He saw that her eyes, fixed on him, regarded him as an utter and
complete stranger.
"Don't you know me, Effra?" There was almost a sob in his voice.
"I never saw you before in my life."
* * * * *
Parker turned, moved to a window slot, stood looking out. The trees
below him, the island, the sea, the PT boat lying at anchor off shore,
he saw all of these things, but yet he did not see them.
He had found Effra and she did not remember him, did not know him.
Inside of him was agony, such pain as he had never known. He felt a
touch on his arm. Rozeno stood there, his face troubled. "Do you know
our Effra, my son?"
"Yes."
"Do you, perhaps, love her?"
"Yes."
"And you are very unhappy because she does not respond?"
"Yes."
The old priest's face grew a little more sad. "When she landed here, the
last time, she made an awkward landing. She was thrown forward and she
hit her head. She does not remember anything that happened before that."
Rozeno's finger bit deeply into Parker's arm. "Come now, and I will
introduce you to her, as a stranger."
Bill Parker found himself being introduced to the woman he loved. "I'm
sorry about my actions of a minute ago," he said. "I thought you were
someone else."
The smile she gave him was forgiving but it was also cool and distant.
"That's all right, Mr. Parker. I understand." Her voice went into
silence as another sound came into the room. The sound of rapid gunfire.
Parker had thought he had in his pocket the only two modern weapons on
the island, but somewhere in the growth of trees far below the window
slot, someone was firing a sub-machine gun.
Parker raced to the slot. Below him the island lay quiet. He turned.
Mercedes, her face working, was staring at him.
"Beel--Beel--I have not told you everything! That Johnny Retch, he hire
you to fly him here in 'copter, to find thees island. He also have men
in boat coming. Your job, which you did not know, was to find island,
then lead men in boat to it. Johnny means to take all thees." The
gesture of her hand included all the treasure of Montezuma. "He have men
in boat to help him take it. He does not mean to let anything stop him.
Not anything!"
Parker saw what he had not seen before, that Johnny Retch was a man who
would always have two strings for his bow. Too late, he saw that the
boat lying at anchor was not an accident.
"I should have killed that dog when I had the chance!" he snarled.
Shambling feet sounded in the corridor outside. Pedro burst into the
room. He grunted words at Ulnar.
"Pedro says men come up the ledge," Rozeno said. "They must be from the
boat. We must go to meet them. It will be a great pleasure to them.
Come, Ulnar. Come, Bill." He moved toward the door.
Parker was across the room in quick strides, catching Rozeno's arm.
"You can't do it, Father Rozeno. Those men who are coming up the ledge
mean to kill."
"My son!" Hurt showed on the priest's face. "Surely you do not know what
you are talking about!"
"But I do know!" Parker almost shouted the words. Quickly, desperately
he tried to explain the situation to Rozeno. To his growing horror, he
saw no comprehension in the old priest's eyes. Slowly Parker began to
realize that this old man was so gentle and so kind himself that he
could not comprehend even the thought of anyone else being--evil!
"You may stay here, if you wish, my son, but Ulnar and I will go speak
to these people who are coming up the ledge. Come, Ulnar."
His face glowing at the thought of meeting new people, the priest moved
from the room. Ulnar grunted once, a hot, savage sound, then followed
Rozeno like a dog following its master.
Effra started to follow them.
Parker caught her arm. "Please, at least you stay here. Understand me
now if you never understood me before. Is there a window slot from which
the ledge can be seen?"
"Yes."
"Then take me to it. Quickly!"
* * * * *
From the slot, Parker could see a section of the ledge. Two men were
crawling along it, advancing as cautiously as scouts trying to surprise
an outpost. Parker had never seen either of them before but their faces
confirmed everything Mercedes had said--they were thugs, killers.
Thrusting the pistol through the slot, the pilot took careful aim,
pulled the trigger.
The thunder of the gun rang through the room, echoed across the island.
The bullet knocked rock chips into the face of the lead man. He recoiled
as if he had been stung. The Tommy-gun in his hand spouted lead blindly
at the face of the cliff. The second man spun around--began shooting
blindly.
Parker moved away from the slot, listened to the rattle of the guns
outside. He could distinguish the heavy thud of the Tommy-gun, the
sharper crack of the carbine, but other weapons were also firing.
"They've got men with high-powered rifles posted in the tree down
below."
He glanced from the slot. The men had disappeared from the ledge. As he
moved back, a slug whined into the room. Mercedes cowered against the
wall. Effra remained cool and poised. She was looking at Parker.
"Haven't I met you somewhere before?" She seemed completely unaware of
the rifle bullet that had just screamed through the slot.
"I--" Parker caught himself. There was agony in him. What good would it
do if she did, finally, remember who he was, who she was? What they had
once been to each other? He had three old men, and two women, and
himself, with which to defend Montezuma's treasure against Johnny Retch,
who had a small army of trained killers at his back.
What chance did they have? Johnny Retch, even if given Montezuma's
gold, would not leave anyone alive except possibly Mercedes and Effra.
"Do--do you know anything we can do to stop those men?" Parker said.
Light seemed to come into Effra's eyes.
"We might--we might use the Jezbro!"
From the shelter of the trees, Johnny Retch operated like a general in
charge of a force of Commandos engaged in attacking a miniature
Gibralter. He was a very deliberate general. When the first shot from a
slot in the cliff had driven the two men downward, he met them at the
bottom of the ledge, a cigarette dangling from his lips, a sub-machine
gun in his hands. "Okay, boys, go back on up."
"There's a guy in there with a gun," one of the two protested. "He's
inside and we're outside. We're sittin' ducks for him."
"We're covering the slots with rifles in the trees."
"But--" Neither of the men wanted to go up that ledge again. They might
be hardened killers but they did not like the idea of facing a gun they
could not see.
"Go on back up, boys," Retch said. He lifted the muzzle of the gun he
held.
"But--"
"Either go back up or you'll stay down here a long time!"
They went back up the ledge. Retch retired to the shelter of the trees
and watched.
No shots came until they reached the mouth of the tunnel leading into
the cliff. There, one of the men was killed. He fell backward from the
ledge, screaming as he turned over and over.
The falling man broke his way through the top of a tree and sprawled
thudding on the ground. He did not move after he hit. Retch did not
waste a second glance on him.
Muffled but clearly audible, the blasting roar of the machine gun came
from the tunnel.
"He got in," Retch said. "Okay. Two more of you go up."
Two more men went up the ledge.
The entire population of the village had gathered to watch this storming
of the cliff. They regarded Retch with wonder and with awe. Some of
these men had been pirates in their day, they had known how to loot a
tall ship, to kill its crew, to take over any wealth and any women it
happened to carry.
Watching Retch, they discovered they had been amateurs in the fine art
of attacking and killing. They had needed a man from the modern world to
show them how the job ought to be done. They were greatly impressed,
Gotch most of all.
Waving his sword, Gotch explained what he would do to that black priest,
Rozeno, and to that cowardly Indian, Ulnar. Of all the listening group,
only Peg-leg protested.
"Yeah, you'll get them all right--if the Jezbro don't get you first!"
Peg-leg said.