Hunting the Skipper Part 82

"Yes, ma.s.sa. Obeah man. Snake fetish. Big snake in great box dah.

Priest Obeah man take snake out o' box soon. Not good for ma.s.sa."

"Oh, that's it, is it?" said the lieutenant. "Do you know anything about all this, Murray?"

"No," replied the lad, "only that I have heard something of serpent worship which the blacks have carried with them to Barbadoes and Jamaica, sir."

"Say Hayti too, my lad."

"No, sir," said Murray, smiling, his face looking bright in the warm glow spread by the tremendous fire now burning. "I can't say any more, for I have heard so little about these people and their religion."

"I expect you know as much as I do, Murray, my lad. This is Obeah, isn't it? Serpent worship, Caesar?"

"Yes, ma.s.sa. Not good for Bri'sh officer and brave sailor. Snake in big box. Priest show um to people. Obeah. Berry dreadful, sah."

"Very dreadful nonsense, Murray," said the lieutenant to his companion, in a low tone. Then speaking aloud: "And what is it all for?"

The black shook his head.

"Caesar can't tell, ma.s.sa. Priest show big snake Caesar people. Make all see fire and fight."

"Aha! Fight, eh?" said the lieutenant, after a glance at Murray.

"Yes, ma.s.sa; make people fight--kill."

"Fight and kill us?" said Mr Anderson.

The man showed his white teeth and shook his head.

"No, ma.s.sa; Caesar people no fight Bri'sh captain, Bri'sh officer. All come do poor black fellow good. Ma.s.sa want know why not go fesh Ma.s.sa Allen. Not good time. Caesar people all come to snake fetish. Obeah priest call people to come not know who Ma.s.sa Huggin friend, who Ma.s.sa Allen friend. Caesar bring Bri'sh officer, Bri'sh sailor, see Obeah night. See Obeah priest show big snake. Snake fetish. Caesar go now."

The black turned away and walked quickly to where several strange-looking negroes--probably Obeah men--had now begun to walk in procession around the blazing fire, in front of which a long coffin-shaped box had been placed, and behind which a black, who must have attained to some consequence among his superst.i.tious brethren on account of his gigantic height, stood now in the ruddy glow tossing his arms on high, gesticulating and uttering a weird strange chant, until the English party saw that their guide had approached quite close to the huge giant, and was evidently talking to him eagerly and with a great show of respect.

"Well, we know where we are now, Murray," said the lieutenant. "Our guide has brought us here to see the mummery of their barbarous religion, and there is no doubt that the people have met to be stirred up to some rising against the planters who own them as slaves."

"You think so, sir?" asked Murray.

"Yes, I feel sure of it, my lad. But look here, Murray; the people are quite friendly towards us, so help me in making our lads behave themselves. I mean, there must be no ribald laughing at the poor wretches. That is not the way to appeal to their better feelings. Look at that! Poor benighted creatures. These slave-owners must keep them in a darkness as black as their skins."

For as the party from the _Seafowl_ stood looking on, the strange chant rose and fell, while the huge black, who seemed to be the priest and leader, marshalled the people into a procession which he led round the fire, the blacks gesticulating, raising their arms in the air, and then bowing themselves down as they marched in a slow and solemn tramp about the blazing embers. Stamp, stamp, stamp; the vibration of the earth and the movement of the concourse of the excited people raised a current of air which fanned the flames and sent the sparks flying upwards eddying into the black night, while flakes of fire that were now and then dazzling in the brilliancy of their colour flashed and fluttered as they rose on high.

There was no need for the lieutenant's words to his young officer, for, far from giving vent to mocking laughter, the sailors stood together looking on with wonder and something like awe at the intensity of feeling displayed by the people, who as they marched slowly onward in the weird procession, kept on pausing with wonderful unanimity to stamp and utter a wild and stirring moan as if of despair. Then they tossed their hands on high in obedience to the movements of their leader, who seemed to tower up above them, and whose black skin, which had most probably been heavily anointed with palm oil, glistened in the firelight until when every now and then he stopped short and stood motionless, he looked like some great image cast in ruddy bronze.

Onward and onward tramped and stamped the great procession; the strange thrilling chant rose and fell, now uttered as a wild shrieking yell, and then descending gradually until the sailors were listening to a wail of despair, as if the wretched people were appealing for pity in their terrible position and asking for help to relieve them from their piteous bondage.

"And I was afraid my lads would laugh, Murray," whispered the lieutenant huskily. "Why, my lad, there's something so terrible, so horrible, about it all that one seems to want no explanation. It tells its own tale of the poor wretches' sufferings."

"Yes, sir," whispered back the middy, "and I'm glad to hear you say that."

"Glad, boy!" cried the lieutenant, in an angry whisper. "What do you mean by that?"

"Only that it makes me feel choky, sir," whispered Murray, "and I was a bit ashamed."

"There's nothing to be ashamed of, my lad. I feel as if I should be glad of a chance to set our lads at some of the torturing, murderous wretches who drag the people from their own country and treat them as they do."

"I feel the same, sir," replied Murray, as he stared straight before him at something that had caught his eye; "but we shall have our chance, I feel sure, sir, and have the blacks to help us, for they are not working themselves up like this for nothing."

"Working themselves up," whispered the lieutenant, as the weird chant went on and the heavy beat of the people's bare feet grew more and more impressive, while the rate at which they now tore on increased. "Why, they are working my men up too. The great baby! I shouldn't have believed it possible that a big strong fellow like that could have been so impressed."

"What, Tom May, sir?" said Murray.

"Yes, my lad. There were two great tears rolling down his cheeks, and I suppose he didn't know how they were shining in this dazzling light, for he rubbed them away with his great ugly fists. Don't let him see that we noticed it, for I suppose it is genuine emotion, and no one can say that he is not as big and brave a fellow as ever stepped. Here, look, boy--look!" whispered the lieutenant excitedly.

"I am looking, sir," replied the middy, "and so is every one else. Oh, Mr Anderson, I am glad I didn't miss seeing this."

"I don't know, my lad, whether I am glad or whether I am sorry," replied his leader, "but I should not have thought it possible. It sets one thinking about what we read regarding the worships of the old idolaters, and I never imagined that such things could be going on now. Look, look; they seem to be growing frantic. It can't last long like this; the poor wretches are growing mad."

For the chant had grown louder and wilder, the wails in chorus more piercing and thrilling, and the heavy stamping of the bare feet more heavy and deep-toned, so that all round the great circle in which the slaves were stamping, the earth vibrated more thunderously than ever.

Then, as if by one impulse, every actor in the weird scene stopped short in response to a signal given by the huge leader, who threw up his arms just when the fire, fanned so strangely by the hundreds of figures sweeping round it, tore upward in a vast whirl of fluttering flame and eddying sparks, and all with a low, deep musical hum which strangely dominated the silence.

It was as if the mult.i.tude had ceased to breathe, and all present were reflecting from their staring protuberant eyes the ruddy light of the roaring cone of flame. The great bronze figure formed the centre upon which all eyes were fixed, and he stood now with his hands raised on high as if to hold his followers' attention and make them as statue-like as himself.

Murray felt impressed and held as it were by the gesture of the great leader, and for one brief moment turned his eyes upon his brother middy, to see that his face was thrust forward, his lips were apart, and his eyes and teeth were glistening in the light.

It was but a momentary glance, and then his own eyes were watching the great glistening black, who, perfectly nude, now lowered his arms till they were horizontal, and, with levelled and pointing fingers stalked towards where the great coffin-shaped box lay in the full light of the glowing and roaring fire.

He stood with his hands outstretched above the chest for what seemed to be long-drawn endless minutes; but no one stirred, and then, with one quick movement, he seemed to sweep off the long lid before him, stooped, and plunged his hands into the chest, just too as the fire burned the brightest; and as he rose erect again he tore from out of where it rested, a great writhing serpent, whose myriad scales flashed in the brilliant light as if it were of gold.

And then, and then only, a deep, low, moaning murmur rose from the many throats and died away as if in the distance in one deep sigh.

Silence again, and Murray's eyes were fixed, his breast thrilling, and a sensation ran through him as if some strange force were plucking at his nerves and making them vibrate throughout his frame.

For as the great bronze figure stood erect those who watched could see that the serpent was all in motion, gliding, twining and crawling all over the priest's stalwart frame, while he too seemed to be working hard with his hands, trying to control the reptile's movements, but only for it to go on gliding rapidly through his fingers; and as the midshipman watched, he kept on getting glimpses of an oval flattened head gliding over the negro's breast, pa.s.sing beneath his arms, reappearing again over his shoulders to pa.s.s round his neck, and always eluding the busy hands which tried to restrain it.

The scene was wonderful. Murray had watched the black s.n.a.t.c.h the reptile from the box which held it, and then it was as if he had s.n.a.t.c.hed forth a dozen serpents which were ever after twining and intertwining in continuous motion and flashing the while in a wonderful quivering, endlessly moving flame of glistening scales which seemed to throw off a phosph.o.r.escent mist of light that enveloped both reptile and man.

As Murray gazed, fascinated by the weirdly strange scene before him, it seemed to him a dozen times over that a deadly struggle was going on between the two writhing creatures, and that every now and then, as the golden oval head darted out of the confusion of movement, it was only to gather force for a dart at the man and fix its fangs in the quivering flesh. But there was no cessation; the reptile was ever strong, and the man as vigorous as ever. Darting at the struggling figure about which it was twined, and then--perhaps it was the boy's imagination--gaping wide to fix upon some part of the quivering flesh, breast, back, shoulder, or side, perhaps most often at the hands which kept on moving about as sharply as the flat head which played around with such wonderful rapidity. And the motion was ceaseless, always glistening and flashing with light, and watched by the hundreds upon hundreds of glowing opal eyes which reflected the cone of flame still going on spiralling upwards and burning more fiercely than ever.

What is going to be the end? Murray asked himself. Will the serpent conquer and the great black priest fall faint and powerless, strangled to death by the folds of the reptile, which were ever tightening round breast and neck? But they were ever loosening as well, and at one time the boy's chest expanded with a glow of satisfaction, for it seemed to him that the man was gaining the mastery over his enemy, having succeeded in grasping the serpent's neck with both hands, and begun to swing and whirl it round and round, whizzing through the air level with his neck. Murray could almost believe that it was whirled round so fast that he could even hear it hum and then snap and crack as if it were some mighty whip-lash with which the great black was flogging the golden darkness of the night.

The middy panted again, and there was a feeling of constriction about his chest, just as if the serpent or one of the many serpents that at times, it seemed, had thrown a fold about him--yes, and another had been cast about his neck, for in the struggle going on before his eyes the reptile seemed to be gaining the best of it once more, and the man was weakening rapidly.

He wondered too that the crowd eddying around remained so silent. It seemed to him only natural that they should give vent to their feelings with shouts of joy when the priest looked successful, and groanings when the serpent had him circled tightly in its toils.

But all the same the midshipman in his excitement realised that he was as silent as the rest, and stood there, with the perspiration trickling down from brow to cheek, watching and watching for the end which seemed as if it would never come.

It must be, he was sure, a struggle that could only end in one way-- death for one of the combatants. And yet the lad felt doubt creep in, and he asked himself whether it might not end in death for both.