The Ragged Heiress (7 page)

‘He’ll need a splint,’ Lucetta said firmly. ‘You must cut some lengths of bamboo.’ Ignoring the outpouring of bad language as Stranks stomped off into the bush she went down on her knees beside Guthrie. ‘This will hurt a bit.’

‘Just do it, miss. Just do it.’

Taking the knife from his leather belt, Lucetta slit the coarse canvas of his trouser leg. The breath hitched in her throat and a feeling of nausea almost overcame her as she saw the bloody mess where the fractured bones had pierced his skin. Flies swarmed over the wound, attracted by the smell of fresh blood. Lucetta swallowed hard. She must keep calm. She must appear to be in control and then, when the opportunity arose, she would make a dash for the road and safety. She leaned back on her haunches, listening to Stranks crashing through the undergrowth as he hacked at the bamboo. It occurred to her that she could make her escape now, but somehow she could not bring herself to leave the injured man. She covered the exposed wound with her headscarf, and she was busy keeping the flies at bay with a palm leaf when Stranks reappeared carrying an armful of bamboo canes.

‘Get on with it,’ he said, dumping them down beside her. ‘Set the bones so that he can walk out of here.’

Lucetta lifted the scarf, pointing to the injury and shaking her head. ‘I can’t. I haven’t got the strength. It must be done properly.’

‘Bloody useless female,’ Stranks said scornfully. ‘I’ve seen this done a dozen times or more in the penal colony.’ He bent down and without a word of warning he yanked the leg so that the bones snapped back into position with a sickening cracking sound.

Guthrie let out an agonised howl and fainted.

‘There,’ Stranks said, grinning. ‘I told you there weren’t nothing to it. See to him now while he don’t know nothing about it.’

With perspiration dripping into her eyes, Lucetta fashioned a rough splint and bound it in position with her scarf. ‘There,’ she said, rising unsteadily to her feet. ‘I’ve done what I can. Now let me go.’

‘Not on your life, missy.’ Stranks seized her before she had a chance to run, and he twisted her arm behind her back. ‘You’re our ticket to freedom.’

‘You won’t get away with this,’ Lucetta said, wincing with pain as he gave her arm a savage twist. ‘You’ll never get off the island.’

Stranks chortled with laughter, although there was no humour in the sound. ‘You may think I’m stupid, but I know who you are. Guthrie and me was waiting to be taken on board the
Caroline
when you come ashore in your fancy clothes and with that pretty little nose stuck in the air. I don’t know who your pa is but I can smell money a mile off. I’m sure he’ll be only too happy to pay for the return of his little darling, and the authorities won’t touch Guthrie and me while we’ve got you in tow.’

He released Lucetta with a savage push that sent her staggering. She would have fallen to the ground had she not clutched a liana which hung from a tall banyan tree.

‘How far do you think you’ll get with him in that condition?’ she demanded. ‘Your friend can’t stand, let alone walk, and do you know where you’re headed? If you go back to Benoa harbour you’ll be caught for certain.’

‘And you’ve got a lot of lip for someone in your position,’ Stranks said, scowling. ‘But if you must know, we’re making for Gilimanuk. Guthrie and me can get
a boat to Java from there. We got money and we can buy a passage to somewhere the law won’t catch up with us.’

‘Gilimanuk is miles away to the north. You’ll never make it.’

‘I’ll make it all right, and the first thing I’ll do when we get there is wring your neck and feed you to the sharks.’

‘But why burden yourself with a woman and an injured man?’ Lucetta said softly. ‘You could make Gilimanuk in a couple of days if you went alone.’

‘And leave you to set the law on me? D’you think I’m a complete fool?’ Stranks raised his hand as if to strike her but a low moan from Guthrie diverted his attention.

‘Water. For God’s sake give me water.’

‘There ain’t none,’ Stranks said gruffly. ‘Hang on there, mate. I’m parched too, but I’ve got to sort this trull out afore I go looking for water.’

He took a step towards Lucetta, pulling a knife from his belt, and for a terrifying moment she thought he intended to kill her, but he hacked a length off the liana and seizing her by the shoulders, he pinned her arms behind her back. He lashed her wrists together and cutting a longer length of the vine, he bound her to the trunk of the banyan tree. ‘There, that’ll hold you until I get back.’

Lucetta was about to scream for help, but Stranks slapped his hand over her mouth, holding his knife to her throat. ‘One peep from you, missy, and I really will slit your gullet.’

She did not doubt that he meant every word he said, and she was barely surprised when he ripped a length from the hem of her sarong and gagged her so that she could not utter a sound. He grinned, revealing an uneven row of blackened teeth. ‘That’ll keep you quiet for a bit, Miss High and Mighty.’

He was gone for what seemed like hours and Lucetta had to suffer the torment of flies buzzing around her face while ants crawled over her feet and made exploratory trips up her bare legs. Guthrie lapsed in and out of consciousness, begging for water in his lucid moments, his eyes beseeching Lucetta for help that she was unable to give. His groans of pain became unintelligible gibberish as fever racked his body. Lucetta could only watch helplessly and wait for Stranks to return.

A green snake slithered from the undergrowth and she held her breath as it moved towards Guthrie’s inert body. She hoped that he would remain unconscious as the reptile stopped, its forked tongue flicking in and out as it absorbed the scent of the man lying on the forest floor. Don’t let it come near me, Lucetta prayed silently, as sweat trickled down her face and neck. The snake raised its flat head and stared at her with basilisk eyes, then just as suddenly as it had come it disappeared into the undergrowth. Shuddering violently, Lucetta felt tears of relief pouring from her eyes.

Guthrie moaned and began thrashing about and a bubble of hysteria rose in Lucetta’s throat; if he’d come to moments sooner the snake would almost certainly
have struck one of them. She was shaking from head to foot with sheer relief and she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

The sound of cracking twigs and muffled footsteps brought her abruptly back to her senses. Had she been missed? Could this be a rescue party? Her hopes were dashed when it was Stranks who stumbled through the bamboo and pandanus fronds followed by two sturdy Balinese men carrying long bamboo poles and a rolled up seagrass mat. While the men constructed a rough stretcher, Stranks produced a rush basket filled with coconuts. Piercing one with the tip of his knife he held it to Guthrie’s parched lips. Some of the cool milk trickled into his mouth although most of it seemed to run down his chin, but it had the desired effect and Guthrie’s eyelids fluttered and opened.

‘That’s the ticket, mate,’ Stranks said. ‘Drink some more.’

Guthrie coughed and spluttered as he slipped back into unconsciousness and Stranks rose to his feet, tossing the coconut into the bushes. Brandishing his knife he moved towards Lucetta and cut her bonds. ‘Don’t try and speak to them,’ he said, jerking his head towards the men. ‘They don’t understand English.’ He took the gag from her mouth and pressed a coconut in her hands. ‘Drink this and we’ll be on our way. Try to escape and I’ll kill you.’

Their progress through the dense rainforest was slow. Stranks tied Lucetta’s hands in front of her and she found herself tied to him with an umbilical cord of
liana fastened to his waist. He charged on ahead of the stretcher bearers, slashing at the undergrowth with his knife. Lucetta stumbled in his wake and soon her legs were scratched and bleeding, making every faltering step even more painful. Guthrie’s moans and feverish cries echoed through the forest, startling the macaques and black monkeys as they swung from branch to branch in the leafy canopy overhead. Lizards darted across their feet and to her horror, Stranks almost bumped into a python that hung like a trapeze artist from an overhanging limb of a flame tree. Seemingly more startled than they were, the snake coiled itself up and disappeared into the foliage.

Lucetta almost fell when she twisted her ankle in a hole where some animal had made its burrow. She managed to regain her balance but Stranks stopped and swore at her. ‘You nearly had me over, you silly bitch.’

‘Have a heart,’ Lucetta murmured, clutching her side as a painful stitch almost doubled her up. ‘We can’t go much further. It will be dark soon and we won’t be able to see a thing.’

‘Tell me something I don’t know,’ Stranks hissed.

The stretcher bearers had laid Guthrie gently on the ground and the elder of the two men came scurrying towards Stranks, talking volubly and waving his hands.

‘Can’t understand a word, mate,’ Stranks said, shrugging his shoulders.

Pointing to a tiny patch of sky above them, the man chattered on, shaking his head.

‘I think he’s trying to tell you that it will soon be
nightfall,’ Lucetta said, folding her arms across her chest as a shiver ran down her spine. The thought of spending a night in the forest was too terrifying to contemplate. The local men seemed to agree with her as they eyed Stranks warily, shaking their heads. Lucetta found herself wishing that she had learned some of their language instead of expecting Naomi and the other servants to master the English tongue. If only she could make them understand that her father would give them a rich reward for her safe return.

‘Move on,’ Stranks ordered.

The men shook their heads, speaking in unison. ‘
Tan
.’

It was the one word that Lucetta understood. It was a very definite no.

‘Not tan, you bloody native,’ Stranks roared. He drew a leather pouch from his pocket and tipped some coins into his hand, holding it out to them. ‘Me pay more, savvy?’

‘Don’t speak to them like that,’ Lucetta protested. ‘Do you want them to abandon us in the middle of the jungle?’ Infuriated by his stupidity, she tugged on the liana which joined them together, catching him off balance so that he fell to his knees. His shouts and curses were drowned by the men’s laughter; they seemed to think it was the funniest thing they had ever seen. The older man picked up the coins that Stranks had dropped and threw them at him. Still laughing, they turned on their heels and vanished into the bush.

Stranks rose to his feet, slashing at the liana and freeing Lucetta. ‘This is all your fault. I should slit your throat here and now.’ He raised the knife as if he meant
to kill her but a sudden downpour drenched them to the skin in seconds. The shock of the warm rainwater cascading over him stopped Stranks as if he had been turned to stone. He raised his face to the sky and opened his mouth, swallowing the water in noisy gulps. Lucetta followed suit. Never had fresh water tasted so sweet. Momentarily forgetting about her captors, even though her wrists were still bound, she raised her arms above her head and allowed the tropical rain to wash the dust and sweat from her body. Even Guthrie seemed a little quieter as the water cooled his fever and moistened his dry lips.

It was over as suddenly as it had begun. Stranks seized Lucetta by the hair and just when she thought she had breathed her last, he brought the knife down and slit the liana fibres that bound her wrists. He pushed her away from him. ‘You won’t get far, so don’t try to escape.’

She rubbed her chafed flesh, eyeing him warily. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘Not that it’s any business of yours, but I’m going to find a safe place to get some rest. You stay here and look after Guthrie.’ He trudged off, his booted feet squelching in the newly formed mud.

Lucetta’s knees gave way beneath her and she sank down on a dead log. Stranks was right; she wouldn’t get far on her own. She was completely lost and in a very short time the tropical night would wrap itself around them like black velvet. Already she could hear the ‘geck-oh’ night call of the geckos and the continuous croaking of frogs. The undergrowth surrounding
them was alive with sound and the foliage above her head rustled with the movement of bats and other nocturnal creatures. Guthrie had quietened considerably and was muttering feverishly as he lay on the now sodden matting.

Her stomach rumbled and she realised that she was extremely hungry. She picked up the sack that Stranks had bought from the Balinese villagers and emptied it onto the ground. Two coconuts rolled onto the forest floor followed by a bunch of finger-sized bananas and a couple of star fruit. Without stopping to think how Stranks might react when he discovered that some of the fruit was missing, she peeled a banana and sank her teeth into the sweet flesh, barely chewing it before swallowing. She ate another and was about to gobble a third when she realised that Guthrie had opened his eyes and was staring at her. She knelt down beside him, breaking off a small piece of banana and holding it to his lips. ‘Try to eat. You need to keep your strength up.’ As obedient as a small child, he opened his mouth and chewed the soft fruit, gulping it down with an effort.

‘Water,’ he croaked. ‘Give me water.’

Lucetta picked up a coconut and tried smashing it against a stone, but the hard shell withstood the shock and it bounced out of her hand. Stranks was the only one who possessed a knife and the milk would have to remain inside the nut until his return. She tore a strip from his shirt, which was still damp enough to moisten his cracked lips. She could not be certain, but she thought he smiled at her as he lapsed into merciful
unconsciousness. There was nothing more she could do and she returned to the log, sitting down and wrapping her arms around her knees as the darkness enveloped them.

She thought about her parents. Father would be frantic by now and Mama would be prostrate on her bed with a cold compress on her brow and a vial of hartshorn clutched in her hand. Sir John would be furious and Lady Boothby would say it was only to be expected of a wilful young girl who spent her time idling round the house instead of helping the sick and disadvantaged at the charity hospital. Lucetta made a silent vow to atone for her disobedience, but imagining her parents’ distress was too painful and even worse, she might die here in the Balinese jungle and never have the chance to say that she was sorry.