The old man made the customary genuflection to his Ratu, but as he rose, the light was sufficient for Gregory to see that on his face there was a mocking smile.
Abruptly James addressed him. His reply was soft voiced, but held a tone of insolence. Turning to Gregory, James said, `This is Roboumo, of whom I have told you. He has come here to talk to us about the wreck.'
Roboumo made a slight bow to Gregory and broke into pidgin French. `Monsieur Salut. Have heard about. Interested in wreck too, yes? My spies very good. Learn everything. Others also wish Spanish gold. But no!'
The deep set eyes in the wrinkled, leathery face took on a malignant glare. 'Frenchmen’s from Tahiti. They come here, make much plan. My spies, they listen. Frenchmen’s say, “With gold we make Revika tourist trap. Build hotel. Surfboarding. Deep sea fish. Motor ride to waterfall. Make place for golf play. Plenty Americans, they come. We make much rich.” But when I told, I say No! No! No! Will not have. To get gold from sea divers must have. I send the word. Divers not work. Diver work and I destroy him. White Witch will curse.'
So that, thought Gregory, is the answer to the riddle that has been puzzling me all day.
The tall, skinny old witch doctor went on, `The Frenchmen’s send Portuguese man to me. He argue; offer much money. I will not take. He very angry. He say I go to hell, he get divers from Fiji. I tell him, “Do that and the White Witch place curse of death on you. Forget gold or you live only till full moon. Full moon come, death strike you down”.'
A moment after he had ceased speaking Roboumo uttered a high pitched chuckle. Then he said, `I have power to overlook Portuguese. You know that, Ratu. He seeks divers, I learn it. Then next week he dead.' Turning to Gregory, he added, `This warning also for you. Leave bad gold where it lie. Try to get and White Witch curse you same as Portuguese man from Brazil.'
14
Midnight at the Grave
Without another word, the lean, sinewy old man turned away and, his naked feet making hardly a sound on the mats, disappeared through the rear door of the bure.
`A nasty bit of work if ever there was one,' Gregory remarked. `Anyhow, we know now why the divers refused to work for Lacost, de Carvalho and Co. How is this likely to affect us? Do you think the divers will refuse to work for you?'
James gave an unhappy nod. `I'm afraid so. The poor fellows will find themselves between the devil and the deep sea. They will feel terribly bad about refusing me, but they won't dare defy Roboumo. And there is another thing. In view of his threat to have the White Witch curse us, I don't think I'd now be prepared to go on.'
`My dear James!' Gregory's voice was a trifle sharp. `You really surprise me. It is understandable that ignorant natives should be intimidated by such threats, but not an educated man like you: As he spoke, he moved towards the drink table and added, `May I help myself to a brandy and soda?'
`By all means. I'm sorry that, owing to custom, you've had to drink yaggona all the evening. It has very little kick in it, but it suits my people. They have no head for spirits, so I publicly discourage the drinking of them. In fact, in some Melanesian islands they are still prohibited altogether, because the “dragon” whisky and “crocodile” gin the traders used to sell them led to so many outbreaks of violence. But to get back to Roboumo. I feel that we must take his threat seriously.'
`All right, but let's examine it critically. What evidence have you that these spells really work?'
`Plenty. And there is no doubt at all that the vuniduvas, as the sorcerers are called, can overlook people when separated from them by great distances. They often produce information about happenings in the outer islands here that they could not possibly have known by normal means. And sometimes it is to do good. For instance, last year one of them told a servant of mine that he must buy certain medicines and take them at once to the small island where his family lived because his young son had had a serious accident. Of course, I at once gave him leave to go, and when he returned a fortnight later he told me that the sorcerer had been quite right. The boy had fallen from a tree while collecting coconuts, injured his leg and the wound had become infected. If it had not been treated within a few days he would have died.'
Gregory shrugged. `That's fair enough. Thought transference has been scientifically proved, and distant vision is a form of it. But being capable of putting a curse on a person so that he dies is a very different matter.!
'It happens, though. Here witchcraft is called drau ni kau, and it is still widely practised. Men who have money will pay a big sum to a vuniduva to put a death curse on a really hated enemy. The victim simply weakens and dies. Then the man who has caused the curse to be put on him goes to his grave in the middle of the night and drives several sharp stakes down into the body, to prevent the spirit from returning to haunt him. I have several times seen such stakes in the graves of newly dead.'
`I'm not doubting your beliefs, James, and, in spite of the fact that for the purposes of the war I once had to take a Satanist into partnership, I don't really know that much about the occult. But it is generally held to be a fact that curses do not work on people who are convinced that they will have no effect. How, otherwise, could comparatively few white men have subjugated many thousands of Negroes in Africa? Or the people here in the South Seas, for that matter? The witch doctors would have killed them off in no time. Anyway, I don't believe for one moment that Roboumo and his White Witch have the power to kill me by occult means. And it was I the old bad hat threatened, not you.'
`True, it was to you that he actually spoke his threat; but only, I imagine, because he knows I would not be able to tackle the job if you withdrew your financial backing. If he finds that you refuse to be intimidated I think it certain that his next step will be to threaten me, in the hope that I have enough say in matters to make you throw in your hand.!
'And would you?'
`I hardly know,' James murmured miserably.
`Now listen, my boy: Gregory spoke firmly but kindly. `You know very well that this gold means nothing to me. If I had another sixty years to live I couldn't spend all the money I already have. In any case, I had meant to make my share of it over to you. But what does matter is not allowing either de Carvalho or Lacost to get the better of us. The one double crossed us and the other did his best to kill us. And I'll bet you any money you like that neither of those tough eggs is going to get the jitters because that old buffoon has said that he'll have a magic put on them. In a week or so they will be back here with Fijian divers and going to work. The very idea of allowing those blackguards to lift the stuff in front of my eyes makes me as mad as a hatter. But this is your party, and I do appreciate that, your ancestry being different from mine, we have inherited very different mental reactions to certain possibilities. So if you'd rather that we chucked in our hands I'll agree, and think none the worse of you. Now: which is it to be?'
James hesitated for only a moment, then he said, `You have been so very good to me. I can't let you down. You may be right, that your disbelief in the White Witch's powers will turn her curse aside. Anyhow, I'm game to go through with it.'
'Good man.' Gregory reached up and patted him on the shoulder. `Then we had best not let the grass grow under our feet. I suggest that first thing tomorrow you find out if the divers here are willing to defy Roboumo and work for us. If they are, we keep the clear lead we have over the enemy. If they refuse, the enemy already has a lead of several days over us; so the sooner we can get to Fiji ourselves and collect some divers the better our chance of catching up.'