Read Ebook: Ran away from the Dutch by Perelaer M T H Michael Theophile Hubert Mendes A P Editor Blok Maurice Translator

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Ebook has 1809 lines and 103378 words, and 37 pages

The sergeant returned with a report that nobody had seen the Chinaman that day.

Orders were then given that the sergeant and six soldiers should go to the kampong and invite the Chief of the district to visit the Commander immediately. "Proceed cautiously," said the Colonel. "The gates will be guarded until you return. The sentinels must redouble their vigilance and keep a sharp lookout. I shall presently go around myself to see how all goes on."

After the departure of the sergeant, the Colonel took up the letter, which he had thrown on the table, and read:

"High-born and Honored Colonel.--We shall be a long way off when this letter is read by you. You will undoubtedly use every effort to recapture us, but all will be in vain. Our measures have been well taken and you will never see one of us back alive. We have had enough of the Dutch service.

"We thank you most cordially, dear Colonel, for the noble treatment we have received at your hands. If any one could have reconciled us to our condition and prevented our embarking on our present dangerous enterprise, it would have been you. But who can assure us that you will remain in command over us! The time we have yet to serve is long and men's characters are not alike. We Swiss have been cruelly deceived by the recruiting officers of the Dutch army. We refrain from saying where the deceit lies. You are able to fathom our misery in all its extent. We have been enticed from our lovely valleys under the most wicked pretences; we were promised the greatest advantages, but of all these promises nothing has ever been realized.

"But why should we write all this to you--you who are entirely blameless for the miseries we suffer? We know that you have done all you could to render our fate supportable and on that account we do not wish to appear guilty in your eyes. We will be called, and we certainly are, deserters; but we do not deserve the ignominy which will cling to our names. You at least could not misjudge us. We might have considered ourselves bound to the Dutch government, but when we perceived that we were the victims of foul duplicity our contract did not appear binding upon us. In transactions of such a nature it is not fair that one side only should fulfill its duties, while the other is left free to carry out such part of its engagement as is found convenient."

"Poor wretches," said the Colonel.

"But," he continued reading, "some excuse might well be offered by us for our desertion, and on that score our consciences are easy. Necessity compels us to act as we are doing. Judge for yourself. You kindly lent us your theodolite, field-glasses, sextant and compass in order that we might keep up our knowledge of surveying. Some of those instruments we have decided to take with us. The last two are especially indispensable to us, since without them we should soon be lost in our proposed journey. The theodolite we will leave in Johannes' cabin. Pray pardon us this dishonesty. You may rest assured that we will either return the borrowed instruments or forward the cost as soon as we find ourselves once more among civilized nations. And now, dear Colonel, may God reward you for the kind treatment we have received from you. We feel that a hard chase after us is about to commence. God protect us. Farewell.

"Schlickeisen, "Wienersdorf.

"P. S.--If we should perish in our efforts to regain our liberty our fate will not remain long concealed from you. We entreat you by everything you value, by the memory of your lamented mother, to inform our parents of our end. You will find full particulars of their addresses in our military pass-books. Once more, farewell."

"Poor devils," repeated the Colonel, wiping away a tear as if he felt humiliated by his emotion. "What a miserable fate these men have gone to encounter." He then laid the letter on the table, giving vent to a deep sigh and became wrapt in meditation. He was interrupted by the entrance of the garrison doctor, who rushed into the room with an angry and excited countenance.

The doctor was a tall, slender man, with bristly red hair and a pair of yellow mustaches, the points of which were kept well waxed so that they stood out as if trying to reach behind his ears. He also had received a letter which he held in his hand.

"Himmelskreuz! The rogue has bolted."

He was evidently a Prussian or South German.

"What? Who?" asked the Colonel.

"Der Wallon, das Vieh, and he has taken my instruments and revolvers with him."

La Cueille had likewise left a letter behind to explain the theft of the doctor's instruments and arms, which as he was a gunsmith had been entrusted to him for repair. He had also begged to be excused to the Colonel, whose two Remington rifles he had carried off.

"One cannot risk such a dangerous journey quite defenceless," the Walloon had reasoned. "The Colonel was sure to know of the dangers they would have to encounter."

The Colonel showed the doctor the letter which he had received.

"Then they have bolted together."

"Very probably."

"Poor fellows! But what will you do now?"

"I have sent to the Chief of the district. It may be that he has some information. Upon his communication will depend my course of action."

"Do you mean to pursue them?"

"Certainly," replied the Colonel.

"But the safety of the post entrusted to you?"

"Oh, my dear sir, I will not endanger that."

"How so? The garrison is not strong. You cannot take any men away from it without danger."

"Oh, I will leave the garrison intact. I will have them hunted down by a native detachment."

"That would be cruel. To be hunted down by Dayaks!"

"I must own that those fellows are not over-scrupulous; but what else can I do? As you say, I dare not take any of the garrison and I cannot very well remain inactive. However, it is impossible to decide what steps are to be taken until I have seen the Chief of the district. It may be that the deserters have already been seized by the kampong guard and that our anxieties are premature. I am now going to visit the posts, will you come with me?"

"Donnerwetter! it is no treat to grope about in that Egyptian darkness."

"Well stay behind and wait for me. The Chief may be here directly and I should like to have you present at our interview. I shall not be long."

The Colonel went out. He had only a short distance to go, the fort being very small.

The sentries were found duly posted and peering sharply into the surrounding darkness. The bridge over the moat had been let down and the gates stood ajar; but outside at the further extremity of the drawbridge there was stationed a picket of six men, whilst behind the gate the whole garrison was drawn up with shouldered rifles. The Colonel, satisfied with his inspection, was about to return to his quarters and his guest when he was accosted by a corporal.

"What is the matter?" he asked.

"The rifles of Johannes, Schlickeisen, Wienersdorf and La Cueille are missing from the gun rack and most of the men's cartridge boxes have been emptied."

"Ha! ascertain how many cartridges are lost and let the artillery sergeant replace them immediately from the magazine."

The Colonel had scarcely finished speaking when the corporal of the mess approached to report that four bags of rice and a bag of coffee were missing. These too he ordered replaced and turned away, his mind engrossed by the desertions and their consequences. The men who had deserted, thought he, did not seem to have any quantity or variety of provisions, but they were brave men who would certainly levy toll upon each kampong they passed and find food on every river they traversed. They had weapons and ammunition and could face any danger; they had also instruments whereby they could direct their course. Thus there could be no likelihood of their perishing in the virgin forests of Borneo.

"Yes," said he to himself, "we have here a job which will set both feet and pens in motion and I am afraid, with the writing mania already existing in India, pens are going to beat feet. But those poor, poor devils!"

In the meantime the doctor had stretched himself on a rocking-chair and soon became lost in deep reverie. He regretted that these men had taken so desperate a step; but he could not blame them altogether. He was full of fear for the issue of their undertaking, yet if he himself had not been bound by oath, he would have been inclined to join and become their guide and counsellor. But--he belonged to the Dutch Indian Officers' Club; he had sworn allegiance to the Dutch crown and submission to the military r?gime of the Dutch army.

He considered himself bound, irrevocably bound, but how had he been treated? They had told him he would be able to live and put aside from his pay a respectable fortune; that in five years he would have three thousand dollars and he had hoped then to return and marry his darling Clara. And now? His income, everything included, had never exceeded sixty dollars a month, a sum barely sufficient to maintain him, so that the fortune of three thousand dollars remained where it had been born--in his imagination. He took from his pocketbook the portrait of a young girl and looked at it until a tear rolled down his cheek. It was the portrait of his Clara.

"Thou wast tired of waiting," sighed he. Heavy footsteps approaching from without he replaced the portrait in his pocketbook just as the Colonel entered, accompanied by the Chief of the district--a Dayak of agreeable countenance, known as Tomonggong Nikodemus Djaja Nagara.

"Take a seat, Tomonggong," said the Colonel, pointing to a chair, "while I get some cigars."

The Tomonggong, however, approached the doctor, bowed his head, presented his hand and uttered the greeting,

"Tabeh toean, saja harap toean ada baik"--Good-day, sir, I hope you are well.

The doctor raised himself from his comfortable position, stepped forward to take the outstretched hand and pressed it cordially. Availing himself of the brief absence of the Colonel, he whispered to the Chief, "They must be saved, they must not be allowed to fall into the hands of the Dutch."

Tomonggong cast a penetrating look on him. Used to treason and falsehood the first feeling of an East Indian, however honest he himself may be, is one of distrust. He suspects that a snare is being laid for him.

Hence the surprise of the Tomonggong when he heard the doctor's words.

"That would be difficult, sir. The Colonel is sure to take strong measures and I,"--after a moment's hesitation, he continued--"I must obey."

The doctor stood before the Dayak with his hands pressed together in the attitude of supplication. He had a claim upon the gratitude of Tomonggong of which the Chief was not insensible. Kambang, his eldest and favorite daughter, had some years before been bitten by a very venomous snake. The father sent out for one of the antidotes of the country, but while they were seeking the plant the doctor sucked the poison out of the wound, which he then cauterized with a piece of burning charcoal. His address and promptitude saved the child's life.

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