Hoole, sweating at every pore, as he afterwards said, gave an off-hand indication of approval to Flanso, and the march was resumed.
It was a slow and wearisome journey through the forest, and Grinson, accompanied by the interpreter, caught up the procession before it had advanced another mile. Many times the bearers of the seaplane had to rest; in some places trees and shrubs had to be cut down to allow its passage, and Hoole had many an anxious moment, fearing that the wires would be bent or broken through the carelessness of his inexperienced carriers. But the edge of the cliff was reached without serious mishap, and in a much shorter time than he had believed to be possible. The route chosen by Flanso was in fact shorter by many miles than that by which Hahn had led the party weeks before.
The covering over the top of the chimney had been removed, and Flanso and his men nimbly climbed down one by one. Hoole allowed all to descend except the carriers, Grinson, and the interpreter; then he set to work to ensure the safe lowering of the machine and its detached planes. With the interpreter's aid he got the men to make a stout platform of saplings extending some feet beyond the edge of the cliff, with a hole at the chimney top. The body of the machine was secured to two stout ropes which were carried round trees. Hoole had a third rope with a sling in which to put his feet, and this he tied firmly to a trunk.
'Now, Grinson,' he said, 'you will be in charge here, and woe betide you if you fail me! I 'm going to let myself down into the chimney. When I give the word, lift the machine gently over the cliff and lower away; I 'll keep an eye on it and fend it off the rocks. That's all clear?'
'As clear as good beer, sir, and I only wish I had some, I 'm that dry. Ephraim says there 's----'
'Oh, hang Ephraim! Stand by!'
He swung himself into the chimney and shouted 'Lower away.'
'The next ten minutes,' he told Trentham afterwards, 'were an age--an epoch. I heard Grinson yo-hoing to the natives above; he never stopped for a moment. How he managed to control those savages I don't know. Down came the machine, and there was I, swinging on the rope, clinging with one hand while I guided the machine with the other. Once it dropped suddenly on one side, and I feared the whole caboodle would crash to the ground; but Grinson bellowed like a hurricane, the thing righted itself, and my heart was banging against my ribs like a steam hammer. Well, we got the fuselage down at last; the planes were a simpler proposition, and by and by Grinson joined me on the beach, as proud as a peacock. "I done that in fust-rate style, sir," says he with a broad grin. "You can bear me out, sir."'
Hoole was so much occupied in putting the machine together by the light of the moon that he saw little of the native ceremony. There was drumming and dancing; at one moment the chief, followed by a group of his men, marched solemnly to the wreck, and after tramping seven times round the broken mast, descended to the cabin. On his return he was welcomed with a frenzied shout. Then fires were lighted under the cooking-pots, the dance was kept up until the viands were ready, and the feast was prolonged until the moon had travelled half-way round the sky. Satiated, the natives flung themselves on the sand and slept.
'Well, sir,' said Grinson, sitting beside Hoole, close under the cliffs, 'all I can say is, it's a wonder to me how they could stow away so much boiled pork without mustard or a pint of beer.'