The Rescue: A Romance of the Shallows

  VIII

  Lingard's soul was exalted by his talk with Mrs. Travers, by the strainof incertitude and by extreme fatigue. On returning on board he askedafter Hassim and was told that the Rajah and his sister had gone off intheir canoe promising to return before midnight. The boats sent to scoutbetween the islets north and south of the anchorage had not come backyet. He went into his cabin and throwing himself on the couch closed hiseyes thinking: "I must sleep or I shall go mad."

  At times he felt an unshaken confidence in Mrs. Travers--then heremembered her face. Next moment the face would fade, he would make aneffort to hold on to the image, fail--and then become convinced withoutthe shadow of a doubt that he was utterly lost, unless he let all thesepeople be wiped off the face of the earth.

  "They all heard that man order me out of his ship," he thought, andthereupon for a second or so he contemplated without flinching the luridimage of a massacre. "And yet I had to tell her that not a hair of herhead shall be touched. Not a hair."

  And irrationally at the recollection of these words there seemed to beno trouble of any kind left in the world. Now and then, however, therewere black instants when from sheer weariness he thought of nothing atall; and during one of these he fell asleep, losing the consciousnessof external things as suddenly as if he had been felled by a blow on thehead.

  When he sat up, almost before he was properly awake, his first alarmedconviction was that he had slept the night through. There was a light inthe cuddy and through the open door of his cabin he saw distinctly Mrs.Travers pass out of view across the lighted space.

  "They did come on board after all," he thought--"how is it I haven'tbeen called!"

  He darted into the cuddy. Nobody! Looking up at the clock in theskylight he was vexed to see it had stopped till his ear caught thefaint beat of the mechanism. It was going then! He could not have beenasleep more than ten minutes. He had not been on board more than twenty!

  So it was only a deception; he had seen no one. And yet he rememberedthe turn of the head, the line of the neck, the colour of the hair,the movement of the passing figure. He returned spiritlessly to hisstate-room muttering, "No more sleep for me to-night," and came outdirectly, holding a few sheets of paper covered with a high, angularhandwriting.

  This was Jorgenson's letter written three days before and entrusted toHassim. Lingard had read it already twice, but he turned up the lamp alittle higher and sat down to read it again. On the red shield above hishead the gilt sheaf of thunderbolts darting between the initials of hisname seemed to be aimed straight at the nape of his neck as he sat withbared elbows spread on the table, poring over the crumpled sheets. Theletter began:

  Hassim and Immada are going out to-night to look for you. You are behindyour time and every passing day makes things worse.

  Ten days ago three of Belarab's men, who had been collecting turtles'eggs on the islets, came flying back with a story of a ship stranded onthe outer mudflats. Belarab at once forbade any boat from leaving thelagoon. So far good. There was a great excitement in the village. Ijudge it must be a schooner--probably some fool of a trader. However,you will know all about her when you read this. You may say I mighthave pulled out to sea to have a look for myself. But besides Belarab'sorders to the contrary, which I would attend to for the sake of example,all you are worth in this world, Tom, is here in the Emma, under myfeet, and I would not leave my charge even for half a day. Hassimattended the council held every evening in the shed outside Belarab'sstockade. That holy man Ningrat was for looting that vessel. Hassimreproved him saying that the vessel probably was sent by you becauseno white men were known to come inside the shoals. Belarab backed upHassim. Ningrat was very angry and reproached Belarab for keeping him,Ningrat, short of opium to smoke. He began by calling him "O! son,"and ended by shouting, "O! you worse than an unbeliever!" There was ahullabaloo. The followers of Tengga were ready to interfere and youknow how it is between Tengga and Belarab. Tengga always wanted to oustBelarab, and his chances were getting pretty good before you turned upand armed Belarab's bodyguard with muskets. However, Hassim stopped thatrow, and no one was hurt that time. Next day, which was Friday, Ningratafter reading the prayers in the mosque talked to the people outside. Hebleated and capered like an old goat, prophesying misfortune, ruin, andextermination if these whites were allowed to get away. He is mad butthen they think him a saint, and he had been fighting the Dutch foryears in his young days. Six of Belarab's guard marched down the villagestreet carrying muskets at full cock and the crowd cleared out. Ningratwas spirited away by Tengga's men into their master's stockade. If itwas not for the fear of you turning up any moment there would have beena party-fight that evening. I think it is a pity Tengga is not chiefof the land instead of Belarab. A brave and foresighted man, howevertreacherous at heart, can always be trusted to a certain extent. One cannever get anything clear from Belarab. Peace! Peace! You know his fad.And this fad makes him act silly. The peace racket will get him into arow. It may cost him his life in the end. However, Tengga does not feelhimself strong enough yet to act with his own followers only and Belarabhas, on my advice, disarmed all villagers. His men went into the housesand took away by force all the firearms and as many spears as theycould lay hands on. The women screamed abuse of course, but there was noresistance. A few men were seen clearing out into the forest with theirarms. Note this, for it means there is another power beside Belarab's inthe village: the growing power of Tengga.

  One morning--four days ago--I went to see Tengga. I found him by theshore trimming a plank with a small hatchet while a slave held anumbrella over his head. He is amusing himself in building a boat justnow. He threw his hatchet down to meet me and led me by the hand toa shady spot. He told me frankly he had sent out two good swimmers toobserve the stranded vessel. These men stole down the creek in a canoeand when on the sea coast swam from sandbank to sandbank until theyapproached unobserved--I think--to about fifty yards from that schoonerWhat can that craft be? I can't make it out. The men reported therewere three chiefs on board. One with a glittering eye, one a lean manin white, and another without any hair on the face and dressed in adifferent style. Could it be a woman? I don't know what to think. I wishyou were here. After a lot of chatter Tengga said: "Six years ago I wasruler of a country and the Dutch drove me out. The country was small butnothing is too small for them to take. They pretended to give it backto my nephew--may he burn! I ran away or they would have killed me. I amnothing here--but I remember. These white people out there can not runaway and they are very few. There is perhaps a little to loot. I wouldgive it to my men who followed me in my calamity because I am theirchief and my father was the chief of their fathers." I pointed out theimprudence of this. He said: "The dead do not show the way." To this Iremarked that the ignorant do not give information. Tengga kept quietfor a while, then said: "We must not touch them because their skin islike yours and to kill them would be wrong, but at the bidding of youwhites we may go and fight with people of our own skin and our ownfaith--and that is good. I have promised to Tuan Lingard twenty men anda prau to make war in Wajo. The men are good and look at the prau; itis swift and strong." I must say, Tom, the prau is the best craft ofthe kind I have ever seen. I said you paid him well for the help. "AndI also would pay," says he, "if you let me have a few guns and a littlepowder for my men. You and I shall share the loot of that ship outside,and Tuan Lingard will not know. It is only a little game. You haveplenty of guns and powder under your care." He meant in the Emma. Onthat I spoke out pretty straight and we got rather warm until at lasthe gave me to understand that as he had about forty followers of his ownand I had only nine of Hassim's chaps to defend the Emma with, he couldvery well go for me and get the lot. "And then," says he, "I would be sostrong that everybody would be on my side." I discovered in the courseof further talk that there is a notion amongst many people that you havecome to grief in some way and won't show up here any more. After thisI saw the position was serious and I was in a hurry to get back to theEmma, but pre
tending I did not care I smiled and thanked Tengga forgiving me warning of his intentions about me and the Emma. At this henearly choked himself with his betel quid and fixing me with his littleeyes, muttered: "Even a lizard will give a fly the time to say itsprayers." I turned my back on him and was very thankful to get beyondthe throw of a spear. I haven't been out of the Emma since.