CHAPTER XVII
THE ATTACK ON THE VILLAGE
In the haste of their flight from the dangerous beach the natives hadleft drums, cooking-pots, and other impedimenta behind, and had nownothing but their weapons to carry. Marching light, they showed a mostungentlemanly want of consideration for Grinson. 'They 're nogentlemen, Ephraim, me lad, that's flat,' he said later (they had goneseveral miles before he overtook them), 'and me panting and sweatinglike any think! I must 'a lost five pounds, if an ounce.'
As soon as he had recovered breath, he took place by Flanso's side atthe head of the procession, and quite unaware that he was transgressingetiquette, kept pace with the chief, conversing by the way.
'What I can't make out, Flanso, old man,' he said, 'is what this Mr.Hoole is--what he was brought up to, like. He 's only a nipper, so tospeak it, 's far as years go, and by his own account he was just larkinground these 'ere seas, with more money than wits, _I 'd_ say. Well,then, what I want to know is, how does he know about these 'ereairyplanes or seaplanes, or whatever you call 'em, handles 'em as easyas I might handle a ship's boat, and no gammon? I know you don'tunderstand a word of what I'm saying, matey, not being born such; but I'm just letting off steam, d' ye see? In course I wouldn't say all thisto the young gent's face, my manners being good as a general rule; butit ain't good to keep your thoughts bottled up, like, 'cos they mightbust out sudden like the cork out of a bottle o' beer that's stood toonear the fire, and then where 'd we be, Flanso, me boy?'
Flanso appeared to be gratified by the seaman's speech, and smiledamiably.
'You ain't half a bad-looking chap, Flanso, and if you 'd take thatstick out of your nose and learn to wash yourself you 'd be quitehandsome. 'Tis a strange world, and no mistake. There 's my Ephraim, agood lad as cleans hisself regular like a true Christian, and speaksEnglish as well as I does myself, but nobody could say he 's a beauty;and then there 's you--'orrible dirty, speaks like a monkey, and yet gota face on you as would make your fortune if so be you went into theGuards.
'Things is arranged very rum, Flanso, and there 's no understanding of'em. Them two Germans, now--they 're pretty enough with their blue eyesand flaxen hair, just the sort the girls go silly over; but their'earts, Flanso--their 'earts is blacker than you, old man. Yet I don'tknow--p'r'aps--but what's the good o' spekylatin'? Things is a puzzle,and we ain't got the brains for to work it out.'
He shook his head, and fell into a reverie from which he was suddenlyawakened by a distant rifle shot. Instantly he became the man of actionagain. He swung round, signed to the natives to halt, and put hisfingers to his lips enjoining silence. Then he hastened down the lineuntil he had discovered Lafoa.
'Here, you!' he said. 'You makee all fellas hold their jaw and comebunko arter me, see? Bad fellas fightee; we go see what's up. See?'
The interpreter nodded, and hurried to Flanso, who gave orders in hisown tongue. It was clear that he looked to Grinson for leadership. Moreshots rang out ahead.
'That's a revolver,' murmured Grinson. 'Mr. Trentham! Spears. Bows andarrows.' He looked round at the natives. 'May be some good. Fustthing is to find out exactly what's what. Here, you, how far off--howmuchee way--your village?'
The interpreter did not understand him. Grinson groaned.
'Well, makee all black fellas hidee in bushes, so no one can see.Savvy?'
This appeared clear, for the natives, at a word from Lafoa, scattered,and in a few moments were invisible.
'Now come alonga me,' continued Grinson. 'Flanso too. Come on!'
Flanso leading, they wormed their way stealthily through the forestgrowth. The sounds of conflict grew as they progressed. Presently theywere conscious of the smell of burning, and thin trails of smoke werewafted among the trees. Coming to the outskirts of the village, theybeheld several huts blazing. At first they saw no human being, butadvancing cautiously through the thick bushes that spread behind thehuts, they came upon a Papuan squatting on the ground and rockinghimself with pain. A question from Flanso elicited an account of whathad happened. An hour or two before, the outlying scouts had discovereda number of white men marching towards the village. They had hastenedback with the news, and the white men in the village had ordered all thepeople to withdraw into the inner enclosure. The enemy had come uponthem before they were all within the wall. Some of the people had beenkilled, some wounded, others had escaped into the forest. The huts hadbeen fired, and the enemy had rushed towards the gate, but had hurriedlyretreated before a shower of arrows and the fire-magic that met them.They had posted themselves among the trees, and a little while beforehad begun to shoot their hot stones over the wall.
Lafoa interpreted this as well as he could to Grinson, who, however,seemed to understand the position instinctively. He bade Lafoa hastenback to the men halting in the forest a quarter of a mile behind, andbring up all the young warriors. While the man was absent Grinson satdown at the foot of a tree, stretched out his legs, folded his arms, andpondered. There had not been time for the Raider to reach the cove andland her crew, therefore the attackers must be relatively few in number.They were armed with rifles; probably the rifles had bayonets;therefore, though few in number, they were much more than a match for athrong of untrained savages with no better weapons than bows and arrowsand spears.
'Which I mean to say,' said Grinson to himself, 'that is if we don'tcome to close quarters, whereas and however 'tis numbers what tells in arush, such as boarding a vessel when you 're close alongside and AdmiralNelson piped all hands to repel boarders--or t'other way about, for'twas us what boarded the enemy, must 'a been, being British. That's onepoint settled, Flanso, old man; we 've got to board 'em, take 'em abaft,otherwise about the rump or stern, and lively too, not forgetting thatMr. Trentham is for'ard banging away with his revolver, and we stand agood chance of being bowled over in mistake, and apologies are no use,and it's our look-out, and no blame to anybody. Now I come to think ofit, that point's fust and last, for if we rush 'em and don't win, why,then nothing matters no more, and we 're all booked for the pearly gatesand no mistake. Things are getting pretty hot by the sound of it, and I'm afraid that there revolver have give out, and--ah! here come theboarding party.'
Lafoa stole through the brushwood followed by twenty or thirty young menof the higher caste, all moving as silently as wild animals.
'Tell 'em to lay snug--otherwise doggo--while you and me and the chiefgo for'ard and do a bit of spying,' said Grinson.
He crept forward with the two men, and came presently to a spot amongthe trees where it was possible to get a fairly clear view of thefighting. A number of Germans were laying piles of brushwood at thefoot of the wall; others were breaking holes in it, or enlarging slightgaps between the logs; others were bringing up more brushwood from theforest, while reports and flashes high up in some trees overlooking oneside of the enclosure showed that snipers had been posted to pick offthe garrison. For the moment none of the defenders were visible.Grinson guessed that Trentham, having exhausted or all but exhausted hisammunition, was reserving himself for the inrush which without firearmsit was impossible to prevent.
'There 's Trousers!' thought Grinson, catching sight of Hahn, whoappeared to be superintending operations. 'If I don't give him adusting----'
He stole back to the waiting natives, whispering instructions to Lafoaon the way. Half a dozen men were told off to creep through the bush anddeal with the snipers in the trees, Grinson judging that in the denseundergrowth a native with a bow and a spear should be a match for awhite man in a tree, even though armed with a rifle. The rest of themen were ordered to follow him noiselessly to the edge of the clearingin front of the wall, and to dash at the enemy when he gave the word.The slight sounds of their movements were smothered by the reports ofthe rifles and the hacking at the wall.
On reaching the spot, Grinson perceived that the Germans were massingfor a determined push. At the sound of Hahn's whistle
they sprang on tothe piles of brushwood and attempted to swarm up and over the wall.Grinson could just see Trentham above the top, swinging a huge nativeclub. While he was looking, the pendulum swing of the weapon disposed oftwo Germans who had come within its formidable sweep. To right andleft, however, several of the enemy had got a footing on the wall, inspite of the spears hurled by the older and weaker natives who alone hadremained in the village.
Then Grinson let out a bellow like the blast of a fog-horn, and sprangfrom the shelter of the trees with a spear in each hand, followed by thehorde of natives, yelling and screeching. The Germans turned in alarm todiscover what was threatening them, dropped to their knees, and raisedtheir rifles. Only a few of them fired; the rest, disconcerted by theshower of arrows and spears which the natives let fly at them as theyran, dropped their rifles and fled helter-skelter among the trees,Flanso leading his men in hot pursuit.
GRINSON LET OUT A BELLOW LIKE THE BLAST OF A FOG-HORN,AND SPRANG FROM THE TREES, FOLLOWED BY A HORDE OF NATIVES.]
Grinson had made straight for Hahn, hurled one of his spears at him,which missed, and coming to close quarters, lunged at him with theother. But as he reached forward, a bullet from one of the snipers whohad not yet been dislodged from his tree struck the boatswain on thearm. He spun round and fell on his face, just as Trentham, with Meekand a score of natives, came rushing out at the gate. Hahn had raisedhis revolver to shoot the fallen seaman, but catching sight of Trentham,he snapped an ill-aimed shot at him, then took to his heels and followedhis men into the forest.
Trentham dispatched Lafoa to recall the natives, fearing that theGermans would rally and outmatch them in a running fight; then hereturned to Grinson, who had sat up, and was trying to pull off hiscoat.
'Just a tickler, sir,' said the boatswain, grinning. 'I 'd a sort offeeling that I 'd be wounded in the house of my friends, as you may say,them being Bible words and all correct. Easy all! That's off. Mygoose is all right, praise be! Missed it by an inch, your lucky shotdid, sir.'
'My shot? I didn't fire.'
'I 'm sure I beg your pardon, and won't say no more about it, though I'd a notion you fired at Trousers and missed. This 'ere scratch won'tspoil my beauty sleep, anyway. Mr. Hoole, sir? He got off like a bird,not but what they didn't have a go at him; the Raider, sir--mostunfortunate, she come up just as we was getting ready for the kick-off,as you may say. The old wreck's blown to blazes, but no more harm done,and I lay Mr. Hoole by this time have got somewhere, though where thatmay be remains to be seen.'
'Thankful I am as you 're not killed, Mr. Grinson,' said Meek, who hadcome up from behind.
'Same to you, Ephraim, me lad. The only fly in my gizzard is thatTrousers has got off; but we 'll dust him yet, Ephraim. No, I don'twant no help; I 'm sound on my pins, and my arm don't hurt so bad asvaccination. What I _would_ like is a pint o' beer, but I might as wellcry for the moon. Things is a great puzzle, Ephraim!'