CHAPTER XXXIII
THE GHOST
The camp quieted down after a time. In one corner, Ruth had a shelterof rugs which had been brought up from the boat, and she retired tothis after helping her father dress and rebandage Drew's foot.
The captain, as so many skippers are, was a good amateur surgeon; andas far as he could discern there were no bones broken. But the footwas so very painful that the young man could not coax the drowsy god.He tossed restlessly on the hard bed of lava rock, and, though his eyesclosed at times, they opened again as though fitted with springs.
The exciting events of the day and the chances he had taken wererepeated over and over in his mind. For the first time in his life hehad aimed a deadly weapon at another human being.
He knew that Bingo had fallen by his hand. But, oddly enough, thatfact did not sear his conscience. He had been accused of drowningLester Parmalee, and the thought of that accusation now made him shrinkand writhe.
He was guiltless of Parmalee's awful end; still, he shuddered at thethought that he might have been guilty. At one time he had felt suchrage and animosity, through jealousy, that he might have struckParmalee a fatal blow.
Drew had considered the missing man his rival for Ruth's affection.Fate had removed that rival from his path. Yet, in doing this, fatehad likewise raised a barrier to Drew's own happiness with Ruth.
The man groaned aloud at this thought. Then, fearing that some of theothers would be disturbed, that Ruth might hear him, he arose andhobbled to the barrier.
He felt in a pocket of the coat he had put on while aboard the schoonerand found pipe and tobacco. He filled the pipe and fell to smoking,hoping to soothe his jumping nerves, while he stared out across themoonlit open.
The tropical moonlight revealed every object to the edge of the jungleas clearly as though it were broad day. It was a peaceful scene--sopeaceful that it was hard to imagine that daybreak might change it to aplace of carnage.
Suddenly he took his pipe from his lips and peered more closely at aspot near the edge of the jungle. Something had moved there.
It could not be one of the sentinels. Attack was not expected from thewest. Nor was it one of the small, night-roaming animals of theforest. Drew was sure there were no beasts of prey on this island. Itwas too far from the mainland and the larger islands.
The something which he had seen moved farther out from the line ofverdure. It was a man.
Although the distance was fully a cable's length, Drew's eyes werekeen. The moonlight for a full minute shone on the face of the figurebefore it moved again.
The sight of the pallid countenance, with the black hair above it,smote Drew with an emotion akin to terror. He could not understand theapparition--he could scarcely believe his eyes; yet that face wasLester Parmalee's!
In a moment more the man had disappeared. The figure seemed to havemelted into the black background of the jungle.
Without a grain of superstition in his being, Allen Drew felt that hewas in the presence of the supernatural. He had not imagined thefigure. It was no figment of a waking dream.
This was what Ruth had seen. This was what had so startled her on theoccasion of the treasure seekers' first visit to the whale's hump. Shethought she had imagined the appearance of Lester Parmalee. Drew knewhe had seen it!
He was tempted to arouse Captain Hamilton. Yet he shrank from that.He could not utter the missing man's name to Ruth's father, knowing, ashe did, that the captain was doubtful of his, Drew's, innocence inconnection with Parmalee's disappearance.
He whispered to the man on guard that he was going outside, and quicklysurmounted the barrier. He had his automatic revolver; and, anyway, hedid not think any of the mutineers were in the neighborhood.
Having marked well the spot where the ghostly figure had presenteditself to his startled vision, Drew hobbled directly to it, forgettingin his excitement the painful foot. He did not halt to search forfoot-prints, but looked instead for an opening in the jungle, intowhich the figure could have disappeared.
It was there--one of those strange lava paths through the thickvegetation. The moonlight scarcely illuminated it, for it was narrow;but Drew entered boldly. This matter must be brought to a conclusion.He felt that the mystery had to be solved without delay.
There was light enough to show him the black wall of the jungle oneither side of the path. There were no openings. Tropical undergrowthis not like that of a northern forest. Here the lianas and thornsintermingled with strong brush, make an impervious hedge. One couldnot penetrate it without the aid of a machete.
Drew heard no sound as he went on. The man he followed was notstruggling through the jungle in an attempt to escape pursuit. Allenhastened his footsteps, his hand on his revolver. Was that a figuremoving through the semi-dusk ahead? Should he call? His lips formedthe name of Parmalee, but no sound came from them.
Suddenly he came to a clearing, perhaps a dozen yards across. Here thelava had formed a pool and cooled in this circular patch. Themoonlight now revealed all.
A figure--the same he had seen upon the edge of the jungle--wascrossing this opening in the forest. The pursuer sprang forward.
"Wait!" he gasped. "It's I--Drew! Wait!"
The other whirled. He held only a club as a means of defense. He wasin rags. His black hair hung in dank locks about his pale brow.
"Who are you?" he cried. "Keep off!"
"Parmalee!"
Allen Drew rushed in, making light of the club, and seized the other inhis arms.
"My God, man! don't you know me? How came you here? Are you real?" hechattered.
"Is it you, Drew?" queried the other, brokenly. "Lord! don't take mybreath, old fellow."
"They accuse me of taking your life!" ejaculated Drew, with hystericallaughter. "Don't mind a little thing like being hugged. Gad,Parmalee! how glad I am to see you!"
"Accused you of taking my life!" the other exclaimed, amazed.
"Ditty, the black-hearted hound, accused me of throwing you overboard.Said he saw me do it. Captain Hamilton half believes it yet. Heavens,Parmalee, but you're a sight to put heart into a man!
"Only," Drew added, "you quite took the heart out of me just now when Isaw you standing there at the edge of the forest staring at the fort."
"The fort. Yes. That's what puzzled me," Parmalee said. "I wasn'tsure which party was defending it. The sailors mutinied, didn't they?You're fighting them?"
"I should say we are, the----"
He got no further. In their eagerness, the two men had been talking inordinary tones and had paid no attention to their surroundings. Avoice suddenly crackled through the other sounds of the night.
"Well, we've got two of 'em. Hands up, or we'll blow your heads off!"
It was Ditty with half a dozen of the mutineers at his back. They heldDrew and Parmalee under the muzzles of their automatics.
It was useless to attempt to escape. Even Drew, reckless as he hadshown himself at times, would not take his life so lightly in hishands. And, besides, he knew well that Ditty would be only too glad toshoot him.
His hands, as well as Parmalee's, went up promptly. One of the seamen,laughing a little, came forward and searched them both, taking awayDrew's weapon. Parmalee had dropped his useless club.
The young men, so suddenly made captives by the mutineers, stood withtheir backs to the strong moonlight, their faces in the shadow. Themoon was now sinking behind a buttress of the volcano. As yet, neitherhad been recognized by their captors. But now Ditty came forward, andfirst of all thrust his face into that of Parmalee.
"Who the devil are you?" he demanded.
The young man lifted his head and stared into the mate's pale eye.Ditty started back with a shriek.
"What--what---- Who is it?" chattered the mate. His henchmen gazed athim in amazement. Suddenly Ditty came forward again, and whirledParmalee around so that he faced the sinking moon.
"Mr. Parmalee!" he w
hispered.
The latter smiled faintly.
"It's Parmalee, all right," he said. "You didn't expect to see meagain, I imagine, Mr. Ditty."
The sound of the man's voice seemed to reassure the mate. The othermutineers chattered their surprise. Finally Ditty, licking his drylips, stammered:
"I--I thought that you--you were----"
"No thanks to you that I'm not drowned, Mr. Ditty, if that's what youmean," said Parmalee bitterly. "You tried your best to murder me."
"Not me!" declared Ditty, with a gesture of denial, turning his singleeye away from the other's accusing gaze. "It was that swab, Drew,threw you overboard."
"Liar," declared Parmalee evenly. "Drew lay on the deck unconsciousfrom his fall. I was stooping to help him. Though you crept up behindme, I knew you when you seized me in your arms, you villain. And Ihope to see you punished for it."
Ditty, with a curse, would have struck Parmalee, but Drew steppedbetween them and received the blow intended for his comrade.
"If you must hit a man, hit one of your own size," he said quietly.
"Drew! Drew himself!" shouted the mate, recognizing the secondcaptive. "The very one we wanted! Hi, bullies! we've got thewhip-hand now. We've got the old man's right bower! An' him an' thegal an' Tyke Grimshaw will pay us our price for the freedom of thisladdy-buck, to say nothin' of Parmalee. Bring 'em along!"