Lister's Great Adventure

by Harold Bindloss

  CHAPTER IV

  MONTGOMERY'S OFFER

  High-water was near and a trail of smoke, creeping up along the coast,streaked the shining sea. Brown watched the smoke until two masts and afunnel rose out of the vapor and began to get distinct. Then he put downhis glasses and lighted his pipe. The steamer was making for the lagoon.

  He had not long since gone to the native town up the creek and returnedwith a gang of laborers. So far, the negroes had worked well, but justnow he did not need them and they lay about in the shade, some wearing ashort waist-cloth and some a sheet of cotton that hung from theirshoulders. The tide had covered the wreck, but the big rotary pump wasrunning and, since the men had loosened the top of the cargo, it liftedthe slimy stuff.

  A plume of steam that looked faint and diaphanous in the strong lightblew away from the noisy machine. A large flexible pipe rose from thesubmerged hold and another ran from the pump across the hulk's deck.From the end of the pipe a thick, brown flood poured into the water andstained the green lagoon as the flood tide carried it along. The clashand rattle of the engine carried far, for the load was heavy and Listerwas using full steam. The boiler was large and the furnace burned morecoal than he had thought. Sometimes palm kernels that had not altogetherrotted jambed the fans, and he held the valve-wheel, trying to ease theshocks, while the perspiration dripped from his blistered skin. WhenBrown indicated the steamer he looked up.

  "She's coming in; I think I know the hooker," the captain remarked."Shallow-draught, coasting tank; goes anywhere she'll float for twentytons of freight. The skipper, no doubt, expects Montgomery's got a fewhogsheads of oil, and it's possible he'll sell us some coal. Theparcels-vanners are pretty keen to trade."

  "We want coal," said Lister and turned abruptly.

  The pump jarred and stopped, the swollen suction pipe shrank, and thesplash of the discharge died away. For some time Lister was occupied andwhen he restarted the engine and looked about again the steamer wassteering for the hulk. She was a small vessel, going light, with much ofher rusty side above water. A big surf-boat hung, ready for lowering, ather rail and a wooden awning covered her bridge-deck. When the throb ofher engines slackened two or three white men leaned over her bulwarksand looked down at the hulk with languid curiosity. Their faces werehaggard and their poses slack. The stamp of the fever-coast was plain.

  The telegraph rang, the engines stopped, and a man on the bridgeshouted: "Good morning! You have taken on an awkward job!"

  His voice was hollow and strained, and by contrast Brown's sounded fulland hearty.

  "We're getting ahead all the same. Where are you for?"

  "_Sar_ Leone, after we call at Montgomery's."

  "Then you can fill your bunkers, and our coal's getting short. Can yousell us some?"

  The other asked how much Brown wanted and how much he would pay. Then hebeckoned a man on the deck to come up, and turned to Brown again.

  "We might give you two or three surf-boat loads, but I'll see you whenwe come back. We must get up the creek and moor her before the tideebbs."

  He seized the telegraph handle, the propeller began to turn, and whenthe steamer forged ahead Brown looked thoughtful.

  "Perhaps I'd better take a trip up the creek in the evening. We want thecoal and I don't altogether trust Montgomery," he said.

  Lister agreed that it might be prudent for Brown to go, but he wasoccupied by the pump and they said no more. To lift the cargo when thewater covered the wreck's hatches and loosened the pulpy mass was easierand he must keep his engine running full speed. When they stopped he wasexhausted by the heat and the strain of watching and did not go withBrown.

  The captain did not, as he had promised, come back in the morning, butafter a time a smoke-trail streaked the forest and the steamer moved outon the lagoon. Lister sent a boy for the glasses, since he expectedBrown was on board, but so far as he could see, the captain was not. Thewhite wave at the bows indicated that the vessel was steaming fast andit did not look as if she was going to stop. In order to reach thechannel across the bar, she must pass near the hulk, and Lister waved tothe captain.

  "What about the coal?" he shouted.

  The other leaned out from the rails and Lister, studying him with theglasses, saw a small patch, like sticking plaster, on his forehead. Theside of his face was discolored, as if it were bruised, and frowningsavagely, he shook his fist.

  "You can go to _Sar_ Leone or the next hottest spot for your coal!" heroared and began to storm.

  Lister had sometimes disputed with Western railroad hands and marinefiremen, but he thought the captain's remarks equaled the others' bestefforts. In fact, it was some relief when a lump of coal, thrown by asailor on the hulk, crashed upon the wooden awning, and for a moment thesavage skipper paused. For all that, Lister stopped the sailor, who wasgoing to throw another block.

  "Hold on! The stuff is valuable!" he said.

  The captain began again, but the steamer had forged ahead, and his voicegot fainter and was presently drowned by the beat of the screw. Listerwent back to the pump. The machine was running unevenly and sometimesthe powerful engine jarred. He meant to take it down, but so long as thepump sucked up the kernels he durst not stop. Speed was important; theymust finish the job and get away before the heat and malaria wore themout. In the meantime, he was disturbed about Brown, who ought to havereturned, and at sunset he started for the factory in the tug's secondboat.

  Dark came suddenly and when he landed a hot, clammy fog thickened thegloom. Little fires the factory boys had lighted by ancient customtwinkled in the haze and a yellow beam from the veranda windows touchedthe towering cottonwoods, but all else was dark and the spot was somehowforbidding. One felt the gloom was sinister. A few miles up the creek,the naked bushmen served their savage gods with fantastic rites and theJu-Ju men and Ghost Leopards ruled the shadowy land. At the factorywhite men got sick and died.

  Lister went up the steps, and entering the big room, saw Montgomery in aMadeira chair. His face was wet by sweat, but although his thin form wascovered by a blanket he shook with ague. Brown occupied a rude couch,made from two long boxes in which flintlock guns are shipped. He lay inan ungainly pose, his head had fallen from a cushion, and his face wasdark with blood. His eyes were shut and he breathed with a snoringnoise.

  "What's the matter with the captain?" Lister asked, although he thoughthe knew.

  "He's exhausted by his efforts and the worse for liquor," Montgomeryanswered with a laugh. "On the whole, I think you had better let himsleep. Perhaps you remarked that some of the glass is broken and two ofmy chairs are smashed!"

  Lister had not remarked this, but he looked about and began tounderstand. He had seen Brown throw a Spanish landlord out of a GrandCanary wine shop.

  "Your captain arrived when the steamboat men were dining with me,"Montgomery resumed. "In this country we're a hospitable lot and it's thecustom to send West African factories a supply of liquor every threemonths. Mine arrived not long since, and if you open the cupboard you'llsee how much is left. But there are cigarettes in the tin box; theymildew unless they're canned. Make yourself a cocktail. I don't want toget up and my boy's in the compound, playing a drum to keep off theghosts."

  Lister lighted a cigarette and listened. A monotonous, rhythmic throbstole into the room, and he felt there was something about the noisethat jarred.

  "I'll cut out the cocktail. You're rather generous with your liquor," heremarked dryly. "But how did the trouble Brown made begin?"

  "By a dispute about some coal."

  "Ah!" said Lister, who looked at Montgomery hard.

  He imagined the steamboat captain had meant to give them coal, since theman had agreed with Brown about the price. In fact, it looked as if hehad been willing to do so, until he arrived at the factory. Then herefused, and Brown, no doubt, got savage.

  Montgomery was not embarrassed and indicated the unconscious skipper.

  "If Cartwright's not losing his keenness, it's strange he sent out a man
like this, but perhaps he couldn't get a sober captain to go."

  "Brown has some talents. For example, he got the boys we wanted,although you refused to help."

  "We must see if he can keep them!" Montgomery rejoined, with a meaningsmile. "In the meantime, it's not important. Are you making muchprogress at the wreck?"

  Lister admitted that they were not getting on as fast as he had hoped,and when Montgomery gave him a keen glance tried to brace himself. Hefelt slack and his head ached. He had been getting slack recently, andnow, when he imagined he must be alert, to think was a bother.

  "You have not been long at the lagoon, but you're beginning to feel theclimate," the other remarked. "It's perhaps the unhealthiest spot on anunhealthy coast, and a white man cannot work in the African sun.However, you know why the salvage company threw up their contract. Theylost a number of their men and if you stay until the morning you can seetheir graves. The rest of the gang had had enough and were too sick tokeep the pump running."

  "You are not encouraging," Lister observed.

  "I don't exaggerate. I know the country and the caution one must use,but you see I'm ill."

  The thing was obvious. Montgomery's hollow face was wet by sweat, hiseyes were dull, and his hands shook. Lister saw he tried to be cool, butthought him highly strung.

  "If you're wise, you'll give up your post and get away before feverknocks you out," Montgomery resumed. "In fact, I think I can promise youanother berth. The house owns two or three factories and at one we aregoing to start a big oil-launch running to a native market up river.Then we have bought new machinery for breaking palm nuts and extractingthe kernels and have fixed a site for the building at a dry, sandy spot.I don't claim the neighborhood's healthy, but it's healthier than this,and we have inquired about an engineer. Would you like the post?"

  "I think not. I'm Cartwright's man. I've taken his pay."

  Montgomery smiled ironically. "Let's be frank! I expect you want toforce me to make a high bid. You don't know the African coast yet, butyou're not a fool and are beginning to understand the job you haveundertaken. You can't float the wreck; the fellow Cartwright sent tohelp you is a drunken brute, and I have grounds for thinking Cartwright,himself, will soon go broke. Well, we need an engineer and I'll admit wehave not found good men keen about applying. If you can run the launchand palm-nut plant, we'll give you two hundred pounds bonus for breakingyour engagement, besides better wages than Cartwright pays."

  Lister knitted his brows and lighted a fresh cigarette. He was nottempted, but he wanted to think and his brain was dull. To begin with,he wondered whether Montgomery did not think him something of a fool,because it was plain the fellow had grounds for offering a bribe. Hisdoing so indicated that he did not want the wreck floated. Anyhow,Montgomery had imagined he would not hesitate to break his engagementfor two hundred pounds. He must be cautious and control his anger.

  "On the whole, it wouldn't pay me to turn down Cartwright's job," hesaid. "Two hundred pounds is not a very big wad, and if we can take theboat home I reckon the salvage people would give me a good post. I mustwait until I'm satisfied the thing's impossible."

  "When you are satisfied I'll have no object for engaging you. We want anengineer now," Montgomery replied.

  "Well," said Lister, "I reckon that is so." He paused, and thinking hesaw where the other led, resolved to make an experiment. "All the same,since you are willing to buy me off, it looks as if we had a fightingchance to make good. Then, if I am forced to quit, I rather think you'dpay me something not to talk. For example, if I put Cartwright wise--"

  Montgomery gave him a scornful smile. "You're keener than I thought, butyou can't tell Cartwright much he doesn't believe he knows. I'll riskyour talking to somebody else."

  "Oh, well," said Lister, "I guess we'll let it go. In the meantime, I'llget off and take the captain along. I allow you have fixed him prettygood but he put his mark on the steamboat man and your furniture."

  He called the sailors, and finding the two who had brought Brown to thefactory, carried him downstairs and put him on board the boat. Thecaptain snored heavily and did not awake. When they pushed off, and withthe other boat in tow drifted down the creek, Lister pondered.

  He did not know if he had well played his part, but he had not wantedMontgomery to think his staunchness to his employer must be reckoned on;he would sooner the fellow thought him something of a fool. WhenMontgomery offered the bribe he probably knew he was rash; his doing soindicated that he was willing to run some risk, and this implied thatCartwright's supposition about the wreck was justified. Montgomery wasobviously resolved she should not be floated and might be a troublesomeantagonist. For example, he had stopped their getting coal and Listerwas persuaded he had made Brown drunk. If the control the captain had sofar used broke down, it would be awkward, since Montgomery would nodoubt supply him with liquor.

  It was plain the fellow meant to bother them as much as possible, butsince he had not owned the wrecked steamer his object was hard to see.In the meantime, Lister let it go and concentrated on steering the boatpast the mud banks in the creek.