CHAPTER XXXIV
THE PASSING OF KELLER BEY
We were hard put to it before we got the madman in, and then it wasworse than ever. For he, our master, the bravest man that I ever saw orthink to see, sat down beside his friend and wept like a child. He didnot even look at us when we took up Allerdyce and buried him in a longtrench with the others who had fallen--five in all, a heavy loss for uswho were so few.
"I never want to see Greenock again!" wailed Jack Jaikes, "we were thatpack, Allerdyce and me----"
"Go and fetch your father, Rhoda Polly," said I, "this will never do. Itwould be no use to telegraph. He would never believe the like of JackJaikes."
"May God grant he can come!" said Rhoda Polly, and darted off. I wentinto the outhouse where Keller Bey lay. Harold Wilson was bending overhim, a steel probe in his hand. He stood up as I came in, lookingnarrowly at the point.
"I think we shall pull him through, but so long as we have that younglady"--he pointed at Alida, who was exhausting herself in a longoutburst of Oriental sorrow--"I fear we can do nothing radical."
"Wait till Rhoda Polly comes back," I said, "she will get her friendaway."
"I do not think so," he said, "she has been trying for some time."
"Could he be moved?"
"Far?" queried the doctor.
"Well, across the river in a boat, and up the hill to my father'shouse."
Wilson winced. "That is rather a responsibility," he said dubiously;"still, the man is unconscious and will probably remain so for manyhours. It certainly would be a good thing if we could be rid of him andof that young woman--though in ordinary circumstances we should not bein such a hurry to send her off."
He grinned pleasantly, and asked how I proposed to set about thebusiness. I told him it would be easy to get Keller Bey down to thenursery gardens by the waterside. Here I would rout out my friend thepatron Arcadius, who would do as much for three or four of hisgardeners--Italians all, and not touched with local politics. My boatwas there, and the gardener lads would carry the stretcher up the hill.They did harder tasks every day of their lives.
"Well, but you see I can't leave all these--where's your doctor?"
I told him I could bring down the resident from the college hospital.
"Oh, I know him, Vallier, a very decent fellow for an _interne_. He'lldo. Well, off with you. I will give you a note for him."
"We must wait till we get this stopped." I pointed to Jack Jaikes. "Youcan't do anything I suppose?"
He shook his head. "No, it needs moral authority for that. He would careas little for me as for you--less perhaps. But here comes Mr. Deventer!"
"Thank God!" I gasped.
"Jaikes," commanded Dennis Deventer, "bring the guns forward."
Jack Jaikes staggered to his feet and looked irresolutely about him. Washe going to obey? Did he even understand? For a moment it seemeddoubtful. But whether his mind grasped the situation or not he answeredthe voice of Dennis Deventer.
"What guns, sir?"
"Allerdyce's, Brown's, and your own!" said Dennis firmly. "Take command.Forward with them into the breach," and the machine guns moved forward,the remnant of their crews being reinforced by men from other posts.
"Hold yourself ready there, Jack Jaikes," said Dennis, "this is yourbusiness. So far you have done well. We had to fight hard all along ourwall, but you have beaten us!"
"But you scourged them too?" demanded Jack Jaikes, lowering andtruculent.
Dennis drew a sigh of relief. His lieutenant was himself again.
"Yes, Jack Jaikes, we scourged them!"
For answer Jack Jaikes swept his index finger round the half-circle ofthe Cours of Aramon, dotted with black bodies lying still.
"It's a pity ye can't see them all," he said, "they are lying in heapsup in the corner yonder, where we cut the scaling ladders from beneaththem!"
* * * * *
Though our gallant little Dr. Wilson permitted the removal of KellerBey, the task before me was one to tax me to the utmost. I think Ishould have given it up and let Keller Bey lie, but for Rhoda Polly. Shecame out from a long consultation with Alida, and at once took charge ofthe situation, much as her father might have done.
I don't know in the least what the girls said to one another, or whatreason Alida gave Rhoda Polly for her presence in Aramon or for herdislike of me, but whatever these might have been, they must at leasthave been sufficient.
As I say, Rhoda Polly took hold. She commandeered an improvised carryingstretcher, which had been prepared at the orchard end of the Chateaupolicies. She prevailed on her father to lend her a carrying party asfar as the river.
The thought of letting any fraction of his few defenders go outside evenfor such a purpose made Dennis Deventer frown.
"It will not take ten poor minutes," pleaded Rhoda Polly. "I will seethat they get safe back. Let me, Dennis!"
It was not often that she called him by his Christian name save in theheat of wordy strife, and perhaps the very unexpectedness of it touchedhim.
"Have it your own way then, but be quick--don't forget I am risking thewhole defence. I do not see in the least why Wilson could not haveattended to him here."
She stepped up and whispered in his ear. He looked first doubtful, thenincredulous, and a smile flickered a moment on his face.
"Ah, so!" he exclaimed, "I did not know you were so fanciful, my lady."
But he made no further objection, and we lifted up Keller Bey and puthim in the stretcher, where he lay without speech or knowledge. Wilsontried his pulse and listened to his respiration.
"Get him away," he commanded, "the quicker the better!"
Rhoda Polly, Hugh and I helped the men over the wall with him, and heldthe _brancard_ in place till they could get over to our assistance. Wedid not try to go straight to the landing place through the bull ring,but instead cast a wide circuit about the town, and finally came outupon the little house of gardener Arcadius buried among its trees.
Him I awakened with care, first a hail of pebbles on his window panes,followed the scratching teeth of a garden rake to indicate a friend, andlastly my own voice calling softly his name. He looked sleepily out, forhe cared nothing about the town and its ongoings, if the early blossomswere not frosted and his young trees were not eaten by predatory goats.
He made me a sign that he would be down immediately, and he was bucklingan equatorial waistbelt even as he opened the door.
He started back at the sight of the _brancard_. "What! A dead man?"
I explained the desperate need of Keller Bey and his daughter--how theymust cross the river and how we counted on him to give us porters. Forthe boat Rhoda Polly and I would be sufficient, but for the carrying ofthe stretcher up the hill we had need of four stout fellows.
"I have my Italians," he said, "that is, if none of them have decamped;I locked them in, but the lads from the Peninsula are very handy with acrooked nail."
As we went, Arcadius, lurching in front like a huge sea-lion doingtricks, waved a lantern and spoke of the prospects of his garden. Thehard winter had done no harm. It had broken the clods and killed thegrubs. The war, the Commune, the black terror of Aramon did not existfor Arcadius. Barres would not come to expropriate his cauliflowers andearly potatoes. He asked no questions about Keller Bey and genially cutshort any offer of explanation. His business was the soil, the fruittrees, planting and transplanting, and the sale of young vegetables.Beyond these he desired to know nothing.
His four Italians were there, big, good-looking lads from the north, whofound gardening more to their taste than making roads or piling uprailway embankments. Arcadius addressed them in a kind of _linguafranca_ which included much gesticulation and even foot-stamping.
The men appeared to understand, and I put in a few words as toremuneration in their own tongue. For the son of the historian ofItalian Art had, of course, been bred to the language. They started andturned upon me eager eyes, and then broke into a torrent of Tusc
an whichtook me instantly to the scented bean-fields and beautiful hills aboutSiena. Of course they would be proud to carry my friend up the hill. Iwas the son of the Wise Man of the Many Books. I had been withGaribaldi. Ah, then, that said all. One had a brother who had diedfollowing the Little Father. Another had even been told to get out ofthe way by hasty Menotti. He laughed at the oath which accompanied thecommand. Of course they were all ready. They could find the boat. It wasquite safe. They knew where. They had emptied it once when a squall hadoverturned it, so that it lay on its side facing the rain.
So with Hugh, Rhoda Polly, one of the Tuscans and myself at the oars wewere soon letting ourselves slip away from the shore on which stoodArcadius and his lantern, urging us to bring the lads safe back, becausethere was a big job with the sweet peas on the morrow.
We went slantingly, not fighting the current too hard, but glidingeasily, and avoiding the shallows where we could hear the current roarover the sand and pebbles.
Presently we grounded in the shadow of woods. I knew the place well. Thepath led almost directly up past Rameau's hut to the little door of theLycee St. Andre. We could not have fallen better. We would escape thetown altogether, and along a _clairiere_ or open vista of cleared forestland we could easily gain the garden gate of Gobelet.
Keller Bey lay still, the wound on his head keeping him in a state ofunconsciousness, which was very helpful to our project. The bullet hadglanced from the bone and was now imbedded in the muscles of the neck.
During the transit Alida clove to Rhoda Polly when she could, and whenshe could not (because of that young person's surprising activity), shefell back on Hugh Deventer. Not once did she look at me, and if Iapproached she would slip away to the other side.
The four Italians lifted the stretcher and began the ascent. Morn wasjust beginning to break, so there was not much time. The Tuscans marchedto a kind of grunting chorus, as if they were counting numbers slowly.They arranged their own work and rested when they had enough. Once thecleared alley-way of the forest was reached the work became easy. Nowthe march was on the level. We found the garden gate locked on theinside, but Hugh gave me a hoist up, and in a moment I had it open.
My father, ever a light sleeper, was easily awakened, indeed hisstudent's lamp still burned in his room, and he took it up when he wentto warn Linn. She came out sternly composed, listened silently to myreport of what Dr. Wilson had said, and what still remained to be done.Then she nodded, still without words, and with a decided air she movedtowards their bedroom.
At first sight of Linn, Alida had sprung forward and caught herfoster-mother in her arms. Linn gently kissed her, but immediatelyreleased herself, that she might be able to give all her attention toher husband.
The leave-takings were of the scantiest. The Italians were on fire to beoff before the morning broke. I repeated the directions about the_interne_ Vallier up at the hospital to my father. Then we struckriverward through the pines, racing the sun. Rhoda Polly arrived far infront, and in a few minutes we were on the water again.
It was not till we landed on the little greensward above the backwaterwhere I hid the boat that we asked one another, "Where is Hugh?"
As we did so the sun rose and lighted up the world and all its problemswith the terrible clarity of morn, and by it we saw clearly that HughDeventer had stayed behind.
Rhoda Polly and I looked at one another till we could look no longer,and then, in spite of the danger, we burst into a peal of the gayestlaughter.