`He has been visiting the outposts. And a jolly sensible way to do it. This track is not wide enough to take a jeep, so why walk or have yourself shaken to bits on a motor cycle when God gave man the horse? Some of these Russians are not such fools as they look.'
At the canoe house the short lengths of tree trunk for launching the canoe had been left in a stack on one side.
Quickly they placed the first half dozen in position, then took a grip on the side of the canoe and endeavoured to slide her forward. Hewn out of one great tree trunk of hard, tropical wood, she seemed as heavy as lead. Their efforts failed to shift her. It was James who said
`Four of us must get right underneath the bottom and attempt to lift her by taking the weight on our shoulders, while the other two pull on the prow and guide her down.'
They did as he told them. The strain was back breaking, but their third heave was well timed and they got her moving. Once the fore part was on the rollers, it needed only their full strength, applied in unison, to get her to the water. As she splashed into it, they stood away, sweating and gasping from their exertions.
Now they had to raise her mast. At its base it was nine inches thick, and tapered up to twenty feet in height. Normally the job would have been done by a dozen men; but, somehow, they managed it and hammered the chocks home to keep the heel firm. Puffing and blowing, they took a five minute rest.
Having got their wind back, they set about hoisting the yard, an outsize bamboo even longer than the mast on to which the great single triangular sail had already been bent. That done, James stepped into the stern of the canoe and took the steering paddle. The others grouped themselves amidships. James gave the word, they dipped their paddles and the canoe moved forward slightly.
Launching the canoe and getting her ready for sea had taken over an hour; and another three quarters of an hour slipped by before they got her to the mouth of the river. Long before then Gregory realised how right the Robertson brothers had been. Unless they unfurled the sail, it would be impossible to get the heavy craft far enough out to sea before dawn to escape the Russians' sighting her.
For another hour they laboured on, forcing her gradually up the east coast away from the village; but although the water in the lagoon was relatively calm, owing to the breakers that constantly rolled in, the strain of keeping her heading in the right direction was terrific.
By then it was getting on for half past two in the morning, and their efforts were clearly slackening. When they had set out, not only had it been at the apex of the dark period of the moon, but by good fortune the sky had been cloudy.
Since, it had gradually cleared. A million bright stars now faintly lit the scene and Gregory could easily pick out the Southern Cross.
As this increase of light gradually came about, he had become ever more reluctant to risk drawing attention to the canoe by setting her sail. But now he and his companions were clearly near exhaustion and the canoe was barely making steerage way. Grimly he decided that their only hope of getting out of the lagoon before dawn lay in making use of the sail.
When he consulted James and the Robertson brothers they all agreed that unless the risk was taken they would either be recaptured or killed by machine gun fire; so Gregory told Woggy and Punch to ship their paddles and free the sail from its lashings.
A light breeze at once caught the great spread of tapa cloth. James set a course for an opening in the reef and, from having moved at a crawl, the long canoe suddenly leapt forward. As they relaxed, all on board listened with heartfelt delight to the rushing of the water alongside. James tacked once, twice, thrice, then there came a faint shout from the shore.
Within seconds a Sten gun began to stutter. Next minute thee searchlight came on, swept to and fro, then fixed them in its beam. A heavy machine gun came into play. The occupants of the canoe ducked down behind her gunwale and crouched there, fearful that any moment would be their last. Bullets thudded into the hull of the canoe and ripped through the sail. But James, courageously plying his steering paddle, swung her round on a new tack. For a brief interval they were out of the line of fire, then the bullets came again, several smacking into the mast. The canoe had heeled right over, spray ran in sheets from the prow and she was now racing at twenty knots for the gap in the reef.
Two minutes later they were through it and shortly afterwards the machine gun ceased its murderous chatter. Sitting up, Gregory cried triumphantly, `We've done it, chaps! No need to worry any more. They have no boats, so can't pursue us.'
Steered by James, the big canoe rode the seas splendidly.
Having studied the stars for a few moment, he set a course for the Fijis. The Australians would have preferred to make in the other direction for the Loyalties but Gregory having enabled them to escape from an indefinite captivity, they good humouredly accepted his decision. When dawn came Yuloga was only a smudge on the horizon.
For some thirty hours, against a contrary breeze, they beat to eastward. Then a storm blew up. It was far from threatening a hurricane, but the gusts were powerful. Just before ten o'clock, without a moment's warning, disaster overtook them. There came a sudden squall, accompanied by driving rain, and the mast snapped off a few feet above the gunwale. The upper part of the mast, the yard and the great sail heeled over and came down with a splash in the sea. The canoe lurched sideways and came to a stop, tilted over at a dangerous angle.
Frantically, with two axes that had been left in the canoe by the natives, they hacked through the liana cords that held the mast and sail trailing alongside. Ten minutes later they had cut the canoe clear, and she righted herself. But they looked at one another in consternation. They had nothing they could rig as a jury mast and no spare tapa to make even a jib mounted on paddles, so were now at the mercy of the ocean.
They were, for the time at least, in no danger from thirst or starvation, as, while the Melanesians were repairing the sail, Willy and Frank had stored several dozen fresh coconuts and hands of bananas in the fore and aft parts of the canoe. But, the wind and tide being against them, they now began to drift rapidly back in a westerly direction.
On examining the stump of the mast, the reason for their calamity became clear. It had been hit by four bullets from the Russians' machine gun, so was weakened to such an extent that, when carrying a big sail, any strong gust of wind would have been enough to snap it off.
For twenty four hours they were swept back, more or less in the direction of Yuloga, but had fair reason to suppose that they would be carried past it. Then, shortly before midday on the third day after their escape, they sighted a small vessel steaming towards them. As she came nearer, they saw that she was a frigate, flying in her stern the Tricolour.
Gregory and James were both extremely loath to go aboard a French warship, but beggars could not be choosers. Hailed with relief by the others in the canoe, the frigate hove to alongside and took them all aboard.
While the frigate was approaching, Gregory fabricated an account of themselves which they must all adhere to, so as to conceal the danger of the French possibly returning them to Yuloga. It was that he and James had been passengers on the Robertson’s' schooner when she had been wrecked, then they had all got ashore on a desert island and found the canoe abandoned there. When they told this story to the Captain of the frigate Gregory and James had good reason to be thankful that while in prison they had retained their aliases George Simonds and Johnny Olourna and all the more so when they learned that, having been on a cruise, the frigate was returning to Noumea.