Death in the Caribbean, page 14
The freighter was almost directly below us. Being broadside on I couldn’t see her stern where her port of registry should have been displayed, but it might not have been there to be seen, for the name on her bow seemed to have been painted out. Two men were standing on the after-deck. I recognised one as the Prime Minister, Mr Li Cook. The other was a European. Ruth gave a little shuddering gasp, and I put my arm round her. Caval fingered his Mannlicher, but didn’t do anything.
By some trick of acoustics in the cave we could hear every word the men were saying, as plainly as if we were standing beside them. The slight hum of the dynamo made no difference; it was constant and low pitched, and had become simply background noise.
‘His Excellency is due here this afternoon,’ the European said.
‘Then I shall meet him here,’ said the Prime Minister. ‘He should, I think, be much impressed.’
‘We’ve laid on a demonstration for him. It will have to be at sea, of course, but it won’t be more than a couple of miles out, and should be clearly visible from the cliff top. There will be a sudden storm over a defined area, and probably a huge waterspout.’
‘Good. He is coming by sea, I suppose.’
‘Yes. He has chartered a big American yacht to pick him up in Jamaica, which he has been visiting as an ordinary tourist. We have had a radio message to say that she is on her way, and as far as we know on time. She should make Chacarima Inlet around four o’clock.’
‘And you think he is fully empowered to come to terms?’
‘I’m sure of it. Can you imagine the Chinese letting such an opportunity slip out of their hands?’
‘No. You have done very well. I shall need troops, of course, to establish my personal rule. I can’t wholly rely on the Nuevan Army – too many of the Staff have been at Sandhurst or West Point.’
‘His Excellency understands that. You have simply to fix a date for Fort James to be occupied, and all will be arranged.’
The Prime Minister looked at his watch. ‘Well, Charles, twenty-four hours from now, or perhaps a little less, I shall be the most powerful man in the world. You will have power, too, and everything else you want. There will be a few small diplomatic difficulties, no doubt – but with the power at our disposal, what can anyone do?’
‘Are you staying here until His Excellency comes?’
‘Yes. The cabin you have arranged for me seems very comfortable. Officially I left this morning on a private visit to Barbados, so I am not even in Nueva. Well, it’s been a long day, and we need clear heads tomorrow. I wish you good night.’
We watched the two of them go below, and then without a whisper to each other we slipped back into our own cave. When we were safely round the corner Caval lighted our lamp again and we went back the way we’d come. When we were past the waterfall, and far enough beyond it to be able to talk, Caval said, ‘I need a drink, and I think five minutes’ rest.’
‘We all do.’ I got out the rum bottle, and since we had no cups I handed it to Caval. ‘You’re the senior citizen, and anyway it’s your rum,’ I said. ‘Ruth after you, then me.’
Caval took a long swig and gave the bottle to Ruth, but she passed it to me. ‘I don’t think I want any rum,’ she said. ‘I’ve got to think.’
‘So have I, and good rum helps thought.’ I took my turn at the bottle, and felt much better for it.
‘I could have shot both of them without the least difficulty. Why didn’t I?’ Caval said.
‘Because you’re not a murderer, and because it wouldn’t have done any good. Whoever is coming tomorrow would still come. What’s the matter, Ruth?’
She’d shut her eyes, and the lamplight emphasised the strain and misery in her face. ‘I can’t work it out,’ she said.
‘Can’t work what out?’
‘The demonstration he talked about. Yes, I know he destroyed the house, and I daresay he thinks it will work again, but he killed Phil, and Phil knew much more about it than he does. Why did he kill Phil?’
‘Because Phil knew too much.’
‘Yes, but it can’t be quite like that. When I thought that I didn’t know how far things had gone – I didn’t know about all the equipment in the cave. He needed Phil.’
‘Perhaps Phil didn’t like what he was doing, and was in a position to stop it.’
‘It may be something like that. But Charles sounded horribly confident, and he can’t really be confident about it.’
‘All that family are gamblers,’ Caval said.
*
The psychology of the Antoine Cavals may have been enthralling to Ruth and Edward Caval, but I felt a sense of desperate urgency. ‘I’m afraid we’ve had our rest,’ I said. ‘There’s very little time left.’
‘What are you going to do?’ Caval asked.
‘I’ve got a sort of plan. It may work or it may not, but I’d rather not talk about it now because I haven’t thought out all the implications. It means getting to Fort James as soon as humanly possible.’
‘I thought we were going to make for one of the U.S. islands.’
‘That was before we knew what we know now. If we just sail for the U.S. Virgins the meeting will have taken place long before we get there, God knows what hellish alliance may be fixed up, and it may be too late to do anything about it. If we can get to Fort James, there’s just a chance we may be able to stop it. Will you come with me to Fort James?’
‘Peter’s inclined to want to take over people,’ Ruth said. She was fighting hard to get back her old self-possession. ‘In this instance I’m game to trust him.’
‘Three against the world? Very well,’ Caval said.
I think I was more deeply moved than ever before in my life.
We made good progress on the journey back through the caves, for once we’d got up the rock-fall the rest of the way was downhill. Then came disaster – Caval slipped on some scree in the dried up watercourse that led down to the sea, and fell heavily. When he tried to get up, he couldn’t. ‘Something’s happened to my left leg,’ he said. ‘I expect it’s only a strain, and will pass off in a few minutes.’
It didn’t. We were trying not to show a light on the open hillside, but I had to use a torch now. As far as Ruth and I could make out there was nothing broken in the leg itself or in knee or ankle, but when he tried to stand, he just couldn’t.
After the fourth try, he said, ‘It’s no good, my children. You’ve got work to do, and as you said before there’s precious little time. Leave me here. Perhaps you can come back for me later on. If not, or if the pain gets very bad, I’ve got my rifle. I’ve had a long and mostly good life, and I’m not in the least afraid of ending it. Indeed, I’d rather end it here, on my own land while it’s still mine, than get in the way of what you’re trying to do.’
‘It’s a point of view,’ I said, ‘and an honourable one. But it isn’t going to be like that. We haven’t far to get down to the boat now, it’s downhill and you’re no great weight. Put your arms round my shoulders, and I’ll get you up on my back. Ruth will stay close behind, to protect your leg, and hold you if you start slipping.’
We were helped by the slope: getting down in front of him I got him up, put one arm under his good leg, and let the other dangle. I threw the Mannlicher into the scrub, also the hurricane lamp – we had to get rid of every ounce we could. The rest of the descent was horrible. Caval was not heavily built and he was old, but he must have weighed at least 130 pounds and he was a dreadful burden. And all the time I was afraid of slipping myself, perhaps injuring him more, or perhaps putting myself out of action. Ruth was splendid. She was carrying both torches, both revolvers, and the bag with our bits of food and bottles of rum and water, which it seemed folly to jettison in case we needed them. With all this, she helped to support Caval, moving step by step with me, and holding him on my back. It was an appalling journey, and just how we managed it I don’t know, but we did.
When at last we got to the boat we all three took a swig of rum. Although he couldn’t stand, Caval found that he could sit upright, and this helped us to get him into the boat. It was a glorious feeling to cast off and leave the blessed sea to take the weight of everything.
Back on the schooner I got a sling under Caval’s arms and hauled him on board with the davits. We didn’t try to get him below, but made him as comfortable as we could on deck.
Then came the problem of getting out of the bay. Until we cleared the headland we should have to beat, and I’d gone so far in towards the bush that there was virtually no wind to get us started.
I couldn’t tow the schooner with the oars, but we had the dinghy’s outboard and so far had used none of the fuel for it. Towing with the dinghy under power from the outboard ought to get the schooner moving. There would be the engine-noise, of course, but that couldn’t be helped. We’d got to get to sea, and if there was anyone on shore within hearing distance of the outboard they could think what they liked.
Ruth and I got up the anchor and then I dropped down into the dinghy and started the engine. At rest the Grand Duchess was a ponderous old boat, and at first I wondered whether the engine really did have enough power to get her moving. But she had clean, fine lines, and slowly her head came round. Once she could follow at the end of the tow line instead of having to be dragged round she moved easily, and I didn’t even have to use full throttle. I took her clear of the bay and the best part of half a mile out to sea before letting the line slacken and catching her boarding ladder as she came up.
Having left the headsails in stops, and the main only loosely furled, it didn’t take long to get under way. I didn’t try to get the dinghy up: I’d shipped the outboard before returning to the schooner so that there should be less drag, and – reversing roles – left the Duchess to tow her small but invaluable partner.
I took the wheel from Ruth as the sails filled and the schooner picked up speed. ‘Now we must decide where to go,’ I said.
It was a few minutes after four a.m.
IX
I GIVE MYSELF UP
WE CROSSED THE mouth of the Chacarima Inlet without lights, but once we were well past I wanted the schooner to become respectable, so I handed the wheel to Ruth and lit our navigation lamps. Caval was sitting on deck, his back against the mainmast. I had put him on the windward side of the deck, so that the slight heel of the schooner tended to wedge him against the mast, and there was less risk of his slipping. I got him a rug and a couple of pillows, and he was quite happy to stay where he was – I didn’t want to carry him below for fear of doing further damage to his leg.
The success or failure of my plan, such as it was, seemed to me to depend largely on the time I could get to Fort James – the earlier we could get there, the better chance we might have. The sea distance to Fort James was slightly less than by land, because we could sail direct, whereas the road had to follow the indentations of the coast. Even so, we had at least forty miles to go, and I couldn’t bank on averaging more than five or six knots – something like eight hours’ sailing. That would bring us to midday, much too late for what I wanted to try to do. The only real hope was to put in at some place where we could hire a car, and as we were sailing towards the most populous coast of Nueva this seemed reasonably practicable.
The chart offered a coastal village called Partika, about eight miles down the coast from Chacarima. It seemed to have a harbour of sorts, and I asked Caval what it was like. ‘It used to be a fishing village, but it has been considerably developed over the past few years,’ he said. ‘There is one big hotel, and several smaller ones. You should certainly be able to get a car there, and I can tell you just where to go. I had a houseboy called Elias who was good with cars, and was promoted to be a chauffeur. About five years ago I set him up in a small garage business at Partika. He’s done very well, and if you find him he’d do everything he could for us.’
That sounded like an answer to prayer, and I laid a course for Partika, which meant no more than closing the coast before reaching a headland which otherwise we should have had to clear. It gave us a rather better wind, and we were off the entrance to Partika harbour soon after five o’clock.
The harbour was unlighted – Neuvan coastal shipping being reluctant to sail at night – and, not knowing the entrance, I anchored in some ten fathoms in a place marked on the chart as Partika Roads. It had some shelter from a headland, but was about a quarter of a mile outside the harbour. I should have liked to get to a quay, but in the circumstances it couldn’t be done. Ruth helped me to carry Caval aft, where I put a line under his arms again. Ruth then went down to the dinghy to receive him, and I lowered him gently to her. I threw some pillows into the dinghy, and she made him as comfortable as she could. The outboard took us ashore in a few minutes.
I made for a sandy beach at one end of the little harbour, jumped out in about a foot of water, and hauled in the dinghy. Leaving Ruth to stay with the dinghy I walked round a group of houses to the road, where, Caval said, I should find the Elias garage about a hundred yards along. It was getting light now, and at the garage there were signs of life. An elderly man was replacing a ‘Closed’ sign by the garage’s one petrol pump with a sign that said ‘Open’.
‘Can you please tell me where I can find Mr Elias?’ I asked.
‘Only one Elias here and that’s me, sir,’ he replied in a friendly way.
‘I have Mr Caval with me in a boat. He is hurt, and we need a car to get to Fort James. Can you help us, do you think?’
‘Mr Edward Caval, sir?’
‘Yes.’
‘Mr Edward give me my garage, sir. Get in this car, and we go now.’
He pointed to a big Buick standing in the forecourt, and called out to someone in the house to say that he was going to Fort James. Taking a turning that I hadn’t noticed, he drove the car directly on to the beach, got out, and ran towards the boat. ‘Oh Mr Edward sir, they tell me you hurt!’
‘Well, I seem to have damaged my leg somehow. Thank you, Elias, it is good of you to come.’
‘We get you to Fort James quick, sir, to best doctor in Nueva.’
*
With Elias to help we soon had Caval out of the boat and in the car. Ruth, Elias and I then dragged the dinghy up the beach above the tide line, where, Elias said, she could be left quite safely. Ruth got into the back of the car with Caval, and I sat in front beside Elias. I gave him Brigadier Ezra’s address. He didn’t question anything, just nodded. The brigadier lived in a good residential part of Fort James, and for all Elias knew we were going to the house of some friend where Caval could be put to bed.
I had been so keyed up with getting ashore at Partika that I hadn’t thought of anything beyond finding transport to take us to Fort James. Now that we were on our way the full hopelessness of our position came back to me. I was staking everything on one remark that we’d overheard in the cave – the Prime Minister’s observation that he could not wholly rely on the Nuevan Army. That might well be so – but was there the slightest chance that the Nuevan Army would be prepared to rely on me? And who was the Nuevan Army? My only real contact was with Brigadier Ezra. I’d liked him, and he’d appeared to like me, but that was when I was a distinguished official visitor. Now I was a fugitive on the run, whom the Nuevan Army had been ordered to arrest. Would he believe anything I said? Why should he? Well, whatever might happen to me, at least we could get Caval to hospital. And Ruth was an American citizen – we ought to be able to get some protection for her.
*
Thanks to the big car and Elias’s driving, it was just half-past six when we reached the Brigadier’s house. As before, he was sitting in his verandah, drinking coffee and eating a pineapple. Asking Caval and Ruth to stay in the car, I got out and walked up to him.
‘Good Lord, Colonel, you look as if you’ve been living rough. Have you come to give yourself up?’ He did not sound friendly.
‘Not exactly,’ I said.
‘You should not come armed.’ He was looking at the revolver in my belt. I’d completely forgotten about it. Ruth had been carrying it when we got Caval down the cliff, and I suppose I had just put it back in its holster.
‘Sorry. You can have it, anyway.’ I put the revolver on the table in front of him. ‘Can I talk to you for ten minutes? It is vitally important that you should listen to me. The whole independence of Nueva is at stake.’
‘You are very melodramatic. Who is in the car with you?’
‘Mr Edward Caval, Mrs Ruth Caval, and a driver. Mr Caval is hurt. While I talk to you, may I ask the driver to take Mr Caval to hospital, and to bring Ruth Caval back here?’
‘I must send an officer with them.’ He clapped his hands, and an orderly appeared. ‘Tell Captain Fernandes that I want him immediately,’ he said. Then, to me, ‘What do you want to say?’
‘I’m not discussing anything in the intervals of giving orders to your servants. If this is going to be your attitude, Nueva can go to hell.’
It was his turn to show a little embarrassment. He was saved having to say anything by the appearance of the captain – I learned later that the brigadier’s house was next door to an Army establishment where there was always a detachment on duty, and that Captain Fernandes had not to come far.
Speaking rather more politely, the brigadier told the captain to accompany Mr Caval to hospital, to see him made comfortable, and then to return with Mrs Ruth Caval. When they’d gone, he turned to me. ‘I haven’t got much time, but I’m prepared to listen to you for ten minutes.’
