The Dark Secret of Josephine

by Dennis Wheatley

  Amanda too had gone down, but a man named Catamole from the Circe was standing over her with a pike and beating off two of the Porto Ricans, who had evidently decided for the second time to throw in their lot with the pirates. Georgina must have been stunned or wounded, as Monsieur Pirouet was carrying her towards the plank bridge over the deep gully while Jake and Jenny protected his back. For a moment Roger could not see Clarissa, then he caught sight of her some way from the others. Marlinspike Joe had her by the wrist and was dragging her off into the bushes.

  In less than a minute Roger had taken in the whole ghastly tangle of slaughter. Racing towards the group fighting above Amanda he drove his sword into the small of the nearest Porto Rican’s back. As he intended it pierced the kidney, from which a blade can be withdrawn with ease instead of becoming muscle-bound. Whipping it out, he left Catamole to deal with the other, and dashed after Clarissa.

  Marlinspike Joe had pulled her into the dense vegetation but her cries told Roger whereabouts they were. Crashing his way through the undergrowth and forcing the low branches aside with his free hand, he plunged deeper in until he came upon them. On catching sight of Roger the ruffian let go of Clarissa and attempted to draw his cutlass, but she gamely hung on to his sword arm. That made him easy meat, and without the faintest scruple Roger delivered a lunge that pierced him through the windpipe.

  Choked by the rush of his own blood, the lecherous mutineer made a sound like a premature death rattle, slipped to his knees and, still gurgling, fell from sight through a screen of creepers. Wrenching his point free, Roger took Clarissa by the hand, drew her back into the open and, pointing at the plank bridge, cried:

  ‘Quick! Make for the bridge. Look! They’re carrying Georgina across it. Tell them to take her further up the path into the forest. I’ll join you as soon as I am able.’

  As she set off at a run, he gave another swift look round. Amanda was on her feet. She was swaying dizzily, but Fergusson was supporting her and leading her towards the bridge, while Catamole still battled with the remaining Porto Rican. Roger had hoped that after being deprived of their leaders, and with the slaves raised against them, the pirates would lose heart, panic and scatter. But things did not seem to be going at all that way. Surprise had enabled him and his allies to inflict a dozen casualties on them in the first few minutes of the struggle, but now that they had recovered from the unexpectedness of the attack they were putting up a stout resistance. They were better armed, more used to handling weapons, and of tougher fibre, than most of their opponents. Moreover, as far as he could judge, only five or six of the Circe’s men and less than half of the slaves had responded to his shouts to turn against the pirates.

  Many of the slaves were now fleeing down the path towards the bay. All the other molls had come to the rescue of the two the negresses had attacked and it was now the black women who were being dragged screaming towards the pool. At least forty pirates were still unscathed, and a dozen of them had driven Dan’s party back to the boulders. One of the Circe’s men who had joined up with him had been cut down; the other, a big fair fellow named Kilick, was on his right, and Tom was on his left. But Tom had received a nasty cut across his forehead and blood was streaming down from it over his face.

  Charging across the open space Roger flung himself into the fray. Now, he had the chance to use the short sword with maximum effect. It was much thicker than a rapier, so strong enough to parry a stroke from a cutlass without risk of snapping off; yet it enabled him to use the tricks of fencing of which he was a pastmaster.

  Hearing the pounding of his feet behind them, three of the pirates turned to face him. Leaping from side to side, he feinted—lunged, feinted—lunged, feinted—lunged with incredible rapidity, his point darting hither and thither like lightning. It ripped through the fore arm of one man, tore open the cheek of another and pinked the stomach of the third, while the frantic slashes they made at him with their heavier weapons met only empty air and threw them off their balance.

  None of the wounds was serious, but quite nasty enough to make all three men hastily draw back, thus breaking the semi-cricle that had enclosed Dan and his two companions. Roger shouted to them:

  ‘Come on! Now’s your chance! Have a care for your backs and make for the bridge.’

  There was a moment of wild, confused fighting, then they were through. But Tom, faint from loss of blood and half blinded by it, tripped and fell. Kilick smashed the hilt of his cutlass into the face of the nearest pirate, stooped, seized Tom by the arm with his free hand and dragged him to his feet. Staggering but still game Tom lurched along beside him while Roger and Dan laid about them furiously to cover the retreat.

  Twilight had began to fall, and as they backed towards the bridge Roger prayed that night might come quickly; for the pirates now had the upper hand and as long as the light lasted it would give them a better chance to pursue into the forest a party hampered by wounded.

  There followed three more minutes of savage cut and thrust, then a new peril threatened the retreating party. Monsieur Pirouet and Jake had got all the women safely across the bridge, while Fergusson and Catamole remained on its near side defending it from a group of pirates who sought to cross it and recapture them. Now three of this group abandoned the attempt, to turn and attack Roger and his companions in the rear.

  Their progress towards the bridge was checked no more than a dozen yards from it; but they could get no further, and with the half-fainting Tom in their midst were compelled to fight back to back. Surrounded and outnumbered as they were, it seemed certain that they must be overwhelmed. Kilick’s long reach enabled him to keep his attackers at bay. Dan fought like a demon, Roger’s blade snaked in and out constantly menacing the eyes and throats of those who assailed him. But their exertions had already been terrific, and all of them were now near spent.

  Help came only just in time. Their friends had seen their plight and were doing their utmost to come to their assistance. Pirouet, Jake, Jenny and Clarissa had run back across the bridge. The two men joined Fergusson, Catamole and a ragged dark-haired stranger who had just emerged from the forest to fight beside them. Led by Fergusson, they all fell upon two pirates who were still trying to force the bridge, killed one and drove the other off with a great gash in his sword arm.

  Jenny had found a pistol somewhere and Clarissa a knife. Wide eyed but determined they remained to guard the crossing against the pirates’ molls who, close by, had just thrown the negresses into the pool; while Fergusson and his companions ran towards Roger. Another frightful mêlée ensued; Catamole was cut down by a stroke that half severed his head from his neck, but the others succeeded in reaching the bridge.

  One by one they backed across the plank. Roger went last and a great bearded swashbuckler attempted to follow him, slashing at his head with a cutlass at each backward step he took. But, using both hands, Jenny let off her pistol at him, and, by good luck, the bullet tore away part of his left ear. The shock caused him to lower his guard for a second and Roger promptly ran him through. With a loud groan he heeled over sideways and fell into the foaming water twenty feet below. Next moment Roger was safely on the far bank of the gully. Before any of the other pirates could attempt to cross, Dan had wrenched the plank from its lodgment and drawn it in.

  Roger was streaming with sweat and so breathless that he could hardly utter, but he managed to gasp: ‘Get up the path all of you. Some of them have fire-arms. Now they are no longer mixed up with us they will not hesitate to use them.’

  At that moment a shot rang out. Missing his neck only by a finger’s-breadth, it snicked away a fragment from the collar of his coat. Needing no further warning they all ran up the path until a bend in it hid them from their enemies’ view. Panting and moaning as a result of their terrible exertions, they flung themselves down on the ground to rest their aching limbs and get their breath back.

  Georgina and Amanda had already been carried up there, and as soon as Roger had recovered a little he went ov
er to them. Amanda was sitting up, but with her head hanging down and nursing an injured arm. It had been badly wrenched by a pirate who had twisted it and thrown her to the ground. He had then kicked her in the stomach, causing her acute pain and vomiting, but her case gave no cause for immediate alarm. Georgina had fared worse. A pirate had slashed at her head with a cutlass, and only the fact that she had at that instant spung forward to strike him in the face had saved her life. Her movement had resulted in her being struck down by the hilt of the weapon instead of its blade but she was still unconscious.

  Doctor Fergusson came over to them and, after examining her head, relieved their fears by saying that her thick hair had saved her from the worst effects of the blow. He could find only a slight fracture under it and thought that although she might suffer from concussion she was in no great danger.

  Going over to Dan, Roger thanked him and the others for all they had done, then said he thought it would be best for the party to move further up the path. There was still a risk that the pirates might find a way to cross the gully, and should they do so the more warning the party had of their approach the more time it would have to get well hidden in the undergrowth.

  It was therefore decided that they should proceed until they came upon another clearing, or should they fail to find one within half a mile, halt there while Roger remained behind to watch for any attempt that might be made to follow them.

  Meanwhile Fergusson was doing the best he could for the injured. Shirt tails were torn off to serve as bandages, a sling made for Amanda’s arm, and a rough stretcher constructed from branches on which to carry Georgina. When these first aid measures were completed Roger watched them set off slowly up the hill, then walked down it back to the entrance of the path.

  The twilight had now almost faded into night. He could see enough to be certain that the pirates had withdrawn from the far side of the gully, and just to make out that there were still people moving about further off, in the clearing. Sitting down he thought over the frightful fight.

  Less than half an hour had passed since he had sent the Vicomte to a well deserved death in the pool. During that time at least a score of other people must have died and as many more been seriously injured. The pirates, having been taken by surprise, had suffered much more heavily than their opponents, and they had also lost a number of their slaves who had seized the chance to run off into the forest; but they were still a formidable body, whereas of the Circe’s men only Jake and Kilick had succeeded in getting away with the escapers. Several others had attempted to but had been struck down before they could join either of the parties led by Dan or Fergusson. Considering the odds against them Roger thought it little short of a miracle that any of them should have got away, and it still seemed to him almost unbelievable that he should be alive and free himself.

  For a good two hours he sat keeping watch. By then it was a long time since the last of the wounded had been carried away, and no sound, save the croaking of the tree-frogs, broke the silence of the dark, deserted clearing. Feeling that no attempt to cross the gully was now likely to take place while the darkness lasted, he got to his feet and began to make his way up the path.

  It was no easy matter, as although his eyes had become accustomed to the darkness he could hardly see a yard in front of him and every few paces blundered into the undergrowth. But at length he heard the murmur of voices a little way ahead and emerged from the tunnel of foliage into a small open space faintly lit by starlight.

  The party had been getting anxious about him so were much relieved by his appearance. They had, too, been waiting for him to rejoin them before discussing how they might best keep their new-won liberty, and as soon as he had sat down among them they proceeded to do so.

  It seemed fairly certain that they would be able to evade recapture by remaining in the forest. To do so presented no problem of hunger or thirst, as there was an abundance of fruit to be had for the picking. There were also any number of wild pigs and game that could be trapped, and an inexhaustible supply of fuel for fires on which to cook them. But to remain there could be only a temporary expedient, and the real question was how could they get back to civilisation?

  The man who had joined Fergusson towards the end of the affray proved to be an American trader named Wilson. Nine months before, while on this way from Boston to Jamaica, he had been captured by de Senlac and, with three other passengers who had since died, forced into slavery. On learning this, Roger said to him:

  ‘You must know more of the island than ourselves, Mr. Wilson. What is the name of the nearest town; and how far distant is it?’

  ‘There is only one, Sir,’ replied Wilson, ‘and that a miserable place; although it has quite a good harbour. It is called Cayona, and was for many years a very minor post for a French Governor. The force he controlled was so insignificant that he could do no more than protect the handful of planters established nearby on the south coast of the island; so generations of buccaneers had always been the masters of nine-tenths of it, and Cayona a port where they met to enter into every sort of villainy.’

  ‘Still, think you we could get a ship there?’

  ‘Not one with an honest master. Soon after France declared herself a Republic, the slaves revolted. They murdered the Governor and the more prosperous of the planters. Since then Cayona has been entirely lawless. It would mean a gruelling march through the forest to reach it, and when we did we should stand a great risk of falling victims of another gang of freebooters; so I certainly do not advise going there.’

  Dan suggested that they should make for the north coast and camp upon some prominent headland; so that from it they could fly distress signals to attract some passing ship which might pick them up. But the American poured cold water on that idea too, by saying:

  The north coast is so precipitous and rocky that ships do not put in there even when in need of water. We might scan the horizon from it for months without sighting a sail; and when we did it would like as not be that of another pirate.’

  At that their hearts, which so recently had been filled with fresh hope, sank again. It looked now as if there were no alternative to remaining in the forest, and that they were condemned to live there the hard life of savages, perhaps for months, perhaps for years, before some unforeseeable turn of events enabled them to get away from this accursed island.

  12

  Night in the Forest

  At the thought a gloomy silence settled on the conference, but Roger was not the man to accept such a miserable existence as long as there was any possible alternative. After a few minutes he sighed and said thoughtfully:

  ‘God knows, I’ve had my fill of fighting for today, but it seems there’s only one thing for it. We must attempt to recapture the Circe.’

  The starlight penetrated to the glade in which they were sitting only just enough for each of them to make out the vague forms of the companions to whom they were nearest, so Roger could not see the faces of the others; but he heard a murmur of astonishment and dismay run round the circle.

  ‘Why should we not?’ he asked, ‘With Dan, Tom, Jake, Kilick, Monsieur Pirouet, the Doctor, Mr. Wilson, and myself, we are eight, not counting such help as the ladies may be able to give us. That is fully sufficient to handle a ship in fair weather for so short a voyage as the ten or twelve miles which are all that separate us from Saint-Domingue.’

  ‘Aye, Cap’n; it could be done!’ cried Dan. ‘An’ it rejoices me old heart ter hear ye propoundin’ sich schemes agin’. Let we set out upon it here an’ now afore we fall asleep an’ the night be lost.’

  ‘To make the attempt tonight is out of the question,’ Fergusson put in quickly. ‘At least half of us have been wounded to a greater or lesser degree, and her ladyship is still unconscious.’

  ‘Even with that handicap, I feel that we should be ill-advised to delay the venture,’ Roger argued. ‘Down at the house everything must be in confusion. A score or more of the slaves ran off. It is quite possible that the
y started to loot or burn it before the pirates got back; so our enemies may have been hard put to it to suppress a mutiny. In any case, all their leaders having been killed or rendered hors de combat, it is certain they are at sixes and sevens. I saw Lucette perched up on a high boulder, and she had the sense to keep out of the fight; but, able and unscrupulous as she is, I greatly doubt if many of them would be willing to serve under a woman. Both the Heraults are crippled, and neither is of the stuff from which leaders are made. Philo the Greek can hardly be sufficiently recovered from the bash over the head I gave him to take charge. The odds are that they are at this moment squabbling about whom to appoint as the new chief, and they may not finally settle the matter till tomorrow. In the meantime, everyone being his own master, no watch will be kept or guards set. We should be able to secure a boat with ease, and with luck we may find the Circe deserted. Such a chance is most unlikely ever to occur again.’

  The sound sense of what he said impressed them all so strongly that, weary as they were, they agreed that this favourable opportunity to reach a safe port within the next few days must not be lost. In consequence, stretcher bearers were nominated to carry Georgina, and others among them made specially responsible for the protection of the three other women. It was then that Clarissa was discovered to be missing.

  Thinking that she had left them only for a moment and must be near at hand, they called to her. But no reply came from the surrounding darkness. Greatly puzzled, Roger and Dan made their way several hundred yards further up the track, still calling her name. Only the echoes of their voices came back to them; so they decided that she must have gone a little way down hill towards the clearing.