"You sick?" Scott demanded.
"Aye, sir. Hit me last night. My bowels're in an uproar."
Scott looked at him closely. "You don't look fit to go back upstream with Darus."
"I'm a mite poly, sir, an' I thought I'd stay aboard, if that's all right."
"It's all right. But tell me, do you think we can trust Darus with a thousand dollars in advance?"
"If it was me, I would, sir. For an Indian—I mean, a native —he's honest. Hell do what he says, I think, sir."
"Did you know he owed money to three of the Quallah Battoo chiefs?"
Hurst shook his head. "No, sir."
"Has he got enough fighting men to stand off the Quallah Battoo people?"
"I reckon he might. . . for awhile, anyway. He's got maybe a hundred and fifty warriors. He told me they—the Quallah Battoo rajahs—don't trust each other. He don't figure on them ganging up on him."
Scott looked at Bryant, then turned back to the seaman. "Darus seems to need this thousand dollars in advance to keep from having trouble. Trouble could mean the end of pepper deliveries to us. And, as you must know, we're in no shape to fight anybody now."
"Why don't you let me go ashore and talk to Darus, sir?"
"Exactly what I wanted you to do. Find out what you can. Meanwhile you'd better swallow one of these pills. It'll make your belly easier."
In less than two hours Hurst returned and talked with both captains in the cabin of the Caroline.
"Darus figures the rajahs he owes money to are goin' to jump him if he don't pay 'em right now," he said bluntly. "If they do, he won't be able to bring any more pepper."
"That's the way I figured it," Bryant said.
"He says he's been your good friend an' that you ought to be his," Hurst said. "That's how an Indian would figure, too."
"Think we ought to ask Fox's opinion?" Bryant asked.
Scott shook his head. "I'll let Darus have the money."
"I'll put up my half," Bryant insisted. "No point in your taking all the risk."
Scott rose. "I'll go ashore and see Darus myself. Maybe we'd better both go, Zenas."
"I'm ready," Bryant said.
The rajah got the money that day and took it into Quallah Battoo before he set out for home. Of his own volition, he swore on the Koran to bring back pepper worth the sum advanced within a fortnight. And he left behind as a hostage for the spice his third son, a fourteen-year-old named Muzaflfar.
"You'll get th' pepper, sir," Hurst assured Scott after the shy, muscular lad was taken aboard the Caroline. "Darus is mighty proud of his boys."
19
THEY heard no more from Darus after his departure; he apparently had been engulfed by the steaming green jungle through which the shallow river flowed to the sea. Busy trying to stem the weakening flux among the Caroline’s company, Scott didn't really begin worrying until the fifth morning, when Peary irately reported Muzaffar missing. A thorough search of the ship failed to locate him.
"Where was he last seen?" Scott demanded angrily.
"He turned in for the night on top of the fo'c'sle," the first mate answered sourly. "If you ask me, the little bastard's swum ashore and is long gone. We should've kept him in the chain locker."
"The damned watch should have been more alert," Scott said.
Bryant was summoned and acquainted with Muzaffar's disappearance. He made a long face. "Either he got homesick, Scott—or somebody swam out from the shore last night to fetch him. It'd be no trick for a native to escape the eyes of the watch."
"That son-of-a-bitch Darus is no better than the rest of 'em," Peary commented. "He got the money he asked for and he's not coming back. Worse, he's not going to send the pepper he promised."
Scott turned to Fox. "What you think?"
The second officer shrugged slightly. "If I'd been asked, I would have counseled against letting Darus have money in advance. It's an old trick which can be worked usually on newcomers to this coast."
"I'm not a newcomer," Bryant said stiffly. "Captain Rogers and I agreed on a calculated risk."
"It wasn't very smart of you," Fox said.
Scott's voice was cold. "Do you think Darus is trying to swindle us, Fox? Confine your opinions to that subject."
Fox spoke coolly. "I beg your pardon, sir. However, I repeat that Captain Bryant shouldn't have been taken in. As for Darus..."
The New England shipmaster broke in wrathfully. "I resent that remark... especially from a man of your reputation in Essex County. Repeat it off this ship and I'll break you in two."
"Well, damn it all," Peary said, "there's truth in what he said, captain."
Scott brought his fist down on the cabin table. "Enough of such talk! I was willing to let Darus have the whole sum. We'll give him another day. If pepper isn't delivered tomorrow, then I'm going to his village and find out why. In the meanwhile, let's not overlook the possibility that the boy is in Quallah Battoo. Fox, you and I are going ashore to find out, if we can."
"Aye, aye, sir."
"I want to go, too," Bryant said.
Scott shook his head. "I'd rather you stood by in the Sally with the crew ready for action, Zenas. You'll do the same in this ship, Mr. Peary. If there's any sign of trouble ashore, open up on anything you can hit. And if you don't see us returning to the ship inside of three hours, fire on the town." He paused. "Your people recovered from the flux, Zenas?"
"Pretty much. You're sure you don't want me along? Once inside the town, you could be cut to pieces without our knowing it."
Scott shook his head decisively. "It's a chance I'll have to take. But thanks for offering, anyway. Just stand to quarters while I'm gone."
Hurst volunteered for the boat crew taking Scott ashore, and the captain accepted him. Halfway to the beach he said, "Sir, let me go to Darus' village and find out what's gone sour."
"You may have to show us the way later," Scott told him. "You didn't see anybody mistreat the boy, did you?"
"No, sir. All hands treated him real good. And I looked out for him 'specially. I don't think Darus aimed to cheat you, sir—not when he left us, anyway. He's liable to show up yet."
"There'll be hell to pay if he turns up to find his son gone."
Hurst frowned over that. "The Quallah Battoo people think Darus done 'em in, what with tradin' direct instead of through them. Darus thought it was a real smart trick he pulled."
Scott steered into the mouth of the small stream dividing Quallah Battoo. A knot of arrogant Malay men, most of them armed, stood aside sullenly as Scott and Fox disembarked and set out for Chedula's fort, which stood nearest the beach.
"This Chedula's a friend of yours," the captain said to the second officer. "I'm counting on you to get the truth out of him."
Chedula was there, but they got no information from him; he professed complete ignorance of the boy's whereabouts. The story was the same when they called on the other rajahs, all of whom seemed pleased by the turn of events.
"By God, I think they're all lying," Scott said angrily to his companion at the end of the round.
"I think Chedula told us the truth. As for the others—well, they could be lying. What we need is a tukang omang— a babbler."
"What do you think happened to Muzaffar?"
"I think he got homesick. And frankly, sir, I think you've seen the last of him and Darus, too."
"I'll be damned if that's so. I'm going to get a thousand dollars' worth of pepper from Darus or get back the thousand we paid in advance.'
"Chedula's already got part of it. You can't demand it from him or the other two Darus paid. They're not at fault."
Scott conceded the justice of the remark. He was glad now that he had lavished so much attention on getting his crew well. Moreover, he was pleased that the men had been confined to the ship for days. Edgy from sickness, boredom and heat, they would welcome a fight.