Chapter XXXV: The Fruits of Victory

As the dawn was coming up, Trevor, red-eyed and weary, saw them straggling back among the rocks.

Two men carried a hammock on a _pikul_, the professor and Battiscombe walked leisurely, laughing over something one of them had just said, and everybody was smoking.

“Hullo!” he greeted them; “what luck?”

Battiscombe threw his arms in the air.

“The very best. We’ve brought her back, unharmed.”

The planter vaulted over the breastwork and ran to meet them.

“Splendid! How did you manage it?”

The professor laughed.

“We’ll tell you all about it as soon as we’ve found somewhere comfortable to sit and something warm to drink. We’ve had a most successful and memorable outing; but it was touch-and-go at one time, wasn’t it, Battiscombe?”

The magistrate grinned.

“Don’t I know it! Up to a point we were the two most unpopular people in creation--and give me popularity every time! You’ve read of minutes that seem like years, Trevor?--well, we had about fifteen of those, with umpteen black giants breathing hate down the backs of our shirts! Lord! professor, didn’t they stink!”

“They did,” agreed Standen, “horribly!”

“And Abu-Samar?”

Battiscombe took Trevor’s arm.

“He’s dead; Dara killed him.”

“Dara?”

“Yes, stabbed him in the back at a very critical moment. We’d talked ourselves hoarse and it wanted something very decisive to convince ’em of our _bona-fides_. Dara supplied it!”

The last trace of anxiety left the planter’s face.

“Well, that’s about the end of our job, isn’t it? We can burn his jolly old breeding-house at our leisure, and march comfortably back to hear the plaudits of the multitude!”

They all laughed.

“How’s Armourer?” asked the professor, as they approached the tent.

“Fine, apparently. The last time I saw Miss Standen she told me he had recognised her and spoken quite sensibly.”

The professor rubbed his hands together.

“That’s what comes of having a fine constitution!”

“And a fine antidote,” added Battiscombe.

“And a fine nurse,” said Trevor. “I’ve pitched the other tent over there. I thought you’d want somewhere to put Mrs. Battiscombe.”

Standen stopped outside Armourer’s tent.

“I could sleep the round of the clock!” he declared.

Battiscombe placed his hands on his hips.

“I can give you four hours. I’m breaking camp at nine and putting as many miles as I can between us and any possible after-thoughts on the part of our coloured friends.”

“I don’t blame you,” said the other, and went in to look at his patient.

By nine o’clock all that was left of the long hut and its loathsome contents was a heap of smouldering ruins.

It amused Standen to compare the atmosphere of the return march to the outward journey of the expedition.

The men, the bearers, the leaders themselves, laughed and chattered as the long line wound its way westward. The fact that their mission was accomplished and that Abu-Samar was dead had taken a weight from every mind, from the highest to the lowest. He wondered what would have happened if they had failed, if the breeding-house had broadcasted its thousands, if Samar had been free to pursue his campaign of hate!

“What’s up, professor?” laughed Trevor. “You look as if you’d something on your mind.”

“I had,” confessed the older man; “but, thank heaven, it isn’t there now!”

On the second day Vera was able to ride.

“Jim,” she asked suddenly, addressing the man who walked by her side, “are you really glad to have me back?”

Battiscombe smiled up at her.

“Rather!” he said. “When I heard that he’d taken you, I nearly went off my rocker.”

“But I’ve been such a beast to you. It’s no earthly use your shaking your head. I’ve treated you frightfully badly.” She rested a hand on his shoulder. “But I didn’t know you, Jim. I didn’t know you could do things like that. I was so frightened before you came. I was more frightened still--for your sake--when you walked right through that ghastly crowd. I thought they’d kill you.”

“So did I,” replied her husband cheerfully.

“But you weren’t afraid.”

“Wasn’t I, though! I was in a deuce of a panic, if you only knew.”

“I don’t believe it,” she declared. “I absolutely refuse to believe any such nonsense. You were an absolute hero--a great, fat, dear old hero--and I don’t deserve you a bit.--But honestly, dear, I mean to stick to you like anything after this.”

“You’ve jolly well got to,” said Battiscombe. “You don’t suppose I indulge in jaunts of this sort just for the fun of the thing. In future I’m ruling my household with an iron hand.--By the way, I’m sending in my resignation as soon as we get back.”

Vera gasped.

“You’re not throwing up your career because of me?”

“Not altogether. You see, Vera, the old man pegged out on the day I left Rembakut. I got the news when Armourer’s man caught me up.”

“Jim!”

“Yes,” he continued slowly, “I haven’t told a soul about it yet; I was saving it up for you. It’ll mean a lot to us. You’ll be able to have some decent frocks now and the only occupation I shall want is something to help me keep my fat down!--I’m sorry I wasn’t home when it happened, though.”

It was a week before Armourer talked sensibly again. He opened his eyes wearily and realised that somebody was bending over him. It was evening and the air was pleasantly cool.

He reached out with his hand and touched a white arm.

“Is that you, Joyce?” he asked, in so natural a tone that it startled her.

She had somehow pictured their first intimate conversation as something entirely different from this.

“Yes, Michael,” she said, with just a catch in her voice, “I’ve brought Mickie to see you.”

He drew her hand towards him and pressed his lips to it.

[The End]

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

Minor spelling inconsistencies (e.g. butterfly-net/butterfly net, landmarks/land-marks, etc.) have been preserved.

Note: some of the fixes list below are due to an apparent publishing error wherein some of the leftmost characters of a few lines didn’t get printed.

Alterations to the text:

Punctuation: fix some quotation mark pairings/nestings and a few missing periods.

[Chapter V]

Change “there was a gap _bewteen_ her frock and her neck” to _between_.

[Chapter VI]

“into the pocket of the pyjama _acket_ she wore” to _jacket_.

[Chapter XV]

“He looked back over his _sholulder_” to _shoulder_.

[Chapter XVI]

“peering fearfully _nto_ the darkness” to _into_.

[Chapter XX]

“take special _recautions_ to protect themselves against” to _precautions_.

[Chapter XXI]

“After Dick and the others. it was simply wonderful to think” change the period to a comma.

“bring me one of those _ters_ … from which he _rites_ … your troubles _ll_ be at an end” to _letters_, _writes_, and _will_, respectively.

[Chapter XXIII]

“show what state of _min_ she was in” to _mind_.

[Chapter XXVI]

“from a box and fastened it round her _neek_” to _neck_.

[Chapter XXVII]

“with three or four _pople_ making tracks” to _people_.

“_Amourer_ shook his head” to _Armourer_.

[Chapter XXIX]

“for _here_ on the stool was irrefutable evidence” to _there_.

[Chapter XXX]

“He _insed_ it and threw the drops to the floor” to _rinsed_.

[Chapter XXXII]

“_Standon_ looked at the planter” to _Standen_.

[End of text]