THE ATTACK ON THE VILLAGE
In the haste of their flight from the dangerous beach the natives had
left drums, cooking-pots, and other impedimenta behind, and had now
nothing but their weapons to carry. Marching light, they showed a most
ungentlemanly want of consideration for Grinson. 'They 're no
gentlemen, Ephraim, me lad, that's flat,' he said later (they had gone
several miles before he overtook them), 'and me panting and sweating
like any think! I must 'a lost five pounds, if an ounce.'
As soon as he had recovered breath, he took place by Flanso's side at
the head of the procession, and quite unaware that he was transgressing
etiquette, kept pace with the chief, conversing by the way.
'What I can't make out, Flanso, old man,' he said, 'is what this Mr.
Hoole is--what he was brought up to, like. He 's only a nipper, so to
speak it, 's far as years go, and by his own account he was just larking
round these 'ere seas, with more money than wits, _I 'd_ say. Well,
then, what I want to know is, how does he know about these 'ere
airyplanes or seaplanes, or whatever you call 'em, handles 'em as easy
as I might handle a ship's boat, and no gammon? I know you don't
understand a word of what I'm saying, matey, not being born such; but I
'm just letting off steam, d' ye see? In course I wouldn't say all this
to the young gent's face, my manners being good as a general rule; but
it ain't good to keep your thoughts bottled up, like, 'cos they might
bust out sudden like the cork out of a bottle o' beer that's stood too
near the fire, and then where 'd we be, Flanso, me boy?'
Flanso appeared to be gratified by the seaman's speech, and smiled
amiably.
'You ain't half a bad-looking chap, Flanso, and if you 'd take that
stick out of your nose and learn to wash yourself you 'd be quite
handsome. 'Tis a strange world, and no mistake. There 's my Ephraim, a
good lad as cleans hisself regular like a true Christian, and speaks
English as well as I does myself, but nobody could say he 's a beauty;
and then there 's you--'orrible dirty, speaks like a monkey, and yet got
a face on you as would make your fortune if so be you went into the
Guards.
'Things is arranged very rum, Flanso, and there 's no understanding of
'em. Them two Germans, now--they 're pretty enough with their blue eyes
and flaxen hair, just the sort the girls go silly over; but their
'earts, Flanso--their 'earts is blacker than you, old man. Yet I don't
know--p'r'aps--but what's the good o' spekylatin'? Things is a puzzle,
and we ain't got the brains for to work it out.'
He shook his head, and fell into a reverie from which he was suddenly
awakened by a distant rifle shot. Instantly he became the man of action
again. He swung round, signed to the natives to halt, and put his
fingers to his lips enjoining silence. Then he hastened down the line
until he had discovered Lafoa.
'Here, you!' he said. 'You makee all fellas hold their jaw and come
bunko arter me, see? Bad fellas fightee; we go see what's up. See?'
The interpreter nodded, and hurried to Flanso, who gave orders in his
own tongue. It was clear that he looked to Grinson for leadership. More
shots rang out ahead.
'That's a revolver,' murmured Grinson. 'Mr. Trentham! Spears. Bows and
arrows.' He looked round at the natives. 'May be some good. Fust
thing is to find out exactly what's what. Here, you, how far off--how
muchee way--your village?'
The interpreter did not understand him. Grinson groaned.
'Well, makee all black fellas hidee in bushes, so no one can see.
Savvy?'
This appeared clear, for the natives, at a word from Lafoa, scattered,
and in a few moments were invisible.
'Now come alonga me,' continued Grinson. 'Flanso too. Come on!'
Flanso leading, they wormed their way stealthily through the forest
growth. The sounds of conflict grew as they progressed. Presently they
were conscious of the smell of burning, and thin trails of smoke were
wafted among the trees. Coming to the outskirts of the village, they
beheld several huts blazing. At first they saw no human being, but
advancing cautiously through the thick bushes that spread behind the
huts, they came upon a Papuan squatting on the ground and rocking
himself with pain. A question from Flanso elicited an account of what
had happened. An hour or two before, the outlying scouts had discovered
a number of white men marching towards the village. They had hastened
back with the news, and the white men in the village had ordered all the
people to withdraw into the inner enclosure. The enemy had come upon
them before they were all within the wall. Some of the people had been
killed, some wounded, others had escaped into the forest. The huts had
been fired, and the enemy had rushed towards the gate, but had hurriedly
retreated before a shower of arrows and the fire-magic that met them.
They had posted themselves among the trees, and a little while before
had begun to shoot their hot stones over the wall.
Lafoa interpreted this as well as he could to Grinson, who, however,
seemed to understand the position instinctively. He bade Lafoa hasten
back to the men halting in the forest a quarter of a mile behind, and
bring up all the young warriors. While the man was absent Grinson sat
down at the foot of a tree, stretched out his legs, folded his arms, and
pondered. There had not been time for the Raider to reach the cove and
land her crew, therefore the attackers must be relatively few in number.
They were armed with rifles; probably the rifles had bayonets;
therefore, though few in number, they were much more than a match for a
throng of untrained savages with no better weapons than bows and arrows
and spears.
'Which I mean to say,' said Grinson to himself, 'that is if we don't
come to close quarters, whereas and however 'tis numbers what tells in a
rush, such as boarding a vessel when you 're close alongside and Admiral
Nelson piped all hands to repel boarders--or t'other way about, for
'twas us what boarded the enemy, must 'a been, being British. That's one
point settled, Flanso, old man; we 've got to board 'em, take 'em abaft,
otherwise about the rump or stern, and lively too, not forgetting that
Mr. Trentham is for'ard banging away with his revolver, and we stand a
good chance of being bowled over in mistake, and apologies are no use,
and it's our look-out, and no blame to anybody. Now I come to think of
it, that point's fust and last, for if we rush 'em and don't win, why,
then nothing matters no more, and we 're all booked for the pearly gates
and no mistake. Things are getting pretty hot by the sound of it, and I
'm afraid that there revolver have give out, and--ah! here come the
boarding party.'
Lafoa stole through the brushwood followed by twenty or thirty young men
of the higher caste, all moving as silently as wild animals.
'Tell 'em to lay snug--otherwise doggo--while you and me and the chief
go for'ard and do a bit of spying,' said Grinson.
He crept forward with the two men, and came presently to a spot among
the trees where it was possible to get a fairly clear view of the
fighting. A number of Germans were laying piles of brushwood at the
foot of the wall; others were breaking holes in it, or enlarging slight
gaps between the logs; others were bringing up more brushwood from the
forest, while reports and flashes high up in some trees overlooking one
side of the enclosure showed that snipers had been posted to pick off
the garrison. For the moment none of the defenders were visible.
Grinson guessed that Trentham, having exhausted or all but exhausted his
ammunition, was reserving himself for the inrush which without firearms
it was impossible to prevent.
'There 's Trousers!' thought Grinson, catching sight of Hahn, who
appeared to be superintending operations. 'If I don't give him a
dusting----'
He stole back to the waiting natives, whispering instructions to Lafoa
on the way. Half a dozen men were told off to creep through the bush and
deal with the snipers in the trees, Grinson judging that in the dense
undergrowth a native with a bow and a spear should be a match for a
white man in a tree, even though armed with a rifle. The rest of the
men were ordered to follow him noiselessly to the edge of the clearing
in front of the wall, and to dash at the enemy when he gave the word.
The slight sounds of their movements were smothered by the reports of
the rifles and the hacking at the wall.
On reaching the spot, Grinson perceived that the Germans were massing
for a determined push. At the sound of Hahn's whistle they sprang on to
the piles of brushwood and attempted to swarm up and over the wall.
Grinson could just see Trentham above the top, swinging a huge native
club. While he was looking, the pendulum swing of the weapon disposed of
two Germans who had come within its formidable sweep. To right and
left, however, several of the enemy had got a footing on the wall, in
spite of the spears hurled by the older and weaker natives who alone had
remained in the village.
Then Grinson let out a bellow like the blast of a fog-horn, and sprang
from the shelter of the trees with a spear in each hand, followed by the
horde of natives, yelling and screeching. The Germans turned in alarm to
discover what was threatening them, dropped to their knees, and raised
their rifles. Only a few of them fired; the rest, disconcerted by the
shower of arrows and spears which the natives let fly at them as they
ran, dropped their rifles and fled helter-skelter among the trees,
Flanso leading his men in hot pursuit.
[Illustration: GRINSON LET OUT A BELLOW LIKE THE BLAST OF A FOG-HORN,
AND SPRANG FROM THE TREES, FOLLOWED BY A HORDE OF NATIVES.]
Grinson had made straight for Hahn, hurled one of his spears at him,
which missed, and coming to close quarters, lunged at him with the
other. But as he reached forward, a bullet from one of the snipers who
had not yet been dislodged from his tree struck the boatswain on the
arm. He spun round and fell on his face, just as Trentham, with Meek
and a score of natives, came rushing out at the gate. Hahn had raised
his revolver to shoot the fallen seaman, but catching sight of Trentham,
he snapped an ill-aimed shot at him, then took to his heels and followed
his men into the forest.
Trentham dispatched Lafoa to recall the natives, fearing that the
Germans would rally and outmatch them in a running fight; then he
returned to Grinson, who had sat up, and was trying to pull off his
coat.
'Just a tickler, sir,' said the boatswain, grinning. 'I 'd a sort of
feeling that I 'd be wounded in the house of my friends, as you may say,
them being Bible words and all correct. Easy all! That's off. My
goose is all right, praise be! Missed it by an inch, your lucky shot
did, sir.'
'My shot? I didn't fire.'
'I 'm sure I beg your pardon, and won't say no more about it, though I
'd a notion you fired at Trousers and missed. This 'ere scratch won't
spoil my beauty sleep, anyway. Mr. Hoole, sir? He got off like a bird,
not but what they didn't have a go at him; the Raider, sir--most
unfortunate, she come up just as we was getting ready for the kick-off,
as you may say. The old wreck's blown to blazes, but no more harm done,
and I lay Mr. Hoole by this time have got somewhere, though where that
may be remains to be seen.'
'Thankful I am as you 're not killed, Mr. Grinson,' said Meek, who had
come up from behind.
'Same to you, Ephraim, me lad. The only fly in my gizzard is that
Trousers has got off; but we 'll dust him yet, Ephraim. No, I don't
want no help; I 'm sound on my pins, and my arm don't hurt so bad as
vaccination. What I _would_ like is a pint o' beer, but I might as well
cry for the moon. Things is a great puzzle, Ephraim!'