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And so it was that Bulan was not the only one who watched the hiding of the
chest.
When Ninaka had disappeared down the river trail Bulan lay speculating upon
the strange actions he had witnessed. He wondered why the men should dig a
hole in the midst of the jungle to hide away the box which he had so often seen in
Professor Maxon's workshop. It occurred to him that it might be well to remember
just where the thing was buried, so that he could lead the professor to it should
he ever see the old man again. As he lay thus, half dozing, his attention was
attracted by a stealthy rustling in the bushes nearby, and as he watched he was
dumbfounded to see von Horn creep out into the moonlight. A moment later the
man was followed by two Dyaks. The three stood conversing in low tones,
pointing repeatedly at the spot where the chest lay hidden. Bulan could
understand but little of their conversation, but it was evident that von Horn was
urging some proposition to which the warriors demurred.
Suddenly, without an instant's warning, von Horn drew his gun, wheeled, and
fired point-blank, first at one of his companions, then at the other. Both men fell
in their tracks, and scarcely had the pungent odor of the powder smoke reached
Bulan's nostrils ere the white man had plunged into the jungle and disappeared.
Failing in his attempt to undermine the loyalty of the two Dyaks von Horn had
chosen the only other way to keep the knowledge of the whereabouts of the chest
from Barunda's uncle and Muda Saffir, and now his principal interest in life was
to escape the vengeance of the head hunters and return to the long-house before
his absence should be detected.
There he could form a party of natives and set out to regain the chest after Muda
Saffir and Barunda's uncle had given up the quest. That suspicion should fall on
him seemed scarcely credible since the only men who knew that he had left the
long-house that night lay dead upon the very spot where the treasure reposed.
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