Then I spelled out, in short and long flashes, the following words:
Good So Far.
Then came from the sea the terse acknowledgment: O.K.
"That ought to hold Norris," said Robert.
"Yes, till tomorrow night," I returned. "If we don"t signal them again tomorrow night, Norris will be piling up here hand over foot."
Carlos had been very quiet, taken up with watching our procedure. That mode of communication was far from unknown to him, but it seemed to him marvelous that white folk should use it. But the wonder of it all was that we could spell out any words we pleased in that way.
"An" if you tell your frien"s to come, they weel come?" he asked.
"Yes," I answered, "they will come, in a hurry."
That somehow seemed to please Carlos; and he became pensive. We had put out the fire and were already on our way back through the black forest.
When we came again to the open s.p.a.ce, we stopped for near half an hour, in the hope that we might again have a sight of the mysterious light over at the old ruin.
While we squatted on the ground, watching, my mind was taken up with the problem of how to discover where little Marie Cambon was hid; and would our little handful of men be sufficient to storm the place? I put the questions to Carlos.
"No--No!" declared Carlos, "the voodoos are too many, and they watch ver" careful, as you have find out."
He referred to our being fired on.
"Wait till tomorrow, then maybe I fin" out sometheeng," he said.
Carlos and his sister made us a pallet in the arbor at the back.
CHAPTER VI
WE BREAK UP THE VOODOO CEREMONIAL
Carlos was gone when Robert and I awoke. Melie told us he had gone off early on our business, and had left word that we were to lay close, till he returned.
Our excursion over to that old ruin of a palace, we were to learn, had been a bit rash. In fact, before the morning was gone, the woman who had given me the fetish came over to report that black men had been about, with inquiries as to the movements of the two white boys.
Carlos turned up at noon. He had been angling among some of the lesser voodoo devotees. There was no news of any white child being held for sacrifice; but there had been pa.s.sed word of a big voodoo ceremonial to take place either this night or the next. The place was some ten miles back in the hills.
"Some of the voodoos near here have gone from their home"," he said, "an" some more make ready to go."
The news was disturbing. I had no doubt that a big voodoo ceremonial could mean nothing less than that there was to be the offering of the "goat without horns." And here, too, was the big voodoo doings to follow close upon the arrival of Duran with little Marie Cambon.
And what was to do? Call our friends from the _Pearl_? Manifestly, we could not bring so many whites into the region without attracting attention. Duran would be forewarned, and so our purpose defeated. We two must continue to go it alone, trust to luck and our own devices. And there was our new ally, Carlos Brill.
"We must go and see what"s going on," I said to Carlos, "and if it"s ten miles, we must start soon."
"Oh, if we go before dark," returned Carlos, "and some one see white boys, they--"
"We have a cure for that," I interrupted. "You"ll see, we"ll fool them."
Robert and I got our packs together, to which we added some small pieces of clothing that I begged of Carlos. Soon we stood all fixed for a long march.
"And now," said I to Carlos, "you and Melie are to come a short way with us to bid us goodbye, for it is to be understood that we are going back the way we came. But then you are to keep watch on the brush; and if you hear the whistle of a bird you"re to come over quietly and meet us."
"Yes, yes," nodded Carlos, comprehending.
And so Carlos and Melie walked with us till we were in the midst of the village; and there we shook hands as we parted, and again waved a goodbye, as we moved out of view, numbers of curious blacks looking on.
When we had gone a mile or more seaward, we turned aside; and from a screen of brush, we watched the path for a quarter of an hour, for possible followers.
"Do you think there were any of the voodoo, there?" questioned Robert at last.
"Perhaps not," I answered, "but they"ll soon hear of our going."
We picked a suitable spot in the brush, and set up our dressing room.
Forth came the kinky, black wigs, and paints given us by Jules Sevier.
We worked on one another, turn about. At the end of twenty minutes I set the wig on Robert"s head. The result was satisfactory. His color was a dusky brown, all but black. A few minutes drying, and the stain refused to rub off.
"Bob, you are pretty," I told him. "I"ll defy Rufe to know you."
"I"ll say the same for you, Wayne," said he. "Even Ray wouldn"t know _you_."
A jacket and a jumper, and an old hat, got of Carlos, and a twist and turn to Robert"s slouch cover, completed our make-up.
Going back, we skirted the village on the west. We came in time into the brush back of the Brill hut.
A whistled bird-call brought Carlos. When he put aside the bush and stepped into view, that moment his face was a picture--his mind contending between the certainty of our ident.i.ty and doubt of his eyes.
"Ah," he began, "that is ver" suprise". How you do it?" And then he must have Melie over to the show.
Carlos had soon got himself ready, and we were off for the hills.
For some miles we kept pretty much in cover as we moved toward the mountains. Carlos knew the way through the forest, where we ofttimes slipped on the moist roots of the great trees, and scrambled amongst the lianas that were everywhere. Two hours had gone when we had our first rest in a clump of cabbage palms.
Towering above us, on a mountain, stood an old abandoned fortress.
Carlos said its walls were a hundred feet high and with a thickness of twenty feet. Our way lay to the eastward of that old stronghold.
Our progress now had us puffing, for it was up-up-up. We kept as much as possible in the glades. Pigeons were plentiful, and we spied a predatory hawk, at which Robert and I got our little rifles out of their cases.
But Carlos put up his hand in caution.
"To shoot is not safe," said he. "Sound go ver" far, an" we do not want anyone know some ones is here."
And then we gave Carlos another turn of surprise. To see a bird fall, and no sound of the gun,--that was beyond reason. He snapped his finger at his ear to make sure he had not lost his hearing.