Survival (17 page)

TWENTY-SIX

Alex lay on his belly in the undergrowth. Only a thin screen of high grasses separated him from the beach. Carefully he reached out and parted the grasses with his fingers. Out on the beach, the two older pirates were still down by the boat, playing cards. The younger one was much closer to Alex's hiding-place. He was standing over the campfire he had built, stirring the contents of a large cooking pot. Scattered all around him on the sand were empty, catering-sized cans which the pirates had taken from the yacht.

Alex was close enough to read the labels on the cans. He smiled as he saw what had gone into the cookpot. Beef stew, spicy tomato sauce, anchovies in oil, hot peppers and savoury rice. Good. The hotter the concoction, the better their plan would work. The young pirate scooped out a spoonful of the stew and tasted it. He coughed, then nodded his approval. The meal was nearly ready. It was time for Alex to move.

Directly ahead of him lay the pile of firewood the pirates had collected. Stacked next to it were the wooden crates of supplies they had taken from the yacht. Alex eased out of the sheltering undergrowth on his belly, then, using the crates as cover, he wormed over to the woodpile. For a few seconds, he stayed motionless, his head down, listening. Everything was quiet. He had not been spotted.

Reaching into his pouch, Alex pulled out a handful of tinder-dry kindling and his magnifying glass. He pushed the kindling into the woodpile, then angled the magnifying glass so that a concentrated beam of sunlight arrowed into the centre of the dry kindling like a laser. A thin thread of white smoke began to rise. The smoke grew thicker, then the kindling burst into flame. Alex blew on the kindling and the flames began to spread to the rest of the woodpile. He watched the fire grow. The flames were almost invisible in the sunshine but the fire had definitely taken hold.

Alex wormed his way back into the undergrowth, then skirted round the edge of the beach to Li's hiding-place further along. As Alex flopped down beside Li, the young pirate spotted the burning woodpile and yelled. The other two pirates dropped their cards and raced up the beach to help him pull the crates of supplies away from the flames.

'Now!' hissed Alex.

Li shot out of the undergrowth and raced for the cookpot at a crouching run. She dived down behind the pot and tried to make herself as small as possible while she fumbled a leaf parcel out of her pocket and opened it.

'Come on, come on,' whispered Alex, from the undergrowth. The pirates were still moving the crates to safety but there were only a few left to go.

Li's hand rose above the top of the cookpot and shook the contents of the leaf into the stew.

'Good,' muttered Alex. 'Now get out of there.'

Incredibly, Li stayed where she was. She picked up the spoon from the flat stone beside the fire, reached up again and began to stir the stew. Alex groaned and glanced over to the pirates. The last crate was being carried to safety. Any second now, they would turn and walk back to the cooking fire.

At last Li put the spoon back on the stone and headed back for the undergrowth, just as the pirates dumped the last crate and turned towards the campfire. Li was still out in the open, in plain view. Alex went into a crouch, ready to fight them if he had to. But the pirates were arguing again and looking back at the blazing woodpile rather than ahead to the campfire. Li somersaulted herself into the undergrowth just as the youngest pirate turned his face back to the campfire and stalked up to the pot.

'Cutting it fine,' whispered Alex.

'I had to stir. He would've noticed it otherwise,' whispered Li.

They crouched together, watching as the pirate picked up the spoon and stirred the pot. Would he notice anything? But the pirate hardly looked into the pot. He was concentrating on sending sullen glares across at the other two pirates who were back at the motor launch. He lifted out another spoonful and tasted, then stopped suddenly and stared into the stew. Alex and Li held their breath. The pirate looked over his shoulder at the other two. They had their heads down, sorting out their cards. The pirate smiled slyly, leaned over the pot and spat into the stew. Then he turned and called the other two to dinner.

Alex and Li grinned at one another, then eased out of the undergrowth. They joined Amber, Paulo and Hex behind the bamboo cage. Amber had already whispered the plan to Philippe while she loosened the twisted wire around his wrists and eased his hands free. Now all they had to do was wait.

'Are you sure those seeds were poisonous?' whispered Paulo an hour later.

'Yes,' snapped Li. 'The oil in them is a powerful purgative.'

'A what?'

'She means it comes out at both ends,' said Amber. 'Am I right?'

Li nodded. 'It's pretty violent.'

Paulo peered out through the bushes at the three pirates. They had finished their meal and were lounging around the fire, smoking cigarettes. 'If it ever gets going,' he muttered. 'Are you sure we used enough of them?'

'Well are you sure you crushed the seeds properly?' flashed Li, glaring at Paulo.

'Yes I did!'

'Calm down,' said Alex, from behind them. 'You should've seen the ingredients in that stew. They must have stomachs of steel. It'll probably take a bit longer than normal.'

The other three lapsed into silence, watching for any sign of the poison seeds taking effect. Alex leaned over Hex where he lay on the stretcher. He had some colour in his cheeks again, his fever was lessening and he was starting to come awake. Alex gripped Hex's shoulder and squeezed. 'You'll live,' he breathed.

'Here we go!' whispered Li excitedly.

Out on the beach, one of the pirates was standing up, clutching his stomach. He leaned forward and vomited onto the sand. The other two pirates staggered to their feet. One clutched the seat of his pants and sprinted for the rainforest. The other one threw up into the cookpot.

'Come on,' said Li. 'They're not going to be noticing anything much for quite a while. It's time to open the cage.'

Alex used his knife to saw through the vine lashings at the back of the cage, then he and Paulo lifted out a whole section of the bars. Paulo and Li dashed in, helped Philippe to his feet, then walked him quickly into the cover of the rainforest. Beatrice followed, carrying Robert. He clung to her neck and his legs were wrapped around her waist. Amber put out her hand to Emilie and smiled down at the little girl. 'Come with me, little one,' she said in French. 'It's time to go.'

They marched as fast as they could. Alex, Paulo, Li and Amber led the way, carrying Hex's stretcher. Beatrice was next, still carrying Robert and muttering
'Merci, merci, merci'
over and over again in a dazed voice. Little Emilie marched along behind her mother and Philippe Larousse took up the rear. He was suffering from the beating he had taken, but the escape had given him new hope and energy and he held his head high as he stumbled along.

It was easy for them to find the way back through the rainforest. Alex's trail-markers dotted the route. The party made steady progress and soon they were struggling up the rising ground which led to the lower slopes of the mountain.

'We'll rest when we get out of the forest,' called Alex and the others nodded behind him, saving their breath for the climb. The leaf canopy became thinner and, gradually, the trees became smaller and more spaced out until finally, they left the dense green forest behind and came out onto the shoulder of the mountain. They found a shade tree and collapsed underneath it.

Paulo pulled three mangoes and the last of the water from the rucksack and shared them out. They chewed the juicy fruit and sipped the water slowly, letting the moisture ease their dry mouths. For a while, nobody spoke. The march through the forest had exhausted them all. They lay flat on their backs, staring up into the leaves of the tree. Robert fell asleep against his mother's side and Emilie came to sit beside Amber, gripping her hand and looking down into her face with solemn, brown eyes. Finally, Philippe sat up with his back against the tree and turned his bruised, swollen face towards them.

'I do not know how to thank you,' he said in accented but perfect English. 'I thought our lives were over. Then you appeared like - like a miracle! I wonder, where did you come from?'

'That's a long story,' began Amber.

'We fell asleep in a ship's tender. It came adrift. We washed up here,' said Alex simply.

'Yeah, OK,' laughed Amber. 'Not such a long story.'

'And what are your names?' asked Philippe.

'Right,' said Amber. 'The guy on the stretcher, that's Hex.'

'Ah, the boy with the blood poisoning. He is recovering now?'

'He's doing fine,' said Alex, looking down at Hex and swatting a fly away from his face.

'That's Alex,' said Amber. 'He's our survival expert. He showed us how to build our camp.' She turned to Emilie, speaking in French. 'Wait till you see our camp, Emilie! We have beds and shelters and even running water!' The little girl nodded seriously.

'OK,' continued Amber. 'That's Li over there. She fought a komodo dragon and won. And that's Paulo. He can build or fix anything. Back at the camp, he built us a bamboo aqueduct.'

Emilie tugged at Amber's fingers. 'He is very handsome,' she whispered in French.

'What did she say?' asked Paulo.

'She said you're ugly and you smell,' said Amber.

'No she didn't,' said Paulo, smugly. He grinned and waggled his eyebrows at Emilie and, for the first time, they saw her smile.

'And I'm Amber. Amber Middleton.'

'Middleton?' Philippe leaned forward, looking more closely at Amber. 'The software Middletons? I thought you looked familiar. I knew your mother and father.'