Part 5 (2/2)

”Oh, the schooner she go not so ver' far,” said Carlos. ”She hide in one bay not ver' far away, I guess.”

We had not spoken long with Carlos Brill, till it became plain that in his mind this man, Duran, was a.s.sociated with some kind of emotion, and it was equally plain that that emotion could not be given the name of love. The real nature and source of this sentiment he seemed disposed to keep to himself; though he was in no pains to make us believe that his willingness to help us was entirely disinterested.

Melie Brill had a meal prepared. The chief dish was a soup, as she called it; carrots, yams, pumpkins, turnips, bananas, salt pork, and pimentos, boiled all together. Pineapple and bananas made the desert.

Our host gave us to understand we were already installed, as of the household. They would listen to no other way of it.

These two, brother and sister, were not much of a kind with their neighbors. It was plain, dark as they were, they were of some mixed blood, it was shown in the features and hair, which was straight, not even deigning to curl.

Before we had finished our supper there appeared the black neighbor who had so recently lost a child to the voodoo. She seemed to have sensed, in some manner, the purpose of our visit, for she wished Robert and me all kinds of success. This was interpreted to us by Melie Brill, for the woman had only the West Indian-French. She gave me a kind of fetish; it was of some very hard wood, the shape of a bird, bill and tail, and the thickness of a marble. She said that within was a drop of blood of a great wizard, and that it would preserve me from a violent death (and so from the attacks of the _zombis_) and would insure success in my undertakings. She was soon gone, for it is the practice among all the natives to retire to bed early.

The desire to press our business was upon Robert and myself, and we put a number of questions. We desired to know who they were who inhabited the ruined palace, and who it could have been who fired the shot at us over there.

”I do not know who it is who stay there,” Carlos answered, ”an' I do not know who fire' the shot.”

”Don't you think it's that man, Duran, who makes that his headquarters?”

I pressed.

Carlos exchanged a look with his sister before he spoke. ”I have suspect for some time, that Duran he keep there, when he not away in hees schooner,” he said. ”I have think that for two year.”

”Hasn't anyone seen him around there?” queried Robert.

”No,” returned Carlos. ”No one have seen any white man that way, but I suspect Duran he go there.”

”Then,” I asked, ”do you think that's where he has hidden little Marie Cambon?”

”Yes, ver' like',” said Carlos.

Further talk only strengthened our conviction. Next we required of Carlos to guide us to a barren hillside--some spot in range of the harbor, so many miles below. This Carlos professed to be easy of accomplishment.

We went the way we had been in the afternoon. The forest was of an inky blackness; even the stars could seldom be seen from the path. Carlos had no trouble to keep the road. A perfect hush was over everything until the night birds and frogs tuned up to show that the world was not dead.

When we got out into that open s.p.a.ce, instinctively we turned our eyes across the valley in the direction of the mysterious palace. And then, as if for our particular benefit, a light flashed over there. It disappeared in the same moment, only to appear again, perhaps at another point near. Again it went out, and though we waited some minutes, it showed no more.

”There's some one there, sure enough,” observed Robert.

”Thee people here have see' the light many times,” said Carlos. ”They theenk it is the _zombis_.”

”I guess Duran is the king Zombi,” said Robert.

Carlos laughed. ”I theenk you right,” he said.

We pa.s.sed through another patch of forest and climbed to a ledge on the steep hillside. To gather a pile of wood was the work of but five minutes. Then we set it akindle.

Using our jackets for a screen, we began to signal, alternately covering and exposing our fire. Our friends on the _Pearl_ must have kept a good watch, for hardly two minutes had pa.s.sed, till we made out an answering signal.

”Ray is on the job,” said Robert.

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