Part 3 (2/2)
”Skipper, we are looking for an island, a specific island I can't tell you why, I'ht” What will there be for you, James North, I wondered suddenly What will the wolf pack have for you once you have led the a lot less pleasant than penicillin allergy?
I looked at that handso face, and felt an unaccustomed flood of affection for him - perhaps it was his youth and innocence, the sense of excitement hich he viewed this tired and wicked old world I envied and liked hi him pulled down and rolled in the dirt
”Jim, hoell do you know your friends?” I asked him quietly, and he was taken by surprise, then alh,”he replied carefully ”Why?”
”You have known theh I knew, and saw the confirmation in his expression ”And I have known men like that all my life!
”I don't see what this has to do with it, Mr Fletcher” He was stiffening up noas treating him like a child and he didn't like that
”Listen, Jio back to your shop and your salvage company-” ”That's crazy,” he said ”You don't understand”
”I understand, Jim I really do I travelled the same road, and I knoell”
”I can look after myself Don't worry about rey eyes snapped with defiance We stared at each other for a fewtime and ee I would have thought hiht, Jim,” I said ”I'll drop it, but you know the score
just play it cool and loose, that's all”
”Okay, Mr Fletcher” He relaxed slowly, and then grinned a charrin ”Thanks anyway”
”Let's hear about this island,” I suggested and he glanced about the cabin
”Let's go up on the bridge,” he suggested, and out in the open air he took a stub of pencil and a scrap pad from the map bin above the chart table
”I reckon it lies off the African shore about six to ten miles, and ten to thirty miles north of the mouth of the Rovuround, Ji the last few days What else do you know about it?”
He hesitated a little longer, before grudgingly doling out a few more coins from his hoard He took the pencil and drew a horizontal line across the pad
”Sea level” he said, and then above the line he raised an irregular profile that started low, and -then cli abruptly, ” and that's the silhouette that it shows from the sea The three hills are volcanic basalt, sheer rock with little vegetation!
”The Old Men-” I recognized it i way out in your other calculations, it's ht of the ht”
”Sure, you could see a long way from the tops of the hills,” I pointed out as he tore the sheet from the pad and carefully ripped it to shreds, and dropped them into the harbour
”How far north of the river?” He turned back to face me
”Offhand I'd say sixty or seventy htful
”Yes, it could be that far north It could fit, it depends on how long it would take ” He did not finish, he was takingit cool ”Can you take us there, skip? I nodded ”But it's a long run and best coht” ”I'll fetch the others,” he said, eager and excited once e
”About the island, what it looks like and all that, don't discuss it with the others, okay?”
”Okay, Jio” I went down to have a look at the ade of basalt, a long hard reef that ran parallel to the mainland for two hundred miles It disappeared below the water, but reappeared at intervals, for of coral and sand islands and shoals
It was s showed a nuh it was far north of rounds, yet I had visited the area the previous year as host to athe breeding habits of the green turtles that abounded there
We had camped for three days on another island across the tide channel froe in an enclosed lagoon, and brackish but just drinkable water in a fishere, the Old Men showed exactly the outline that Jinized it so readily
Half an hour later, the whole party arrived; strapped on the roof of the taxi was a bulky piece of equipreen canvas dust sheet They hired a couple of lounging islanders to carry this, and the overnight bags they had with the
They stowed the canvas package on the foredeck without unwrapping it and I asked no questions Guthrie's face was starting to fall off in layers of sun-scorched skin, leaving wet red flesh exposed He had s little Marion around his suite at the Hilton, and I sht of running for Miss Universe?” and he glowered at me frohting chair During the run northwards he drank beer straight fro pistol at them as they tumbled and bobbed in Dancer's wake
A little before noon, I gave Jimmy the wheel and went down to use the heads below deck I found that Materson had the bar open and the gin bottle out
”How er?” he asked, sweaty and flushed despite the air-conditioning
”Another hour or so,” I told hi to find hi problein had mellowed him a little and - always the opportunist - I loosened another three hundred pounds fro up to take Dancer in on the last leg through the northern tide channel that led to the Old Men
The triple peaks ca to hang dise the peaks through his binoculars, and then he lowered thehtedly to me ”That looks like it, skipper,” and he clambered down into the cockpit The three of them went up on to the foredeck, passed the canvas-wrapped deck cargo, and stood shoulder to shoulder at the rail staring through the sea fret at the island as I crept cautiously up the channel
We had a rising tide pushi+ng us up the channel, and I agreed to use it to approach the eastern tip of the Old Men, andon the beach below the nearest peak This coast has a tidal fall of seventeen feet at full springs, and it is unwise to go into shalloater on the ebb It is easy to find yourself stranded high and dry as the water falls away beneath your keel
Ji compass and packed it with his chart, a Thermos of iced water and a bottle of salt tablets from the medicine chest into his haversack While I crept cautiously in towards the beach, Jimmy and Materson stripped off their footwear and trousers
When Dancer bumped her keel softly on the hard white sand of the beach I shouted to the, they went down the ladder I had rigged from Dancer's side The water came to their armpits, and James held the haversack above his head as they waded towards the beach
”Two hours” I called after theer than that you can sleep ashore I' in to pick you up on the ebb”
Jirinned I put Dancer into reverse and backed off cautiously, while the two of them reached the beach and hopped around aardly as they donned their trousers and shoes and then set off into the pal for ten h the water that was clear as a trout stream, I picked up the dark shadow across the bottoht head anchor
While Guthrie watched with interest I put on a faceplate and gloves and went over the side with a small oyster net and a heavy tyre lever There was forty feet of water under us, and I was pleased to find o down and prise loose a netful of the big double-shelled sun clams in one dive I shucked them on the foredeck, and then, mindful of Chubby's admonitions, I threw the empty shells overboard and swabbed the deck carefully before taking a pailful of the sweet flesh down to the galley They went into a casserole pot ine and garlic, salt and ground pepper and just a bite of chilli I set the gas-plate to simmer and put the lid on the pot
When I went back on deck, Guthrie was still in the fighting chair
”What's wrong, big shot, are you bored?” I asked solicitously
”No little girls to kick around?” His eyes narrowed thoughtfully I could see hiot a bigto close it for you one day” We exchanged a few more pleasantries, none of them much above this level, but it served to pass the tiures appeared on the beach and waved and halloed I pulled up the hook, and went in to pick them up
Immediately they were aboard, they called Guthrie to theroup sessions They were all excited, Jiesticulated and pointed out into the channel, talking quietly but veheree there was an hour of sunlight left and I refused to agree to Materson's de I had no wish to creep around in the darkness on an ebb tide