CHAPTER XV
DUK-DUK
Trentham took turns with Hoole and Grinson to keep watch through thenight, leaving Meek to the recuperative force of sleep. No untowardincident disturbed the hours of darkness, but there was a good deal ofnoise in the village, the men chattering incessantly.
'Reminds me of the meetings of our old Urban District Council,' remarkedGrinson once, when Hoole relieved him. 'Fust one, then another, thenall together--and nothing settled after all.'
'I guess they 're fixing something,' replied Hoole. 'In my countrythere 's a good deal of clack when we elect a new president. It's a newchief here, you know.'
'Which it means a coronation, p'r'aps, or a beano of some sort, sir.Well, we 'll see, if we live long enough. Good night, sir.'
Hoole had taken the precaution to have the seaplane placed near the hut.In the morning, as soon as it was light, he made a more thoroughexamination of the machine than had been possible before.
'What precisely is wrong with it?' asked Trentham.
'Luckily not much,' said Hoole. 'These Huns are no sports or they 'dhave risked the few miles back to the cove. A couple of flying wiresare broken--that 's nothing--but see here, the water jacket round thiscylinder is cracked; the water (for cooling purposes, of course) willall run out, and cause the engine to overheat. That's why they camedown, though, as I said, I 'd have risked it; all the same, it wouldn'tbe safe to risk a flight of any length, and the thing must be repaired.The mischief is, we 've got no solder, and you can't mend a crack inmetal without that, or something equivalent.'
'But you said, when you first saw it, that it _could_ be repaired.'
'Well, yes, I did; forgetting for the moment where we are. You haven'tseen anything in the shape of a forge anywhere around, have you?'
'No, but I suppose they must have one, or they couldn't make theirspears. I 'll ask the interpreter.'
But the word _forge_ was unknown to the interpreter, and Trentham'seffort to explain in pantomime, by blowing an imaginary pair of bellows,proved fruitless.
'Well, I 'll go and look around,' said Hoole. 'And meanwhile, old son,don't you think you 'd better persuade the chief to send out somescouts? If the Germans do have a notion to attack us, five minutes'warning would give us time to get every one inside the wall.'
'I 'll try. He may be more amiable than he was last night.'
Hoole perambulated the village for some time before he discovered whathe sought. At last, however, within a narrow enclosure behind the huts,he noticed a young man sitting on a frame-like chair, and vigorouslyworking two long sticks up and down. A low fence prevented Hoole fromseeing the object of these energetic movements, but a little smoke andan acrid smell like that which comes from a blacksmith's forge drew himnearer, and looking over the fence, his eyes gleamed at what he saw.
In front of the native stood two long cylinders of bamboo, about threefeet high. From a hole in the base of each ran a thin bamboo pipe; thetwo pipes converged and met at a small heap of glowing charcoal, whichburnt more brightly with each thrust of the sticks as the native workedthem alternately up and down in the cylinders. Hoole jumped over thefence, and eagerly examined this primitive forge. At the lower end ofeach of the sticks was fastened a huge bunch of feathers, resembling amop; and these, pumped up and down, caused a considerable draught, bymeans of which the smith blew his fire to a heat sufficient to softeniron.
'Eureka!' cried Hoole, exulting.
He dashed back to the chief's enclosure, got his permission to have theforge brought within the wall, and in half an hour was busily engaged inthe preliminary work of repairing the water jacket.
'It will be done by this evening,' he explained to Trentham. 'To-morrowI 'll be off to Wilhelmshafen or any other old place where I can find awhite man, and then----'
'There 's enough petrol?'
'Enough for the flight out; I 'll get more when I land. Say, though, weshall have to take the machine to the sea. She can't run off, has onlyfloats. That's a pity--waste of time, not to speak of the risk ofcoming up against the Germans.'
'But there 's an opportunity of getting the machine carried to the seawithout a special journey. I 've heard some news while you were away.It appears that some sort of ceremony inaugurating the new chief is totake place at our old wreck to-night. All these Frenchified men aregoing with him in procession, with a certain number of the otherfellows. We must get him to let his men carry the 'plane at the sametime.'
'They go down the chimney?'
'Yes; it's the nearest way.'
'The narrow way that leads to destruction! How on earth are we to getthe machine down there?'
'With ropes, man. We 've tested the quality of their ropes already, andthe women work so uncommonly fast that they 'll have new ropes the rightlength in plenty of time. I 'll go and see the chief about it at once.He 's very much preoccupied, and vastly self-important, but he allowedme to send out scouts, as you suggested, and I dare say I can talk himover.'
Flanso was quite willing that the seaplane should form part of hisprocession. His vanity appeared to be flattered; he was as much pleasedas a Lord Mayor of London who has secured some novelty for his show. Butwhen the carriers had been chosen, an unforeseen difficulty arose. Themedicine-man, whose office gave him access to the chief at all times,strutted into Flanso's house, where the elders of the community werediscussing the details of the approaching ceremony, and vigorouslyprotested against the seaplane being allowed to leave the village. In avehement oration he declared that the strange bird must have someconnection with the totem of the tribe, and that while it remained withthem the village would be safe from hostile attack. Some of the eldersbacked him up, and Flanso, torn between his own superstitions and hissense of loyalty to the white men who had rescued him, sought relieffrom his perplexities by sending for Trentham, and putting the casebefore him.
Trentham had sufficient diplomacy to conceal his amusement, and also acertain irritation at the threat to his scheme.
'Tell chief,' he said to the interpreter, 'medicine-man fella he savvylot. Big bird belongina totem all right; all same big bird he fly longway, bring back lot of white fella; they fight bad white fella thisside, eat bad white fella all up.'
At this moment, unluckily, one of the scouts returned with the reportthat the big ship no longer lay in the cove, and that all the whitefellas had disappeared. Grinning with triumph, the medicine-maninstantly claimed that this fact proved his case; the loss of the bigbird had evidently rendered the enemy helpless, and there was nothingfurther to be feared from them. Trentham, surprised as he was at thedeparture of the Raider, and suspecting that the Germans were probablysetting a trap, strained his vocabulary of pidgin to the utmost tocounteract the medicine-man's arguments, and ultimately prevailed on thechief to abide by the promise he had given. The medicine-man and hissupporters were patently annoyed. They left the hut in undisguisedill-humour, and Trentham had an uneasy feeling that they would stillgive trouble.
The procession was to start soon after sunset, so that it might reachthe wreck in time for the ceremony to take place at the height of themoon. It was late in the afternoon before Hoole had completed hisrepairs, and after making a good meal the four white men were sitting intheir tent, awaiting the moment for starting.
'What's up, Trentham?' asked Hoole. 'You look very sick.'
'I 've been thinking we 're mugs, that's all,' said Trentham. 'With thechief and all his fighting men away, and us too, what defence has thevillage if the Germans take it into their heads to attack?'
'Gee! I 've been so busy that I hadn't given it a thought. But theGermans are out for slaves; they won't find any able-bodied men here.'
'That's true; but you saw what they did to that village in the forest.They 're capable of burning the whole place down, and shooting the womenand children, from sheer revenge and spite. Hadn't we better wait tillthe chief returns before we start on
our own scheme?'
For a few moments Hoole pondered in silence.
'The Raider has gone,' he said at length. 'This means that there can'tbe many Germans left behind; for, of course, they haven't all gone. Ifthe natives didn't see any, it's because they 're still searching in thewoods for the seaplane. Is it likely that the few left will attack?There is a risk, I admit, and my proposition is that you remain herewith Meek and give an eye to things, while I take Grinson to fix on theplanes and see me off. The sooner I get help the better, and theopportunity seems too good to be missed. What do you say?'
'Very well. I should have liked to see the ceremony, but--we simplycan't leave the most helpless of the people to the Huns' tender mercies.What in the world is this?'
At this exclamation the others, whose backs were towards the gate,turned about. Through the gate was filing an extraordinary procession.
'By cripes!' said Grinson. 'Is it Jack in the Green, or Guy FawkesGuy?'
A line of a dozen uncouth figures was slowly approaching. Above legsbared to the thighs bulged a mass of leaves nine or ten feet incircumference, crowned by a headdress like a candle extinguisher, fromwhich rose a pole, fantastically coloured, four or five feet in height,with tufts of feathers and leaves at the top. Except the legs, no partof the human form could be seen.
These strange figures came slowly across the enclosure, until theyreached the seaplane, the chief and all his men watching them in deadsilence. Encircling the machine, they stooped until the leaves touchedthe ground; then, at a harsh cry from their leader, they leapt into theair and began to dance; their leafy clothing rustled; the poles wobbledand swayed; their legs bent and straightened; and as they swung roundand round the seaplane they uttered shrill cries ever increasing inintensity. The white men looked on in amazement. What was the meaningof these antics? Flanso and his men seemed to be impressed. Trenthambeckoned to the interpreter.
'What all this?' he asked.
'This duk-duk,' replied the man in an awed whisper.
'Duk-duk! What is duk-duk?'
'Big medicine. Duk-duk dance; that say big bird no go away; white fellaall belongina afraid.'
Hoole whistled.
'That's the stunt, is it? By gosh, Trentham, it must be that oldmedicine-man thinking he 'll scare us stiff. He 's gotten a kind ofaffection for the machine. Well, Grinson, come along with me.'
He rose slowly, walked towards the seaplane, dodging between two of thedancers, and got into the seat behind the engine. Grinson had followedhim.
'Just go to the propeller, Grinson,' he said, 'and swing it round fiveor six times when I give you the wink.'
The dancers had drawn closer to the machine, yelling more shrilly thanever. Hoole watched them with a smile as they circled round. Suddenlyhe gave the sign; Grinson caught the propeller, and with a heave of hisbrawny arm swung it about. Hoole nodded to him to step aside. Theleader of the dance was just approaching, when there was a roar; Hoolehad started the engine, and the propeller whizzed round withever-increasing velocity. The dancer stopped short; before he couldcollect himself or retreat the air set in motion by the whirringpropeller smote him with hurricane force, stripping the leaves from hisbody, and whirling his headdress, pole and all, across the enclosure.There stood revealed the lean, naked form of the medicine-man. He threwup his hands as if to defend his face from the blast; then, with a yellof fury, he sprinted to the gate, followed by the rest of the dancers.
THE LEADER OF THE DANCERS WAS JUST APPROACHING WHEN THEREWAS A ROAR, AND THE WHIRRING PROPELLER SET UP A HURRICANE WHICH CAUGHTAT HIS DRESS.]
A great roar of laughter burst from the spectators, hitherto silent, andfrom the crowd which had gathered outside.
'I guess the duk-duk won't quack so loud in future!' said Hoole,rejoining the others.
The medicine-man's attempt to retain the seaplane and demonstrate hisown importance had ignominiously failed. His erstwhile supporters hadno more to say. The carriers were called up; the chief's procession wasformed, and when the red moon rested on the horizon they set forthsolemnly towards the ancestral wreck.