During the meal Gregory kept the champagne going, and to outward appearances it was a merry party; but the others were aware that Olinda was only putting a brave face on things and was all the while worrying herself into a fever about what might happen to James next day. She stuck it out until the pudding, a Zabaglione, was served. Then she suddenly burst into tears and hurriedly got up from the table.
Manon rose, too, but she was on the opposite side of the table and Gregory caught her arm while Captain Amedo took Olinda's and supported her out of the dining cabin. As they moved towards the door, Gregory snatched up a couple of dry biscuits from the cheese tray, thrust them into Manon's hand and said in a swift whisper
`Now go after her. I don't want her to be sick, so you must prevent her from lying down. Sit her in a chair and make her nibble these while you get behind her and massage her temples with eau de Cologne. Talk to her soothingly and tell her we'll stay on board tonight, in case she needs us. When she has quietened down, undo her hair and keep brushing it until she becomes drowsy. The odds are she'll have some aspirins in her cabin. If so, give her a couple, then get her to bed.'
With a half humorous grimace, Manon replied, `You would make a good psychologist, but are a lousy husband. Drink and tears are just what the poor dear needed, though, and between us, with luck, we'll get her off for a good night's sleep:
When Amedo rejoined Gregory they told the steward to clear the table and helped themselves to liqueur brandies. The Captain had heard enough of what was happening on shore to be aware of the reason for Olinda’s collapse, but he knew nothing about the projected attack on the Pigalle; so Gregory told him what was being planned, then went on:
'Those Colons are real toughs, so it's certain that they will put up a fight and it is going to be a very nasty business. I would gladly have the help of yourself and your crew, but it would not be right to ask it. This is a private quarrel, and there would be no justification for risking you or any of them being killed or wounded. But there is one way in which you could help us.'
Amedo gave a courteous little bow, `You are correct, Senhor, in that I have no right to expose my men to danger in such an affair, but, that apart, be pleased to express your wishes.!
'It is a matter of arms,' Gregory replied. `Unfortunately, very few of the Ratu's body guard have modern weapons, so they will be at a great disadvantage against the Colons. In a yacht such as this it is usual to carry a few firearms against emergencies and, if that is the case with you, I should be most grateful if I might have the loan of them:
`We have two rifles, four sporting guns and, including my own, three pistols. Provided the Senhora gives her permission, I should be happy to place them at your disposal.'
`Thank you, Captain. I'm sure the Senhora will agree, and that will enable me to equip much more satisfactorily several of the Ratu's men who have only muzzle loading muskets: After a moment Gregory added with a smile, `As they have never handled repeaters, we must hope there won't be any accidents, but that is my responsibility.'
For three quarters of an hour they talked very amicably, then Captain Amedo excused himself and went off to his quarters. Shortly afterwards Manon came in, smiled at Gregory and said, ' Olinda wasn't sick and I managed to calm her down. I found her aspirin, too, and gave her a couple. Soon after, she dropped off and she is now sleeping soundly; so as a doctor you are to be congratulated:
Giving a laugh, he stood up, crushed her to him in a tight embrace that almost drove the breath out of her body, and said, `Well done, my sweet. And although a cabin won't be quite as cosy as our bure, I'll show you that I can also be a competent husband.'
Gasping, she laughed back. 'Having made me half tight, you'd better, or I'll go along and seduce the handsome Captain,' Then her full lips melted on his in a long kiss.
In the morning, soon after, half past ten, Olinda joined them in the saloon, pale but calm and, to their surprise, dressed entirely in white, with her dark hair falling to her shoulders. Seeing their expressions, she gave a faint smile, and said
`I didn't meant to go ashore, but I have changed my mind. I know James was against our seeing him do his fire walk at Beqa, but this is different. Hundreds of people will be watching and I've decided that I ought to be present. If he succeeds, that will be wonderful. But if he fails, at least I shall be there to comfort him, and I'll make it known to all his people that I mean to marry him.'
Realising that for her to watch James undergoing his ordeal would mean almost as severe a one for her, Gregory and Manon both praised her courage; but she waved aside their compliments and led the way on deck. The launch was brought alongside and, after a word with her Captain, Amedo had the weapons and ammunition he had collected put into it. By eleven o'clock they were landed on the harbour. James' jeep was still there where Gregory had parked it. The arms were loaded into it, then he drove the two girls up through the town to the Meeting House.
As was to be expected, the whole town had turned out to witness the fire walk. The sloping hillside was black with people, only an area round the pit being kept clear by Sergeant Marceau and his gendarmes. Near it were grouped the Council of the Elders. With them was Commandant Elboeuf, and, standing a little apart, the sinister figure of Roboumo. The Elders solemnly welcomed Gregory and his party and brought out chairs for them to sit on.
Aleamotu'a was in charge of the proceedings. From time to time he glanced at his wrist watch and, as they sat watching him, the time of waiting seemed interminable. At last, he gave a signal. A score of men then ran forward and, giving excited cries, began with long, wire hawsers to drag the smouldering logs out of the pit. It took nearly a quarter of an hour before they had cleared the crater down to its level of large rounded stones, and another ten minutes before they had finished prodding the stones with poles until Aleamotu'a was satisfied that no rough corners upon which his Ratu might trip were left protruding. He then took a cardboard carton from a nearby man, who had been holding it ready for him, and hurled it into the centre of the pit. Within seconds it burst into flame and in less than a minute was reduced to ashes. A gasp of awe ran through the watching multitude.
There followed several minutes of appalling strain, then faintly there came up to them the tinny chime of the clock in the tower of the little church down on the harbour, striking midday. Suddenly, all heads were turned towards the garden sloping up to the Royal bure, and a great sigh went up from the huge crowd. Walking slowly and very erect, James, alone and unattended, was advancing down the slope.
An utter silence fell as everyone, from the Resident to the humblest present, stared at him with fascinated expectancy. When he was within fifty feet of the pit, Olinda stood up, walked forward to the edge of the pit opposite him and held out her arms.
Instantly it flashed on Gregory why she had decided to come ashore. James had said that when he did his fire walk on Beqa he had had a vision of her on the far side of the pit. Now she was bringing that vision to life. Clad all in white, like an angel come to earth, she stood there, her arms extended and her eyes fixed on his, willing him to come to her.
Without a second's hesitation he stepped down into the pit, walked with quick, firm steps across the twenty feet of stones, came up on the far side and took her in his arms.
The shout of applause that went up was ear splitting. For minutes on end the crowd cheered itself hoarse. As though at a given signal, James' subjects threw themselves on their knees and bowed their heads to the ground. Coming to their feet again, they swarmed towards him, hoping to touch his sacred person. Only with the greatest difficulty did the gendarmes and Elders fend them off and get James and Olinda into the Meeting House.
They had to remain there for half an hour before order was restored. Meanwhile, James told the Elders that after his ordeal he needed complete rest, so the yaggona ceremony they had planned and a great meke for that evening must be postponed until the following day.
It was two o'clock before James and his party, accompanied by the Commandant, Sergeant Mar
ceau and Aleamotu'a, at last got back to the bure. There luncheon had been prepared and, having fasted for twenty four hours, James ate heartily, but when he learned what had been taking place during his seclusion his exuberant happiness became overshadowed by the thought that if the treasure was to be saved they now had no alternative but to attack the Pigalle.
After his fire walk there was no longer any doubt that his body guard would wholeheartedly support the gendarmes and, that being so, Elboeuf showed no further qualms about ordering in his men. But it seemed certain that there would be casualties and James was loath to risk the lives of his people. However, when Gregory told him how, owing to Sergeant Marceau and Captain Amedo, the majority of them were now equipped with modern weapons and that motor boats had been commandeered to give them swiftness of manoeuvre, he agreed that the attempt to capture the Pigalle must be made. The question that remained was when?
Gregory at once said that if casualties were to be minimised, surprise was essential; so the best hour would be about three o'clock in the morning. But the Commandant would not hear of that. He maintained that, although the Colons were breaking the law, to launch an armed attack upon them without warning would make all who were concerned in it, above all himself, as the principal authority responsible, subject to prison sentences. Hostilities were permissible only if the Colons had been called on to surrender, refused and then offered armed resistance.
James and Aleamotu'a backed up Gregory; but Elboeuf and Sergeant Marceau insisted that unless the law was strictly observed they would all land themselves in very serious trouble. The argument had been raging for a quarter of an hour when the head houseboy, Kalabo, came in to say that there was a man outside asking urgently for Gregory.
On going outside, he found it to be Hamie Baker. The diver reported that, with the help of the natives, they had cleared the fallen debris in the wreck sooner than had been expected and had again got down to the treasure. To keep his pact with Gregory, he had slipped overboard during the break for the midday meal, and had swum ashore.
Asked how long he thought it would take to get up the rest of the treasure, he replied, `Can't say, baas. Depends how much of it there is. Might be another couple of days, but maybe they'll be through by tonight:
This alarming news created a new situation. Having renewed his promise to pay Hamie two hundred pounds, Gregory handed him over to Kalabo, to be given food and drink, then hurried in to report the tidings he had just received.
On consideration, he thought it most unlikely that the Pigalle would sail before morning, so he was still in favour, of a surprise attack in the middle of the night, but the chance that she would make off before then could not be ignored. The weight of opinion now went against him, so he had to agree that the showdown should take place that evening.
The Sergeant left to muster his gendarmes and Aleamotu'a to mobilise the body guard. Elboeuf stayed for another brandy, then drove off in his ancient car. By then it was half past three, and they had agreed to rendezvous down at the harbour at five o'clock, so Gregory, true to form when about to face trouble, decided to take an hour's siesta. Manon tried for a while to think of a way in which she could warn Lacost of the pending attack, but gave it up as hopeless and went out to sit by the pool. James, still transported with delight at the success of his fire walk and the way in which Olinda had aided him, took her to his bure, where she willingly submitted to his passionate embraces.
A little before five, the two girls, now fearful that their men might be killed or wounded, sadly kissed them good bye and watched them set off for the harbour. Everything there was in readiness. Altogether, with the gendarmes and body guard, the contingent now numbered some sixty men, and the flotilla to carry them consisted of eight motor boats. In case the one carrying the leaders should come to grief, it was decided that James should go in his own launch, Gregory in the Boa Viagem's speed boat and Sergeant Marceau and Aleamotu'a in others. The gendarmes were also separated, so that each could show an example to a boat carrying members of the body guard. Old Elboeuf, excusing himself on account of his age and infirmity, contented himself with wishing them good luck and waving them away.
Adjusting their speeds to keep in convoy, the flotilla made its way round the point, through the channel which separated Roboumo's island from the mainland, and so to the bay in which the wreck of the Maria Amalia lay. As they approached the Pigalle, they saw that great activity was taking place about her. Fuzzy headed natives were diving from her every few minutes, then bobbing up again clutching unidentifiable objects and two men in the stern were working hard at a hand pump, which was obviously feeding air down to Lacost's professional diver, Philip Macauta.
Then there came a sudden change in these activities. There were shouted orders, the native divers scrambled back on board. Macauta's big, round helmet glinted in the evening sunlight as he surfaced and climbed a ladder on to the deck. In a matter of minutes everyone in the Pigalle had taken cover, with the one exception of Pierre Lacost, who remained standing on the bridge.
As the official leader of the expedition, Sergeant Marceau's launch was some way ahead of the others. When it was within a hundred yards of the Pigalle he stood up in the stern, put a megaphone to his mouth and shouted
`Ahoy there, Monsieur Lacost. You are committing an illegal act. In the name of the Republic I summon you to weigh anchor and accompany us back to harbour.'
For a second Gregory held his breath, as he waited to hear what the response would be. It came almost immediately. Lacost gave a shout and darted back into the bridge cabin. Then there was a spurt of flame from the stern of the Pigalle, followed by the crack of a rifle. Sergeant Marceau's kepi seemed to jump from his head, he staggered, then jack knifed and crouched among the other men in his boat.
This opening episode was immediately followed by a ragged fusillade from all the boats of the flotilla, but the attackers were handicapped by being unable to see the men aboard the Pigalle. Splinters flew from woodwork here and there, the glass of the deckhouse windows was smashed and tinkled as it fell, but no cry or scream proclaimed a hit.
`We'll have to board,' Gregory shouted to the motorman in his boat. `Get going, full speed ahead now.' But next moment a machine gun opened on them. The gendarme beside him was shot through the chest, and one of the bodyguard screeched as a bullet seared his arm.
Everyone in the flotilla was firing now and bullets by the score were thudding into the hull of the Pigalle. Within a minute a second machine gun had opened up from her. It raked one boat, killing or wounding the majority of the crew. Then it was turned on another, hit it in a dozen places below the water line and it swiftly began to sink. The first machine gun blazed off again at Sergeant Marceau's boat. This time he was not so lucky. A bullet caught him in the shoulder, spun him round, and he fell overboard, while half his crew were massacred.
By then all the other boats had shut off their engines, none daring to approach nearer, but their occupants continued to pepper the Pigalle uselessly with bullets.
Gregory, seething with rage at this senseless debacle, shouted to James, `We must board her! Don't you understand? If we can once get into her, they'll stand no chance against our numbers.'
Even as he shouted, another boat received a fusillade, mowing down half the men in her. Two of the boats had now restarted their engines, turned about and were making off.
Cupping his hands, James yelled back, `It's hopeless! I'd join you myself, but I won't see any more of my people slaughtered.' Then, raising his voice still higher, he shouted in his native tongue, `Cease fire! Cease fire and return to harbour, all of you.'
The firing from the boats fell to a dribble, but the machine guns in the Pigalle continued their ugly chatter, inflicting more casualties as the remains of the flotilla turned tail and made off.
With fury in his heart, Gregory cursed Elboeuf. If only the old fool had not prevented them from carrying out a surprise attack in the middle of the night they could easily have overcome the Co
lons. Now he must resign himself to defeat. The game was lost and Lacost would get away with the treasure.
19
A Fateful Evening
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 Elboeuf, 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 Elboeuf 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, Elboeuf 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.
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