The Tapu Of Banderah Part 4

Likely enough they were all lying in a drunken slumber. "G.o.d, give me strength to warn them," he said to himself; and then with a last glance at Blount and his wife, he resolutely turned aside and began to ascend the hill.

But before he gained the summit, Blount had reached the fence surrounding his house, and Banderah and Taya and her two young brothers, rifles in hand, met the trader.

"Quick, take her!" and he pushed Mrs. Deighton into Taya's arms and looked back.

"My G.o.d! he's going up to Burrowes' house! Come, Banderah," and he started back again, "he'll be speared or shot before he gets there."

Just as the missionary reached the door and began in feeble, exhausted tones to call out, Blount and the chief caught up to him, and seizing his hands dragged him away again down the hill.

"Don't bother about them, they are all on board," was all Blount said.

And there was no time to talk, for now fierce cries were heard in the direction of the mission house, and Blount and Banderah, looking back, saw black, naked figures leap over the low stone wall enclosing the missionary's dwelling and disappear inside.

"Just in time," muttered the trader, as dragging Mr. Deighton between them they gained the house, and sat the missionary down beside his wife, who with a cry of thankfulness threw her arms about his neck and then quietly fainted.

For nearly half an hour Blount, with Banderah and the missionary by his side, looked out through the windows and saw the natives plundering and wrecking the mission house and the dwellings of Schwartzkoff and Burrowes. A mile away, motionless upon the gla.s.sy waters of the harbour, lay the schooner, with her boat astern, and every now and then Blount would take a look at her through his gla.s.s.

"I can't see a soul on deck," he said to Mr. Deighton. "I heard that Peter and Burrowes went off this morning with the captain, all pretty well drunk. Would to G.o.d I knew what is best to do! To go on board would perhaps mean that those ruffians would shoot us down before we were alongside. No, we'll stay here and take our chance. Banderah says he feels pretty sure that he can protect us from his own people. They'd never dare to hurt him; and I think _that_ will steady them a bit,"

and he pointed to the fence, upon which, at intervals, were tied green cocoanut boughs. These had just been placed there by Banderah himself, and meant that the house was _tapu_--it and all in it were sacred.

"G.o.d grant it may!" said Mr. Deighton, and looking at the mystic sign, the use of which he had so often tried to put down as a silly, heathenish practice, he felt a twinge of conscience.

At last the work of plunder was over, and then Blount saw a swarm of black, excited savages, led by two or three "devil-doctors" or priests, advance towards the house. At the same moment Banderah, looking seaward, saw that the boat had left the schooner and was pulling ash.o.r.e. He was just about to point her out to the trader when, for some reason, he changed his mind, turned away, and joined his white friends at the other end of the room.

Following the lead of the "devil-doctors," who, stripped to the waist, and with their heads covered with the hideous masks used in their incantations, looked like demons newly arisen from the pit, the yelling swarm of natives at last reached the fence outside Blount's house; and Mr. Deighton, with an inward groan, saw among them some of his pet converts, stark naked and armed with spears and clubs.

Leaping and dancing with mad gyrations, and uttering curious grunting sounds as their feet struck the ground, the devil-doctors at last came within a few feet of the gate in the trader's fence. Then, suddenly, as they caught sight of a branch of cocoanut leaf twisted in and around the woodwork of the gate, they stopped their maddened whirl as if by magic; and upon those behind them fell the silence of fear.

"Thank G.o.d!" muttered Blount, "we are safe. They will not break Banderah's _tapu_."

Then, rifle in hand, and with quiet, unmoved face, Banderah opened the trader's door and came out before them all.

"Who among ye desires the life of Banderah and those to whom he has given his _tapu?_" he said.

The smaller of the two priests dashed aside his mask, and revealed the face of the old man Toka, who had struck Baxter his death-blow.

"Who indeed, O chief? If it be to thy mind to make _tapu_ this house and all in it, who is there dare break it? To the white man Challi and his sons and daughters we meant no harm, though sweet to our bellies will be the flesh of those whom we have slain and who now roast for the feast.

But more are yet to come; for I, Toka, lost my son, when thou, Banderah, lost thy brother; and the G.o.ds have told me that I shall eat my fill of those who stole him."

The savage, bitter hatred that rang through the old man's voice, and the deep, approving murmur of those who stood about him, warned both Banderah and Blount that the l.u.s.t for slaughter was not yet appeased; so it was with a feeling of intense surprise and relief that he and the missionary saw them suddenly withdraw, and move rapidly away to the rear of the house among the thick jungle.

"That's d----d curious!" said Blount, turning to Banderah and speaking in English; and then the chief took him by the arm and pointed towards the sh.o.r.e--the boat, pulled by Schwartzkoff and Bur-rowes, with Captain Bilker sitting in the stern, had just touched the beach. Then it flashed across his mind in an instant why the natives had left so suddenly--they were lying in ambush for the three men!

"By G.o.d! bad as they are, I can't let them walk to their deaths," said Blount, jumping outside, so as to hail and warn them. But before he could utter a sound, Banderah sprang upon him and clapped his hand to his mouth.

"Challi," he said, "they must die. Try to save them, and we all perish.

For the sake of thy daughters and of thy sons, raise not thy voice nor thy hand. Must all our blood run because of these three dogs' lives?"

Even as he spoke the end came. Staggering up the beach in drunken hilarity, the three whites did not notice, as they headed for the path, a file of natives, armed with spears and clubs, walk quietly along between them and the water's edge. There they sat down and waited. But not for long, for presently from out the thick, tangled jungle in front came a humming whirr of deadly arrows and in a few seconds the three white men were wallowing in their blood. Then came that bloodcurdling shout of savage triumph, telling those who heard it that all was over.

Before its echoes died away the bleeding bodies were carried to where a thick, heavy smoke rising from the jungle told the shuddering missionary that the awful feast was preparing. When he looked again not a native was in sight.

Standing apart in the room from the others, Blount and Banderah spoke hurriedly together, and then the trader came to the missionary.

"Mr. Deighton, if you wish to save your wife's and your own life, and escape from this slaughterhouse, now is your time. As G.o.d is my judge I believe we shall never be safe again, and I would gladly go with you if I could. But my daughter Nelly is at Lak-a-lak, and--well, that settles it. Banderah here will tell you that he dreads your staying, as the priests may plot your death at any moment. I implore you, sir, to think of your wife. See, there is the boat, drifting along the beach with the tide. For G.o.d's sake be advised and get on board the schooner, and whatever port you do reach, send a vessel to take me away!"

Then, before the missionary and his wife could realise what was happening, Banderah had run to the beach, swam to the boat, seized the painter, gained the sh.o.r.e again, and pulled her along till opposite the trader's house, just as Blount and Taya, supporting Mrs. Deighton between them, were leaving the house to meet him.

In twenty minutes more they were close to the _Starlight_, and saw that her crew were weighing the anchor. On the after deck stood the mate and steward with rifles in their hands.

"What in the name of G.o.d is wrong?" said the mate, as the boat ranged up alongside, and the missionary and his wife were a.s.sisted on deck.

"Don't ask now, man. Get your anchor up as quick as you can and put to sea. Your captain and the two pa.s.sengers are all dead. Clear out at once if you don't want the ship to be taken."

"I thought something was wrong when I saw the native dragging the boat along. Lend us a hand to get under weigh, will you?" and the mate sprang forward.

In another five minutes the _Starlight's_ anchor was up, and then Blount and Banderah, with a hurried farewell to Mr. and Mrs. Deighton, sprang into the boat and pushed off.

"May G.o.d bless and keep you," called out the missionary to Blount, "and may we meet again soon;" then sinking on his knees beside his wife, he raised his face to heaven, and the trader saw that tears were streaming down his worn and rugged cheeks.

Blount never heard of the missionary and his wife again. Long, long afterwards he did hear that some wreckage of a vessel like the _Starlight_ had been found on Rennel Island, and that sovereigns were discovered among the pools and crevices of the reef for many years after. Whether she ran ash.o.r.e or drifted there dismasted--for a heavy gale set in a week after she left Mayou--is one of those mysteries of the sea that will never be solved.