THE LAST CUP OF WATER
The figure was Elaine's. Grenville was almost upon her, prepared for
some swift and terrible deed of retaliation, when a swirl in the shroud
that enveloped them both revealed her standing near the edge.
She still held a glowing fire-stick in her hand, as she peered through
the billowing cloud of smoke where she had flung an ignited bomb. She
had fled from her shelter, in desperate dread, lest a murderous fate
overtake her companion, battling alone with the fiends. She had found
his post deserted, and, having discerned two figures on the trail, had
instantly obeyed an impulse to protect the hill with the only means
provided.
She uttered a cry as she saw Grenville crouching behind her, raising
her brand like a weapon, then sinking in relief.
"You!" he said. "Elaine! I might have known!"
"I am sure they are coming up behind us there!" she answered. "I know
I heard the bamboo buckets jangling! Have you been across to see?"
"I fired the bomb," he answered. "Didn't you know?"
She shook her head. Her ears, that had been so finely attuned to catch
the warning from the rearward cliff, had received or recorded no
impression whatsoever of the huger disturbance, while her own bomb's
colossal thunder and shock engrossed her eager attention.
"Was anyone there?" she asked, half choking with the reek. "I suppose
you couldn't see."
"I saw no one when lighting the fuse," he answered. "What was
happening here?"
She related what she had seen and what she had done.
"I hope I killed them!" she added, weak and dizzy from the smoke. "But
they probably ran away!"
It was the first time she had entertained such a feeling.
He urged her again to the shelter, where he coaxed her to drink, and
bathe her face, for the freshening and soothing influence of which she
was sadly in need. Returning, then, to the shelter for some of their
fruit, he groped his way down along the trail--and found that one or
the other of the bombs had so shattered the ledge, as to render it
useless for passing till the gap could in some way be bridged.
They were safe from invasion in the night--but they were, likewise,
marooned on the hill! It was hardly likely the Dyaks would attempt to
construct a platform across the yawning cavity, under the shadow of the
gun, while, as for themselves, descent at present was entirely out of
the question.
Meantime the smoke was unabated, if it was not, indeed, more dense and
choking than before. All the man's characteristic doggedness of
purpose was required in preparations for the night. The sun was down;
the brief and usually comforting twilight seemed entirely absent, as
darkness was hastened by the fumes.
Back and forth from the now deserted shelter to the passage Sidney
groped time after time, fetching her couch and robe for Elaine, and
their meager supplies for dinner. The gallery then became her boudoir,
sanctified to her uses. Outside on the ledge, where at least a breath
of air trailed upward from the cave beneath, to escape at the door and
a little dilute the stifling smoke, he finally made his sentinel post
to pass the long session of darkness.
He was roused repeatedly in the night by the sheer discomfort of his
resting-place, and the smoke that smarted his nostrils. All the long
hours through the dull red flames glowed fitfully, down through the
jungle. He was tempted, times without number, to throw out his
platform to the tree and descend with a bomb, to hurl at some group of
the demons, there in the nether gloom of the Hades they created. He
curbed his impatience rigidly, however, and crowded the impulse back.
That one or two natives at the most maintained the fires was a
supposition not to be ignored. The possible results of such an
enterprise were incommensurate with the risk that must be incurred.
Despite his uneasiness of mind and body he slept for a time between
midnight and dawn as the mere result of overstrain and the weariness
accumulated for several days.
For a brief time after sunrise the northerly breeze abated, permitting
the smoke to ascend more nearly straight. The headland was thereby
freed and sweetened, only, however, to be re-enveloped later, and,
veiled from the other features of the island.
Grenville took advantage of the respite to make an examination of the
cliff at the rear of the camp. It had been so shattered, where the
bomb shook down the disintegrated tufa, that its ascent would never
again be attempted. The framework of bamboo cups was gone. There was
nothing below to indicate whether or not a Dyak boat might have been
swamped by falling rock.
The cavity torn in the regular trail was rather more exaggerated than
diminished by the morning's revelations. Grenville was certain the
enemy would hardly hazard bridging the gap while they thought a single
ounce of punishment remained upon the terrace. He was not altogether
certain he should not construct a bridge himself, since only when they
charged upon his position could he hope to decimate the blood-desiring
savages, who must still remain in menacing numbers on the island.
The little brass cannon was once more charged, though its use was
hardly likely. The wind and the smoke resumed their steady flow across
and about the hill before Elaine appeared.
She was pale and plainly weary, when at length she emerged from the
passage. Her sleep had been broken, and haunted by dreams of countless
new atrocities committed by the demons below. Her courage was
phenomenal. She made no complaint, but attempted a smile and a cheery
outlook on the day.
Grenville was wrung, more than comforted, at the wistful effort she was
making to sustain her slender hope and encourage his own flagging
spirit. When he found that hardly a pint of water remained in the jugs
he had thought would supply them at least for a couple of days, his
despair for Elaine became intensely acute, and his heart began dully to
ache. Two of the clay receptacles had developed tiny cracks, perhaps
from the jarring of explosions, while a third had toppled over and
spilled its precious contents after having been placed in the passage.
Percolation and usage had drained the others inevitably--and the day
was beginning with heat and stifling reek.
Much of the fruit that Sidney had gathered was now unfit for use, and
was, therefore, thrown away. By way of conserving the water supply,
they made a breakfast of paw-paws and bananas only, though the meat
remaining from the previous day was still acceptable.
Grenville descended to the cavern as soon as this scant and oversweet
meal was concluded. He bore two jugs, to be filled from the basins in
the rock. When the light from the blazing torch he held above his head
dimly outlined but one of the pools he had seen on a former occasion,
he realized that some insignificant fissure must have resulted from his
blast, and permitted the other pools to trickle to the sea.
He filled his jugs with the utmost care, scooping up the water at the
deepest hole to leave all unclean sediment undisturbed. That the pool
must soon succumb to evaporation was obvious. Vaguely he wondered
which might last the longer, this underground well, or the breath in
his body and Elaine's.
Even the sight and touch of the precious water excited his mouth to
thirst. With the jugs both full and set carefully aside, he sprawled
out eagerly, flat on the rocks, for a deep and satisfying draught.
Hardly had the water reached his palate, however, when he lifted his
head with a sound like a stifled groan. The pool was connected with
the tides--_the liquid there was brine_!
He rose to his knees, with his fist before his eyes, his whole body
tense and rigid with his soul's recoil from the visions abruptly
shadowed in his mind. The cordon about the helpless girl was so
hideously complete! It seemed like the bitterness of her doom that he
tasted on his tongue.
It appeared so useless now to struggle. How he should take this latest
news to the uncomplaining comrade of his destiny was more than he could
determine. Wild thoughts of offering all the treasure he had found, as
ransom for Elaine at least, possessed his mind, as he conjured up the
final, triumphant approach of the Dyaks, whom the two famished keepers
of the terrace would at length be no longer able successfully to resist.
He likewise thought of offering himself, could Elaine be finally
spared. But through it all he was sickeningly conscious that neither
course could avail with these treacherous fiends. A human head was
more to them than treasures of earth or heaven. Moreover, the
murderous savages had already paid a heavy toll, and would smart in
their blood for revenge.
There could be no bargain made with such an enemy, all but victorious
already, and certain of final success. They should never find that
treasure, however, Grenville swore, if he had to sink it in the sea!
And as for a final triumph--there were many ways, in a last extremity,
whereby at least the unspeakable horrors, certain to follow their
capture alive, could be escaped by both himself and Elaine.
Wild rage possessed him, kneeling there, as he thought of the merciless
head-hunters smoking them out on the hill, and waiting as loathsomely
as vultures for the slowly approaching end. Mad plans for sinking
their anchored boats, for loading himself with torch and bombs, to
charge like a Nemesis through their ranks, or for luring them up to
some deadly mine, ranged erratically through his brain.
He thought of attempting a condensation of sea water to provide Elaine
with drink. He was swiftly possessed by a plan, even more absurd, of
making a float with his bamboo stems, and sailing away with Elaine on
board, under cover of the darkness.
He arose at last, dizzy, with the vortex of impractical suggestions
revolving in his mind. He emptied his jugs and strode to the mouth of
the cavern, looking out on smoke and sea. The tide was low. Whole
colonies of mussels clung there below him on the rocks. They were
food! The thought came home to him swiftly--only to be immediately
succeeded by the realization they were salt, and would make for greater
thirst. He thought of the wail that had formerly haunted the island--a
friendly, invaluable phenomenon that had not been repeated for days.
He thought of the raft he had rowed with such ease when he came here to
blow out the ledge. Was it floating still in the estuary's mouth, or
had some of the Dyaks destroyed it?
The estuary!--could he only reach its tepid pool, creep towards its
source, fill one of his jugs, and return to gladden Elaine! His busy
mind was instantly working on the various steps by which he might
succeed in lashing together some sort of raft, for a night excursion to
the tiny rill that fed the vine-surrounded inlet where the water was
not brine.