The Blue Raider Part 15

Between them the beach was covered with much miscellaneous litter, the nature of which the observers could not at present determine. What interested them most, and for a time puzzled them, was the sight of many dark figures working on a natural ledge some eighty feet above the sea level on the opposite side of the cove. They heard the sound of picks, and saw black men bringing baskets from a narrow tunnel in the cliff face, and emptying them on to the beach below. From the spot where the contents fell clouds of black dust rose high into the air. A white man was walking up and down the ledge, occasionally moving his right arm in a curiously jerky manner; and amid the other sounds came now and then rough shouts and sharp cracks.

'By George, Hoole!' exclaimed Trentham under his breath, 'that particular mystery is solved. They are working coal! There must be an outcrop in the cliff; of course they are not mining. The Raider can't rely on filling her bunkers from captures, apparently, or they wouldn't go to all this trouble.'

'I guess it's the n.i.g.g.e.rs get the trouble,' remarked Hoole. 'That fellow--in the distance he 's mighty like Halm--is making good play with his whip. You may bet your bottom dollar they snapped up Flanso and the rest to increase the number of their hands. Say, d' you hear that purr?'

He swung round and looked seaward, shading his eyes with his hands.

'There she is,' he exclaimed a few moments later. 'Skip behind the rock, Trentham; she 's diving right here.'

'The seaplane?'

'Yes. Can't you see her? She 's cut off her engines, making a very pretty swoop. See her now?'

'Yes; you 've better eyes than mine, Hoole.'

Hoole smiled. His eyes were fixed on the machine with an intense admiring interest.

'She blips,' he said, as the engine spluttered for a second or two.

'Now she 's cut off again. The pilot knows his job. I wonder where she 'll come down.'

Crouching behind the rocks they watched the seaplane as it made a circling movement, diving all the time, until it swept round and headed straight for the entrance to the cove. From a height of about two hundred feet it swooped down towards the sea, 'blipped' again, then descended lightly upon the surface, ran a few yards, and at last came to rest a little distance from the beach. Several bare-legged German sailors had already emerged from one of the nearer sheds. They waded into the water. Two of them carried the occupants of the seaplane on their backs to the sh.o.r.e, then returned to help their comrades to pull the machine in. It glided smoothly up the beach until it rested just below the sheds.

'Gliders all complete,' said Hoole.

'What do you mean?'

'They 've laid down boards on the beach; you can't see them from here.

They are well greased, too, to judge by the speed the floats slid up them. Those Germans are pretty thorough, Trentham.'

'Where did you pick up all these details?' asked Trentham curiously.

'Oh, I 've seen that sort of thing once or twice before. But hadn't we better get back? There 's nothing more to be seen from this quarter, and I presume Flanso and his men are on that ledge yonder, or near about.'

'That farthest shed is the officers' quarters, by the look of it. The two airmen have just gone inside. We 've learnt the lie of the land and not much else, I 'm afraid. Can't we go a little farther along the sh.o.r.e, behind the rocks, and climb the cliff nearer the sheds?'

'We can try, but 'ware the sentry.'

They had not gone far, however, before the incoming tide forced them to leave the rocks and clamber up through the bushes. The ascent was even more difficult than the descent had been, and a miscalculation of the direction of the path on which this sentry-box stood almost led to their undoing. They had supposed that it ran fairly straight to the sheds from the point at which they had left it; but the nature of the ground had necessitated its being carried a good many yards farther along the cliff, and then it bent round and formed a loop, approaching the sheds in the same direction as Hoole and Trentham were now going. Unaware of this, they were slowly climbing when Trentham slipped, displacing a ma.s.s of loose earth which went rattling down the cliff. They were not greatly alarmed, thinking that the sentry was too far away to have heard the sound through the noise of the coal-tipping across the cove. But footsteps not far above them caused them to snuggle behind a thick bush.

The rustle of movement above drew nearer. Through the bush they saw the sentry stepping cautiously down, and prodding the vegetation with his bayonet. Hoole fingered his revolver, but Trentham signed to him that if any weapon had to be used it must be the spear. The sentry, however, stopped ten or a dozen yards above them, then, apparently satisfied that the landslide was accidental, laboriously climbed up the cliff.

Much relieved, for violent measures would have been fatal to the success of their reconnaissance, the two men waited for a quarter of an hour or so, then struck up the cliff some distance to the left of the spot where the sentry had appeared, and wormed their way to the path, far beyond his box, by a wide circuit. It was almost dark by the time they rejoined the natives. They marched a few miles until night descended upon them; then they rested for a while, discussing the results of their expedition.

'I 'm afraid the chief will be disappointed at our returning without his son,' said Trentham, 'but I hope he 'll see reason. We couldn't possibly have rescued him.'

'Clearly not,' said Hoole. 'There wasn't time to discover exactly where the Germans keep their slaves. I guess we 'll have to reconnoitre again, from the other side, before we can see our way clear. The absence of the Raider would help us considerably, for there appeared to be only about half a dozen Germans on the spot. I wish I could have seen whether that fellow cracking the whip was Hahn.'

'Why?'

'Well, we don't owe the skunk a great deal; besides, he 's got my watch.'

CHAPTER IX

COMPLICATIONS

'Does my eye squint, Ephraim, me lad?' asked Grinson, looking up into the face of his taller companion.

Meek gazed so earnestly at his questioner that his eyes converged.

'I don't see no sign of it, Mr. Grinson,' he said, 'and I wouldn't suppose as how you 'd be visited with that affliction at your time of life.'

'That's what I thought. Then why the mischief can't I hit that tree?'

Meek looked sadly at the tree in question, as if mutely reproaching it for declining to be hit.

'Maybe there 's a bias in the spear, like in bowls,' he said. 'My spear 's just the same, for dash me if I can hit the trunk neither.'

The two seamen, with half a dozen natives, were on outpost duty in a glade a few miles on the seaward side of the village. Trentham had reported the result of his reconnaissance to the ailing chief, who realised at once that an attempt to release his men by force from an enemy equipped with the fire magic that his ancestors had lost was bound to fail. When Trentham pointed out that the Germans would probably make further raids, to increase the number of their slaves, and suggested the propriety of establis.h.i.+ng outpost stations where watch might be kept, he a.s.sented, and agreed that Grinson and Meek should take their turns with the rest. Each band of natives chosen for this duty was accompanied by one who belonged to the chief's own caste, so that Meek's dread of being eaten, though not wholly removed, was a good deal lessened. The two men beguiled the tedious hours by practising spear-throwing under the tuition of the natives, but after three days had gained little skill.

Grinson was more vigorous than accurate in his casts, while Meek, handling his spear as if it were a paper dart, could throw neither far nor straight; he was a model of patient inept.i.tude.

'I tell you what it is, Ephraim,' said the boatswain, sitting on the gra.s.s, 'spears ain't tools for Christians, and I 'd scorn to demean myself to these poor heathens, what knows no better. We 'll leave 'em to 'em, me lad. Not that they 'd be any good if the Germans come with guns.'

'D' you think they will, Mr. Grinson?'

''Course they will, if they come at all. I don't know what the gents mean by sticking on here. We can't do no good, and if they 'd listen to me we 'd slip off and chance our luck.'

'Aye, my vittals don't agree wi' me. I 'm falling away, Mr. Grinson.

Look here.'

Meek was drawing together the band of his trousers to show how much he had fallen away, when Hoole came into the glade.

'Grinson, come with me,' he said. 'I want you to relieve Mr. Trentham at a new post we 've fixed up about a mile away. Carry on till I come back, Meek; I 'll relieve you then for a spell.'

Meek looked far from happy when left alone with the natives. Having nothing else to do, he picked up his spear and resumed his feeble practice. While he was so engaged, the natives, who had been seated, solemnly watching him, suddenly sprang to their feet and gazed expectantly towards the trees. Meek had heard nothing, and as he ambled forward to retrieve his spear he was startled by the silent appearance of Kafulu, one of the men who had been captured. Still more amazed was he to see that the Papuan carried a rifle.

The natives greeted their comrade with cries of joy, and crowded about him, plying him with questions. In a few moments they fell silent, and listened intently as Kafulu eagerly addressed them. Meek, a little in the background, watched his gestures, wondering what he was saying, and why he continually brandished the gun. Presently Kafulu turned and pointed in the direction from which he had come, and then Meek noticed that his back was seamed with scarcely healed weals. His attention was immediately diverted, for among the trees at which Kafulu was pointing he caught sight of the faces of several white men, who appeared to be making signs of friends.h.i.+p. Now thoroughly alarmed, he turned to flee; but the Germans issued suddenly from the forest; one of them made a sign to Kafulu, who sprinted across the glade with some of his companions, sprang upon Meek from behind, and hauled him back.

[Ill.u.s.tration: KAFULU SPRANG UPON MEEK FROM BEHIND.]

'Mr. Grinson. Ahoy, Mr. Grinson!' shouted Meek.

His last word was smothered by a big hand laid across his mouth, and his eyes widened with amazement when he looked into the face of his captor.

There were six Germans, armed with rifles. Forming a guard round the natives, they hurried them into the forest, with Meek helpless in their midst.

About an hour later Hoole and Trentham returned to the spot.