men?” “The captain and one of the crew. The captain is the big man
you saw when we came. The other one is thin, tall. Stay away from him
he’s dangerous.” Piro rubbed the top of his head. “Dangerous?” “He’s
bad. He might fight – might kill you.” Piro shrugged. “You pay – we
find.” He dropped into his canoe with two or three of our men, and Ian
was already directing the clearing of our inboard launch which was
being swung over the side. Piro was shouting instructions in his own
language to the suddenly galvanized locals. Campbell came up from
below. “Got a gun?” he asked me.
“I won’t need a gun. I’ll tear that bastard apart.”
“Come here,” he said and took me under a light. He opened his hand and
I saw a round of ammunition in his palm. “I found that on the floor by
his bunk
– a .38 slug. Kane must have dropped it in his hurry and that means
he’s armed.” “Christ, we must stop these natives making a search,” I
said.
“We don’t want any deaths.” I turned to race on deck but he held my
arm, pushing something heavy into my hand. “Here’s a gun,” he said.
“Can you shoot?” I hung onto it tightly. “I’ll soon find out, won’t
I?”
I stuffed it into the pocket of the light anorak I was wearing.
“You’d better stay here.” “Son,”said Campbell, “I’m not as old as
that
– not yet.” I looked into his frosty eyes and said, “We’d better make
it snappy, then.” We ran up on deck and I dropped into the launch and
looked ashore. Little spots of light were moving in the darkness,
coming and going, sometimes vanishing and reappearing as the torches
were occulted by the palm trees.
“Damn, they’ve started to search.” I turned to Ian. “Kane’s armed.”
“Let’s go – I’ve got six – the rest are ashore already. They know the
score.”The engine started first time off, which was a tribute to
someone, and as we sped shorewards I said to the men around me,
“Listen, chaps, we’re looking for Geordie. If you come up against Kane
steer clear of him – Don’t push him too hard – he’s got a gun – And as
you find the natives send them back to their village.” Taffy Morgan
said, “What’s Kane done now?” “He’s killed a man,”said Campbell
coldly.
There was no more talk until the boat grounded on the beach. Piro was
waiting, his face alive with excitement in the light of a torch.
“Found ‘im,” he said laconically.
“Which one?” I asked quickly.
He gestured. “The big one – up in hut now I sighed with some
thankfulness. This must be Geordie.
“Piro, can you call your men off – stop them? They must not find the
other man – He has a gun.”
Piro made a quick sign to one of his friends, who lifted a large conch
shelf to his lips. The mournful sound boomed out, N. 0. E. _G 161 saw
the lights begin sending its note across the plantations to drift back
to the village.
“Let’s see him.” We found Geordie in one of the huts. His face was a
dreadful mess, with deep cuts and gashes across his forehead and
cheeks. Piro said, “We found ‘im in trees – asleep on groun’.” I
think he had concussion because he rambled a little, but he was able to
speak to us. He had seen Kane slipping ashore in one of the many
canoes and had followed in another. He hadn’t had time to call anyone
because he was afraid of losing Kane. He had followed as Kane skirted
the village and entered the trees and then he had been ambushed “For
God’s sake, who ambushed you?” “It – must have been Hadley. A man as
big as an elephant,” said Geordie painfully. “He stepped from behind a
tree and pushed a gun into my ribs. I didn’t expect that – I thought
Kane was on his own – and he took me by surprise – Then he made me turn
round to face him and he started to hit me.” He was trailing off but
recovered.
“With the gun. A big revolver.
It was the sight that did – this. And the bastard was laughing.
Then he hit me a couple of times on the head and I – passed out.”
He grinned weakly -“Maybe he thought he’d killed me but I have a pretty
hard head. I’m sorry I fell down on the job, Mike.” “It’s all right,
Geordie. None of us expected anything like’.
this. I’m only sorry you had to get it in the neck.”
His bloody face cracked in a grim smile. “Add it to their from account
with my finger,” he said weakly – “Give him one me.” “You’ll have to
wait your turn. There’s a queue lining up for licks at Hadley – and
Kane.” I stood up – “I think we’d better get you back to the ship.”
Two of his shocked team moved in, gentling him up and an to gather as
Piro setting off for the launch. The others beg called them to the
hut. I . spoke urgently to him. “Is there another boat here the
Pearl?” I asked. If Hadley had returned several times Piro was sure
to know his boat. Piro’s answer shocked us all, even though we were
already primed for it.
“Yes, it came ‘ere. It gone by hospital – one, two hour,” he said.
“Well I’m damned,” said Campbell. “He came through the pass behind us
– in the dark and without lights. He’s a bloody good seaman.” “That
doesn’t make me love him any more,”I said.
A man ran into the hut and spoke to Piro rapidly in his own language,
clearly distressed. Piro looked startled and gestured to me to come
outside, where he pointed into the darkness. There was a fitful
redness in the sky on the horizon.
“Hospital, he burn,” he said.
“Christ!”
The others crowded out to exclaim at the sight.
“How can we get there – fast – all of us?” I damned the Jeep, stalled
on the beach without fuel.
“Big canoe,” said Piro. “Go fast. Faster than walk.” He ran off.
I said, “Hadley’s fired the hospital!” Campbell looked at the glow in
the sky. “Is he plain crazy why did he do that?” he demanded.
“He threatened to do it. No time to tell you now. We’re going in
canoes. Piro’s gone to organize it. Now where’s Ian?” His soft
Highland voice sounded at my shoulder. “I’m here.” “Take one canoe
and go back to the Esmerelda. I want her down at the hospital as fast
as you can make it. There’s light enough – the lagoon must be safe;
you just follow the beach.
Just get her there.” He said nothing but ran off towards the beach.
Piro touched me on the arm. “Come to canoes.” Most of us could crowd
into the launch and the big canoe took the rest as well as a lot of
their own men – it held twenty of us. It was also leaky but by God it
was fast! The rowers put their backs into it and it skimmed across the
water at a great speed leaving a wake glinting with phosphorescence,
and easily keeping up with the launch.
N The three miles or so to the hospital took only twenty minutes, but
by that time we could see that the whole place was on fire. We could
see black figures running about, outlined against the flames, and I
wondered how many survivors there were. I was so intent on the scene
on shore that I didn’t see the ship. Campbell shook me by the shoulder
and pointed.
A schooner was anchored in the lagoon just off the hospital. We
wouldn’t have seen her in the darkness of that terrible night but for
the raging fire which gleamed redly on her white hull. I shouted to
Campbell, “What should we do go to the schooner or the hospital?” “The
hospital – we must save the patients.” The canoe drove onto the beach,
a little way below the hospital and we all splashed ashore and ran
towards the fire. I saw that Campbell had produced an automatic
pistol, a strange weapon with an extraordinary long, thin barrel. I
took N out the revolver he had given me and pounded onward, barely able
to keep up with the racing Commandoes. The whole hospital was burning
fiercely, the dry thatch going up like tinder and the flames streaming
to the sky in the windless night.
I ran-for the open space between two burning huts and came in sight of
the hospital’s own landing place. A boat was just moving out and I
heard the sudden sharp revving of an outboard motor over the crackle of
flames.
“They’re getting away,” I yelled, and took a shot at them.