by Roy J. Snell
CHAPTER XVIII TWO BLADE JOHNNY
On the dock at Porte Zelaya, the task of loading bananas was at lastprogressing. At regular intervals all that long forenoon and well intothe day, the little engine with its string of cars came puffing andrattling down the narrow gauge track. With its cars groaning under thegreat loads of green which it brought, it came to a halt on the dock.There, in exact imitation of the ants that had entertained Johnny on theprevious day, the barefooted, perspiring Caribs seized upon the preciousfruit, to pass it from hand to hand and store it carefully away in thehold of the ship.
Johnny, with an eye out for trouble, was everywhere. Now on the dock, nowon the train and now in the heart of the banana plantation, his keen eyetook in everything. Yet no trouble came. A few disconsolate Spanishbanana workers hung about. Such of these as seemed willing to renderhonest service Johnny set to work.
Dressed in the simplest of garb, cotton shirt, khaki trousers andhigh-topped boots, Johnny nevertheless drew forth many a covert smilefrom the black Caribs, for he wore at his belt not one machete, buttwo--one on either side, and none of the Caribs had ever before seen aman carry two such weapons.
The sun was hanging low over the storm wrecked banana plantation, theirtask was well nigh completed when Johnny, seeing some straggling youngbanana plants growing in a half cleared patch to the right of the trackand believing that here he might find a few superb bunches, hurried awaydown a narrow deer trail.
He had reached the nearest bunch of bananas and was about to cut it downwhen something sprang at him.
His first thought, as his heart went racing and he dropped to earth withthe quickness of a cat, was that he had come close to the lair of ajaguar.
This thought was dispelled by the white gleam of a blade.
"Diaz!" he told himself. "And we are alone. There is to be a battle afterall, a battle, perhaps to the death, with weapons which he has beenfamiliar with since a child."
One thought gave him courage as, springing away to the right, fightingfor time to draw a blade, hotly pursued by the panting Spaniard, herounded a great mahogany tree.
Having drawn his right hand blade, he took a stand in a raised spotoffering some slight advantage.
His crafty opponent did not rush him. Instead he attempted to outmaneuverhim by springing first to right, then to left, to at last completelycircle him.
"You'll not win by that," thought Johnny as the blood still pounded athis temples. "That is like boxing."
This maneuvering gave him time for a few darting thoughts as to how theaffair was to end. If he were killed, what then? He hoped his body mightbe found at once. Madge Kennedy would never consent to the ship'sstarting without him, dead or alive. That he knew well enough. He wantedthis, his last undertaking, to succeed, wanted it desperately.
"Somehow I must outmaneuver him," he thought. At once his mind turned tothat extra blade.
There was no time for drawing it, for of a sudden his opponent, withblade lifted high, sprang squarely at him. Had Johnny been beneath thatblade when it fell, his skull must have been split. With skill acquiredas a boxer, he leaped away and the machete, slipping from the Spaniard'sunnerved hand, dropped harmless on the moss.
There was no time for Johnny to seize his opponent's blade. There wasopportunity to draw his left hand blade. Draw it he did.
The expression on the Spaniard's dark and angry face as he found himselffacing two blades was strange to see. Plainly he was puzzled andnonplussed. He had fought and beyond doubt done for more than one manwho, like himself, wielded a single machete. But what of this boy whoseemed at home with two?
He wasted little time in thought, but springing with a twisting glide, heattempted to throw Johnny off his guard. In this he was not successful.
For a full quarter of an hour, battling, perspiring, crossing blades,bending, thrusting, each striving for an advantageous opening, the twomen fought on.
Then a sudden catastrophe threatened. On stepping backward Johnny caughthis heel in a tie-tie vine that grew low to the ground. The next instant,with the Spaniard all but on top of him, he went crashing to earth.
With a look that was terrible to see, the Spaniard aimed what he meant tobe a final blow.
A hush hung over the jungle. The blade came swinging down. But not toofast. As if dodging a boxer's blow, Johnny shot his head to one side.Burying itself a half blade's length in the ooze, the knife struck there.Nor did it come away when the frantic Spaniard pulled at it. It hadbecome firmly embedded in the buried stump of a mahogany tree.
The next instant the Spaniard felt himself lifted bodily in air. Thenwith senses reeling he came crashing down.
When he came to himself he found himself bound hand and foot. Aftercrashing him to earth, Johnny had made use of the tie-tie vine which hadcome near bringing him to his end. With it he had bound his opponent handand foot.
"You villain! You dirty dog!" Johnny hissed in his ear. "I should killyou. You have no right to live, you who strike when a man is down. But Iwill spare you. The ants may crawl over you for a few hours. After that Iwill send some one."
Gathering up three blades, souvenirs of the expedition, he disappearedinto the brush.
Ten hours later, laden to capacity with the golden harvest of thetropics, the _North Star_ pointed her prow toward the north, while theCaribs, now crowded into pit-pans and sailboats, headed for home, liftingtheir voices in song-like chants.
Only one little thing occurred to interrupt the _North Star's_ passageout of the Caribbean Sea into the open ocean. The evening was calm. Theychanced upon a sailing boat lying becalmed and helpless in the midst ofthe sea. On the deck of the boat was a prosperous looking man. Short andstout, and with a very red face, he looked the part of a very busy manwho thought well of his importance in the world of affairs, and who hadby some chance been caught in an eddy from which he could not wellextricate himself.
He requested that they take him aboard.
Johnny told him that he was not sure that coming aboard the steamer wouldserve his purpose. The man insisted; in fact he appeared to act as thoughhe owned the _North Star_. So aboard he came.
"What boat is this?" he demanded.
"The _North Star_," said Johnny quietly.
"When did we charter her?"
"When did who charter her?"
"The Fruit Company, of course." The man's tone was overbearing.
"You didn't." Johnny's tone was still quiet. "I did."
The man sniffed the air. "Bananas!" he said. "I am President of the FruitCompany, and in that capacity I demand to know what is the business ofthis steamer in these waters."
Johnny's heart suddenly sprang up into his throat. He tried to speak andcould not. His head whirled. The President of the great corporation hereon board his ship! The very man who had the power to make or break notalone him, but Kennedy and Madge as well. The thing seemed impossible!
"F--fruit," he stammered. "She carries fruit. Bananas, and for--forbiddenfruit and--and things like that."
He knew he was talking like an idiot, but for the life of him he couldnot talk sense. Little wonder. He was having his first little chat with amillionaire, but it was not to be his last.
