Chapter XXI: Johnny's Mission

In his cave near the top of the mountain, Johnny slept soundly. But the first faint streak of dawn found him wide awake and staring up at the stone that formed the roof of the cave. He had been engaged in this rather fruitless occupation for a full ten minutes, when, with a suddenness that might have been startling to an observer, he sat bolt upright to stare with all his eyes at some object far back in the cave.

Well he might stare, for there, but half revealed by the dim light, apparently suspended from the roof of the cave, was what appeared to be a mammoth dull yellow and green snake.

"It can't be," he told himself. "And yet, if not, what can it be? I--"

His thoughts were broken in upon by a cheerful voice:

"Sleep well?" It was the short, broad man.

"Yes, I--"

"Come out with me into the light. Bit dismal in the cave." The little man seized him by the arm to fairly shove him toward the door. As Johnny turned about for one more look at that fantastic thing clinging to the cave's roof, the little man appeared to redouble his efforts. Yet in that last look Johnny obtained a further impression that was startling in the extreme.

"I wanted to have a talk with you before the natives were about," said the little man, as they seated themselves on mossy rocks beneath a low, spreading tree. "They would not understand us for they speak only the lowest Creole. However, they would disturb us."

"When I sent for you," he began after a moment's silence.

"Sent--"

"Did you not guess? Did they not tell you?"

"The natives speak only Creole," said Johnny. "I do not understand that language."

Then in a few words he told of his strange experience with the bronze natives.

"I am sorry to have caused you unnecessary trouble," said the little man. "However, it was necessary for you to come. In the end you will not regret it I am sure. I am in a position, I think, to do you a lasting favor. That, however, must wait. It might help you to understand and lead you the more readily to consent to any proposition I may care to make, should I tell you a little more of myself.

"I was born," he said, half closing his eyes as if to recall the past, "to a life of pain. Infantile paralysis struck me when I was less than a year old. Many doctors were called in consultation, for my father was a banker of some means. All told the same story. I would never walk, never feed myself, probably never talk. But after these, when I was five years old, came one greater than them all. He freed me from my terrible bondage. True, I have never been just as other men are. But that, my boy," he laid a hand impressively on Johnny's arm, "that does not matter. The only thing that really matters in this world is that a man have a mission and that he be equipped to fulfil that mission. Many a man who has been looked down upon, pitied, or scorned, because of physical infirmity has made a great and lasting contribution to the world's true wealth and happiness. I studied medicine. When I had finished my course I said, 'I will find the neediest people in the world and serve them.' I found, I believe, the neediest people right here in Haiti. And here I am serving them, and shall be until I die. Money," he said thoughtfully, "I do not ask from them. I have a small income from my father's estate. It is ample. Loyalty, love, a certain amount of gratitude, these are my reward. And right royally I am paid. You too," he said once more touching Johnny on the arm, "have a desire to serve."

"Yes I--"

"I think it will be possible for me to aid you," the little doctor broke in eagerly. "But first, before you know more, I have a mission, a hard one for you to perform."

"Name it," said Johnny, springing to his feet.

"Sit down," said the doctor.

Johnny sat down.

"While you slept," the little doctor's tone became deeply impressive, "a man lay at the back of the cave, fighting a battle, perhaps his last battle with disease. He is very old; is not longer able to resist, and I, as a doctor, am able to do little for him. This man," he went on, as his tone grew mellow, "is a native, a member of the tribe. Yet for more than twenty years, I have counted him my dearest friend. His family seem to have absorbed some of the greatness, generosity and nobleness of the black emperor at his best; for it was his father who always bore the Magic Telescope."

"Oh!" said Johnny.

"Yes, he is the son of the bearer of the telescope. Father and son, they have more than spanned the century. But now his light burns dim."

The doctor's next remark was surprising. "You, I think," he said, "have something to gain by his death. And yet," he added at once, "I am going to ask you to go on a mission which may add some months, perhaps years to his life. Knowing you, having studied you, I know that you will do your best though failure might bring you a million."

"A human life," said Johnny quietly. "What is a million dollars to that?"

"Nothing. You are quite right," said the doctor.

He rose to stand before the boy and point away toward a distant valley. "At the point of that valley is a humble village. There, for many years, I have had my home. In my home is a small laboratory. In it is the greater part of my medicine. One of those medicines may save this man's life.

"If it were merely a matter of bringing it, I should send a native. Unfortunately it must first be distilled. It is, at the present moment, in a small distillery in one corner of the room. You have only to light the alcohol lamp and wait until the distilling process has been accomplished."

"But the place?" said Johnny, eagerly.

"I will send a guide with you. He knows every foot of the way. And remember," he added, "I am not sending you because I am unwilling myself to endure the hardship of the journey. For reasons I cannot at this time explain, I wish to remain beside the man who is fighting for his life."

"I am ready to go," said Johnny.

"Your breakfast is here," said the doctor. "When it is finished your guide will be ready."

Ten minutes later Johnny followed a lean, muscular bronze man down the trail that led away and away over hillside and mountain, down valley, through forest and jungle to the village.

"That native looks like one who cannot grow weary," the boy told himself. He was to learn in time that this was true and was to feel thankful for his own physical training.

In the meantime, he had abundant food for thought. His mind was full of many wonders. He had left camp at the Citadel without taking leave. What of Dorn and Pompee? What of Curlie? He wondered most about the curious things the little doctor had said. How was the doctor to be of service to him and to the cause he had espoused? How, of all things, could he profit by the death of an old man, the son of the bearer of the Magic Telescope?

After a time he thought again of the golden green serpent hanging from the roof of the cave--or was it a serpent?

Mid-afternoon found him at the distant native village. Having dined while the distilling went forward, he bottled the fluid, and turning his face upward, was prepared to follow his tireless guide back to the cave.