Chapter 16. A Strange Fever

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_ CHAPTER SIXTEEN. A STRANGE FEVER

It was to Archie Maine like a bad attack of the fever from which he had suffered when he first went up-country in the gunboat from Singapore. There was that horrible beating and throbbing in his head, only intensely more confusing than it had been then; and sometimes, when he could think and everything did not seem mentally upside-down, he was being puzzled by two questions. One was, "Is it jungle fever?" the other, "Is it the throbbing and beating of the gunboat engines?" And this latter he favoured the more because he felt convinced that the heat, the burning, scorching heat, in his head must be because they had put him in a berth close by the furnace fires.

Throb, throb--burn, burn--and then all nothingness for long enough. He could not move; he could not speak; he could not think; only hour after hour in the midst of the throbbing pain he felt dried up, choking with thirst, and always fighting hard to get back the power to think.

What did it all mean? Where was he? There was the throbbing as of the engines, and the heat, but somehow he felt that he could not be on the gunboat. For once in a way there was a roar as of wild beasts; then it was not the roar of wild beasts, for it seemed to be the blast of a bugle, out of tune, harsh, and blown by some horrible giant, so big, so vast, so confusing that, as he was trying to think what it could be and why, everything was all confusion again. If he could only think! If he could only make it out, why it was, and what it was! And he was in a hurry to do this. It seemed as if he was struggling with all his might to be able to think, before everything was shut down again.

He did not know what was going to be shut down, or what there was to be shut down. He did not understand; but he could feel the awful heat, the heavy, burning, throbbing pain, and with it--there was nothing. And what was nothing? Nothing but darkness and the great question: why?-- which grew and grew and grew till it became bigger and bigger and resolved itself into something going round and round; and that something seemed to be why he could not think.

How long this went on Archie did not know; but after a time in the darkness there seemed to come a faint dawning like a feeble ray of light, which suggested that he must be at home in England on a frightfully hot day, lying down on one of the benches in the Lion House at the Zoo. For there was that tremendous giant's roar or trumpeting sound, and this must, he knew, be one of the savage beasts, and had something to do with his having suddenly dropped to sleep and being wakened by the bellowing sound.

Then more darkness--silence--the ever-increasing confusion and whir, and nothingness, till some time or other there was a fresh coming of the dawn, in the midst of which he felt something that seemed wonderfully cool and moist laid upon his head, and a voice that seemed to come from miles away whispered:

"Poor old chap!"

Then all was dark again, and he seemed to be dreaming of the fever and the doctor that was talking to him and telling him that there were six of the men just as bad as he was, and that he was to take _that_. He could think now, for he distinctly heard him say:

"Tip it up. It will do you good."

And somehow the engines seemed to have been stopped, and he felt as if he was being lifted on to some one's arm away from the tremendous heat of the engine fires, and he knew it was the Doctor--good old Morley!-- who was holding a very hard wooden cup to his lips for him to drink the medicine. No, it was not nasty; it was beautifully cool and good. He felt that the Doctor had put in so much water that he could not taste the physic; and he drank on and on, every drop seeming to make it easier at last to think. And then the cup was being taken from his lips, and he tried to raise his hand to catch it and hold it so that he might drink more; but his arm fell as if nerveless, and he uttered a deep groan.

"Oh, come!" rose to his ears now, as if from a long way off. "That's something! Ain't going to die this time."

"Not going to die this time," some one whispered, as if it were breathed with a hot breath upon his lips; and then he lay thinking in a very feeble way, and feeling the while so tired, as a great longing came over him to go to sleep. It seemed like hours before that longing was fulfilled; and then he woke up not knowing why or wherefore, or grasping anything but that it was dark, black dark; and then he felt, with a strange sense of agony, that all his trouble was returning, for the trumpeting roar thundered through his brain, and he lay perfectly still as the deep sound ceased, ending with a peculiar kind of snort and a squeal, feeling that there was no pain, and beginning to wonder why.

Time passed again--how long a time it was beyond him to grasp--but there was that peculiar trumpeting roar once more, and somehow it did not trouble him so much. The fancy that he was in the Lion House had faded away, and he became conscious of the Doctor passing his arm under his neck and raising him, while the wooden cup was being held to his lips-- cool, sweet, delicious--it was one great joy to feel the soft draught running over his parched tongue and down his throat.

Then he started, and he felt some of the contents of the cup trickle down his chin, for there was a shrill trumpeting noise again as the desire to exert himself came, and he exclaimed:

"What's that?"

It was only in a whisper, but the Doctor--no, it was not the Doctor; it was some one whose voice he knew--said excitedly:

"Helephants." And then, "I say, Mister Archie, sir, you're a-coming round!"

That was too much for him. He wanted to ask what it meant--why it was Peter Pegg who had been holding up his head, and not the Doctor--but he could not form the words for the deep, heavy sleepiness which came over him; and then all was darkness once more, mental and real.

Long enough after, Archie Maine found himself thinking again, and wondering where he was and why it was so dark; but he could make out nothing, till he gradually began to feel about him, slowly, cautiously, as if in dread of something about to happen, for the sensation was horrible of being nowhere and in danger of falling should he move. Then there was a sudden feeling of consciousness, for he touched a hot hand, and a familiar voice said:

"'Wake, sir? Like a drink?"

"Yes. That you, Pete?"

"Me it is, sir. Lie still, and I will give you a cocoa-nut-shellful of water, and--and--Oh my! Oh my! Oh Lor'! I can't help it!"

And Archie lay thinking clearly enough now, and wondering why it was that the big fellow who had spoken crouched close by him quivering, and the hand that had grasped his roughly was shaking violently, as he lay there blubbering and sobbing with all his might.

"What's the matter?" whispered Archie, in the midst of his wonder.

"Oh, it's only me, sir," cried the lad in a choking voice. "I couldn't help it. It would ha' been just the same if I'd been on parade. It would come. It's been ready to bust out all this time. I thought you was going to die, sir--I thought you was going to die!"

"Die, Pete! No! What for?"

"Don't you know, sir?"

"No-o," said Archie wonderingly.

"Here, stop a minute; let me give you some water."

And in the darkness Archie lay listening to the pleasant, musical, trickling sound of falling water; while directly after, as he felt the private's hand passed under his neck, he made an effort to rise, and fell a-wondering again, for he could not stir.

But the next minute there was a fancied feeling of returning strength as he swallowed the cool draught with avidity, drinking till the desire came upon him to sink back with a deep sigh of content, and he felt his companion's arm withdrawn.

"Go to sleep after that, can't you?" whispered the private.

"No; I want to know what it all means."

"Hadn't you better go to sleep, sir?"

"No!" cried Archie, in a voice so full of the agony of desire that Peter spoke out excitedly:

"Well, we are prisoners, sir."

"Prisoners! How? Why?"

"I d'know, sir."

"You don't know!" panted Archie feebly. "Oh, you are trying to keep it back!"

"That I ain't, sir. I'll tell you what I do know. Somebody's took us prisoners--some of them Malay chaps. I think it must be that Rajah Hamet's men, as they says are our enemies."

"No, no; he's our friend."

"Then it must be t'other one, sir. You remember when you come by in the boat that moonlight night?"

"Boat! What moonlight night?"

"Oh, Lor' ha' mussy!" muttered Peter. "He can't be fit to talk."

"What's that you are saying to yourself? Why don't you speak?"

"Don't you remember hailing me, sir, when I was on sentry-go?"

"No."

"Nor me telling you to mind the crocs didn't try to come aboard your boat?"

"No. What are you talking about?"

"Oh, my word!" sighed Peter. "Here's a pretty go! Talk about a poor fellow being off his chump!" Then aloud, as he felt the lad's hand feebly feeling for his, "It was like this 'ere, sir. You must have got into some row with a boatful of the niggers, and they knocked you over the head."

"Knocked me over the head?" said Archie dreamily. "No, I don't remember. Here, give me some more water."

Peter Pegg hurriedly filled the cup--half a cocoa-nut shell--and Archie drank a mouthful and pushed it away.

"Let me lie down again," he said.--"Now go on. Knocked me over the head?" he said very slowly and thoughtfully, as if weighing his words. "Did you know that?"

"Yes, sir."

"You said you were on sentry?"

"That's right, sir."

"Then why didn't you come and help me?"

"I was coming, sir, bull roosh, when just as I was running along the river-bank, wondering how I was to swim out to you among them crocodiles, some one popped out from the bushes and fetched me down with an awful crack on the pan."

"Struck you down?"

"Yes, sir. Hit me crool. There's a lump on the top now as big as your fist. Regularly knocked me silly. Just as they must have served you-- knocked every bit of sense out of me. There warn't much in, as old Tipsy says, but I didn't know no more till I found myself here, feeling sick as a dog, and not able to move, for I was lying awkward-like on my back, with some of them thin rotan canes tied round my arms and legs so tight that it was only at times I knowed I had any arms and legs at all."

"Poor fellow!" said Archie pityingly.

"Yes, I just have been a poor fellow, sir--poor creature, as they called them up in my part of the country. Why, I have been quite mazed-like. That topper I got seemed to do for me altogether; and when I come-to, here I was lying in this place, not knowing where I was, and, like you, sir, I couldn't make out what it meant."

"And in the darkness, too," said Archie, "just like this?"

"Like which, sir? Why, it ain't dark now!"

"Black darkness," said Archie.

The young private whistled softly and said nothing, but shook his head and thought.

"But you know what place it is, don't you, Pete?"

"Well, I suppose it's part of one of the Rajah's roosts; but, as I tell you, my head's felt so muddled, and just as if some of the works had been knocked loose, that even now I don't seem to be able to tell t'other from which. Well, I am getting it clearer now, and of course it must be at Mr Prince Suleiman's. Why, to be sure it must; and if my wheels inside had been going as they should, I should have thought it out at once. It must be at the Rajah's place, because of the helephants as you 'eerd now and then. They must have a sort of stable close by here. And then--why, of course--I'm just as 'fused-like as you are, sir--that French count chap came in to see us the other day, and talked to me."

"He came here?" said Archie in his slow, dreamy way.

"Yes, sir; that he did."

"But I want to know," said Archie, "why we were attacked like this and I was so hurt. There seems to have been no cause or reason for it."

"Well, I d'know, sir. I can't think much more than you can. Maybe we shall see it clearly as we gets better; but it looks to me as if it's his doing, out of spite, like, for our interfering with him when he came that night and Joe Smithers arrested him and gave the alarm."

"Perhaps so," said Archie. "My head's going wrong again. I can't think."

"Then you take my advice, sir: don't you try. Try and eat a bit, for it's five days since you have had a bite, counting the night we was took."

"Five days!" said Archie.

"That's right, sir. Think you could eat one of these fruits--I don't know what you call them--melons like?"

"No," said Archie, with a shudder.

"Well, I don't wonder, sir. I couldn't at first. They brought in a lot of bananas with the water, but I couldn't touch 'em at first. When that Frenchman came, though, and saw that I hadn't eaten anything, he turned rusty, and said I was trying to starve myself to death, and that it wouldn't do, because I must remember that I was a horstrich now, and I wasn't to play no tricks like that."

"Said you were an ostrich?"

"Yes, sir; that's right. I don't know why, and I thought perhaps I hadn't heard him rightly, being so muddled-like. But I'm sure now that's what he said. Perhaps he said it because he thought I was a long-legged one and meant to run away; and I should have been about doing so before now if there hadn't been reasons."

"What reasons, Pete?"

"Why, you, sir. You don't suppose I was going to cut and leave my mate in such a hole as this?"

"Ostrich?" said Archie dreamily. "What could he mean by that? Oh-- prisoners! He called you a hostage, and we are to be kept as hostages for some reason connected with something that's going on."

"Ah! that's right, sir."

As the young private sat on the palm-leaf-covered floor of the wooden building, gazing at his companion in misfortune, and thinking of how changed he looked, Archie slowly closed his eyes and appeared to be asleep, though he was now trying to make up for lost time, and thinking deeply.

"Wonder what's the matter with his eyes," mused the young private. "He can't see, or else he wouldn't keep on talking about its being dark."

Suddenly Archie unclosed his eyes and said:

"Are your legs and wrists better now?"

"It's my head that was the worst, sir," was the reply.

"But you said that your legs and wrists were so cruelly tied up that the canes cut into your flesh."

"Oh yes, sir; that was at first. But when that Frenchie came in he told the Malay chaps to untie 'em, so that I could wait upon you--and precious glad I was."

"But how did you manage to see to give me the water?"

"I couldn't in the night, sir; but I can now.--It's no use to tell the poor chap that it's quite light, for he's all puzzled-like yet," thought the private. Then aloud, "I'd just go to sleep a bit now, sir, if I was you."

"What for?"

"Rest your head, sir. You will feel a deal better when you wake again, and perhaps see a bit clearer."

"Perhaps you are right, Pete," said Archie, with a sigh; "but I am better now. Most of the pain seems to be gone."

"Good luck to you, sir! I wish mine had, for there are times when I seem as if I could not think straight."

Archie made no reply, and as the young private watched him he saw that the poor fellow's eyes were once more closed; and the lad half lay on the crisp leaves, which rustled loudly at every movement, and mused on their position.

"One would expect," he said to himself, "that at any minute a company of our swaddies would be here to fetch us out of this. At the same time, one ought to be ready to help one's self. Can't do anything, of course, with Mister Archie like this; but I have got my ideas about doing something some night if I can get a chance.--Oh, there you are, my beauties! I keep on hearing you, and you set me thinking. Wonder whether I could do it if I tried. I must wait till he comes round a bit more, and then I mean to try. Wonder whether they set sentries over us. Most likely; but if they do they will have to be dodged."

There was a rumbling noise, which came from one of the elephants stabled near, and Peter Pegg shook his head slowly as if he were imitating the customary habit of a tethered elephant, and in imagination the private seemed to see one of the leg-chained beasts softly bowing its head up and down, and slowly from side to side, swinging it as if it were on springs.

"If I asked that chap who brings the water to let me see the helephants he would see through me, so I won't do it--make him 'spicious; and he wouldn't understand me if I did. His is an awful foolish lingo. Might perhaps get outside the door or window some night and have a look for them in the dark. Ah, there's no knowing what I might do when he gets better."

Private Pegg started violently, for all at once Archie started up excitedly, and sat with widely opened eyes, gazing wildly straight before him, his hands extended, and trembling violently; while, as his fellow-prisoner leaned forward and caught him by the arm to try and soothe him, believing him to be in pain, he snatched his hand away, and in a piteous cry uttered the one word:

"Minnie!"

Peter Pegg waited for a few moments, half-stunned by this new form of trouble, and offered the first palliative that occurred to him.

"Have some more water, Mister Archie," he said huskily.

"No, no! Don't you see? Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Tell you what before, sir?"

"About Miss Heath."

"About Miss Doctor, sir? It was her, then, as was with you in the boat?"

"Yes, yes! Why didn't you remind me?"

"Never thought about it, sir. I never--my word!--I--"

"Yes, yes; I see it all now! It has all come back. That blindness and misery has cleared off like a veil. Man, man! when those wretches attacked me she was with me in the boat; and we stop here, helpless and prisoners, while she--Oh for health and strength! Pegg, there's not a moment to be lost! We must escape somehow, and get back to camp. Her poor aunt! What must she think!" _

Read next: Chapter 17. Dr. Pegg Muses

Read previous: Chapter 15. Peter's Sentry-Go

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