THE NOVELIST

Otago Witness, Issue 3804, 8 February 1927, Page 62

THE NOVELIST

OUTER DARKNESS.

A PACIFIC ADVENTURE,

By

FRANK H. BODLE

(A New Zeaeano Author.)

(Copyright.—For the Witness.)

CHAPTER XVI.—ACROSS THE RIVER., Rawiri took command, and his order brought a metal basket, with arms that curved up from each corner, to meet in two arches above. Kitty spoke gently ' to the Women, and, between them, they lifted Brian into this rude litter. Four men came forward, and each grasping a metal arm at a corner, walked off with their burden. Kitty and the Woman took station on either side, Rawiri and Hira fell in behind, and after them the soldiers marched. When they came to the passage mouth, Kitty halted them and faced the square. “We go to the Land of Ra,” she called with all her strength. “Let all who would go with us follow after, leaving behind old hates, old miseries, and all bitterness.” In his litter, Brian faced -the higher ground of the terrace, and saw the effect of his sweetheart’s words. The babble of talk, was stilled, the uncertain, wavering ceased—then, women and little children in the van, they surged forward. “We are coming; we are coining,” as with one voice they answered joyously and hurried onward to deliverance. They marched on. The Woman, one hand on Brian’s shoulder, stared intently at the fair English girl who had so completely dominated and so completely shattered this world that had been hers. This Kiti had been very clever, the Woman thought, veiling the bitterness in her heart. She was taking Periani iiack to his own land, but . . . For a moment the inner bafflement and venom clutched her face. They came to the falls at length, and there waited a space. Men of Hika’s troops were trailing a long cable (rifled from the tram line, Brian saw) up the steps into the darkness above the falls. He caught the glimmer of lanterns hiMi above. ° \ This will be very liard for you, Brian,” Kitty said soberly. “You must hold that cable and climb. She and 1 will help.” Part carried, part pushed and pulled from above, Brian fought his way up. He was breath-spent and trembling' when they reached the rocky top, and the two women were in little better case. There they rested, at first flat upon their faces, ft-jal then, as they breathed more easilv, sitting up and looking down on the gathering of people below the falls. Then the litter came up the steep, the cable drawing it, and when Brian had been lifted in, the march upstream began. By the light of many stone lanterns they trod a rocky path by the swirling brink of the river, an endless procession, spotted with weaving lights, walled in on either hand by blackness. They came at last, to the remains of a broken stone bridge, jutting a very little way out into the blackness that crushed down upon the waters. “Ah!” exclaimed Kitty, “it is just as Hika said.” The intensity of her relief made her voice tremulous. “You remember, Brian, on the opposite bank, the other end of this bridge. I found on it the ashes of a pipe you'd smoked there.” “I remember the other end,” Brian said quietly. “But how will it help us? There’s much swift water between.” “Wait,” Kitty answered. “You’ll see very soon. We remain here on the bridge. ...” The litter was set down on the stono platform and Brian lifted out. One end of the copper table was thrust up beside them. Now watch the river,” Kitty ordered, and the man and the two women peered out into the swirling blackness. They heard a cry from the water, upstream and Rawiri’s answering call from the bank. There was a splashing in the water; the loud, snapped breathing of tense effort told that out there in the dark, someone was battling with the waters. The sounds of struggle drew nearer, drifted inshore towards them. “The current sets this way like a mill race,” Kitty exclaimed, holding a lantern over the waters. “I can see the mau now. He’s being swept back here.” A white, tense face swam into the circle of light. The man fought every inch, striving gallantly to sidle across the swift set. He was whirled back, until one of- his hands struck an outer pile of the old bridge, and there he hung, limp, exhausted. “It is too strong,” he gasped. “I cannot do it.” Guided by the light, he worked inshore, and was drawn upon the bank; The watchers saw 7 that round his waist there was a thin string of copper wire,

that trailed behind the man into the wet darkness. “Let another try,” Kitty said soberly. “You fought well, but you were not strong -enough. Bid the next man start higher up the stream.” For the first time since they had left the terrace, the Woman spoke. “If this be your road to the Land of Ra, then your door is closed,” she stated with utter certainty. “No man can cross, here above the falls.” But Kitty laughed. “If not a man, then maybe a woman—two women, swimming strongly for the love of a man, can do this,” she challenged. “But first let the men try.” Ten times more men strove to pierce the fierce set, and each time were washed back to the shore from whence they had started. Dismay and doubt crept over the watchers up and down the banks. Tlie Woman’s words went from mouth to mouth—“ This door is barred.” A man fought his way up through the closely-packed throng on the river track —that loose-limbed giant, who in the square had been the first to speak of priestly cruelties. He came to the bridge and laughed up at Kitty. He flung his arms above his head, bringing them back slowly, and flexing the muscles into taut knots. “Give me the rope,” he cried, defiant in his strength. “I can reach the other bank.”.. . “Let him try,” Kitty ordered sharply, a flutter of hope coming back to her heart. “That way is barred, I say,” the Woman muttered. And so it seemed, for in a little the giant swung frothily past the pier and sagged inshore, a dozen yards beyond. He tried again and, this time they did not see him whirl past, but he eanie ashore, still farther down. As he walked up past the pier, the mau grinned up. “This time I win across,” he shouted, shaking his clenched hand at the - racing stream. “You will -do it; I know you will,” Kitty called encouragingly. “There be none other in the laud we go to that swim so strongly.” In a silence of dreadful doubt they waited; straining out into the darkness, for sign or sound. They heard the lap, lap, lap of the hurrying waters against the piles, and then from far out in the darkness came an angry shout. ’‘Loose out! Loose out!” they heard. “Loose out the wire; you pull me back again.” There was no other sign or sound till Rawiri came running to them, the shore end of the thin line in his hands. “He’s in the still water by the other bank,” the Maori panted, and knelt with Hira to knot the thin wire to the cable end. “It hold a’right,” he grunted, after testing the join. They waited. Came a far away call from over the waters. “He’s won,” Kitty cried exultantly. “He’s a great chap.” She was nearer to tears than Brian had ever seen her. “Pull!” Rawiri bellowed, and the stout cable plunged into the stream, was thrust down by the current, yet steadily crawled on and slowly out over the pieredge. The cable stopped and they stared at one another doubtfully. “It’s a’right,” Rawiri reassured them, after examining the slant of the short stretch of cable that was visible. “He’s having spells. That’s mighty tough work, that hauling. Much more worse than the swimming, I think.” Again the cable crawled outward, freighted with a heavy burden of hopes and fears. The Woman looked at it in inscrutable silence, her face a mask. After many pauses, many starts, the cable hesitated, then ceased to run. “He’s got it,” Rawiri said joyfully, and, turning, gave orders to a waiting squad. A shout trickled across the blackness. Hira, whose ears were very sharp, caught the words. “He says ‘Pull tight,’ ” she stated positively. The end of the cable was passed on to the pier, pushed through the arching arms of the litter, and wound once round the head of a pile. “Now, pull. Be strong,” Rawiri ordered, and the slack came slowly in. They heard it striking the water farther and farther out, till it sucked clear in mid-channel and the line hauled taut. “Make fast; make very sure that it will hold.” Rawiri watched closely to see that there was no possibility of any slip. “It carries many loads and must

not fail.” Then, very loudly, “Come back, thou chief of all swimmers.” Sitting close together on the pier-head, Brian, Kitty, and the woman saw the tight cable jerk and sway. The man was coming back, hand over hand along the line. At Rawiri’s bidding, a thin line, the counterpart of that used by the swimmer, was attached to one end of the litter. “And there you have the whole scheme, Brian,” Kitty said cheerily. “A rough sort of aerial tramway, you see. The gentleman who swam so well and who’s agitating the wire just now is bringing back the loose end of the thin wire he took over. We fasten it to the other side of your litter, and with it pull ourselves across. - Those behind will pull it back, and so it will go till all are over. Simple, but, I believe, quite efficient.” “And you planned all this?” Brian asked adoringly. “You mustn’t take my fatlier’s strictures too literally, you know, Brian,” Kitty teased, watching the increased activity of the cable as their forerunner ; drew closer. “Women are not all sueh • fools as you might think to hear him . talk. As a matter of fact, it merely { means that he has not yet recovered i from the original disappointment that ! I was not a boy.” ■ “By Jove! Pm glad you weren’t,” : Brian cried fervently. •j She looked at him, smiling quizzically. ; “There are times,” she stated brightly, ! “when I’m almost resigned to the fact ’ myself.” “Is this more of your planning?” the Woman broke in, pointing to the cable and the litter. She had grasped the significance of Kitty’s scheme. “You plan well; very well. There is nothing that you overlook ?” It was a question, rather than a statement, and Kitty eyed the other narrowly, sensing her challenge. “That we shall both learn later,” she answered evenly. They turned towards the stream, hearing the gasping of over-strained lungs. A dim long form took shape. Inch by • inch it crawled towards them; nearer and painfully nearer, till the kicking legs found foothold on the edge of the pier. They dragged the giant in and laid him down, utterly exhausted. “There’s something goije in here,” he moaned, touching his ehest and wincing at the touch. “It snapped and all my strength fled. I am like a child again.” Kitty bent down and smoothed his wet hair.- “You are a very brave man,” she whispered, with exceeding tenderness, “and you will live to be very strong again in the Land of Ra.” “I’ll never see it,” he moaned dully. “But you will, and very soon,” Kitty promised, and turned to take charge. “I go first to pull Periani across; then,” she hesitated, thinking, ‘the Daughter of Light with Rawiri. Then shall come Hira and this brave man, and after, two and two, you shall all come. When you hear me call, puli back the empty basket.” Brian was lifted into the metal carrier and as he and Kitty dipped outward, the Woman called a farewell.- “I will join you very soon, Periani,” she said sombrely. Her hands fingered the axe she still wore; she eyed the straining cable. At first the little boat travelled easily, dipping gently downward as Kitty pulled by the thin wire that hung below the upper cable that supported them. “About mid-stream, I should think.” Kitty remarked quietly. “The water’s pretty close below.” It rippled suddenly against the lower curve of their boat, and thrust angrily at the obstruction. Lower they dropped aiid still lower; the current tugging at them, banking high on the up-stream side of their carriage. The lantern that Kitty had brought showed them a riot of swirling black water almost over-topping their little craft. Kitty used all her strength, so that they might hurry past the danger zone before the boat was swamped. The banked wave broke and splashed over the side. Brian laughed. “Reminds me of the tub races we used to have at the Hobart regatta,” he chuckled. “Shipped a good deal more water than this usually, I remember. She’s lifting, Kit, you wonderful little girl!! She’s clear of the water now, and we’re coming to the other shore and—” “Happiness,” Kitty cut in softly. “But don’t be foolish, yet, my gay gossoon. There’s a good deal still to do.”’ They reached the old broken bridge, and Kitty dragged Brian out and sat him down with his back against the balustrade. “Back with it!” she shouted, “we’re safe across.” Hand in hand they sat, very happy, and waited the coming of Rawiri and the Woman. And while they waited thus, Kitty told him of her anxiety and of her search; of how she had followed the line of grain to this very spot; had seen his pipe ashes where they now sat; had coaxed two of the Rapa men, a pistol to each back, into coming down and removing the body of the old man for burial, and finally had returned with Larsen, the mate of the “Moana.” “He could swim very little, you know,” Kitty explained, “but we’d dragged down a long rope, and with an end of this round his waist, he went in. It was no good, though; I had to pull hira back again, a shade more dead than alive. The Rapa men wouldn’t try it. I did bring them down again, but they begged me to shoot them. So then, you see, Brian,” Kitty finished as they glimpsed the outline of. the returning carriage, “it was up to me, and I came.”

Briaii squeezed her hand. He could find no adequate words at the moment, and before lesser ones could be uttered, the Woman and Rawiri stood with them. The carriage slipped back, and Kitty stood up in the lantern glow. “When we get enough bearers across we’ll start carrying you out, Brian, mv lad,” she said in matter-of-fact tones. “Sunshine and fresh air will soon make a man of you again.” The Woman looked around her uncertainly. ‘lhere was once a road across this water,” she marvelled aloud. “One end here, the other there; but now the middle has gone.” She wandered, idly curious, to the pile where the fastened cable complained as it felt the weight of a fresh burden. ° Brian’s gladness found vent in light banter. “And here's Rawiri, who dreamed that he would never see the sun again,” be teased. “How about it, you croaker ?” Im not, happy,” Rawiri announced glumly. ‘J ve got a very funny feeling inside me.” ° “ Bnt T ere comes Hira.” Kittv took up the teasing. “I can just see her. She’s all right Rawiri; or do you think that, true to her name, she’ll make trouble for you?” There was a sudden ring of metal biting deep m metal. Startled, Kittv and the Maori swung sharply round. They saw the Womans axe raised for the second blow, and, before they could come to her, it fell heavily. There was a low, whining hiss as the severed line swashed off. The watchers, straining to see the boat, heard Hira call. Cartier and human burden had been overset, and both were being swept towards the falls. “Hira! Hira!” Rawiri called with all his _ might. “Wait for me Hira. I’m coming now to bring you back.” He turned to the Woman, blazing with anger, but she forestalled his speech. “She played a traitor’s trick on me,” th© Woman called defiantly. That is my answer. Go after her, ’if you will, you’ll never bring her back. There’s no man left that can swim another line across.” Rawiri groaned. “She's right,’’ he said savagely to Brian. “We’ll never ge! back, but still Fve got to go to her. An’ listen to me, Brian an’ Kitty; get up to the top as quick as von can. an’ don't you never come back. If I can bring these peoples over some time, I will; but don’t you come back. Never. Its a bad place. Now, you take that devil away before I kills her.’’ “Wait. Rawiri,” Brian called feverishly —but the Maori had plunged over the side and was shooting down stream.. “You get away from here quick,’’ they heard him shout; “an’ don’t you come back, ever.” “That was the one thing you overlooked,’’ the Woman said coldly. Axe in hand, she was edging, yet hardly seeming to move, closer and closer to her rival. “Look out. Kittv.” Brian called huskily, struggling with all his little strength to get to his feet. _ Almost before the warning had left his lips, Kitty, as coolly calculating as the other, had made her spring. She caught the upraised arm at the wrist and bent it backward, locking her other arm around the Woman’s waist. She thrust a foot behind the Woman’s heel, and flung the weight of her body forward. So they tussled, - tense bodies closelv linked, a pair of arms upraised, till, with a shrewd trip. Kitty flung the Woman crashing to • the floor. The axe clattered from her hands, and Brian on all fours beside them. grasped it eagerly. A wild Irish devil possessed him: he swung the grim thing above the Woman’s head, and she, pleading only with her eyes, made no attempt to ward the blow. Kitty sprang clear, and though her breath came quickly, her eyes were still unruffled. “Brian.” she called sharply. “Put that down. At once.” Looking into her calm eyes, the man’s nassicn ebbed, leaving him deathly weak. Grcaning, as he realised what be world have done, he flung the axe into the stream. “Good.” Kittv said bri.sklv. “That was the best thing you could do. It had done too much damnire already." She Mooned and. grasning the Woman’s hands, lifter! he.r to hep feet. “Thon anil I must work together to bring Periani to the Sunland.” Kitty . placed a hand on each of the Woma”'« shoulders, and looked her squarely in th-" 1 eyes. “Think now. Ho is very side, and though the journey is not for I could not bring him to safety alone. Together you and I—we can save him.” Wearily the Woman bowed her head, and as one who walks in slumber she helped Kitty lift Brian to his feet. “Like this,” Kitty cried, seizing the Woman’s wrist so that their two hands formed a chair. Upon this they seated Brian, and, despite his protests. lifted him, one arm round each of their necks, and walked steadily off. So, changing hands and resting and carrying again, they followed the trail of grain a long, long time, until, afar off, they spied a speck of brightness. “The tunnel mouth,” sobbed Kitty. “Thank God, we’ll soon be out.” She looked down at the sagging figure of the mar. they carried. Brian, utterly exhausted, was fast asleep. Beyond him the Woman’s face was drawn and bloodless, and tears of -exhaustion ran down her checks. She stumbled, almost fell, then with a sobbing intake of the breath, straightened and staggered forward. i (ToTie concluded.)