Esmeralda, Primrose and the Boy Pirate

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 103, 3 May 1930, Page 3 (Supplement)

Esmeralda, Primrose and the Boy Pirate

By ALICE A. KENNY. ,

CHAPTER X. Tlie two girls, left alone in the dark forest at the edge of the track, were miserably uneasy. They could see nothing but the small glow, of light, across which shadowy shapes sometimes moved, and all sounds were confused by the forest noises. They could fancy that voices came on the breeze, and steps.passed near them, but they could be sure of nothing. . ._ . - - They kept hold of each other, not speaking a word, but straining eyes and ears in the gloom, and starting at every rustle. They thought that Humphrey would be back almost at once, but their expectation was disappointed. They waited and waited, wondering what could delay him, until, as it seemed to them, hours must have passed. At last Esmeralda could endure the silence no more, and whispered in Primrose's ear. , "Oh, what has become of him?" Primrose clutched her arm convulsively, and whispered in answer: "Bad nigger kill him." "2io—no!" "Catch him, then, I think." "Oh, no!" said Esmeralda again. should we do without him? Listen hard, Primrose —is that him doming ?" They listened breathlessly, but only heard mysterious forest sounds. "Me tink only ghost walk about in the Wood in night time,'" said the little black girl in a shaking voice. "No, there are no ghosts," whispered Esmeralda,* trying to reassure her in ppite of her own fears. At length they could bear it no longer. Primrose began to mutter in a 4ismal little chant: "Him nebber come! Him nebber come! Had black man hab |atch dat good white boy!" "We must find out where he is/' said Esmeralda, trying not to be quite unserved by her fears, "because without Mm "we can do nothing -but hide, nothing but creep about in the woods until "We are captured. Primrose, we must go to .Sambo's cabin." "Lil Missis—no," pleaded Primrose. *Marse Humphrey, lie say stay by dis tree till he come back." "Yes, I know he did, but he has not come back, and he may need help." But Esmeralda persuaded and commanded in Tain. Primrose was growing more and more frightened, and had now only one idea, io get to the hut of her granny, old Jina, and hide there. At last Esmeralda left her and crept towards the negro house alone. A desperate courage overcame her desperate fear, and she could think and plan quite calmly as she moved softly over the leafy ground. As she had no covering for her white gown, she picked up a wide palm leai and held it before her. It was so long that it covered her completely like a shield.

The window of the cottage was dimmer now, as if the light had burned down. As she drew near she could hear only one voice and she knew at once that it was a white man speaking. His voice was harsh and threatening and his words sent a thrill of alarm through Esmeralda. "Where is the girl?" he said. There was no audible answer to the question, but a second later there was an exclamation of pain followed by a shout of ugly sounding laughter from the negroes. Esmeralda's hopes of finding Humphrey free and safe were gone from that moment for she felt sure it was he who had cried out. "Where is the girl?" demanded the threatening voice again. She ran in a stooping attitude towards the dim little window and crouched panting against the wall of the cabin, half expecting a dog to bark or someone to pounce upon her. .Nothing happened and after a pause she gained courage enough to raise cautiously her palm leaf shield until it covered one corner of the pane. Then she stood up behind it and made tiny eye holes with her finger tip in the brown and brittle surface of the dead leaf. Inside in the smoky, dirty hut she could see a number of men and she soon singled Humphrey out. He was sitting on the floor with his hands tied behind him and his head hanging. Two white men, plainly pirates by their dress, sat on the bench near him and several negroes were grouped about a table in the middle of the hut. All the ligh't there was came from a smoky lamp and a low fire. As the little spurting flames shone on the savage faces of the pirates, on their gold earring 3 and pistols, and on the rolling eyes of the negroes it looked a dreadful 'scene to Esmeralda. "Where is the girl?" shouted the pirate who appeared to be the leader. Esmeralda started and clung trembling to the wall. The palm leaf rattled in her hand but there were so many forest sounds around the hut that no one noticed it. Humphrey only shook his head and moved his bound arms uneasily. The man leaned towards him and as if in a sudden fright the boy cried out sharply: "I don't know! She got away in the darkness—l don't know!" "You do, liar! Here you, Sambo, Mr. Captain Sambo, hand .me that burning stick." The negro shuffled gleefully to the fire and drew out a burning stick which the pirate snatched from him. "Now whelp—out with the truth or I'll burn out your eyes and your tongue with this. How do you like this to begin with?" !

Humphrey uttered a yell as the glowing stick touched him. "Joe! Dan!" he implored, '"'don't do it again. Don't—don't! Haven't we been shipmates and fought side by side. Don't do it." "Where's the girl, I say. You do know now?" The fiery brand was held close to Humphrey's face and he shrank away. "Yes—l do know." "Then you'd better tell us pretty quick, or you'll find yourself without a tongue to tell anyone anything.'" Sambo and' the others crowded round, and perilous as her own situation was Esmeralda could hardly keep from screaming out in anger and distress for Humphrey. She knew they were torturing him by the cries and oaths that escaped from him, and she shrank away ] afraid to see. Then through the other voices she heard him sobbing and -exclaiming. "I'll tell you—l'll tell you then!" and a new terr.or seized her. Humphrey was about to betray her to save himself. He would lead them to the tree where now only little black Primrose was to be found, but a search through the wood's would soon result in her capture. She looked in again from behind, her leafy screen. They were all about Humphrey still, and he was half weeping and seemed quite cowed. , "I left them both—in a thicket not far from the planter's house, north of the plantation." "Near the house?" said the pirate doubtingly. "Near the house to try and get food from the black servants," said Humphrey, "and I was to look for a boat in | the creek here and then go back and fetch them." <c You whining young thief" said the other pirate. "If you are telling us any lies I'll rip you open with this!" And he displayed a broad knife. "I'm not lying. I'll lead you to the place. Untie my hands and I'll lead you to the house when it is light enough." "Light enough," began his captor savagely, and Humphrey hastily added. "Now —I'll .take you there now, at least I could if any of these niggers will guide me out of the wood first. I don't know the lay of the land till I'm out of the wood and can see the high land or the shore to give me a bearing." Even while Esmeralda's heart swelled at the thought that the boy was faithful in spite of the horrible danger in whieh he stood, despair overwhelmed her. j Where could she turn. What chance had Humphrey of escaping death when the pirates discovered that he had deceived them. He had no hope except in giving her into the hands of the pirates, or finding the planter's treasure for them. From the discussion she could hear ooing on in the hut it was plain that the men meant to force Humphrey to go in search of her at once. She looked wildly about her wondering which way to fly when something moved near her feet and a hand like a claw caught hold of her hand in the darkness. (To be continued next week.)