DEATH AS A BROTHER
Despite the ease with which, in theory, he expected to descend to the
ground, Grenville was fully ten minutes escaping from the tree.
A number of twigs that he could not have passed without creating a
disturbance he cut away with his knife. His ladder was also badly
caught and stubbornly refused to be adjusted. One violent rustling of
a heavy limb he caused when it finally slipped straight down, with his
feet all but striking on the ground.
He remained perfectly silent, ready for immediate retreat, regaining
his breath and straining his ears for the slightest sound, for a long,
uneventful minute. When he finally drew his sharp brass cleaver from
his pocket and started through the thicket, there was not the slightest
sound in all the region about him, either of animals or men.
Into one of the numerous wild creatures' trails he found his way with
greater ease because of his thorough familiarity with all that end of
the island.
The trail, as he knew, led down by the spring, where a branch wound
first towards the estuary and then across the bed of the rill, where it
cut the path through the axis of the island.
Almost as noiselessly as one of the creatures hunted or hunting in the
hours of blackest shadow, he made his way down to the rear of the pool,
where he paused as before to listen. The squeal of some little
nocturnal beast and the patter of something paddling about in the water
convinced him at once the Dyaks were certainly not there, or else were
most skillfully hidden.
With a steadily increasing conviction that the boatmen would stick to
their craft at night, he felt his boldness strengthen. The importance
of discovering the enemy's position was duly impressed on his mind. He
felt that once he could gain the principal pathway down the island's
length he could follow the edge of a narrow bit of clearing, off to the
left of the rotting old barque, and thus arrive above the inlet, where
he was certain their vessel was concealed.
No less quietly than before he continued out around the spring, then
turned to the left, in the narrow runway of the animals, and emerged
behind the estuary, where absolute stillness prevailed.
He presently fancied, as he slowly continued towards the old-time
wreck, that a murmur of distant voices arose from off at the left.
This became a certainty when he reached his irregular clearing.
Moreover, he was halfway only down this slope of rock and thicket when
simultaneously, out on the tide, some eighty or ninety feet apart, two
matches were lighted, as he could see, for pipes or cigarettes.
Elaine had been right! There were two of the boats that were anchored
here together!
But, although more murmurs continued to arise, where a desultory
conversation was from time to time renewed on either craft, he could by
no means ascertain either the number of the Dyaks or what it was of
which they talked. Satisfied with what he had discovered, and certain
now the fellows were afraid to remain on the island after dark, he
returned up the slope with an easier stride, determined to see what
might be done by way of collecting some fruit.
He came once more to the main trail through the island, pausing to
hearken once again as a sound of splashing in the inlet came
uncertainly on the breeze. Doubtless the crew had dipped a pail of
water, he thought, or thrown overboard some refuse from their dinner.
He had no more than headed again towards the hill where Elaine was
waiting, and swung about from the branch to the principal trail, when,
without the slightest warning sound, he suddenly and heavily collided
with someone moving as noiselessly as himself in the opposite direction.
He only saw that the man thus encountered was bare of shoulders and
taller than himself as he thrust out to fend the fellow off. He knew
on the instant it was one of the boldest of the head-hunters, if not
indeed their chief.
The fellow had grunted at the impact, and, quick to discover it was not
a member of the vessels' crews, abruptly sounded one triumphant yell as
he reached for his knife and lunged forward.
There were answering cries from a few feet only behind him--which
Grenville heard as he crashed precipitately through the near-by thicket
and made for the trail to the barque.
The hue and cry was instantly raised as the fellow pursuing came wildly
through the jungle on his track. Shouting instructions to his
following, this obvious leader of the prowling band continued as
closely as possible on Grenville's heels, while the others headed
swiftly towards the estuary, convinced that their man would dart around
and make for his camp on the hill.
The chief of the natives entertained the same belief, as Grenville
immediately comprehended. Having planned exactly as they had supposed
he would, Sidney altered his course on the instant, dived down on
all-fours in an animal path he had frequently followed before, and thus
crept noiselessly off to the left, once more towards the plundered
wreck.
Almost at once an ominous silence reigned as before in the place. The
natives, having soon missed their quarry, stood perfectly still, at
command of their chief, to listen and gain a new guidance.
Tempted to put all possible distance between himself and his pursuers,
Grenville continued on, a bit incautiously. A branch he had thrust
from before his face slipped back before he had intended its release.
At once the listening head-hunters plunged forward again in his
direction.
Fortunately, Sidney retained his presence of mind and continued to
crawl on hands and knees, instead of attempting swifter flight through
the branches that closed above the trail. With the sounds of his eager
enemy approaching to a sweat-starting proximity, he dared lie perfectly
motionless on the earth, till he heard them quietly exploring as before
on the lines he must take to regain the terrace at the rear.
As silently now as a shadow, he wormed his way forward as before. He
had gained perhaps a matter of twenty or thirty feet in this manner
when, on coming at last to the edge of the clearing where the old
barque lay, he heard the natives beating back, convinced that he had
not passed.
For one moment only was he seized by indecision. Then he darted across
the clearing unobserved and, slipping between the ribs of the wreck, as
he had on a previous occasion, went rapidly groping to the cabin, where
sat the mummy-skeleton in chains.
He had not achieved this maneuver in absolute silence, having
sacrificed something to speed. Two of the head-hunters broke through
the fringe of the thicket with furtive swiftness, as he noted through a
hole in the planks. They were followed, a little further on, by the
tall man first encountered, and later by a small but constantly moving
companion, who disappeared again.
At a given signal two of the creatures ran swiftly about the barque,
one going in either direction. They had evidently expected to corner
their intended victim crouching behind the empty shell. When they
presently returned to their leader, a brief consultation was held.
Grenville watched them breathlessly, aware that Elaine's position,
alone on the hill, was tremendously jeopardized every moment he now
remained away. Should more of the Dyaks be summoned from the
boats--the time would be short for prayers.
Considerably to his relief, the three dark figures resumed the search
along the edge of the clearing.
They were gone from sight for several minutes, and again returned,
apparently persuaded their quarry had not escaped them back to the
camp. One even ventured to approach the barque and peer through its
rotted ribs.
Grenville had quietly moved aside, though the darkness would have
shielded him completely. When the fellow rejoined his companions
again, the chief issued new commands. A brief expostulation followed.
Sidney was certain that one of two things portended. Either the leader
had ordered his man to go down to the boats and compel a force to land
and storm the now half-guarded hill, which the fellow argued was more
than he could do with Dyaks afraid of the darkness as well as the
island's spirit, or the order was--to board and search the wreck.
Either was sufficiently disquieting, as Grenville controlled his
breathing and watched for the next development to follow. He presently
saw the tall, bare-shouldered native strike his protesting follower a
savage blow across the face, thrusting something that gleamed against
the shaken creature's ear so soon as he had righted.
The craven was then ready to obey. He accepted something that
Grenville could not see, doubtless another revolver, and came forward
as if to enter the old ship's hull--but not through the hole in her
side. Meantime, the fourth of the party had once more appeared from
the growth. He apparently suggested that crews from the vessels be
summoned, doubtless to attack the hill. Also he presumably volunteered
to go and compel their attendance on their chief. His gestures and
those of the leader, as they thus conversed in murmurs, were all
towards the inlet where the boats were anchored or towards the distant
hill.
He who had plainly been commanded to enter and search the wreck took
advantage of the colloquy to linger with the group. It was not until
the small and active demon of the lot had darted away to land more men
that the chief once more turned his attention to the coward.
Whining his impotent excuses and expostulations, the fellow
affrightedly climbed upon the deck and was ordered to explore the
cabin. That he might be killed by the desperate white man possibly
hiding in the vessel's hold, the chief was well aware. The sacrifice
of a man more or less was unimportant--provided the quarry was thereby
discovered in a hole where he could not escape.
This fact was fully appreciated by two other persons concerned. One of
these persons was Grenville, the second the terrified native. This
shivering wretch, who had known for years of the terrible guardian
sitting in iron chains within, blundered noisily about in the upper
quarters, so afraid he could have offered no defense to a child's
attack.
Grenville was undecided as to what he were wiser to do. To sink his
cleaver through the Dyak's skull would presently be comparatively
simple. And, should absolutely silent death overtake this miserable
slave of the man outside, the moral effect might be of value. It might
be supposed by his companions he had died of fright alone. Yet Sidney
argued that any fate whatsoever silencing the fellow now might be
construed as proof of his own presence in the wreck.
Instantly deciding that, once they concluded he was not here, the Dyaks
would leave and permit his escape, Grenville silently crept to the open
door beside the dead man held in chains, slipped behind the rotted old
partition, and, without a sound, replaced the door almost as he had
originally found it.
The chief had meantime approached the barque, to order his man to the
hold. To the musty cabin where "Buli" sat, the fellow was forced to
stumble. Some report he quavered in accents of terror was not received
with favor, and a new command was issued.
Grenville made ready to drop the man, should he dare push open the
door. He was certain the craven had been ordered to this fatal
exploration. But, instead, the whining demon lighted a match, to
reveal all the contents of the place.
By the yellow light both this fellow and the leader, peering through
the side, met the vacant stare of "Buli's" eyes--and both were
frightened to utterance. The chief's brief note was a rigmarole of
charm, to avert the evil eye. His slave's shrill performance was a
scream, as the fellow reeled back, stumbling blindly away and falling
as he went.
The pistol he carried was discharged. The fellow was wounded in the
hip. His groans, as he dragged himself out on the deck, were drowned
by the curses of the leader.
This dominant brute, having noticed the door where Sidney stood
concealed, now ordered the second of his men to explore where the first
had failed. As Grenville once more looked out through a ragged hole to
observe the proceedings, this second fellow began a somewhat stouter
objection than his predecessor had done, but was even more promptly
cowed or persuaded to submission.
Meanwhile, the cries of a horde of Dyaks from the boats arose from the
jungle below. They had evidently landed with considerable willingness
of spirit, as Grenville was thoroughly aware. He thought of Elaine
with a sudden sinking of the vitals. No sooner had the second of the
natives started to mount to the deck, where number one still lay
groaning, than a wild idea shot into Sidney's mind. At any cost, he
must make one dash for the hill.
He quietly slipped to the cabin again, where "Buli" had long been
captain and crew of the barque. The one brief glance he bestowed,
through the hole, on the leader of the murderous demons, now hastening
to the place, showed that ingenious savage standing perhaps a rod away
and calling to the on-coming crews.
The fellow on deck was making sufficient noise to mask a fair
disturbance in the cabin. Taking instant advantage of this fact,
Grenville groped downward with his hands--and encountered "Buli"
promptly.
"I need your services, brother," he murmured, grimly, and, finding the
chain that shackled the sitting skeleton, he placed one foot upon its
upper end and tore the staple entirely out of the rotten wood it
pierced.
Bodily lifting the mummified thing in his arms, he hastened forward, to
the hole that he alone had dared to utilize, broken through the
decaying hulk, where he passed first his burden and then himself
between the ancient ribs.
A cry had been sounded from within the barque. The chief of the Dyaks
suddenly turned and rushed, knife in hand, upon the man he beheld
escaping from the hold.
Grenville waited for him, deliberately. Just as the fellow lunged
actively forward, Sidney thrust the hideous effigy of a human being
into the arms and against the face of his wildly stabbing assailant and
nimbly leaped towards the trail.
A sound of horror broke from the Dyak's lips as he rolled on the earth
with the skeleton rattling down upon him. But a brief time only was he
prostrate there with his terror. Uttering screams as shrill as a
woman's and darting swiftly to meet his crew of men, who suddenly
swarmed from the thicket, he headed a wild, fanatic pursuit where
Grenville was speeding for the terrace.