The rushing torrent lifted them, bore them forward. Wade had a flashing glimpse of the red-lit dungeon, and then the tunnel swallowed him. Battling in the grip of the racing waters, the two men were swept into the depths of the tube that led down to the marsh.
The walls were rough, scraping skin from Wade’s arms and back. He held his breath, striving to retard his progress. At last his foot caught in a projection, and the mad rush was halted. But there was still the clinging Tabin Naung to reckon with, and the sawbwa was mad with murder-frenzy.
He had lost his sword. His muscular hands crept up and gripped Wade’s jaws, seeking to pry them open so that the white man would drown. Agonizing pain shot through Thunder Jim’s head. He doggedly kept his teeth clamped together.
One of the sawbwa’s hands started feeling for his eyes. Wade rolled his head aside, braced himself, and reached out savagely. His fingers found Tabin Naung’s thick throat.
It was the throat of a bull, corded with muscle, hard and strong. To squeeze it was like trying to crush rock. But once Wade’s hands had found their grip, they did not loosen. They tightened inexorably.
The flood tore at him, seeking to dislodge him from his precarious foot grip. Tabin Naung kept trying to force his jaws apart. The pain in his lungs was flaming agony. And the native’s probing fingers were stabbing at his eyes.
Instinctively Wade kept rolling his head to avoid being blinded. He must do that. He must keep his grip. He must not open his mouth. These thoughts hammered at his brain. But it was not conscious thought that kept his hands clamped tight about that bull throat. It was something more, a relentless fury that feared death less than failure. Thunder Jim Wade kept his promises.
When at last something gave and snapped beneath Wade’s fingers, he did not realize it. Only when a limp body slipped away from him and was carried down by the flood did he understand that he had won. Then, blindly, like a robot, he tried to crawl back up the tunnel.
A few minutes ago that would have been impossible. But now the flood was decreasing in volume. There was an air-space above the water, and this gave Wade strength to continue. Up and up, a nightmare climb through the flood, until somehow the ordeal was ended, and friendly hands were helping him clamber into the dungeon.
He breathed deeply, staring around. Kamanthi was free of her chains. Natthiya stood beside her, relief in his wrinkled face. And the hands that had helped Wade climb from the tube were those of Marat and Argyle.
“Okay, Jim?” the latter asked quietly.
“Yes. It’s finished.” The black, cold stare of glacial fury died from Wade’s eyes. “Tabin Naung’s dead.”
Natthiya broke in. “The waters will be gone in a short time. The false sawbwa’s men broke and fled; they could not fight without him. And those faithful to Kamanthi broke their way into the temple through the ill-repaired gates to run down our enemies and slay them.”
“It’s over,” Marat nodded. “You can take it easy, Jim. The job’s done.”
* * * * *
THREE days later the Thunderbug stood ready for departure. As Marat had said, the job was done. Kamanthi ruled Palinwa-land once more, and the people were content as they formerly had been. Ruthless ambition and greed were gone from the island in the swamp.
The altar containing the transmutation device was no longer in existence. Wade had induced Kamanthi to destroy it completely. He had explained to her the dangers of such a secret, and she had agreed that it would be a menace to the peace of Palinwa.
“Learn its secret, if you can,” she had said. “And then destroy it.”
This Wade had done. Later he would puzzle out the formulae he had copied in his notebook, and, perhaps, attempt to duplicate the experiment of the ancient scientists. But the secret would never be known to anyone else but Wade and his two colleagues.
They stood beside the Thunderbug now, the morning mists coiling whitely around them. Kamanthi and Natthiya alone were present in the little clearing. The priest’s withered face twisted into a smile.
“I am sorry you must go,” he said simply. “Later, perhaps, you will return?”
“Palinwa is your home whenever you wish,” Kamanthi added. She was not wearing her ceremonial garb now, and had the correct number of arms. Her skin was a becoming shade of tan. She was decidedly pretty.
“Perhaps,” the girl pondered. “I must learn more of your world first. Whatever will be best for my people, I shall do. But now you have left your—what is the word?—your radio, and taught Natthiya how to operate it. So we can speak together even though you go beyond the great swamp, and I can tell you what I decide.”
“Fair enough,” Wade said, and turned toward the Thunderbug. There was nothing else left to say. The present task was completed.
Five minutes later the black plane rose lightly into the air and fled up through the mists above the Waters of Death, leaving the island behind like the figment of a dream. Once more Thunder Jim Wade had battled evil and treachery—and had won.
He swung the Thunderbug south toward Mandalay.
END
Table of Contents
Thunder Jim Wade: The Complete Series
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Book I - Thunder Jim Wade
Chapter I: The Statue
Chapter II: Man Missing
Chapter III: At Lao Chen’s
Chapter IV: The Thunderbug
Chapter V: Jungle Terror
Chapter VI: Juggernaut
Chapter VII: Over the Mountains
Chapter VIII: Hidden Valley
Chapter IX: Test for the Thunderbug
Chapter X: Escape to Minos
Chapter XI: Besieged City
Chapter XIII: The Labyrinth
Chapter XIV: Out of the Jaws of Death
Chapter XV: Vengeance of the Minotaur
Book II - The Hills of Gold
Chapter I: Holy War
Chapter II: Strange Civilian
Chapter III: Resourceful Enemies
Chapter IV: Death of a Dancer
Chapter V: The Forgotten of God
Chapter VI: The Hills of Gold
Chapter VII: A Holy Ally
Chapter VIII: Forced Flight
Chapter IX: Allah Pays his Debts
Book III - The Poison People
Chapter I: Gas in the Wilds
Chapter II: Via the Dead
Chapter III: Being Kidnaped is Easy
Chapter IV: The Scourge of Crime
Chapter V: The Sun God
Chapter VI: Invitation to a Fortress
Chapter VII: The Factory in the Jungle
Chapter IX: Dellera Loses his Head
Book IV - The Devil’s Glacier
Chapter I: An Incredible Discovery
Chapter II: The Thunderbug Takes Off
Chapter III: Attack and Repulse
Chapter IV: The Challenge
Chapter V: Fabulous Treasure
Chapter VI: The Chamber of Torture
Chapter VII: War—and Peace
Book V - Waters of Death
Chapter I: Gold and Head-hunters
Chapter II: Land Below the Mist
Chapter III: Six-armed Goddess
Chapter IV: Victory Magic
Chapter V: Tabin Naung’s Treachery
Chapter VI: Captured!
Chapter VII: Conquest of the Temple
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