Dennis Wheatley - The White Witch of the South Seas

James produced the idea that the solution was to get in touch with the natives. It seemed certain that an island of that size must have long been inhabited and, although the dialect of the natives in each island differed, he felt confident that he would be able to enlist their help.

Gregory agreed, and it was decided that James should explore the surrounding country until he came upon a village of some size where the headman could put him in touch with the High Chief. But Gregory would not allow him to start on his quest for the time being, because the moon was waxing and during its bright period he feared that James would run too great a risk of being spotted by a Russian sentry.

From time to time it rained and on three nights in the next ten the sky was overcast, which enabled James to sally forth without undue danger; but total darkness proved a severe handicap and he did not succeed in finding a native village.

When the moon began to rise later, James went out every night. On one expedition he found a village up in the hills, but it was deserted. Then, three nights afterwards, having followed the valley for three miles to the sea, he came upon half a hundred or more bures sited on the estuary of a small river. But they, too, had been abandoned. The size of the place seemed to indicate that it was the principal township of the island, so, when he discussed his findings with. Gregory, they came to the conclusion that, to make certain of guarding their secrets, the French had evacuated the whole native population of the island.

This was a sad setback, as they had hoped the natives would provide them with a canoe in which to get away. It then occurred to Gregory that they might not have taken all their canoes with them. So James went again to the township and returned to report with no signs of satisfaction that, some way up a creek, he had come upon a boathouse in which a large canoe was chocked up.

When Gregory asked why he showed no pleasure in his find he replied, `Because she is a thirty foot war canoe, and much too heavy for the two of us to launch. What is more, her great sail is half rotten and without a sail we could not possibly get more than a few hundred yards in her.'

This gave Gregory furiously to think. The Robertson brothers had proved likeable fellows and very pleasant to exchange snatches of talk with while in the wash house or during exercise periods; but, adhering to his sound conviction that the more people there were privy to a plot, the greater the danger of its discovery, he had strictly forbidden James to say anything to the Australians about their nightly excursions. However, now that their help was necessary to carry out his plans he was by no means sorry that circumstances forced him to give them this chance of joining in an attempt to escape.

Next day they were guardedly let into the secret, and Willy was slipped the metal half heel so that the brothers could unscrew the grilles in their cells. It took them four nights and on the fifth they accompanied James down to the boathouse. When they got back James passed on to Gregory the views of these seasoned Pacific copra traders. They were confident that, with rollers, the four of them could launch the big canoe, but the sail remained a problem. It was useless as it was, but could be repaired if tapa cloth was available; and they had found that there was plenty of that in good condition to be had from some of the larger bures, where it had been used for decoration. However, only men skilled in such work were capable of making good the great sail. The brothers were not, but they said that their two Melanesian crew men, Woggy and Punch, could do the job if Gregory was willing to include them in the party.

Reluctant as Gregory was to do so, he saw no alternative; so, on the Robertsons' vouching for the loyalty of their two Melanesians, they were in turn lent the precious steel half heel that was the key to liberty.

By the time they had both got their gratings unscrewed, the bright period of the moon had come again and for the ten days that followed Gregory would not allow any of them to risk leaving the prison. At length this tiresome wait was over, but even then Gregory was averse to more of the escape party being absent from the prison on anyone night, in order to minimise the risk of their all being detected should the guards at any time become suspicious and make a night inspection. So Wills alone took the two Melanesians down to the township.

That night they first inspected the canoe, then spent two hours collecting taps cloth from the bures. Woggy and Punch had pointed out that needles and fibre twine would be needed to mend the sail. The former they could soon cut from bamboos, but if they had to collect the right form of tough liana, then shred it to make the twine, that would take a considerable time. However, on their second night down there with Willy they were lucky, as they came upon a long coil of twine in the back of the boathouse. Nevertheless, as between going and returning they could not safely work for more than two hours each night, it was six nights before they finished patching the great sail to their satisfaction.

Gregory's next concern was how to plan their get away. According to James, Yuloga was not a large island. It therefore seemed probable that the Russians had posts and searchlight stations covering every sector of the coast; so there was a very considerable risk that, as the big canoe emerged from the mouth of the river, it would be spotted and their attempt to escape brought to nought. In order to estimate their chances Gregory decided that, on the last night that the Melanesians were working on the sail, he and James should carry out a reconnaissance.

A quarter of an hour after Woggy and Punch had set out,

Gregory and James left the prison together and walked in company down to the deserted town. There, while Gregory remained on the right bank of the river, James swam across to the left. They then set out to explore their respective sides of the coast.

Working his way through the fringe of jungle, Gregory had gone no more than a quarter of a mile before he came upon a searchlight party. Fortunately, the sound of men talking warned him in time to halt, then go down on his hands and knees and cautiously worm his way forward until he could get a view of the Russians. Near a searchlight on a tripod, four of them were seated round a small fire, quietly smoking and making an occasional remark. Gloomily he noted that the searchlight was in a position to sweep the estuary of the river and that it was well within range of a machine gun which had been set up nearby.

Withdrawing with equal caution, he walked back to the creek up which the canoe house lay. Willy and Frank Robertson had been taking it in turns to accompany the Melanesians, in order to take charge should these simple men run into a Russian on their way to or from their work, or be surprised at it, and Frank was with them that night. From the amount of patching that had been required, Gregory saw that they must have worked hard; but, as with any of the party who went out at night, there were many hours each day when, locked in their separate cells, they could make up for lost sleep.

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.'