The White Witch of the South Seas gs-11

by Dennis Wheatley

  `Then bring her down in a lagoon, or near enough for us to swim ashore.'

  `You're crazy. Force me to do that and we'll either drown or the sharks will get us. I know you'll be clapped into jail if we land at Yuloga, but surely that's better than killing yourself and us as well? For God's sake let me turn back to Yuloga.'

  It was a terrible decision to have to take; but knowing the Russians were not given to showing mercy to escaped prisoners who were recaptured, Gregory thought it more likely that if he and James did land at Yuloga they would be shot out of hand. Again he remained silent for a few moments, then he said

  `No I prefer to risk the sharks and a chance of freedom to the certainty of prison and the possibility of having to face a firing squad. Just let me know when the petrol looks like running out and I'll tell you what to do. Given a little luck we may be near a fair sized island with a beach that we could land on.'

  His decision was followed by a period of agonising suspense. Now and then they flew within sight of islands, but they were further apart than Gregory had expected, and nearly all were composed of cruel coral reefs, against which the surf was breaking in great swathes of white foam. Only two were large enough to have risked a landing, but even on them groups of palm trees would have made an attempt to land highly dangerous. Leaning forward across the semiconscious Major, Gregory kept his eyes fixed on the petrol gauge with steadily mounting anxiety.

  After twenty minutes it showed the tank to be nearly empty. As another patch of white waves crashing on land came into sight ahead, he grimly made up his mind that they must now risk their necks by coming down in it. Gruffly he said to the pilot

  `Down you go. I'm sorry that I've let you in for this. But if you can manage to save our necks and we can get back to civilisation you'll not regret it. As I happen to be a rich man, I'll give you a year's pay. Now, circle that island, then do your best for us all.'

  The pilot gave a harsh laugh. `Thanks for the offer, but you'd never live to pay up or I to receive the money. We're not going down. You win, damn you!'

  As he spoke, he leaned forward and pressed a switch. The needle of the petrol gauge began to lift. The reserve tank had been full and he had switched it on.

  James gave a great sigh and laid a hand on Gregory's back. 'That was the worst twenty minutes I've ever lived through. But thank God you called his bluff. After the way we made fools of those Russians I'd have bet any money they would have shot us.'

  While the aircraft droned on through the night they were now able to relax and savour to the full a wonderful relief at not having had to crash land among the great waves pounding on what, as they passed over it, they saw to be no more than a crescent of barren rocks.

  When they sighted Tujoa the sky was lightening in the east. Except for a once weekly service and an occasional private plane no aircraft came down on the island, so it had no more than an airstrip, and that was manned only when information had been received that a plane was to be expected. But James was able to direct the pilot and by that time, with the suddenness usual in the tropics, full dawn had come. Having circled over the airstrip twice, the pilot made a good landing.

  Pleased as Gregory was to have reached Tujoa, he needed no telling that he and James were as yet far from out of the wood; for the Tujoa group was French territory and they were wanted by the French authorities. Having double crossed them, Ribaud must realise that Gregory would no longer feel bound to keep his promise to remain silent about the Russian rockets on Yuloga so, as soon as he learned that they had escaped; he would do his utmost to have them rearrested. There was also the question of what was to be done with the Major and the pilot. In no circumstances should they be given a chance to communicate with the French Resident or his gendarmerie, otherwise the fat would be in the fire right away.

  Keeping the two Frenchmen covered with the pistol, Gregory looked quickly about him. At the far end of the airstrip there were a small one storey building and two medium sized hangars. Turning to James he asked:

  `Are those hangars likely to be occupied?'

  James shook his fuzzy head. `I doubt it. No one on the island owns an aircraft. They are used only by visitors who come here in private planes, and that doesn't happen often. I take it you are thinking of hiding the aircraft?'

  `That's it. You go and open one of them up; or, rather, both of them, if both are empty.'

  Squeezing past the Major, James jumped down and ran along to the hangar. As soon as he had it open, Gregory made the pilot taxi the aircraft into it. Ordering the two Frenchmen out, he got out himself, then made them walk in front of him into the other hangar, where he told James to free the Major's wrists.

  `Now,' he said, `I fear that for a day or two you will have to suffer some discomfort. I'll treat you no worse than I have to; but until I have made certain arrangements you must remain prisoners. What are your names?'

  The Major, who had remained sullenly silent ever since James had knocked him half senseless, now burst into a furious spate of words. Cursing Gregory and James for a pair of villainous crooks, he went on to say that if they thought they had got away they had better think again. The fact that the aircraft had not landed the prisoners on Yuloga would have been reported to General Ribaud. By now the General would have sent a signal to the Resident on Tujoa and as soon as they showed their faces they would be arrested. Then he flatly refused to give his name or cooperate in any way.

  `You may be right, but not necessarily,' Gregory replied. `The General cannot know that we overpowered you. Even if he suspects it, we might have doubled back to the Loyalties, or made for any one of a dozen uninhabited islands. But he will probably believe that the plane got out of control, came down in the sea and that we were all drowned. As to your name, I expect you have papers on you which will give it to me. About that we will soon know, for you are now going to strip. Get your clothes off.'

  Indignantly the officer refused; whereupon Gregory turned to James, who was standing in the doorway of the hangar, and said, `Would you oblige me by persuading this fellow to do as he is told.'

  With a grin, the huge James advanced on the Major. Sudden fear showed in his eyes. Putting up one hand as though to fend James off, he began to unbutton his tunic. Two minutes later, with a hangdog expression he was standing there naked.

  `Now you,' Gregory said to the pilot. Realising that it was futile to refuse, he, too, stripped to the buff. Meanwhile James had been going through the Major's pockets. In one there were a couple of letters and he read out from an envelope, 'Comandante Andorache Fournier.' He then picked up the pilot's jacket, fished a pocketbook from it and announced, `Lieutenant Jules Joubert.'

  Gregory smiled and said, `Messieurs Fournier and Joubert, I am happy to think that, in this delightful climate, being deprived of your clothes for a while will cause you no inconvenience, apart, perhaps, from a few mosquito bites. We will now leave you to contemplate the eternal verities; or, if you prefer, how extremely displeased with you General Ribaud will be when you try to explain to him how it came about that you failed to carry out his orders.'

  James collected the clothes, carried them into the other hangar and dumped them in the aircraft, then locked the doors of both hangars. As they turned away, Gregory said, `Naked and without shoes, I don't think there is much chance of their breaking out; but we daren't leave them there for long, in case someone comes out here and finds them. Do you know of a place where we could hide them safely for a few days?'

  After a moment's thought, James replied, `There are some caves a few miles away up in the hills. No one would come upon them there, and some of my men could be relied on to guard them.'

  `Good. I'm afraid, though, that Fournier was right. The erratic flight of the aircraft over Yuloga will have suggested to the Russians that a fight was taking place on board. Ribaud will be informed of that, and he is no fool. He is almost certain to assume that if we did get control of the plane we would make for your own island. Probably the best chance of keeping our
freedom would be for us to retire to those caves ourselves, anyway for the time being.'

  `Oh, we certainly need not do that.' James' voice had taken on a new note of authority. `Commandant Elboeuf, the Resident, is a spineless old creature and there are no troops stationed on the island, only a Sergeant and six gendarmes. My people would never allow them to arrest us and the police would not dare force the issue. My bure is only about a mile away, on this side of the town. We will go there first and I'll send a reliable man down to find out if anything unusual is happening at the gendarmes' barracks. But I'm still in the dark about much that has been going on. What exactly, did take place between you and General Ribaud?'

  `Of course you are.' Gregory smiled. `I had no chance to tell you while we were in prison, and I couldn't talk about it while we were in the plane with those two Frenchmen.' As they walked quickly along an upward sloping dirt road through the jungle, Gregory then related to James how he had blackmailed Ribaud and what had come of it. When he had done he added:

  `I ought to have foreseen that, although we were old friends, he might consider it his duty to trick me, and he darned near did. Unfortunately, too, we are far from having finished with him yet. Once he knows for certain that we are here he can fly troops in to get us. Even if we refuelled the aircraft, and forced Joubert to fly us on to Fiji, we'd still not be in the clear. There is a charge of attempted murder pending against you and he could apply for a warrant of extradition. You could go into hiding for a while, but not indefinitely; because to do so would mean your having to abandon everything. To do that would ruin your whole life; so, somehow or other, we've got to do a deal with him.'

  `I don't see how we can,' James said gloomily.

  `Neither do I at the moment. And the devil of it is we have precious little time to think in. The signal from Yuloga will be to the effect, “Aircraft failed to land, appeared to be out of control,” so apparently only a mechanical fault, and Ribaud's people wouldn't wake him up in the middle of the night to give him a message of that kind. But it will be on his desk this morning; so at any time from nine o'clock on we can expect the sparks to fly.'

  By this time they had mounted the rise and emerged from the jungle. Ahead of them, in a broad, open space, stood an exceptionally large and lofty bure with round about it a number of smaller ones. As they approached, a man appeared in the open doorway of the big pure. On seeing James, he gave a cry of delight, fell on his knees and bowed his head. His

  master greeted him kindly but, instead of moving for them to enter, he remained kneeling there. James turned aside, smiled at Gregory and said:

  `No High Chief ever enters his own or any other house by the back door; and no inferior may ever pass behind a High Chief when he is seated, even to serve him at table. In the islands there are many such customs as these. The people think them right and proper, so continue to observe them willingly.'

  To one side of the burs there was an oval swimming pool, at the far end were shaded swing hammocks, basket chairs, tables and a small bar; while, round about were hibiscus bushes, cannas and pepper plants in blossom, and frangipani trees, the creamy flowers of which filled the air with a heady scent.

  As they came round to the front of the burs, Gregory found himself looking on one of the most beautiful panoramas he had ever seen, A spacious garden sloped away down the hillside. In the forefront there were carefully tended beds of many coloured flowers. Along the side slopes and lower down, so as not to obstruct the view, were splendid specimen trees: mangoes, breadfruit, magnolias and giant figs that bure only miniature fruit.

  Below, shaped like a sickle moon, spread the long sweep of the bay. In the centre, looking so clear in the early morning light that one might have thrown a stone on to a roof top, nestled Revika, the island's capital. The town consisted of no more than a few brick buildings and some half hundred wooden ones; but on either side of it along the coast, half hidden in groves of palm trees, there peeped out the thatched roofs of scores of bures. The beach on the extremity of the left horn of the bay was hidden by massed trees of vivid green, the right horn was a mile long stretch of gleaming white sand.

  In the little harbour of Revika there were several schooners and a number of small motor boats, the phut phut phutting of one of which could be heard clearly as it made its way towards the harbour mouth. Further out, half a dozen canoes, with outriggers and great red triangular sails, were already

  on their way to the fishing grounds, each leaving a rippling wake on the calm surface of the water inside the lagoon. Two miles out the waves broke in a thin, creaming line on the coral reef that protected it. Beyond the reef were two small islands that seemed to float between the deep blue of the sea and the paler blue of the cloudless sky. Both of them were thick with… palms that, in the distance, looked like clusters of yellow green feathers. Not far from the shore a patch of the mirror like water suddenly danced and sparkled in the sun t light it was a shoal of flying fish breaking surface.

  `What a wonderful situation you have here,' Gregory remarked. `It must be one of the most beautiful views in the South Seas.'

  `It is,' agreed James. 'But down by the coast the scenery is not quite up to that in several other islands. The loveliest of all, I think, is Western Samoa. There is a stretch of forty miles there, where the road winds along within sight of the sea and for long distances only a hundred yards or so from it. You could not describe it as a built up area, but for its whole length, instead of scattered villages, there are, at short intervals, houses with pretty gardens. They are mostly native bures, of course, and unlike those in Fiji or here, their thatched roofs are supported by poles between which are reed curtains that can be let down in times of bad weather. Normally the colourfully clad people who live in them can be seen going about their daily tasks, and the interiors are always neat and clean. Against a back drop of palms and jungle, which slope up to the heights behind them, they are enchanting.!

  'How about Eastern Samoa?'

  `That, too, is lovely; but in a different way. The coast road is a corniche, in most places a hundred or so feet above the sea and dropping steeply to a succession of charming little bays. The villages along it are few and far between, and consist mostly of tin roofed, open sided, brick bungalows, built by the generous Americans after a great number of the bures of the unfortunate natives were destroyed some years ago by a terrible hurricane.

  `The principal attraction there is Pago Pago. Hundreds of years ago its site was occupied by an enormous volcano. One day it erupted with such terrific violence that it broke down a short strip of the coast, so that the ocean rushed in and turned the crater into a vast, almost land locked lagoon. The little town of Pago Pago stands along an inner arm of it. Not many years ago, on the extremity of the arm, overlooking the bay, the Americans put up their great Intercontinental Hotel, and the architect they employed did a splendid job for them. Instead of the usual big, oblong box, all the buildings, including about a score of separate bures, are copied from the local native design, and have roofs the shape of broad, upside down boats. The hotel, too, has everything, and is one of the finest in the Pacific.

  `The Americans also erected a cable railway which passes over the town and across the water up to their Radio Station at the top of Rainmaker Mountain, which dominates the country for miles round. I went up it, and was scared out of my wits. We were warned that the car stops and changes gear about a hundred feet from the top; but not that it would wobble violently, then suddenly run backward for about a dozen yards. I felt certain it was about to crash and, as the Rainmaker is over seventeen hundred feet high, I would have been smashed to atoms at the bottom. But my scare proved worth it, as the view from the top is fabulous.'

  Gregory sighed. `Why are we Europeans such fools as to spend our lives swarming like ants in hideous cities, when we might live in this South Sea paradise?'

  With a smile James replied, `If only a tenth of you settled in the South Pacific in no time things here would be just as bad. Even wi
thout that, our golden age of happy isolation is already over. Increases in population, science and modernisation are putting an end to true leisure and simple pleasures. We, too, are doomed to become the victims of the rat race.'

  `Yet you plan to foster that unhappy state of things. That is, if we get the Spanish gold. To mechanise your native industries, build a canning factory and so on, is bound to do so,

  `The gold! Yes. My mind has been so occupied with the results of my folly in Noumea that I had almost forgotten about it. I fear, though, that by now either Lacost will have made off with it illegally or de Carvalho will have divers at work salvaging it. In any case, the latter holds the licence, so it will not be easy to contest his rights. I shall, though. The Maria Amalia went down long before the French became the masters here. In the name of my ancestors who ruled here then, I mean to claim it.

  `But you are right, of course, that the true welfare of my people and my plans for them conflict. Yet how can I stand by and watch them being exploited by the rising tide of Indians? Modernisation will come here anyhow. At least it will be better for them if I can succeed in controlling it on their behalf.'

  As they turned to enter the bure, an old, half blind man who appeared to be dozing on the doorstep suddenly saw them, stood up and went down on his knees. James spoke to him and said to Gregory, `This is Sukuna. He has been our doorkeeper for longer than any of us can remember. In his youth people were still eating human flesh. I will send him for Kalabo, my head servant. We will have a bath while he has breakfast prepared for us.'

  `By that I suppose you mean a shower?'

  `You hate them, don't you?' James chuckled. 'But your luck is in. You seem to have forgotten that I was educated in the British manner. 1, too, love to relax and lie soaking; so, when I succeeded my father I had three baths installed here.'

  The interior of the bure was very similar to that of Manon's, except that it was much larger, the patterned designs of woven bamboo on the walls more intricate, and that on the great tapa covered beams were imposed whole rows of precious whale teeth and the white cowrie shells that, by tradition, only Royalty is permitted to use for decoration.