Death in a High Latitude, page 20
That halted us. ‘What do you want us to do?’ Keller asked.
‘You have wounded, perhaps killed, my husband,’ said the voice. ‘You have slightly wounded me, but not much. I have a gun. I have also got Dr Braunschweig – he is tied to the saloon table, and he can do nothing. I could shoot you, but I am prepared to make a bargain. My husband needs medical help. The aeroplane has come. I see that you have hurt the pilot, Hans, but he could walk to the beach with you and he can still fly. You shall help me carry my husband to the plane, and Hans can fly us somewhere where there is a hospital – he will know. There is plenty of fuel.’
I whispered to Keller, ‘Keep her talking.’
‘Why do you think we should help you?’ he asked.
‘Because you have no choice. My pistol is already pointing at Dr Braunschweig’s head. If you wish him to live, you must do as I say.’
‘Tell her we must find out if the pilot thinks he is fit to fly,’ I said to Keller in English. She heard. ‘I understand English,’ she said. ‘That seems reasonable. But only one of you may go ashore.’
‘I’ll go,’ I said.
I got back into the dinghy and made a noise of fitting the oars to the rowlocks. I let out the painter, but I didn’t cast off. Very quietly I eased the dinghy along the gunwale until I was for’ard of the mast. I’d noticed a forehatch which no doubt led directly to the fo’c’sle and a sail locker, but which would almost certainly also provide a way into the saloon. I made fast the dinghy to a cleat near the bow and climbed back on board. The hatch lifted easily – every fitting was of the highest quality – and, as I’d thought, led to a well with a sail locker to starboard and a door, probably opening to the heads or lavatory, to port. Another door led aft – that would be to the sleeping accommodation, I thought. It was, with cabin doors on each side. It was lighted by a skylight. Aft again was a central door, in what was presumably a bulkhead. ‘That will be the saloon,’ I thought.
Gambling that the woman, whoever she was, would be looking towards the cockpit I opened the door, rushed at her, and grabbed her arm holding the pistol, wrenching it upwards. She fired, but by then the pistol was pointing to the deck over the saloon, and the bullet went into the deck. Before she could fire again I’d twisted her arm so that she had to drop the pistol. At the same moment Keller sprang into the saloon from the cockpit. I had the woman only by the arm. She clawed at my face with her other hand, her nails drawing blood. Then she bit my wrist. She had a dreadful supple strength, and I doubt if I could have held her long. Keller’s weight and the enormous power in his arms soon settled things.
‘Frau Baumgarten, I presume,’ I said.
*
While Keller dealt with the woman I cut free the man tied to the saloon table. He was stiff, but seemed otherwise unhurt. ‘I have no idea who you are,’ he said in English, ‘but I am profoundly grateful to you.’
‘We came here to look for you,’ I said, ‘but it’s a long story. The immediate job is to look after our wounded prisoners.’
‘The man on the settee is severely hurt,’ Dr Braunschweig said.
Heinrich Baumgarten did not look alive, but although unconscious he was still breathing faintly. He had been hit in the chest. We could do nothing for him at the moment. ‘I wonder if we could trust that pilot to fly us to Gould Bay?’ I asked Keller.
‘I can pilot an aircraft,’ Dr Braunschweig said.
‘That changes the situation. We must get ourselves and the wounded to Gould Bay as soon as possible. There is a doctor in our party there.’
‘I hope there still is. Oh, everything has gone wrong.’ Frau Baumgarten was sobbing quietly.
I shook her shoulder. ‘What do you mean?’ I asked.
‘Don’t you know what happened? Our men surprised a German Air Force party there, and they are being held as hostages. I do not know whether any have been killed or hurt.’
Suddenly events began to fall into shape. If the Gould Bay party had been taken hostage it would explain why there had been no search for us. But who were these people? Questioning could wait. Our flight to Gould Bay became more and more urgent. We were the surprisers now, and in Dr Braunschweig we had an addition to our strength.
‘I do not know what may have occurred at Gould Bay, but to get your husband to the doctor there seems about his only hope,’ I said to the woman. ‘Flying time to Gould Bay cannot be great – to get anywhere in Greenland or Northern Canada where we could find medical help would take much too long. We must start at once. You can help Herr Keller to get your husband into the dinghy.’
Whatever evil she might have done, she was clearly devoted to her husband. We had nothing to fear from her while she was trying to help him. I went on deck and brought the dinghy aft. Keller and Frau Baumgarten lifted Heinrich Baumgarten and carried him as gently as they could to the dinghy. ‘He will have to be carried to the plane – we shall need some sort of stretcher. Have you anything on board that can be used as a stretcher?’ I asked Dr Braunschweig.
‘I carry a folding canvas stretcher, all cruising yachts should carry one. It is in the fore-cabin. I’ll go and get it,’ he said.
Access to the yacht was access to a world of valuable things. While Dr Braunschweig was getting the stretcher I had a quick look round the cockpit, and found a coil of good line. How often had we needed rope! Now we had plenty of it.
There was room for all of us with the injured man in the dinghy, and I asked Dr Braunschweig to come ashore. ‘There is one fit man on the beach, and although he is one of our enemies I don’t see why he shouldn’t help to carry Baumgarten to the plane. I should like you to go with him. You will find my wife Ruth on board, looking after another badly wounded man. Perhaps you could have a quick look round the plane to make sure that you can fly it, and see what sort of charts they have. We want to go to Gould Bay, which is on the western shore of Kane Basin, between Hayes Point and Cape Frazer. We could almost do without charts and get there by flying down the coast, but it would be comforting to have a chart. When you’ve checked on all this, perhaps you’d come back here.’
He agreed, and took the oars of the dinghy. As we grounded on the beach Keller jumped out to hold the dinghy. ‘You, there, come and give a hand with a wounded man,’ he called to our unhurt prisoner.
With the stretcher, we soon had Baumgarten ashore, and Keller explained in German what was to be done with him. ‘This man must not be left on the plane,’ I said to Dr Braunschweig. ‘When you come back, he must come back with you. Have you a pistol?’
He shook his head. ‘Rolf,’ I called to Keller, ‘have you got that pistol you took from the man by the dinghy earlier on?’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘It’s in my pocket.’
‘Can you give it to Dr Braunschweig? He is unarmed, and he may need it.’
Keller handed over the pistol, and the stretcher party set off. As they got to the top of the beach and could see the plane a couple of hundred yards away Dr Braunschweig cried out, ‘That is one of our planes – it belongs to my company. It is one of a fleet we have in Alaska.’
*
I wanted a quick conference with Keller. ‘It’s an enormous help that Dr Braunschweig can fly an aeroplane. I haven’t worked out how far it is to Gould Bay, but it can’t be much more than two hundred miles or so, less than an hour’s flying time. Did you take in what that woman was saying to me?’
‘About the hijacking of our party? Yes.’
‘Well, I think it’s our turn to do the hijacking. With Gustav Braunschweig there are three of us now, with Ruth four, though I don’t want Ruth engaged in a shoot-out if we can help it. We shall achieve total surprise. They’ll see the plane come back, and have no idea that it’s got a different crew. Our Arctic clothes are much like theirs, and they won’t see that we’re not the people they’re expecting. They must be holding our chaps in the big transport plane – probably they’re living on board, for it’s all the shelter they have. We can just go on board and open fire at once.’
Keller nodded. ‘We must shoot to kill,’ he said. ‘Hijacking an Air Force plane is an act of war.’ As on other occasions when we were both deeply moved we acted rather formally and shook hands.
‘We must take all the wounded, but we don’t want our fit prisoner with us. I suggest we leave him here. He can live on board the yacht and he can scarcely get away. When we’ve settled things at Gould Bay we can send back to collect him.’
Again Keller nodded. ‘There’s one thing, though. The yacht has certainly got radio. We don’t want him warning his friends before we get there.’
‘Lord, no. We’ll put the radio out of action. Braunschweig will know all about the radio. He’s coming back now.’
*
I walked to meet him. ‘I can fly the plane without any difficulty – indeed, I think I’ve flown it before. As I told you, it belongs to my company,’ he said.
‘What about charts?’
‘There are plenty of charts, but I don’t think I shall need them. I have all this coast in my head, and I can find Gould Bay without trouble. Would you like to tell me who you are?’
‘My colleague is from the German Federal Police, and I am a sort of English policeman. It’s a long story and I can’t go into it now, but you can take it that we are on your side. It is important that you should be on ours, for we need your help.’
I explained briefly what seemed to have happened at Gould Bay, how we had come to be where we were, and why we were such a tragically small party. ‘With determination I think we can rescue our people, but it will not be without risk,’ I said.
‘You have risked your lives to save mine. I am at your disposal for whatever you think I can do.’
‘Thank you. We are going to leave the man who helped you to carry Baumgarten here – we don’t want a fit man who can turn against us in our party. I’m afraid he’ll have to shelter on your boat, but I don’t see that he can do much harm. Do you carry radio?’
‘Yes. We have very good radio.’
‘It must be put out of action. What is the simplest way to do it?’
‘Remove the tuning crystals – it cannot be worked without them. And we can remove the aerial.’
‘We’ll do both. I know nothing about the man, but it is possible he is an expert. If we succeed at Gould Bay we shall send back to arrest him. What about your boat? She is a beautiful boat.’
‘Yes . . . But for you I should have sailed her to my death. She will be perfectly safe here. Some time, some time when all this is over, I shall come back and sail her home.’
*
Dr Braunschweig and the prisoner had not brought back the stretcher, but we needed it again for the man wounded in the leg, who couldn’t walk. Keller sent the prisoner back for the stretcher, and told him to run. While he was getting the stretcher Dr Braunschweig and I rowed out to Apfel and dealt with the radio. ‘Are there any weapons on board?’ I asked.
‘The Baumgartens had pistols – they are probably in the saloon. The other man who was hurt on shore also had a pistol, but that is the one I now have. I don’t think there are any more. The Baumgartens occupied my cabin, to starboard. It might be well to search their things.’
It was. We found two revolvers in a canvas holdall, and removed them. Dr Braunschweig’s uninvited guest would have neither radio nor gun.
We made him help to carry the lame man to the plane, and the rest of us then went on board. When we told him that he was staying he lost his nerve and screamed. ‘You are leaving me to die. How can anyone survive in this wilderness?’
‘You have a comfortable yacht, with food on board, and a dinghy to take you out to her. Clear off! When it is convenient for us we shall send back to have you arrested.’
*
We put all our wounded aft, the two seriously injured men lying on the floor, the others free to sit as they chose. Frau Baumgarten crouched on the floor beside her husband. Keller went forward with Dr Braunschweig. I stayed aft with Ruth, and to keep an eye on the prisoners.
Dr Braunschweig knew what he was doing. He started the engines, and let them run for a few minutes. When he was satisfied that they were running smoothly he turned and taxied into the wind. Then he revved up and we took off. Although it looked fairly flat the ground was unpleasantly bumpy, but Dr Braunschweig handled the plane well and we were airborne without incident.
In Dr Braunschweig we had not only a pilot but an expert navigator. He flew with complete confidence, and fifty minutes after taking off we began the descent to the gravel bank at the head of Gould Bay. To our relief the big transport plane was still there, but there was no other sign of life. This was not greatly worrying, for the plane provided living quarters, and there was nothing in that desolate landscape to attract anything outside.
We had made our plans, and we knew exactly what we were going to do. Dr Braunschweig was going to put down the plane near the big transport, and taxi to within about fifty yards of it. As soon as we were stopped we would open the door and put down the steps. Keller would go first, then me, then Gustav Braunschweig. We would not run, but walk normally. We should climb the boarding steps of the big transport, not bunching, but keeping close together, one step behind each other. We expected the entrance door to be shut to keep out the cold, but it was unlikely to be locked. Keller would open the door and we’d walk straight in, shooting to kill at anyone who was not of our party. Braunschweig, who did not know our comrades, would not fire except to protect us. Ruth would stay on our plane, to guard the prisoners.
I have a sharply clear recollection of walking to the big transport, my heart pounding and my throat dry. The light seemed exceptionally clear. In the cold air I could see Keller’s breath, and I thought it looked rather beautiful against the blue Arctic sky. Yet of what happened when we entered the big plane I remember little. Keller fired once and shouted to everybody to put their hands up. I did not have to fire at all. The commander of our party recognised Keller, and saw at once what was happening. There were two armed men guarding the eight members of our team. Keller’s shot killed one. The other was so astonished that he did nothing, and in an instant the commander and an airman were on top of him. There was little fight in him and he surrendered almost at once. There were three other raiders on board, one making coffee in the galley, the other two asleep. The airmen of our force rounded them up quickly and with the line I’d brought from Apfel lashed their hands behind their backs.
Ruth had been miserable when we left, and she might have heard Keller’s shot. As soon as I saw that we had won I went back to her.
XII
Diplomacy
THE GERMAN AIR FORCE doctor and nurse came with me when I went across to Ruth. He examined Heinrich Baumgarten first. ‘I can do nothing,’ he said. ‘I fear that he is dead.’ Hilde Baumgarten was huddled on the floor beside him. ‘I think he died a few minutes ago. At least we were together,’ she muttered. Skilfully folding some blankets the nurse made two of the aircraft seats into a bed and persuaded Frau Baumgarten to lie down. Taking a hypodermic syringe and a capsule from his bag the doctor prepared an injection and left the nurse to give it to her while he looked at the other wounded men.
The man shot in the shoulder by Keller was in a bad way. ‘I think he will live,’ the doctor said, ‘but I shall have to operate. I cannot do it here – he must be moved to the bigger aircraft.’ He asked the nurse to collect two men to carry him across. The pilot and the man I’d hit in the leg were in considerable pain, but neither was in any particular danger. The doctor dressed their wounds and gave them both injections.
Then it was my turn. The doctor did not much like the look of my old wound, but when the nurse had cleaned it up I thought it might be a lot worse. The doctor put in a couple of stitches where the wretched thing had opened up and gave me some pills which, he said, would help to prevent infection. I should have to go back to my own surgeon when I got home, but for the moment he thought that I would do. Ruth disapproved. She wanted to use the smaller plane to have me flown to hospital somewhere forthwith, but I said that it was out of the question. There was urgent work for Keller and me. I was sorry about Hilde Baumgarten’s injection because there was so much that I wanted to ask her, but she was a woman and a patient as well as a prisoner, and I did not try to interfere with the doctor’s treatment. In addition to the shock of her husband’s death she had a flesh wound in her thigh, where my bullet had hit her. It was not a serious wound, but it was painful. I could not help admiring her for taking no notice of it in her concern for her husband. The doctor thought that she might be fit for questioning in the morning.
*
While the doctor and nurse tackled the emergency operation Keller and I had a conference with the Air Force commander. He was grieved to learn of the crash and loss of life in the helicopter party. He did not know that we had met disaster because he was hijacked before the helicopter became overdue. The hijacking was, as we had thought, carried out in total sudden surprise. He had only the doctor, nurse and a radio operator with him when the other plane appeared, because he had let the rest of the party go off to see if they could hunt a polar bear. There was nothing for them to do while waiting for us, and he did not want them to sit around playing cards. The arrival of the other aircraft was a welcome bit of excitement. The commander was walking across to offer the visitors a drink when armed men jumped down from the plane and seized him. After that he could do nothing. There were nine men in the party and they forced the doctor, nurse and radio operator into the navigator’s compartment on the big aircraft, and locked them in. When the others came back from their hunt – they had seen no sign of a bear – they were seized and overpowered as they entered the plane. They were allowed no access to radio, and thus lost contact with the helicopter. The raiders knew nothing of the helicopter – had they known that it was at large they might have changed their own plans. When Keller and I turned up the commander thought that we must have come back in the helicopter.
The account of the hijacking was interesting, but it didn’t answer any questions. Who were the armed men, prepared to seize a German Air Force plane, and to open fire on anybody who happened to be in what they seemed to regard as their private part of the Arctic?
