Uncharted Seas (31 page)

He found Unity already up, pacing uneasily to and fro on the fore-deck. She was keeping well amidships, evidently not daring to go near either rail for fear a lurking octopus should snatch her up in the same way that one had taken poor Bremer. Juhani would have avoided her if he could but he came upon her too suddenly to withdraw without some sort of greeting.

‘Mornin.’ How’s things?’ he said awkwardly, wondering how much she knew of the previous night’s events and feeling utterly shamed, under the gaze of her level grey eyes, by the part he had played in them.

‘Not too good,’ she replied quietly; ‘they won’t be for me until Basil’s safely back again.’

‘I doubt De Brissac will be quitting the island much before noon.
They’ll be keen to see this hick dorp we’ve got to settle in and he knows there’s no mighty hurry to get back.’

She nodded. ‘I suppose that is so but I was hoping Basil might decide to do the return trip first thing this morning and tell us all about it. How’s the head?’

‘Not so hot.’ Juhani looked away ashamedly. ‘I guess you know all about the rough-house last night?’

‘Quite a bit; although I only arrived on the scene when the worst of it was over. You must have fallen for Synolda pretty badly.’

‘That …!’ he checked himself and substituted: ‘What, her? Oh, I was playing around a bit but she gave me a raspberry. I ought’a had more sense.’

‘Poor Juhani.’ Unity’s smile was kind and sisterly and sympathetic. ‘I’m so sorry there’s been trouble between you two. If you’d only seen her cradling your injured head in her arms last night, after you were knocked out, you’d realise how fond she must be of you. The two of you were just made for each other,’

‘Well, I had a yen that way,’ Juhani admitted reluctantly, ‘but it just didn’t work out. She’s dirty—that’s what she is—dirty under the skin. I’m through with her.’

‘That’s not true. Synolda’s had a past and she admits it; but she wouldn’t play a dirty trick on anyone.’

‘Now listen, Unity. I don’t want to put her in wrong with you but I’ve got to blow off steam to someone. If I don’t I’ll go plumb crazy and you’re the only person left in the old hooker I can talk to. I’ve a hell of a lot to answer for, getting canned like I did—I’m wise to that—but this is the way it was.’

They fell into step; pacing back and forth amidships while he poured out his tortured thoughts. He ended up with an angry burst: ‘There! that’s the kind she is—so what would any feller do?’

Unity was silent for a moment. ‘It’s not a pretty story,’ she said at last. ‘I don’t blame you for getting tight but Synolda’s different from most girls—it’s the life she’s led. If you love her you ought to make allowances.’

‘I did love her—I was absolutely nuts about her up to last night—but now I don’t know if I love her or hate her. Anyway, she’s a danger to Vicente and to me. I’m going to keep her locked up in her cabin and send her meals down to her by Hansie or Li Foo until we pile up on the island.’

‘How about Vicente?’

‘That goes for him, too. The swine shot poor old Jansen and if
we were docking in any ordinary port I’d have to hand him over to stand his trial for murder.’

‘He thought they were going to kill him and fired in self-defence. It would never have happened at all if you hadn’t got drunk, so you’re as much to blame as he is.’

‘I know it.’ Juhani’s haggard features were lit up for a second with a rueful grin. ‘I suppose I ought to lock myself up as well but someone’s got to run the ship.’

‘Perhaps it’s as well that the three of you should not meet again for a time. It won’t hurt the others to stay below for the day, anyhow,’ Unity said thoughtfully; feeling that would at least stave off any further trouble until Basil and De Brissac were back in the ship. ‘I think I’d better go and cook breakfast.’

Juhani left her at the entrance of the galley and went aft. Gietto Nudäa suddenly popped up in front of him from the engine-room hatch. He seemed surprised to see Juhani and said quickly: ‘Didn’t know you was about, Mistah Luvia.’

‘Well,’ said Juhani abruptly, ‘what of it?’

The half-caste shuffled. ‘I dort you was all in after dat rough ’ouse lars’ night.’

‘What the hell’s that got to do with you?’

‘I would have come rouse you out early on.’

‘Why?’

‘ ’Cos a’ Harlem. De big stiff dort you was a gonner. He’s bin an’ skipped ship wid dat islander what stopped one in de knob. Dey beat it with de odder two balloons jus’ arter sun up.’

‘The devil they did!’ Luvia exclaimed. ‘Made off to Satan’s Island, eh? Why didn’t they take you with them?’ he added suspiciously. ‘There were three balloons.’

Nudäa flared up angrily. ‘I’se a white man, least dat’s what dey say, an’ dem island folk croak all de whites dey gets hold of.’

‘I see, and as they wouldn’t have you along you would have spoilt their little game by getting hold of me, if you’d thought I was fit to tackle them.’

‘Sure—I don’t owe dem notin’. I don’t owe no one notin’. May der ole white sot an’ der coloured bitch what made me rot in hell!’

Luvia nodded slowly. Poor devil, he was thinking. Half-caste—outcast—no race, no nation, neither liked nor trusted by men of either colour. Aloud he said as he turned away:

‘Well, they’ve gone now and good riddance. Harlem won’t be able to make any more trouble here, at least.’ Fortunately, perhaps, he was unable to foresee the future and visualise events that were to take place before another twenty-four hours had passed.

It was late afternoon when Basil woke. After a second he recognised his strange surroundings and sat up. Owing to the dim light which was all that filtered through the two portholes in the wall he imagined that it was already evening.

Jumping from his bed he ran over to one of the ports and looked out. To his relief he saw that the sunshine still etched the shadows of the great cedars sharply across the park-land and threw up the bright colours of the flowers in the garden immediately below. He knew Unity would have expected him back that morning and felt she must now be desperately anxious about him. His one thought was to relieve her anxiety by returning to the ship as quickly as possible. Pulling on a few clothes he hurried into the next room and roused De Brissac.

The Frenchman blinked a little and raised himself among the comfortable pillows of the broad bed.

‘Come along,’ Basil urged him, ‘up you get. We don’t want darkness to catch us again on our way back.’

De Brissac yawned and glanced round the dim room. ‘But it is night already,
mon ami
, or nearly so. We must wait now to return until tomorrow.’

‘Not a bit of it. This light’s deceptive,’ Basil assured him. ‘It’s not much past half past four. We can do it easily if only you’ll hurry.’

‘But why should one hurry?’ De Brissac smiled. ‘It is very comfortable here. Sir Deveril and his friends are quite charming and will certainly wish us to stay at least one night. Tomorrow is surely time enough to leave them.’

‘The others will be anxious about us. Surely you see that. They don’t even know that we managed to get here safely.’

‘You talk nonsense,
mon vieux
. They all took it for granted that we should—as we did ourselves—otherwise we should never
have set out. It was sheer bad luck that we had to spend the night on that ghastly island.’

‘Well, I want to get back,’ said Basil stubbornly. ‘It’s barely an hour’s walk to the cliff where we left the balloons and another hour to cross the weed. We should be there by half past six.’

‘We will see,’ De Brissaca greed non-committally. He was already looking forward with much pleasurable anticipation to his next conversation with Yonita and had not the least desire to hurry off to the
Gafelborg
.

An old-fashioned bell-rope dangled above the bed. De Brissac pulled it sharply, and a few minutes later an elderly, dark-skinned manservant appeared bringing jugs of hot water for them to shave. Basil returned to his own room and got through the business speedily. Immediately he was fully dressed he hastened back to De Brissac and hung about him impatiently while the Frenchman made a leisurely toilet. They then walked together down a passage to the main hall of the house.

Sir Deveril rose smiling to greet them from a big armchair and asked how they had slept.

Having assured him that they had had every comfort and were now completely refreshed, Basil immediately began to speak of their setting out on their return journey.

‘Gad, gentlemen,’ Sir Deveril expostulated, ‘I do protest. Your coming is a great happening in our uneventful lives, and we owe to you the return of my adorable betrothed. All of us are desperate eager to honour you as you deserve, and during the time you have been refreshing yourselves, preparations have been going forward for a banquet at which you will be our guests tonight.’

‘That’s terribly nice of you,’ Basil said quickly, ‘and we appreciate it tremendously, but really we must get back. Our friends in the ship will have expected us this morning and by now—’

‘My dear fellow, you exaggerate,’ De Brissac broke in. ‘I never said anything to Luvia about our returning today, and as you know, he hoped to manœuvre the ship nearer in. I see no reason why we should go back to the ship at all; we might just as well wait here until the others are able to land.’

‘What!’ exclaimed Basil. ‘But we can’t possibly do that. It may be days until the
Gafelborg
beaches; and all that time the others won’t know if we’re alive or dead.’

‘But they have not the least cause to believe any accident has befallen us and I would much prefer to stay here.’

‘Well, you can please yourself,’ said Basil stubbornly. ‘I’m going back tonight.’

‘If you insist …’ the Frenchman shrugged, ‘naturally I would not let you make the journey alone. We can only apologise to Sir Deveril, then, and ask him to make our excuses to his friends.’

Sir Deveril’s young face showed deep disappointment but he did not seek to dissuade Basil further; only insisted that they should have some sort of meal before they set off.

Basil did not even wish to wait while food was prepared and De Brissac mocked him a trifle acidly. ‘Yesterday it was you who must linger talking to Unity and delaying our departure while I was so anxious to be off. Today it seems I am not even to be permitted to take a meal before we start.’

‘We could have sandwiches, perhaps,’ Basil suggested, ‘if Sir Deveril would be so kind; and eat them during our walk across the island.’

‘I pray you command me,’ Sir Deveril said. ‘I will order them if you wish; but Yonita is not yet awake and she’d be monstrous angry if I let you depart without your taking leave of her.’

De Brissac frowned. ‘She must need many hours’ sleep after all she has been through, so it seems a great pity to wake her. Really, Basil, I do think it would be better if we put off our return until tomorrow at least.’

‘You stay by all means, I can manage quite well alone, but I mean to go back tonight.’

‘No, no, either we stay or go together. Since you are adamant upon the point, Sir Deveril, I am sure, will make our farewells to Yonita.’

The young baronet laughed. ‘Stap me, I wouldn’t dare. She is the sweetest minx, but she has the very devil of a temper. I’ll have them call her and prepare a cold collation for you.’

While he was gone they hung about examining the curios and old charts with which the comfortable room was decorated. His return was followed by the appearance of the manservant with two large packages of food.

‘We may as well eat it while we’re waiting for Yonita,’ De Brissac suggested and they set-to on their picnic meal; Sir Deveril bringing them a selection of the island’s fruit drinks to wash it down.

Time drifted by but Yonita failed to put in an appearance. De
Brissac chatted amicably with Sir Deveril but Basil showed constant irritation and impatience. At last he said:

‘Look here, we simply must get off. We’ve nearly four miles to walk and nothing will induce me to spend the night fighting those foul crabs again.’

‘Nor me,’ De Brissac assured him, ‘but since Sir Deveril has had Yonita called specially to say good-bye to us we cannot possibly depart without seeing her.’

‘I will leave you to urge haste upon her,’ Sir Deveril volunteered. ‘But methinks she is contriving a very special toilet.’

He was away for over a quarter of an hour, yet when he came back Yonita was not with him. ‘She prays your indulgence,’ he smiled, ‘but she refuses to be hurried.’

De Brissac laughed and settled himself more comfortably in his chair, apparently quite happily resigned to await her pleasure, but Basil paced up and down the room frowning angrily.

At last Yonita joined them. She looked an entirely different person to the little, shrinking, half-clad creature they had brought to the island that morning. Now she was dressed in a beautiful, old-fashioned, wide-skirted satin garment that was almost a crinoline; a design of sprigged flowers was embroidered on it and her golden arms and bosom looked like fragile china against the great puffed sleeves and shoulders. Her dark hair was carefully parted in the middle and curled into lovelocks which fell each side of her small, oval face in the manner of the late seventeenth century.

She swept them a mocking curtsy. ‘Your servant, sirs! Am I not worth waiting to see in my gala costume?’

With a quick catch of the breath De Brissac stepped forward, and, taking one of her little hands, kissed it. ‘You are enchanting, Mademoiselle, positively enchanting, but how did you ever manage to come by this lovely dress in your island prison?’

‘It graced the fair form of one of my ancestresses and has passed down through the family. We keep such heirlooms with uncommon care and wear them only on memorable occasions. It scarce looks two hundred years of age, think you?’

‘
Mais non
, and it fits you so perfectly.’

‘I thank you for your good opinion since I altered it with my own needle.’

Fuming with impatience Basil stood by, while De Brissac bandied idle compliments with the girl and young Sir Deveril smiled indulgently. Quite obviously he adored his little fiancée
but his attitude to her seemed much more that of a fond brother than a lover.