The Ridge

Judy then saw to Stacey's cuts and scratches, using only the iodine and told them both to go and lay in the shelter. It was a miserable afternoon and evening, no one bothering to talk or fancied eating and all turned in early for the night. Carlton held two women in his arms that night but it was for comfort only.

*

King's shelter didn't get much sleep that night, nor for the next two nights because of standing watch on watch for the attack that never came.

*

Carlton's shelter slept and when Carlton himself woke as he usually did before sunrise, wasn't surprised to see that Smith was missing. All he could hope was that he wasn't being too precipitous in what he was attempting in avenging Pearl's death.

Smith had left the shelter about an hour before Carlton woke up, making his way down to the beach and over the ridge. From there, he moved like a shadow to get as close as he could to where he knew their shelter to be. He hid himself to watch their movements from the moment of waking, their toilet habits and other things. He observed them for three mornings and noted that one, Liam, performed his bowel evacuation quite some distance from the others and so planned that he would be the one to suffer for the death of Pearl. Carlton tackled him on his early morning disappearances and was satisfied on the answer and after three such morning forays, had come up with a plan.

Carlton didn't quite like it but agreed to help in the execution of this execution of said Liam. The girls had for a week now been making ropes out of the creepers that abounded on the island and he asked them to join them together so that he could have one at least eighty foot long.

This was no problem as they had enough made that by joining several of them together would be of that length. He'd already found the tree he wanted to use and Smith could do no more to improve what he wanted to do. It was then set up for the following morning and when Smith woke them all up, they set off about an hour before sunrise.

They went down to the beach and crossed the ridge and made their way to the other side of the eastern shelter. At the tree that Smith had chosen, he stopped and taking one end of the rope, scaled the tree and passed the rope over a fork and with the girls and Carlton holding the other end, came down with the other end in his hands. To this end he fixed his own making of a noose and made sure that it slid easily through the knot. He pulled down enough for his purpose and told the girls what they had to do when he called out.

So with the girls and Carlton in place, he settled down behind some bushes and prayed that he had enough slack for the purpose and then waited for sunrise.

He couldn't have picked a better place for about ten minutes after sunrise, Liam came out from the shelter area and stopped just a few feet from the hidden Smith and he cleared and made a small hole in the earth. He turned his back to the bush, dropped down his tattered shorts and squatted.

Smith rose up and dropped the noose over his head and pulled it tight round his neck and shouted out the one word for action.

'Now!' he cried, and hung onto the noose as Liam had already started to squirm at this rope round his neck, and hung on till the rope tightened. Then he let go and followed Liam as he was dragged along the ground, his fingers trying to free his neck from this strangulation.

The girls, assisted by Carlton at the cry from Smith had pulled on the rope and began to run with it, pulling Liam who was at the other end. Smith stood then with a smile on his face as they reached the tree that the rope had been passed over and saw Liam hoisted high up until he could go no higher. Carlton saw that when the rope became taut, it was to be tied off round another tree and any remaining rope cut off for them to take back. With this done, they then made their way round to the east to make their way back to their own shelter. Smith had said that he would find his own way back.

Meanwhile, he watched as Liam was hoisted up the tree and then he hung there, twisting and contorting his body as his fingers scratched and dug into his neck to try and release the rope to breath, probably realising that he was being hung and the last thing he saw was the grinning figure of Smith below, watching him in his death throes. He stood to one side as Liam began to defecate and then with one last look at the hanging man, turned and disappeared into the trees.

King and the other two had been alerted by the cry of the word "Now" and had grabbed their spears and formed a group of three facing outwards expecting an attack from whatever quarter. They stood, tense and alert but became puzzled when after several minutes nothing had happened. They began to shift about awkwardly, not sure what they should do, especially Drew and John. They were waiting for King to make a decision and so they just shuffled about until they began to irritate them.

'Okay. Spread out and see what that was all about,' he finally said. They all moved out cautiously and stopped every few steps to listen for any movement before carrying on. They were so slow and prudent, that the other group were almost at their shelter when the body of Liam was spotted.

'Oh Christ!' said John, falling to his knees, being the first one to see Liam's body slowing twisting as the creeper rope began to minutely unravel. Beneath his contorted face, the fingers of one hand had almost torn half his throat open and were still lodged in the noose as he had tried to loosen it.

'Oh shit!' Drew exclaimed.

'Fuck it!' came from King. 'The bastards got to us! Cut him down, he might still be alive.'

'I don't think so,' said Drew. 'Not with the shit down his legs, he's dead.'

'Cut him down anyway,' he screamed.

'You've got the bloody knife, you cut him down,' John shouted back, the first time one of his men had ever talked back to him, especially in that tone, but he said nothing for it was right, he was the only one with a knife. He walked round the hanging man and found the rope that held him up and sawed through it, letting Liam fall ignominiously into a heap on the ground. Then he strode over to John and waved the knife under his nose.

'You've got the hands, bury him!' he snarled, and stormed off. King was seething that they could get that close. He couldn't afford to trade one for one for they were now three against seven, or so he thought, he still hadn't been apprised that Carol was dead. He cursed both her and Toni for their desertion because it would have balanced up the sides with one dead on either side. He reasoned that though the ambush they had laid had achieved complete surprise, they had only killed one out of three, so it hadn't changed the balance with the hanging of Liam. It would be very difficult to mount another ambush with them now expecting such a thing and so he had to think hard of some other way to wipe out the western group.

*

Smith got back to the shelter at the same time as the others and the girls were then told what had been on the other end of the rope that they had pulled through the trees. Tiki went off and was sick in the bushes when Smith described how Liam had risen up into the tree and shat himself as he died. It was for Pearl, he had cried, but it still sickened them that they were now becoming like animals. It's kill or be killed Smith argued, again using Pearl as a back up to his argument. Carlton was in agreement but got Smith to shut up and let the girls come to accept it in the long term.

The shelter was silent for the most part as Smith went back to making stakes for the shelter's perimeter and to keep the girls occupied, Carlton got them making fresh ropes and a grass skirt for Stacey. The day after they had buried Pearl, he'd taken the lengths of hydraulic pipe he had cut from the undercarriage up to the pool. Here he had tied them in a bundle and put them into the water to clean them out of what little oil might be left inside. The slight oil seepage that would come out, he surmised, wouldn't be enough to taint the water.

With everybody doing something he went up and collected them and by running water through them, found them to be clean of oil. He had been disappointed at the size of the bore of these pieces of pipe and so had to discard the idea of using bamboo, it being too thick. When fishing, he had noticed not far from that point, plants growing near the water that looked like some form of reed. Were they hollow? That's what he had to find out next.

'Smith,' he said when he got back from the pool. 'I'm going to take two of the girls down to try and find some hollow reeds. We'll be away two hours so if we're not back in that time, come and look for us. We'll be down near where we have been fishing though we'll be taking a different route, circling round to the west.'

'Okay,' he replied. 'Who are you taking?'

'Tiki and Toni. Judy's our nurse and Stacey's still a bit shook up.' He called the two he'd chosen and had them get their spears as he told them what he was looking for. They set off and were down on the beach twenty minutes later.

There seemed to be a veritable field of these clumps of rush type reed plant growing quite close to each other and by moving just a few feet inside these thickets, they couldn't see the beach or be seen.

He was delighted to find that most of those that they snapped off were indeed hollow, having some kind of sap only inside that was bitter to the taste, but when drained out, they had a good tube. So they took a variety of different thickness, checking first that they were hollow and with a small bundle each, returned to the shelter within the two hour time frame.

The two girls went back to their tasks as he sat down and began breaking the shoots up into lengths and then grading them in thickness and finding that he could insert a slender end into a thicker end. He could ram them in tight but not be sure if they would stay watertight.

'Smith, you've been cutting into quite a few trees, have you found any that have a thick sap or any kind of resin?'

'Yes, one or two. I leave those alone, too hard to shape with just a penknife.'

'Could you find me some so that I can see if it would be any good to use as a sealant?'

'Yes, you want some now?'

'Please.'

'Okay, I won't be long. I know of a couple of trees close by.' He got up and taking his spear and penknife, left and went off into the trees. He was back twenty minutes later with a palm leaf and two small blobs of resin resting on it. 'Here. From two different trees for you to try out.'

'Great. Thanks,' said Carlton and setting the leaf down, he used a

small pointed stick to transfer some resin onto some joints, using both but keeping them apart to see which one or if both would work. He laid the four different pieces of joined reed out in the sun on another palm leaf.

'They would dry and harden quicker if you held them over a flame,' said Toni who had been watching from where she had been sitting. 'It only need be a small one, just for a minute or two.'

'You could light up a cigarette at the same time then,' said Carlton with a laugh.

'Now why didn't I think of that,' she laughed, giving him a grin as she went and found her cigarettes, bringing back the glass too. So he made a very small fire of grass and wood chips from which she lit up and he slowly turned his reed pieces over the flame. They did indeed harden quite quickly and soon all four were as hard as the wood they had come from. He'd also fitted a plug in one end of each and sealed these at the same time.

Then came the test and the small tubes were filled with water and propped up against a tree and were left for awhile to see if the seal held or not. An hour later, the tubes were still full of water and everyone was delighted for it would now be possible to bring the water to the shelter.

It was a happier group at their evening meal this time and the mood continued into the night with both Carlton and Smith having a partner when they bedded down and then a second one before dawn.

*

This euphoria lasted all this day and into the night again. The water had been collected before sunrise and they ate breakfast as the sun rose. After which, they all went down to the beach and began collecting the reeds. Carlton had said that it didn't matter what length or thickness as he needed all sizes, and they set to work and it didn't take long for them to have a big enough bundle each to carry back to the shelter.

It made quite a stack when all piled up. A lot of the sap had run out in the process of breaking them off of the main plant and whilst being carried up, but they still had to be tested to make sure they were fully cleared. This was a tedious business of trying to pour water in one end to see if it flowed out properly at the other. This way, quite a few were discarded and it was with the good ones that Carlton started to fit two pieces together, the thin end being inserted into a thick end and rammed up tight.

Smith went off with Judy to begin collecting resin to seal these joints. Carlton began joining lengths together to have a pipe approximately ten foot long which would be joined up as and when the time came to lay down the whole length, which had been estimated at being around one hundred and eighty feet.

Judy kept running back and forth with small amounts of resin at a time and Stacey and Toni did the sealing of the joints that Carlton and Tiki were making. Carlton left Tiki to carrying on with this while he went up to the pool to measure the lengths he needed to make the siphon using the hydraulic pipe for the bends.

The intention was to lay the whole pipe line in one day, joining up as they went along and burying the pipe at the same time. This would mean carrying a portable fire to speed up the sealing process, so Smith made a small frame to hold a can with the top cut off which would hold a small fire within. It was late afternoon when a halt was called for they still had to eat and wash before supper. There was a repeat performance that night in the shelter. The last for two of them.

*

After breakfast, Carlton said that he wanted to start work on the siphon but they still needed another bundle or two of the reeds. Smith said he would go down.

'Take Stacey and Toni,' Carlton said, 'Judy and Tiki have got the hang of joining the reeds together so they can carry on with that. When you get back you can collect some more resin.'

The beach party collected their spears and set off and Carlton with the knife and some pipe and selected lengths of reed, went up to the pool. The siphon was a simple affair. One piece would be in the water to a depth of a foot and a piece of tube would bend to a piece that stretched over the rim of the pool to have another piece of pipe bent to take the last piece of reed that was longer than the one in the water, its end well below the height level of the end piece in the water. With this lower end being sucked on, water would be drawn up and over the lip and with the outlet being lower than the feed end, the water would then continue to flow as a simple course of nature. But this would only be done just before the joining of the whole pipe line.

With all the bends on the pipes, he tested the siphon and it worked, so that it now only needed the resin sealant and it would be done. He was quite pleased with what he had achieved and soon they would have water on tap down at the shelter. Tiki then came out of the trees and gave him a shout.

*

'There's two of them down at the far end of the beach,' Drew panted, having run back from the ridge to find King.

'You sure there's only two?' he asked. 'Who?'

'I only saw two. I stayed there for a couple of minutes. Smith is one and the other is one of the girl's.'

'Carol? Toni?' King asked, a light in his eyes.

'No. One of the others.'

'Right. We'll go along the tree line and rush them at the closest point. Get your spears,' which they did and set off, keeping inside the trees and over the small ridge and moved along till they knew that they'd reached the point where the tree line finished by rocks that led down to the sea. They moved ever closer to the beach until they could see Smith on guard looking along the beach towards the ridge and saw Stacey come out of the reeds with a bundle in her arms. She dropped them on the sand and spoke to Smith for a moment before disappearing back into the reeds.

'What're they doing?' John whispered the question.

'Fuck knows,' said King. 'Be ready, for the next time she comes out, we attack. Drew, you go for the girl, John and I will take out Smith.'

*

Smith had led the two girls down to the beach by a different route from the path they had used before. They had stayed out of the trees and bushes so that they couldn't be surprised like they had been before.

'I'll stand on guard,' Smith said when they reached the edge of the reeds. 'You Toni can get some reeds and when you've got enough for a bundle, call out and Stacey will come and collect it. We'll take three bundles back with us.' Toni said yes and disappeared into the reeds. It was at this time that Drew had seen them. Himself, King and John had just started off through the trees when Toni called out that she'd enough for one bundle and Stacey went in and collected it and returned with an armful that she dropped onto the sand. As Toni had broken off more than enough for the first bundle, it didn't take long to have another lot ready and called out for Stacey to collect them. She went back and a minute or two later, came out with another armful which she began to drop on the sand as the three men came hurtling out of the tree line.

She gave out a scream as she dropped the reeds and searched for her spear. Smith whirled round to see King and John coming at him, spears levelled for they'd learned not to throw them. They were well ahead of Drew and came at Smith, spreading themselves so that they would come at him from two sides. He parried the first thrust from King and also managed to knock John's to one side. They were panting from the short run but were now facing him as they kept jabbing at him with their spears as he swung his to try and keep their points away while thrusting forward himself.

He was a mite too slow on one parry of John's and his spear finished up on the outside of that spear which stopped him from bringing it back across his front to Parry a thrust from King. The point entered his stomach several inches which caused him to cry out and start to double over. King gave a cackling laugh as he pulled the point out, moving back as he did so.

John now thought that he would have a chance and pulled his back to thrust again at Smith, but he had released Smith's spear which he now swung round and as John lunged forward, Smith moved forward too and the point of his spear went straight into the middle of John's chest. His eyes flew wide at the sudden pain and was dead before he hit the sand, the point having gone straight through his heart, His own spear had hit Smith high in the ribs and as John fell, his weight pulled Smith over, the spear stuck between the ribs.

King gave out a shout and brought his spear down with some force and plunged it into Smith's back.

Drew had parried Stacey's thrust of her spear and made a thrust of his own, the point entering her just below the rib cage. It wasn't deep but far enough to puncture her lung. She gave out a cry as she pulled back, her hand going up to the wound. Drew gave her a wicked grin as he watched her stagger back then his eyes flew wide as Toni suddenly appeared out of the reeds with her spear which she buried in the middle of his stomach.

In shock, he dropped his spear as he tried to pull the one out of his stomach which Toni helped by pulling it out herself and Drew went staggering backwards.