As darkness fell, the remaining boats of the flotilla made their way back to harbour. There they sadly counted their losses. One gendarme and four of the body-guard had been killed, and fifteen members of the force, including Sergeant Marceau and another gendarme, had been wounded. Two of the boats had been sunk and the casualties would have been still higher had not all the Tujoans been excellent swimmers, so that none of those in the sunken boats had been drowned.
James was in such distress about the dead and wounded of his body-guard that Gregory thought him in no state to discuss the situation with Elbœuf, so he persuaded him to go straight up to the bure while he himself went to the Residence. There he found the old Frenchman partaking of his pre-dinner aperitif.
Nothing would have pleased Gregory better than to flay Elbœuf verbally, but on the way back to harbour it had occurred to him that there was still a last chance of getting the better of Lacost. He and his Colons had fired upon French gendarmes who were in the course of carrying out their duty, killing one and wounding two others; so, no reinforcements being available locally, the Resident’s proper course was to call for troops to be sent in from Noumea. To get that done, and swiftly, meant that Gregory must retain the good-will of the Commandant. In consequence, he confined himself to reporting the bare facts of the disaster, and asking that aid to overcome the Colons should be asked for as a matter of urgency.
On hearing what had happened, Elbœuf expressed great indignation, although he continued to maintain that he could not possibly have permitted the attack on the Pigalle to be made at night and without warning. But he readily agreed to radio Noumea for troops to be sent in by air, then set off for the town to send the signal and see his wounded Sergeant.
Returning to the bure, Gregory found James still in very low spirits in spite of the efforts of the two girls to console him; so dinner proved a gloomy meal and, soon after it, James escorted Olinda back to the Boa Viagem. On his return they went to bed: Manon greatly relieved that Gregory had come to no harm in the affray, but secretly glad that Pierre Lacost had had the better of it; James and Gregory both now with the depressing feeling that, unless help was sent promptly from Noumea, all the danger, distress and anxiety they had suffered during the past four months would have been for nothing.
A reply was not received until eleven o’clock on the following morning. Elbœuf brought a copy of it up to the bure and, to Gregory’s fury, it was anything but satisfactory. Apparently, the old man had not fully explained the situation and its urgency, but had simply asked for troops to be sent owing to his gendarmes being insufficient in numbers to arrest a gang of desperadoes. It was, therefore, hardly surprising that Noumea requested further information before acting.
In view of the way in which Gregory had, not long before, got the better of his one-time colleague General Ribaud, he could still not be certain that a personal appeal from him would have the desired effect, so he wrote out a lengthy cable putting matters in a way that Ribaud, as the responsible authority, could not ignore, then made Elbœuf sign it, and sent it off himself.
Meanwhile, James had gone down to visit the wounded and condole with the relatives of the dead, promising the latter’s dependants that he would arrange for their support. This occupied him for the greater part of the day, so Gregory and Manon lunched with Olinda on the yacht and spent an anxious afternoon with her. Soon after five o’clock James came out to them with a copy of a reply Ribaud had sent to Elbœuf’s second signal. It read:
Now appreciate situation stop troop carriers on exercise so temporarily unavailable stop am despatching gunboat should be with you Monday.
Again their hopes were dashed. It was already Saturday evening and, from what Hamie had said, Lacost might have all the treasure on board and be ready to sail that night, or at latest the following day. The fact that the gunboat would give chase was small consolation. Even twenty-four hours’ start would be sufficient for the Pigalle to elude capture for some days. During that time Lacost could anchor off one of the innumerable uninhabited islands between Fiji and New Caledonia, get the treasure and all his stores ashore, and scuttle the Pigalle, so that she would sink without trace. He could then lie low there for a year or more, until he and his companions felt it safe to signal some passing vessel and, under false names, have themselves taken off as the survivors of the shipwreck of a copra-collecting schooner; or at least until the more impatient Colons either mutinied or decided to murder him, and that was unlikely to happen for several months.
But with him James brought another document—a lengthy epistle in Nakapoan script. It was a letter from Roboumo, and its contents were roughly as follows:
Having witnessed his Ratu’s fire-walk on the previous day, he was much concerned that the ability to perform such a feat would undermine the authority that he had enjoyed for so long; and this might lead to desertion by his followers. Therefore, he proposed a pact. The attack on the Pigalle had, he declared, been doomed to failure because it had been made in daylight. But a surprise attack by night, given overwhelming numbers, could not fail to prove successful. The Ratu’s body-guard, he assumed, would on their own prove reluctant to face the Colons again, but he could offer reinforcements of twenty-seven men, all armed with modern weapons. He was, he admitted, most reluctant to allow the treasure in the Maria Amalia to be salvaged, but this was for him a secondary consideration to losing his status as the great Magic Man of Tujoa.
If the Ratu would give a solemn undertaking to perform no more feats of draunikau, he would send his men to aid in the capture of the Pigalle. But the matter was urgent, because the White Witch had told him that the salvaging of the treasure was near completion, so, if the Pigalle was to be attacked again, it must be that night. If the Ratu was agreeable to treat, arrangements should be made that evening. Since the fire-walk, he was not prepared to risk his own followers deserting to the body-guard should the Ratu come to his island accompanied by armed men. But if he would come alone, as a guarantee of good faith in the future, they might agree an alliance which would confirm his status and enable the Ratu to secure the treasure.
From this, one thing stood out clearly. Roboumo’s proposal did offer a real chance to stymie Lacost at the eighteenth hole. James then declared that, after his triumph, he felt such complete confidence in himself that he no longer had any fear of Roboumo or his White Witch. He was quite prepared to go alone to a meeting. Smiling at him with pride, Olinda said that evidently it was now Roboumo who was afraid of him, so she was in favour of his accepting.
Having considered for a few moments, Gregory said to James, ‘To get the better of that swine Lacost I’d be prepared to take very big risks. But I don’t like the idea of your going to Roboumo’s island on your own. The old devil is obviously more concerned about keeping his hooks on the people than he is about who gets the treasure. He might take a chance on having his boys murder you, so that he would be quite certain of continuing to rule the roost here. And, anyhow, would you be willing to enter a pact that would leave him free to do so?’
‘I have no fear that he would harm me,’ James replied at once. ‘He would not dare. Although many of my people have been kept under his thumb, by far the greater part of them are devoted to me. They would rise up in their wrath, invade his island by the hundred and put an end to him and all his followers. As for the situation should we make a pact, I look at it this way. I would stand by my bargain and let him continue his blackmail as long as he could. But my possession of the gold here would enable me to break his power gradually. If I could start industries here, that would not only ensure a decent standard of living for the majority of my people, but would also open their minds to Western ways of thought, so that they would no longer go in fear of being bewitched.’
‘You are right,’ Olinda agreed. ‘All the same, darling, I spoke before without thinking, and I now agree with Gregory. To go alone to Roboumo’s island would be an awful risk to take. Write to him or send a messenger, but I beg you not to go yourself.’
James shook his head. ‘My love, that would be no use. I know my people and, bad man as he may be, I understand the way Roboumo’s mind works. How could he trust me to keep my word in the future unless I show trust in him by placing myself unprotected in his hands?’
‘I wouldn’t trust him not to try to pull a fast one over me even if we were face to face and I was armed and he was not,’ Manon remarked, using such little weight as she had on the side of preventing, if possible, an agreement which would lead to another attack on the Pigalle.
‘Nor I,’ Gregory agreed. ‘The issue hinges entirely on how much store James sets on getting hold of the gold. As I have said on several previous occasions, I don’t want any of it myself; so, although I’d hate to see Lacost get away with it, I’d rather that than have James run into serious danger.’
‘It is not the gold,’ James said earnestly. ‘Not now. It is my people who were killed and maimed last night. Four of my body-guard killed and thirteen of them wounded; not to mention the three gendarmes. I would never again consider myself fit to be a Ratu if I neglected any possibility of being revenged upon those murdering Frenchmen.’
There fell a short silence. Obviously James had made up his mind and there seemed no more to be said; but, after a minute or so, Gregory did say, ‘Very well, then. You will go in alone. But I mean to follow you. I’ll keep well out of the way, but shall remain within listening distance of Roboumo’s kraal—or whatever they call it in these parts. And we’ll have Aleamotu’a, and some of the other boys, just across the channel, on the mainland. Then, if any treacherous attempt is made on you, just start yelling at the top of your lungs and we’ll do our damnedest to get you out.’
James laid his big, brown hand over Gregory’s and smiled. ‘You are a true friend: my father and protector. That’s how it shall be, then. And if the attack is to be for tonight the sooner we put Roboumo’s honesty to the test, the better.’
Again both girls were stricken with anxiety for their men. It was agreed that they would dine together on the yacht, then Manon should go ashore to the bure and there wait events. As soon as James and Gregory returned safely, she was to switch the light over the front entrance to the bure on and off three times, while Olinda sat on deck watching for this signal that all was well with them.
The two men then had themselves taken off to the wharf, walked up the hill and, without delay, put their preparations in train. While Aleamotu’a was getting the body-guard together, James and Gregory ate an early cold supper. By the time they had finished, darkness had fallen. When they came out of the bure, James addressed his men, explaining to them what it was hoped they would be able to accomplish during the coming night. All of them were eager to avenge their fallen comrades and, beating their chests, proclaimed their willingness again to follow their Ratu into danger.
As it was probable that Roboumo had spies in the town who would have set off post-haste to warn him if they saw an expedition being mounted from the harbour, it was decided to march inland by circuitous tracks, down to a fishing village only about a mile from the witch-doctor’s island, and use the boats of the natives there.
The trek took the best part of an hour. It was by then a little before nine o’clock, and the moon, halfway through its first quarter, stood at about thirty degrees above the horizon. By the light it gave, any sentinel on the island could not have failed to see a flotilla of boats creeping along the coast. But the island at its nearest point to the mainland was only a quarter of a mile off-shore; so it was decided that Aleamotu’a should march the body-guard along the beach to that point, then, if they were needed, they could within ten minutes wade across the shallow channel.
In consequence, when they reached the village, they took only two boats: a dinghy with an outboard engine, in which James set off steered by his coxswain, and a low-lying, one-man canoe for Gregory. For the first half-mile the dinghy towed the canoe, then dropped it off; so that, should there be a reception party expecting James to arrive, Gregory, paddling himself and arriving several minutes later, would stand the best chance of landing unobserved, while James was being escorted up to Roboumo’s bure.
This plan worked admirably. The light was insufficient for Gregory actually to see James land at that distance, but the sound of voices coming clearly across the water in the quiet of the night told him that some of Roboumo’s men had been waiting there to greet him. As the voices faded, Gregory altered course a little, then beached his canoe about two hundred yards from the place where the coxswain had landed James and was lying off until he returned.
The white coral beach extended inland for only some fifty feet. Darting across the open space at a crouching run, Gregory swiftly gained the shelter of a group of palms that cast dark shadows. Had his canoe been seen before he landed, it would have been taken for that of a native fisherman on his way further out to sea to spear fish attracted by the light of a torch, so his only real hazard had been that he might be spotted while crossing the beach. But no challenge had rung out. Considerably relieved, he now moved cautiously through the screen of palms and light undergrowth, working his way round until he came upon the path that led up to a group of bures.
The previous night the gendarme in Gregory’s boat had been killed; so he had quietly ‘naturalised’ the man’s Sten gun and two tear-gas grenades. Now, he switched the safety catch off the weapon, so that he could use it instantly, and proceeded with even greater caution up the path, keeping well into the shadowed side of it.
Two hundred yards brought him within sight of the nearest bure, which lay on the far side of a vegetable garden. Moving off the path, and stooping now, he crept stealthily from bush to bush until he could get a view of a good part of the village. It consisted, he guessed, of about thirty bures, with the tall roof of one, obviously Roboumo’s, rising high above the others.
Normally, at this hour the inhabitants would have been asleep, but, although he could not see anyone, the low murmur of voices and an occasional laugh told him that there were people about. Selecting a position that gave him the best available field of fire into the village entrance, he settled down to await either James’ emergence or sounds of trouble.
He had reasoned that, if Roboumo did intend treachery, it was most unlikely that James would be set upon when entering the village, as his coxswain might have heard sounds of a struggle and made off to give the alarm. It seemed certain that there would be a yaggona drinking ceremony and there was just the possibility that the witch-doctor might use that as a means of either poisoning or drugging James, taking it for granted that he would follow traditional custom and gulp down the whole contents of the cup. But James had a lifetime’s familiarity with the drink, so he would almost certainly detect a different flavour the moment the first drop touched his tongue, and when he and Gregory had discussed this possibility he had promised to be on his guard. Endeavouring to think as Roboumo might, Gregory had decided that the most likely way he would attempt to rid himself of James was by some apparent accident after James had left his bure—perhaps by one of his men pretending to trip and at the same time shooting James in the back—so that afterwards any suggestion that he had been murdered could be disclaimed.
On the other hand, Gregory acknowledged to himself that his fears for James quite probably had no foundation. Clearly Roboumo’s paramount interest was to retain the hold that he had over the many Tujoans who feared his evil powers; and, should James meet his death on the island, even apparently through an accident, that might lead to his people’s summoning up the courage to put an end to Roboumo and his following of bad men.
Making due allowance for the time the yaggona ceremony would take, and the usual prolonged palaver about irrelevant matters that normally preceded getting down to business when South Sea notabilities met, after half an hour Gregory became considerably more hopeful that James and Roboumo were really reaching agreement on a pact that, later that night, would bring about the death or capture of Lacost and his Colons.
Another ten minutes drifted by; then, suddenly, the silence of the night was broken by a loud shout.
Repressing the instinct to spring to his feet, Gregory remained crouching under cover, his Sten gun at the ready.
The shout was followed by a scream of rage and, immediately afterwards, by swift, violent banging on a drum. At these sounds, several men came running out from the small bures, some with arms and others without; so evidently the alarm had taken them by surprise.
A moment later, James appeared round the corner of a small bure that partially hid Roboumo’s lofty one. In great bounds he dashed towards the path that led down to the shore. Two men ran forward to intercept him, a third, some feet to his left, raised a rifle to shoot him down.
Gregory’s finger lightly squeezed the trigger of the Sten gun. Its bullets ploughed waist high into the man who held the rifle. With a single screech, he fell, riddled. His rifle flashed as it fell from his hands, but as he was hit he had jerked it up and the bullet passed high over James’ head.
At the rat-tat-tat of Gregory’s volley, it was as though the paralysing glance of an angry god had suddenly turned the villagers to stone. Their heads all turned in the direction of the shots, they remained for thirty seconds rigid and gaping.
James struck the nearer of the two men who had been about to intercept him a blow under the chin that sent him reeling, swerved past the other and ran on. Swiftly putting down his gun, Gregory pulled the pins out of his two tear-gas grenades, one after the other, then lobbed them into the centre of the little group of natives.
At that moment Roboumo appeared, brandishing a great war club and screaming with rage. By then James was well past Gregory and round the bend of the path. Even as the witch-doctor shouted to his men to give chase, the fumes from the bombs were catching them in the eyes and throat. Snatching up his gun, Gregory followed James, running all-out for the shore.
Two minutes later they were wading out to the dinghy. The coxswain already had the outboard motor going. As they scrambled aboard and the boat turned towards the mainland, the moon gave light enough for them to see that Aleamotu’a and the body-guard, having heard the shots, were already half-way across the narrow channel. But their help was not now needed. James shouted to them that he was unharmed and that they should return to the beach.
As the two friends landed, the Tujoans crowded round their Ratu with excited cries, congratulating him on his escape and begging to be told what had occurred. When he had calmed them down he told them that he would make an important announcement about Roboumo the following morning. Then he ordered Aleamotu’a to march them back to the Royal bure, where they were to be given a good meal and as much kava as they liked to drink. He and Gregory then re-boarded the borrowed dinghy, as they could get home more quickly by water.
On their way round to the harbour, James gave Gregory an account of his meeting with Roboumo. It had opened with a solemn yaggona drinking, at which five of the witch-doctor’s principal retainers had been present. After the ceremony and when many compliments had been exchanged, the discussions had begun well. The five chief warriors had said that they and their men would have no fears about boarding the Pigalle, provided that the attack was made during the hours of darkness during which they would enjoy the full protection of the White Witch. With muffled paddles they would approach the Pigalle from her seaward side, while the Ratu and his body-guard would come round the island, also in canoes—as the noise of motor engines might alert the crew of the ship—and attack from the landward side. In order that the two attacks should occur simultaneously, it was agreed that they would both go in half an hour after the moon had set. This would be at an early hour in the morning, and in order to ensure synchronisation to within a few minutes, one man in each party would, every few moments, imitate the cry of a seagull. When they came within sound of one another both parties would paddle in with the utmost speed and board the Pigalle.
Having listened to these proposed tactics and fully approved them, Gregory asked, ‘Then what went wrong to cause Roboumo to quarrel with you afterwards? I am amazed, too, that you succeeded in breaking away from six of them and escaping as you did. You must have been born under a lucky star.’
James laughed. ‘I think I was, but I didn’t have to wage any desperate encounter or take on such heavy odds. After showing that he meant business, that his men were willing to fight and the details of the attack having been settled, Roboumo dismissed his five warriors, so that we could discuss in private the terms he asked for his assistance. I agreed to give no more demonstrations of my own powers as a Draunikau, and not to interfere with him, on one condition, namely that in future he should not threaten anyone with the death curse. After some argument he reluctantly agreed. Then I said to him:
‘ “It is known throughout the islands that your power is really vested in the far greater occult powers of the White Witch. Therefore I feel sure you will appreciate that I must also have her word that she will regard our agreement as binding upon her as well as upon yourself.”’
‘Ho! Ho!’ Gregory murmured. That was jolly shrewd of you, James. Go on. I can hardly wait to hear what happened, though I’ll make a guess. It turned out that he’s been fooling everyone and that there is really is no such person.’
‘You’re wrong. There is, and I saw her. But I had the hell of a job to persuade him to let me. He said that, since she has been in Tujoa, no man except himself has ever set eyes on her, and no woman other than his three senior wives, who attend upon her. I took a firm line and told him that unless she became a party to the deal it was off. Even as I made the threat, I regretted it, as I feared he’d call my bluff. But he didn’t. After sitting in silence for a few moment he stood up and said, “Very well. Wait here, Ratu, until I return for you.” Then he walked to the far end of his big bure which was completely screened off by heavy tapa-cloth curtains.
‘He went behind them and remained there for about three minutes; then he opened the curtains a few inches and beckoned to me to come through. You can imagine how intrigued and excited I was, but I managed to keep up an appearance of calmness and walked across the room quite slowly. I had all my work cut out, though, not to show my amazement when I saw what lay behind those curtains.
‘Apart from a few feet on the far side, the whole space was filled by a huge bamboo and wicker cage. It was about fourteen feet square by ten feet high, and furnished inside as a bed-sitting room. At one end there was a large, comfortable divan. The other held a round table, an armchair, a single elbow chair, a small desk, and one corner was screened off—no doubt concealing a washplace and privy.
‘The Witch was seated in the elbow chair facing the front of the cage. I had always believed her to be a fair-skinned Polynesian, or a native of the islands who painted herself white. But she was neither. She was a white woman, all right. For her age—I put her down to be about sixty—she was still remarkably good-looking. Her face was very pale and slightly wrinkled; her hair was dead white, very long, parted in the centre and falling straight on either side of her face to her shoulders, hiding them and the upper part of a rich native dress that she was wearing. But her eyes, which were blue, were quite blank; and, although she was looking straight at me, she did not seem to be aware of me.
‘Roboumo spoke to her—in his own dialect of course, but I understood enough of it to know that he was honestly giving her particulars of our agreement. When he had finished there was a moment’s silence, then she replied to him, giving her consent, but in such a halting, toneless voice that I felt certain that when he had first left me to go behind the curtain he had hypnotised her.
‘Turning to me, he asked, “Now are you satisfied?” Thinking that nothing further could be got out of her, I replied that I was. Roboumo then turned his back on the Witch and parted the curtains so that I could walk through to the main part of the bure. Just as I reached the curtains, I glanced over my shoulder to take a last look at her. Instantly I noticed a change in her expression. Her face was working. Clearly she was coming out of her trance and struggling to speak. Then, in a hoarse whisper, her voice came:
‘ “Aidez-moi. Je suis prisonnière”.’
‘God Almighty!’ Gregory exclaimed. This is terrific. What happened then?’
‘Naturally, I stepped back towards her, intending to question her in order to learn who she was, where she had come from and so on. But Roboumo, too, had caught her whisper. Swinging round he shouted at her, “Sleep! Sleep!” and made some swift passes at her with his outstretched hands. Her eyelids drooped until her eyes had closed and, her muscles relaxing, she sank back in the elbow chair. I turned on Roboumo and cried:
‘ “You are a swindler! A swindler! This woman has no power of her own. You have just used her as a means of terrifying the superstitious among my people.”
‘Pushing him aside, I advanced to the cage and tried to tear apart the bamboo bars, so that I could free her. They were thick and strong, so that I could do no more than bend them. While I was still straining every muscle to break into the cage, her head began to roll upon her shoulders. Again she partially emerged from the trance into which she had been thrown. Her eyes opened, then dilated. Suddenly her mouth gaped and she cried:
‘“Achtung !”
‘I don’t know much German, but enough to understand that to be a cry of warning. Not an instant too soon I swung round and jerked my head aside. Had I not, Roboumo would have bashed in my skull with a big war club that he had snatched from the wall. I then knew that, as I had discovered the White Witch to be no better than a ventriloquist’s doll that he was making use of, he meant to kill me rather than give me any chance to disclose his secret.
‘It was then, knowing that you were not far away, that I gave my cry for help.
‘I made a grab at him, but he eluded me. Before I had a chance to attempt to seize him again he had darted through the curtains. Another moment, and before I could stop him he had snatched up a long stick with a big, round head and was beating wildly with it on a drum.
‘I needed no telling that he was summoning his warriors and that if I failed to escape within a matter of minutes I would pay for it with my life.
‘As I raced past Roboumo I struck him a savage blow low in the back, somewhere in the region of the kidneys. He let out an ear-splitting screech, dropped the great drum stick and fell to the floor.
‘Next moment I was out of his bure and running hell for leather through the village to save myself. I need not recount what happened after that. You, dear friend, saved me from being killed or captured and we reached this boat together.’
For a few moments Gregory was silent; then he said, ‘What has happened tonight has created an entirely new situation. That, through entirely unforeseen circumstances, you failed to secure the help of Roboumo’s warriors for an attack on the Pigalle is most unfortunate. But a new factor has emerged that just might turn the tide in our favour. If the White Witch is Roboumo’s prisoner, and is being used by him under hypnotism as a helpless stooge, we now have a chance to prove him a fraud and discredit him with his followers. I can’t yet see how this can be used against Lacost; but I am sure there is a way that it can, if only we can think of it.’
By then the dinghy was nearing the anchorage outside the harbour at which the Boa Viagem lay. James had the little boat go alongside, so that he could board the yacht, and let Olinda know that he had returned safely from his visit to Roboumo’s island. As he went up the ladder to the deck of the yacht, Gregory called after him:
‘Just tell her that you are all right, James; then come down to the boat again. Tonight is the night when we play the final hand against Lacost. Don’t you dare linger with her. I’m not yet clear in my mind about what we ought to do; but we’ve got to take some sort of action, and without your authority I can do nothing.’
Impressed by Gregory’s earnestness, James remained for only five minutes with Olinda, then returned to the boat. Ten minutes later it put them ashore, and a quarter of an hour’s walk up the hill brought them to the Royal bure.
The aged doorman had long since gone to his bed, all the able-bodied servants were members of the body-guard and were still a quarter of an hour’s march away. It did not surprise them to see that the paraffin lamps had been left burning in the main bure, but as they entered they were taken aback to see Hamie Baker sitting in an armchair with a glass of rum clasped in his horny hand.
‘What the devil are you doing here?’ Gregory asked.
Hamie gave a sheepish grin, got to his feet and replied, ‘I bin left here, baas, as a sort o’ go-between. Mr. Lacost, he got to know somehow that when I reported sick and slipped ashore I’d spilled the beans to you what were goin’ on; so he thought I’d serve as a good sort o’ mouth-piece.’
‘That,’ replied Gregory, ‘was quite a sound decision. Well, what has he told you to tell us?’
‘You got him worried,’ Hamie said, solemnly nodding his head. ‘He’s got friends in the town he pays to let him know what goes on. ’S’evening he learned that a gunboat was being sent from Noumea to collar him an’ his pals. The Frenchies wouldn’t have had much on him ‘bout gettin’ up the treasure, provided he’d paid their tax. But you an’ the Ratu attackin’ the Pigalle lars’ evenin’ made things very different. Ter keep the stuff he’s got he had ter shoot a lot of the islanders an’ maybe one or two gendarmes. That ‘ull have made the Frenchies mad as hatters. So for him there’s only way way out. He’s got to have that licence wot Mrs. de Carvalho holds transferred to him, and pre-dated. Then he could claim that he’d done no more than fight off pirates who were tryin’ ter rob him of his legitimate gains. See?’
‘Yes, I see,’ Gregory agreed. ‘He has let himself and his friends in for the death penalty if they are caught. And, believe me, he will be. You’ll be for it, too, since you failed to take my advice, and rejoined him.’
‘No.’ Hamie gave a twisted grin. ‘Not me, baas. I were still malingerin’ at the hospital when the attack on the Pigalle took place. I rejoined her only this mornin’ ter claim the money wot they owed me. And my! You should see wot they got up. Gold is worth sixteen pounds an ounce these days, an’ they’ve salvaged half a ton of it, not ter mention crosses, crooks, mitres an’ whatnot, stuck all over with jewels like plums in a Christmas puddin’. But no-one’s got anything on me. That’s why Mr. Lacost left me here to be his mouthpiece.’
‘O.K., then; you are in the clear. But why should Lacost suppose that we would persuade the Senhora de Carvalho to make the licence over to him?’
Hamie’s mouth twisted into a toothsome grin. ‘Because, baas, he’s kidnapped your missus. He an’ his pals come here an’ took Mrs. Sallust off to their yacht. I bin left ter tell yer that unless yer goes aboard the Pigalle by two o’clock this mornin’ an’ hands him that licence dated three days back, he’s goin’ ter pull her toenails out an’ slice off them pretty ears she’s got. You still has two hours ter work in, but you’d better get on wi’ this job.’
‘The swine,’ James burst out. ‘My God, if I could only get my hands on him! And as for you, I’ll …’ Breaking off, he strode towards Hamie, obviously intending to seize him by the throat.
Whipping a pistol from his hip pocket, Hamie snarled, ‘Keep off, Ratu! Another step an’ I’ll drill yer full o’ holes.’
As James halted, Gregory said to him, ‘There is nothing to be gained by trying to take it out on Baker. He is simply a go-between. Lacost left him here to deliver his ultimatum only because if he had set it down on paper it would have incriminated him. Of course he is right that, had the licence really been transferred to him three days ago, he would have had fair reason to assume that our attack on the Pigalle was an attempted act of piracy; and that, somehow, we had managed to fool the gendarmes into putting up a front for us. After all, anyone who thought he was about to be robbed of many thousands of pounds’ worth of treasure and had only a handful of men to protect it against a force of three score armed natives could plead justification in firing to drive them off before giving them a chance to come alongside and swarm aboard.’
‘Perhaps you are right,’ James agreed reluctantly. ‘But when the gunboat from Noumea arrives and we tell our story, with Elbœuf to support us, the warship will give chase.’
‘If we do let Lacost have a pre-dated transfer of the licence how can we prove that we did not make a secret deal with him without Elbœuf’s knowledge? Lacost, too, is quite shrewd enough to leave a letter for Elbœuf, giving a guarantee that he will pay up the ten per cent tax to the French Government as soon as he has had time to dispose of the treasure.’
‘In any case, the gunboat will pursue the Pigalle. The Government in New Caledonia could not ignore the killing of a gendarme and a number of my people. They will regard it as essential to hold a full inquiry, and that could not be held without the interrogation of the men responsible.’
Gregory nodded. ‘About that I entirely agree. But you have to catch your hare before you can cook it. If Lacost sails tonight he may disappear for good. Even if he and his pals are caught such an inquiry would take weeks. If he has said that he will pay the tax and he holds the licence I think the odds are against the Colons being convicted.’
‘I suppose they are.’ James gave a heavy sigh. ‘The question is, what do we do now? We can’t possibly leave Manon to be subjected to hideous tortures. As I think I told you, Olinda made the licence over to me two nights ago. So we can go off to the Pigalle right away and ransom Manon with it. On the other hand, to attack the ship during the hours of darkness would be very different from exposing ourselves again in daylight. So I feel sure my body-guard would jump at the chance to avenge their comrades. When they get back we could set off with them at once and, with luck, both rescue Manon and capture these filthy Colons. But there is the risk that if we attack they may kill Manon before we can get her. So it is for you to say. My feeling is that we must throw in our hand and let Lacost have this accursed licence.’
‘Maybe you’re right,’ Gregory muttered. ‘We have to bear in mind that if we attack, although we’d have the cover of darkness, we won’t catch the Colons napping. They will anticipate that we may, so be ready for us. In any case, even if they don’t think we’ll dare risk it they will be up and about, waiting for us to arrive with the licence. But since you told me about your dust-up with Roboumo I’ve been toying with an idea, and I’ve still got to think a little. Meantime I want to pump ship, so I’m going to my bure.’
Leaving James and Hamie staring at each other in silent hostility, Gregory walked out of the big room and across the few yards to the smaller bure which he had shared with Manon. As he entered the bathroom his glance immediately fell on a piece of paper lying on the lavatory seat. Picking it up, he saw a few pencilled lines hurriedly scrawled by Manon. They read:
On no account come off to the Pigalle. If you do I feel certain Lacost intends to murder you. But, provided he gets the licence, I’m sure he won’t vent his spite on me if you don’t bring it yourself. Send Hamie Baker with it, then they will let me go.
Evidently, before the Colons had carried off Manon, they had allowed her to use the bathroom, and she had seized the opportunity to leave this message. It confirmed certain ideas that Gregory had already formed and decided him to take the course he had been contemplating. With a grim smile he pushed the paper into his pocket, had a quick wash to rid his hands and face of the dirt he had picked up on Roboumo’s island, then returned to the main bure.
James was still glowering at Hamie. As Gregory appeared, he turned to him and asked, ‘Well, what have you decided? My body-guard is back. You can hear them singing outside, as they are getting down to the food and kava which I ordered to be left ready for them. Do we lead them in another attack, or do you and I go off to the Pigalle and sign away the licence?’
‘We do neither,’ Gregory replied quietly. ‘Manon left a message for me in the loo. She’s convinced that Lacost will not take it out on her if I fail to turn up with the licence. But all the same I want you to go out and get your boys on parade again before they’ve drunk too much kava.’
‘You do mean us to attack the Pigalle, then?’
‘No. We are going to attack Roboumo’s island.’
James’ eyebrows went up. ‘In God’s name, why?’
‘Because, with the Colons on the alert, your body-guard might not be sufficiently strong to get the best of things. We’ve got to have Roboumo’s toughs with us to make certain of overwhelming Lacost and his pals.’
‘But damn it, man, after what happened an hour ago he’d never allow them to become our allies.’
‘I mean to put him in a spot that will render him powerless. The fact that you got away from him unharmed will both have shaken his own men’s confidence in him and stiffened the morale of yours; so I don’t think we need fear very serious opposition. And after you told me about what happened in his bure I hit on the key to the whole situation.’
‘The key to the situation?’ James repeated in a puzzled voice.
‘Yes; it’s the White Witch. She is a prisoner. We are going in to rescue her. And she will be on our side. Without her, Roboumo will be a busted flush and his men will take your orders. With their aid the Pigalle and the treasure will be in our hands before morning.’