AT ARM'S LENGTH
Within the mazes of the forest the little party had no fear of pursuit,
and they marched rapidly homeward with the alacrity of men conscious of
success. They had gone only a few miles when Trentham heard the
unmistakable purring of the seaplane's engine. At that spot the trees
formed a canopy overhead through which the sky could scarcely be seen;
but at his bidding Lafoa ordered one of the natives to climb a lofty
trunk and discover if possible in what direction the machine was flying.
The sound had long been inaudible when the man came to the ground again
and reported that the strange bird had not soared within sight.
They pushed oh, and were met some little distance from the village by
Hoole himself.
'Been scalp-hunting?' he said with a smile.
'No; playing bowls. But what's your news?' asked Trentham. 'Ours will
keep.'
'Well, I guess it might be worse. I made Wilhelmshafen, and had to run
the gauntlet of a score or so of rifles. It seems they 'd heard a thing
or two about the seaplane, and had already reported to one of your
warships that's cruising somewhere east. I didn't dare land till I 'd
dropped a note telling 'em who I was. There's no warship within miles;
but as soon as they had heard my story they rose to the occasion; they
're some sports. The only vessel they had around was a tramp; she might
make ten knots in the ordinary way, but could be speeded up to twelve,
perhaps, by frantic stoking; so the engineer said. The skipper started
coaling at once; he had her cleared of everything that could be spared,
and the crew volunteered to a man.'
'But, my dear fellow, a tramp! She 'd no more offensive weapon, I
suppose, than a hose.'
'That's correct; but, of course, the skipper had no notion of fighting
the Raider. His idea was to steal up along the coast and lie doggo while
his men came across country and got you away. At the same time he did
what was possible by way of armament. There was a number of machine-guns
on shore, left by the Germans when they hauled down their flag to the
Australians. He put them aboard, and some Australian gunners were keen
to join in this stunt, along with a crowd of young fellows who swore
they were all crack shots, and a trader or two. Altogether there are
between thirty and forty men coming along. She wasn't ready, of course,
when I left; but with good luck she 'll lie off the shore eastward by
sunrise to-morrow. Stealing up through the night she 's a good chance of
escaping notice, and unless the Raider makes an early morning trip you
'll get away without trouble. Of course, if she is spotted--well, we
know what the Raider's guns can do.'
'The tramp has only to keep out of range; the Raider 's crippled.'
'You don't say! Did she run aground?'
Trentham related the morning's events.
'Bully!' cried Hoole. 'Say, what's to prevent our making a good bag of
Germans? You think the Raider will sink?'
'There can't be much question of that. They had carried most of their
arms on board, and probably those went down with the vessel; the men
would waste their time trying to save her. But there were some armed
men still on shore, and they might rescue a certain number of rifles
before the ship went down. As I came along I tried to decide what I 'd
do myself in the Germans' place. They are marooned; they must guess that
you flew off for help, and expect to have to deal with some sort of
force. The question is, will they surrender or fight?'
'Well, I don't know the inside of a German's mind, so I can't say; but I
know what I 'd do. I wouldn't surrender without a fight; and if I saw
the odds against me, I 'd make tracks inland, live on the country, and
hold out. The Germans are so cocksure of winning the war that I guess
they 'll do that.'
'I came to the same conclusion. It's not as if they were traders; they
're naval men, and I can't imagine their giving in tamely. Well, then,
we shall have to prepare for a fight.'
'How do you mean?
'They 've lost the greater part of their provisions, and will have to
replace them. What better chance than to quarter themselves by main
force on the nearest village, which is our friend Flanso's, and compel
the people to provide for them? Incidentally also take vengeance for
the smashing of their vessel. We can't leave Flanso in the lurch.'
'I guess you 're right. Some of those young fellows at Wilhelmshafen
were spoiling for a fight, and were real disgruntled when the skipper
showed 'em they 'd have no chance against a well-armed raider. They 'll
be ready enough to take a hand in beating off the Germans if they attack
the village.'
'If they arrive in time. We may have to face the music before they get
here, and I don't much like the prospect. Thanks to Grinson, we did
very well against Hahn's handful this morning, but it will be quite
another thing to deal with fifty or sixty, perhaps more, a good
proportion armed with rifles. Your revolver ammunition is all spent; we
've got the revolvers of the two prisoners, that's all.'
'I brought three revolvers along and a few rounds of cartridges; very
little good they 'll be against two or three score rifles. We 'll be
back of the wall, of course, which is something to the good.'
'By the way, we heard your seaplane. Where is it?'
'Away yonder. I came down on that pond the Germans failed to strike. I
guess they heard her too, and may waste time trying to find her, which
will give us a chance to set our defences in order. Say, shall we get
along?'
They hurried on. The natives of their party had preceded them, and were
surrounded by groups of excited villagers to whom they were expounding
the method by which the white men had destroyed the enemy's vessel. A
noisy throng followed Trentham and his friends to the gate of the inner
enclosure, and when they had disappeared, started a victory dance up and
down the broad path.
Lafoa's aid was once more enlisted by Trentham in explaining the
situation to the chief. More intelligent than his subjects outside,
Flanso was under no illusion about the danger that threatened his
village. His own experiences while in the hands of the Germans left him
in no doubt as to the fate in store for his people if the enemy got the
better of them, and he was ready to accept Trentham's suggestion that
all but the fighting men should be at once sent away southward into the
forest, where they would be at least out of harm's way until the issue
was determined. But when he consulted some of his counsellors he at
once encountered the strenuous opposition of the medicine-man, who had
not forgiven Hoole for having made him cut so sorry a figure at the
duk-duk dance. He protested that the new danger threatening the village
was due to the stupidity of the white men. Why had they destroyed the
blue vessel, and prevented the enemy from going away? They were already
responsible for the destruction of the wreck that had been preserved and
cherished by the chief's forefathers from the beginning of the world.
They had prevented the human sacrifice customary at the inauguration of
a new chief. They were meddlers, and all the misfortunes that had
befallen the village were due to them.
Such was the gist of the medicine-man's harangue, though these few
sentences by no means represent the torrent of words which poured from
his lips. Nor could any one but a cinematograph operator properly
depict the extraordinary grimaces of his features and the violent
gestures with which he emphasised his denunciations. His right hand
wielded a heavy nail-studded mace, and as his excitement grew he
stepped, or rather danced, nearer to the group of white men, twirling
the mace, tossing it in the air, striking the ground with it. Ignorant
though they were of his language, the white men could not mistake the
purport of his speech, and two of them noticed with some anxiety that he
was making an impression on some members of his native audience.
Grinson, however, felt nothing but amusement. A broad grin spread over
his face as he listened and watched, and the more excited the
medicine-man became the more pleasure the seaman took in the
performance, giving utterance now and then to his sentiments with sundry
ejaculations and cat-calls.
At last a sudden change came over his expression. The medicine-man in
his frenzy had drawn very near to Hoole, and to give point to one of his
statements he thrust his mace forward at the full length of his arm, so
that Hoole only escaped a blow by stepping quickly back. It was
uncertain whether the man had intended to attack him, but the suspicion
was too much for Grinson. His lips snapped together; with a great roar
he hurled himself at the orator, struck the mace from his hand, and
caught him round the waist and hoisted him above his head. The sinews
of the seaman's arms cracked; for some seconds he held the native aloft,
as if hesitating whether to cast him to the ground. Terrified into
silence, the man wriggled; the spectators looked on open-mouthed.
Grinson grew purple with exertion; then he laughed. Gradually he
lowered his arms, stretched to full length, and gently laid the man at
Hoole's feet.
'Windbag!' he muttered, passing his hand across his sweating brow, then
setting his arms akimbo and looking down at the still figure.
Gasps of amazement broke from the natives. The medicine-man lay for
half a minute; when Grinson stooped and picked up the fallen mace he
closed his eyes as if expecting a blow.
'A very neat little bobby's bludgeon, sir,' said Grinson, sticking the
mace under his arm. 'Move on, there!'
The medicine-man opened his eyes, and seeing that Grinson had turned
aside he crawled slowly away, rose to his feet, and sidled into his hut.
The colloquy he had interrupted was resumed. So great was the
impression made by Grinson's display of strength that the natives were
ready to agree to anything the white men proposed. It was arranged that
the non-combatants should be sent away; a number of huts and trees near
the wall on the outside should be razed, provisions brought into the
inner enclosure. A few weak spots in the wall were strengthened, and by
nightfall everything that was possible had been done to prepare for
attack. Scouts meanwhile had been sent out in the direction from which
attack might be expected. These were withdrawn as soon as it became
dark, and the whole able-bodied population was brought within the wall.
Trentham recognised the futility of attempting any definite tactical
measures with a rabble of undisciplined natives.
'They must fight in their own way, if there is to be a fight,' he said
to Hoole. 'Let alone the impossibility of giving orders with only one
interpreter, we should only worry them by trying to lick them into
shape. We must rely on their common sense.'
'Just so. It's up to them to keep the enemy out, and that's all that
matters. A word as to not exposing themselves--that's all we can do,
except set 'em a good example.'
'As to that, you 'd be useful here, old man; but I fancy you 'd be even
more useful if you went off in the seaplane and guided the steamer into
the cove. With the Raider sunk, she could quite well run in and land
her crew on the Germans' beach; they 'd get here quicker then than if
they landed at a spot we don't know the way from.'
'Well, I guess we 'll wait and see,' said Hoole. 'We 'll take turns to
do sentry-go through the night. If nothing happens, I 'll very likely
take a run out in the morning. The tramp won't be far away then,
anyhow.'