‘No one saw what happened,’ Overton began. ‘The tuan was doing his usual inspection rounds. He’d gone out to the north-east quadrant where we were clearing virgin jungle.’
‘Was he alone?’ Reggie interrupted.
‘Yes. But there were fifty coolies working out there. That’s why he went over there, to see how they were getting on. They claim they never saw him.’
‘So how did you find him?’ Evie asked. ‘How did you even know he was missing?’
‘His dog, Badger. He was barking and going berserk. But there was no sign of Doug. The men stopped what they were doing and went after the dog. It took them some time to find him as some of the forest there is impassable. Then they raised the alarm.’
‘So where is he?’ Evie was growing in impatience.
‘At the bottom of a shaft to a tin mine. The countryside is pitted with them. There was a virtual Gold Rush here for tin in the last century. They dug shafts all over the place. If they didn’t find any tin they just abandoned the workings and moved on. The jungle in some areas is like Swiss cheese. We lost a coolie a few months back. Fell down a shaft and no one noticed. When he was missing from roll call the alarm went up. It was nearly two days before we found the body. What was left of it.’ Overton gave a little shrug and Evie took an instant dislike to the man and wanted to thump him.
Oblivious to Evie’s distress, Overton ploughed on. ‘Mind you, that coolie might not have fallen. You never know with some of the Tamils. There might have been a fight and one of them could have killed him and dumped the body down a shaft.’
Reggie stepped in. ‘That’s enough of that, Overton. The mem doesn’t want to hear all this. We need to talk about Doug.’
The Assistant Manager had the grace to look embarrassed. ‘Sorry, Mrs Barrington. I didn’t mean to cause offence.’
‘Can we get to him now?’ Reggie asked.
‘I can take you there but it’s doubtful we can accomplish much until daylight. Not unless we want to have someone else at the bottom of a shaft.’
‘Take us there now. I want to see the way the land lies and be ready to get him out as soon as the conditions allow. All right with you too, Frank?’ Reggie placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder.
‘I’m in.’
‘I’ll come with you.’ Evie moved towards the door,.
Reggie stepped in front of her, palms towards her. ‘No, Evie. I must insist. You’ll do more harm than good. You’ve no idea of the conditions out there. You don’t know the jungle. We don’t want you at the bottom of another shaft. It would be better for you to stay here and raise the doctor on the phone. Telephone the Wellington estate, tell Freddie Reynolds there what’s happened and ask him to rustle up a rescue party and get over here as soon as he can. We’ll also need bandages and clean water, antiseptic. The houseboy will do what you ask.’ Turning to Overton, he instructed, ‘Right. Torches, rope, stretcher, blankets. Let’s go.’
When they had gone, Evie set the house boy to work to gather the medical supplies and went into the sparsely furnished room that evidently served as her husband’s office. At the desk she picked up the telephone, called the exchange and asked to be connected to the Wellington estate. The tuan, Freddie Reynolds agreed to alert the local doctor and promised to be at Batu Lembah himself within an hour.
The rest of the night passed in a blur for Evie as she paced up and down, waiting for the rescue party to return from the forest. The house boy, Ahmad, was a willing helper. He stayed on hand and before Evie needed to ask, he was ready with a fresh pot of tea.
In an effort to distract herself, she picked up the copy of the Straits Times that Doug must have been reading earlier in the day. It was full of news of the British and Australian defeat of the Italians at Tobruk in North Africa. Evie pushed the paper away, unable to read it. Doug must have been sitting here at this table reading this paper, blissfully unaware that he was about to have an accident. For the umpteenth time, Evie prayed that he would prove to be unharmed. Perhaps a sprain, cuts and bruises, a broken limb even. But, please God, let it be nothing more serious, like a broken neck or a spinal injury.
As the dawn broke, she grew even more restless. Frustrated not to be waiting at the top of the shaft when they brought her husband up, she paced back and forth in a stew of anxiety.
It was almost noon when the rescue party returned, carrying Doug on a stretcher. Evie rushed down the steps of the bungalow and ran to meet them.
‘Is he all right? How badly hurt is he?’
Frank Hyde-Underwood took her by the arm and tried to steer her back towards the bungalow. Evie jerked away from him and leaned over the stretcher. Doug, unconscious, was covered by a cotton sheet, soaked with blood where his legs were. His face was bathed in sweat and streaked with blood. His sun-baked skin was as pale as the sheet that covered him and his hair was matted.
Frank put an arm around Evie to hold her back. ‘They need plenty of room, Mrs Barrington. The doc wants to move your husband straight to the hospital in Butterworth. His leg’s badly damaged.’
‘Why is he unconscious? Is he going to die?’ A wave of fear crashed into her.
Frank’s expression was stern. ‘He’s in a great deal of pain. Getting him out of that shaft wasn’t easy for him. Your husband’s an extremely brave man. Once we got him out the doc gave him a shot of morphine to knock him out for a while until he
