CHAPTER XIV
AN INTERLUDE
At the entrance to the village the returning party found Grinson alone,standing in the middle of the path, his knife in his right hand, a spearin his left, and a dozen other spears on the ground beside him. NeitherMeek nor any of the natives was to be seen.
'What's the meaning of this, Grinson?' asked Trentham.
'Ignorance, sir--just ignorance, poor heathens!' replied the boatswain,cocking his thumb towards the village. 'That there airy plane sailedover a while ago, and the savages all did a bunk, screeching like oneo'clock, though I roared myself black in the face telling 'em 'twas onlya sort o' bird. 'Twas no good; like as I 've seed cows and sheep boltwith their tails up from a railway train. They was scared stiff, there's no mistake; and I 'spect they 're hiding their heads somewhere.'
'And Meek?'
'I sent Ephraim straight into our hut, sir, and seeing as how the wholeplace was left undefended, like, I took up my station here. Germans,sir?' he added in a whisper, winking towards the prisoners.
'Yes; their machine came down. We 'll leave them in your charge, as wewant to take a gang back to bring in the machine. You had no trouble onthe way home?'
'Not a bit, sir, except that they 've no notion whatever of the properway of marching--more like a lot of colts they was; but there, I hadn'tthe heart to correct 'em, they was so uncommon pleased to be freeagain.'
The party had not interrupted their march. Grinson had picked up hisspears and fallen in step beside Trentham. As they passed along thepath, from behind the huts and the midst of the plantations native headsappeared one by one, and when the timorous people recognised their youngchief they came bounding out with yells of delight, until by the timethe inner enclosure was reached the whole population had joined theprocession. At the gate the patricians were assembled, headed by thetemporary chief. They welcomed Flanso with some show of dignity, andconducted him to the chief's house, bowing low as he entered thedoorway. The two prisoners were placed under guard in an empty hut, andthen Trentham hurried after Flanso, and with the aid of the interpreterexplained the course of action which had been arranged between himselfand Hoole during the homeward march.
Trentham found himself contending with the natives' absoluteincomprehension of the value of time. Flanso was already occupied indiscussing with his elders the details of his approaching installation.No western monarch could have been more deeply absorbed in theceremonies that were to inaugurate his reign. The hardships from whichhe had been rescued, the dangers that still threatened him and hispeople, seemed to have vanished from his mind, and it was only by dintof patience and pertinacity that Trentham succeeded in capturing hisattention.
He pointed out that the Germans, enraged at the loss of their prisoners,would certainly seek to regain them, and also to wreak vengeance uponthe community; nor would their animus be lessened when they discoveredthat their airmen had fallen into the enemy's hands.
'Chief say Toitsche fella no belongina find out that,' said theinterpreter, after an interruption from Flanso. 'Black fella belonginaeat white fella chop-chop.'
'Tell chief what he say all belongina gammon,' cried Trentham, andproceeded to explain as well as he could from the slender resources ofpidgin English that the Germans might be valuable at least as hostages.It took some time to get this theory understood and accepted; then itwas an equally long and difficult task to persuade him that the seaplanewould be of any value to him. What was the good of it? It onlyfrightened his people. To fetch it involved the risk of falling intothe power of the Germans. Trentham managed to make him understand thatthe loss of the machine would greatly cripple the enemy's operations;and further, that if Hoole succeeded in repairing it, it might be usedto bring help from friendly white men, who would eat up the Germans, anddeliver the natives for ever from them. Flanso was rather impressed bythese statements, though he said that his people would probably preferto eat up all the Germans themselves; and Trentham realised the dangerof employing metaphorical language. Ultimately he brought Flanso toconcede his request--to despatch a party of able-bodied men to transportthe seaplane from its present position to the village.
'I feel utterly done up,' he said, mopping his brow, when he returned tothe others. 'Jabbering pidgin English for an hour is worse than penalservitude. And it's such frightful loss of time; the Germans may havediscovered the machine by now.'
'Don't worry,' said Hoole. 'It was flying so low that I guess theycouldn't have seen it come down, and when they miss it they may hunt forit for a day or two in the forest and not find it, except by a fluke. Idon't figure out that they 'll have all the luck. Anyway, choose yourmen, and I 'll take 'em out; you 've done your share of the business. I'll take Grinson, he 's a hefty man, and may have a notion or two.'
Fortunately the chief's obstinacy had no counterpart among the Papuansoutside the enclosure. The released prisoners had done nothing sincetheir return except relate over and over again the details of theirsufferings and the manner of their escape. Their friends listenedawestruck to the tale, and gasped as they heard of the dangling rope,the lightning which had gleamed upon the cliff, the crackling thunder,the strange stones that flew singing through the air; and they lookedwith wondering admiration upon the white men who had saved theirfellows, not only from the tyrants who had enslaved them, but even fromthe powers of nature which those tyrants had at command. Trentham andHoole thus found themselves to be regarded with veneration, and when theinterpreter, prompted by Trentham, explained that the white men requiredthe services of twenty strong men to bring in the great sea-bird whichwas another part of the enemy's magic, there was no lack of volunteerseager to undertake the work. Another score were selected as scouts, andwhen these understood that the object to be carried was bulky, and couldnot easily be conveyed through thick forest, they announced that theyknew a way less obstructed by vegetation, which would be moreconvenient, though less direct.
Under their guidance the party reached the stream some distance abovethe spot where the seaplane lay. Feeling their way cautiously along thebank, they came at length in sight of the machine, which to allappearance remained exactly as it had been left. Hoole took theprecaution to post a screen of scouts around the position to givewarning if the enemy should approach, then he sent Grinson to detach thewings. A handy man, like all British seamen, Grinson soon accomplishedhis task, with the aid of tools discovered among the airmen's outfit.Within a shorter space of time than Hoole had deemed possible the workwas finished. The wings were entrusted to two men apiece; the body ofthe machine was hoisted on the shoulders of the rest of the party; andalthough they met with considerable difficulties at rough and steepplaces on the return journey, once being saved from catastrophe only bythe succour of Grinson's sturdy muscles, they bore their burden withoutmishap to the village, and carried it up the central path amid thejoyous shouts of the populace. Some of the men, now that the strangebird was evidently helpless, showed their bravery by casting theirspears at it, and their dexterity by failing to hit any of the bearers.At this Hoole fairly lost his temper, and rushed among the throng,smiting them right and left with his fists. This unusual mode ofcorrection was effectual. The men who were sent spinning pickedthemselves up with an air of surprise, while their comrades shouted withlaughter, in which the culprits themselves by and by joined. Forsafety's sake Hoole had the machine carried into the inner enclosure,where it was inspected with more decorum and shyness by the patricians,and with contempt by the medicine-man, who demonstrated his assurance bystroking the petrol tank and afterwards licking his greasy fingers. Thegrimaces he made were so much like those he was accustomed to displayfor professional purposes that his discomfort passed unnoticed except bythe white men.
Trentham came out of his hut rubbing his eyes.
'Yes, I 've been asleep,' he said, in answer to Hoole's inquiring look.'A pretty warden of the camp I should make. But the fact is, thesepeople are hop
eless. I tried to make them understand that the Germansmight be upon us at any minute--no good! They appear to be entirelytaken up with some sort of mumbo-jumbo, and can't attend to anythingelse. So I simply gave in, trusting that if the Germans did appear thepeople would be scared into reasonableness. The wall, of course, isproof against anything less than a four-pounder.'
'Well, I guess you did right,' said Hoole, 'and after thirty odd hourswithout it, a little sleep would comfort me some. As to the Germans, I'm pretty sure they 'll do a bit of reconnoitring before they attack.The surprise of those two airmen wasn't put on; it's clear that Hahnsaid nothing about us, and they 'll be wondering how many there are ofus. And so, my son, we must persuade Flanso to keep some scouts outwith their eyes lifting. With proper notice we could put up some sortof defence. But I hope we 'll get away before it comes to that.'
'You can repair the machine, then?'
'I reckon I can, if I can get hold of a forge. But I 'm dead tired, so I'll turn in, if you 'll keep your eyes open a while. So long!'
That evening, as the four men sat together once more in their hut, thetwo younger drew from Meek the story which he had already related toGrinson on the way home. It was a very colourless narrative--a recitalof the cold facts in the fewest possible words, without a touch ofpassion or indignation. Grinson, however, was not the man to leave hismate's story unadorned.
'He 's an 'ero, gentlemen, that's what Ephraim is!' he declared. 'Ifever he gets back to the old country, I lay the name of EphraimMeek--ay, and his picter too--will be in all the newspapers. I 'll seeto that. And the cinemas too; by gosh, I hear 'em now, the cheers of thelittle kiddies and the sobs of the women and gals when they see Ephraimtied up, like that chap as defied the lightning, bidding of them Germanruffians to do their worst; he 'd never dig coal for them, not him!P'r'aps one of you young gentlemen will make a pome out of it, like thatone about "the boy stood on the burning deck," you remember, or one Iused to know years ago when I went to school, about a British Tommy. Idon't rightly recollect it, but 'twas a Tommy in some heathen land aswouldn't bob his head to an idol, or thing of the sort, though theykilled him for it. 'Twud be a shame if Ephraim wasn't put into somepome too--an 'ero like him!'
'I ain't got the figger of an 'ero, Mr. Grinson,' said Meek. 'Now if itwas you--a-going off singing to be eat--that 'ud made a picter. Icouldn't sing if 'twas me--I 'm sure I couldn't.'
'Why, that was only like a sheep bleating on the way to theslaughter-house--'eroes don't baa. Ain't I right, gentlemen?'
'What do you say, Hoole?' said Trentham, feeling somewhat at a loss.
'Well,' drawled Hoole, 'I guess heroes ain't _cheap_, anyway, and I 'mproud to know two, that's sure.'