Dennis Wheatley - The White Witch of the South Seas

On their way round to the harbour, James gave Gregory an account of his meeting with Roboumo. It had opened with a solemn yaggona drinking, at which five of the witch doctor's principal retainers had been present. After the ceremony and when many compliments had been exchanged, the discussions had begun well. The five chief warriors had said that they and their men would have no fears about boarding the Pigalle, provided that the attack was made during the hours of darkness during which they would enjoy the full protection of the White Witch. With muffled paddles they would approach the Pigalle from her seaward side, while the Ratu and his body guard would come round the island, also in canoes as the noise of motor engines might alert the crew of the ship and attack from the landward side. In order that the two attacks should occur simultaneously, it was agreed that they would both go in half an hour after the moon had set. This would be at an early hour in the morning, and in order to ensure synchronisation to within a few minutes, one man in each party would, every few moments, imitate the cry of a seagull. When they came within sound of one another both parties would paddle in with the utmost speed and board the Pigalle.

Having listened to these proposed tactics and fully approved them, Gregory asked, `Then what went wrong to cause Roboumo to quarrel with you afterwards? I am amazed, too, that you succeeded in breaking away from six of them and escaping as you did. You must have been born under a lucky star.'

James laughed. `I think I was, but I didn't have to wage any desperate encounter or take on such heavy odds. After showing that he meant business, that his men were willing to fight and the details of the attack having been settled, Roboumo dismissed his five warriors, so that we could discuss in private the terms he asked for his assistance. I agreed to give no more demonstrations of my own powers as a Drunikau, and not to interfere with him, on one condition, namely that in future he should not threaten anyone with the death curse. After some argument he reluctantly agreed. Then I said to him

“'It is known throughout the islands that your power is really vested in the far greater occult powers of the White Witch. Therefore I feel sure you will appreciate that I must also have her word that she will regard our agreement as binding upon her as well as upon yourself.”'

'Ho! Ho!' Gregory murmured. `That was jolly shrewd of you, James. Go on. I can hardly wait to hear what happened, though I'll make a guess. It turned out that he's been fooling everyone and that there is really is no such person.'

`You're wrong. There is, and I saw her. But I had the hell ` of a job to persuade him to let me. He said that, since she has been in Tujoa, no man except himself has ever set eyes on her, and no woman other than his three senior wives, who attend upon her. I took a firm line and told him that unless she became a party to the deal it was off. Even as I made the threat, I regretted it, as I feared he'd call my bluff. But he didn't. After sitting in silence for a few moment he stood up and said, “Very well. Wait here, Ratu, until I return for you.” Then he walked to the far end of his big bure which was completely screened off by heavy tapa cloth curtains.

`He went behind them and remained there for about three minutes; then he opened the curtains a few inches and beckoned to me to come through. You can imagine how intrigued and excited I was, but I managed to keep up an appearance of calmness and walked across he room quite slowly. I had all my work cut out, though not to show my amazement when I saw what lay behind those curtains.

`Apart from a few feet on the far side, the whole space was filled by a huge bamboo and wicker cage. It was about fourteen feet square by ten feet high, and furnished inside as a bed sitting room. At one end there was a large, comfortable divan. The other held a round table, an armchair, 'a single elbow chair, a small desk, and one corner was screened off no doubt concealing a wash place and privy.

`The Witch was seated in the elbow chair facing the front of the cage. I had always believed her to be a fair skinned Polynesian, or a native of the islands who painted herself white. But she was neither. She was a white woman, all right. For her age I put her down to be about sixty she was still remarkably good looking. Her face was very pale and slightly wrinkled; her hair was dead white, very long, parted in the centre and falling straight on either side of her face to her shoulders, hiding them and the upper part of a rich native dress that she was wearing. But her eyes, which were blue, were quite blank; and, although she was looking straight at me, she did not seem to be aware of me.

'Roboumo spoke to her in his own dialect of course, but I understood enough of it to know that he was honestly giving her particulars of our agreement. When he had finished there was a moment's silence, then she replied to him, giving her consent, but in. such a halting, toneless voice that I felt certain that when he had first left me to go behind the curtain he had hypnotised her.

340

`Turning to me, he asked, “Now are you satisfied?” Thinking that nothing further could be got out of her, I replied that I was. Roboumo then turned his back on the Witch and parted the curtains so that I could walk through to the main part of the bure. Just as I reached the curtains, I glanced over my shoulder to take a last look at her. Instantly I noticed a change in her expression. Her face was working. Clearly she was coming out of her trance and struggling to speak. Then, in a hoarse whisper, her voice came:

` “Aidez moi. Je suis prisonniere”:

`God Almighty!' Gregory exclaimed. `This is terrific. What happened then?'

`Naturally, I stepped back towards her, intending to question her in order to learn who she was, where she had come from and so on. But Roboumo, too, had caught her whisper. Swinging round he shouted at her, “Sleep! Sleep!” and made some swift passes at her with his outstretched hands. Her eyelids drooped until her eyes had closed and, her muscles relaxing, she sank back in the elbow chair. I turned on Roboumo and cried:

“'You are a swindler A swindler! This woman has no power of her own. You have just used her as a means of terrifying the superstitious among my people.”

'Pushing him aside, I advanced to the cage and tried to tear apart the bamboo bars, so that I could free her. They were thick and strong, so that I could do no more than bend them. While I was still straining every muscle to break into the cage, her head began to roll upon her shoulders. Again she partially emerged from the trance into which she had been thrown. Her eyes opened, then dilated. Suddenly her mouth gaped and she cried:

` “Achtlung! ”

`I don't know much German, but enough to understand that to be a cry of warning. Not an instant too soon I swung round and jerked my head aside. Had I not, Roboumo would have bashed in my skull with a big war club that he had snatched from the wall. I then knew that, as I had discovered the White Witch to be no better than a ventriloquist's doll that he was making use of, he meant to kill me rather than give me any chance to disclose his secret.

`It was then, knowing that you were not far away, that I gave my cry for help.

`I made a grab at him, but he eluded me. Before I had a chance to attempt to seize him again he had darted through the curtains. Another moment, and before I could stop him he had snatched up a long stick with a big, round head and was beating wildly with it on a drum.

`I needed no telling that he was summoning his warriors and that if I failed to escape within a matter of minutes I would pay for it with my life.

`A I raced past Roboumo I struck him a savage blow low in the back, somewhere in the region of the kidneys. He let out an ear splitting screech, dropped the great drum stick and fell to the floor.