West from Singapore (Ss) (1987)

by L'amour, Louis

  "Okay, Slug," Jim said. "I can use you. I think this Toradjas is on the level. Good men, those fellows, good seamen, fierce fighters, and they don't have a bit of use for other natives. Think they are superior. I've seen a lot of them, and they are all loyal, and they'd tackle their weight in mountain lions."

  It was pitch dark when they dropped the anchor in the shelter of a river bend near Ambunti. The current was slack there, and the water sounded three fathoms. Silently, a boat was lowered, settling into the water with only a slight splash. Then the three men rowed ashore and slipped into the brush.

  Ponga Jim stumbled along the path in the dark, following Lyssy and with Brophy bringing up the rear. They had made something more than two miles when suddenly Lyssy stopped dead still. In the same instant, a light flashed in Jim's eyes, and before he could move, a terrific blow crashed down over his head.

  He felt himself sinking as a wave of blinding pain swept over him, and he desperately tried to regain his feet. Then there was another blow, and he slid to his face in the muddy trail.

  It was a long time later when he came to. His lids fluttered open, but he lay still, without trying to move, but trying desperately to understand where he was. He realized suddenly that he was lying face down on a stone floor. He twisted, and an agonizing pain struck him like a blow. He turned over slowly.

  "Ah!" said a voice sarcastically. "The sleeping beauty awakens!" He struggled to sit up, but was bound hand and foot. Still, after a struggle, he managed it. Slowly, he glanced around.

  "Well, well! What a pretty bunch this is!" he muttered. Major William Arnold sat opposite him, his face dirty and unshaven. Beside him was Colonel Sutherland, a plump man with a round British face and calm blue eyes. Further away along the wall was Carol herself, her clothes torn, her face without makeup, but looking surprisingly attractive.

  "William," Ponga Jim said slowly. "I never thought I'd see the time when I'd see you wrapped up like that."

  There was a groan, and he turned slightly to see Slug Brophy coming out of it.

  "You too, eh? What happened to our Toradjas?"

  "He got away," Slug grunted. "That guy has skin like an eel. They grabbed him, and then he was gone-just like that." "Now what?" Carol said brightly. "All you brave and bold he-men should be able to get out of a little mess like this."

  "I don't think you can depend on them, Miss Sutherland," a cool voice said in very precise English.

  Jim turned his head stiffly and saw two men standing in the door. One was a thick, broad-shouldered man with a powerful neck and the arms of an ape. The other man was tall, obviously a man of some culture.

  "Permit me, Captain Mayo," he said with exaggerated politeness. "My coworker, Wilhelm Blucher. I am Count Franz Kull."

  As he spoke, two more men appeared in the door.

  "Ah, yes! And this is Fritz Heittn, with whose brother you have already come in contact, and this," he indicated the tall, very dark man with massive, stooped shoulders, "is Torq Vokeo. You will know him well, very well, no doubt!"

  "He must be the one Lyssy said was hifty-hifty," Jim said sarcastically. "I'd lay you five to one that if he's got an ounce of white blood it's yellow!"

  The man's nostrils flared, and over his face swept a sort of fiendish rage that transformed him suddenly into a monster capable of any inhuman cruelty. Kull caught Vokeo's arm.

  "Not now," he said gently, smiling faintly. "Wait. We will give you plenty of time for Captain Mayo later.

  "You know, Captain," he warned, "Vokeo is our expert in the matter of helping people to remember-you understand? He is, I might add, very efficient."

  He turned abruptly. "No more of this horseplay. Major Arnold, you will give me copies of the codes I asked for at once. You will also tell me where your other men are located and what their tasks are. I want that information by noon tomorrow. If I do not have it then, Miss Sutherland will be tortured until you give it to us. I should dislike to leave her to the tender mercies of Torq, but that is a matter for you and her father to decide."

  He looked down at Ponga Jim coldly. "As for you, Captain Mayo, there can be only one answer-death. We can't have you in our way further. Within twenty-four hours our bands of native warriors will strike Salamoa, Lae, Madang, Hollandia, and elsewhere.

  Two of our planes will bomb Port Moresby, and within a matter of hours, New Guinea will be in our complete possession. Nevertheless, I shall deem it a great privilege to have the honor of wiping you off the slate. You've given us no end of trouble."

  "Yeah?" Jim grinned insultingly. "And that isn't the half of it, Herr Kull. I'm going to give you a lot more. Do you think I came up here without reporting what I knew?

  You haven't a chance!"

  Kull laughed. "We'll see about that! As for reporting what you knew, we had you under espionage until you were on the river. There has been no chance since then."

  Turning, he motioned to the others. "We'll give them a little time to think matters over. Then you may have them, Torq." When the heavy door closed and locked, Ponga Jim shrugged. "Nice people!" he said expressively. "But if he thinks I'm going to lie here and wait, he's got another guess coming." Just then the door opened softly, and Torq Vokeo stepped in. He held an iron spit, its end red-hot and glowing.

  He smiled at Jim, baring his teeth wolfishly.

  "You think is funny, eh? I show you!" Quickly, Vokeo stepped across the room. "Get set, Slug!" Jim said suddenly.

  Throwing himself on his back, he kicked out viciously with his bound legs. Vokeo, caught with a terrific kick on the upper legs, stumbled and fell headlong. Instantly, Slug Brophy rolled over on top of the man.

  Arnold, his eyes suddenly gleaming with hope, rolled over quickly three times, and rolled across Torq's legs. Then Sutherland rolled on his head. Cursing viciously, his oaths muffled by Sutherland's weight, Torq struggled to get free, but the three heavy bodies were too much for him.

  Even as the man fell, Jim rolled over and pushed his tied wrists against the red hot spit. The smell of burning hemp filled the room. Time and again his wrists wavered, and burned him, but he persisted. Then, suddenly, he gave a terrific jerk, swelling his muscles with all his great strength. Slowly then, the rope stretched; another jerk, and it came apart!

  With a leap, he was on his feet, and in a matter of seconds, he had untied Arnold.

  Then, as Arnold bent over Brophy's wrists, Jim grabbed Torq by the throat to stifle his shouts, and calmly slugged him on the chin. Then, while Arnold and Brophy freed Sutherland and his daughter, Ponga Jim bound the unconscious man and gagged him.

  "Only one gun," Jim said, getting up. "You take it, Colonel. I'll have me another in a minute."

  He walked directly to the door and without a second's hesitation, pulled it open.

  The native guard turned, and Ponga Jim's fist met him halfway. Coolly, Jim dragged him inside, smacked him again, and then passed his rifle to Arnold and his knife to Slug.

  "What about you?" Carol asked, wide-eyed.

  Major Arnold smiled wryly. "You ask that after seeing him use his hands? When Jim Mayo goes into action he doesn't want anything in the way."

  Ponga Jim grinned. "Folks, it might be a good idea to wait here until they come back again, but I'm no hand to wait. Personally, I say we move right now. We make a break for the open, and once there, if attacked, it is every man-and womanfor himself.

  Make for the river at the big bend below. Ambunti. That's where the ship is."

  He jerked open the door, and they started walking, fast. They had reached the end of a long, low stone hall before they were seen. A native guard half turned. Then he opened his mouth to scream. Jim sprang, but too late. A ringing yell awoke a million echoes in the hall. Then Jim slugged him.

  But the native was big, and he was tough. With a yell of savage fury, he lurched to his feet and dove for Jim's legs. Jim tried to sidestep and then fell headlong.

  "Run, damn you!" he yelled at the others.

  Then he jerked to a s
itting position and hooked a short left to the native's eye.

  It jarred the man loose, and Jim lurched to his feet and kicked him viciously in the stomach. With a howl of pain, the man rolled over on the floor.

  In the yard outside there was a rattle of gunfire. And suddenly Fritz Heittn stepped into sight with a submachine gun. His eyes narrowed with eagerness as he saw the group clustered just beyond the door, and he lifted the gun. Then he saw Ponga Jim.

  Concealed by a bend in the stair, Jim was slipping quickly and silently up the stairs.

  A dozen steps away when Heittn saw him, Jim leaped to his feet and lunged, even as Heittn brought the machine gun down and pulled on both triggers!

  But suddenly, even as Jim staggered erect, the gun slipped by him and went plunging down the stair. At the top of it, Fritz Heittn stood dead still, his eyes wide and staring. Then slowly, he leaned forward and fell face down on the steps. Sticking from between his shoulder blades was the haft of a big knife!

  Startled, Jim stared along the stone platform where Heittn had stood. Coming toward him, at a rapid trot, was Lyssy. Grinning, he stooped over and retrieved his knife.

  With a quick slap on the Toradjas's shoulder, Ponga Jim ran down the steep steps and grabbed up the fallen machine gun. Then he stepped to the door. Across the narrow landing field he could see Arnold and Brophy disappearing into the woods after the others. Following them were Blucher and a dozen renegades.

  Ponga Jim took in the situation at a glance. The two planes, one a heavy bomber, the other a small amphibian, were not a hundred yards away. Without a second's hesitation, Jim made his decision. He started down the landing field, which was actually a wide stone terrace belonging to the temple of Qasavara, toward the planes. A bullet whizzed by his ear from behind and smacked viciously against the stones ahead of him. Wheeling around, Jim caught sight of two figures silhouetted against the sky on the temple roof. He swept the machine gun to his shoulder, fired a burst, and saw one of the men fall headfirst over the parapet and take a long plunge to the stone terrace below. The other man vanished.

  Jim wheeled, and as he turned a gun crashed, almost in his ear it seemed, and a bullet smashed into the machine gun and glanced off, ripping a gash in his sleeve and tearing a ragged cut along his arm. Franz Kull was standing not ten feet away, a Luger aimed at Ponga Jim's stomach. The gun was pointed and the finger tightening on the trigger, and there wasn't a chance in the world of him missing at that distance.

  Jim staggered, and slowly his knees buckled. He tumbled over on his face. Kull hesitated, lowering the Luger to cover Ponga Jim's still form.

  "Got him," Kull whispered. "They got him after all!"

  He glanced quickly around. Blucher was furiously directing his band of renegades in the pursuit of the escaped prisoners. Kull smiled and slipped the gun into his waistband. He stood for a minute, staring down at Ponga Jim Mayo's body, at the slow pool of blood gathering under his left side.

  "Almost," he said, "I am sorry."

  He stooped and caught Jim by the arm, turning him over. He saw Jim's eyes flicker open and saw the right fist start, and in one panic-stricken moment, realized he had been tricked. Then that fist slammed against the angle of his jaw, and he staggered, grabbing for his gun.

  Like a tiger, Jim was on his feet. A left knocked the gun from Kull's hand, and a right sent him reeling against the parked bomber. But Kull was not one of Europe's crack amateur heavyweights for nothing. He straightened, slipped Ponga Jim's left, and hooked a hard left to the head. He ducked a right, and sunk a left in Jim's body, then a right.

  Ponga Jim grinned. "A boxer, eh?" he said.

  He jabbed quickly, and the punch set Kull off balance. A right caught him in the midsection, and a sweeping left sent him to his knees. Coolly, Jim stepped back.

  "Get up, Kull, and take a socking!" he ordered.

  Kull straightened and then rushed, hooking hard with both hands. Jim staggered, grinned, and tied Kull up, whipping a wicked left to his head and body. The punches traveled scarcely six inches, yet they landed with sledgehammer force. Kull jerked away, and Mayo whipped up a right uppercut that knocked him back against the plane. Then Jim stepped in and crossed a short, hard right. Kull slipped to the stone pavement.

  Ponga Jim wheeled and swung open the door to the cabin of the amphibian.

  The motor sputtered and then roared into life. Out of the corner of his eye, Jim saw Blucher turn, puzzled. Then he started, and gave her the gun. It was little room for a takeoff, but enough, and Ponga Jim cleared the trees at the other end of the terrace by a matter of inches. He zoomed for altitude and then banked steeply and came back flying low.

  Blucher stared at him, puzzled, and a half dozen of the renegades stared upward.

  Then Jim cut loose with both machine guns, raking the terrace.

  With a roar of rage, Blucher jerked up his gun, but the blast of leaden death was too much for him, and he broke and ran for the jungle. His men were less fortunate, and the machine guns swept the terrace like a bolt of lightning.

  Then it was all over. Slowly he wheeled above the huge stone building, getting a good look at it for the first time, the great towers, the battlements, and the queer, fantastic architecture. Jim glanced over the side, and nothing moved on the terrace.

  He turned the plane and flew for the distant masts of the Semiramis.

  Night had fallen when they met on the Captain's deck of the tramp freighter. Above on the bridge, Slug Brophy paced casually, watching the channel as the dark jungle-clad banks slid by.

  Ponga Jim leaned back in his deck chair, pushing back his cap.

  "There goes your Qasavara trouble, William!" he said cheer90 fully. "Again Mayo comes to the rescue. It seems I have to save the British Empire about once every thirty days."

  Arnold chuckled. "You aren't doing so bad. Picked up a nice amphibian plane, just like that."

  "The fortunes of war, William, merely the fortunes of war! Hello! Here comes Ulysses!"

  The big Toradjas stopped a few feet away and then stepped forward, handing Ponga Jim a thick wad of Bank of England notes. Colonel Sutherland gulped, and his eyes widened. "Me find him House of Qasavara," he said. "You take, eh?"

  "You bet I'll take!" Jim said, winking at Arnold. "Ah, the sinews of war! Ulysses, you are now a member of my crew, a full-fledged member!"

  "You betcha!" Ulysses said.

  "That man," Major Arnold said positively, "has the makings of either a thief or a philosopher!"

  Ponga Jim got up and offered his arm to Carol.

  "Both, William, both! He's going to be a soldier of fortune!"

  *

  AUTHOR'S NOTE

  HALMAHERA

  Halmahera is a smaller version of the spiderlike Celebes, one of the famed Spice Islands that drew ships from all the world. Wild bananas still grow there, and when ripe they split open exposing a thick mass of black seeds. The banana is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, domesticated fruit, probably as old on the earth as man himself. In its several forms, it has long been a staple of his diet.

  Gam Konora, mentioned in the story, was the only active volcano on Halmahera, although the interior of the island is mountainous and rugged. Few people live in the interior, dwelling instead along the coast where the sea offers a rich harvest.

  At the time of which I write there was a constant cloud of smoke hanging above the crater of Gam Konora.

  Indonesia has more than its share of strange and interesting lakes. On the island of Flores are the colored lakes of Gelimoetoe, one a deep jade green, one a perfect blue, the last a deep red. These are crater lakes, and the saying is that when people die they go to the lakes, the young to the green lake, the old to the blue, and the evil to the red lake.

  Not far from them is the country of the dragon lizards of Komodo. These are largely found on the island of Komodo, close by, but also on Flores itself. These lizards often weigh several hundred pounds and for short distances can run fast enough to overtake a
horse. They are meat eaters and can be very fierce. They will stand up on their hind legs and tail to survey the country around.

  *

  WELL OF THE UNHOLY LIGHT

  Rain had fallen for three days, and the jungle dripped with it. The fourth day had begun with heavy showers and faded into a dense fog. Yet despite the rain, the drums had not stopped.

  The path was a slide of mud between two solid walls of jungle, green by day, an impenetrable blackness by night. Three miles by trail, they had said. It would be like Frazer to live in such a place. He walked slowly. The drums bothered him.

  He knew as much about the interior of Halmahera as anyone did, which wasn't a great deal. Mostly, the natives lived along the coast, rarely going into the interior.

  But the drums were somewhere beyond Mount Sahu, apparently, and they might be as far away as Gam Konora.

  The only way he could tell when he reached the clearing was by the sudden feeling of space around him. Then he glimpsed a light from the bungalow. He wondered again why Frazer had sent for him. The man had never been one to ask for help. He had been notoriously a lone wolf.

  Suddenly he dropped to a crouch and then squatted down, listening. Someone was coming around the house! He dropped one hand to the gravel path to balance himself and waited.

  The footsteps stopped abruptly, and he realized the person had stepped off the path.

  He heard then the soft swish of receding steps through the grass. He started to call out, but then thought better of it and waited.

  After a moment, he stepped up on the veranda and rapped softly. There was no reply.

  He pushed the door open and stepped in.

  Then he stopped. The headless body of a man lay on the floor beside the desk! Staring, he stepped closer, noticing an old tattoo on the hand, between the forefinger and thumb. A faded blue anchor. Stepping carefully around the pool of blood, he glanced at the papers on the desk. He was just reaching to pick them up when a cold voice interrupted: