Long Odds by Harold Bindloss
CHAPTER XXV
DOMINGO APPEARS
The carriers had stopped in a deserted village one morning after along and arduous march from the mission station, when Ormsgill, lyingin the hot white sand, looked quietly at Nares, who sat with his backagainst one of the empty huts.
"If I knew what the dusky image was thinking I should feelconsiderably more at ease," he said. "Still, I don't, and there's verylittle use in guessing. After all, we are a long way from grasping thenegro's point of view on most subjects yet. They very seldom look atthings as we do."
Nares nodded. "Anyway, I almost fancy we could consider what he hastold us as correct," he said. "It's something to go upon."
The man he referred to squatted close by them, naked to the waist,though a few yards of cotton cloth hung from his hips. An old Sniderrifle lay at his side, and he was big and muscular with a heavy,expressionless face. As Ormsgill had suggested, it certainly affordedvery little indication of what he was thinking, and left it a questionwhether he was capable of intelligent thought at all. They had comeupon him in the deserted village on the edge of a great swamp an hourearlier, and he had skillfully evaded their questions as to what hewas doing there.
It was an oppressively hot morning, and a heavy, dingy sky hung overthe vast morass which they could see through the openings between thescattered huts. It stretched back bare and level, a vast desolation,towards the interior, with a little thin haze floating over it insilvery belts here and there, and streaking the forest that crept upto its edge. The carriers lay half-asleep in the warm sand, blotchesof white and blue and ebony, and the man with the rifle appearedvacantly unconcerned. Time is of no value to the negro, and one couldhave fancied that he was prepared to wait there all day for the whitemen's next question.
"It's not very much," said Ormsgill reflectively, referring to hiscomrade's last observation. "Domingo, it seems, is up yonder--butthere are one or two other facts, which I think have theirsignificance, in our possession. Herrero is coming up behind us, and,though there are no other Portuguese in the neighborhood, we find thisvillage empty. I should very much like to know why the folks who livedin it have gone away, and I fancy our friend yonder could tell us.Still, it's quite certain that he won't."
"Herrero evidently means to join hands with Domingo," suggested Nares."It's quite possible, too, that he will do what he can to prevent usbuying the six boys from the Headman, who, it's generally believed,does a good deal of business with him. It's a little unfortunate. Inanother week the thing might have been done."
Ormsgill nodded as one who makes his mind up. "When in doubt gostraight on--and, as a matter of fact, we can't afford to stop," hesaid. "Provisions are going to be a consideration. We'll push on andtry what can be done with Domingo and the Headman before Herrero comesup."
He turned to the negro, and Nares amplified his question.
"Yes," said the man, with the faintest suggestion of a grin, "I knowwhere Domingo is, and if you come to our village it is very likelythat you will see him. I will take you to the Headman for the piecesof cloth you promise."
He got up leisurely, and Ormsgill, who called to the boys, looked atNares as they plodded into the forest that skirted the swamp.
"It's quite certain the man was waiting for somebody, and it wasn'tHerrero, or he wouldn't have gone away," he said. "That naturallyseems to suggest he might have been on the lookout for us. In thatcase I should very much like to know what was amusing him."
It was not to be made clear until some time later, and in themeanwhile they pushed on for a week through straggling forest with allthe haste the boys were capable of, though Ormsgill's face grewthoughtful when they twice passed an empty village. The fact had itssignificance, for little labor recruiting had been done in that stripof country. Still, its dusky inhabitants had apparently forsaken it,and it became more evident that something unusual was going on. Onceonly they met a native, or rather he blundered upon their camp whenthey lay silent in the thin shadow of more open bush on a burningafternoon, and their guide roused himself sharply to attention when apatter of footsteps came out of the stillness. Somebody was evidentlyapproaching in haste, and Ormsgill glanced at Nares in warning whenthe negro who lay close beside them rose to a crouching posture anddrew back the hammer of his old Snider rifle. It was clear thatstrangers were regarded with suspicion in that country. Then the mandrew one foot under him, and sat upon it with the arm that supportedthe rifle on his knee, and an unpleasantly suggestive look in hisheavy face. One could have fancied that he meant to kill, and Ormsgillstretching out a hand laid it on his comrade's shoulder restrainingly.
"Wait," he whispered. "In the meanwhile it's not our business."
Nares waited, but he felt it become more difficult to do so as thefootsteps grew plainer. He could hear the little restless movements ofthe boys, but he had eyes for little beyond the ominous half-nakedfigure clutching the heavy rifle. It dominated the picture. Talltrunks, trailing creepers, and clustering carriers grew indistinct,but he was vaguely conscious that there was an opening between theleaves some sixty yards in front of him, and his heart throbbedpainfully with the effort the restraint he laid upon himself cost him.Then a dusky figure appeared in the opening, and stopped a moment,apparently in astonishment or terror, while Ormsgill was sensible of asudden straining after recollection. The man was leanly muscular anddressed as scantily as any native of the bush, but there was somethingin his appearance that was vaguely familiar. In the meanwhile he wasalso conscious that their guide's arms were stiffening rigidly, andwhen the man's cheek sank a little lower on the rifle stock he let hishand drop from Nares's shoulder. As it happened, he was close behindthe negro, and in another moment would have clutched him.
Just then, however, the stranger sprang forward and a little acridsmoke blew into Ormsgill's eyes. There was a detonation and hecontrived to fall with a hand on the ground instead of upon thecrouching negro with the rifle. When he looked up again the man whohad narrowly escaped from the peril by his quickness was running likea deer, and vanished amidst a crash of displaced undergrowth, whiletheir guide flung back his rifle breech with clumsy haste. When heturned round there was no sign of the stranger and Ormsgill wasquietly standing on his feet. Only a few seconds had elapsed since theman had first appeared.
The guide made a little grimace which was expressive of resignation ashe turned the rifle over and shook out the cartridge, and in anotherminute or two they were going on again. When he moved a little awayfrom them Ormsgill looked at Nares.
"It's probably just as well our friend does not know I meant to spoilhis aim," he said. "I haven't the least notion why he wished to shootthat man, and very much wish I had, but I can't help fancying thatI've seen him before--at one of the Missions most likely. I should beglad if anybody could tell me what he is doing here."
There was nobody who could do it except, perhaps, their guide, butOrmsgill surmised that he was not likely to supply him with anyinformation. He was not to know until some time later that the man inquestion had once served Herrero, who had beaten him too frequentlyand severely, and that as a result of this he met Pacheco theGovernment messenger in a deserted village after another week'sarduous journey. In the meanwhile he pushed on, limping a little,through marsh and forest until their guide led them into a largenative village where he expected to find the last of Lamartine's boys.This one, at least, was not deserted. In fact, it appeared unusuallycrowded and, as Ormsgill was quick to notice, most of its inhabitantswere armed. He had, however, little opportunity of noticing anythingelse, for he was led straight into the presence of its ruler, who saton a low stool under a thatched roof raised on a few rickety pillarsin the middle of the village. He was dressed in a white man's duckjacket, worn open, and a shirt; and every person of consequence in theplace had gathered about him. The guide presented the newcomerstersely, and it seemed to Ormsgill that the manner in which he did itwas significant.
"They are here," he said. "I have done as I was bidden."
"The six boys are certainly here," he said. "Still, I do not know justnow if I can sell you them. That will depend--" Nares understood fromthe next few words that he desired to be a little ambiguous on thispoint. "You have, it seems, some business with Domingo, too?"
Nares said it concerned the boys in question, but as the laborpurveyor had no claim upon them the matter could be arranged with theHeadman, who grinned very much as the guide had done, while a curiouslittle smile crept into the faces of some of the rest.
"Then," he said, "I think he will be here in a day or two. Some of mypeople have gone for him, but I am not sure that he will have much totell us when he comes. In the meanwhile you will stay with us a fewdays, and when I am ready to talk about the boys again I will send foryou."
He made a sign that the interview was over, and several of hisfollowers who were armed escorted the white men and their boys to thehut set apart for them. They left them there with a plainly wordedhint that it would be wise of them not to come out of it, and whenthey went away Ormsgill looked at Nares.
"I suppose you're not sure what that Headman really meant," he said."A man naturally has you at a disadvantage when he doesn't wish tomake himself very clear and talks in a tongue you don't quiteunderstand. I wish I knew exactly why he chuckled."
Nares looked thoughtful. "He seemed to know we meant to visit him."
"It's evident. How I don't quite understand. We traveled fast. Still,he did know. In the meanwhile we can only wait."
They waited, somewhat anxiously, for several days, knowing thatHerrero, whose presence promised to complicate affairs, was drawingnearer all the while. There was, however, no other course open tothem, for when they attempted to leave the hut a big man armed with amatchet who kept watch outside informed them it was the Headman'spleasure that they should stay there until he was at liberty to talkto them.
At last one morning word was brought them, and Ormsgill looked abouthim in astonishment when they walked into the wide space in the midstof the straggling village. All round it stood long rows of dusky men,most of whom were armed, but only a small and apparently selectcompany sat under the thatched roof in the shadow of which the Headmanhad previously received them.
"There is something very unusual going on. Half these men seem to bestrangers, and they have Sniders," he said. "I expect Domingo couldtell how they got them, but I don't seem to see him." Then he touchedhis comrade's shoulder. "I fancy we can expect something dramatic.There's a man yonder we have met before."
Nares felt that the scene was already sufficiently impressive. Thestrip of empty sand in front of him flung up a dazzling glare. The skythe palm tufts cut against was of a harsh blue that one could scarcelylook upon, and the village was flooded with an almost intolerablebrilliancy which flashed upon glittering matchets and Snider barrels.It also smote the massed white draperies and flickered with an oilygleam on ebony limbs and the sea of dusky faces turned expectantlytowards the group beneath the thatch. Most of the men there sat on theground, but there were two seated figures, the village Headman, andthe Suzerain lord of his country, the old man they had met already, ona slightly higher stool. He, at least, was dressed in dignifiedfashion in a long robe of spotless cotton, and a few men with tallspears stood in state behind him. His face was impassively grim, andNares's heart beat a trifle faster as his eyes rested on him, but atthe same time he was sensible of an expectancy so tense that it droveout personal anxiety. He almost felt that he was watching for theopening of the drama from a place of safety.
In the meanwhile he moved towards the thatch with his comrade untilthey stopped a few yards' distance from the Suzerain, who leanedforward a little and looked at Ormsgill steadily. He was of commandingpresence, but there was something in his attitude which suggested thathe regarded this stranger as an equal, though he was lord of thatcountry, and the other stood before him, a spare, lonely figure inwhite duck, with nothing in his hands.
"The Headman has told me your business, and it seems it is very muchthe same as when I last talked to you," he said. "You are, I believe,not a friend of those other white men who have persecuted me?"
Ormsgill turned to Nares. "You can tell him that we are bothproscribed," he said. "Make it quite clear. I don't think there's anyreason to be anxious about his handing us over to the folks at SanRoque."
Nares explained, and the old man made a little gesture. "Then," hesaid, "you shall have the six boys, and it is not my will that youoffer the Headman anything for them. Domingo stole them--and we havesatisfied our claim on him. Still, I do not know yet whether you willbe permitted to go away with them. In the meanwhile there is anothermatter."
Nares made out the gist of it, and as he hastily explained the old manraised his hand. "You have business with Domingo, and there are twoother white men who have come here to meet him. Let them comeforward."
Somebody passed on the order, and there was a murmur of voices and astirring of the crowd as a little group of men strode out of it. Infront walked the Boer Gavin, a tall, lean figure in travel-stainedduck with a heavy rifle cradled in his arm, and his manner wasunconcerned. Behind him came Herrero, little, and yellow-faced,looking about him furtively, while a line of dusky men half of whomwere armed plodded after them, obviously uneasy. The Suzerain satimpassively still, and looked at them in a curious fashion when theystopped not far from him.
"You have come here to meet Domingo. You are friends of his?" he said.
Herrero hesitated, but his companion laughed when an interpreterrepeated the question.
"You can say we came to meet him, in any case," he replied.
"Was that wise?" asked the old man, and his voice had a jarring ring."Still, as you have come you shall see him."
Then he smiled grimly, and made a sign to some of those behind. Againthere was a stirring of the crowd, and Nares felt his nerves thrillwith expectancy. He looked at Ormsgill, who was standing very stillwith empty hands at his side, and afterwards saw Gavin, the Boer,glance sharply round and change his grip on the heavy rifle. Inanother moment there was a very suggestive half-articulate murmur fromthe assembly, and then an impressive stillness as two men came forwardbearing between them a heavy fiber package slung as a hammock usuallyis beneath a pole. They laid it down, and while Ormsgill and Gavinmoved forward at the Headman's sign one of them took something out ofit. He held it up, and Nares gasped and struggled with a sense ofnausea, for it was a drawn and distorted human face that met hisshrinking gaze.
"They've killed him!" he said hoarsely.
Ormsgill stood rigidly still. "Yes," he said, "it's Domingo.Considering everything one could hardly blame them."
Then the stillness was sharply broken. A cry rose from the assembly asHerrero's boys turned and fled. Their leader shrank back pace by pacefrom the old man's gaze, and then wheeling round sped after them. Ashe did so somebody shouted, and a couple of Sniders flashed. Theircrash was lost in a clamor, and odd groups of men sprang out into theopen space. Then Nares saw Gavin running hard come up with his comradeand grasp his shoulder. He drove him before him towards one of thelarger huts while the Snider bullets struck up little spurts of sandbehind them.
Nares set his lips, and held his breath as he watched them. Theshadowy entrance of the hut was not far away, but it seemed impossiblethat they could reach it before one, at least, of them was struck.Herrero, blind with fear, seemed to flag already, but Gavin drove himon, and Nares could see that his face was set and grim. They went by acluster of negroes running to intercept them, and the tall man in thewhite duck seemed to fling his comrade forward into the hut. Then hespun round pitching up the heavy rifle. There was a flash and adetonation, and Ormsgill heard a curious droning sound as if a bee hadpassed above his head. In another second a man who stood
"It's horrible," he said.
Ormsgill made a little gesture. "They brought it upon themselves. I'ma little sorry for Gavin, but I can't get away."
It was perfectly evident. Their captors held them fast, pinioningtheir arms with greasy black hands, and there were two to each ofthem, while there are very few white men who have the negro's physicalstrength, at least if they have been any time in that climate. Naresgasped and felt his heart throb furiously, as he waited with his eyesfixed on the hut.