The Argus Pheasant Part 12

Many of them are head-hunters. But they have suffered cruelly from the coast Dyaks, with whom, as your excellency has said, they have an eternal feud."

"They are pests," the governor snarled. "They keep the lowlands in a continual turmoil with their raids. We cannot grow a blade of rice on account of them."

"That is where your excellency and I must disagree," Peter Gross a.s.serted quietly.

"Ha!" the governor exclaimed incredulously. "What do you say, Mynheer Gross?"

"Your excellency, living in Batavia, you have seen only one side of this question, the side your underlings have shown you. With your excellency's permission I shall show you another side, the side a stranger, unprejudiced, with no axes to grind either way, saw in his eight years of sailoring about these islands. Have I your excellency's permission?"

A frown gathered on the governor's face. His thin lips curled, and his bristly mane rose belligerently.

"Proceed," he snapped.

Peter Gross rested his elbows on the table and leaned toward the governor.

"Your excellency," he began, "let it be understood that I bring no accusations to-night; that we are speaking as man to man. I go to Bulungan to inquire into the truth of the things I have heard. Whatever I learn shall be faithfully reported to your excellency."

Van Schouten nodded curtly.

"Your excellency has spoken of the unrest in Bulungan," Peter Gross continued. "Your excellency also spoke of piracies committed in these seas. It is my belief, your excellency, that the government has been mistaken in a.s.suming that there is no connection between the two. I am satisfied that there is a far closer union and a better understanding between the Dyaks and the pirates than has ever been dreamed of here in Batavia."

The governor smiled derisively.

"You are mistaken, Mynheer Gross," he contradicted. "I almost believed so, too, at one time, and I had Captain Van Slyck, our commandant at Bulungan, investigate for me. I have his report here. I shall be glad to let you read it."

He tapped a gong. In a moment Sachsen bustled in.

"Sachsen," the governor said, "Kapitein Van Slyck's report on the pirates of the straits, if you please."

Sachsen bowed and withdrew.

"I shall be glad to read the captain's report," Peter Gross a.s.sured gravely. A grimly humorous twinkle lurked in his eyes. The governor was quick to note it.

"But it will not convince you, eh, _mynheer_?" he challenged. He smiled.

"You Yankees are an obstinate breed--almost as stubborn as we Dutch."

"I am afraid that the captain's report will not cover things I know,"

Peter Gross replied. "Yet I have no doubt it will be helpful."

The subtle irony his voice expressed caused the governor to look at him quizzically, but Van Schouten was restrained from further inquiry by the return of Sachsen with the report. The governor glanced at the superscription and handed the doc.u.ment to Peter Gross with the remark: "Read that at your leisure. I will have Sachsen make you a copy."

Peter Gross pocketed the report with a murmured word of thanks. The governor frowned, trying to recollect where the thread of conversation had been broken, and then remarked:

"As I say, Mynheer Gross, I am sure you will find yourself mistaken. The Dyaks are thieves and head-hunters, a treacherous breed. They do not know the meaning of loyalty--G.o.d help us if they did! No two villages have ever yet worked together for a common aim. As for the pirates, they are wolves that prey on everything that comes in their path. Some of the _orang kayas_ may be friendly with them, but as for there being any organization--bah! it is too ridiculous to even discuss it."

Peter Gross's lips pressed a little tighter.

"Your excellency," he replied with perfect equanimity, "you have your opinion and I have mine. My work in Bulungan, I hope, will show which of us is right. Yet I venture to say this. Before I have left Bulungan I shall be able to prove to your excellency that one man, not so very far from your excellency's _paleis_ at this moment, has united the majority of the sea Dyaks and the pirates into a formidable league of which he is the head. More than this, he has established a system of espionage which reaches into this very house."

Van Schouten stared at Peter Gross in amazement and incredulity.

"Mynheer Gross," he finally exclaimed, "this is nonsense!"

Peter Gross's eyes flashed. "Your excellency," he retorted, "it is the truth."

"What proofs have you?" the governor demanded.

"None at present that could convince your excellency," Peter Gross admitted frankly. "All I have is a c.u.mulative series of instances, unrelated in themselves, sc.r.a.ps of conversations picked up here and there, little things that have come under my observation in my sojourns in many ports of the archipelago. But in Bulungan I expect to get the proofs. When I have them, I shall give them to your excellency, that justice may be done. Until then I make no charges. All I say is--guard carefully what you would not have your enemies know."

"This is extraordinary," the governor remarked, impressed by Peter Gross's intense earnestness. "Surely you do not expect me to believe all this on your unsupported word, _mynheer_?"

"The best corroboration which I can offer is that certain matters which your excellency thought were known only to himself are now common gossip from Batavia to New Guinea," Peter Gross replied.

The governor's head drooped. His face became drawn. Lines formed where none had been before. The jauntiness, the pompous self-a.s.surance, and the truculence that so distinguished him among his fellows disappeared from his mien; it was as though years of anxiety and care had suddenly pa.s.sed over him.

"This discussion brings us nowhere, Mynheer Gross," he wearily remarked.

"Let us decide how large a force you should have. What you have told me convinces me the more that you will need at least two hundred men. I hesitate to send you with less than a regiment."

"Let me deal with this situation in my own way, your excellency," Peter Gross pleaded. "I believe that just dealing will win the confidence of the upland Dyaks. Once that is done, the rest is easy. Twenty-five men, backed by the garrison at Bulungan and the hill Dyaks, will be able to break up the pirate bands, if the navy does its share. After that the problem is one of administration, to convince the coast Dyaks that the state is fair, that the state is just, and that the state's first thought is the welfare of her people, be they brown, black, or white."

"You think twenty-five men can do all that?" the governor asked doubtfully.

"The men I shall choose can, your excellency. They will be men whom I can trust absolutely, who have no interests except the service of Peter Gross."

"Where will you find them, _mynheer_?"

"Here in Java, your excellency. Americans. Sailors who have left the sea. Men who came here to make their fortunes and failed and are too proud to go back home. Soldiers from the Philippines, adventurers, lads disappointed in love. I could name you a dozen such here in Batavia now."

The governor looked at his new lieutenant long and thoughtfully.

"Do as you deem best, _mynheer_. It may be G.o.d has sent you here to teach us why we have failed. Is there anything else you need, besides the usual stores?"

"There is one more request I wish to make of your excellency," Peter Gross replied.

"And that is--"

"That your excellency cancel the reward offered for the arrest of Leveque's daughter."

Van Schouten stroked his brow with a gesture of infinite weariness.

"You make strange requests, _mynheer_," he observed. "Yet I am moved to trust you. What you ask shall be done."

He rose to signify that the interview was at an end. "You may make your requisitions through Sachsen, _mynheer_. G.o.d speed you and give you wisdom beyond your years."

CHAPTER VII