‘We go get,’ said Pavo excitedly.
‘No, wait until they get well stuck.’
The birds, having tossed up and swallowed some bits of mango, tried to fly away but found that some mysterious force held them to the branch.
Now we go get,’ Roger said, and they crept forward.
The birds squawked and squealed and fluttered. Pavo lifted Roger up. Roger very gently loosened each foot from the branch and slipped the Emerald into a sack. The Ribbon-Tail gave him a sharp peck on the hand but Roger got it into the sack carried by Pavo. The birds fluttered and whistled madly for a few moments, then lay still.
Returning to the ship, Roger left both bags outside the cabin door and went in to Hal’s bunk with his head hanging, his shoulders hunched, and a look of great disappointment on his face. He said nothing.
Hal said sympathetically, ‘Don’t take it so hard, kid. I told you you would come back with an empty bag. I’m sure it wasn’t your fault. It’s almost impossible to take those birds alive. That’s why not one zoo in a hundred has a bird of paradise.’
Roger lifted his drooping head. Thanks for your sympathy,’ he said. ‘We tried, anyhow.’ He pretended to wipe away tears. ‘We did pick up a little something but it’s hardly worth showing you.’
‘What did you get?’
Must a couple of crows.’ Roger had learned from the handbook that the gorgeous birds of paradise belonged to the same family as the common crow.
‘Crows,’ said Hal in disgust. ‘Who would want crows?’
‘Well, these crows were a bit special. I’ll bring them in.’
He walked out, opened a sack, carefully took out the bird in both hands and went in.
The bird played the part and let out with a loud ‘Caw, caw!’
Hal’s eyes seemed to grow as big as saucers and his mouth dropped open in astonishment.
‘Why, that’s an Emerald! Boy, what colours!’
The bird, as if it knew that it was being admired, spread its plumage and began to vibrate. Its head and neck were yellow, its forehead blue, its cheeks and throat a sparkling green. Its breast was rich brown verging into a royal purple.
But when it really spread out to its full capacity there was no bird to be seen. The entire body was hidden in a shower of golden-orange feathers. Out of this shower projected two middle tail-feathers like long wires, each one ending in an emerald flag.
‘Takes my breath away,’ Hal said. ‘Lucky you had Pavo along. I suppose he got this for you.’
Pavo shook his head and pointed at Roger.
Hal stared at his young brother with new appreciation. ‘You really did this yourself? I didn’t know you had it in you. How in the world did you catch it?’
Roger grinned but said only, ‘I’ll show you another crow.’
When he brought in the Ribbon-Tail, Hal sat bolt upright in bed regardless of the pain in his back.
‘A Ribbon-Tail! I can’t believe it. This is one of the rarest of all birds of paradise. No other living bird is so gorgeous.’
The Ribbon-Tail, as if to thank him for this compliment, set all its glorious ribbons to dancing and did its best to sing a song.
‘You know, Roger,’ said Hal solemnly, ‘even if we didn’t get another living thing, if we can get that one bird home alive it will pay for the whole trip. Now, you’ve got to tell me how you caught these lovely things.’
‘You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.’
‘Oh yes I would. How did you catch them?’
‘Chewing gum.’
‘I don’t believe it.’
Roger laughed and walked out, leaving Hal to wonder how you could catch birds with chewing gum. And where would he get the chewing gum? He knew that Roger never chewed gum, and there was none in the ship’s stores.
The young rascal must have been kidding.
Roger caged the two birds, then went hunting for slugs, snails, beetles and bugs to feed them. They quickly began to depend upon him for food. After a few days he took a big chance. He left the door of the cage open. They immediately came out and flew up to roost in the rigging where they set up a grand chorus of squawks, squeals and screams.
Would they fly away now into the jungle? Roger put a dish of lovely fresh worms into the cage. He watched the birds anxiously. He had always had good luck in taming animals, but birds had small brains - did they know enough to trust him?
The colourful creatures flew here and there but did not leave the ship. Roger patiently waited. It was almost an hour before the Ribbon-Tail flew down and lighted on Roger’s outstretched hand. Then the Emerald came to perch on the other hand. He spoke to them, not in their own language of squeaks and squawks, but very gently. They peered up at him, then down at the cage. Their sharp eyes saw the dinner that waited for them.
They hopped down and walked into the cage and began to feast on the fat juicy worms.
The cage was not closed again. Roger’s new friends were free to walk out when they pleased and go back when they were ready. Roger named them Rib and Emmy, and counted them as his pets along with Smarty the croc and Foxy the baby fruit bat.
Chapter 22
Buried alive
Captain Ted brought some bad news the next morning,
‘Pavo is not well,’ he told Hal, who was still in his bunk.
‘What’s the matter with him?’
‘I don’t rightly know. I went on shore for a walk. When I came near Pavo’s house one of bis wives ran out and told me he was ill. I went in to see him. He seemed to be in great pain. He was twisting around on the floor like a snake, groaning, clutching his midriff. His wife says he’s been going on that way all night. She wanted me to help him, but I’m no doctor.’
Hal also was no doctor, but on his travels he had picked up a little knowledge of medicine.
‘I’ll go and see what I can do,’ he said, and tried to rise. The effort was too much for him and he fell back into his bunk. When he could speak again he said, ‘Sounds to me like poison. Give him an emetic’
Ted didn’t know the word. ‘What’s a temetic?’
‘Emetic Something to make him throw up-get rid of the poison in his stomach, if it is poison. I’m only afraid it’s too late. If he’s been suffering all night, by this time the poison is out of his stomach and all through his system. But you can try. Have his wife give him all the warm-salt water that he can hold, then throw it up.’
Roger was listening. ‘But how could he have got poisoned?’ he said. ‘He knows every plant and herb and berry in the forest.’
‘Perhaps somebody sneaked into his house and put it into his food. Ask his wife if she has seen any stranger around.’
Roger and Captain Ted went to see Pavo. Roger was distressed by the change in this fine, strong man of the jungle who had become his firm friend. Pavo was too far gone to recognize him. All his five wives were in the hut now, wailing and weeping as if he were about to die.
One of them got the salt water which was easy to come by since the ocean tide swept up the river to this point every day. They heated the water in a stone pot set on three rocks over a wood fire. Roger himself took charge of administering the emetic to the sick man.
When Pavo could take no more, they turned him over on his stomach and the salt water poured out.
They turned him over on his back. Roger looked about for a bed. There was none. If Pavo was to lie on the dirt floor he should at least have a pillow. When Roger asked for one, a wife brought a block of wood and put it under Pavo’s head. Pavo’s eyes were open but he seemed to have no sight in them.
Captain Ted questioned the wives. ‘Was any stranger in this house yesterday?’
There was silence: Then one of the women said, ‘I’m not sure. We do not live here. All his wives have a house to themselves. This house is only for our husband, and yesterday he was away with you in the forest. So no one was in the house. Perhaps somebody came in-who can tell?’
‘I think I saw someone,’ said another wife. ‘
I was over in the woods getting sticks. I couldn’t see very well - too many bushes in the way. But I thought I saw someone come out of this house.’
‘Could you describe him?’
‘I couldn’t see well. I don’t think he wore grass. I think he wore what you wear. But that could not be. I must have been mistaken.’
The woman was speaking her own language which Captain Ted understood perfectly and Roger imperfectly. And the information itself was imperfect. No one had seen a stranger except this one woman, and she was not sure.
Roger and Ted went back to report to Hal.
‘We did what you told us to do,’ Roger said, ‘but it didn’t help.’
‘I was afraid it wouldn’t. If it’s poison, it’s all through his body by this time. Did you ask his wives about strangers?’
‘Yes, and one of them thought she saw somebody-someone who looked like us.’
‘Well, that leaves you out,’ Hal said to Roger, ‘because you were miles away in the woods. How about you, Captain? Did you visit the village yesterday?’
‘Not once.’
‘I have a crazy idea,’ Roger said.
Hal grinned. ‘That’s natural. It won’t be the first crazy idea you’ve ever had.’
‘I keep thinking that Kaggs is hanging around,’ Roger said.
Hal shook his head. ‘No chance. Kaggs is in prison.’
‘But look at what’s been happening. You get an arrow in your back. I almost get caught in a log-trap. Now our best friend has been poisoned.’
‘You’re letting your imagination run away with you,’ Hal said. ‘In the first place, Kaggs couldn’t get out of that jail. In the second place, he wouldn’t know where to find us. In the third place, he’d use a gun, not an arrow. In the fourth place, why should he poison Pavo if he is really after us? In the fifth place, why should he try so hard to kill us? What have we ever done to him?’
Roger retorted, ‘You think you’re pretty smart with all your “places”. Well I can give you some “places” too. In the first place, Kaggs is smart enough to get out of anything. In the second place, where we were going was published in the paper. In the third place, if he was just out of prison he wouldn’t have a gun - but he could get a bow and arrow from any tribe - and he’s spent so many years along this coast he’d know how to handle them. In the fourth place, you forgot the log - that’s just the sort of trick he tried to pull when he let loose that avalanche on us. In the fifth place, Pavo is our friend and protector, so Kaggs would naturally try to get him out of the way. In the sixth place, he has good reason to try to mop us up. We lost him his job, we spoiled his chance to smuggle a ship full of gold, we put him in prison for life. You’re a sweet-natured guy and can’t understand a fellow holding a grudge. There’s nothing sweet about Kaggs, and after four murders he wouldn’t stop at doing a couple more.’
Two hours later one of Pavo’s wives swam out to the ship and came on board. Seeing no one on deck, she came down to the cabin. She stood in the doorway, shoulders hunched, eyes red from weeping.
The men at once knew something was very wrong.
‘Is Pavo worse?’ Hal asked.
‘My husband has died.’
There was a shocked silence for a few moments. Then Roger said, ‘The captain and I will come ashore to see him before he is buried.’
‘He is already buried,’ said the widow.
The captain explained New Guinea custom. ‘Some tribes keep their dead on a raised platform for months until the corpse is as dry as a mummy. The tribes in this region do exactly the opposite. They bury their dead at once. Let us go to his grave.’
Rowing ashore in the dinghy, Roger expected that they would be taken back somewhere into the woods to the grave. Instead, the woman led them to Pavo’s house where the other wives were already assembled going through mournful funeral ceremonies. At one side close to the wall was some freshly turned earth.
Roger was surprised. ‘Surely you didn’t bury him inside the house?’
‘Why not?’ said one of the sniffling widows. ‘He was our dear husband during his life. Why should we throw him out when he is dead? This is his house.’
Roger and the captain came to stand beside the grave. Roger had another surprise. At one end of the grave was a hole and, looking down into it, Roger could see Pavo’s face.
‘What’s the big idea?’ he asked the captain.
‘When a great and good man dies, they leave a hole in the grave just above his face.’
‘For what reason?’
‘So that later on they can remove his head and put it in the tambaran.’
‘I thought they put only the heads of enemies there.’
‘No. They also keep the head of every chief and every wise man. They do it to honour the dead man. They believe his spirit still lives in his skull. They come in and bow before it and repeat their prayers and then touch the skull so that some of the wisdom of the spirit may flow into them.’
‘What a strange custom!’
‘Yes, it is strange, but perhaps it is better in a way than what we too often do - bury someone and promptly forget him.”
On the third day after he was put away in the earth, Pavo rose from the dead.
This did not particularly surprise the villagers since they were used to all manner of witchcraft and, besides, they had long ago heard from a passing missionary that a wise white man had once died and walked out of his tomb on the third day.
But it astounded the three men aboard ship when a figure appeared in the doorway of the cabin wrapped in the bark winding-sheet that had been put around him when he was buried, the clay of the grave still on him. The light was poor because it was almost evening, and if they had been superstitious they would surely have thought what they saw was a ghost. But this ghost spoke.
‘I am sorry I was not able to serve you for these days. But I was dead.’
‘You couldn’t have died after all,’ Hal said.
‘Yes, I died, and was a long time asleep. I went far above the earth where all people dress in white. There I met all my old friends - those who had died years before. Then the Great Spirit sent me back and so I am now alive.’
‘But how did you get out of the grave?’
‘One of the women looked down and saw me move my head. She called the others, they took away the earth, and I rose and walked.’
‘I can understand how it happened,’ Hal said. ‘He didn’t die at all. He was a very sick man. He became unconscious, fell into a deep coma, and the people mistook this for death. They buried him but he was still able to breathe because his face was exposed to the air. When he came out of his coma the woman saw him move and he was restored to his family.’
The captain began to rattle pots and pans. ‘If he’s not a ghost,’ the captain said, ‘after three days of starving ‘I’ll bet he’s pretty hungry.’
‘I doubt it,’ Hal said. ‘A coma is something like the hibernation of an animal which can sleep through the winter, living on its own fat, and come out lean but healthy in the spring. If an animal can go for months without eating, a man ought to be able to stand it for three days. Are you hungry, Pavo?’
‘No,’ Pavo said. But when the food was ready and the good smell of it reached his nostrils, he sat down and devoured it to the last scrap. Then he leaned back and his eyes became misty as he thought of what he had dreamed.
‘It was a nice world,’ he said. ‘Sometime I’ll go there again, and stay.’
‘It’s weird,’ said Roger. ‘He really believes that he was dead.’
Chapter 23
Ship of snakes
Things were not going too well with the man who called himself a missionary, the ‘Reverend’ Merlin Kaggs.
He couldn’t understand it. His first four murders had come off so easily. Why were the fifth and sixth so hard?
These two were the most important of all. The Hunt brothers knew all about his crimes. So long as they lived, his life was in danger. They had put him in p
rison once on a life sentence. If they ever got him into that prison again, the chances were about even that he would either be put into solitary on bread and water for the rest of his life, or would be put to death.
The world would be a safer place for him if he could get rid of them. But he had never known anybody so slippery. For days he had been skulking around Eilanden village watching for a chance to do them in.
He thought he had finished off the big one when he had put an arrow into his back. But the men had carried him off alive. He had rigged a log trap for Roger. The log had fallen and should have snuffed out the brat, but it only scraped his foot. He had poisoned their protector, the head man of the village whom people called Pavo, and he had seen Pavo buried. Then he had seen him rise from the dead.
He couldn’t understand how that had happened. It gave him goose-pimples. How could a man dead and buried for three days get up and go about as if nothing had happened? It must be witchcraft. It made him feel queasy. Perhaps this Pavo was a sorcerer and had laid a curse on him.
Perhaps that was why he, Kaggs, had not been able to get away with anything. It made him feel weak and afraid. But he brushed the feeling aside, for he had a job to do and was going to do it, come hell or high water. He told himself that he was smart - too smart to be made a fool of by two slippery kids. Too smart to be bewitched.
And if there was a curse on him, he knew how to get it removed. There was one man who would be glad to do that for him. That man hated the Hunts as much as he did. He had been the witch doctor of Eilanden village until the Hunts had shown the people what a fraud he was and he had been forced to escape over the mountain to the village on the east.
Kaggs would go back and get his help. He had another reason for going to that village. He was almost out of supplies. He couldn’t walk into Eilanden village and ask for food because then the people would warn the Hunts that he was hanging around. No, he must go to the enemy village beyond the mountain.
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