A FAMILY AFFAIR. BY S. G. GRANT. ever RAYNOR was supervising the hard body there showed the physical fitness that belongs to those who spend their lives outdoors, while his face and neck, down to the "V" of his open shirt, his arms and knees-for he was wearing the usual shorts -were tanned One a deep tan by the sun. departure from the usual rig he made, however, in the fieldboots that replaced the customary shoes, for much of the new ground was swampy, and Raynor was not such a devotee of the old-fashioned chirurgy as to relish being bled indiscriminately by leeches. clearing of a new "kebun "1 All at once a commotion amongst the coolies brought him back with a jerk to the immediate present, and, instinctively gripping more firmly the stout Malacca he carried, he strode towards the spot with every sense alert. In every movement of his lean 1 Garden, or estate. Evidently some jungle creature had been started up by the intruders upon its domain, for the coolies were aiming blows with axes or sticks, or throwing stones at something which appeared to move very fast, to the accompaniment of a very babel of shouts of 66 Pambu," "2 and much scampering among the débris of the half-cleared ground. As Raynor advanced, the quarry suddenly turned in his direction, and he was able to see that it was a young hamadryad.3 With a well-aimed blow of his stick he disabled the creature, which, however, slid into the hole left by an uprooted tree. Finding he could not use his stick as a 2 Tamil for snake. 3 The most deadly variety of cobra. club, and fortified against risk mahu," said Raynor, hastily of poison-bite by his field- recovering himself, "I suppose boots, Raynor, without more I'm feeling the heat a bit, ado, pinned the writhing body sir!" The elder man regarded to the ground with the end of the younger keenly, and said, his stick, the while he crushed "Better lay off till morning, its head beneath the heel of Raynor, and see how you feel his boot. then. If you aren't up to turning out for muster, Archer can bring me word and I'll put some one else on your clearings." With a few mumbled words of thanks Raynor rose and went off to the bungalow which he shared with Archer, a youth newly arrived from home. Half an hour later, his thirst slaked, and stretched luxuriously in a long rattan chair, Raynor was exchanging the usual daily banter with a bunch of the boys, all dallying with their aperitifs before proceeding to tiffin, when Congdon, the estate manager, came in and joined the party. After some general conversation Congdon turned to Raynor and engaged him in a discussion of the work he had in hand. Evidently something in their conversation started a train of thought in the manager's mind, for, without Raynor having mentioned such a trivial incident as that of the dispatch of the snake, he turned to the company and said, "I remember reading some time ago of the ferocity of the hamadryad where its young are concerned. It will attack, and pursue, any man that disturbs its nest, or interferes with its young-facts which I can verify from my own experience, so I should advise any of you youngsters in the new clearings to keep a sharp look-out- but what's wrong with you, Raynor? Seen the family ghost? Hey, boy! Satu brandy stengah, lakas!' stengah atau "Brandy 1 To enable the reader to understand what follows it is necessary briefly to describe the bungalow. Standing in a small clearing amongst the rubber trees, with a small— and somewhat unkempt-garden in the front, it was a wooden structure built on piles which raised it some three feet from the ground. A wide verandah ran all round the outside, save where it was interrupted at each corner at the back by the bathrooms. The living accommodation consisted of five rooms, two small rooms on either side of a large diningroom which occupied the whole depth of the house between the front and back verandahs. Each of the small rooms communicated with the dining-room, and each of those at the front also had access to the front and side verandahs, and to the other small room behind it. These again opened on to the side and "One small brandy-and-soda, quickly." con Over tiffin Raynor trived to sustain a desultory conversation with Archer, who had not been a witness of the incident at the Club. When the meal ended, Archer went out to his section of the estate, leaving Raynor in his study in a long-sleever with his coffee and cheroot; and his thoughts. ... In the three and a half years that he had been on the estate Raynor had met, and destroyed, a number of snakes of all varieties, including some fully-grown hamadryads. He was therefore quite accustomed to the idea of being always on the look-out for them, in a subconscious habitual sort of way. Nor was he a stranger to the reputation of the hamadryad, and it was therefore with a sense of shame that, face to face with himself, he had to confess that in his heart there was FEAR, a deadly icy numbness that paralysed his nerve and froze his courage. He was ashamed to admit to himself that those few apparently casual words of Congdon's, coming directly after his dispatch of the snake, and perhaps when he was feeling a bit offcolour, had, for the first time in his life, taught him what it means to be afraid. Now it must be urged in his favour that a snake is at no time a pleasant antagonist, even when one pursues it in the relative rôles of huntsman and hunted, but when the position is reversed and the vengeful vicious reptile becomes the hunter, with a human being as his quarry, the said quarry may reasonably be pardoned should he suffer from a temporary palpitation, and a degree of mental suffering commensurate with the intelligence with which he can visualise the probable outcome of the chase. For all the advantages of surprise, of invisibility, of choice of time and terrain for the attack lie with the enemy; no tropical bungalow could refuse him admission should he choose to slay his victim there; any tree, hedge, or ditch would afford him cover from which to attack, or to which to retreat, should he prefer to meet his prey in the open, and when he was off his guard; but for all that it was distinctly annoying, and Raynor suffered all the miseries of humiliation. The more he revolved the matter in his mind, the more did one salient fact emergethat his danger, if danger there were, lay in the “ spoor " that would cling to his field-boots for days. Passing on to consideration of ways and means of avoiding the danger, he rejected the idea of destroying the boots. For one thing, unless he himself did the destruction he might involve some one else; That evening at the coffee stage of dinner he told Archer of Congdon's warning, and mentioned that he intended carrying out his advice whilst working on the new clearings to the extent of carrying his 12-bore gun with him on his rounds. Archer, with the prevailing modesty of youth and inexperience, apostrophised Congdon as an old woman of the masculine gender who ought not to be allowed out without his Amah,' "1 and gave it as his opinion, backed by all the authority conferred by two months in the country, that the alleged "warning" was nothing more than an old stager's device for scaring the credulous tuans kechil.' 66 for another, if it should become his girl in that Hampshire known on the estate and, countryside. somehow, there are few things that do not become public property on estates,-it would be regarded as evidence of panic and a fit subject for ribald jokes at his expense for months to come. Also, and perhaps most potent reason of all, so strangely constituted is even the most average of average Englishman, he had bought those boots when he was gazetted to a temporary commission ; had worn them on cobbled roads in Picardy; in muddy trenches at Contalmaison, and High Wood, and Passchendaele; among the dunes at Nieupoort. No! he could not bring himself to part with such old friends-harking back to those great days when he and they had campaigned to- Having delivered himself of gether had made him his own this pearl of wisdom, Archer man again—but he must cer- lit a fresh cigarette and went tainly tell the "boy" to scrub off to the Club, Raynor dethem and dubbin them. With clining to accompany him on this idea in mind he rose and the plea of the unfinished passed into the bedroom, where, "book." "book." It was a pitch-dark sitting on the edge of his bed night in the last quarter of he removed his boots-for he the moon, and, ere he had was still attired as he came in barely collected his thoughts for tiffin,-undressed, and, don- again to his epistle, the sound ning a bath-robe, went to the of running footsteps outside, bathroom, calling the boy from thence to the verandah and the back verandah to give dining-room, brought Raynor him instructions about cleaning back from his study to see the boots. After bathing and Archer, with shaking hand, changing into flannels the load staring eyes, trembling lips and was so far lifted from his all the appearance of abject mind that he was able to terror, standing in the middle sit down and commence his of the room staring wildly usual weekly "book" as at the door by which he Archer flippantly termed it-to had entered. Raynor with 1 Nurse. "2 2 Little Europeans (junior assistants). difficulty persuaded him to be seated, and to take the stengah he prepared for him. It was some time before he was capable of coherent speech, but Raynor gathered from his babblings that that which he himself dreaded was at his door, for it appeared that Archer was still within the clearing in which stood the bungalow when his attention was riveted upon two points of gleaming light, from the vicinity of which there seemed to proceed a hoarse rattle. Fortunately, his naturally nimble wit prompted him to flight-for he was unarmed, even with a stickbefore the fatal fascination of those twin green orbs proved his undoing; and though he had been pursued to the verandah steps, it did not appear that his pursuer had carried the chase any farther. With this knowledge of the imminence of mortal danger, Raynor became again the man of action. All unconsciously, the same clarity of mind that had been his in France when attack was anticipated and defences had to be put in order characterised him now. He saw in a moment the long dreary vigil that lay ahead, in which there could be no thought of sleep save in turn and turn about with Archer. He saw himself beset by an enemy that, whilst watching his every movement, could render itself invisible to him. He saw his need of a weapon ready to his hand throughout the night, and with this last object in mind he went to his study to prepare his 12-bore for use-for, like all careful men, he kept his gun in grease when it was not in use. Ere he could switch on the light, however, he became aware He even before he saw them-of two malevolent eyes that, from the chair he had occupied in the afternoon, seemed to search his in mocking triumph. hastily switched on the light and retreated, backward, across the dining-room to Archer's study opposite his own, rousing the still-bemused scorner as he went. He knew that Archer kept an old 20-bore ready for use, with cartridges handy, and it was the work of a moment to load up both barrels and dash back with it to his study. Arrived there he saw no sign of the intruder, neither did the most minute search of the study, and then of his bedroom, and then, with the nowrestored Archer in attendance, of every room and verandah in the house, reveal any sign of it. Throughout that long night Raynor and Archer shared an unceasing watch, sitting in the dining-room with all lights on in every room, and not daring to sleep even when it was their turn to do so. The minutes dragged along with feet of lead; each hour seemed an æon. As the clock struck the hours, they carried out a fresh search of all the rooms, but not a glimpse did they get of anything more dangerous than a chee-chah,1 though on 1 Small house-lizard. |