Dennis Wheatley: The White Witch of the South Seas

A quarter of an hour later they reached the harbour. It had been Gregory's intention to get her aboard the yacht, give her an emetic and enlist Olinda’s help in looking after her. But, as they came round the high, curved mole that protected the harbour from the worst gales, a surprise awaited him. The Boa Viagem was no longer there.

Why she should have left her mooring Gregory could not imagine. Ever since she had arrived at Revika she had lain at anchor in deep water about two hundred yards from the wharf.

What possible reason could Orinda have had for giving orders for her yacht to put to sea? Greatly puzzled and not a little perturbed, he had the motor boat land them on the quay. The departure of the yacht meant that another quarter of an hour must elapse, while the Witch was carried up the hill to the Royal bure, before she could be given an emetic; but that could not be helped and was not a matter of great urgency.

On reaching the bure, Gregory took the Witch from the big native who had carried her up the hill, then made signs to the four men who had accompanied him that they should go round to the kitchens and refresh themselves. As they bowed and turned away, he eased the position of the White Witch in his arms and carried her into the bure. On entering, he was confronted with another surprise. Ramie Baker was no longer there; but the big, lofty room was not unoccupied. Manon was reclining with her feet up on one of the sofas, smoking a cigarette and with a drink by her side. Coming to her feet, she exclaimed:

`More Dieu ! Where have you been? And who in the world is that?

'I've come from Roboumo's island,' he replied, as he laid his still unconscious burden down on one of the other sofas, and this is the White Witch.!

'The White Witch?' Manon echoed. `How different she is from what I had imagined. I've always thought of her as some great, fat, forceful looking half caste. And now she turns out to be an old, frail, white woman. But why have you brought her here?'

`We rescued her in order to get the better of Lacost. As you know, in the afternoon of yes, yesterday, although it seems now weeks ago James received an offer from Roboumo to enter into a pact. James went to the island and all was going well, but he insisted that the Witch should be a party to the pact so Roboumo let him see her., She was under hypnosis, but managed to struggle out of it sufficiently to let James know that she was a prisoner.'

Manon shook her head. `What an extraordinary affair.'

`It certainly is. When James found out the truth, Roboumo tried to kill him; but he got away. Of course, all prospect of a pact had gone up in smoke. We were stuck again with the fact that, with only the body guard, our chances of capturing the Pigalle were far from good. It was then it struck me that, although the Witch was not really a witch at all, Roboumo's men believed that he owed all his power to her; so, if we could rescue her, they would come over to us. We attacked the island an hour ago and I got her out. She had been doped to the eyebrows and we must bring her round as soon as possible; but that can wait for a few minutes while you tell me how you come to be here. Did you escape, or did Lacost let you go?'

'Tell me first why you failed to act on the message I left for you.' Manon's voice held an angry, resentful tone as she went on

`I know you had it, because when I got back here I went to the loo and found it gone. And you already had Lacost's ultimatum from Hamie Baker about pulling out my toenails and cutting off my ears unless he received the licence.'

Gregory gave a slight shrug. `My dear girl, I should have thought that would already be clear to you. In your note you said you felt certain Lacost would do you no harm if I failed to go aboard the Pigalle and, even if we did not send him the licence by someone else, he would have had nothing to gain by taking you to pieces. To leave without it would have meant that, sooner or later, he and all his pals would go to the guillotine. Therefore I felt certain that the time limit of two o'clock which he had given me could safely be ignored. It was a sure bet that he would hang on here till the very last moment, hoping in some way that he'd get the licence from us; and, as the gunboat from Noumea can't arrive before Monday morning, he could safely stay on in Revika until midday. You must know that the body guard is made up only of house servants and peasants: not real fighting men. That's why we had to delay until we could secure the support of Roboumo’s toughs.'

Before Manon replied she lit another cigarette; then she said more mildly, 'I suppose the view you took is understandable. As a matter of fact I learned quite a bit from Hamie about what was going on.'

`I take it that it was you who released him?'

`Yes. You tied him up so tightly that the poor fellow was in agony. He meant you no harm and only acted as Lacost's messenger; so I set him free and let him go.'

Gregory's face darkened into a scowl, so that the scar that ran from the end of his eyebrows up into his forehead showed livid, and he exclaimed angrily, `Damn it, you may have ruined everything! Hamie's only interest is money. It's quite on the cards that by now he is on his way to the Pigalle to get himself another wad of notes by warning Lacost of our intentions.'

`No, he won't be able to do that, even if he tries to. By the time he gets across the island to the site of the wreck, where the Pigalle was anchored, he will find her gone.'

'D'you mean… d'you mean that Lacost has thrown in his hand and sailed?'

Manon nodded. `Yes, but not for good. He remained there until half past two. Then, as you failed to turn up, or someone sent by you, he got under way and set off to put into operation an alternative plan by which he hoped to get the better of you.'

`Good God! Do you know it?'

`I do. That's why he released me. The Pigalle sailed round to the harbour and later he had me put ashore; so that I could act as his messenger and bring you a second ultimatum.'

Instantly there flashed back into Gregory's mind the fact that the Boa Viagem had disappeared. With a gasp of dismay he exclaimed, `Hell's bells! I've got it! He seized Olinda’s yacht and swapped you for her as a hostage.'

Manon gave a sigh, looked down at her feet and said, `I'm terribly sorry that it should be I who have been forced to bring you this bad news. But you are right. It was easy to capture the yacht. Everyone aboard her was sound asleep. The Pigalle came alongside, the Colons boarded her and took her over without a shot being fired.'

Putting a hand to his head, Gregory groaned. It was he who had persuaded Captain Amedo to lend him all the weapons from the yacht's armoury, and the body guard still had them; so the crew of the Boa Viagem had been deprived of the chance of putting up any resistance.

Meanwhile, Manon was going on, `One must admit that Lacost is no fool. Unfortunately for him he made one mistake. He naturally believed that Olinda still held the licence. His plan had been to take over the yacht, transfer the treasure to her, then scuttle the Pigalle and make off in the much faster Boa Viagem. But in that he was foiled. Olinda declared that the licence was no longer hers, that she had transferred it to James two days ago. When threatened with torture she convinced Lacost by opening her safe and showing him that it was not among her valuables and papers. It was then that he decided he must make another bid for it. Possession of the licence could clear him and the others of having fired on the flotilla of boats in which you attacked him yesterday. Seizing the Boa Viagem was, of course, an act of piracy; but by threats of torture he can force Olinda to write a letter to the effect that she was being held by James in Revika against her will, and asking Lacost to come to her rescue.'