Trapped by Malays Part 35

There was silence for a few minutes, during which Peter Pegg half lay beside his wounded officer, listening to words uttered in command that sounded familiar. They were evidently orders addressed to the elephant, which was shuffling by the great stable, making a whining sound as if protesting against being driven.

Then all was still again, till Archie said quietly:

"Yes, Pete, you are quite right, and I pray Heaven that she may be quite safe by now. But tell me, do you think I--I mean we--did all we could?"

"Mister Archie, sir, once more, don't, please! I am only a poor, ignorant chap, but I do know this, through having been in horspittle, that you have got to keep quiet and not worry yourself if you are going to get well. First thing, sir, is that you have got to get strong enough so that we can escape."

"Yes, yes, Pete; that's right! Escape!" cried Archie excitedly.

"Take it coolly, sir," remonstrated the lad.

"Well, I will be cool, Pete."

"That's right, sir. We've got to escape, and I have begun preparations already."

"Yes, that's right. What have you done?"

"Got a spear to begin with, sir."

"Ah, well, that's something."

"Yes, sir--something for you to handle like a bay'net if they won't let us go quietly."

"Right--right!"

"And the next thing, sir, is for you to get strong to handle it."

"Ah, and I am so weak!"

"Of course you are, sir, when you have had nothing but a drop of water for days."

"For days!"

"Yes, sir; and now your breakfast's waiting. It's only bread and fruit and water, but it's wonderful stuff to put strength in a man, and you have got to begin getting it into you at once."

"No, no; not yet," pleaded Archie. "Let me lie and think a bit first."

"Not a minute, sir," cried the poor fellow's nurse. "You feel as if you couldn't touch anything, of course, but your horspittle orderly says it is only making a beginning; and here you are--cocoa-nutful clear, fresh water, so tip it down at once."

Archie protested feebly, and then obeyed; and after taking a sip or two from the thick-lipped vessel, he ended by finishing the cooling draught with something like avidity.

Shortly after Peter Pegg was watching his patient crumbling some of the bread-cake and dipping pieces in a fresh supply of water and beginning to eat.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

PLANS.

"Now, Mister Archie, sir, you was precious cross with me for bothering you into eating that little bit; but ain'tcher ever so much better now?"

"Oh yes, Pete. That horrible feeling of faintness is going off; but my head--"

"Oh, you let your head alone, sir. That'll come right if only you keep on eating directly you begin to feel faint, if it is ever so little a bit."

"You must make me, then, Pete. Never mind my turning disagreeable.

It's because I am not myself."

"All right, sir. Now you just tell me what we are to do."

"Find means for us to escape."

"That's what I want, sir, so as just to have the way ready. But it's no use to get out and me to have to carry you on my back."

Archie sighed, for he was forced to accept the truth of his companion's words. He lay thinking then of his interview with the Doctor, and he said to himself:

"I wanted something to take the boyishness out of me, and this has come and swept it away at one stroke and for ever.--Look here," he said aloud; "look round and see whether it is possible for you to get out--I mean, just think the matter over so that you may be able to contrive to get outside after dark and examine our surroundings a bit."

"That's all settled, sir. There's no breaking through the door, but I have been thinking that I might climb up inside here, sir, get as far as them bamboo rafters, and squeeze a way out on to the roof through them palm-leaf mats. Pst!"

"What is it?"

Peter Pegg held up one finger, and then pointed sharply towards the door.

"Some one there? I don't hear anything."

"No, sir. That topper you got seems to have made you a bit deaf," said the lad, as he crouched close up to his companion's head. "I don't suppose if we spoke loud that any one would understand us; but there's some one outside there, and after a bit I am going to look if he ain't gone."

The lad waited for a while, and then rose and began to pace slowly up and down the front of his prison, and ended by climbing quickly up by the door and peering out through the hole the elephant had made.

He only gave a glance, before descending quickly, to continue his marching up and down for a time, when he ended by throwing himself beside his companion and settling down as if for a nap. The lad preserved silence, lying with his eyes closed, while Archie watched him anxiously.

"Did you see anything?" whispered the young subaltern at last.

"Yes; a chap there in a yellow-and-red sarong, and as I was looking out, the ugly, black-looking beggar was squinting in. I wasn't sure at first, but it's like this 'ere: when they thought we was too bad they didn't trouble about us, but somebody must have been watching, and seen you beginning to pick a bit, and that's made them think that it's time to look after us, so they have planted a chap outside as a sentry."

"How horrible!" whispered Archie.

"Well, it's bad, sir; but it's good too. He's got a big spear and one of them crooked daggers stuck in his rolled-up sarong; and them's just what I want."

"Yes; but you can't get them, Pete."

"I dunno so much about that, sir. If I get out I might be able to drop down upon him from the roof and help myself to his tools before he knew where he was."

"What! murder the sentry?"

"Not me, sir. It's only war now. 'Sides, I won't hurt him if he will give in quietly. It strikes me that if I could manage to drop down upon him sudden he would be so scared that he would be ready to cut. But don't you bother about that, sir. You leave that to me. You have got nothing to do now but eat and drink and sleep till you are fit to take command."