Send a Gunboat (1960) (30 page)

He moved closer to her, letting his sore skin rest against her small body. “I don’t know it really well, but if we get there we’ll tour the place together!” He twisted round suddenly. “Judith, there are so many things I want to tell you!” He watched her worriedly, but she smiled across at him, her face encouraging. “I’ve made a mess of everything here for you, and I’ve not done much better with my own life! I wanted to tell you before about—” he groped for the right words—“about my marriage, and all that happened!”

“You don’t have to say anything about it,” she answered softly. “I may be pretty innocent in some ways, but your trouble showed on your face the first day you arrived!” Her grip tightened. “It’s all over now, isn’t it?” He nodded dumbly. “Well, that’s that, then!” She laughed quietly, “I’m mean and grasping, I don’t care about her, whoever she was! She couldn’t have been any good, or she would have appreciated you, as I do!”

“Judith,” he felt his eyes smarting, “while we’ve got the chance, let me tell you now. I love you! I want you!”

She leaned against him. “What, looking like this?” But her words trembled with pleasure.

“Just like this, just as you are! You’ve known it all the time, haven’t you?”

She nodded dreamily. “All the time!”

He knew that she was forcing herself to be brave, and trying to shut out the misery which surrounded them like a wall, but they both drew comfort and fresh strength from each other.

The day dragged on, and their bodies became weaker and more parched, while from above the sun searched out their last reserves of strength and drove them from their scanty cover.

Talking became impossible, and the journeys back and forth to tend to Felton’s needs had the makings of a new nightmare.

Rolfe pulled himself alongside the man’s twitching form and examined his bandages. His stomach protested against the vile
smell of the wound, but he could only stare wretchedly at the sunken face, knowing that he could do nothing to help him.

It was late in the afternoon when he saw the ship. At first he could only stare dully at the long grey hull, his mind vacant and uncomprehending. Then as the shape hardened in his brain, he croaked over his blistered shoulder. “A destroyer. Making for the harbour!”

He felt rather than saw that the others had joined him, and he watched the strange ship curve slowly away from the shore, to skirt the long line of creaming reefs. A faint trail of smoke whispered from the squat funnel, and as she moved, her fittings and equipment flashed brightly in the glare. Above her powerful bridge the radar aerials turned slowly, while from her gaff a red flag fluttered half-heartedly in the humid air.

“One of theirs?” Judith’s voice asked hoarsely.

He nodded, feeling his hopes fading in the wake of the ship. “I know the type. Ex-Russian, ‘Gordy’ class destroyer.” His trained mind ticked off the grim facts. “She’s mounting four big guns, five-inchers, and a hell of a lot of other stuff!”

They waited, watching the ship and still half-hoping that it might turn away again, for the mainland.

Judith sighed, as the raked stem slewed round the last reef and past the distant headland. The destroyer was making for the anchorage outside the harbour.

“So Major Ling has kept his word,” Rolfe muttered, as he stared at the sea, which was again empty.

Judith’s mouth quivered slightly. “Does that mean that your ship won’t come?”

“Fallow’d be a fool to risk it now!” he answered flatly. Then, as the new thought penetrated his swimming brain. “We must signal them to keep away!” He swallowed hard, not looking at them. “
Wagtail
has no radar, nothing! And the radio is finished! By the time we got Brian down to the water the destroyer would be on us, and the
Wagtail
would be sunk!”

Chao padded quietly away, his features dull and fatigued.

“What do you want us to do?” Judith asked at length.

He gripped her shoulders, searching her upturned face. “You mean, you agree with what I just said?”

“It was the only decision, Justin!” She tried to smile, but her
eyes were misty and her mouth trembled uncontrollably. “We must find another way!”

They laid down, their precious reserves spent.

“I want to be with you, Justin. Nothing else matters any more.”

He laid his forearm across his aching eyes. The rock seemed to be searing right through to his spine. “It’s as if someone never intended us to be happy together!” He felt her tears running hotly across his arm, and they lay, clinging to each other in silence, closing their eyes against the mocking sun.

When she eventually spoke again, her lips were practically against his ear, and her voice sounded dry and weak.

“How far will the
Wagtail
be from here when it comes?”

He glanced at her, worriedly; wrenching his sodden brain back into consciousness, but she shook her head gently. “It’s all right, Justin, I’m not going to break down again! I—I just wanted to know if we shall see the ship from here.”

He lay back again, seeing the picture of the quaint little gunboat in his mind. “I told Fallow to approach from the south-east and lie off outside the reef barrier. Santu harbour is in the north-west corner of the island, and I thought it advisable to keep the mass of the land between the ship and the main bulk of Communist forces!” The effort of speech made him more tired, but he felt the girl suddenly wriggle up on to her elbow. When he squinted painfully towards her, he saw that she was frowning and her eyes were thoughtful.

“Suppose, Justin, just suppose that the destroyer has been looking for your ship?” She seemed to be trying to stop herself from appearing excited. “It might be possible that they’ve given up the hunt and that’s why they’ve gone to the harbour?”

He wrestled with the idea as she hurried on before he could interrupt.

“After all, they still don’t know we’re here, and they probably believe we got away somehow in the motor-boat.” Her eyes were so full of sudden hope that he hated himself for having to spoil her eagerness.

“Well, just supposing you’re right in your idea, Judith,” he began slowly, “and it’s quite a possibility. We would still have the task of lowering your brother down the cliff and getting him
to the boat.” He shook his head heavily, suddenly weary of the whole business. “It would kill him.”

“It was just an idea,” she said in a small voice.

“That reef barrier is about two miles from here, and the
Wagtail
will haul off about a mile beyond that. I did think that the boat would be able to come right through to this islet for us, but,” he shrugged his sore shoulders, “it would take a long time and it would be risking the lives of every man and woman aboard, each minute that we were making the attempt.” He wanted to tell her that he was prepared to sacrifice the ship and everyone in it if it meant saving her life, but he knew that he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

As if reading his thoughts, she said quietly, “It would be too great a risk!”

He stirred himself as he heard Felton moaning from his shelter. “I’ll go,” he called, as Chao rolled over in the dust, his thin arms pushing at the rock.

Felton regarded him fixedly, while Rolfe wiped the dust from his mouth. “That ship, Justin,” he croaked, and Rolfe groaned inwardly. Not again! I shall crack in a second!

“It’s ruined everything, hasn’t it?” Felton persisted. “You’re going to tell the gunboat to clear off, aren’t you?” It was like an accusation.

Rolfe ran his fingers through his matted hair, his brows throbbing. “Try not to excite yourself, Brian. There’s not much we can do at the moment!”

Felton struggled angrily in his stained covering. “You can! That reef barrier, Justin, the one which the General thought would save his precious skin!” Rolfe tried to soothe him, but the broken body was gifted with a burst of strength. “You could swim there, from here!”

Rolfe had thought of that while Judith had been outlining her ideas. Once on the reef they would be within reach of rescue, although the very thought of making such a swim in their condition made him sicken with frustration. “Forget it! We’ll make out somehow!”

“It’s me, isn’t it? You won’t chance it because of me?” The eye gleamed redly. “Go on, answer me, damn you!”

Rolfe readjusted the bandages, trying to ignore the distorted
face. “I shall try and steal a boat from Santu tomorrow,” he was almost startled by his own calm voice, and the lie. “I’ll think of something!”

A hand fastened on his wrist. “Just admit that my idea is a good one! It is, isn’t it, Justin?” He was pleading now.

Rolfe stood up, his shadow across Felton’s dead legs. “Very good, Brian!”

An expression of triumph and peace crossed the man’s face, and he let his body go limp again. “Thank you, Justin.” Then, as Rolfe stared at him dully, “You love her, don’t you? You’ll take care of her?”

He’s delirious, he thought, and he smiled quickly, not wishing Felton to become excited again and lose the last of his failing strength. “I love her! And I’ve told her so.”

Felton smiled, and some of his old self seemed to flicker momentarily across his face. “You think I’ve been a fool! Well, perhaps I have about some things, Justin.” He gritted his teeth savagely to control another spasm of agony. “But I have been right about a lot of things, and about these people. I belong with them.” His eyes closed, and as Rolfe stepped quietly away, he called, “You’re a friend, Justin!”

Judith was still huddled beneath the shirt, and for a terrible moment he thought she was unconscious. Her head was sunk across her knees, and one hand lay upturned on the dust.

She stirred, her breath coming in short, hot gasps. “How much longer, Justin?” He stared at her anxiously and she lifted her tired eyes to his. “When will the night come?”

“Soon!” He gathered her body in his arms, feeling her skin moist and hot through the cloth. “How do you feel?”

She lolled her head from side to side, her lips tortured and dry. “Fine.”

Chao was over by Felton’s side, although Rolfe’s mind was now so unreliable that he had not seen him move. Their distant voices floated unevenly across the shimmering expanse of heat.

Chao crawled past, his face peering over the edge of the crater, as if to reassure himself.

“What did the Doctor want, Chao?” He cursed himself for wasting his breath in speech. Each word was like shedding some of his blood.

Chao slumped across the rock, staring vacantly down at the water. “He say he bored, Captain-sir.”

Rolfe squinted at Chao’s black silhouette. “Bored?”

“Yes. He say he want to clean his rifle. The one he take from dead soldier.”

Rolfe grunted and fell back. Judith started to lean against him, her damp body becoming more and more unsteady. She jerked away as Rolfe scrambled to his knees, his cracked lips mouthing incoherently. His mind fumbled with the warning which suddenly screamed through him. “The gun!” he gasped. “Quick, the gun!”

But even while he was swaying to his feet, the ground reeling beneath him, his head split open to the echoing crash which seemed to erupt from the very rock itself.

As the sound of the shot died away, and only the gulls screaming disturbed the air, Rolfe stood looking down at all that remained of Brian Felton. The one good eye still gleamed defiantly, as if watching the growing pool of bright blood soaking across his chest. The smoking rifle, its butt jammed against the rock shelter, was pointing at his heart.

“Hold her, Chao!” Rolfe barked, as Judith ran whimpering across the crater. He bent and covered the body with Chao’s old jacket, and then stood quietly, his head bowed.

Then, shaking his head to clear away the sick dizziness, he stepped between Chao and the writhing girl. She collapsed sobbing in his grip, and he stroked her hair, unable to find the right words.

Chao’s face was torn with anguish. “I not know, Captain-sir! I deserve to die!”

Rolfe shook his head across the girl’s body. “No, Chao,” he was speaking as much to her as to the horrified boy, “he knew he was going to do it! If it hadn’t been the rifle, he would have thought of something else!”

He paused, feeling Judith’s nails biting into his chest. “He did it to give us a chance!” Gently he lifted her chin, holding it until her streaming eyes opened and her sobs quietened. “Will we take that chance?”

She stood back from him and he reached out to replace the shirt as it began to slide off her shoulder.

“Poor Brian,” she murmured, and then very slowly she walked
across to the still form on the ground. Rolfe and the boy watched her helplessly.

She knelt down and very gently pulled the jacket from her brother’s face.

Chao groaned softly as she said, “Good-bye, Brian. I understood, and so did Justin!” She lowered her lips to the still face and the ends of her hair strayed across the glistening blood.

Then she stood up, her slim body straight, but somehow pathetic. “We will bury him now,” she said, her voice firm. “He will be happy here!”

Rolfe made her sit by the lifejackets while he and Chao covered the body with the pieces of stone from the crude shelter. It took a long time, and cost them all a great deal, but when they had finished, they stood looking down at the rough mound.

Judith looked across at him, her eyes pleading. “Will you say something for him, Justin? He didn’t believe in anything like that,” she faltered and bit her lip cruelly, “but it would be nice.”

Rolfe spoke the same words that he had read across the body of the dead telegraphist, and as if ashamed of its presence, the sun began to move towards the horizon and threw their three shadows starkly across the grave.

Their eyes met and Rolfe knew that he must do something to break this terrible silence. “Are you ready, Judith?” he asked quietly. “We must get ready to leave.”

She began to knot the shirt between her legs, her small face determined. “What must we do?”

He crossed to her side, worried by her tight composure. “Why don’t you just lie down for a bit? Chao and I can get the gear ready.”

She stepped quickly away from him, shaking her head wearily. “Just let me be quiet for a bit, Justin. I don’t think I can take any more kindness!” She stared up at him, her eyes trying to explain. “I must try not to think about what has been happening! Perhaps later,” she finished softly.