After Little had gone, Barry tried to map out his plans, and the deeper
he got into the matter, the less sure he felt. The measures he had
ordered seemed, on cool reflection, to be the very measures likely to
defeat his ends. For beyond doubt Leyden had not made this voyage
without a definite object in view; he had been to the trading post
surreptitiously, often before, knew the country around, probably knew
the precise location of the gold-bearing sands, and was intimate with
Gordon. Knowing Houten's clear title to the trading concession, he was
scarcely likely to bring his vessel up the river on an avowed piratical
errand; and there was, too, the matter more important to Barry of
Leyden's ambitions with regard to the Mission worker.
"Won't be any fight of my starting," decided the skipper, preparing to
relieve the mate. "Any fuss that's started, he'll start. I'll go up to
the Mission. I'll get there this time and beat him to it."
That Mission visit had been too long delayed already. He waited no
longer than to give the mate time to eat lunch. Then, repeating the
order to keep a keen watch on the schooner's people and to permit none
of them on board the _Barang_, he stepped ashore.
"If anybody tries to come on board, Rolfe, tell 'em I'm ashore and won't
be back until evening."
Then he struck off through the huddled village and took to the bush path
which Gordon had told him led to the Mission. Bamboo thickets alternated
with patches of lush jungle, and life seethed in both. The chirruping
chafe of bamboo shoots were so many voices that hummed in harmony with
the cries of birds and the chattering of monkeys. In among the tall,
golden stems, short-statured brown ghosts moved, sarong clad; little
people whose eyes gazed at the intruder with soft inquisitiveness as he
strode sturdily forward. And a patch of gorgeous jungle was entered to
the whisk and flirt of graceful heads and slim, swift legs, all the
visible signs revealed by herds of startled deer.
Barry noticed each passing thing of life with a start, for his steps
kept time and rhythm with his thoughts, which ever flew back to the
original of the photograph he had stolen and lost. His one brief meeting
with Miss Sheldon in the flesh had enabled him to judge the status of
the photographer, and the artist was placed very low in the scale of his
craft. The living original of that picture could never be done justice
to on a photographic plate, in the skipper's opinion.
"This is no place for such a woman," he soliloquized. Then the hotel
scene in Surabaya recurred to him, and his teeth clicked sharply. "And
such a flower shan't wither in filthy paws like Leyden's!" he spoke
aloud.
He trudged on, wondering if he had lost his way, for as yet there was no
indication of a clearing or any cultivation that must surely mark the
habitation of white people in a foreign land. As he gazed around at the
matted verdure, his ears caught a strange sound which was yet not
utterly strange. It was a roaring, throaty voice, such as is only
developed in the stress of storm and thundering canvas. It was raised in
raucous song:
'Arf a ton o' white paint, 'arf a ton o' black,
'Arf a ton o' 'nammellers, an' paint pots in th' rack.
Ship's a bloomin' paint shop, a sailor's got no show;
So sink th' blarsted Navy, an' ol' Admiral Furbelow!
The song was cut off abruptly as the singer tore through a mat of vines
and stepped out right in front of Barry.
"Ahoy! And who 'm you in this fine black man's country?"
The man stood on widespread, deeply bowed legs, quizzically regarding
Barry. Then a pair of sea-blue eyes twinkled, and a salt-toughened face
wrinkled in a grin.
"Holystones an' _sujee_! You 'm a sailorman, ain't you? Is there a real
ship in this river o' mud at last? Not one o' them bamboo an'
string-tied proas, or sich?"
Barry returned the fellow's quizzical gaze, and in spite of his recent
thoughts, he had to grin. Partially clad in the remnants of a navy
working rig--tattered canvas jumper and wide trousers--the man looked
the embodiment of one of Neptune's hoariest veterans. Where the skin
showed through his rags it was tattooed blue and red in the numerous
designs beloved of old-time seamen. A great ship sailed turbulently
across his massive chest, her sails and rigging blackened ludicrously by
the mat of close-curled hair that flourished on the human background.
The rising sun of Japan blazed above her trucks, on the wearer's
treelike neck; weird serpents and smoke-breathing dragons writhed about
his arms from wrist to shoulder, and a red star on the back of one
gnarled hand kept watch and watch with a blue star on its opposite
member. Barry chuckled audibly as, in a casual flourish, one great arm
was half turned, showing the comparative white of the underarm upon
which was blazoned a pair of gory hearts in collision, impaled on a
harpoon apparently. Around this work of art a flamboyant motto announced
to the world: "I love Polly."
"Ah, them's the follies o' youth," the tattered salt remarked sagely,
noting Barry's attention. "Never have none o' that junk stuck into yer,
Mister, leastways, not no woman's tallies."
"Dangerous, hey?"
"Wuss ner that. Why, I thought a lot o' that 'ere gal. Bought her a
mangle when I stopped wi' her on leave once, so's she could do wi'out
my 'arf-pay and wouldn't have to run up no bills wi' the meat an' bread
pirates. Then I j'ined my ship, an' when I come home again she's sloped
wi' a bloomin' leather-necked Marine wot used to peel orf his ruddy
tunic an' turn th' mangle for her! Don't have 'em tattooed, Mister.
Paint 'em on while yer with 'em, same's I do, then you kin wash 'em orf
when you feels like a change."
"Good stuff," agreed Barry, interest in the queer old fellow in some
degree modifying his impatience. "But what about a ship? Want to ship
out of here?"
"That's me. I clumb down th' cable out of a man-o'-fight, all on 'count
o' th' paint an' scrape an' polish of a new Old Man we got. Walked on
th' bleedin' hoof, too, from Macassar to here, an' cadged at th'
Missions an' stole from th' traders, an' slept wi' the niggers fer
more'n a month, waitin' fer th' blessed ship they all said was due.
That's me, Mister. Anything a-doin' in your craft?"
Barry considered for a moment and concluded that he could do with such a
recruit. In any case he was strongly attracted to the man from a
strictly human point of view. He took out a pocket pad and pencil, and
replied, while he scribbled:
"I'll ship you. What's your name?"
"Bill Blunt--'ere."
"Then, here--" handing him a hastily scrawled note to the mate--"take
this aboard the _Barang_, and the mate will fix you up. Look out you
don't get shot going aboard. Show your note at the gangway. And be sure
you get the _Barang_, not the _Padang_--my ship's the brigantine."
"Your ship? Be you skipper then, sir? Beg pardon; didn't know," and the
gnarled right hand snatched at the scanty forelock and the sturdy body
bent awkwardly in exaggerated salute. Then a twinkle shone in the keen
blue eyes, and Bill Blunt grinned: "Shootin', d' ye say, sir? Ain't
goin' to tell me fun's afoot, be ye? 'T would be too good!"
"Quite likely, Blunt. But you get aboard. If you get on the right side
of the mate, perhaps I'll make you acting second mate when I come back."
This apparently hasty half-promise was made with good reason. Barry saw
a possible acquisition in the typical old sailor and made the partial
promise as the best and quickest means of discovering what the man had
in him. If good, he would prove himself in hope of the reward; if
worthless, Rolfe could be depended on to find it out. He put a question
as the man started off: "Tell me how far is the Mission?"
"Just through that bamboo thicket, Cap'n. Ain't twenty fathom away.
That's it," he sang out, as Barry thrust aside the close-standing stems.
The skipper entered the thicket, and the closing stems shut out the
roaring song with which Bill Blunt struck off for the ship. Almost
before he was aware of the proximity of any habitation, he stumbled out
of the brake into a neat, prosperous garden, surrounding a cluster of
clean frame huts all under one immense galvanized-iron roof. A small
number of natives worked desultorily among the plants, and farther off a
stooping figure in a white dress and wide sunbonnet straightened up at
the skipper's approach.
Barry blushed like a big boy and halted, for the lifted sunbonnet
revealed the piquant face of Natalie Sheldon, and her white teeth
gleamed in a rippling smile as she recognized her visitor.
"Welcome, Captain Barry," she cried, stepping into the path and
approaching him. "I'm afraid I can't be very hospitable, for all our men
folks are busy in the village. I have to make a visit myself, but I
shall be glad to have your company if you care to come."
Big Jack Barry, the man who remained cold and unruffled in vital
physical crises, met this second encounter with a very unformidable girl
in different manner from the first. His mouth opened to reply and
remained open; his eyes burned with the up-rushing flood that suffused
his bronzed face, and the roots of his hair tingled to the blush. Then
he realized that he was staring rudely at Miss Sheldon and had not yet
responded to her greeting. He discovered, too, that the brim of his hat
was suffering grievous damage in the grip of his nervously twisting
fingers, and that the sun was beating on his bare head intensely.
"Thanks, Miss Sheldon," he stammered at length. "I'll be glad to come
with you if I may." Then, his hat replaced on his head, he found two
awkward great hands at liberty, with nothing whatever to do with them.
"Can I carry something for you?" he asked, more at ease in the prospect
of some physical employment.
"Oh, will you? I shall be glad if you'll carry a basket. It will save
taking one of the boys, and I'd really rather not take one, as it
happens."
She went into the main hut of the Mission and presently returned with a
big cane basket, covered with fresh leaves, which she gave to Barry. She
herself carried a smaller bundle that might contain cloth or other soft
material.
"Come, then," she said, leading the way into the bush by another path.
"I've got a patient, Captain, one of Mr. Leyden's men, you know. A white
man, broken down by the awful loneliness."
"Leyden's man?" blurted Barry. "Why, surely nobody's come ashore from
his vessel yet? He only came up the river an hour ago."
"Oh, this time, yes, Captain. But Mr. Leyden has been here many times,
you know. We know him very well, indeed. We do whatever we can for him,
for, you know, he has helped me--us--in many ways."
Something in her speech drew the skipper's gaze to her animated face.
Something he saw there brought a fleeting scowl to his own. There was no
shred of doubt at that moment that Leyden had made considerable
progress in intimacy with the Mission people. Miss Sheldon's speech and
expression were such that Barry would have given an eye or a hand for
the same.
"You see, we hoped Mr. Leyden would arrive much sooner, Captain," the
girl went on, striding freely along the narrow path which bent towards
the upper reaches of the river. "We thought your ship was his, and that
induced my visit last evening. The extra suspense played havoc with Mr.
Gordon, for--"
"Gordon! He's no man of Leyden's, Miss Sheldon! He's my own employer's
man, if you mean Gordon from the trading post. I wondered at his
attitude when we superseded him temporarily."
The girl darted a swift glance at Barry and suddenly cut short the chat.
She went ahead, giving no reply to the skipper's outburst, and he
followed dumbly, wondering what new piece of trickery was to be revealed
when Gordon's sudden illness was investigated. For fifteen minutes he
followed in the girl's wake, attempting to reopen conversation and
receiving brief replies; and gradually his irritation and puzzlement
passed; he was fascinated by the easy grace of the girl; every step he
took was as a rivet hammered into the armor of his determination to
scuttle Leyden's ark of success at the earliest possible moment.
His mind was set on means to that end when he at length looked ahead and
discovered that the girl had vanished. In a dozen steps he came to a
still narrower path leading riverwards, and here she was awaiting him.
"I'll take the basket now, Captain. Will you wait for me here?" she
said, looking into his face with a cool and plain hint that his further
attendance would be inconvenient.
"I may as well come right along," he returned, holding on to the basket.
"I know Gordon. I'm sorry he's ill. I'd like to see him."
"It will not be convenient, Captain Barry," she insisted firmly. "Mr.
Gordon is too ill to see strangers. This cannot be the Gordon you know.
He is a friend of Mr. Leyden. Please wait for me here."
"Now what the devil have I struck!" Barry grumbled, when the girl had
swept out of sight. The swish of her cotton dress could be followed
through the canes and lantanas, and the impulse was upon him to ignore
her command and plunge after her.
"Gordon a friend of Leyden!" he soliloquized, restraining his impulse
while he puzzled the problem out. "That's no mystery; suspense knocked
him out when I got here first. That's no puzzle either. But how in
thunder did Leyden get so solid with the little lady? That's my riddle."
The tangle was too involved for the sailor's matter-of-fact mind. He
obeyed his first impulse and dived ahead into the narrow path, bound to
see Gordon himself and thrash out the matter with him in front of Miss
Sheldon.
He parted the cane thicket, and immediately all about him began the
rustle and subtle movement of living things in concealment. He recalled
in a flash that something very like this had preceded that whirring
through the air, and that thud into flesh that had announced the attempt
on himself and the death of Mindjee, back at the stockade gate. But no
tangible obstacle fell in his way this time. It was a voice, sounding
ghostly in the whispering canes, from an invisible yet very close
speaker.
"You no go, sar. Go back. Fren' for you say it."
"Now by James, that's enough!" swore the sailor, leaping straight in the
direction of the voice. "Come out here and let's see who's running this
Pepper's Ghost hoodle!" With the challenge he pulled his pistol.
He found nothing and nobody. But from the spot he had just vacated came
the same voice again.
"You no shoot, sar. You shoot fren's, dat's all. Go back."
"I go back when I see what this humbug means. I'll shoot man or animal
that runs across my bows!"
Barry stumbled forward, and again the subtle rustling surrounded him,
but no voice now. The sound seemed to vibrate and run before him, yet
faster than he could travel afoot. Then, so suddenly that it startled
him, he came alongside a stout tree, and other voices sounded,--voices
of white people. For the moment he was at a loss; then the truth
flashed upon him and he looked up into the umbrageous foliage of the
tree.
Above his head almost--he was still in the shade of the cane brake--he
discerned the platform of a rough tree-dwelling from which depended a
vine-stem ladder, steadied by pegs driven into the ground at the base of
the trunk. And, peering over the rim of the platform, like a sailor
looking over the edge of a ship's spreading top, he saw Miss Sheldon,
displeasure clouding her face. Another face was at the Mission girl's
shoulder, and impatience was the most prominent emotion on it. Barry had
time to recognize Mrs. Goring in that second apparition; then swift and
silent as a cobra's attack he was taken from behind.
No word was spoken. Arms like steel bands smothered his limbs; his
pistol hand was snatched back irresistibly, yet, he noticed even then,
with no violence, and the weapon was taken from his powerless fingers. A
piece of coarse cloth was flung over his head; vicelike hands gripped
his ankles; he was borne with no apparent effort from the spot.
After a brief initial struggle, Barry resigned himself to his captors
perforce. Where he was bound for was beyond conjecture; he only heard,
faintly through his hood, the cheeping and rustling of the canes; bush
tendrils swept along his body and told him that he was being carried
through the trackless part of the jungle. His journey was short. In ten
minutes he was laid on the ground, still with no word from his captors,
and in two long breaths no sound remained near him except the voices of
the foliage. He lay still a moment, wondering what his fate was to be;
then, involuntarily, he moved in his bonds, and found they were loose;
he was unfettered.
Hurling aside the muffling cloth, he started to his feet, and the grass
bands fell from his arms and legs. He was in a dense grove, and his
first thought was to hurl himself headlong into the bush in the frenzied
hope of overtaking the men who had left him there. His foot struck a
hard object, and he looked down. There was his automatic pistol, intact,
but the precaution had been taken of slipping out the cartridge clip. He
picked both up, reloaded the weapon, and pondered.
"Sure thing they don't want me around there!" was the whimsical thought
foremost in his mind. "Don't want to damage me, either. But they leave
me in a blind alley of the jungle to dig my own way out!"
As he cooled off, his senses resumed their normal alertness, and the
ripple of running water regaled his ears. He tore through the jungle in
that direction and burst out upon the river bank. Looking up and down
stream, he stifled an exclamation of surprise; for, not a hundred yards
away, down stream, stood the rickety old wharf, and alongside lay his
ship, while at his feet a dugout canoe squatted nose-up on the muddy
foreshore of the river. Just astern of his own ship the _Padang_ had
hauled in, and a knot of excited men, white and native, were milling
about the _Barang's_ gangway.
"Time you got aboard, Barry!" he muttered and shoved the canoe off.