A Bridge of Magpies

C H A P T E R. S I X

'Welcome to the commune'

Jutta eyed the guano-splashed prefabs, and didn't answer for a moment. The pissy wind came cascading over the rocks, and bits of feathers and nests made unerringly for one's eyes and nostrils. It was about mid-afternoon. In an hour or two the fog would start coming in. When it did, the wind would fall. The huts were sited under the lee of the island's northernmost high point, which-instead of giving shelter -acted acted more as a booster to jack up the force of the wind, breaking it up into eddies which searched out every nook and cranny and brought a continual avalanche of debris. You couldn't escape-whichever way you faced.

We were all standing on the concrete apron near the jetty

'Which is the jail?' Jutta demanded.

'The whole place is a jail,' Koch retorted. 'You've got an exercise yard over two miles long and half a mile broad. But don't get ideas. The most level bit is what you're standing mi.'

I added, 'Careful over the rocks. They get very slippery because of the guano and the fog. They're like ice every morning?

'Every morning? You've only been here.. Breekbout muttered something and he and Kaptein Denny grinned.

I translated the patois, as it was obvious the crack was directed at her.

'He says, please stay the winter and you'll grow webs on your feet like the birds-from climbing the rocks, He's never seen a woman with webbed feet..

'Save it!' It made her angrier.

Koch, too-was becoming more irritated. He pulled me away from the others to the headman's cottage where they couldn't overhear us.

'What sort of white-shoe captain are you?' he demanded. 72

'Don't blow your bilges. What the hell do you expect me to do with her?'

'Spell it out. Spell it out to both of them that they aren't staying. Throw 'em out.'

'They've heard that already. She won't budge. I can't stop Kaptein Denny anchoring his boat and just sitting.'

`That bastard has a racket. I don't buy that yarn of his. He isn't at Doodenstadt for a full frontal view of the scen'Don't get your knickers in a twist. I can't touch him; not legally anyway.'

'Find a reason; invent one if you must. If he gets back to Luderitz hell spread the rumour.'

'Welt do something, for crying in a bucket 1 I'm not going to start operations with Kaptein Denny watching every move I make. Get rid of him!'

'I believe the girl's story -the the part of it she told me. She wasn't acting for my benefit. But it wasn't the whole story, I' m certain. Whatever Kaptein Denny's racket is, he's using her as a front for it.'

'Your concern for her is so touching. You make me want to cry! Listen, man! There's a lost city under these rocks. Treasure, probably. If Denny gets back to Luderitz the whole security screen is blown. Sky-high. He'll manufacture just the situation the C-in-C is trying to avoid. Well have a queue of bums, no-goods, wide boys-they'll be here like flies. Trump up a reason to hold him;

'For how long? Months?'

'Get on the blower to the C-in-C if you feel you can't cope.'

'First day in command and I can't solve my own problems without running to the boss! Never!'

'Here's a way-Struan. Take the girl to Luderitz in your official boat You can make it in less than a day. Dump her. Make a few discreet inquiries; try to get some dirt on Denny. It can be done: the top brass there has been ordered to feather-bed you.

'She'll kick up hellish rough.'

'The scratching and kicking won't last more than a day. Then you can push the cat over the side and have done with it'

'And leave Kaptein Denny to go scot-free while I'm away?'. 73

'No. I'll stay, right here on Possession. I'll answer for him until you get back. Breekbout can stand turns on guard with

'I suppose it's okay. However, he did promise he wouldn't go ashore:

'Not while we watch, he won't. But half the bloody day and all the night there's fog. You won't ever know where he is. There's a lot of craftiness there, boy, make no mistake:

'Kaptein Denny

'You always give him his title, I notice.'

'There's something about him. Something out of the ordinary. Don't ask me what: all I know, it's there:

'That makes him dangerous. We've got to break up this lost city party of theirs, Struan?

'You're sending flowers before the funerals.'

'Maybe. I like flowers better than funerals.'

'Funerals.. I told him about the graveyard. 'I've never known Malays use sea shell ornaments before.'

'It's just one more sound reason why we should lock him up. It could have something to do with his racket,' '

What do you think that is, Hellmut?'

'My guess is that he's got a lead on the lost city and is playing the zip-lip with his dumb fisherman act'

'Brace yourself; let's go and tell 'em our verdict.'

Jutta, Kaptein Denny and Breekbout were hunkered down, drinking coffee in the cheerless bunkroom in front of a small cast-iron stove. There wasn't any proper furniture. A few boxes and packing cases served as chairs and tables. There was a big stove in the galley to meet the needs of scores of guano workers but it was too much trouble for Breekbout. I helped myself to a pint-sized chipped mug and a biscuit. We'd missed our lunch ashore. I moistened my throat with a couple of sips and told them what I intended. I didn't beat about the bush. Jutta took it quietly, eyeing me as she remained squatting, cup in hand. But I saw the tension in her eyes: I wondered how much pressure she would stand. Kaptein Denny remarked in a neutral kind of way, gave you my parole I wouldn't go ashore.'

'Bull!'

Koch laughed derisively before I cut him short.

'Will your boat be safe where she lies? I won't be away 74

'more than a couple of days.'

He shot me a glance of appreciation. -The holding ground is good where she is. Mud and shell in five fathoms. Just outside the line of the main channel. There's a rock which I use as a sort of ansteuringstonne.' He used the word quite naturally but it brought me a fresh rush of suspicion regarding the seamy-faced skipper. Ansteuringstonne means an approach buoy. But it's U-boat jargon. Jima said, 'I'd like to collect my things from Kaptein Denny's boat.'

I was relieved to be able to break up the tight group Is there anything you want, Kaptein Denny?'

'Not immediately?

Jutta and I used the whaleboat to cross to the cutter. I was equally relieved to exchange the ammoniacal stink of Posses- sion for the varnished smell of Gaok's mahogany cabin. Jutta spoke only once on the trip across. She'd been viewing the old liner and the shoreline as though to photograph them in her memory.

'Will I see this tomorrow before we leave?'

'Maybe. Depends on the fog.'

She bit her lips. I had the impression I'd pumped the tension a littJe nearer exploding-point.

While she collected her things from the inner cabin I made a quick check of the anchor cables and then the bridge. Gaok was a honey and I'd have loved to have owned her. I finally went below into the main cabin and opened the mahogany bar,

Jutta came into the doorway.

'What are you doing?'

'Brandy,' I said. 'The Possession party may need a bit of livening up this evening.'

'Do you always help yourself to whatever you want aboard somebody else's ship?'

'Always. It's in the blood. I come from a long line of wreckers.'

She opened her mouth, then bit back whatever she'd meant to say.

I added, 'I aJso intend to make a thorough search.' 'You've no right!' she flared. You're abusing your position, Me first, then himI mean, his ship- when he isn't here 75 to defend himself..

I put down my drink and faced her, both of us strained and hostile.

'You've taken a hit over this thing, Jutta. I tried to make it easy for you there on shore. I showed you what you asked to see. I believed-believe-your story. As much as you told me. Thousands wouldn't. I've got a job to do: don't get in the way.'

She was distant and ungiving. 'You showed me round: the benevolent grandstanding gesture! At the point of a rifle!

Watching every move!'

'You didn't come clean with me. So you got hurt.'

'Hurt! I could howl!' She stood for a long moment getting her face under control, then came up to me at the bar.

'I want to stay. Get that clear. More than anything else, I want to stay. But I'm not going to throw you a load of four-letter bitchery to try and get my way. I could also try a spot of instant sex. It would be easy now we're alone. The situation's tailor-made. Suppose I took off my clothes?'

I saw, now that she was so near-that the little spot in the corner of her eye which I thought was sand wasn't sand at all but a swollen tear-duct.

If you taJk about it, it isn't instant'

'There's a saying that nice girls always finish last?

'I wouldn't know, in the Sperrgebiet stakes. You're at the short end of things because whatever you're after is too way-out. Likewise, Kaptein Denny is after something-to, though I don't know what it is-not yet.'

`So you're planning a sneak search of his ship?'

`Not any more. I've changed my mind.'

`Don't let's elbow one another aside in the rush for the boat, then.'

I poured myself another slug and aJlowed it to coast over my tongue.

'Join me?'

'No.'

'I'm a good listener. Pull out the bung. Get it off your chest. Four-letter words, if it helps.'

'There's nothing more. Except…

'Except.'

She picked up the cheap case containing her things. `You're going to dump me on the quayside at Luderitz and say, the hell with you, Jutta'

'The quay, yes. The rest wasn't in my mind.'

'I've got a one-way air ticket from London. There's nothing left to pay for the return.'

`Get a refund from Kaptein Denny. It'll help.'

She looked away and I knew that he hadn't charged her for the charter of his boat. My suspicion that they might be working in tandem blew up afresh.

'Too bad. If he won't, you can always run home to Daddy:

If I'd slapped her face the reaction couldn't have been greater.

'You bastard! You unspeakable bastard, for saying that!'

`That's as good an exit line as any. Let's go.'

If she could have moved any farther away from me in the boat she would have. But we were obliged to face one another, I rowing and she sitting in the stem. The sunset was a napalm bunt on the clouds out to sea. Its flares caught Jutta's hair and made it more incandescent than gold. She'd got rid of the beret and the wind blew her long hair this way and that, changing the lights in it as it blew. It gave her something to do to fuss with it rather than endure the tight silence. I for my part was grateful for being occupied rowing. It took a long time to reach the island because the run of the sea was against us and I hadn't Breekbout's skill with the heavy craft. By the time we arrived at the jetty the sunset was gone and the sea was bleak and cold. The fog bank loomed close, which made for a shut-off feeling, as if Possession and the two-stack wreck were the only things left in the world.

Koch and I hosted a dismal dinner. We tried to make a party of it by selecting tinned specialities from the abundant store room, and he dressed them up skilfully over the stove. However-our attempt at a semi-festive air, helped by a couple of brandies from Gaok's bottle, exploded when I pitched into Jutta as soon as she appeared. She'd changed into tawny-coloured pants and a green sweater which offset her hair and made it look lovely in the dicky light. It was her first words which blew the powder-keg.

'It was a wonderful bath, even if it was cold.'

'You-had-a – bath?'

The term was unknown to Breekbout. The others gaped. 77

'What's wrong with that?'

'Don't you realize that every drop of water on this island is for drinking and drinking alone? That it all comes by ship from Cape Town or from the sun condensers on the roof?'

'Pulling rank again!' she blazed back 'For every petty thing you have a "do this, do that"

'My dear girl.

'I'm not your bloody "dear girl"! Nobody said anything about not bathing! It's a good thing I'm leaving: I couldn't stomach much morel'

I thought of the next day's journey. A small boat isn't the place for two people to be at one another's throats, I smothered my retort.

Koch also tried to be placatory during the meal, which was probably the most sumptuous Possession had ever seen; but it didn't come off: for most of the time she was irritable and silent.

It was Kaptein Denny who put the party into neutral gear. '

What's your route to Luderitz, Captain Weddell?' he asked.

'A broad sweep out to sea to the north-west first. Then I head back to the land and make port.'

'Keep away from the deep sea. Use the in-shore route.'

His opinion was worth respecting. After all, he'd used Sperrgebiet waters all his life.

'In-shore? Never heard of it.'

'Between the reefs and the shore.'

'It sounds crazy.'

'Maybe. But it's July and the signs are there. The fog's thicker. The sea's sulky. There's heavy weather coining: a big blow.'

It flashed through my mind that a soft sell about the weather could be an easy way to liquidate me. Lost at sea. No trace. No comeback

'It isn't what the radio weather forecast says.'

He pulled something from his pocket and handed it to me. It was like a square bit of chamois leather. It had claws.

'Dried albatross foot. Feel it When it's soft like now it means something special is blowing up. Nominally it's hard.'

I showed it to Koch. He by-passed Jutta, who sat silent. Kaptein Denny went on, speaking with authority, 'You'll be caught, for sure. You're using a boat you don't know. 78

I don't expect Van Rensburg kept her up to scratch.'

I began to believe him.

Jutta interjected, It won't help either of us if we're drowned.'

'Go my way and you won't be.'

He smiled and I found myself warming to him. He'd been the skipper Captain Murray said he'd like around if his ship was in trouble.

'Make a good offing to the north-west once you get clear of Possession,' he went on. 'It's going to be squally from the north-west and west, to start with. You don't want to be close to the land then. Later head back shorewards and keep inside the shoal plateau all the way up the coast.'

`You talk as if I meant to sail. I'll use the engine, of course.'

'In your place I'd sail. After the squalls you'll find the wind will hang in the west and then back strongly to the south-west. If you stick inshore you'll make most of the passage with a free wind. But if it gets too bad-and I think it will -you you can hole up in Alabama Cove. Perfect shelter. But you won't make the cove if you head out to sea'

Maybe the brandy had stoked Koch up more than he showed because at the mention of the name Alabama he suddenly burst into the song which is as traditional to South Africans as 'Waltzing Matilda' is to Australians: Here comes the Alabama, the Alabama comes o'er the sea, Here comes the Alabama, the Alabama comes o'er the sea.

Breekbout grabbed a tin dish and started to thump out the catchy rythmical beat. All of us except Jutta joined in the rest of the song.

Girl, girl, the reed-bed girl-the reed-bed is made up for me,

On which I can sleep.

Girl, girl, the reed-bed girl, the reed-bed is made up for me,

On which I can sleep.

The Alabama was a famous Confederate raider which harassed Yankee shipping off the Cape during the American Civil War. She was joined by a consort, the Tuscaloosa. The Alabama's exploits won the hearts of South Africans and were commemorated by the strolling Malay singers for whom Cape Town is famous.

Our nonsense seemed to snap Jutta out of her fit of the blues-especially when the four of us stomped out a kind of war dance. Perhaps that is how the ditty was born in the first place.

I said to Kaptein Denny when I'd sat down and got my breath back-'I knew the Alabama had a base somewhere on the Sperrgebiet but I didn't know where.'

'You'll see Alabama Cove and Tuscaloosa Rock for yourselves if it turns out to be the breed of buster I think's coming-' he replied. 'You'll bless them before you're through, too. When do you leave tomorrow?'

'As soon as the fog starts to lift.'

'It'll be a hairy trip, very hairy,'

'Where's this cove place?'

'About half-way to Luderitz.'

Breekbout broke in unexpectedly on our conversation. '

Give me another shot of brandy, skipper-the ghosts are coming in with the fog tonight.'

Kaptein Denny added, 'She's coming!'

I explained to Jutta. 'Possession's favourite apparition: a lady without legs. A couple of dogs, too, beside which the Hounds of the Baskervilles looks like a pup.' tried to keep it light but she shivered and shed the cheerfulness she'd had during the song.

I tried to jolly her further. 'You have the distinction of being the most tangible female ever to have set foot on Possession.' But she didn't respond.

Breekbout threw back his brandy at a gulp. 'Sy stinger soon piss-pikkewyn.'

She staggers like a sozzled penguin-' I translated for her benefit, but even Breekbout's unique gift of articulate speech failed to cheer her. Perhaps it was untranslatable anyhow. I tried to shut him up but he went on, with a kind of lugu, brious, serio-comic deadpan humour, 'I'm now going to put another light in the window so that the ghost can see her way properly.'

'He talks of her as if she were real!' exclaimed Jutta, 80.

Kaptein Denny said, 'On Possession ghosts are as Beal as I don't know what made me say it or why. I didn't intend to kill the party stone dead but I did. There was too much going on below the surface-and the lost city was just below the surface.

'As Swakop or the City of Baroda or U-160:

'Who did you say?' The legless ghost might have confronted Kaptein Denny, the way he looked.

`Swakop.'

He appeared to need both the ghost lights and the brandy. I intended to string him along because of my suspicions, but Jutta spilt it about the tape recording before I could stop her. The fact that he didn't know about it was a point in her favour. The tape wasn't the sort of thing partners would have kept from one another.

Her explanation gave him time to hang on to the ropes and get his breath back. I watched him all the way. So did Koch.

'Is that all?' he asked.

'Isn't it enough?' I countered.

`Nothing about…?' He let the question hang.

Jutta's voice was stony with resentment. 'I'd gladly play it over to you but the strong arm of the law has taken it away from me'

I'd locked away her tape-recorder and documents in a steel cupboard. This was in the headman's cottage, which I' d allocated to her, while the men shared the bunkhouse. I'd begun to feel better disposed towards her after finding out that Kaptein Denny didn't know about the tape; moreover, Yd been so struck by the evidence of the feeling which Julia's mention of it had aroused in him that I reckoned a full playback might bring out other interesting things as well.

'Why not?' I asked; and Jutta looted surprised. 'We're becoming involved with one bit of Possession's spooky past, so why not some of it that% for real? That tape's history wired for sound. I'll go and get it'

Outside, the fog was so thick it was like custard, and my torch didn't penetrate, just threw back a yellow blob of light. If it hadn't been for the concrete path I would have strayed. The smell of the sea was everywhere. It was quite 81 still, and I had my doubts about Kaptein Denny's gale forecast.

I collected the tape from the grim, cold cottage and returned thankfully to the bunkhouse fire.

But my moment had passed as far as Kaptein Denny was concerned. He sat poker-faced and listened with an impenetrable, impassive air while Jutta re-ran the recording. Even the final drama failed to send him, although it had Koch chain-smoking and made me forget to ask him whether the U-boat's two torpedoes which missed the liner had exploded against Possession's cliffs. Even Breekbout-who didn't understand most of it, was infected to the extent of helping himself, unasked, to a few more drinks.

When it ended we waited for Kaptein Denny's reaction. He said in a strained, tired voice, 'That was like a conversation with a voice from the grave.'

I said, 'You must have seen what happened to U-I60! You were there!'

'My activities really began in a big way where it leaves off. The liner ran ashore: I went to help, as you know.'

'You and the U-boat must have passed smack next to each other, on opposite courses in the channel,'

'Maybe.'

'Surely you spotted her!'

'It was foggy. Very thick. A wild night. The liner was my only concern.'

'The explosion of Gousblom's magazine must have lit up the whole channel.'

'It did-for a moment.'

'Yet, you never spotted U-I60?'

'No. I sighted a lot of oil later.'

The oil was in the north. You took the southern exit. You said so yourself.'

'I went backward and forward all night to the City o/ Baroda. The sea was breaking right across her. The passengers jumped form the stern to reach my boat. She was still among the breakers and not far up on the rocks, like now. When I left next day I could see the oil-and the warships waiting.'

I couldn't fault him and he wouldn't be drawn, so dropped questioning him further. But his attitude served only to keep the finger on him as far as Koch and I were concerned. Jutta didn't mention what I'd told her about the 82 underlying reason for Gousblom's sortie into the channel Nor did I

… at least, not until the early hours of them following morning. She'd stayed by the fire for a long time and I had finally seen her back to the cheerless cottage. I didn't blame her for not wanting to be there, especially alone. The fog was thicker than ever.

I slept fitfully, and so much on a hair-trigger, that I was already awake at some other noise before a violent knocking at the bunkhouse door had me on my feet and racing for it Kaptein Denny leapt up at the same instant. It was Jutta. She was shoeless and had been sleeping In her old shore clothes.

I didn't have to ask what it was when I wrenched open the door. I felt the sound in my belly. It wasn't the sharp retching crack of small-arms, but a flight of deep decibels through the darkness which socked one below the diaphragm. She might have been Possession's lady ghost herself, she was so white.

"The sound of guns",' she whispered,