PERNAMBOUC, THE PRISON EXECUTIONER
Though the warder was taking pot-shots at them, Chéri-Bibi and the Nut
had received too great a start to run any risk of being hit. When, a few
minutes later, the warder came to the outlet of the tunnel through which
the six convicts had escaped, he set up a music which may be imagined.
The two convicts found that they were cut off from the road to the
jetty, and were obliged to fall back into a small wood of tall forest
trees.
They strove again and again to get back to the mass of high rocks on the
beach, but all their attempts to do so were discovered, and it was with
a feeling of gloomy despair that Chéri-Bibi, who did not know that the
launch had left the jetty, was fain to relinquish the idea.
The warders started again with renewed vigor to search the wood. They
fired their rifles and revolvers into the trees on the off chance. They
cursed and swore in their wrath.
Their imprecations were leveled at Chéri-Bibi, who had so often given
them trouble, and whom they had never been able to capture when once he
had taken to his heels. It was always he who, after a few weeks' stay in
the forest, gave himself up as a prisoner.
The escape of convicts, especially on the mainland, was somewhat
frequent. The old offenders imprisoned there were subjected to a
vigilance which was less strict, and, like Chéri-Bibi, they disappeared
for a time and then returned of their own free will, having finished
what they called their "short holiday." They had taken the opportunity
to scrape together a little gold dust in localities known only to
themselves, and then, weary of the terrible life in the forest and its
manifold dangers, they returned to take their places in the penal
settlement.
Search them as the warders might, nothing was ever found on them. They
were up to all sorts of extraordinary and unsuspected tricks for hiding
the gold dust which enabled them to buy certain luxuries in Cayenne and
in the wood-cutting establishments.
But how did Chéri-Bibi get away from the islands without falling a prey
to the sharks which infested those waters?
At any rate, on this occasion the warders were pretty well certain that
he was still on the island. They had caught sight of him and the Nut at
the moment when they were taking refuge in the forest.
"Let's go to the coal depot," whispered Chéri-Bibi to the Nut,
realizing that they were being surrounded.
The naval authorities kept a huge stock of coal in the Îles du Salut.
Chéri-Bibi had more than once found a safe retreat there. In order to
discover a man hiding in an immense store of coal and compressed fuel,
the entire mass would have to be turned upside down and removed.
During the hours when the convicts were "resting," and were less subject
to supervision, Chéri-Bibi was wont to make his way to the depot and
dig out passages and recesses known only to himself and undreamt of by
any one else. Such places would always come in handy one day or the
other. The time had arrived to take advantage of them once more. To
reach the place, without hindrance if possible, he went the longest way
round, making a wide sweep behind the victualling department.
He stopped to take breath, and then skirting the "sugar-loaf" of the
island, finally arrived at the coal store.
But, curse it all, the depot was surrounded by a body of warders who
were guarding the approaches. It was evident that experience of past
escapes had put the authorities on the alert. Nothing was to be done in
that quarter.
Chéri-Bibi uttered an oath, and as he swore a flash pierced the
darkness and a bullet whistled between him and the Nut.
Once again their presence had been detected.
In this way they were chased, by degrees, all over the island, until
they reached the main buildings in which were imprisoned men who had
refused to obey the warders, or been sentenced by the local courts.
Here, notwithstanding that a stronger force of men than usual was posted
on guard, the doors were kept locked. That evening, however, one door
was ajar and Chéri-Bibi and the Nut slipped through it. On this door
was painted in black letters the one word: "_Guillotine._"
Chéri-Bibi and the Nut did not find themselves alone. Two bodies and two
heads lay in a basket; two heads which had fallen that very
morning. . . .
And then Pernambouc, the prison executioner, came in, closing the door
after him.
He was in a merry mood.
He had returned from the canteen where he had been entertaining his
friends. He had been standing treat to them throughout the day. He was
very pleased with himself.
Pernambouc was a man of a cheerful disposition, and he found that life
had its pleasant side. The pleasant side of life for him was the
execution of other men.
Therefore Pernambouc was singing:
"_I go to Trouville, to Etretat,
I cut a dash like President Faure
I go about like the head of the State_----"
He did not complete the verse. He turned round, and by the red gleam of
a lantern slung on the wall he recognized Chéri-Bibi and the Nut.
He did not utter a cry nor make a movement. He only regretted his
omission to close the door when he first went out, and he stood waiting.
Chéri-Bibi was not long in coming to the point.
"Look here, there's a chance for you to make a bit. Instead of placing
those bodies in your sack and throwing them, as you always do, off the
jetty, put us, the Nut and me, in sacks one after the other and drop us
into the sea in the ordinary way, but as near as you can to the
'Haversack's' launch. Do you follow me?"
"How much?" asked Pernambouc.
Chéri-Bibi undid the lining in the waistband of his trousers and took
out something which glittered. Pernambouc unhooked the lantern from the
wall and bent over the shining substance.
"I'll give you half this gold dust," said Chéri-Bibi.
"I want the lot," returned Pernambouc.
Chéri-Bibi offered to give him half then for carrying the Nut first,
and the other half when he came back to fetch him.
"That's a fair proposal," said Pernambouc. "All right, my lord. But what
am I going to do with my corpses?"
"You've only got to bury them here. You can easily find a way of getting
rid of them. In the meantime you needn't be afraid they'll come to life
again."
A minute later the Nut, quivering in body and soul, slipped into the
loathsome sack intended for one of the guillotined men.
Pernambouc hoisted it on his shoulders.
The warder, whose absence from the jetty Chéri-Bibi had observed at the
beginning of his flight, had hurriedly taken up his post as soon as he
heard the first rumors of the convicts' escape. He, too, was in a merry
mood, and it may be that his gayety had received its inspiration from
the same source at which the worthy Pernambouc had refreshed himself.
The man caught sight of the executioner as he laboriously crept forward
with the sack on his bade. He went to meet him and asked facetiously:
"Is that shoddy goods heavy?"
"Yes; it's not as light as a feather," he returned. "I'm dying to get
rid of it."
"Fire away!" said the warder. "They're sure of 'the convicts' grave'
this evening. It's as though the sharks knew about it; for I've seen
them turning over and over near the jetty."
"Whereabouts?" asked Pernambouc.
"At the far end."
"I'm going to give 'em something for supper," said Pernambouc with a
hideous laugh.
"I'll come with you," said the warder in a sprightly tone.
As he went along Pernambouc became aware that the "Haversack's" launch
was no longer moored to the jetty. A grim laugh shook him from head to
foot.
Nevertheless he was not a bad sort of man. He had, as we have said, a
generous disposition, and when he was at the canteen he had no liking
for "drinking alone without standing treat;" but at the thought of the
face that the Nut would pull when, once in the water, he discovered that
the launch was on a trip and sharks were waiting for him, he could not
help roaring with laughter.
"Well, old man, are you satisfied with your little business?" asked the
warder.
"Yes," returned Pernambouc. "Things are not so bad. I've earned my pay
to-day. I'm very well pleased with myself."
When he came to the end of the jetty he laid his sack on the ground.
"Where did you see the sharks?"
The warder's presence somewhat inconvenienced him, but when the man
stooped over the water trying to catch a glimpse of the monsters in the
trough of the sea, Pernambouc made the most of the opportunity to throw
his sack down.
When the warder turned round at the sound which the sack made as it
struck the liquid element he could see only a dark mass which was lost
to view in the swirling foam. Almost immediately the waves were swollen
by another eddy a few feet away, and the leaping shadow of a huge
dog-fish glided over the luminous and phosphorescent sea and disappeared
in the direction of the Nut. Above the spot where he had fallen the
waters swished and seethed and then grew still.
"What a pity it's dark," exclaimed the warder. "We might have seen if
the sea is red."
"Oh, never fear," returned Pernambouc. "That's another one dead and in
his grave." And he walked away singing to himself:
"_I go to Trouville, to Etretat,
I cut a dash like President Faure,
I go about like the head of the State. . . .
The Nuts lost his, nut! . . . He'll swank no more!_"
But the Nut was not dead. Before he touched water he had ripped open the
sack with his knife.
He at once swam under water, making a vigorous effort to reach the spot
where he believed the launch was moored. . . . No launch was there!
But in her place a shark was swimming towards him, a shark who had
already turned on its back, its jaws wide open like a yawning gulf.
The Nut understood what tactics should be followed. They were the chief
topic of conversation during the time the convicts were "resting." He
dived and passed under the shark. The monster lost the scent and hunted
its prey on the other side of the jetty.
But what was he to do? From his position he could see the warder seated
on the top of the steps by which alone he could land on the jetty.
He dived again and swam under water, intending to get back as quickly as
he could to the beach, at the rear of the warder, by swimming round the
jetty if the sharks gave him sufficient time!
Not for a second did it enter his mind to surrender in order to get out
of his awful plight. Rather a thousand deaths than return again to the
life of the penal settlement. He might reach the beach in time to meet
Pernambouc with his new load, and save Chéri-Bibi from the terrible
danger to which he himself had been exposed. . . . They would hide
themselves once more. . . . And the launch would return.
He managed to swim round the jetty when the monster who missed him
before and was continuing the hunt, appeared in front of him, and once
more turning on its back glided towards him opening its voracious jaws.
It is this somewhat perplexing movement which the shark must make in
order to seize its prey that enables pearl fishers, for example, to work
in waters infested with them and, in most cases, to avoid them. As soon
as the brute turns on its back, the man plunges under it, and sometimes
he is quick enough to rip it open by a magnificent stroke of his knife,
a weapon which he invariably carries in his teeth.
The Nut had not sufficiently practised this sort of trial of skill to
think of anything but flight. He quickly retreated to the jetty and he
knew that on this side a large iron ring was affixed which was used for
mooring small craft. He clutched it with one hand, almost exhausted, his
exertions having made so great a demand upon his muscular power; and
before the brute was upon him he managed to seize the ring with both
hands and lift himself out of the water by the strength of his wrists.
The shark brushed against him as it passed under him, snapping its jaws
on the empty waters and vanishing in the obscurity.
Meantime Pernambouc returned to fetch Chéri-Bibi, who had lived through
an agony of suspense. In his friendship, as in his love or hatred,
Chéri-Bibi was always in extremes. His heart had adopted the Nut. To be
conscious that the Nut was in danger was for him the cruellest of
torments.
When Pernambouc entered his hut he found him seated on the basket which
contained the bodies of the guillotined men. The lantern threw its beams
on a face that might well have struck dismay in the least sensitive.
So little sensitive as he was a shudder passed through Pernambouc.
"It worked very well," he threw at him without waiting to be questioned.
"Is the Nut on board the launch?" asked Chéri-Bibi.
"The Nut is on board the launch," returned Pernambouc, holding out the
second sack to Chéri-Bibi, and claiming from him the balance of the
gold dust.
A few minutes later Pernambouc appeared once more on the jetty
staggering under his immense burden. The warder lay drowsing on the
steps. Pernambouc had to jostle him slightly.
"Let me finish my job."
"Oh, that's number two," grunted the warder. "He looks heavier than the
first. Shall I give you a hand to swing him in?"
"Don't trouble. . . . Look here, go back a little way along the
jetty. . . . I thought I saw the Commandant over there. He's cursing
like mad, and turning the hole damn island upside down to-night."
"Is it a fact that Chéri-Bibi is dead?" asked the warder as he went up
the steps of the jetty.
"Oh, with a man like that you can never tell." So saying, Pernambouc
bundled the sack into the water, and it was swallowed up in a huge eddy.
Pernambouc had not gone far when a hollow exclamation came from the sea,
sending once more a shudder through him to the marrow: "_Fatalitas!_"
"What's that?" exclaimed the warder. "I thought I heard someone's
voice."
"You're imagining things to-night."
The warder did not persist. He was attracted by the distant throbbing of
the launch.
"Hullo, here's the Inspecting Officer back again," he exclaimed.
"Yes, yes," returned Pernambouc. "Here's the launch. And his day's work
finished, his duty performed, he went back to his dormitory like a
well-disciplined 'convict.'"
The Commandant had also caught the hum of the approaching launch. He
reached the jetty in time to receive the officer when he landed, and to
learn that his instructions had been carried out, but that no trace of
the fugitives had been seen.
"It's something very like witchcraft," exclaimed the Commandant as he
left the jetty with the officer. "We haven't discovered anything
either."
At that juncture the warder was not a little taken aback to see the
launch put off from the jetty without apparently any crew being on board
her. He shouted, called for help, and fired several shots at her on
chance. The officers rushing up in haste could scarcely believe their
own eyes.
Meantime Chéri-Bibi and the Nut had at last found each other, boarded
the launch, and reached the open sea. The engine was running to
perfection. They might consider themselves out of danger. Suddenly
Chéri-Bibi exclaimed:
"The barque!"
This was the sailing ship whose business it was to convey the convicts
to the various penitentiary establishments and to keep guard.
The coast was quite near. Nevertheless Chéri-Bibi and the Nut had
barely time to run the launch aground before the boat which was lowered
by the barque landed a body of warders who at once started firing on
them.
"We've got 'em; we've got 'em," they bellowed.
But it was not long before their pursuit was brought to a standstill.
They were obliged even to fall back, for they heard a crackling sound
all around them.
Chéri-Bibi had set fire to the forest.