It was followed by the weird sound of tom-toms and the gourd
and skin drums of the natives. The shouting noise increased, and the
sound of the war drums also.
"Look!" cried Mr. Damon, pointing to a distant hill, and there the
boys saw two large bodies of natives rushing toward one another,
brandishing spears, clubs and the deadly blow guns.
They were not more than half a mile away, and in plain view of Tom
and his party, though the two forces had not yet seen our friends.
"They're going to fight!" cried Tom.
And the next moment the two bodies of natives came together in a
mass, the enemies hurling themselves at each other with the
eagerness and ferocity of wild beasts. It was a deadly battle.
CHAPTER XIII
THE DESERTION
"Say, look at those fellows pitch into one another!" gasped Ned.
"It's fighting at close range all right," commented Mr. Damon.
"If they had rifles they wouldn't be at it hand to hand," spoke Tom.
"Maybe it's just as well they haven't, for there won't be so many
killed. But say, we'd better be thinking of ourselves. They may make
up their quarrel and turn against us any minute.
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