South by Java Head

CHAPTER FOUR

Two hours, Captain Findhorn had given them, two hours at the outside limit, but it might as well have been two minutes or two days, for all the hope that remained. Everyone knew that, knew that it was just a gesture, maybe to their own consciences, maybe to the memory of a few wounded soldiers, a handful of nurses and a radio operator who had leaned over his transmitting key and died. But still only a hopeless gesture…

They found the Kerry Dancer at twenty-seven minutes past eight, three minutes before the deadline. They found her, primarily, because Nicolson's predictions had been uncannily correct, the Kerry Dancer was almost exactly where he had guessed they would find her and a long, jagged fork of lightning had, for a brief, dazzling moment, illumined the gaunt, burnt-out scarecrow as brightly as the noonday sun. Even then they would never have found her had not the hurricane force of the wind dropped away to the merest whisper, and the blinding rain vanished as suddenly as if someone had turned off a gigantic tap in the heavens.

That there was no miracle about the almost instantaneous transition from the clamour of the storm to this incredible quiet Captain Findhorn was grimly aware. Always, at the heart of a typhoon, lies this oasis of peace. This breathless, brooding hush was no stranger to him ― but on the two or three previous occasions he had had plenty of sea room, could turn where he wished when the going became too bad. But not this tune. To the north, to the west and to the south-west their escape route was blocked off by islands of the archipelago.

They couldn't have entered the heart of the typhoon at a worse time.

And they couldn't have done it at a better time. If anyone lived on the Kerry Dancer conditions for rescue would never be more favourable than this. If anyone lived ― and from what they could see of her in the light of their canal searchlights and the port signalling lamp as they bore slowly down on her, it seemed unlikely. More, it seemed impossible. In the harsh glare of the searchlights she seemed more forlorn, more abandoned than ever, so deep now by the head that the f or'ard well deck had vanished, and the fo'c'sle, like some lonely rock, now awash, now buried deep as the big seas rolled it under ― the wind had gone, the rain had gone, but the seas were almost as high as ever, and even more confused.

Captain Findhorn gazed out silently at the Kerry Dancer his eyes bleak. Caught in a cone of light, broached to and broadside on to the waves, she was rolling sluggishly in the troughs, her centre of gravity pulled right down by the weight of hundreds of tons of water. Dead, he thought to himself, dead if ever a ship was dead but she just won't go. Dead, and that's her ghost, he thought inconsequentially, and ghost-like she seemed, eerie and foreboding with the searchlights shining through the twisted rectangular gaps in her burnt-out upper-works. She reminded him vaguely, tantalisingly, of something, then all of a sudden he had it ― the Death Ship of the Ancient Mariner, with the red, barred sun shining through the skeleton of her timbers. No deader than this one here, he thought grimly. Nothing could have been emptier of life than this…. He became aware that the chief officer was standing just behind his shoulder.

"Well, there she is, Johnny," he murmured "Candidate-elect for the Sargasso Sea, or wherever dead ships go. It's been a nice trip. Let's be getting back."

"Yes, sir." Nicolson didn't seem to have heard him. "Permission to take a boat across, sir."

"No." Findhorn's refusal was flat, emphatic. "We've seen all we want to see."

"We've come back a long way for this." There was no particular inflection in Nicolson's voice. "Vannier, the bo'sun, Ferris, myself and a couple of others. We could make it."

"Maybe you could." Bracing himself against the heavy rolling of the Viroma, Findhorn made his way to the outer edge of the port wing and stared down at the sea. Even jn the lee of the ship, there were still ten or fifteen feet between troughs and wavecrests, the short, steep seas confused and treacherous. "And maybe you couldn't. I don't propose to risk anyone's life just to find that out."

Nicolson said nothing. Seconds passed, then Findhorn turned to him again, the faintest edge of irritation in his voice. "Well, what's the matter. Still feeling ― what do you call it? ― fey? Is that it?" He flung out an impatient arm in the direction of the Kerry Dancer. "Damn it all, man, she's obviously abandoned. Burnt-out and hammered till she looks like a floating colander. Do you honestly think there would be any survivors after she had been through that little lot? And even if there were, they're bound to see our lights. Why aren't they all dancing about the upper deck ― if there's any deck left ― waving their shirts above their heads? Can you tell me that?" Captain Findhorn was being heavily sarcastic.

"No idea, sir, though I should imagine a badly-wounded soldier ― McKinnon said there were a few stretcher cases aboard ― would find it difficult, far too difficult, even to get out of bed and take his shirt off, far less wave it all over the upper deck," Nicolson said dryly. "A favour, sir. Switch our searchlights off and on, a few 12-pounder ack-ack shots, half-a-dozen rockets. If there's anyone left alive, that'll attract their attention."

Findhorn considered for a moment, then nodded his head. "It's the least I can do, and I don't suppose there's a Jap within fifty miles. Go ahead, Mr. Nicolson."

But the flicking on and off of the searchlights, the flat, sharp crack of the 12-pounder echoing emptily over the sea had no effect, just no effect at all. The Kerry Dancer looked even more lifeless than before, a floating, burnt-out skeleton, deeper than ever in the water, the fo'c'sle only awash now in the deepest troughs. And then came the rockets, seven or eight of them, dazzling white in the pitchy darkness, curving away in shallow arcs to the west; one of them landed on the poop of the Kerry Dancer, lay there for long seconds bathing the heaving deck in a fierce white glare, then sputtering to extinction. And still nothing moved aboard the Kerry Dancer, no sign of life at all.

"Well, that's it." Captain Findhorn sounded a little weary: even with no hope in the first place he was still disappointed, more than he would have cared to admit. "Satisfied, Mr. Nicolson?"

"Captain, sir I" It was Vannier speaking before Nicolson could answer, his voice high-pitched, excited. "Over there, sir. Look!"

Findhorn had steadied himself on the handrail and had his night glasses to his eyes before Vannier had finished talking. For a few seconds he stood motionless, then he swore softly, lowered his glasses and turned to Nicolson. Nicolson forestalled him.

"I can see it, sir. Breakers. Less than a mile south of the Kerry Dancer ― she'll pile up there in twenty minutes, half an hour. Metsana, it must be ― it's not just a reef."

"Metsana it is," Findhorn growled. "Good God, I never dreamed we were so close! That settles it. Cut the lights. Full ahead, hard a starboard and keep her 090 ― biggest possible offing in the shortest possible time. We're about due to move out of the eye of the typhoon any minute now and heaven only knows how the wind is going to break ― what the devil!"

Nicolson's hand was on his upper arm, the lean fingers digging hard into his flesh. His left arm was stretched out, finger pointing towards the stern of the sinking ship.

"I saw a light just now ― just after ours went out." His voice was very quiet, almost hushed. "A very faint light ― a candle, or maybe even a match. The porthole nearest the well-deck."

Findhorn looked at him, stared out at the dark, tenebrous silhouette of the steamer, then shook his head.

"I'm afraid not, Mr. Nicolson. Some optical trick, nothing else. The retina can hold some queer after-images, or maybe. it was just the scuttle reflecting the dying glow from one of our―――"

"I don't make mistakes of that kind," Nicolson interrupted flatly.

A few seconds passed, seconds of complete silence, then Findhorn spoke again: "Anybody else see that light?" The voice was calm, impersonal enough, the faint edge of anger just showing through.

Again the silence, longer this time, then Findhorn turned abruptly on his heel. "Full ahead, quartermaster, and ― Mr. Nicolson! What are you doing?"

Nicolson replaced the phone he had been using without any sign of haste. "Just asking for a little light on the subject," he murmured laconically. He turned his back to the captain and gazed out over the sea.

Findhorn's mouth tightened; he took a few quick steps forward but slowed up suddenly as the port light switched on, wavered uncertainly, then settled on the aftercastle of the Kerry Dancer. More slowly still the captain came alongside Nicolson, shoulder to shoulder, both hands reaching up for the dodger rail to steady himself: but seeking balance alone could not have accounted for the strength of his grip on the rail, a grip that tightened and tightened until the straining knuckles were burnished ivory in the washback of light from the beam pinned on the Kerry Dancer.

The Kerry Dancer was barely three hundred yards away now, and there could be no doubt about it, none at all. Everybody saw it, clearly ― the narrow scuttle swinging in, then the long, bare arm stretching out and frantically waving a white towel or sheet, an arm that withdrew suddenly, thrust out a flaming bundle either of paper or rags, held on to it until the flames began to lick and twist around the wrist, then dropped it hissing and smoking, into the sea.

Captain Findhorn sighed, a long, heavy sigh, and undamped his aching fingers from the dodger rail. His shoulders sagged, the tired, dispirited droop of a man no longer young, a man who has been carrying too heavy a burden for too long a time. Beneath the dark tan his face was almost drained of colour.

"I'm sorry, my boy." It was only a whisper; he spoke without turning round, his head shaking slowly from side to side. "Thank God you saw it in time."

No one heard him, for he was talking only to himself. Nicolson was already gone, sliding on his forearms down the teak ladder rails without his feet touching one step, before the captain had started speaking. And even before he was finished Nicolson had knocked off the gripes' release links on the port lifeboat, and was already easing off the handbrake, shouting for the bo'sun to muster the emergency crew at the double.

Fireman's axe in one hand, a heavy, rubber-sheathed torch in the other, Nicolson made his way quickly along the fore and aft passage through the Kerry Dancer's gutted midships superstructure. The steel deck beneath his feet had been buckled and twisted into fantastic shapes by the intense heat, and pieces of charred wood were still smouldering in sheltered corners. Once or twice the heavy, jerky rolling of the ship threw him against the walls of the passage and the fierce heat struck at him even through the canvas gloves on his outflung hands: that the metal should still be so hot after hours of gale force winds and torrential rain gave him a very vivid idea of the tremendous heat that must have been generated by the fire. He wondered, vaguely, what sort of cargo she had been carrying: probably contraband of some sort.

Two-thirds of the way along the passage, on the right hand side, he noticed a door, still intact, still locked. He leaned back and smashed at the lock, straight-legged, with the sole of his shoe: the door gave half an inch, but held. He swung his axe viciously against the lock, kicked the door open with his foot, pressed the button of his torch and stepped over the coaming. Two charred, shapeless bundles lay on the floor at his feet. They might have been human beings once, they might not. The stench was evil, intolerable, striking at his wrinkling nostrils like a physical blow. Nicolson was back in the passage within three seconds, hooking the door shut with the blade of the axe. Vannier was standing there now, the big red fire extinguisher under his arm, and Nicolson knew that even in those brief moments Vannier had had time to look inside. His eyes were wide and sick, his face like paper.

Nicolson turned abruptly, continued down the passage, Vannier behind him, followed by the Bo'sun with a sledge and Ferris with a crowbar. He kicked open two more doors, shone his torch inside. Empty. He came to the break of the after well-deck, and here he could see better, for all the lights of the Viroma were trained there. Quickly he looked round for a ladder or companionway, as quickly found it ― a few charred sticks of wood lying on the steel deck eight feet below. A wooden companionway, completely destroyed by the fire. Nicolson turned swiftly to the carpenter.

"Ferris, get back to the boat and tell Ames and Docherty to work it aft as far as the well deck here. I don't care how they do it, or how much damage is done to the boat ― we can't get sick and wounded men up here. Leave your crowbar."

Nicolson had swung down on his hands and dropped lightly to the deck below before he had finished speaking. In ten paces he had crossed the deck, rung the haft of his axe hard against the steel door of the aftercastle.

"Anyone inside there?" he shouted.

For two or three seconds there was complete silence, then there came a confused, excited babble of voices, all calling to him at once. Nicolson turned quickly to McKinnon, saw his own smile reflected in the wide grin on the bo'sun's face, stepped back a pace and played his torch over the steel door. One clip was hanging loose, swinging pendulum-like with the heavy, water-logged rolling of the Kerry Dancer, the other seven jammed hard in position.

The seven-pound sledge-hammer was a toy in MeKinnon's hands. He struck seven times in all, once for each clip, the metallic clangs reverberating hollowly throughout the sinking ship. And then the door had swung open of its own accord and they were inside,

Nicolson flashed his torch over the back of the steel door and his mouth tightened: only one clip, the one that had been hanging loose, was continued through the door ― the rest just ended in smooth rivet heads. And then he was facing aft again, the beam circling slowly round the aftercastle.

It was dark and cold, a dank, dripping dungeon of a place with no covering at all on the slippery steel deckplates, and barely enough headroom for a tall man to stand upright. Three-tiered metal bunks," innocent of either mattresses or blankets, were ranged round both sides, and about a foot or sa above each bunk a heavy iron ring was welded to the bulkheads. A long, narrow table ran fore and aft the length of the compartment, with wooden stools on either side.

There were maybe twenty people in the room, Nicolson estimated; some sitting on the bottom bunks, one or two standing, hanging on to the uprights of the bunks to brace themselves, but most of them still lying down. Soldiers they were, those who were lying on the bunks, and some of them looked as if they would never get up again: Nicolson had seen too many dead men, the waxen cheek, the empty lustreless eye, the boneless relaxation that inhabits a shapeless bundle of clothes. There were also a few nurses in khaki skirts and belted tunics, and two or three civilians. Everyone, even the dusky skinned nurses, seemed white and strained and sick. The Kerry Dancer must have lain in the troughs since early afternoon, rolling wickedly, continuously, for endless hours.

"Who's in charge here?" Nicolson's voice beat back at him hollowly from the iron walls of the aftercastle.

"I think he is. Rather, I think he thinks he is." Slim, short, very erect, with silver hair drawn back in a tight bun beneath a liberally be-skewered straw hat, the elderly lady by Nicolson's side still had the fire of authority in the washed-out blue of her eyes. There was disgust in them now, too, as she pointed down at the man huddled over a half-empty whisky bottle on the table. "But he's drunk, of course."

"Drunk, madam? Did I hear you say I was drunk?" Here was one man who wasn't pale and sick, Nicolson realised: face, neck, even the ears were burnt brick in colour, a dramatic background for the snow-white hair and bristling white eyebrows. "You have the effrontery to― to――-" He rose spluttering to his feet, hands pulling down the jacket of his white linen suit, "By heaven, madam, if you were a man――-"

"I know," Nicolson interrupted. "You'd horsewhip her within an inch of her life. Shut up and sit down." He turned to the woman again, "What is your name, please? "" Miss Plenderleith. Constance Plenderleith." "The ship is sinking, Miss Plenderleith," Nicolson said rapidly. "She's lower by the head every minute. We'll be on the rocks in about half an hour, and the typhoon is going to hit us again any moment." Two or three torches were on now, and he looked round the silent half-circle of faces. "We must hurry. Most of you look like death, and I'm quite sure you feel that way, but we must hurry. We have a lifeboat waiting on the port side, not thirty feet away. Miss Plenderleith, how many can't walk that far?"

"Ask Miss Drachmann. She's the sister in charge." Miss Plenderleith's quite different tone left no doubt that she thoroughly approved of Miss Drachmann. "Miss Drachmann?" Nicolson asked expectantly. A girl in a faraway corner turned to look at him. Her face was in shadow, "Only two, I'm afraid, sir." Beneath the overtones of strain, the voice was soft and low and musical, "You're afraid?"

"All the other stretcher cases died this evening," she said quietly. "Five of them, sir. They were very sick ― and the weather was very bad." Her voice was not quite steady,

"Five of them," Nicolson repeated. He shook his bead slowly, wonderingly,

"Yes, sir." Her arm tightened around the child standing on the seat beside her, while her free hand pulled a blanket more tightly round him. "And this little one is just very hungry and very tired." Gently she tried to remove a grubby thumb from his mouth, but he resisted her efforts and continued to inspect Nicolson with a certain grave detachment.

"He'll feed and sleep well tonight," Nicolson promised. "Right, all those who can, walk into the boat. Fittest first ― you can help steady the boat and guide the wounded into it. How many arm or leg wounds, apart from the stretcher cases, nurse?"

"Five, sir."

"No need to call me 'sir'. You five wait till there's someone down there to help you." He tapped the whisky-drinker on the shoulder. "You lead the way."

"Me?" He was outraged. "I'm in charge here, sir ― the captain, in effect, and a captain is always last to――-"

"Lead the way," Nicolson repeated patiently.

"Tell him who you are, Foster," Miss Plenderleith suggested acidly.

"I certainly shall." He was on his feet now, a black gladstone bag in one hand, the half-empty bottle in the other. "Farnholme is the name, sir. Brigadier Foster Farnholme." He bowed ironically. "At your service, sir."

"Delighted to hear it." Nicolson smiled coldly. "On your way." Behind him, Miss Plenderleith's low chuckle of amusement came unnaturally loud in the sudden silence.

"By God, you shall pay for this, you insolent young――-"

He broke off hurriedly and took a step backwards as Nicolson advanced on him. "Dammit all, sir," he spluttered. "The traditions of the sea. Women and children first."

"I know. Then we'll all line up on the deck and die like little gentlemen while the band plays us under. I won't tell you again, Farnholme."

"Brigadier Farnholme to you― you――-"

"You'll get a seventeen gun salute as you go aboard," Nicolson promised. His stiff-armed push sent Farnholme, still clutching his bag, reeling back into the arms of the expectant bo'sun. McKinnon had him outside in less than four seconds.

Nicolson's torch probed round the aftercastle and came to rest on a cloaked figure sitting huddled on a bunk.

"How about you?" Nicolson asked. "You hurt?"

"Allah is good to those who love Allah." The voice was deep, almost sepulchral, the dark eyes deepset above an eagle nose. He stood up, tall, dignified, pulling his black cap tightly over his head. "I am unhurt."

"Good. You next, then." Nicolson swivelled the torch round, picked out a corporal and two soldiers. "How do you boys feel?"

"Ach, we're fine." The thin, dark corporal withdrew his puzzled, suspicious stare from the doorway through which Farnholme had just vanished and grinned at Nicolson. It was a grin that belied the bloodshot eyes, the yellow, fever-ridden face. "Britain's hardy sons. We're just in splendid form."

"You're a liar," Nicolson said pleasantly.' "But thanks very much. Off you go. Mr. Vannier, will you see them into the boat, please? Have them jump every time the lifeboat rides up near the well-deck ― it should come within a couple of feet. And a bowline round each person ― just in case. The bo'sun will give you a hand."

He waited until the broad, retreating back of the cloaked man had vanished through the door, then looked curiously at the little lady by his side. "Who's the boy friend, Miss Plenderleith?"

"He's a Muslim priest, from Borneo." She pursed her lips in disapproval. "I spent four years in Borneo once. Every river bandit I ever heard of was a Muslim."

"He should have a wealthy congregation," Nicolson murmured. "Right, Miss Plenderleith, you next, then the nurses. Perhaps you wouldn't mind staying a bit longer, Miss Drach-mann? You can see to it that we don't do too much damage to your stretcher cases when we start carrying them out."

He turned without waiting for a reply and hurried through the door on the heels of the last of the nurses. On the well-deck he stood blinking for a few seconds, unaccustomed eyes adjusting themselves to the fierce glare of light from the Viroma that threw everything into harsh relief, a merciless whiteness broken by black, impenetrable blocks of shadow. The Viroma couldn't be more than a hundred and fifty yards away: with seas like these, Captain Findhorn was gambling, and gambling high.

Less than ten minutes had elapsed since they had come on board, but the Kerry Dancer was already appreciably lower in the water; the seas were beginning to break over the starboard side of the after well-deck. The lifeboat was on the port side, one moment plunging a dozen feet down into the depths of a trough, the next riding up almost to the level of the well-deck rail, the men in the boat screwing shut their eyes and averting their heads as they were caught in the glare of the searchlights. Even as Nicolson watched, the corporal released his grip on the rail, stepped into the lifeboat, was grabbed by Docherty and Ames and dropped from sight like a stone. Already McKinnon had swung one of the nurses over the rail and was holding her in readiness for the next upward surge of the boat.

Nicolson stepped to the rail, switched on his torch and peered down over the side. The lifeboat was down in the trough, smashed jarringly into the side of the Kerry Dancer, despite all the crew could do to fend her off, as opposing seas flung the lifeboat and ship together: the two upper planks of the lifeboat were stove in and broken, but the gunwale of tough American elm still held. Fore and aft Farnholme and the Muslim priest clung desperately to the ropes that held them alongside, doing their best to keep the boat in position and to ease it against the shocks of the sea and the hull of the Kerry Dancer: as far as Nicolson could judge in the confusion and near darkness, their best was surprisingly good.

"Sir!" Vannier was by his side, his voice agitated, his arm pointing out into the darkness. "We're almost on the rocks!"

Nicolson straightened up and stared along the line of the pointing arm. The sheet-lightning was still playing around the horizon, but even in the intervals of darkness there was no difficulty in seeing it ― a long, irregular line of seething white, blooming and fading, creaming and dying as the heavy seas broke over the outlying rocks of the coastline. Two hundred yards away now, Nicolson estimated, two fifty at the most, the Kerry Dancer had been drifting south at almost twice the speed he'd estimated. For a moment he stood there immobile, racing mind calculating his chances, then he staggered and almost fell as the Kerry Dancer struck heavily, with a grinding, tearing screech of metal, on an underground reef, the decks canting far over on the port side. Nicolson caught a glimpse of McKinnon, feet wide braced on the deck, an arm crooked tightly round the nurse outside the rail, bared teeth white and deepset eyes screwed almost shut as he twisted round and stared into the searchlight, and he knew that McKinnon was thinking the same thing as himself.

"Vannier!" Nicolson's voice was quick, urgent. "Get the Aldis out of the boat. Signal the captain to stand well off, tell him it's shoal ground, with rocks, and we're fast. Ferris ― take the bo'sun's place. Heave 'em in any old how. We're pinned f or'ard and if she slews round head into the sea we'll never get anybody off. Right, McKinnon, come with me."

He was back inside the aftercastle in five seconds, McKinnon close behind him. He swept his torch once, quickly, round the metal bunks. Eight left hi all ― the five walking wounded, Miss Drachmann and the two seriously injured men lying stretched out at full length on the lowest bunks. One was breathing stertorously through his open mouth, moaning and twisting from side to side in deep-drugged sleep. The other lay very still, his breathing so shallow as to be almost imperceptible, his face a waxen ivory: only the slow, aimless wandering of pain-filled eyes showed that he was still alive.

"Right, you five." Nicolson gestured at the soldiers. "Outside as fast as you can. What the hell do you think you're doing?" He reached out, tore a knapsack from the hands of a soldier who was struggling to slip his arms through the straps, flung it into a corner. "You'll be lucky to get out of this with your life, far less your damn' luggage. Hurry up and get outside."

Four of the soldiers, urged on by McKinnon, stumbled quickly through the door. The fifth ― a pale-faced boy of about twenty ― had made no move to rise from his seat. His eyes were wide, his mouth working continuously and his hands were clasped tightly in front of him. Nicolson bent over him.

"Did you hear what I said?" he asked softly.

"He's my pal." He didn't look at Nicolson, gestured to one of the bunks behind him. "He's my best friend. I'm staying with him."

"My God!" Nicolson murmured. "What a time for heroics." He raised his voice, nodded to the door. "Get going."

The boy swore at him, softly, continuously but broke off as a dull booming sound echoed and vibrated throughout the ship, the noise accompanied by a sharp, sickening lurch even farther to port.

"Water-tight bulkhead abaft the engine-room gone, I'm thinking, sir." McKinnon's soft-spoken Highland voice was calm, almost conversational.

"And she's filling up aft," Nicolson nodded. He wasted no further time. He stooped over the soldier, twisted his left hand in his shirt, jerked him savagely to his feet, then stiffened in sudden surprise as the nurse threw herself forward and caught his free right arm in both her hands. She was tall, taller than he had thought, her hair brushed his eyes and he could smell the faint fragrance of sandalwood. What caught and held his almost shocked attention, however, was her eyes ― or, rather, her eye, for the beam from McKinnon's torch lit up only the right hand side of her face. It was an eye of a colour and an intensity that he had seen only once before ― in his own mirror. A clear Arctic blue, it was very Arctic right then, and hostile.

"Wait! Don't hit him ― there are other ways, you know."

The voice was still the same, soft, well modulated, but the earlier respect had given way to something edged with near-contempt. "You do not understand. He is not well." She turned away from Nicolson and touched the boy lightly on the shoulder. "Come on, Alex. You must go, you know. I'll look after your friend ― you know I will. Please, Alex."

The boy stirred uncertainly and looked over his shoulder at the man lying in the bunk behind him. The girl caught his hand, smiled at him and urged him gently to his feet. He muttered something, hesitated, then stumbled past Nicolson out on to the well-deck.

"Congratulations." Nicolson nodded towards the open door. "You next, Miss Drachmann."

"No." She shook her head. "You heard me promise him ― and you asked me to stay behind a little time ago."

"That was then, not now," Nicolson said impatiently. "We've no time to fool around with stretchers now ― not with a slippery deck canted over at twenty degrees. Surely you can see that."

She stood irresolute a moment, then nodded without speaking and turned round to grope in the shadowed darkness of a bunk behind her.

Nicolson said roughly, "Hurry up. Never mind your precious belongings. You heard what I said to that soldier."

"Not my belongings," she said quietly. She turned round and pulled a wrap more tightly round the sleeping child in her arms. "But very precious to someone, I'm sure."

Nicolson stared at the child for a moment, then shook his head slightly. "Call me what you like, Miss Drachmann. I just plain forgot. And you can call that what you like ― 'criminal negligence' will do for a start."

"Our lives are all with you." The tone was no longer hostile. "You cannot think of everything." She walked past him along the sharply sloping deck, propping herself against the line of bunks with her free hand. Again the faint smell of the sandalwood drifted past him, a scent so faint that it was just a fleeting memory lost in the dank airlessness of the aftercastle. Near the door she slipped and almost fell, and McKinnon put out his hand to help her. She took it without any hesitation, and they went out on deck together.

Within a minute both the seriously injured men had been brought out on deck, Nicolson carrying the one and McKinnon the other. The Kerry Dancer, already settling deep by the stern, was still pinned fast for'ard, working jerkily round with every pounding wave that smashed along its starboard length, the bows coming slowly, inexorably, head on to the seas. A minute at the most, Nicolson estimated, and the lifeboat would have lost the last of its shelter and would be exposed, head on, to the heavy combers shorter and steeper than ever as they raced in over the shoaling seabed. Already the lifeboat, now plunging, now rolling in short, vicious arcs, was corkscrewing almost uncontrollably in the quartering seas, shipping gallons of water at a time over the port gunwale. Not even a minute left, Nicolson felt sure. He jumped over the rail, waited for the bo'sun to hand him the first of the two injured men. Seconds only, just seconds, and any more embarkation would be quite impossible ― the lif eboat would have to cast off to save itself. Seconds, and the devil of it was that they had to work with sick men, maybe even dying men, in almost total darkness: the Kerry Dancer was so far round now that her superstructure completely blocked off the searchlights of the Viroma.

Nicolson, leaning inboard against the slope of the deck, took the first man from McKinnon, waited until the bo'sun had hooked his fingers in his belt, twisted round and leaned far out as the lifeboat came surging up out of the darkness into the thin beam of Vannier's torch. Docherty and Ames, each securely anchored by a couple of soldiers sitting on the side benches, rode up almost level with Nicolson ― with the stern of the Kerry Dancer settling in the water the lifeboat was now riding comparatively higher ― caught the wounded man neatly at the first attempt, had him lowered to the thwarts just as the lifeboat dropped from sight and fell heavily into the next trough in a welter of spray and phosphorescent foam. Only six or seven seconds later the other wounded man had joined his companion in the bottom of the boat. Inevitably their handling had been hurried, rough, and must have been agonising, but neither man had uttered even a whimper.

Nicolson called to Miss Drachmann, but she pushed forward two of the walking wounded: they jumped together, landed safely in the boat. One more soldier to come: even with all speed it was going to be touch and go, Nicolson thought grimly ― the Kerry Dancer was far round into the sea already. But the last soldier didn't come. In the darkness Nicolson couldn't see him, but he could hear his voice, high-pitched and fearful, at least fifteen feet away. He could hear the nurse talking too, urgency in the soft, persuasive voice, but her arguments didn't seem to be getting her anywhere.

"What the hell's the matter there?" Nicolson shouted savagely.

There was a confused murmur of voices, and then the girl called, "Just a minute, please."

Nicolson twisted round, looked for'ard along the port side of the Kerry Dancer, then flung up a forearm in instinctive defence as the searchlights of the Viroma cleared the slowly swinging superstructure of the Kerry Dancer and struck at his dark-accustomed eyes. The Kerry Dancer was right round now, heading straight into the seas, and the lifeboat with all protection gone. He could see the first of the steep-walled, spume-veined waves racing smoothly, silently, down the listing side of the ship, the next not far behind. How big they were Nicolson couldn't tell: the searchlights, paralleling the surface of the sea, high-lit the broken white of the wave-tops but left the troughs in impenetrable blackness. But they were big enough, too big and too steep: half-a-dozen of these and the lifeboat would fill right up and overturn. At the very least they would flood the engine air intake, and then the results would be just as disastrous.

Nicolson wheeled round, vaulted over the rail, shouted at Vannier and Ferris to get into the lifeboat, called to McKinnon to cast off aft, and half-ran, half-stumbled up the heeling, slippery deck to where the girl and the soldier stood half-way between the aftercastle screen door and the ladder leading to the poop-deck above.

He wasted no time on ceremony but caught the girl by the shoulders, twisted her round and propelled her none too gently towards the ship's side, turned round again, grabbed the soldier and started to drag him across the deck. The boy resisted and, as Nicolson sought for a better grip, struck out viciously, catching Nicolson squarely between the eyes. Nicolson stumbled and half fell on the wet, sloping deck, got to his feet again like a cat and jumped towards the soldier, then swore, softly, bitterly, as his swinging arm was caught and held from behind. Before he could free it the soldier had turned and flung himself up the poop ladder, his studded soles scrabbling frantically on the metal steps.

"You fool!" Nicolson said quietly. "You crazy little fool!" Roughly he freed his arm, made to speak again, saw the bo'sun, in sharp silhouette against the glare of the searchlight, beckoning frantically from where he stood outside the well-deck rail. Nicolson waited no longer. He turned the nurse round, hustled her across the deck, swung her across the rail. McKinnon caught her arm, stared down at the lifeboat two-thirds lost in the shrouded gloom of a trough and waited for nis chance to jump. Just for a moment he looked round and Nicolson could tell from the anger and exasperation on his face that he knew what had happened.

"Do you need me, sir?"

"No." Nicolson shook his head decisively. "The lifeboat's more important." He stared down at the boat as she came surging up sluggishly into the light, water from a high, breaking wave-crest cascading into her bows. "My God, McKinnon, she's filling right up already! Get her away from here as fast as you can! I'll cast off for'ard."

"Aye, aye, sir." Mckinnon nodded matter-of-fact acknowledgment, judged his time perfectly, stepped off the side on to the mast thwart, taking the girl with him: ready hands caught and steadied them as the boat dropped down again into the darkness of a trough. A second later the for'ard rope went snaking down into the lifeboat, Nicolson bending over the rail and staring down after it.

"Everything all right, bo'sun?" he called.

"Aye, no bother, sir. I'm going under the stern, in the lee."

Nicolson turned away without waiting to see what happened. The chances of a water-logged lifeboat broaching to in the initial moments of getting under way in those heavy seas were no better than even, but if McKinnon said everything was under control then everything was: and if he said he would heave to under the stern, he would be waiting there. Nicolson shared Captain Findhorn's implicit faith in McKin-non's initiative, reliability and outstanding seamanship.

He reached the top of the poop-deck ladder and stood there with his hand on the rail, looking slowly round him. Ahead was the superstructure, and in the distance, beyond it and on either side of it, stretched the long, lean shadow of the tanker, a dark smudge on the water, half-seen, half-imagined behind the white brilliance of its searchlights. But the lights, Nicolson suddenly realised, weren't nearly as brilliant or intense as they had been, even ten minutes earlier. For a fleeting moment he thought that the Viroma must be standing out to sea, working her way clear of the shoal water, then almost instantly realised, from the size and unaltered fore-and-aft position of the vague silhouette, that it hadn't moved at all. The ship hadn't changed, the searchlights hadn't changed ― but the beams from the searchlights were no longer the same, they seemed to have lost their power, to be swallowed up, dissipated in the blackness of the sea. And there was something else, too ― the sea was black, a darkness unrelieved by the slightest patch of white, by even one breaking whitecap on a wave: and then all of a sudden Nicolson had it ― oil.

There could be no doubt about it ― the sea between the two ships was covered in a wide, thick film of oil. The Viroma must have been pumping it overboard for the past five minutes or so ― hundreds of gallons of it, enough to draw the teeth of all but the wildest storm. Captain Findhorn must have seen the Kerry Dancer swinging head on to the sea and quickly realised the danger of the lifeboat being swamped by inboard breaking seas. Nicolson smiled to himself, an empty smile, and turned away. Admitted the oil all but guaranteed the safety of the lifeboat, he still didn't relish the prospect of having his eyes burnt, ears, nostrils and mouth clogged, and being fouled from head to foot when he went overboard in just a few seconds ― he and young Alex, the soldier.

Nicolson walked easily aft across the poop-deck towards the stern. The soldier was standing there, pressed against the taffrail in a stiff, unnatural fashion, his back to it and his hands grasping the stanchions on either side. Nicolson went close up to him, saw the wide, fixed eyes, the trembling of a body that has been tensed far too long; a leap into the water with young Alex, Nicolson thought dryly, was an invitation to suicide, either by drowning or strangulation ― terror lent inhuman strength and a grip that eased only with death. Nicolson sighed, looked over the taffrail and switched on the torch in his hand. McKinnon was exactly where he had said he would be, hove to in the lee of the stern, and not fifteen feet away.

The torch snapped off and quietly, without haste, Nicolson turned away from the rail and stood in front of the young soldier. Alex hadn't moved, his breath came in short, shallow gasps. Nicolson transferred the torch to his left hand, lined it up, snapped it on, caught a brief glimpse of a white, strained face, bloodless lips drawn back over bared teeth and staring eyes that screwed tight shut as the light struck at them, then hit him once, accurately and very hard, under the corner of the jawbone. He caught the boy before he had started falling, heaved him over the taffrail, slid across himself, stood there for a second, sharply limned in a cone of light from a torch new lit in the boat ― McKinnon had prudently bided his time until he had heard the sharp thud of the blow ― crooked an arm round the young soldier's waist and jumped. They hit the water within five feet of the boat, vanished almost silently beneath the oil-bound sea, surfaced, were caught at once by waiting hands and dragged inside the lifeboat, Nicolson cursing and coughing, trying to clear gummed-up eyes, nose and ears, the young soldier lying motionless along the starboard side bench, Vannier and Miss Drachmann working over him with strips torn from Vannier's shirt.

The passage back to the Viroma was not dangerous, just very brief and very rough indeed, with almost all the passengers so seasick and so weak that they had to be helped out of the boat when they finally came alongside the tanker. Within fifteen minutes of his jump into the water with the young soldier Nicolson had the lifeboat safely heaved home on her housing on the patent gravity davits, the last of the gripes in position and had turned for a final look at the Kerry Dancer. But there was no sign of her anywhere, she had vanished as if she had never been; she had filled up, slid off the reef and gone to the bottom. For a moment or two Nicolson stood staring out over the dark waters, then turned to the ladder at his side and climbed slowly up to the bridge.