“Don’t be a fool,” Eve said. The porters hesitated, watching Mr. Palmer.
“The guy won’t jump,” Bill said.
Mr. Palmer spoke to the porters. They took the litter on their shoulders. Cable awkwardly rolled out and fell to the ground, landing on his side. He lay unconscious on the ground.
Mr. Palmer exclaimed, “The beggar’s insane!”
“Load him on again,” Bill said.
The porters were badly frightened, but they put down the litter and rolled Cable on it. He was unconscious. His wound had begun to bleed again.
“Maybe I should go,” Eve said. Her face was alarmed.
“No,” Bill said.
The porters took the litter on their shoulders. Mr. Palmer said, “I’ll send a runner back to tell you how he is.” He turned to Herbert. “Come on.”
“I’m not going.”
Mr. Palmer stared at him.
“I’m not,” Herbert said. “I stay with Mrs. Salles.”
“Now, we’ve had enough nonsense,” Mr. Palmer said.
“I must stay,” Herbert said.
Mr. Palmer spoke to Mulu and Juma. They took Herbert’s arms. The porters went towards the path with the litter. Herbert began to weep. “None of that,” Mr. Palmer said. Juma and Mulu led Herbert away. He started coughing. He was led away, coughing and weeping, followed by the porter with the suitcase. The litter was already out of sight. Mr. Palmer went last. It was broad daylight.
CHAPTER 23
THE COOK MADE A BED of hot coals of the wood that had been used to heat water for Cable. He filled a pan full of bacon strips and put it on the coals. He made coffee and one of the Totos opened two cans of orange juice. The bacon smelled fine in the morning air. The other Toto opened a can of milk and the cook sliced some bread. Then he found a clean piece of wood and let the bacon drain on it. As the pieces cooled they curled up crisply. The Totos set the table in the dining tent. Then they ate breakfast. The bacon was good. Jay made a sandwich of bacon and bread and ate it with the coffee.
“Drink your orange juice,” Eve said.
“I can’t.”
“It’s very good for you.”
“Not the way I feel.”
Bill drank Jay’s orange juice. He ate six slices of bread and many pieces of bacon. He drank three cups of coffee.
“This is nice,” he said.
Eve said, “Poor Cable.”
“Are you really sorry for him?” Jay asked.
“A little.”
“I never liked anything so much as when he fell off that litter,” Jay said.
“Let’s talk about something besides Cable,” Bill said.
“Could I have some marmalade?” Eve asked.
Jay gave her the jar.
“Marmalade is the foundation of the British Empire,” Bill observed.
“And tea,” Jay said.
“And umbrellas,” Bill said.
“And porter,” Jay said.
“What is porter?” Bill asked.
“It’s the foundation of the British Empire,” Jay said.
“So is treacle,” Eve said.
“And sailors,” Bill said.
“I do love sailors,” Eve said.
They were laughing and it made the monkeys angry in the trees. The monkeys raged at them. They felt very lighthearted. The Totos came into the dining tent looking a little frightened. Jay’s face and chest hurt. He wondered if his face was swollen. It felt swollen.
“I’m going to lie down for a while,” he said.
He went to the tent and took off his clothes and got in bed. Clouds had come into the sky and it was not hot in the tent. He hoped Mr. Palmer would come back soon. He looked forward to okapi hunting and talk and whisky in the evenings. He hoped Cable would die. No, he did not hope that. But he hoped he would have a long stay in the hospital.
The big Toto brought Jay soup made from the buffalo meat at noon. He said something Jay did not understand and put the food on a chair beside the bed and went out. Jay sat up in bed. The sleep had not done much good. He felt worse than he had in the morning. He had taken a bad beating. It was not so much the pain. His nervous system had taken the beating. He was not hungry. The Toto came back with some bread. He smiled at Jay.
“Eat, bwana,” he said.
“I’m not hungry.”
“Soup very good.”
Jay drank some of the soup and ate a piece of bread. The soup had vegetables in it. The Toto took the dishes away. Jay got two aspirin tablets from a tin. He took them with water from the canteen by his bed. They stuck in his throat, but he got them down. He slept a little and then he woke. Eve was looking at him.
“How do you feel?” she asked.
“Pretty good.”
She sat on the edge of the bed and touched his forehead. “You’ve no fever.”
“No. I don’t feel hot.”
“Bill and I thought we might go along Lucien’s trail a bit.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“No. You sleep. You need rest.”
“I’ve got to get up sometime.”
“Get up for dinner.” Her hand was still on his forehead. “Do you mind?”
“No. You and Bill go.”
“First I’ll bathe your wounds.”
She had some cotton and a bottle of alcohol. She soaked the cotton with alcohol and washed out his cuts, touching the sore places very lightly. “Does it smart?” she asked, smiling down at him.
“I like it better internally.”
“I want you to know something,” she said.
“What?”
“I changed my mind last night.”
“I know. I heard Herbert.”
“I wanted to be sure you knew.” She was bending over him. Her eyes were luminous. “I wish Herbert had shot him before he knocked you about so.”
“It wasn’t a bad beating.”
“I’m so sorry.” She smiled down at him. “Will you sleep?”
“Yes.”
She went out, but he smelled her perfume until he fell asleep.
CHAPTER 24
THE TOTO CALLED, “Bathi, bwana?”
He scratched the canvas with his nails.
“Bathi, please?”
Jay opened his eyes. He could see the forest where the tent flap had been pulled aside, the leaves green in the sunlight. The warm air was filled with the notes of birds, sharp and clear in the forest calm. The sun made the leaves soap-shiny. He looked at his watch and saw it was eight o’clock. He did not know how it could be light so late.
“Bathi, bwana?” the Toto asked again.
“All right.”
Jay sat up and saw Bill’s bed had been slept in and realized it was morning. He’d had a hell of a long sleep. Sixteen hours. Maybe he’d needed it, though. He took the bath and shaved as well as he could around his cuts and dressed and went to the dining tent. Bill was making drawings of plants in a notebook.
“Hello, comrade,” he said. “How do you feel?”
“Hungry,” Jay said.
Toto brought him coffee and stewed prunes.
“Wounds healing?” Bill asked.
“Sure.”
“Think you can make a trip?”
“Where?”
“Eve would like to look for Lucien.”
“Are we going to demand her fair body in return?”
“Lay off that stuff,” Bill said.
There had been a note from Mr. Palmer, Bill said. Cable was all right; they had taken the bullet from his shoulder. Mr. Palmer would be back in a day or two. Nothing at all was said in the note about Herbert.
“And Little Orchid is back,” Bill added.
“The hell! The other pygmies, too?”
“They’ve gone for good. He brought his brother, though. Kaluma. Made quite a speech. Something about being a very brave chief. Gave him a couple of handfuls of salt. Thought he could help us look for Lucien.”
The Toto brought Jay toast and fried ham and eggs.
He poured more coffee into Jay’s cup. After breakfast Jay got his Springfield and a leather jacket. He found Bill and Eve talking to the two pygmies.
“It’s arranged,” Bill said. “I think.”
Eve smiled at Jay. “Hello.”
“Hello, Eve.”
Little Orchid stared at Jay. His eyes were hard and speculative. He was, Jay thought, probably the only cocky pygmy in the world. Kaluma kept his eyes shyly on the ground. The cook came over to them and made a fuss about being left with the Totos in camp. He was badly frightened over being left alone. He wanted to go with them. Bill got a rifle from Mr. Palmer’s tent and gave it to him. He became cheerful at once, holding the rifle against his stomach.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Jay told Bill. “He’ll pot everybody in the neighborhood.”
“He hasn’t any bullets,” Bill said.
He pointed out the trail to Little Orchid. The pygmy nodded and motioned for them to follow him. Jay went last. The trail was fairly distinct and there were blaze marks on the trees.
“This where you went yesterday?” Jay asked Eve.
“Yes. Until it got dark.”
The trail was good and the sky stayed clear and it was pleasant to be walking again. Jay had not been out of camp for nearly a week, but his legs were fine as soon as the stiffness wore off. They were stiff from the fight with Cable, but they had not been hurt. All that seemed a very long time ago. He was glad to be in the forest with Eve and Bill.
At first Little Orchid led them boldly, his small face confident, his spear ready for leopard, buffalo, wart hog or anything they might meet in the forest. But later he did not seem quite so confident. Still the forest had not changed; it was dense and gloomy, with a heavy undergrowth. There were fallen logs and the tracks of animals on the muddy trail. The air was muggy deep in the forest, like the air in a steam laundry, only there was an odor of mold. There were big mushrooms on the ground and purple and red and green fruit in the trees and, everywhere, orchids. The air was thick with insects. Once they heard monkeys in the trees. They came to a clearing and Little Orchid halted. The sunlight hurt their eyes after the forest darkness. Little Orchid said something to Bill.
“What the hell!” Bill said.
“Maybe he wants to rest,” Jay suggested.
“Let’s do rest,” Eve said.
They sat in a rectangle of shade thrown by a tall bush. The sky was blue and there were a few big clouds in it. There was no wind. Little Orchid took the whistle tied around his neck and blew it. He and Kaluma listened intently. There was no answer. Little Orchid spoke to Kaluma. They both looked at Bill and Little Orchid said something.
“Sure,” Bill said. “Whatever it is. Sure.”
Little Orchid grinned and he and Kaluma went ahead on the trail. They waited in silence. Eve smoked a cigarette, letting the smoke hang over to drive off the insects. A small gray bird with bright eyes landed on Jay’s boot. It examined Jay, then hopped to the ground and went to Eve. It was not afraid of them.
“Wagtail,” Bill said.
There were butterflies overhead, most of them yellow with gold-fringed wings. A flying fox sailed across a corner of the clearing. The wagtail flew away.
“I wonder if this is right,” Eve said.
“Somebody blazed those trees,” Bill said.
Little Orchid came back, but when they tried to go further on the trail, he blocked their way and pointed back to camp. He made a long speech. He wanted them to turn back.
“I suppose we had better wait for Mr. Palmer,” Eve said.
“No,” Bill said. “Let’s go on.” He spoke to Little Orchid. “On!”
Kaluma went into the underbrush. Little Orchid tried to block their way. Bill pushed him aside and they went along the trail. Jay looked back and saw the two pygmies following.
“Thought they’d come,” Bill said.
They walked for an hour and rested. Then they went on. The trail was still distinct, but Little Orchid and Kaluma were nervous. Once when Little Orchid blew his whistle there was a distant answer, like the whistle of a bird. Little Orchid spoke excitedly to Kaluma and blew the whistle again. There was no answer and the excitement went out of the pygmies’ faces. After that they kept close to the white people.
“They’re giving me the creeps,” Jay said.
“They’ve never been here before,” Bill said.
They walked through the forest gloom, the trail soft under their feet. Now and then some animal would run away from them through the undergrowth. The sky was clear, but the sun’s rays did not come through the trees. High they could see the sunlight on the trees, making the leaves bright green. It was depressing walking in so much shade, and Jay thought of the plain where they had seen the damasculus. He decided he would not like to be a pygmy and live in the forest. He liked mountains and plains and small woods. He liked the sun, too, and the ocean.
Suddenly Eve asked, “Where are the pygmies?”
They stopped and looked for them. The pygmies had disappeared.
“Kaluma!” Bill yelled.
His shout made birds fly from a moss-draped tree.
“Kaluma! Kaluma!”
There was no answer. Bill yelled again. The sound of his voice was muffled by the forest.
“They’ve ditched us,” Jay said.
“That’s damn funny.”
“They didn’t like it here.”
“But why?”
“Maybe this is a tabu zone.”
“Maybe.”
Eve asked, “What shall we do?”
“What time is it, Jay?” Bill asked.
“Twelve-fifteen.”
“I say, push on,” Eve said.
“What do you think, Jay?”
“Sure.”
“Oh, good,” Eve said.
CHAPTER 25
BILL TOUCHED JAY’S ARM and pointed ahead. To the left of the path, half hidden by undergrowth, was a brown tent. Jay felt a shock of excitement. It was Salles’s tent Eve looked over their shoulders at it, her eyes wide and a little frightened.
“You’d better let us look,” Jay said to her.
“No.”
They went along the path to the tent. Jay felt certain that Salles was inside. He had come down with fever in the tabu zone and had been unable to communicate with his guides and had died. And naturally the pygmies would not come to look for him in such a zone. This was the explanation.
It was a small tent, big enough for only one person, and mosquito netting hung over the front. There were pans and a kettle beside charcoal and partially burned wood in a strip of cleared ground before the tent. There was a woodpile back of the tent. Bill pulled aside the netting and opened the tent flap and they looked inside. The tent was empty. On the canvas floor were a sleeping bag and a Mauser pistol, five cartons of shells and several boxes of clothing and supplies.
“I knew he wasn’t dead,” Eve said.
“Is that his pistol?” asked Jay.
“Yes.” She stepped into the tent. “Oh, I knew he wasn’t dead.” Her lips trembled.
“We’ll wait for you outside,” Bill said.
He tucked back the flap so Eve would have light and went with jay to the far side of the clearing. Jay looked at his wrist watch. “It’s after noon.”
Bill said, “We’re only three hours from camp.”
“Those damn pygmies,” Jay said. “Do you suppose Salles is alive?”
“I doubt it. A lot of things can happen to a guy in this patch of timber.”
They walked around the edge of the clearing. Eve was still in the tent. Bill found a footpath leading deeper into the forest. On a tree about twenty feet along it was a triangular blaze.
“That’s his mark,” Bill said.
“It can’t go far,” Jay said. “He’d have moved the tent along.”
They walked to the blazed tree. The exposed wood was discolored, but the blaze had not been there very long. Ahead they could see another blaze. Salles had evidently b
een careful. When they went back to the clearing, Eve was standing in front of the tent. “Hello,” she said. “I was afraid you’d deserted me.”
Bill told her about the blazes.
“Can we follow them?” she asked eagerly.
“I don’t know,” Bill said.
“But he couldn’t have gone far.”
“Farther than we want to go on an empty stomach.”
“But there’s food here,” Eve said. “Do let’s eat and then go on.”
“What do you think, Jay?” Bill asked.
Eve’s eyes were on Jay’s face. “Please,” she said.
Jay said, “All right.”
Bill got firewood and Jay helped Eve open two cans of corned beef. They also opened a tin of crackers. The beef smelled good. Bill was bending over something by the woodpile. “Hey,” he called. They went over to him. He pointed out the fresh print of a leopard’s foot on the soft earth behind the pile of wood. The print was enormous.
“No wonder the pygmies wouldn’t come,” said Eve.
They felt a sort of nervous gaiety at lunch. The leopard’s print had shocked them all. It was as big as a lion’s. They ate the beef and crackers and drank part of a bottle of cognac Eve brought from the tent. Jay kept his Springfield leaning on a log beside him. That and the cognac made him more comfortable. He liked leopards the least of any African animals. He had heard they were very treacherous. Carl Akeley had almost been killed by one.
“This is an adventure,” Eve said.
Jay said, “I don’t believe in that footprint.”
“I know,” Bill said. “It’s an ersatz leopard.”
“If we went back to look at it, it would be gone,” Jay said.
“I’m not going back to look,” Bill said.
“Maybe it’s a small leopard with very large feet,” Eve said.
“It’s an ersatz leopard.”
Jay poured three more drinks. The cognac smelled of grapes. “They do it with mirrors,” Bill said.
“That’s why the missionaries always give mirrors to the natives,” Jay said.
“I’ve wondered why,” Eve said.
“They use mirrors to make footprints, voodoo magic, zombies and virgins.”
“Especially virgins,” Bill said.
“Come on, you chaps,” Eve said. “No more cognac. There’s work to be done.”
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