into the metal sink. Within the case could be seen the oilcloth of a packet. His hands trembling slightly, Charles Whitehall pulled it out. He got off the stool, carrying the rolled-up oilcloth to a deserted area of the bench, and untied the nylon laces. He unwound the packet until it was flat, unzipped the inner lining, and withdrew two sheets of single-spaced typing. As he reached for the bench lamp, he looked at McAuliff.
Alex was fascinated by what he saw. Whitehall's eyes shone with a strange intensity. It was a fever. A messianic fever.
A kind of victory rooted in the absolute.
A fanatic's victory, thought McAuliff.
Without speaking, Whitehall began to read. As he finished the first page, he slid it across the bench to Alex.
The word 'Halidon' was in reality three words - or sounds - from the African Ashanti, so corrupted by later phonetics as to be hardly traceable. (Here Piersall included hieroglyphs that were meaningless to Alex.) The root word, again a hieroglyph, was in the sound leedaw, translated to convey the picture of a hollowed-out piece of wood that could be held in the hand. The leedaw was a primitive instrument of sound, a means of communication over distances in the jungles and hills. The pitch of its wail was controlled by the breath of the blower and the placement of his hand over slits carved through the surface - the basic principle of the woodwind.
The historical parallel had been obvious to Walter Piersall. Whereas the Maroon tribes, living in settlements, used an abeng - a type of bugle made from the horns of cattle - to signal their warriors or spread the alarm of an approaching white enemy, the followers of Acquaba were nomadic and could not rely on animal products with any certainty. They returned to the African custom of utilizing the most prolific material of their surroundings: wood.
Once having established the root symbol as the primitive horn, it remained for Piersall to specify the modification of the accompanying sounds. He went back to the Ashanti-Coromanteen studies to extract compatible noun roots. He found the final syllable, or sound, first. It was in the hieroglyph depicting a deep river current, or undertow, that perilled man or animal in the water. Its sonic equivalent was a bass-toned wail or cry. The phonetic spelling was nwa.
The pieces of the primitive puzzle were nearly joined.
The initial sound was the symbol hayee, the Coromanteen word meaning the council of their tribal gods.
Hayee - leedaw - nwa.
The low cry of a jungle horn signifying peril, a supplication to the council of the gods.
Acquaba's code. The hidden key that would admit an outsider into the primitive tribal sect.
Primitive and not primitive at all.
Halidon. Hollydawn. A wailing instrument whose cry was carried by the wind to the gods.
This, then, was Dr Walter Piersalls last gift to his island sanctuary. The means to reach, enlist, and release a powerful force for the good of Jamaica. To convince 'it' to accept its responsibility.
There remained only to determine which of the isolated communities in the Cock Pit mountains was the Halidon. Which would respond to the code of Acquaba?
Finally, the basic scepticism of the scholar inserted itself into Piersall's document. He did not question the existence of the Halidon; what he did speculate on was its rumoured wealth and commitment. Were these more myth than current fact? Had the myth grown out of proportion to the conceivably diminished resources?
The answer was in the Cock Pit.
McAuliff finished the second page and looked over at Charles Whitehall. The black fascist had walked from the workbench to the small window overlooking the Drax Hall fields. Without turning, he spoke quietly, as though he knew Alex was staring at him, expecting him to speak.
'Now we know what must be done. But we must proceed cautiously, sure of every step. A wrong move on our part and the cry of the Halidon will vanish with the wind.'
Chapter Twenty-Two
TWENTY TWO
The caravel prop plane descended on its western approach to the small Boscobel airfield in Oracabessa. The motors revved in short bursts to counteract the harsh wind and rain of the sudden downpour, forcing the aircraft to enter the strip cleanly. It taxied to the far end, turned awkwardly, and rolled back towards the small, one level concrete passenger terminal.
Two Jamaican porters ran through the low gates to the aircraft, both holding umbrellas. Together they pushed the metal step unit to the side of the plane, under the door; the man