“The head-hunters have them in the big shack. They will kill them all soon after sunset.” There was a perfectly matter-of-fact ring in the messenger’s voice.
Felizardo knit his brows. He had given certain orders to the head-hunters, and he was not used to being disobeyed; moreover, he had a very kindly feeling towards John Mackay, who had once done him a good turn; consequently, he did not share the messenger’s cheerful frame of mind.
“What are you at the outpost doing, that you allow this?” he thundered. “You know the orders I have given to those savages, to leave all Englishmen alone. I suppose they think that, because I left them unpunished last time, I shall do the same again. Go down now, at once, and tell Manuel to make them withdraw, and then go to the Constabulario at Silang, and tell the Captain to come and fetch Senor Mackay and the fat fool away. Of course, you will tell the Captain you come from me. What else would you say? I can trust him.”
The result was that dawn found the little garrison, half-dead with thirst, but still awaiting the attack; and an hour after dawn John Mackay caught sight of Captain Hayle’s tall figure coming through the trees, with thirty of his men at his heels.
When Mr Gobbitt had swallowed a quart or so of water, followed by some brandy, his courage began to revive. “I told you we should be all right,” he said peevishly to Mackay; “I never thought they were in earnest”; then he remembered the two carriers, slain in his presence, and that ghastly head, and he went a little pale, though the shuddering had ceased.
They buried the heads—a useless formality, for the head-hunters unearthed them within a few hours—and then Basil Hayle escorted the party back to his stockade, to rest for a day or two. That evening, whilst Mr Gobbitt was having a much-needed wash and change, Mackay turned suddenly to his host. “By the way, I’ve got a message for you from Mrs Bush. She says she is very well, and hears of you often through the natives.”
Basil did not look up from the cigar he was cutting. “Thanks very much,” he said briefly.
Mr Gobbitt felt much better after the evening meal, so much better, in fact, that he could discuss matters calmly. “And did you know anything of the fate of my late partner’s son?” he asked.
“Of course I did,” Hayle answered promptly. “Didn’t they tell you in Manila? It was before I came to this side of the range; but Lieutenant Stott at Catarman told me, and I saw the copy of the report he sent to the Commission. He asked permission to hunt those savages down, but he never got any reply. Oh, all the Commissioners knew, and I supposed it had been made public.”
The merchant got up suddenly and began to pace the rather rickety floor. “I see it now,” he growled, “I see it all. Either I am to buy this land which no one else will look at, because of these abominable persons who tried to take my head; or else I shall not come back at all, and they will keep the deposit. I will lay the matter before the Consul—no, I will lay it before the Foreign Office. I will have compensation. I—I——” and he spluttered with rage.