Then, almost directly ahead and around a slight promontory, there sounded the double call of a parakeet. Gabriel answered it at once and the canoe picked up speed, rounded the little peninsula, and shot with full force toward the land. There was the grinding of stones under the wooden hull, and the prow rose onto black sand. Another portion of the journey into nowhere had apparently come to an end.
Two men appeared with dramatic suddenness from behind a gnarled bamboo cluster, reached out and beached the boat. Strong black arms lifted Janine out of the craft, then she was forgotten as both of the Negroes stared with interest at Jeremy. One addressed himself to Gabriel, and they conversed rapidly in the harsh, guttural tongue that the girl could not understand. A sudden flurry of activity followed.
Michael, who had started to get out of the canoe, climbed back in, and one of the unidentified Negroes moved silently into the brush, then reappeared leading a small but sturdy pack horse. He picked up the feverish Jeremy and quickly, efficiently strapped him onto the animal's back, with a thin blanket beneath him as a saddle. He tied the sick man's legs and torso with thick leather thongs in such a manner that, although Jeremy's head slumped forward until his face rested at the base of the beast's long neck, he could not fall off.
Suddenly she became aware that Gabriel was speaking English now and that he was addressing her. "I'm afraid I didn't hear you, Gabriel," she said, smiling apologetically. "My mind was wandering, and "
"No more wander tonight, mistress," the Negro responded sternly. "Much travel still to come. Bad Arawak Indian in country where Mistress and sick one go. Bad men who run away from boats ahead, too. Mistress better stay plenty much awake!"
"I'll do whatever you tell me, Gabriel," she said meekly. "And I give you my word I'll cause no trouble."
"You go with these two fella," Gabriel said. "They take you and sick one to fine place where you be safe for all time." His face glowed with enthusiasm and his eyes took on a faraway look. "You have wonderful life there. Sick one, too. If he not die. Good-by, mistress. You keep very quiet on trail, please. Speak no word."
He bowed to her rather awkwardly in a burlesque of what he had seen gentlemen do in Port Royal, then addressed a final word to the two guides and started back to the boat. But Janine, suddenly panicky, halted him. "Wait, Gabriel," she called. "You and Michael—aren't you coming with us?"
"Commander, him order us back to Port Royal."
"But "
"Commander plenty much smart. Many in Port Royal see Michael and Gabriel go fishing trip with man of God. Then, quick like tiny bird that vanish in banana tree, sick man gone from Death Island, Mistress gone from all place, Michael and Gabriel gone from Port Royal. King of London have many smart ones in Port Royal. They scheme in heads, pretty soon they know Michael and Gabriel help sick one, help Mistress. But Michael and Gabriel be in Port Royal tomorrow, work at ship docks, help unload salt fish. Plenty many see Michael, see Gabriel. Never know what happen this day, this night."
Staring at him, the girl marveled. These two men had spent a full day and the better part of a night in backbreaking, nerve-fraying work, yet they were prepared to return to town across the Palisadoes jungle, then labor as stevedores for another full day. But Gabriel was in no wise dismayed at the prospect, and Michael, sitting patiently in the boat, was equally unconcerned. Janine felt vastly ashamed that she had thought of either of them as savages; never had she encountered two human beings with greater courage, greater patience, greater cheerful willingness to help others at no personal gain to themselves.
Abruptly she held out her hand to Gabriel. "Thank you," she said simply. "You've been—well, thank you. And you, Michael. Will I—see either of you again?" The future seemed devoid of savor without these two loyal stalwarts.
For the first time the silent Michael delivered himself of what was, for him, a lengthy speech. "Mistress going to see us plenty much," he called out happily. "Pretty soon Mistress going to see us so much she want us never again around, going to get tired look all the sunlight hours at Michael and Gabriel, Gabriel and Michael. You have pleasant journey, mistress. We not worry about you. Like three young men in fiery furnace. Lord God going deliver you from hand of evil. Goddamn! Pretty soon you be plenty much safe!"
Gabriel jumped lightly into the canoe, and one of the guides touched Janine on the arm and beckoned to her to follow him. She plunged into a thicket and on the far side was surprised to see a small clearing in which three mules were tethered. The guide motioned to her to mount one, and she did so, rather gingerly. But the animal, after turning its long neck and surveying her for an instant with liquid brown eyes, promptly lost all interest in her.
The second guide led the pack horse bearing the unconscious body of Jeremy Stone into the clearing and, keeping a tight grip on the reins, seated himself on the remaining beast. The man in the lead started inland, and Janine's mule followed the first animal blindly. Behind her rode the second guide, and the pack horse brought up the rear.
There was something monotonous about travel by muleback across mile after mile of raw, undeveloped country in the hours between midnight and dawn, and Janine found herself half dozing as her beast jogged along steadily. It was only with the greatest effort that she managed to stay awake, and even her worry over the hapless Jeremy gave way to a desire for sleep. What she could see of the gently rising plateau known as the Liguanea Plain did little to arouse her interest, either, for it was uniformly dull. There were patches of jungle which her guides skillfully avoided, river beds empty of water, and great stretches of bare, red clay from which the tropical rains of centuries had washed all topsoil. Nothing grew here and nothing lived here. The area was so desolate that the girl felt an almost overwhelming urge to weep.
In later days Janine could remember but little of the remainder of the trip. She was able to recall vaguely that the countryside became wilder, the hills more frequent, more rugged. And the foliage became increasingly dense, too, until there was once more a solid wall of jungle on every side, underfoot, and overhead. Then, as the first streaks of daylight were muddying the sky, the caravan halted abruptly.
A man materialized on the narrow trail in front of them, seemingly out of nowhere, and made his way straight to Janine. Naked to the waist, he wore a pair of ragged trousers and soft moccasins. Into his belt was stuck a curved cutlass, and in his pierced ears he wore two large gold hoops. His hair was long, almost shoulder-length, and was held in place by what appeared to be a strip of tree bark that had been dyed a brilliant red. Not until he stopped a scant yard from Janine did she see that his eyes were blue; then, and then only, did she realize that he was a white man.
"Welcome, Mademoiselle Groliere," he said in perfect English as he favored her with a short bow. "Welcome to the Land of the Maroons."
Chapter Eleven
NUMEROUS frame buildings, some of split bamboo, others of heavier wood, were scattered among the trees on the far side of the crest of a high hill, and the houses had been so carefully placed behind camouflages of jungle that not one was visible from a distance of two hundred feet. The site for the community had been chosen with great care, for even the hill itself served to protect the dwellings from the prying eyes of outsiders who might venture this far into the wilderness of the Jamaican interior.
Janine Groliere was dazed and so weary that she could barely lift her feet as she followed the white man who had greeted her so unexpectedly in the jungle fastness. Almost innumerable questions needed to be answered, but she was too tired to ask them; indeed, it was all she could do to absorb a few of the simpler facts about the village in which she found herself. Most of the houses were small, but a short distance down the hill there were three long, low buildings, each of which was large enough to accommodate at least fifty persons. In an open clearing were five large pits, and as they walked past them Janine saw that each was lined with charred bricks. These, she surmised, were used for commercial cooking, and even as the idea occurred to her she saw three women approaching, each carrying a large bundle of dried sticks.