‘Frigate birds,’ he said. ‘Sky pirates. A baby turtle’s worst nightmare.’
Amazon looked up and saw four of the great black birds circling just above their heads.
Amazon had seen the frigate birds many times as they soared over the island. They were impressive and formidable birds, but she found it hard to love them. Like flying pirates, they harried the other seabirds, especially Amazon’s favourites – the beautiful and graceful red-tailed tropicbirds – trying to get them to drop the fish they’d caught. With a professional naturalist’s eye, she would marvel at the way the frigates could suddenly change direction and then catch the dropped fish in mid-air. But still her heart used to exult when the much smaller tropicbirds escaped.
Now she was seeing the frigates from close up as they swooped to within a metre of her. With long wings, like black scythes, great hooked beaks and vivid blood-red throat patches, they really were impressive and rather frightening.
Urgently now, Amazon and Frazer ferried the turtles. They decided that the best way was for Amazon to carry them halfway, where she handed over to Frazer, who took them down to the water. That way she was always close enough to ward off the birds. It was exhausting, but also exciting: for the first time since the mission to help the Amur leopards in Siberia, Amazon felt that she was a true Tracker, genuinely making a difference.
At the busiest moment, when the turtles were bursting through the surface almost too quickly for them to grab, Amazon looked up and saw two figures standing in the shade of the palms fringing the beach.
‘Is that …?’
‘Yep, the big guy’s brothers, Moipu and Tipua.’
‘Can you help us?’ Amazon called out, partly because some help would come in very handy right now, but also because she wanted to include some of the islanders in their mission. But, without a word, the two men disappeared back into the dense shade.
The two Trackers looked at each other, shrugged and got on with the job. And they didn’t lose a single turtle to the swooping, snapping frigates, or to the little crabs that emerged from burrows in the sand, eager for their share of the feast. They counted a hundred and fifty babies, although in the panic and rush it was hard to be accurate.
After the final turtle had been safely conveyed to the ocean, Amazon and Frazer plopped down on to the sand.
‘I am totally pooped,’ said Amazon.
‘Me too. Er, pooped means tired in England too, yeah?’
Amazon was almost too tired to laugh.
They waited until the sun began to set, but no more nests hatched out. It was time to get back to check on Bluey.
Plus, there was a whole new adventure to be had that evening.
They began to walk towards the lights and then, heading for their rendezvous, drifted to the deeper cover of the treeline. Amazon was startled to see just how dark it had become in such a short time. Not long before, the sunset had set the ocean on fire, but now the world was as black as her precious pearl. There may have been stars, but the thick cloud hid them.
Once they were among the trees, the bugs started to home in on them. Amazon slapped vainly at her face.
‘Here,’ said Frazer. ‘Jungle formula. Might help a little.’
‘Thanks. For our next adventure can we go somewhere without bugs? They really bug me, bugs.’
‘OK. I’ll make sure Dad sends us to the South Pole.’
‘That’ll do. I love penguins.’
‘Ouch!’
‘What?’
‘Tree root. It’s as black as a black cat’s butt in a black hole during an eclipse.’
‘Have you got your torch?’
‘Yep, but you know that Oti said not to use it unless there’s an emergency – OW!’
‘Another tree root?’
‘No, stone, I think. Wait, what the heck … it’s moving. It’s ALIVE!’
Frazer now fumbled frantically for his small but powerful torch.
‘OK, I say it’s an emergency!’ he said and shone the beam on the ground. Then he yelped, and did a high-stepping dance that Amazon would have found hysterical had she not seen what was on the floor beneath his feet: the ground was swarming with dozens of the most enormous crabs she had ever seen, scurrying away from the beam of Frazer’s torch. They were the size of bowling balls, and had huge claws that looked just about able to crack open a bowling ball. In fact, that’s exactly what some of them seemed to be trying to do.
‘What are they carrying? Not coconuts, surely?’
‘Yeah,’ said Frazer, shining his torch around. ‘And look, they’re climbing up into the trees. Do you think maybe we’re actually asleep and dreaming this?’
At that moment something thudded into the ground at Amazon’s feet.
‘Time to get out of here,’ said Frazer. ‘I’ve remembered what these are.’
He grabbed Amazon’s hand and dragged her from under the coconut palms. It was in the nick of time. Another of the heavy coconuts landed right where she had been standing.
‘That would have –’
‘Killed you. Dead right. More people die from being hit on the head by falling coconuts than … than …’
‘Than what?’
‘I can’t remember. Maybe it’s being eaten by crocodiles. Or sharks. Or maybe it’s being struck by lightning. Or –’
‘Are you sure it’s not that more people are killed by coconuts landing on their heads than any other nut? I know peanuts can be quite dangerous …’
‘Funny,’ said Frazer. ‘Next time I’ll leave you to get brained by the coconut. See who’s laughing then.’
‘So what are those things, then?’ asked Amazon.
‘Coconut crabs. They eat –’
‘Coconuts, I get it.’
‘Very interesting species, actually,’ said Frazer. ‘They’re the only animal capable of breaking into a coconut. They climb the palm trees, snip off a coconut, let it fall and then carry it back into the jungle. Apparently they taste very nice themselves …’
‘Lucky for them we’ve eaten.’
Amazon and Frazer crept along the edge of the jungle, watching out carefully for both the crabs on the ground and the coconuts in the trees. In ten minutes they reached the outskirts of the village.
‘So far,’ came a voice from the darkness, ‘I believe you are the worst burglars I have ever seen – or heard.’
Amazon and Frazer spun round, and Frazer aimed the beam of his torch at the voice. It belonged, they were relieved to see, to Oti.
‘How long have you been spying on us?’ Amazon was a little annoyed about the boy’s low opinion of her skills as a burglar.
‘Spying? No. I have just come. But I could have heard you from across the lagoon. It is lucky that the other villagers are afraid of the dark, and dread the restless spirits of the dead that roam the jungle in the night, otherwise they would have come to see what all the commotion was about, and then our plan would have been revealed.’
‘And why aren’t you afraid of the dark?’
‘It is for the same reason that I speak English. My parents were drowned in an accident at sea, and so my uncle arranged for me to go to school in Tonga. I was not happy, but they gave me English words, and took away my island fears.’
‘Who is your uncle?’
‘My uncle was Tuvali, who some called Omo.’
‘The old chief? The one who died?’
Oti looked bitter and almost hissed. ‘The one who was killed.’
‘KILLED!’ exclaimed Amazon.
‘You mean murdered …? But that’s terrible. By Huru Huru? I thought he was his nephew?’
‘Pah
! Huru Huru is not his nephew. That is just another of his lies. And since the death of Tuvali everyone in the village is terrified. They know that Huru Huru and his brothers will kill anyone who gets in their way – man, woman or child.’
‘OK,’ said Frazer. ‘This is getting nastier by the minute. What shall we do?’
Amazon’s face was set in a stern mask of determination. ‘We’ve no choice – we have to go on.’ She turned to Oti. ‘I’m sorry for the death of your uncle. But we need that medicine, and you’re our only hope of getting it …’
He nodded. ‘Follow me.’
Oti led them behind the village, where they came to a path through the jungle.
‘Huru Huru does not live with the other villagers,’ explained the Polynesian boy. ‘He lives in the house of the old missionary who used to live on the island. The missionary was old and used to drink much strong spirits, and so Huru Huru said to him, “We have no need of you now. We are better men than you.” He sent him to live in the small hut where you are now staying, but he did not like it, and so he died.’
‘There seems to be a lot of dying on your island,’ said Frazer ruefully.
‘There is much dying since the coming of Huru Huru.’
The path rose gently for a couple of hundred metres, and then they reached a clearing. In the middle of it there was a single-storey house, built on the European rather than Polynesian model. Amazon was amazed to see that it glowed with electric light. And then she heard the hum of a generator.
The three of them crouched in the darkness and Oti went over the plan one more time.
‘I will go to the door and make an enquiry of the chief. While Huru Huru is talking to me, you must go to the back of the house and climb through the window. The woman who cleans and cooks for Huru Huru has told me that the medicine is all kept in the bathroom. You must be quick. I will talk with the chief for as long as I can, but if he catches you, it will not be pleasant.’
‘Who does the chief live with?’ Amazon asked.
‘Nobody could live with Huru Huru. There were four wives, but they all ran away. Far away. Not even the dogs will live with him.’
‘So,’ said Amazon, returning to the point she wanted to make, ‘if he lives alone, who is that talking?’
The other two now began to listen intently. And, yes, the sound of voices was coming from the house. One of the voices was Huru Huru’s. The other was also vaguely familiar.
They exchanged glances and Frazer nodded towards an open window. ‘Let’s go have a closer look.’
Oti shook his head. ‘It is not safe! We have a plan that we should stick to. Or else we should go away. Huru Huru is not a man to be taken lightly …’
But Frazer was already crawling, commando-style, towards the house. Amazon shrugged, rolled her eyes and followed him, experiencing one of those rare moments when she half wished she were back at her old school in England.
They reached the veranda. Frazer looked around. There was no sign of Oti.
‘I never figured that kid to be yellow,’ he whispered.
‘It’s different for him,’ Amazon replied. ‘He has to live here. We’re just visitors, remember.’
Frazer shrugged. ‘Guess so. Anyway, it doesn’t matter now. I just want to have a look-see what’s going on, then maybe we can try to sneak in without Oti’s diversion.’
And then he led the way silently until they were right under the window. Now the voices were perfectly clear. They were speaking English, although one of the voices carried a strong Chinese accent. And there were sounds of eating – messy eating …
‘And do we know when the rest of them come out?’
‘It can be hard to say, exactly.’
‘Exactly mean what? Can you say within a day either side?’
‘Possibly.’
When the other person replied, his voice was quite different: it was clear and cold and incisive, and it sent a chill through the listeners.
‘Stop playing the innocent, Huru Huru. You only remain the chief here because I tolerate it. I could wipe out you and your village with a click of my fingers.’
Amazon looked at Frazer, and an unspoken word passed between them. They both peeked up just above the window ledge. And there, before them, they saw the titanic Huru Huru spooning a thick stew into his mouth. And opposite him was Leopold Chung, looking as impish and slippery as ever.
Huru Huru paused for a moment before answering Chung. He wiped his mouth on a napkin and then said, slowly, ‘Perhaps you could. Perhaps you couldn’t. But even if you did then who would supply you with your pearls, and your other little pets, hmmm? You would be biting off your tongue to spite your face, as the English say. It simply would not make sense.’
Chung smiled, and when he spoke again the buffoonish Chung was back.
‘When you rich as me, you don’t need make sense. Money buy all sense I need. I got fifty men work for me with more sense than you got in little finger.’
‘I don’t doubt it.’
‘I just want straight answer,’ said Chung. ‘The first one has gone – you said your brothers saw. That’s not so bad, as long as we get rest.’
Amazon and Frazer looked at each other, and each saw reflected in the other their own shock and surprise. This, surely, could only mean one thing, and together they silently mouthed the word: ‘TURTLES!’
‘OK, my friend,’ replied Huru Huru. ‘I will give you my best guess, based on what I have observed. I think the first was a fluke. I would say it will be two days before the others emerge. I would not care to bet my life on it, but that is my best estimate.’
‘Two day not so long. I wait. Now we eat more of stew. This beef?’
‘Beef? How on earth could I obtain beef on an island like this? No, no, no. Guess again.’
‘It lamb?’
Huru Huru shook his enormous head.
‘OK, I give in. What meat?’
‘Why, it is turtle, of course. In your honour, my friend. But do not worry: I permitted her to lay her eggs before I killed her. Even I would not allow the delights of eating one of the world’s rarest delicacies to get in the way of making a good profit.’
Neither Amazon nor Frazer would later admit to being the one who gasped audibly. Perhaps they both made a sound that would have been inaudible alone but, magnified by a factor of two, it just popped into the range detectable by the human ear. In any case it was loud enough for the heads of Huru Huru and Leopold Chung to spin in their direction. And, as they spun, Chung, with a speed that they could not have anticipated, drew an automatic pistol from under the table.
‘Run,’ hissed Frazer and the two of them sped away across the clearing, keeping as low to the ground as they could. They hit the bushes a second before a loud bang came from the house. Amazon sensed the leaves above her head shudder as a bullet passed through them. She expected to feel fear, but what she actually felt was indignation. She wanted to shout out: ‘How dare you fire real bullets at us! We’re only kids. It’s not fair!’
That she didn’t was due partly to the realization that that would be insane, but more to the fact that Frazer was dragging her along behind him. Branches whipped at their faces and vines caught their legs, but still they ran blindly on.
Another shot rang out, and some guttural curse or command in Chinese followed it. Then, to Amazon’s horror, she heard an answering shout coming from the trees to their right. And then, even more dismayingly, from their left.
‘They’re all around us, Frazer,’ she panted.
‘Dang it,’ replied Frazer as he tried to drag some of the heavy night air into his gasping lungs. ‘Should have realized that he’d have gu
ards posted around the place. We must have struck lucky and missed them on the way in.’
‘Would have been luckier if we’d seen them and simply gone back to our hut. Maybe we should just give ourselves up and explain. I mean we didn’t do anything wrong. At least nothing that deserves getting shot at.’
‘There’s no way I’m handing myself in to those madmen. If Huru Huru would eat endangered turtles, he’d probably eat us as well. And Chung is about as stable as a one-legged man trying to pick his nose with his toe during an earthquake.’
They heard the voices getting closer, and the sounds of heavy feet crunching through the undergrowth. Amazon opened her lips to speak again. The words, however, never emerged. A hand closed over her mouth, silencing both the words and the scream that would have taken their place.
‘Do not move or make a sound,’ said Oti’s voice in her ear.
Amazon relaxed and the boy released her.
‘Do that again and I’ll, well, I don’t know what I’ll do. Just don’t do it again. I hate being sneaked up on.’
Frazer had seen what was happening and moved close to them.
‘What …? Where …?’ he began, but Oti put his finger to his lips.
‘Stay. I will run. I know these woods. They will not catch me. But you must be as silent as the spirits of the dead. When they follow me, you must go that way.’ Oti pointed into the darkness. ‘You will find the path. Go home. Oh, and take this.’
Then the young Polynesian crammed something into Amazon’s hand and, without another word, ran towards the approaching voices. He made no attempt to move quietly, but crashed through the undergrowth like a startled boar.
Voices were raised again. Sharp commands in Chinese. Then someone cried out, ‘STOP!’ in English. And then three gunshots, deafening and somehow obscene in the quiet of the forest. Frazer saw the flash from the barrel.
Shark Adventure Page 10
