He was just about to praise them for their work when he caught the sound, of distant shots, then the rattle of a submachine gun. That could only mean that James had run into trouble. Gregory's heart missed a beat. He had become very fond of the cheerful young Ratu, and the thought that he might now be lying dead in the jungle or on the beach distressed him terribly.
At the same moment Frank exclaimed, `That shooting must have been at Johnny Olourna! Hope to God they didn't get him.’ Gregory moved quickly towards the entrance of the canoe house. 'I must go and find out. He may have got away but be lying wounded in the bushes and need help.'
`No!' Frank caught him by the arm. `Don't go yet, George. Maybe he's got away unhurt. If so, in half an hour he'll be back here. If you go after him you can't shout his name or they'll be on to you too, and you may easily miss him. Besides, you're our leader. We're relying on you to get us away from this damned island. 'Twouldn't be fair to the rest of us to risk yourself while there's a chance that Johnny will get back all right:
Seeing the sense of the argument, Gregory reluctantly agreed. With Frank, he walked along to the big cluster of bures on the river bank and, standing in the shadow of one of them, they waited anxiously. For the first time Gregory regretted having backed James in his project of salvaging the gold from the Reina Maria Amalia. He had done so in the first place simply as a new interest to relieve his boredom. Then it had developed into an exciting intrigue in which he had found himself up against Lacost and later de Carvalho. But in Noumea, owing to James' passion for Olinda, things had suddenly taken a shockingly bad turn, and already landed them for seven weeks in prison. De Carvalho was, probably dead, so James, if caught, was liable to be charged with murder. The Brazilian had said that he did not mean to hurry about exercising his licence to salvage the gold, because he was confident that the French Resident would prevent the Colons from raising it illegally and that, fed up, they would abandon the idea, leaving him a free field. During the interval Lacost might have decided to ignore the Resident and by now have made off with it. Or, if de Carvalho had died and Lacost had learned of it, by this time he might somehow have acquired the licence. So, after all these weeks, the chances of James' securing the treasure seemed extremely slender. Instead, as had so often happened in other cases, it might well be that the pursuit of gold would cost the charming young Ratu his life.
After twenty minutes Frank's keen eyes detected a movement on the far bank of the river. Next moment there was a splash and a glitter of phosphorus in the churned up water made them feel sure that it was James swimming across. Running forward they helped him up the steep bank. Grinning and unwounded, he panted:
`That was a nasty one. They nearly got me. There is a searchlight party a mile or more away, round the end of the point, covering the next bay. They were dozing and I nearly walked right into them, but I pulled up in time and dashed back into thicker cover.'
`Thank God you're safe!' Gregory exclaimed. `But they'll know now that either a prisoner has escaped or that someone has landed on the island without their being aware of it; so the hunt will be up.'
James shook the glistening drops of water from his big pouffe of hair. `No, I don't think so. None of them could have actually seen me, and there are wild pigs on all these islands. As I crashed away through the jungle, I made the loud grunting of a startled old boar.'
`Good for you, Johnny!' cried Frank, slapping James on the back. `Then we've not been rumbled and can still make our bid for freedom with a good chance of success.'
On their way back to the prison they decided that the three of them, with the addition of Willy, would meet the following night, to agree a detailed plan for their escape.
At one o'clock in the morning the four met at the rendezvous they had selected a group of tall breadfruit trees a quarter of a mile from the prison. As Willy and Frank occupied adjacent cells, they had, during the day, spent a considerable time discussing the venture. Now Willy spoke for them both
`seeing where those searchlights were located last night, getting clear out to sea without being spotted is going to be near impossible. Of course, on leaving the river, we'll head east that is round the coast to the left of the estuary so we won't actually have to pass the searchlight party near the village; but the moment we hoist our big sail, it's for sure they'll see us.'
'Then we must not hoist the sail,' Gregory replied. `About direction you are right. Fortunately, the searchlight party that Johnny ran into is well over a mile away and round the point; so we should be able to work our way along the coast for half a mile or more without attracting their attention. By then darkness will have hidden us from the hoodlums near the village, and…'
`Buts George,' Frank interrupted, `you haven't got Willy's point. That war canoe is a twenty seater and as heavy as a ton of bricks. It's going to be hellish hard to get her out of the creek to start with. Then it's quite a stretch before we're clear of the river mouth. The six of us could never paddle her as far as you suggest. Without the sail, come dawn the odds are we'd still be inside the reef and a sitting pigeon for those Russian bastards.'
`Well, what do you suggest?'
`Neither Willy nor I think much of the idea, but we might get by if we took in the two Polynesians. Two extra paddles in the canoe could just make the difference.'
Gregory did not like the idea either. The Polynesians had shown by their grins and gestures that they were friendly enough, and James had succeeded in establishing a sketchy form of communication with them, but sufficient only to learn that they were father and son and had come down from Samoa. The reason for their adventurous voyage remained unknown. After a moment Gregory said:
`I'm afraid that's not on. I don't doubt that they would be willing enough to join us, but how could we possibly explain to them about unscrewing the grilles in their cells? And none can do it for them. Besides, even if during the next few days Johnny could manage to put them wise, we can't afford the delay. Two nights hence is the darkest phase of the moon. Then will be our best chance and we've got to take it.'
Willy nodded. `You're right, George, but it's going to be one hell of a gamble.'
`Not too bad,' Gregory smiled. `We have one thing in our favour. All of us have spent quite a number of hours down at the estuary and none of us has ever yet seen those searchlights turned on to sweep the bay. I am sure they never make use of them unless they see a vessel approaching and then simply to ensure that no one manages to get ashore from it unseen. We'll make an early start, though, so as to gain extra time for paddling the canoe as far as we can before we set her sail.'
Previously they had never left their cells before midnight, which doubtless accounted for the fact that none of them had ever run into a Russian when going to and from the river mouth; but on the night of their great adventure they met by the group of breadfruit trees at ten o'clock. There were many more lights in the settlement than they were accustomed to see and music was coming from one of the buildings. As they were surrounded by jungle, that made it almost certain that such amusements as the Russians provided for their troops all took place inside the buildings; but at this hour there was the danger that a few of the troops might be returning from late strolls and that relieved or relieving squads might be moving from or to the beaches, so the six escapers made their way along the jungle path with extra caution.
When they had gone some distance they caught the sound of a faint drumming. The sound rapidly increased and was coming towards them. Hastily they left the track and plunged into the rank vegetation that grew in abundance on both sides of it. They were not a moment too soon. From round the bend ahead there appeared a horseman and a Russian officer came cantering by. In such such surroundings it seemed as though they must have seen an apparition, but Gregory swiftly demolished such a fantasy by saying