Elephant Man - Christine Sparks [104]
A whole contingent of monkeys fell on him, all restraint removed now by their recognition of his terror. They jumped onto him with savage screams, biting him on the head, neck, and shoulders. He flailed his arms uselessly but they came on and on without a break, until at last he bent his head and covered it with his arms as best he could, and sobbed out his despair and terror into the stony night.
Exhausted at last, the monkeys fell back and sat staring at him again. Merrick never moved, fearful that the slightest shift from him would bring on a renewed attack. He sat with his head resting on his knees, his arms covering it. Gradually the monkeys fell silent, but he kept his ears strained for their chatterings. There was nothing though, and as the camp slept the silence seemed to descend on him like a blanket.
He became aware at last that it was being broken by another sound, the sound of whispering. Slowly, nervously, he looked up, and found himself being regarded by an audience. Almost every freak in the circus had congregated outside his cage and was staring at him with sympathetic eyes. In the front stood Marcus.
Top, the female pinhead, reached into the cage and took Merrick’s hand, which she patted gently. Top was a German who could speak no English, and on her visits to Merrick she had always held his hand and gone away again. She took it now between her two hands and gave it a soft squeeze. Her eyes were full of tears.
Marcus came right up to the cage and stared upward. From his tiny height it was a considerable distance.
“You all right?” he grunted.
“Y—yes.”
“Want to come out?”
Merrick did not answer this at first. In fact he hardly took the question in. Something else had impinged on his brain for the first time.
“You’re English,” he said in surprise. Marcus’s voice was not merely English, it was educated.
“Of course,” said Marcus, dismissing the matter with a shrug. “Do you want to come out?”
“Yes.”
“Won’t be a moment.”
He turned to the lion-faced man and said something in rapid French. Lion-Face immediately lifted a hand and easily unlatched the cage door. Marcus began to speak to the others, using words that Merrick did not understand, but which were clearly instructions, for they began to assist him in his descent from the wagon. It was a slow business, and Merrick’s heart thumped with fear lest any noise should wake Bytes. But over it all was the glow of kindness and friendship, given without question.
When he was safely on the ground Lion-Face turned and relatched the cage. Then he positioned himself on one side of Merrick, and the Armless Wonder came to the other side. Lion-Face pulled Merrick’s right arm round his own shoulder, and Armless gave a jerk of the head, indicating that the left should be put round him. In this position Merrick could manage to stand. Marcus surveyed the little group with satisfaction.
“We’ve decided,” he said calmly. “You’ve got to get away from here.”
He ignored Merrick’s gasp of surprise at this cavalier attitude to the forces against them. He and another dwarf lit two lanterns and indicated that the others should follow them. Armless and Lion-Face began to move off, forcing Merrick to go with them, and the rest of the group fell into step behind. Slowly the little procession began to move out of the camp, its line of lanterns bobbing in the darkness.
Tony, dozing fitfully beside the camp fire, was jerked into wakefulness. He did not know what had wakened him; he was sure it wasn’t a sound. After a moment he saw the lights receding into the distance. Then, as his eyes grew more used to the darkness, he noticed the group of three walking