I watched the flashes up in the hills till finally they quit; but there was never a word but just those four: "Come, ask for Brill."
Our packs were already made up; it remained only for Rufe to put the finishing touches to the grub we were going to take. Captain Marat and Grant Norris had their high powered rifles, the hand ax was more than I needed, for my legs were nimble. Julian got out his handsome shot-gun, and a dozen sh.e.l.ls Rufe had loaded with buck-shot.
"Jes" two of dem "ar buck-shot sh.e.l.ls in my ol" gun and dat"s all I needs," Rufe said. "Dey ain"t n.o.body guine to come nigh dis heah schooner "less"n I says de word."
We pulled the small boat high on" the beach, near the place where we had parted with Wayne and Robert, and without preliminaries we started off by the road. It was fearfully dark, but the trail was the path of least resistance, so we couldn"t get lost. Two hours after the start daylight busted through the trees. In another hour or so we b.u.t.ted into a village. And the first pickaninny we met told us the way to "Brills," on the upper side of the village.
A black man, and a black woman, and a black boy, were at the door of the Brill mansion.
"We"re looking for two white boys," announced Norris.
"Dey ain"t no white boys "round heah," said that black boy. And say!
that voice had a familiar tw.a.n.g to it.
"Say, Robert," I spit out, "your face goes all right, but you"ll have to smear the black better on that voice of yours, if you want to fool this kid."
We were all inside now; and it didn"t take Robert long to tell his story.
"And so you are sure they"ve got Wayne in that old ruin?" said Norris, addressing this black man, Carlos Brill.
"Yes, I think ver" sure," said the man. "I see they go that way with him."
"Well, Captain Marat," began Norris, "I say storm the place at once."
"Yes," a.s.sented Captain Marat, "we have to do something."
"But we"ll have to go slow," Robert said. "That place must be lousy with those cannibals; and no one knows how many guns they"ll have."
Well, Norris was willing to go slow, if he could only go soon. And we were not long getting started.
That black fellow, Carlos Brill, led the way, and that black fellow, Robert Murtry, with him. Julian and I were rear guard. And they gave me Wayne"s rifle to carry.
It wasn"t long till we got out of the woods into an open spot; and then they showed us what they"d figured out was Wayne"s prison. It was way over on the other side of a ravine; and say! it was the queerest looking, half tumble-down old palace!
We went down into the ravine; and on the other side Carlos Brill took us out of the path--afraid of an ambush, or something--and we began to slip and stumble among the roots, and brush, and snaky-looking lianas that hung between the trees. Why the place wasn"t full of monkeys I don"t know. There wasn"t any use of anyone telling us to go slow, this wasn"t any fast track.
When we stopped, to let our breaths catch up with us, Carlos told us we hadn"t much farther to go. But he wouldn"t be able to get us nearer to the palace under shelter of the forest than about four hundred yards.
"Don"t let that worry you any," said Norris. "Captain Marat or I, either one, won"t ask anything better, if we can draw them out."
"Yes," agreed Captain Marat, "four honderd yard" do ver" well."
I"d seen them both shoot, and I agreed with that. And they had belts and pockets full of ammunition.
Well, we finally got to the place, with that big old half ruin on the opposite side of the clearing. Norris picked a tree, with big branches near the ground. Captain Marat took up a position seventy-five or a hundred yards to the left. Those two big-gun men and Carlos had decided on their plan of campaign, and the rest of us got behind a good screen and awaited developments.
Jean Marat banged away first, sending a ball through an opening in the second story of that old palace. All waited to see some attention paid to it over there. We calculated it ought to start some curiosity at least--that is, if there really was anybody about the shebang. I began to have my doubts; it looked dead as a tomb.
But we didn"t have to wait more than about a minute. I saw a black scamp scamper across the open s.p.a.ce with a gun in his hand, going from the woods we were in right for that palace. I pointed him out to Norris, who let fly at him with a bullet just as he disappeared round a bush.
Robert said it was most likely a sentry, stationed on that path.
Then Captain Marat"s rifle went off again. Robert ran over, and brought back news that Marat had toppled over a black, who was running for the palace from that side.
The next shot fired came from the palace. I saw the smoke up at the second story. Norris banged away--said he saw a black head peep round a piece of stone wall. Two more shots came from the palace, they tore loose a twig or two over our heads.
Then Captain Marat shot twice. It was a minute before the palace artillery opened up again. They must have fired ten shots--they came faster than I could count them. Grant Norris was happy. He up with his rifle, and at his shot I heard a yell over at the palace. Jean Marat got another one, too, Robert came to tell me.
And now Robert got hold of me and dragged me along with him round about through the woods. It was some time before I could hold him up long enough to get it out of him what it was all about. He meant we two should have a little of the kind of sport Marat and Norris were revelling in. There was a patch of trees off to the right--south of the old palace; and it was there we finally won round to. We climbed high in a tree, and got us to where we had a fine view behind that broken wall the blacks were using for a breastworks. There wasn"t less than a dozen of those voodoo cannibals there, in plain view of our perch, and we weren"t three hundred yards from them.
"Now let"s give it to them fast," said Robert, and he began to work the slide handle of his little rifle. I followed suit with Wayne"s gun.
There wasn"t a sound of our firing, of course, on account of the silencers. So the stings those fellows got on the flank began to puzzle them. There was one black who gave me a good target. I wasn"t much of a shot, but after a few pulls on my trigger, I saw that fellow put his hand in a place, and in a way that convinced me that he would be sitting on a sore spot for a day or two anyway. Those blacks quit firing and got to discussing some question or other, and some of them slunk away.
And just about then I heard something familiar, back in the forest. It was the call of the _Whip-poor-will_; and I didn"t need anyone to tell me what bird it came from; there was only one particular bird who could be whistling that call in broad daylight.
"There"s Wayne!" said Robert. And he almost knocked me off my limb, with his hurry to get to the ground.
And then as we hurried over to the others, we answered Wayne"s call; and in just a little, he was among us.
And here"s where Wayne takes up the story again.
CHAPTER VIII
THE VOODOO STRONGHOLD
How long I had been dozing the last spell, I don"t know, but when my eyes opened, daylight was showing through that little slit high up in the cell wall. It wasn"t much light that came in, but it was enough to show me some kind of decorative affair on the otherwise plain walls of the dungeon.
I moved close to the thing; and I set the tray against the wall, below it, and got me up closer. Then I was able to make out it was a kind of shrine, built into the wall. There was a crucifix back in the niche, and kneeling figures at the foot.
Then suddenly I felt a queer sense of creeping in my flesh--a thought, like a revelation, had flashed in my mind. Here was just the sort of thing I had heard that taciturn black fellow, Amos, tell about; a dungeon, in the wall a shrine--Christ on the cross, and figures at the foot! Could this be the very cell and shrine Amos had told of? It seemed too good to be true. And yet there was eloquent argument. For wasn"t there that mysterious interest of Amos in Mordaunt, alias Duran, at Kingston? And was it not reasonably certain that Amos had lost his life at the hands of this Duran? And now had we not traced Duran to this very place? Trembling with eagerness and suspense, I sought, and got my hand on, the figure of the Virgin. I shook it gently, ashamed to so manhandle a holy thing. It held fast. I put on greater and greater violence; and finally I felt it give a little. Compunction was all gone now; and at last I lifted out the figure, which was prolonged at the bottom to make a round peg.
My heart thumped with excitement. I pulled on the frame of the shrine. A few tugs and the whole thing swung in like a door, on hinges. And so there was uncovered a black hole behind.
I put my hands on the edge and tried to pull myself up into that hole.
It was no go--I hadn"t the strength. I tried again and again, but I weakened at every effort.
I went over and looked at that food and drink, tempted to have a few mouthfuls--for strength"s sake. But I finally decided against the risk.
Instead, I filled my lungs with air--such as there was--and rested.
After five minutes I got my toes on the tray again. And this time I made it. I got through. And I pulled the shrine door shut after me. There was an interstice through which I got my hand, and put that figure-peg in place again. I meant they should not discover the manner of my escape from the cell.
That place I was now in was entirely dark, and the air damp and oppressive. I could touch both walls at once, so narrow was the place.