Mr Edwards looked at the two policemen. The two policemen looked at the fishermen. "You wouldn"t be having us on, would you?" one of the policemen said.
"I swear it!" cried w.i.l.l.y. "It"s the gospel truth! There"s this little boy riding high up on the old turtle"s back and his feet isn"t even touching the water! He"s dry as a bone and sitting there comfy and easy as could be! So we go after them. Of course we go after them. At first we try creeping up on them very quietly, like we always do when we"re catching a turtle, but the boy sees us. We aren"t very far away at this time, you understand. No more than from here to the edge of the water. And when the boy sees us, he sort of leans forward as if he"s saying something to that old turtle, and the turtle"s head comes up and he starts swimming like the clappers of h.e.l.l! Man, could that turtle go! Tom and me can paddle pretty quick when we want to, but we"ve no chance against that monster! No chance at all! He"s going at least twice as fast as we are! Easy twice as fast, what you say, Tom?"
"I"d say he"s going three times three times as fast," Tom said. "And I"ll tell you why. In about ten or fifteen minutes, they"re a mile ahead of us." as fast," Tom said. "And I"ll tell you why. In about ten or fifteen minutes, they"re a mile ahead of us."
"Why on earth didn"t you call out to the boy?" the manager asked. "Why didn"t you speak to him earlier on, when you were closer?"
"We never stop calling out, man!" w.i.l.l.y cried. "As soon as the boy sees us and we"re not trying to creep up on them any longer, then we start yelling. We yell everything under the sun at that boy to try and get him aboard. "Hey, boy!" I yell at him. "You come on back with us! We"ll give you a lift home! That ain"t no good what you"re doing there, boy! Jump off and swim while you got the chance and we"ll pick you up! Go on boy, jump! Your mammy must be waiting for you at home, boy, so why don"t you come on in with us?" And once I shouted at him, "Listen, boy! We"re gonna make you a promise! We promise not to catch that old turtle if you come with us!""
"Did he answer you at all?" the manager asked.
"He never even looks round!" w.i.l.l.y said. "He sits high up on that sh.e.l.l and he"s sort of rocking backwards and forwards with his body just like he"s urging the old turtle to go faster and faster! You"re gonna lose that little boy, Mr Edwards, unless someone gets out there real quick and grabs him away!"
The manager"s normally pink face had turned white as paper. "Which way were they heading?" he asked sharply.
"North," w.i.l.l.y answered. "Almost due north."
"Right!" the manager said. "We"ll take the speed-boat. I want you with us, w.i.l.l.y. And you, Tom."
The manager, the two policemen and the two fishermen ran down to where the boat that was used for water-skiing lay beached on the sand. They pushed the boat out, and even the manager lent a hand, wading up to his knees in his well-pressed white trousers. Then they all climbed in.
I watched them go zooming off.
Two hours later, I watched them coming back. They had seen nothing.
All through that day, speed-boats and yachts from other hotels along the coast searched the ocean. In the afternoon, the boy"s father hired a helicopter. He rode in it himself and they were up there three hours. They found no trace of the turtle or the boy.
For a week, the search went on, but with no result.
And now, nearly a year has gone by since it happened. In that time, there has been only one significant bit of news. A party of Americans, out from Na.s.sau in the Bahamas, were deep-sea fishing off a large island called Eleuthera. There are literally thousands of coral reefs and small uninhabited islands in this area, and upon one of these tiny islands, the captain of the yacht saw through his binoculars the figure of a small person. There was a sandy beach on the island, and the small person was walking on the beach. The binoculars were pa.s.sed around, and everyone who looked through them agreed that it was a child of some sort. There was, of course, a lot of excitement on board and the fishing lines were quickly reeled in. The captain steered the yacht straight for the island. When they were half a mile off, they were able, through the binoculars, to see clearly that the figure on the beach was a boy, and although sunburnt, he was almost certainly white-skinned, not a native. At that point, the watchers on the yacht also spotted what looked like a giant turtle on the sand near the boy. What happened next happened very quickly. The boy, who had probably caught sight of the approaching yacht, jumped on the turtle"s back and the huge creature entered the water and swam at great speed around the island and out of sight. The yacht searched for two hours, but nothing more was seen either of the boy or the turtle.
There is no reason to disbelieve this report. There were five people on the yacht. Four of them were Americans and the captain was a Bahamian from Na.s.sau. All of them in turn saw the boy and the turtle through the binoculars.
To reach Eleuthera Island from Jamaica by sea, one must first travel north-east for two hundred and fifty miles and pa.s.s through the Windward Pa.s.sage between Cuba and Haiti. Then one must go north-north-west for a further three hundred miles at least. This is a total distance of five hundred and fifty miles, which is a very long journey for a small boy to make on the sh.e.l.l of a giant turtle.
Who knows what to think of all this?
One day, perhaps, he will come back, though I personally doubt it. I have a feeling he"s quite happy where he is.
The Hitch-hiker .
I had a new car. It was an exciting toy, a big B.M.W. 3.3 Li, which means 3.3 litre, long wheelbase, fuel injection. It had a top speed of 129 m.p.h. and terrific acceleration. The body was pale blue. The seats inside were darker blue and they were made of leather, genuine soft leather of the finest quality. The windows were electrically operated and so was the sun-roof. The radio aerial popped up when I switched on the radio, and disappeared when I switched it off. The powerful engine growled and grunted impatiently at slow speeds, but at sixty miles an hour the growling stopped and the motor began to purr with pleasure.
I was driving up to London by myself. It was a lovely June day. They were haymaking in the fields and there were b.u.t.tercups along both sides of the road. I was whispering along at seventy miles an hour, leaning back comfortably in my seat, with no more than a couple of fingers resting lightly on the wheel to keep her steady. Ahead of me I saw a man thumbing a lift. I touched the footbrake and brought the car to a stop beside him. I always stopped for hitch-hikers. I knew just how it used to feel to be standing on the side of a country road watching the cars go by. I hated the drivers for pretending they didn"t see me, especially the ones in big cars with three empty seats. The large expensive cars seldom stopped. It was always the smaller ones that offered you a lift, or the old rusty ones, or the ones that were already crammed full of children and the driver would say, "I think we can squeeze in one more."
The hitch-hiker poked his head through the open window and said, "Going to London, guv"nor?"
"Yes," I said, "Jump in."
He got in and I drove on.
He was a small ratty-faced man with grey teeth. His eyes were dark and quick and clever, like a rat"s eyes, and his ears were slightly pointed at the top. He had a cloth cap on his head and he was wearing a greyish-coloured jacket wih enormous pockets. The grey jacket, together with the quick eyes and the pointed ears, made him look more than anything like some sort of a huge human rat.
"What part of London are you headed for?" I asked him.
"I"m goin" right through London and out the other side," he said. "I"m goin" to Epsom, for the races. It"s Derby Day today."
"So it is," I said. "I wish I were going with you. I love betting on horses."
"I never bet on horses," he said. "I don"t even watch "em run. That"s a stupid silly business."
"Then why do you go?" I asked.
He didn"t seem to like that question. His little ratty face went absolutely blank and he sat there staring straight ahead at the road, saying nothing.
"I expect you help to work the betting machines or something like that," I said.
"That"s even sillier," he answered. "There"s no fun working them lousy machines and selling tickets to mugs. Any fool could do that."
There was a long silence. I decided not to question him any more. I remembered how irritated I used to get in my hitch-hiking days when drivers kept asking me me questions. Where are you going? Why are you going there? What"s your job? Are you married? Do you have a girl-friend? What"s her name? How old are you? And so on and so forth. I used to hate it. questions. Where are you going? Why are you going there? What"s your job? Are you married? Do you have a girl-friend? What"s her name? How old are you? And so on and so forth. I used to hate it.
"I"m sorry," I said. "It"s none of my business what you do. The trouble is, I"m a writer, and most writers are terrible nosey parkers."
"You write books?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Writin" books is okay," he said. "It"s what I call a skilled trade. I"m in a skilled trade too. The folks I despise is them that spend all their lives doin" crummy old routine jobs with no skill in em" at all. You see what I mean?"
"Yes."
"The secret of life," he said, "is to become very very good at somethin" that"s very very "ard to do."
"Like you," I said.
"Exactly. You and me both."
"What makes you think that I"m I"m any good at my job?" I asked. "There"s an awful lot of bad writers around." any good at my job?" I asked. "There"s an awful lot of bad writers around."
"You wouldn"t be drivin" about in a car like this if you weren"t no good at it," he answered. "It must"ve cost a tidy packet, this little job."
"It wasn"t cheap."
"What can she do flat out?" he asked.
"One hundred and twenty-nine miles an hour," I told him.
"I"ll bet she won"t do it."
"I"ll bet she will."
"All car makers is liars," he said. "You can buy any car you like and it"ll never do what the makers say it will in the ads."
"This one will."
"Open "er up then and prove it," he said. "Go on, guv"nor, open "er right up and let"s see what she"ll do."
There is a roundabout at Chalfont St Peter and immediately beyond it there"s a long straight section of dual carriageway. We came out of the roundabout on to the carriageway and I pressed my foot down on the accelerator. The big car leaped forward as though she"d been stung. In ten seconds or so, we were doing ninety.
"Lovely!" he cried.""Beautiful! Keep goin"!"
I had the accelerator jammed right down against the floor and I held it there.
"One hundred!" he shouted. . . "A hundred and five!. . . A hundred and ten!. . . A hundred and fifteen! Go on! Don"t slack off!"
I was in the outside lane and we flashed past several cars as though they were standing still -- a green Mini, a big cream-coloured Citroen, a white Land-Rover, a huge truck with a container on the back, an orange-coloured Volkswagen Minibus. . .
"A hundred and twenty!" my pa.s.senger shouted, jumping up and down. "Go on! Go on! Get "er up to one-two-nine!"
At that moment, I heard the scream of a police siren.
It was so loud it seemed to be right inside the car, and then a policeman on a motor-cycle loomed up alongside us on the inside lane and went past us and raised a hand for us to stop.
"Oh, my sainted aunt!" I said. "That"s torn it!"
The policeman must have been doing about a hundred and thirty when he pa.s.sed us, and he took plenty of time slowing down. Finally, he pulled into the side of the road and I pulled in behind him. "I didn"t know police motorcycles could go as fast as that," I said rather lamely.
"That one can," my pa.s.senger said. "It"s the same make as yours. It"s a B.M.W. R90S. Fastest bike on the road. That"s what they"re usin" nowadays."
The policeman got off his motor-cycle and leaned the machine sideways on to its prop stand. Then he took off his gloves and placed them carefully on the seat. He was in no hurry now. He had us where he wanted us and he knew it.
"This is real trouble," I said. "I don"t like it one bit."
"Don"t talk to "im any more than is necessary, you understand," my companion said. "Just sit tight and keep mum."
Like an executioner approaching his victim, the policeman came strolling slowly towards us. He was a big meaty man with a belly, and his blue breeches were skintight around his enormous thighs. His goggles were pulled up on the helmet, showing a smouldering red face with wide cheeks.
We sat there like guilty schoolboys, waiting for him to arrive.
"Watch out for this man," my pa.s.senger whispered. " "Ee looks mean as the devil."
The policeman came round to my open window and placed one meaty hand on the sill. "What"s the hurry?" he said.
"No hurry, officer," I answered.
"Perhaps there"s a woman in the back having a baby and you"re rushing her to hospital? Is that it?"
"No, officer."
"Or perhaps your house is on fire and you"re dashing home to rescue the family from upstairs?" His voice was dangerously soft and mocking.
"My house isn"t on fire, officer."
"In that case," he said, "you"ve got yourself into a nasty mess, haven"t you? Do you know what the speed limit is in this country?"
"Seventy," I said.
"And do you mind telling me exactly what speed you were doing just now?"
I shrugged and didn"t say anything.
When he spoke next, he raised his voice so loud that I jumped. "One hundred and twenty miles per hour!" "One hundred and twenty miles per hour!" he barked. "That"s he barked. "That"s fifty fifty miles an hour over the limit!" miles an hour over the limit!"
He turned his head and spat out a big gob of spit. It landed on the wing of my car and started sliding down over my beautiful blue paint. Then he turned back again and stared hard at my pa.s.senger. "And who are you?" he asked sharply.
"He"s a hitch-hiker," I said. "I"m giving him a lift."
"I didn"t ask you," he said. "I asked him."
" "Ave I done somethin" wrong?" my pa.s.senger asked. His voice was as soft and oily as haircream.
"That"s more than likely," the policeman answered. "Anyway, you"re a witness. I"ll deal with you in a minute. Driving-licence," he snapped, holding out his hand.
I gave him my driving-licence.
He unb.u.t.toned the left-hand breast-pocket of his tunic and brought out the dreaded books of tickets. Carefully, he copied the name and address from my licence. Then he gave it back to me. He strolled round to the front of the car and read the number from the number-plate and wrote that down as well. He filled in the date, the time and the details of my offence. Then he tore out the top copy of the ticket. But before handing it to me, he checked that all the information had come through clearly on his own carbon copy. Finally, he replaced the book in his tunic pocket and fastened the b.u.t.ton.
"Now you," he said to my pa.s.senger, and he walked around to the other side of the car. From the other breast-pocket he produced a small black notebook. "Name?" he snapped.
"Michael Fish," my pa.s.senger said.
"Address?"
"Fourteen, Windsor Lane, Luton."
"Show me something to prove this is your real name and address." the policeman said.
My pa.s.senger fished in his pockets and came out with a driving-licence of his own. The policeman checked the name and address and handed it back to him. "What"s your job?" he asked sharply.
"I"m an "od carrier."
"A what?"
"An "od carrier."