CHAPTER XXVIII
WE ARE TRAPPED--THE BATTLE
We turned back, when Duran had passed out of our view on the cliff-top.Lest he should be watching, we still kept ourselves within the edge ofthe wood, till we had recrossed the ridge where the trees covered all ofthe ground. And there on the path we met the others and Norris, lookinga little embarrassed, I thought. Doubtless, he was conscious that he hadin his impetuosity discovered himself to Duran, and so spilled the soup,as it were. He did not mention it, and no one taxed him with it; but Iknow the thought punished him, and made him for a time a bit humble.
"He pulled the ladder and all up with him," I reported.
"And where is the polecat running to, do you suppose?" queried Ray.
And no one had an answer to that which he thought fit to give voice to.I doubt not, each one of us had pretty much the same thought, one thathe dreaded to hear echoed by some other.
We were properly immured in this sink, of that we were all well assured.For we had Andy Hawkins' story of the times--in the two years--that hehad made the round of those craggy walls in search of a possible escape.
It was a silent cavalcade that marched back to the clearing, and up towhere Hawkins and the black boy were busy in the diggings. We gave themthe news of Duran's precipitate flight, and Hawkins gave it little morethought than to "'ope 'ee didn't carry hoff the brown stuff," (meaningthe opium) and "Hi'd give my 'and to know where 'ee keeps it."
Carlos, I noticed, had some private word with the black boy, and the twosoon were gone into the brush together. The lad soon came back, and Iegged on Jean Marat to question him as to what Carlos might be up to.For answer he led the two of us to where we found Carlos kneeling besidethe skeleton of a human--it was in a patch of vines.
When finally Carlos discovered us, looking on wonderingly, he beckonedus. "My father," he said, in explanation. And he held up a gold crossthat was on a chain that still hung on the ghastly figure.
And then Carlos got to his feet. "Duran--" he began, but the rest of thespeech stuck in his throat. And I saw a look in his face that I had seenthere before, and which boded ill for Duran.
With the black boy's help he had at last found the grave of his father.And such a grave! It went indeed hard with the elder Brill. The spoilerof his mine, and his murderer, had not even given him decent burial. Wesent for the others; and then and there we dug a grave, and Norris wasable to summon out of his memory a few words of the burial service. Weleft Carlos kneeling beside the mound. And when he rejoined us, muchcomfort showed in his face.
That bit of experience somehow drove, in large part, the gloom from ourspirits, and we went about our further doings with more semblance ofcheer.
Norris volunteered to go down and watch for Duran's possible return. Iguessed his thought; that he felt that his bungling, in allowing himselfto be discovered, had made him deserve this less agreeable task. Therest of us set ourselves to the business of searching out Duran's hiddenstorehouse. In spite of our zeal and numbers, the afternoon was nearlygone, and we no nearer the solution. We explored that cavern that AndyHawkins had told us of; and moved forward in a passage that went upwardin its windings. I marvelled at the singular freshness of the air,till--having traversed some couple of hundred yards--I discovered thereason. The cave had but the one gallery, and that ended in a chimney,just over our heads where we now stood, and through which showed thelight of day. That little opening, in which a hat would have stuck, washigh in the cliff-side, as we were to learn.
Ray and I hurried down the path in the dark, to Norris, to report ourfailure and to relieve him on watch. But he refused to budge from theplace.
"I gave us all away," he said, "and now I'm going to make it up somehow.I'm going to make that skunk show us where he's got the stuff. And he'lldo it, too, when I tell him a few of the things I've seen done tocarcasses like him."
When he would not leave the watch to us, we decided to remain with him.He was not cheerful.
"You see," began Ray, then, "you'll have us to prove things by, whenyou're trying to convince that polecat. You'll say 'Isn't that so, Ray?'And I'll answer, 'Yes, that's so, Norris.' And then Wayne, here, he'llsay, 'Yes, Norris, that's right, I know, because you never tell--'"
"Hist!" I interrupted him. "Listen."
Some little time back I thought I heard a thing like thunder, far backin the mountains. But it had been momentary, and I set it down as anillusion. While Ray prattled his nonsense, I seemed to hear it again. Wecocked our ears, but heard not even so much as the trill of a tree-toad.
"Ah, say," began Ray, "What--" And this time he interrupted himself, tolisten.
There was that quavering, rolling, rumble that we had heard weeksbefore. Each succeeding wave of sound seemed to join with, andaccentuate, the preceding. And then came a decadency, like a wagonrolling out of ear-shot. And again--we could not tell just the moment webegan to hear the sound--there came from afar that eerie rumble,swelling, slowly to die away once more.
"The voodoo drum," said Ray. "Some more voodoo doings--that's what hewent for."
"Yes," said Norris, "and I'm afraid we'll have a _taste_ of some morevoodoo doings before we get through."
Neither of us cared to ask Norris what he meant. We continued to giveear to that weird music for long; and to each of us it seemed full of aportent; and each dreaded to hear another put it in words.
I do not know how many hours we three continued to squat there, at theedge of the wood; seldom talking, and then avoiding the thoughtuppermost in our minds. But at last it came, and we heard voices over bythe cliff wall. They were coming down the rope ladder.
We rose to our feet, and scurried off in the edge of the wood, till wecrossed the ridge and came to the beginning of the path. And there wecrouched in the brush and waited.
At last came the stealthy, black figures, moving in silence, and insingle file. We counted twenty as they went by us, and each carried somekind of gun. My heart pounded with the emotion; I have never before norsince experienced such fear as gripped me at sight of the martial array.
When they had passed, we got over across the stream to our friends, andgave them our ill news. The coming of those twenty dusky voodoos couldhave but the one explanation: Duran had brought them to hunt down, anddestroy, the six of us. He would madden them with rum, mixed with theblood of fowls, and sick them on to us. And he made sure of us, sincethere was but the one exit from this vale; and there he doubtless hadstationed some trusty black at the cliff-top, to keep the ladder and thehalliard, till he should have need of it--when the work shall have beencompleted.
We trapped ones, got our heads together for some talk of our situation.How we lamented our lack of foresight, in leaving behind our arms andammunition! Norris's lone rifle, with but a handful of cartridges, wouldbut delay for a little the inevitable end. But for a time I had had mymind full of a wild thought. And I pulled Norris to one side, and openedthe thing to him. My plan was so desperate that I hadn't the courage totell it to anyone less bold spirited than he. It was no less than toemploy that under-water way that Duran had used to transport thegold--to sink into the stream and be carried through that hole, andfetch up within that cavern; and so out to our camp in the forest, andreturn with the three rifles and the ammunition by way of theladder--that was the plan.
Norris seized me by the arms. "The very thing!" he said, "----if it canbe done. We'll find out!"
When we told the others of the plan, they took it without enthusiasm;declared it impossible--suicidal.
"You've no idea how far it is in to the cave," said Ray.
"We'll measure and find out," I answered. "Besides, it's our onlychance."
There was no time to lose, for what we had to do must be done beforedaybreak; when we would have the whole cannibal crew stalking us.
We had a coil of half inch rope, which, with other things, we had takenfrom the shacks. This I took up, and Norris, Robert, and Carlos, made upthe rest of the party. We moved down the stream in the dark, pic
king ourway amongst the underbrush. At length we got out in the open, beyond theplace of the ladder; and Carlos guided us to the spot on the bank of thecreek, where he had seen Duran setting afloat the gold-laden bamboo. Itwas a wide pool about that hole, into which the waters disappeared inthe cliff-side.
We found a piece of wood the size of a man's thigh. In this, all around,we drove a half dozen sharpened twigs; and we weighted the little logwith stones, tied on; and at last bent on an end of our half inch rope.We then set it afloat, paying out the rope. And the log, neitherscraping the bottom, nor yet floating on the surface, was carried onwith the current into that hole.
I had my hand on the rope, and presently felt the impulse, as the logfound an obstruction. It rested against that net of Duran's in thecavern; of that there was little doubt. We pulled back the log again,and so got the measure of the distance.
"Not over twenty feet!" declared Norris.
"And none of the pegs are knocked off," announced Robert, who exploredthe log.
"Now," I said, "I'm going. If after I get to the net, you feel two sharpjerks, in a little while repeated, you're to give me the rope. If I givefive or six jerks, you're to pull me back; and if, after I touch the netyou get no sort of signal, pull me out; and you, Bob, you know what todo."
None had better than Robert, the technic of artificial respiration.
"Now look here, Wayne," began Robert, "I'm going, too; and it's my turnto make it first."
And so here began a discussion, and if each, including Carlos, had hadhis way, all four would have gone that route. But at last we came to adecision, and Robert and I won, I to go first.
I selected a stone of sufficient weight to hold me down, so that Ishould not scrape on the roof of that passage; and I let them set theloop of rope about me, under the arms. I waded into the pool. I felt thesuck of the water on my legs when I neared that hole.
"Keep your nerve and trust us," said Norris.
"Let her go!" I cried, and took a breath and held it, and ducked myhead.
The current caught me. I experienced but a momentary pang of fear; andthen succeeded a pleasurable sense of excitement. The next moment myfeet touched something more yielding than rock, and that was the signalto lift my head to the surface. I was in the cavern. I slipped out ofthe noose, and gave the signal to haul away, and the rope went out of myhand. I crawled out of the stream.
It seemed little more than a minute, and Robert was beside me. I heardhim gasping for his first breath.
"Who'd have thought it would be so easy," he said.
We took in the rope and hurried out to our old camp in the brush. Weknew well where to lay our hands on the rifles--Marat's and Robert's andmine. There were some hundreds of rounds of cartridges for the largerguns--Marat's and Norris's--and many more of the twenty-two calibre forour little rifles.
We tarried not at all, but got back through the cascade into the cavernagain, and so up and out, on the way to that cliff-top.
We moved cautiously, as we neared those cedars, where hung the ropeladder, for it was probable there should be a peril there, in the shapeof a black, guarding the ladder, and it was in reason that he shouldhave some kind of weapon. Our plan of action had been determined beforewe left Norris. We would surprise the fellow, pounce on him and securehim with the rope.
Then we would let down the ladder to Norris and Carlos, who would comeup and help us lower the captive into the vale.
Our bare feet crept forward at a snail's pace, nearer and nearer to thecedars. A pebble rolled, and suddenly a figure rose up before us with astartled grunt. And that instant it toppled over the cliff-edge with aguttural cry; and we heard nothing more.
In a minute we had the rope ladder unrolling, down the cliff-side. Wethrew down the loose end of halliard, and began the descent.
"I didn't expect we'd get him down so easy," observed Robert, seekingcomfort in a grim joke.
"I wish it could have been as we planned," I said. I sickened at thethought of that mangled body somewhere down below.
We soon had our feet on the sloping ledge. Norris and Carlos stood therewaiting.
"Did you have to throw him down?" queried Norris. And then, when I hadrelated the circumstance:--"He must have been asleep," he said.
Having pulled the ladder up to the cedars, I took up the loose end ofthe halliard, and climbing as high as I dared venture among the vines, Imade fast the rope so that Duran would not easily discover it.
Norris and Carlos had made some disposition of the black's body, forwhich I was thankful; for I had no wish to set my eye on the thing, evenin the dark.
Norris and Carlos took over the heavy ammunition, and we set off up thevale. It was a silent file that stole cautiously through the woods, tillwe had joined Marat and Ray, who were greatly relieved to learn that ouradventure had been carried through without unhappy accident. That it hadcost the life of one of the enemy was accounted a gain. There had fallenan accession to our party, too, while we were gone; and Hawkins and theblack boy had stolen away from Duran's party soon after the arrival atthe huts.
"The boss," said Hawkins, "'ee butchered some chickens, and 'ee began todose them niggers up on the rum."
The black boy had told Jean Marat a startling piece of news: no lessthan that Duran had promised his voodoo crew a feasting, on the morrow,on the hearts of his white enemies.
"They've a surprise in store for them, I guess," said Norris, when Marathad repeated the intelligence.
"Yes, I think," agreed Captain Marat. "We maybe feed them on thing' whatgive indigestion." And he continued to distribute about his person hisshare of the ammunition.
Day was not many hours off, and Norris and Marat put their headstogether to discuss the plan of battle. At the first, we were to be onthe defensive, and when the enemy had been given a proper reception, avigorous offensive action was to follow with the purpose to quicklydemoralize the blacks. Robert and I came forward with the suggestionthat while Marat and Norris should crouch behind some breastworks oflogs, that should be thrown up at the edge of the clearing, Robert and Iwould seek sheltered places well forward on either side of the clearing,and with our little silent guns we would throw lead into the feet andlegs of any blacks who should spread out to either flank. And thus wewould help to keep the enemy in a single mass during their attack, whichwould give Norris and Marat their chance.
Some parts of fallen trees were dragged near the edge of the clearing.And then a fire was made back among the trees, with the intent to givedirection to the enemy when they should come. When we had all taken ourplaces: I was at the edge of the clearing, close to the beginning of thepath; Carlos crouched with me behind a tree, to lend me his eyes; Raywas doing the same for Robert on the opposite side of the clearing;Marat and Norris lay behind their breastworks; Hawkins and the black boywere at the back, ready to call, in any case of need.
You will never think that our situation was an agreeable one. I know Ispeak for all of our party--except perhaps, Norris and Carlos--when Isay that we would gladly have escaped from that vale, and boarded the_Pearl_, to sail away without thought of return. And you will say, therewas the rope ladder ready to our hand, and none to block the way. Butnot one among us had the hardihood to suggest retreat. It was Norrisheld us, of that I am sure; throughout, the thought of retreat neverentered his mind; that must have been plain to us all. We had somethings in our favor. Marat and Norris, each with his own heavy-poweredrifle, had long ago forgotten what it was to miss; Robert and I, withour little guns, rarely ever lost our target.
After our fire had been set alight, not a sound had come from the huts.Night birds and tree-toads intoned peaceful notes. The night breezerustled the tops of the taller palms. I crouched at the foot of my tree,getting much comfort of the sound of Carlos' breathing close by.Fortunately I had not to bear that suspense for long.
The first hint of dawn had hardly showed above the trees, when thatscore of blacks poured into view by the huts, each holding a gun. Theymoved forward, four or fi
ve spreading out on either flank. There was onewho was about to enter the wood to my right. I drew bead on his foot andpulled the trigger. The black stooped, uttering a painful grunt. I didthe same for the next near black fellow. He cried out with the pain. Andthe two forthwith limped back the way they had come. The others of thestragglers on my side showed themselves startled at this inexplicableconduct of their two fellows, and fell in to the main body.
A glance told me that Robert was having similar luck on his side. Andthere was evident consternation among those of the enemy who saw some oftheir comrades limping painfully away; for up to now there had been nosound to account for such conduct.
But now the quiet of that dawn was broken. Two loud reports rang out andset echoes going in the vale. Two more shots followed, and there layfour writhing black voodoos on the ground. The rest of the blacks let goone volley, and then broke and ran. One more among them fell before theygained shelter behind the huts.
Then Norris joined me where I crouched. "No one hurt amongst us, Iguess," he observed, as he kept his eyes on the structures. When a heador shoulder showed there, he let fly at it with a ball. We heard anoccasional shot from Marat's rifle on the east side of the clearing,where he had gone to join Robert.
"If you can drive 'em back into the cave we've got 'em," spoke the voiceof Hawkins. "Hi'll take care of 'em then, Hi will." And he crept up andwhispered something into Norris' ear.
"Good!" said Norris. "We'll get them there. Run round and tell that toMarat."
And the fellow set off through the woods to get round to Captain Marat.
For a time, the enemy let off an occasional shot on general principles,
and without effect, but soon lost all ambition, apparently, and silencereigned. It was then I heard an exclamation from Carlos. "Ah! Duran!" hecried, and he set off through the brush.
Instinctively I followed him. Directly, we were on the path. When we hadcrossed the ridge, I saw Duran out in the open, legging it toward thecliff under the cedars, and calling out as he ran. Doubtless he calledto the black he had left in charge of the rope ladder--he who now lay, amangled corpse at the foot. He continued to call as he hurried up thatinclined ledge. But no ladder came down to him.
Carlos was at the foot of the incline when Duran reached the limit ofthe ledge. On up that way sped Carlos, after him. My heart, my breath,my feet, all alike stopped, as I awaited the clash. And then it came.The struggle was short. The two tripped over the edge together. I sawCarlos grasp at some growth; it tore loose. And then he seized on avine, finally sliding to the bottom. I rushed to him. He had escapedwith a badly wrenched shoulder.
Duran lay at the rocky foot of the cliff in a heap, the death-rattlealready in his throat. He had broken his skull.