Old Everard jumped to his feet and hopped about on his wooden leg like a raving madman. Hillary tried to hold him down.
Crash! The old man had stabbed the screen four times with his wooden member. Crash! He had picked up his spare, best Sunday wooden leg and smashed all the crockery off the shelf.
“Don’t be a fool! Everard! Everard! Don’t go mad!” yelled Hillary at the top of his voice, as the demented sailor still smashed away.
“I’ll save your daughter! I know where she is!” yelled the apprentice, as he endeavoured to stop the ex-sailor’s demented yells.
The furniture of the bungalow and all the crockery were smashed before the mad old man calmed down. Then he took a pull at the rum bottle, sat down on the settee and recovering his breath stood up again and shouted: “Where’s the Bird of Paradise, ’is ship? ’Is ship—has it sailed?” yelled the old man. Then he shouted: “He’s got her on the Paradise! He’s got ’er, my Gabby! I see it all now! He’s an old blackbirder. Not a Rajah! Not a godly missionary! By the holy Virgin, forgive me, forgive me for being a damned fool!” the old fellow moaned, as he recalled Rajah Macka’s sombre voice and his exhortations when he had hesitated as to whether he’d give up drinking rum or no.
Then the ex-sailor looked at Hillary and yelled: “Go, you blamed fool! Go and see if the Bird of Paradise has sailed from the harbour.”
In a moment Hillary rushed away over the hills. In an hour he returned to the bungalow and told Everard that the Bird of Paradise had not been seen in the bay of Bougainville since the night when Gabrielle had been first missing.
“She’s sailed in the night! ’E’s got ’er! ’E’s got ’er! She’s gone! She wasn’t willing! ’E stole ’er, just like ’e steals native girls! Boy, don’t worry. She’s a good girl, she is—one of the best,” said the distracted father, his voice lowering to a wailing monotone as he steadily beat his wooden leg on the floor in despair and hope.
“Of course she’s a good girl,” said Hillary. His heart nearly stopped beating at that, a thought he would not allow to haunt him.
“There’s no time to lose, Mr. Everard. I’ll get a berth on some ship that’s bound to New Guinea. I’ll find a ship. I’ll stow away, I’ll do anything to get there and find his tambu house and rescue Gabrielle from his grasp. I’ll steal, I’ll rob anyone if it is necessary.” And as the apprentice said those things his eyes flashed fire, his face flushed with all the hope and the emotion that was in him.