Death in the Caribbean, page 16
‘Congratulations,’ I said.
He was pleased that I’d noticed. ‘Everything went well,’ he said. ‘It’s too long a story to go into now, but several of us have been unhappy about the Prime Minister for some time. As I expected, the Chief of Staff was reluctant that we should do anything, but he was in a minority of one. The rest of our Staff Council was convinced that we’d got to act. They decided to promote me to major-general, and appointed me as chairman of a military committee of three to form a provisional Government. You don’t know my two colleagues, but they are excellent men, and old friends. They are staying in Fort James to announce the suspension of the constitution, and to put Nueva temporarily under military law. There will be no bloodshed. We are assured of the complete loyalty of the Army, and we shall hold elections for a new civilian Government as soon as we can. All Government officials have been told to stay at their posts, and to carry on as normally as possible. The diplomatic representatives have been informed. They are naturally shocked, but I think that there is nothing that they can do. I have said that I shall try to arrange a meeting with them tomorrow. Now I’d like to join you in a drink.’
‘And the Navy?’ I asked.
‘Well, we’re doing what we can. As you suggested, our gunboat and a couple of escorting launches sailed some time ago. They should be in position off the Chacarima Inlet about now. As we came up we had a good view of the Inlet from the helicopter. There is no sign of any vessel, or of anything moving there. What do you think is our best approach to the caves?’
I had been thinking about this, and not much liking my thoughts. It was really a naval operation. The launches could land men at the mouth of the cave, and they could go in by the rough path that ran above sea level. But it was a narrow path, and the defenders, if they chose to fight, were in a damnably strong position. We could send the launches into the caves, but they were not armoured, and could not carry many men. They would be vulnerable to rifle or even revolver fire, and we could not risk losing the launches, for we appeared to have only two of them. There was probably enough water for the gunboat to go in. She could take enough men to storm the place, but with the freighter already there room for manoeuvre was severely limited. If the gunboat were damaged there would be nothing left to intercept the yacht carrying the Chinese emissary.
‘Do you know the caves at all?’ I asked.
‘No,’ he said. ‘Everybody in Nueva knows about the Chacarima caves, but Nuevan people do not go there very much. There is talk about making them a tourist attraction, and if this coast were developed for tourism, doubtless they would become one. As things are, the caves are scarcely visited at all.’
I explained the general lie of the caves, as far as I had seen them. ‘The position,’ I went on, ‘is this. The Prime Minister and his party inside the caves cannot get out. You have complete command of the entrance, and as long as your gunboat remains in action her three-inch gun can deal with the freighter if she tries to make a dash for it. In time, you can certainly starve them out, but that may take a long time. I don’t know what they’ve got in the way of stores, but they must have something because people have been living there, and the freighter herself may be well stocked with food. There is a route into the caves from the other side of the headland – the way Edward Caval took us in last night. But he knows it only because he explored the place as a boy. I think I could find it again, but it is not an easy route, and it would take time to assemble a force in any strength by using it. I doubt if anyone in the Prime Minister’s party knows about it, but if they heard anything before you could have men there in strength, they could block it easily enough – a couple of men with rifles could hold the path against an Army.
‘You may have to try to force the cave by the sea entrance. I’m sure you could do it, but it might be horribly costly in casualties. My own plan would be this. Mr Li Cook is expecting his Chinese visitor this afternoon. If your gunboat can intercept him, he won’t arrive. The cave party won’t know what is happening, and the chances are that somebody –maybe the Prime Minister himself – will come out before dark to have a look. I should rather expect it to be the Prime Minister – he can’t risk staying away from Fort James for long. When is he supposed to be due back from Barbados?’
‘Tomorrow morning.’
‘There you are – he’ll almost certainly want to get out of the caves tonight.’
Ruth was beside me throughout this conversation. ‘You can’t be sure that he doesn’t know what’s happening,’ she said. ‘They talked about getting a radio message from the American yacht. If they’ve got radio, they may know about the Army takeover.’
‘They can’t yet,’ Major-General Ezra said. ‘We discussed radio at our meeting. I was concerned not to frighten off our Chinese visitor – if he got news of a Nuevan coup d’état on his yacht, he’d just turn round and go off again. And although we can’t hold him for long, we want to know who he is, and to make sure that he doesn’t go home with any wrong ideas. So we decided to broadcast nothing over the radio today. We’ve occupied the Radio Nueva building, and the staff there have been ordered to carry on with completely normal programmes.’
‘News might get out through Press representatives in Fort James, or by diplomatic channels,’ I said. ‘It doesn’t matter where it’s broadcast from – if it goes on the air at all, we must assume they’ll know about it.’
‘Well, news can only get out quickly by telephone or cable. I agree that we can’t keep things secret for more than a few hours, but we need only a few hours. I told you that we have a good Army Signals section. They’ve arranged a technical hitch in the Nuevan telephone service – there isn’t really a hitch, of course, but anyone who tries to put through an international call won’t be able to. We have also occupied the cable building, and imposed a censorship on messages. I know we’re not supposed to hold up diplomatic messages, but some delay will, I fear, occur.’
‘You have certainly earned your promotion,’ I said.
X
CAT AND MOUSE
I WAS IMPRESSED by the Nuevan Army Staff’s forethought about radio, but radio silence was also a nuisance, because it meant that we couldn’t communicate with the gunboat. Ezra had given instructions for the two launches to come in to the beach, and after our Nuevan breakfast (otherwise an early lunch) I went down to the inlet with Lieutenant-Colonel Strong, who had been appointed liaison officer with the naval force. We got there a little ahead of the boats, but we could see them coming in and they anchored a few minutes later. The officer in charge, a young lieutenant, came ashore in a rubber dinghy.
The gunboat, he told us, was on station about half a mile east of the high ground enclosing the eastern side of the Chacarima Inlet, which meant that she couldn’t be seen from the inlet itself. Her commander had been told to await orders.
‘I think we’d better go out to her,’ I said to Strong. ‘We can’t use R/T and there’s too much to explain for written orders. She can’t be more than about three miles away, and we should be on board in a quarter of an hour or so. I suggest that we go out in one of the launches, while the other waits here. Tell them to be armed and ready for action, and to arrest anyone who may come out from the Chacarima caves.’
Strong agreed to this. The lieutenant decided to stay with the waiting launch, and we went out in the other. They were good boats, about forty feet long, armed with heavy machine guns fore and aft, and carrying a crew of twelve. The officer in command of our launch told us that she could do nearly thirty knots and was a fine seaboat, having been built originally for the U.S. Coastguard Service. We soon raised the gunboat, still bearing her old Royal Navy name Penelope, but now N.N.S. (Nuevan Naval Ship) instead of H.M.S. Her commander was an elderly captain, who had served in the British Merchant Marine, and in the RNVR. He received us formally at the top of Penelope’s boarding ladder, with a smart guard drawn up to meet us, and a piper to pipe us on board.
‘I’m thankful to see you,’ he said. ‘We left in a great hurry this morning with orders to patrol here, but I’ve very little idea what we’re supposed to do. I hope you’ve brought some instructions for me.’
‘We have,’ replied Strong. ‘Can we go to your cabin?’
*
Strong introduced me. ‘Colonel Blair is a British officer who is acting as a military adviser to our Nuevan Army commander, Major-General Ezra. I take it that you do not know of the events in Fort James this morning?’
‘I know nothing. I received orders to put to sea at once, and did so.’
‘Much has happened since then,’ Strong said. ‘Our Army Intelligence Service discovered a plot against the independence of Nueva, an exceedingly grave business in which, I am sorry to say, the former Prime Minister, Mr Li Cook, is deeply implicated. The Army had to act at once. The Army Council has temporarily suspended the Nuevan constitution, put Nueva under military law, deposed Mr Li Cook, and appointed a Provisional Military Government, under Major-General Ezra, to govern Nueva until arrangements can be made for new elections. I have formally to ask you whether you are prepared to serve our Military Government.’
The captain took off his cap and rubbed his nearly bald head. ‘Only a year to go before my pension,’ he said ruefully. ‘Obey orders if you break owners – that’s an old Merchant Service saying. I had orders to come here, and I’m obeying them. When you give me more orders, I’ll obey those, too. It’s not for me to say who runs the Government. I know about your man Ezra, though I thought he was a brigadier, and I’ve a lot of respect for him. OK man. Tell me what I’ve got to do.’
Strong turned to me. ‘It might be helpful if Colonel Blair explained some things in a bit more detail.’
‘Gladly,’ I said. ‘It is not for me to go into the plot against Nueva. It has nothing to do with my Government –except that we are friends of Nueva, and want to help if we can. A new military weapon, of, perhaps, considerable importance, has been secretly developed in the Chacarima caves. We obtained information that Mr Li Cook was prepared to sell this secret to the Chinese, in return for an alliance with the Chinese to establish himself as dictator of Nueva backed by sufficient Chinese force to destroy the Nuevan Army and keep him in power. The Nuevan Army’s reaction to this you have heard. A Chinese envoy is on his way to settle things in a chartered American yacht. She is due off Chacarima this afternoon. Lieutenant-Colonel Strong will, I think, confirm that the new Nuevan Government wishes you to intercept this yacht, put a naval party on board to detain her radio operator, and prevent any use of radio, and escort her to Fort James, where a military guard will be waiting to take over from you.’
‘That is correct,’ said Strong. I think it was probably the first he had heard of most of the things I mentioned, but he supported me loyally.
‘Some job,’ said the captain. ‘What if she resists?’
‘The vessel is a yacht, and is unlikely to have anything in the way of armament,’ I said. ‘Your three-inch gun should give you complete superiority. It is possible that there may be people on board armed with rifles or revolvers, and that they will try to resist arrest. If so, you must meet force with force, and, if necessary, use your gun. You are well within Nuevan territorial waters, and if she tries to resist arrest you are entitled to use superior force on the orders of your Government.’
‘Well, I’ll get the gun manned and some shells up, though we haven’t had much gunnery practice. What time do you expect this yacht to turn up, and what is her name?’
‘We don’t know her name. We do know that she is described as a big yacht, and that she is due this afternoon. My own guess is that you can expect her any time now. She must be here well before dark, in time for the people on board to attend a demonstration which requires daylight.’
*
The captain went off to see about the gun. ‘Do you think we ought to stay?’ Strong asked. ‘I’m sure the old chap will do his best, but I can’t say that I feel a great deal of confidence in him.’
‘You’ve a damned good little Army, but you don’t seem to have taken your Navy all that seriously,’ I said.
‘We haven’t had much time. There was local recruitment to the Nuevan Regiment in British days, which gives us something of an Army tradition. At sea everything was in the hands of the Royal Navy. It’s left a gap which we haven’t filled.’
‘Well, that’s for the future. As of now, I’d like to get back to Major-General Ezra, but I’m afraid I agree with you – I think we ought to stay on board. The old man is probably a good seaman, but he may need stiffening when it comes to dealing with matters far outside his own experience. We can stay for a bit, anyway.’
As things turned out, we didn’t have to wait long, for the captain came back a few minutes later to say, ‘There’s a ship on the horizon now, which may be the yacht you were speaking of. Would you like to get the glasses on her?’
The ship was already visible to the naked eye, and through a pair of good naval binoculars she came up sharply. Yes, she could certainly be a big steam, or more probably diesel, yacht. She had yacht lines, and she was moving fast. Soon I could identify her ensign – it was clearly a U.S. flag.
‘Undoubtedly looks like her, and she seems to be on course for the Chacarima Inlet,’ I said. ‘We’d better steam towards her, and be ready to order her to stop. It may be necessary to send a round across her bow – you can aim well ahead of her to make sure of not hitting her by accident. But don’t fire yet. We must get a closer look at her. Have the gun ready, though.’
*
Then the yacht blew up.
*
It was a devastating explosion – one moment she was there, a fine-looking vessel of some 600–800 tons standing in towards the Chacarima Inlet, the next she was a mass of debris, almost disintegrated. The gunboat’s captain needed no telling what to do – distress at sea was something he understood instinctively. We were already steaming towards the wreck, now not more than a couple of miles away. He ordered the lifeboats to be swung out, and the sickbay got ready to receive injured survivors.
I kept my glasses on the wreckage, though there was little left to see above the water. My mind was racing. What had Charles Caval said in the cave? ‘We have arranged a demonstration for him . . . It will have to be at sea, of
course . . .’ Could something have gone wrong? Could that diabolical machinery have brought about a marine earthquake too soon?
But that was no earthquake, it was an explosion. The sea remained relatively calm, and we had felt nothing on the gunboat. Either there had been some violent explosion on board, or she had struck an exceptionally powerful mine. A mine! My God, could that have been an insurance policy for Charles’s demonstration? A mine could be set off by radio. But if there had been a radio controlled mine, would it have gone off on being struck? Well, it had gone off – the ‘how’ didn’t matter at the moment. Charles had spoken of a demonstration over a defined area – if there had been one mine, could there be others?
We were closing the wreckage rapidly. I called urgently to the captain, ‘Bear away and stop her. On no account go the other side of the wreck. Get boats lowered as soon as you can to investigate, but don’t take your ship any nearer than she is now.’
The launch had also made for the wreckage, and was almost up to it. ‘Radio,’ I said. ‘It doesn’t matter now! I must speak to the launch.’
There was a naval walkie-talkie outfit on the bridge. The captain gave it to me and I called urgently ‘Penelope to launch, Penelope to launch. I have an important message for you.’
Discipline on that launch was good, for although they had not been using radio, their radio set was manned. ‘Launch to Penelope. Reading you loud and clear. Proceed with message. Over.’ Thankfully I heard the response. I told them to reduce speed, make what search they could for survivors, and not to go beyond the wreck. ‘Keep a sharp look-out for mines,’ I added.
By the time I had finished speaking the boats were being lowered. I borrowed the captain’s loud-hailer and repeated the warning about mines.
*
There were no survivors. Two bodies were picked up dead, and brought on board the gunboat. One was Chinese, the other European. As the European body was laid out on the deck, the captain said, ‘I know that man! He has sailed with me often when I worked on the inter-island packet boats. It is Mr Nicolas Caval.’
*
No one had seen anything that looked like a mine, but neither the launch nor the lifeboats had searched in the area where I thought it most likely that mines would be, if there were any to be found. I marked it on the captain’s chart. ‘Until it can be swept it must be regarded as a danger area,’ I said.
*
I asked Lieutenant-Colonel Strong to order the gunboat to enter the Chacarima Inlet and to anchor about half a mile off the entrance to the caves. ‘Tell him to keep steam up, and to be ready to slip his cable and give chase at a moment’s notice,’ I said. ‘It would also be a good idea to get his gun trained on the cave entrance. He should get his searchlight ready, too.’
We didn’t wait to return to the inlet with the gunboat. The launch which had been searching the wreckage was called alongside, we went on board, and she took us back to the beach at speed.
*
There had been a considerable build-up of troops while we were away. A whole company was now installed at the western end of the beach, within rifle-range of the entrance to the caves. Another company was in reserve at the eastern end. I suggested to Strong that when the gunboat arrived at least half of the men in the reserve company should be ferried out to her launches – they would add substantially to the gunboat’s firepower if it became necessary to force the entrance.
The men on the beach had seen the explosion out to sea, and were anxious to know what it was. Since radio was still not being used a dispatch rider had been sent to Major-General Ezra with news of the explosion, though obviously he could give no details. This man had just returned, with a message from Ezra asking that I should go to him at the command post on the ridge as soon as I could be got ashore. The launch that had remained by the beach was about to go out to recover me from the gunboat when the other launch brought us back.
