THE DIAMOND RAIDER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3886, 4 September 1928, Page 81

THE DIAMOND RAIDER.

By

Otwell Binns.

(Copyright.—For the Otago Witness.) I. Up the long creek, John Carlow's canoe, manned by a scratch crew of porkknockers, drove its way, making for the twenty-seven-acre diamond claim of which by right of purchase he was owner. Georgetown was a month’s journey behind; on either side the trees were like walls of green interwoven with lianas and creepers of every description, some thick as a sapling, others mere tendrils fine as string, festooning the trees gracefully or dropping in straight lines like the hanging ropes of invisible bells. Now and again one of these climbers broke into brilliant flower, here 1 a mass of blossom—lacquer red; there a form of white blooms with golden hearts. The light streaming through the arching trees was green, the creek itself, reflecting that light, was of the same hue, whilst the forest was an impenetrable green fortress where death lurked in a thousand forms. In its recesses roamed the jaguar, among its rotting vegetation crawled monstrous centipedes and scorpions, whilst in the forest ways slid the poisonous fer-de-lance and the dreaded bushmaster, the most vicious of the snakes haunting the Guiana forest. Death in other forms moved everywhere, in the marshes in the shape of caymans that could snap a man’s limb with their scaly tails, and drag him to’ the slime to rend limb from limb; poisonous •insects thronged the air, and alighting on naked flesh, by their bites sowed destroying fevers in a man’s blood; whilst overside swarmed electric fishes, one touch of which was sufficient to paralyse a man and leave him a helpless victim in the stream.

It was, thought Carlow, a savage, poisonous land where beauty marched with horror, and death hid under forms of fairness, but it held the promises of riches, the lure of quick-won wealth, and for that, like the men of his race before him, he was willing to accept the challenge of death. The creek began to narrow, and he consulted a grubby map stretched on his knees; then he looked carefully ahead. At a point where ’ the forest lightened the creek forked, and as he saw the dividing ways he gave an exclamation of satisfaction.

“Journey’s end! We arrive' in an hour, boys.” The coloured crew gave no sign of sharing his satisfaction. For a week since leaving the store at Barney’s Landing they had been morose and sullen, and as he had observed had w’hispered much among themselves at night. But he had not allowed these facts to disturb him. They were niggers, broken-down diamond hunters who, having dissipated easy-gotten wealth in an orgy, had been forced to take service with himself, who belonged to the dominant white race, and it never-

entered into his head that their sullenness might indicate a need for caution on his part. One of the men known among his fellows as “’Polio,” and who, so far from rivalling the handsome god whose name he bore in this abbreviated form, was certainly the ugliest negro that Carlow had ever seen, gave a surly grunt in answer to his remark; whilst the others, with faces like images carved in ebony, showed no sign of having heard him at all.

Give way, boys,” he cried cheerfully. “ We’ll camp at the claim to-night.” Not a single stroke to the minute did the pork-knockers quicken their paddling. With an almost insolent laziness, they dipped the paddles with exasperating slowness; and watching them Carlow shrugged his shoulders, and found an explanation of their attitude in the indolence of their race. They made the fork, turned into the narrower creek, through the trees of which the sunlight broke in great bars of silver, and they followed the new waterway for perhaps an hour, when one of the negroes gave a grunt of excitement, and pointed with his paddle overside. The others, disregarding the white man, held the canoe in the current and stared at the water, their whole demeanour betraying excited interest.

What is it?” asked Carlow sharply. “ You see something? ” He could see nothing except a yellow discoloration in the water which seemed to cloud'the stream on one side as it flowed. The man ’Polio indicated the discoloration.

“ Yoali claim up dere, boss ? ” “ Yes,” answered Carlow, a little wonderingly. “Den some t’ief work it. Dat water come from de place where gravel is being w ashed for diamarns. Dat mean some beggah jump de claim.” Carlow, new to the game of diamondhunting, had heard of claims set far up the forest waterways on which raiders had descended, in the owners’ absence, skimming them clean of the diamonds they held, and as he marked that discoloured water, evidence of someone at work on the claim that he had bought, anger stirred within. “Quicker!” he said, with a snap in his voice that stirred the blacks out of their indolence. “ We’ll catch the scoundrels red-handed.” ’Polio grunted something that was unintelligible to Carlow, the crew'quickened the stroke, and the canoe shot forward at a rate quicker than any that had been made for days. A drift of aromatic wood-smoke came down the waterway, then the sound of a shovel and of a negro voice singing, and quite suddenly they came upon a side creek, up which a couple of palm-leaf “ logies ” were visible, and in the shallow water between the canoe and the camp, Carlow saw a figure with rubber thigh-boots working a “ jigger ” —a sieve in which the. gravel was washed for diamonds—whilst ashore a big negro was raking the clay and gravel in the tom-box with a kind of hoe. One of the negroes in the canoe gave a Shout. The individual working the sieve turned swiftly rounds revealing a white, startled face; the black ashore loosed a cry of warning, and flinging the jigger to the bank his companion leaped from the water and- raced for the palm-leaf logies, whilst the negro shouted again and waved the hoe in his hand threateningly. Carlow reached for his rifle. He had no intention of using it, but it was well to be prepared, and the big negro with the hoe was acting like a madman who meant to oppose his landing. The white man, who had slipped into one of the logies, emerged carrying a bundle in one hand and a pistol in the other, and cried something to the black, who, with a curse, flung the hoe in the direction of the canoe; and turning on his heel raced for the forest side by side with his companion. As they reached the edge of the small clearing the canoe touched the bank, and stepping ashore John Carlow lifted his rifle and fired a couple of shots over the head of the fleeing pair to speed them on their way. Then he laughed, and was in the very act of ejecting the second of the spent shells when the sunlight cast the shadowon the trampled clay where he stood, the shadow of a man with raised arm. Some instinct warned him of danger. As he swung round he finished the operation of re-loading, and in the 'same instant of time saw the man ’Polio with a demoniacal look upon his face and with the paddle raised to strike. Before he could do anything to defend himself the paddle descended, the edge of it catching him on the temple with shattering force, and without a cry he dropped the rifle, and collapsed to the clay in a huddled heap, utterly unconscious. 11. When-his senses returned "lie was lying in one of the palm-leaf shacks in a darkness that was only relieved by the faint reflection of a fire in the camp. His head ached intolerably, and when he started to lift a hand to press it he made the discovery that he was bound hand and foot. Then, recalling events, one by one, he remembered the fleeing diamond raiders, ’Pollo’-s black face twisted -with hate, and the falling paddle. He had no doubt what had occurred. The sullen negroes whom he had hired to serve hini had turned on him, and taking possession of everything, no doubt, to skim the creek of diamonds. 1 Ten .minutes after . this conviction found confirmation, for the big negro who’was plainly the leader ; in.this busi-

ness entered the logie, bearing a hurricane lantern. When he saw that Carlow was conscious he grinned evilly. “Well, boss,” he crowed. “Yo’ in a dam’ fine mess, dis time, hey?” “Cut these.ropes,” began Carlow savagely, “or I’ll break your neck! ” “ No, boss! ” retorted ’Polio. “Me not a fool. You stop tie up fast till we make up de mind to shove you in de creek or leave you in de forest. Me top dog, an’ dis is fust-rate creek chock full ob diamarns. We goin’ to get dem diamarns for ourself, you un’erstand.” Carlow understood very well, but he was not daunted.

“ You’ll be jailed or hung when you get back to Georgetown, rogue! ” “ No, boss. Dat’s where de spokes rattle in yoah wheels. We go back to Georgetown, an’ we report dat you haf been bit by a. big bushmaster snake an’ dat you haf died. We take de snake’s skin wit us, an’ we show it, an’—well, you un’erstand, hey ? ” “ You’re a murdering scoundrel! ” answered Carlow, “ but you’re forgetting ”

“Me forget nothing. Out dere in de forest dere is a sowrie tree. Me hear de nuts falling a little time back. An’ where de sowrie tree is de bushmaster waits always, knowing dat soon monkey or man will come to get de nuts, an’ den he strike. You know dat, hey? We carry you dere, den de big snake he find you an’ strike once, an’ in 20 minutes you are a dead man. It is, you see, simple as chewing sugar cane. An’ all quite in order. When me asked what hh.f become of de white man with whom we go up river, me say he meet bushmaster in de forest an’ die, an’ dat will be de truth as dey find out if dey examine de corpse. An’ me an’ de odders get de diamarns on dis creek, which is very rich.” As he listened to this cold-blooded statement of the negro’s intentions, John Carlow was a little appalled. That the black scoundrels really meant to carry out this ferocious plan he had no doubt at all; and as the man said it was as simple as chewing cane. But though fear clutched at his heart as he visioned himself lying bound and helpless in the path of the largest poison snake of the Guiana forests, he gave no sign of it to the black.

“If you think you’re going to get away with that fool game, you’re crazy sure,” he answered harshly. “ You t’ink dat ? ” ’Polio laughed gleefully as a child. “Well, you know bettah when de beeg bushmaster give de pinch dat is death.” He moved away leaving Carlow in darkness again, and presently from outside there came sounds of revelry which told him that the four blacks had found and broached the case of rum that formed part of the stores. They began to sing drunkenly, waking the forest with their din. I put my hand on Lulu’s head, Lulu faint away—•— John Carlow, knowing that this merriment might presently yield to ferocity as the rum worked on the primitive negroid nature, struggled hard to loosen his bonds, but only succeeded in making the bush rope bite deeply into his wrists. The revellers presently grew less noisy, then the thing he feared came to pass. “ Time we tak’ de .white trash to de bushmassa’s meat trail. Now’s de time wnen he walk de forest ways.” Carlow felt a cold shiver go up his spine, and all his skin pricked suddenly to goose flesh, as he visioned the big, flat-head of the king snake, mercilesseyed, jaws puffed with poison sacs, whose bite was death.

“ One more drink firs’, ’Polio ” He drew breath again and prayed fervently that'the quartet might continue to drink until they forgot their murderous purpose; then he lay listening to the clink of tin cups, and the half-drunken voices of the roisterers. One of them began to sing again, the river chantry in which they had before indulged— I put my hand on Lulu’s head At that precise moment Carlow thought he caught a sound at the rear of the logie. He listened carefully, heard the sound again, and his straining ears made out footsteps. Who There was a new sound—a ripping, crackling sound made by a knife cutting through the palm-leaf wall of the shack, almost immediately over his head. Looking up he caught the gleam of the steel as it reflected the radiance of the fire outside, and he watched its progress with fascinated eyes. Whose hand wielded it, and why was he cutting his way into the logie? - To that' question he found no immediate answer. The knife worked on, ripping, slashing, the noise -it made drowned by the lusty roar of the blacks as they chanted the chorus of Lulu. Hurrah, my bucky boy, do let me alone, Bo let me alone, bucky, do let me alone. A section of the palmleaf fell., into the logie, and almost at the same second the fire outside flared up, revealing to Carlow a white face peering in at the opening thus made. Then knife in hand, the unknown slipped through the opening, and with amazed ears he caught the astonished whisper of a feminine voice. “You are not Hadfield?—l thought ” “No!” he answered quickly. “My name is Carlow. I bought this claim from Hadfield and ” . “ Then we must be quick. Those porkknockers outside are ripe for mischief.” Without another word she stooped and began to cut his bonds. As she finished, from outside came ’Polio’s voice, “Now we carry de white trash to de bushmassa! ” "Quick I”

He lost no time in getting to his feet. The blacks outside had his rifle and his shot gun, and anything might happen if they discovered that he was free. His deliverer slipped through .the opening in the logie wall, and he followed quickly, to find.a tall black keeping watch there. “Your hand,” whispered his deliverer, and as he stretched it, he found it gripped by a small capable hand, roughened by hard labour. “This way. Silently as you can.” They began to move across the little clearing in the direction of the trees. Carlow asked no questions. He had already guessed that those two were the pair who had fled from the camp at his own advent that afternoon—the raiders of his claim, to whom now he was indebted for his life. That one of them was a woman was an intriguing fact; and as they moved forward in the darkness he strove to see the face of his conductress. For the moment, however, that privilege was denied him, the darkness being such that only a white blur was visible. Discordant yells broke out in the direction of the logies. The blacks, it seemed, had become aware of his escape. His deliverer began to run, and he ran with her, her black companion bringing" up the rear. As they reached the deep shadow of the forest the woman slackened her pace, and laughed coolly. “You are safe now! Those scoundrels will not know where to look for you. Keep close to me.” She dropped his hand, and moved forward again. Carlow followed, and skirting the line of the forest they rounded an outcrop of rock, and came suddenly on a fire. The black kicked the glowing logs into a blaze, and as the flames lit the darkness, Carlow became conscious of the woman’s appraising eyes. He returned her stare with interest which grew enormously as he realised that she was quite young and rarely beautiful, and suddenly he burst out: “In God’s name, how did I mistake you for a man this afternoon ? ” She glanced down at her breeched and gaitered legs, giving a little laugh as she did so. “ Perhaps it was the breeches. I wonder what else you took me for? ” “ A thieving diamond-raider, stripping my claim,” he answered. “ Shows what a fool I am.” The girl laughed again. “No need to call yourself names. There are excuses for you. Just now you said that you bought this claim from Hadfield. He didn’t tell you he had a partner, I suppose ? ” “ No.” “He had. My father—whom he left to die of fever. Peter, that’s the black there, and I came up here to look for my father. We found him at the last gasp, that blackguard Hadfield having left him, sick and helpless. He died the same day, and Peter and I decided to work the claim. When you showed up this afternoon we thought it was Hadfield returning, and we ran, thinking he might proceed to extreme measures. We saw those blacks of yours fell you, and for the last hour Peter and I have been waiting to get you, thinking you were Hadfield. Peter wanted to kill you outright. I’m real glad I didn’t let him, now.” “So am I.” Carlow laughed cheerfully, and as his eyes met those of his deliverer a warm light flashed in them, which brought the colour streaming into the girl’s white face. “ We’ve got to get those blacks,” she said hurriedly. “If-we don't they’ll get us.” » “No hurry,” he answered smilingly. “ There’s a whole case of rum there. In another hour they’ll be blind as owls in daylight—and we’ll gather them like lambs. What was your father’s name ? ” “Lethbridge, John Lethbridge.” “My name is John, also,” he said quickly. “ John Carlow.” “ And mine is Mary,” she answered smiling, and then moved towards the fire. “ You’d like some coffee and some grub, I daresay. We haven’t much to offer, just what I was able to grab when we ran from the camp this afternoon. But I’ll do my best. Fortunately, Peter there got a young monkey.” Carlow ate What was provided with a hungry man’s appetite. Then he looked at the stars. “ Time I went back to the camp. Those blacks will be heavy as hogs now.” “ Peter and I will come, too. We may be needed.” Cautiously they returned to the clearing. The .fire was burning low, and all was still as the grave about the palmleaf huts. Carlow threw caution to the winds and walked straight into the camp. As he expected, he found tho negroes in the deep slumber of intoxication. His first care was to gather all the weapons, then, with Peter’s assistance, he bound the four sleepers, and laid them side by side under a tarpaulin. “ What will you do with them ? * asked the girl cautiously. “ Do! Take them down to Georgetown and have them gaoled as they deserve. I suppose you’ll stop here and work your claim.” “ I suppose I shall,” answered the girl quietly. Then her face grew rosy. “But it’s only half mine, you know. Hadfield’s share was his to sell, and as -you bought it ...” “ You mean—partners! ” he cried. “ Well,” she said smilingly, “ the creek is a rich one, though Hadfield, didn’t know it; I don’t see why . . .” “ I’ll be honoured,” said CarloW quickly. “ And those black swine shall

work as they never worked in their unholy lives before. They’ve given me the whip hand over them. And with Peter there to keep an eye on them, they’ll behave like lambs. *My dear Miss Lethbridge ...”

The girl laughed softly. “No one ever called me that before. Mary suits me.” J

“ Then, Mary, we’ll draw up a deed of partnership, half and half shares.” And exactly six weeks later, when a travelling missionary came down the creek, they set the final seal to their deed of partnership, going half shares in a new happiness.