The Fruits of Victory
As the dawn was coming up, Trevor, red-eyed and weary, saw them
straggling back among the rocks.
Two men carried a hammock on a _pikul_, the professor and Battiscombe
walked leisurely, laughing over something one of them had just said,
and everybody was smoking.
“Hullo!” he greeted them; “what luck?”
Battiscombe threw his arms in the air.
“The very best. We’ve brought her back, unharmed.”
The planter vaulted over the breastwork and ran to meet them.
“Splendid! How did you manage it?”
The professor laughed.
“We’ll tell you all about it as soon as we’ve found somewhere
comfortable to sit and something warm to drink. We’ve had a most
successful and memorable outing; but it was touch-and-go at one time,
wasn’t it, Battiscombe?”
The magistrate grinned.
“Don’t I know it! Up to a point we were the two most unpopular people
in creation--and give me popularity every time! You’ve read of minutes
that seem like years, Trevor?--well, we had about fifteen of those,
with umpteen black giants breathing hate down the backs of our shirts!
Lord! professor, didn’t they stink!”
“They did,” agreed Standen, “horribly!”
“And Abu-Samar?”
Battiscombe took Trevor’s arm.
“He’s dead; Dara killed him.”
“Dara?”
“Yes, stabbed him in the back at a very critical moment. We’d talked
ourselves hoarse and it wanted something very decisive to convince ’em
of our _bona-fides_. Dara supplied it!”
The last trace of anxiety left the planter’s face.
“Well, that’s about the end of our job, isn’t it? We can burn his
jolly old breeding-house at our leisure, and march comfortably back to
hear the plaudits of the multitude!”
They all laughed.
“How’s Armourer?” asked the professor, as they approached the tent.
“Fine, apparently. The last time I saw Miss Standen she told me he had
recognised her and spoken quite sensibly.”
The professor rubbed his hands together.
“That’s what comes of having a fine constitution!”
“And a fine antidote,” added Battiscombe.
“And a fine nurse,” said Trevor. “I’ve pitched the other tent over
there. I thought you’d want somewhere to put Mrs. Battiscombe.”
Standen stopped outside Armourer’s tent.
“I could sleep the round of the clock!” he declared.
Battiscombe placed his hands on his hips.
“I can give you four hours. I’m breaking camp at nine and putting as
many miles as I can between us and any possible after-thoughts on the
part of our coloured friends.”
“I don’t blame you,” said the other, and went in to look at his
patient.
By nine o’clock all that was left of the long hut and its loathsome
contents was a heap of smouldering ruins.
It amused Standen to compare the atmosphere of the return march to the
outward journey of the expedition.
The men, the bearers, the leaders themselves, laughed and chattered as
the long line wound its way westward. The fact that their mission was
accomplished and that Abu-Samar was dead had taken a weight from every
mind, from the highest to the lowest. He wondered what would have
happened if they had failed, if the breeding-house had broadcasted its
thousands, if Samar had been free to pursue his campaign of hate!
“What’s up, professor?” laughed Trevor. “You look as if you’d
something on your mind.”
“I had,” confessed the older man; “but, thank heaven, it isn’t there
now!”
On the second day Vera was able to ride.
“Jim,” she asked suddenly, addressing the man who walked by her side,
“are you really glad to have me back?”
Battiscombe smiled up at her.
“Rather!” he said. “When I heard that he’d taken you, I nearly went
off my rocker.”
“But I’ve been such a beast to you. It’s no earthly use your shaking
your head. I’ve treated you frightfully badly.” She rested a hand on
his shoulder. “But I didn’t know you, Jim. I didn’t know you could do
things like that. I was so frightened before you came. I was more
frightened still--for your sake--when you walked right through that
ghastly crowd. I thought they’d kill you.”
“So did I,” replied her husband cheerfully.
“But you weren’t afraid.”
“Wasn’t I, though! I was in a deuce of a panic, if you only knew.”
“I don’t believe it,” she declared. “I absolutely refuse to believe
any such nonsense. You were an absolute hero--a great, fat, dear old
hero--and I don’t deserve you a bit.--But honestly, dear, I mean to
stick to you like anything after this.”
“You’ve jolly well got to,” said Battiscombe. “You don’t suppose I
indulge in jaunts of this sort just for the fun of the thing. In
future I’m ruling my household with an iron hand.--By the way, I’m
sending in my resignation as soon as we get back.”
Vera gasped.
“You’re not throwing up your career because of me?”
“Not altogether. You see, Vera, the old man pegged out on the day I
left Rembakut. I got the news when Armourer’s man caught me up.”
“Jim!”
“Yes,” he continued slowly, “I haven’t told a soul about it yet; I was
saving it up for you. It’ll mean a lot to us. You’ll be able to have
some decent frocks now and the only occupation I shall want is
something to help me keep my fat down!--I’m sorry I wasn’t home when
it happened, though.”
It was a week before Armourer talked sensibly again. He opened his
eyes wearily and realised that somebody was bending over him. It was
evening and the air was pleasantly cool.
He reached out with his hand and touched a white arm.
“Is that you, Joyce?” he asked, in so natural a tone that it startled
her.
She had somehow pictured their first intimate conversation as
something entirely different from this.
“Yes, Michael,” she said, with just a catch in her voice, “I’ve
brought Mickie to see you.”
He drew her hand towards him and pressed his lips to it.
[The End]
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
Minor spelling inconsistencies (e.g. butterfly-net/butterfly net,
landmarks/land-marks, etc.) have been preserved.
Note: some of the fixes list below are due to an apparent publishing
error wherein some of the leftmost characters of a few lines didn’t
get printed.
Alterations to the text:
Punctuation: fix some quotation mark pairings/nestings and a few
missing periods.
[Chapter V]
Change “there was a gap _bewteen_ her frock and her neck” to
_between_.
[Chapter VI]
“into the pocket of the pyjama _acket_ she wore” to _jacket_.
[Chapter XV]
“He looked back over his _sholulder_” to _shoulder_.
[Chapter XVI]
“peering fearfully _nto_ the darkness” to _into_.
[Chapter XX]
“take special _recautions_ to protect themselves against” to
_precautions_.
[Chapter XXI]
“After Dick and the others. it was simply wonderful to think” change
the period to a comma.
“bring me one of those _ters_ … from which he _rites_ … your
troubles _ll_ be at an end” to _letters_, _writes_, and _will_,
respectively.
[Chapter XXIII]
“show what state of _min_ she was in” to _mind_.
[Chapter XXVI]
“from a box and fastened it round her _neek_” to _neck_.
[Chapter XXVII]
“with three or four _pople_ making tracks” to _people_.
“_Amourer_ shook his head” to _Armourer_.
[Chapter XXIX]
“for _here_ on the stool was irrefutable evidence” to _there_.
[Chapter XXX]
“He _insed_ it and threw the drops to the floor” to _rinsed_.
[Chapter XXXII]
“_Standon_ looked at the planter” to _Standen_.
[End of text]