
"You spare us," Hanson said, "and we'll not only lead you in the direction they went, we'll take you to the city. I know where it is. Exactly."
"Yeah," Cannon said. "Then you tell us, and we'll go on without you."
"You go on without us," Hanson said, "you might find it, you might not. You do, it might be after you've used all your supplies. Run out of ammunition. I'm going to tell you how to get there, you're going to have to take me and Billy with you."
"I don't know," Cannon said. "I hate to waste a hot coal."
"All right," Wilson said. "We'll take them with us."
Cannon grinned. "We don't need to take them with us. They'll give us what we want, provided you let me do all the askin'."
'Time's a wastin'," Wilson said. "Besides, I don't have the stomach for this."
"You had enough stomach to tie that wild man to a tree."
Tarzan, thought Hanson. They're talking about Tarzan. Hanson had been hoping the ape-man would show up. Now he had to let go of that hope. Had to think of other alternatives.
"I didn't stick around to see it happen, though," Wilson said.
"So go off in the woods there," Cannon said. "I'll take care of this part."
"The wild man," Wilson said. "That was personal. That's why it was different, it was personal. This here is business. Let 'em go. We'll keep an eye on them. This way's easier."
"So you say," Cannon said. Disappointed, he let the hot coal roll off his knife and into the dirt.
Wilson stood up. "Cut them loose."
Cannon looked up at him. Wilson liked it like that. Him standing over Cannon, Cannon looking up. Making Cannon do his bidding was a step in the right direction. A step toward recovering control.
"Take us with you, Bwanas," Billy said. "You no need to carry your packs. We do it."
Cannon thought about that, smiled at Wilson. "All right, Wilson. I'm tired of totin' supplies. This time we do it your way."
Cannon used his knife to cut Billy's hands free. He said to Billy, "Think maybe you'd want that little finger I cut off? As a kind of souvenir?"
"No thanks," Billy said. "I would kind of like to keep the other fingers though. I have grown much attached to them."
"Hey, that's funny," Cannon said, cutting Billy's feet loose. "I like it when guys are funny. Gals don't do much for me when they're funny, but I like a funny guy."
Fifteen minutes later, their injured hands bound with rags, Hanson and Billy were forced to carry Wilson and Cannon's packs. It was a painful ordeal, considering their wounds, loss of blood, and exhaustion. But they had little choice. They gritted their teeth and proceeded. The two renegades walked behind them with their rifles, side by side, neither letting the other fall too far behind.
Chapter 16
JUST BEFORE NIGHTFALL, Usha the wind gave Tarzan a gift.
Small did not notice it, of course, and it is unlikely that any man alive would have smelled what Tarzan smelled. The scent of many humans, some of them Hanson's bearers, and most important to Tarzan, the scent of the woman, Jean.