CHAPTER XII
IN CAPTIVITY--THE MESSAGE
Here was a mishap entirely unexpected. And it flashed on me that here atlast was the explanation of the enigmatic part of the talk Marat heardthe night before. That some of us were keeping an eye on him in town,Duran had known; and "the big one" whose absence was desired, wasdoubtless Norris. And, "there need be no noise," Duran had said. Verilythe capture could not have been effected with less.
Where we were to be taken, and what was to be done to us, filled mymind. There was something in the talk last night about a place to meet.And--"We must not leave them behind here," Duran had said. So then thecaptors were to meet the others at some appointed place, and thecaptured were not to be left behind. What could that mean other thanthat we were to be finally taken aboard the schooner _Orion_.
The thing cleared in my mind. Duran counted on the _Pearl_ refusing tosail without Ray and myself--that our friends would remain and seek us,even at the risk of losing the trail of Duran. And so the _Orion_ wouldsail away to the mine without fear of discovery. The thought of defeatin the thing we had so much suffered for, caused my heart to sink. I hadno real fear that our lives were in danger. Duran had but the onethought now--to save the gold. Now that at last there were those who hadpenetrated to his lair in the hills, he would not add zest to thepursuit of himself by a needless crime, a crime that would be easilylaid to his door.
The wagon went bumping along over the rough road, shaking us thoroughly,while these thoughts were passing in my mind. Hot as was the night, Iwas almost stifled by this thing over my head, reinforced by the tightbinder on my mouth.
We must have traveled at least five miles, I judged, when the wheelsceased to turn. The cloths were taken from our heads. The bonds on ourarms and legs remained. There was one black who spoke some English, andhe warned us to make no noise.
"We put them on again, if you do," he said.
Once more the wagon moved on. The stars shone overhead, and I could seetrees and palms looking down on me, now and then.
"This is a pretty pickle you've pulled me into," Ray said. "My mouth alltied up for more than an hour; and my liver's all scrambled." Ray wouldmake a joke of the rope, if the hangman's noose were round his neck.I've never known a situation so bad as to dampen his spirits. I wouldhave liked to talk with him about our present unhappy situation, and tryto devise something by way of bettering it; but there was that black manwho spoke English. With him on the seat, and in the wagon box were fourother blacks,--as I finally made out--Duran was making sure of oursecurity. I wondered how far it would be to this place on the coast,where we were to be met by the _Orion_.
Day finally came, and we were allowed to sit, thus having our heads morein the air. Ray grumbled about the hardness of the springs--the wagonhad none--; and the meat, and bread, and water, that were thrust intohis mouth did not make a breakfast to his liking. The morning was notyet half gone, when we came to a stop, at a hut by the roadside. Thencame an opportunity that I had not even ventured to hope for--anopportunity to send a message back to our friends.
The black who spoke English came and leaned on the wagon wheel. He hadsomething to say to us. He offered us freedom, on condition that weshould prepare a message to be taken back to our friends on the _Pearl_,a writing that should induce them to remain in harbor, and cease tofollow the _Orion_.
"You will then let us go back to our friends?" I asked.
"Yes, you go back," he said.
I felt that the fellow lied, for he would not have time to learn theresult of the message before meeting with the _Orion_; for that wouldnot appear until the _Orion_ had sailed away. And Duran was littlelikely to permit us to go back and point out to our friends the way the_Orion_ had gone. But of course I jumped at the proposal.
"Just plain letter," the black said. "No trick letter," he warned.
A piece of wrapping paper was brought out from the hut, and a pencil towrite with.
My arms were freed for the purpose. The black looked on expectantly. Howwas I to make the most of this opportunity? I had not slept, my mind wasconfused. I must have time to think. I exaggerated my drowsiness, and myeyes winked and drooped.
"I am too tired now," I told that black. "I must have a little rest,first."
He grunted. "Rest, then write," he said.
The man was himself fatigued, and so, doubtless, eager for a snack ofslumber. He went into the hut, leaving one black to guard us.
"Well, I'm going to have a snooze," murmured Ray. "If you need me,ring." And in another minute he was breathing heavily.
I pretended to doze while I sought in my mind to contrive a secretmessage that should be concealed in this note I was to write our friendson the _Pearl_. First, I must make it very plain to them that theyshould continue on the trail of the _Orion_, and that we two were to betaken on board that vessel. And then, in order that they might safelystay behind for some hours, when the _Orion_ sailed, and thus seem tohave given over the chase without actually losing the trail, I mustcontrive to let them know which way the _Orion_ would go to meet us.That it was to the north coast of the island was plain, for the starshad kept me informed as to the general direction we had been moving. Buthow to conceal all that intelligence in a letter of apparently contraryimport?
I had fallen asleep. I awoke with a start, much refreshed. And when Iopened my eyes, it was with the feeling that my problem was solved. Thething was now quite clear; it was as if I had dreamed the thing to aconclusion. Years back, we boys, particularly Robert and myself, hadworked on various means of secret communication by writing. It was oneof those methods that I would now employ. I had the pencil that wasbrought from the hut, where the English-speaking black still lingered;and beside, I had by habit long carried a bit of indelible pencil in mytrousers pocket. Those words I wished to convey to our friends in secretI would write with the indelible pencil; the words I wished to beignored I would put with the ordinary pencil. I immediately set to workon the message. I have here italicized the words--and the part of aword--that were done with the indelible pencil.
_Do_ not _follow the Orion_. _We will_ not _be on board of her_. We are promised freedom if _you go_ not from _the north_west _coast_, where you are, for three days. _Then keep a lookout for us, and we will come to you as soon as we can._
_Wayne Scott._
Now I had not the least doubt that when our friends should come to readthis note, they would search for some hidden message. And I was surethat Robert would finally recollect our old practices, and finally putthe proper test to it that should bring out the words that I wished toconvey to them. I contrived so to use the pencils, that even a sharp eyewould not readily detect the fact that two pencils had been employed inthe writing. The color in the piece of wrapping paper on which I wrotehelped me in this.
I had little doubt that the paper would come under Duran's sharp eyebefore being delivered to the _Pearl_. But when I surveyed my work, Ihad little fear that he would discover the trick.
It was still far from noon when the blacks came out of the hut. I gavethe note I had written to the one who came for it. He gazed at thewriting--I believe pretending to read. He then gave it, well wrapped, tothe driver, who was to carry it back to the city.
My hands were again bound to my body, but they loosed the legs of us,and stood us on the ground. When the wagon was gone on the back trail,Ray and I were placed between the four men remaining, and conductedafoot over the rough way to the northward. It was an uneven road wetrod; and, tied as our arms were, it was extremely hard to keep balance;so that we would stumble, and bump into one another, at times. Once,when an irregularity caused me to find Ray's shoulder with an unusuallyhard thump from mine, he said--"Say! Lean on your own flapjacks." Whichwas by way of ironical pretending he'd had some for his breakfast; andhe knew he would have had them of Rufe for the asking, had he been wise,and had not left the _Pearl_ to go on shore with me, adventuring. SubtleRay! And he knew I was fully conscious that he (in his playfu
l way)implied all this.
Cocoa palms were more and more in evidence as we went, so it was plainwe were nearing the north coast of the island. And after perhaps twohours laboring over that trail, we turned off to the left, into a narrowpath, going through a thicket. Times, crossing open ground, where thehot tropic sun beat down on us unmercifully; times, threading a piece offorest whose shade was most welcome; we at last came to a stop in agrove of palms. For some little while I had seemed to hear a distantsound that was familiar. Now it was become plain; we were near the sea,for the rolling of the surf on the beach was distinct to our ears.
We were denied a sight of the blue expanse, however, for the blacks keptus well within the shelter of the trees, and our legs again were welltrussed, and hands freed. They set about preparing a meal; it was sometime past the noon hour; and Ray and I were given a portion of the mess,whose chief ingredient was salt codfish. A spring was found, whichsupplied drink.
Once a wet squall came and gave us a most agreeable, cool wetting,though Ray complained to the blacks of the leaky roof.
The blacks, two and two, turn about, stood guard and slept. We two sleptsoundly, refreshed by that shower.
Night had come, when I awoke to hear again the rumbling of the surf. Raystill slept, and I refrained from disturbing him. Now and again one ofthe guards would make an examination of our cords, to see that we werenot tampering with them; they had doubtless been well instructed byDuran. Ray finally stirred and sat erect.
"Well," said he, "who blew out the light?" One of the guard crawledclose. "Hello, Uncle Tom," said Ray, observing the black. "This is acheerful crowd. Haven't you got a banjo, or something?"
The fellow grunted in noncomprehension.
"Ugh," continued Ray. "Colored gentlemen where I come from have got somemusic in them. If Rufe was here he'd show you a double-shuffle that'dmake your mouth water."
And thus he continued to babble, until at last he stretched out with afinal grumble--"This is a rum crowd. The only way to pass the time is tosleep." And in a minute he was breathing heavily again.
I remained awake for a considerable period. The continued chirping of acricket, and the bellowing of distant bull-frogs, finally lulled me tosleep.
Day brought us both awake. The two blacks on guard observed us dully.
"See here," began Ray. "Is breakfast ready? I want my breakfast."
The man who had some English chanced to be one of the pair. "You getbreakfas' when we ready--not befo'."
"Huh?" grunted Ray, feigning astonishment, and glaring at the black. "Iwant you to understand I pay my board. I want my money's worth, and if Idon't get it, I'll change my hotel."
The fellow had enough comprehension to finally sense Ray's playfulness.He grinned; and forthwith he routed out the two sleeping blacks, andsent them scampering for wood.
And thus had begun the second day of our captivity. We were mostcarefully watched, the guards--always two--made frequent inspection ofthe cords; and I should say, they had two guns between them, one ashot-gun, perhaps loaded with buck-shot. So that any thoughts we had ofescape found little encouragement. The morning hours dragged, and theheat increased. I had my thoughts much on our friends on board the_Pearl_; wondered when they had got my note, and if they had finallypicked out the words I had meant for their understanding; and so, ifthey had acted on them. During occasional absences on the part of thatone black, Ray and I had found opportunity to exchange words on thistheme, and I got much encouragement from that cheerful comrade'sobservations.
"Leave it to Bob," he said, "he's figured it out. He's got his mind sosaturated with you, he'll feel out your meaning in anything you put yourfinger to."
Our captors, one or two at a time, got to absenting themselves withmarked regularity. They always went in the direction from which came themusic of the surf. We had no difficulty to divine the cause. "It must begetting time for their brother cannibals to show up," said Ray.
And then, at last, two came in, showing some excitement; and there wasmuch jabbering among them. An hour passed. And it was then we werehustled down to the edge of the palms; and the sea opened before us. Andthere was a schooner, perhaps a mile from the beach, and a small boatcoming in. We were thrust forward into the water, and we climbed in. Andsoon we stood on the deck of the _Orion_, which vessel pointed her bowout to sea. Duran's grinning face confronted us.
"And so," said Duran, "you like very much to sail in my company. I likevery much to have you." His smile was derisive.
The Voodoo Gold Trail Page 12