I needn"t have bothered. I could see the faintly shimmering outline of the disappearing wake, no more. The searchlights were extinguished; when Captain Imrie decided a job was finished, then that job was finished. Predictably, the boat was in complete darkness with neither interior nor navigation lights showing.
I turned and swam slowly towards the reef. I reached a a rock and clung to it until a measure of strength returned to my aching muscles, to my exhausted body. I would not have believed that fifteen minutes could have taken so much out of a man. I stayed there for five minutes. I could have stayed there for an hour. But time was not on my side. I slipped into deep water again and made for the sh.o.r.e. rock and clung to it until a measure of strength returned to my aching muscles, to my exhausted body. I would not have believed that fifteen minutes could have taken so much out of a man. I stayed there for five minutes. I could have stayed there for an hour. But time was not on my side. I slipped into deep water again and made for the sh.o.r.e.
Three times I tried and three times I failed to pull myself up from the rubber dinghy over the gunwale of the Firecrest, Firecrest, Four feet, no more. Just four feet. A Matterhorn. A ten-year-old could have done it. But not Calvert. Calvert was an old, old man. Four feet, no more. Just four feet. A Matterhorn. A ten-year-old could have done it. But not Calvert. Calvert was an old, old man.
I called out for Hunslett, but Hunslett did not come. Three times I called, but he did not come. The Firecrest Firecrest was dark and still and lifeless. Where the h.e.l.l was he? Asleep? Ash.o.r.e? No, not ash.o.r.e, he"d promised to stay aboard in case word came through, at any time from Uncle Arthur. Asleep, then, asleep in his cabin. I felt the blind unreasoning anger rise. This was too much, after what I had been through this was too much. Asleep. I shouted at the top of my voice and hammered feebly on the steel hull with the b.u.t.t of my Luger. But he didn"t come. was dark and still and lifeless. Where the h.e.l.l was he? Asleep? Ash.o.r.e? No, not ash.o.r.e, he"d promised to stay aboard in case word came through, at any time from Uncle Arthur. Asleep, then, asleep in his cabin. I felt the blind unreasoning anger rise. This was too much, after what I had been through this was too much. Asleep. I shouted at the top of my voice and hammered feebly on the steel hull with the b.u.t.t of my Luger. But he didn"t come.
The fourth time I made it. It was touch and go, but I made it. For a few seconds, dinghy painter in hand, I teetered on my stomach on the edge of the gunwale then managed to drag myself aboard. I secured the painter and went in search of Hunslett. There were words I wished to have with Hunslett.
I never used them. He wasn"t aboard. I searched the Firecrest Firecrest from forepeak to the after storage locker, but no Hunslett. No signs of a hasty departure, no remnants of a meal on the saloon table or unwashed dishes in the galley, no signs of any struggle, everything neat and in good order. from forepeak to the after storage locker, but no Hunslett. No signs of a hasty departure, no remnants of a meal on the saloon table or unwashed dishes in the galley, no signs of any struggle, everything neat and in good order.
Everything as it ought to have been. Except that there was no Hunslett.
For a minute or two I sat slumped in the saloon settee trying to figure out a reason for his absence, but only for a minute or two. I was in no condition to figure out anything. Wearily I made my way out to the upper deck and brought dinghy and outboard over the side. No fancy tricks about securing them to the anchor chain this time: apart from the fact that it was, the way I felt, physically impossible, the time for that was past, I deflated the dinghy and stowed it, along with the outboard, in the after locker. And if someone came aboard and started looking? If someone came aboard and started looking he"d get a bullet through him. I didn"t care if he claimed to be a police superintendent or an a.s.sistant commissioner or the top customs official in the country, he"d get a bullet through him, in the arm or leg, say, and I"d listen to his explanations afterwards. If it was one of my friends, one of my friends from Nantesville Nantesville or the reef back there, he got it through the head. or the reef back there, he got it through the head.
I went below. I felt sick. The helicopter was at the bottom of the sea. The pilot was down there with it, half his chest shot away by machine-gun bullets. I"d every right to feel sick. I stripped off my clothes and towelled myself dry and the very action of towelling seemed to drain away what little strength was left to me. Sure I"d had a hard time in the last hour, all this running and slipping and stumbling through the dark woods, locating and blowing up the dinghy and dragging it over those d.a.m.ned seaweed covered boulders had taken it out of me, but I was supposed to be fit, it shouldn"t have left me like this. I was sick, but the sickness was in .the heart and mind, not in the body.
I went into my cabin and laboriously dressed myself in fresh clothes, not forgetting the Paisley scarf. The rainbow coloured bruises that Quinn had kft on my neck had now swollen and spread to such an extent that I had to bring the scarf right up to the lobes of my ears to hide them. I looked in the mirror. It might have been my grandfather staring back at me. My grandfather on his deathbed. My face had that drawn and waxy look that one normally a.s.sociates with approaching dissolution. Not an all-over waxiness though, there was no blood on my face now but the pine needles had left their mark, I looked like someone with galloping impetigo. I felt like someone with galloping bubonic plague.
I checked that the Luger and the little Lilliput - I"d put them both back in their waterproof covering after leaving Dubh Sgeir - - were still in working order. They were. In the saloon I poured myself a stiff three fingers of whisky. It went down my throat like a ferret down a burrow after a rabbit, one moment there, the next vanished in the depths. The weary old red corpuscles hoisted themselves to their feet and started trudging around again. It seemed a reasonable a.s.sumption that if I encouraged them with some more of the same treatment they might even break into a slow gallop and I had just closed my hand around the bottle when I heard the sound of an approaching engine. I put the bottle back in the rack, switched out the saloon lights - although they would have been invisible from outside through the velvet curtains - and took up position behind the open saloon door. were still in working order. They were. In the saloon I poured myself a stiff three fingers of whisky. It went down my throat like a ferret down a burrow after a rabbit, one moment there, the next vanished in the depths. The weary old red corpuscles hoisted themselves to their feet and started trudging around again. It seemed a reasonable a.s.sumption that if I encouraged them with some more of the same treatment they might even break into a slow gallop and I had just closed my hand around the bottle when I heard the sound of an approaching engine. I put the bottle back in the rack, switched out the saloon lights - although they would have been invisible from outside through the velvet curtains - and took up position behind the open saloon door.
I was pretty sure the precautions were unnecessary, ten to one this was Hunslett coming back from sh.o.r.e, but why hadn"t he taken the dinghy, still slung on the davits aft? Probably someone, for what Hunslett had regarded as an excellent reason, had persuaded him to go ash.o.r.e and was now bringing him back.
The motor-boat"s engine slowed, went into neutral, astern, then neutral again. A slight b.u.mp, the murmur of voices, the sound of someone clambering aboard and then the engine opening up again.
The footfalls pa.s.sed over my head as the visitor - there was only one set of footfalls - made his way towards the wheelhouse door. The springy confident step of a man who knew what he was about. There was only one thing wrong with that springy confident step. It didn"t belong to Hunslett. I flattened myself against the bulkhead, took out the Luger, slid off the safety catch and prepared to receive my visitor in what I had now come to regard as the best traditions of the Highlands.
I heard the click as the wheelhouse door opened, the louder click as it was shut by a firm hand. A pool of light from a flashlamp preceded the visitor down the four steps from the wheelhouse to the saloon. He paused at the foot of the steps and the light moved away as he made to locate the light-switch. I stepped round the door and did three things at once - I hooked an arm around his neck, brought up a far from gentle knee into the small of his back and ground the muzzle of the Luger into his right ear. Violent stuff, but not unnecessarily violent stuff, it might have been my old friendQuinn. The gasp of pain was enough to show that it wasn"t.
"This isn"t a hearing aid you feel, friend. It"s a Luger pistol. You"re one pound pressure from a better world. Don"t make me nervous." better world. Don"t make me nervous."
The better world seemed to have no appeal for him. He didn"t make me nervous. He made an odd gurgling noise in his throat, he was trying either to speak or breathe, but he stood motionless, head and back arched. I eased the pressure a little.
"Put that light switch on with your left hand. Slowly. Carefully."
He was very slow, very careful. The saloon flooded with light.
"Raise your hands above your head. As high as you can reach."
He was a model prisoner, this one, he did exactly 33 he was told. I turned him round, propelled him into the centre of the room and told him to face me.
He was of medium height, nattily dressed in an astrakhan coat and a fur Cossack hat. He had a beautifully trimmed white beard and moustache, with a perfectly symmetrical black streak in the centre of the beard, the only one of its kind I had ever seen. The tanned face was red, either from anger or near-suffocation. From both, I decided. He lowered his hands without permission, sat on the settee, pulled out a monocle, screwed it into his right eye and stared at me with cold fury. I gave him look for look, stare for stare, pocketed the Luger, poured a whisky and handed it to Uncle Arthur. Rear-Admiral Sir Arthur Arnford-Jason, K.C.B. and all the rest of the alphabet.
"You should have knocked, sir," I said reproachfully, "I should have knocked." His voice sounded half-strangled, maybe I had exerted more pressure than had been necessary. "Do you always greet your guests this way?"
"I don"t have guests, sir. I don"t have friends, either. Not fn the Western Isles. All I have is enemies. Anyone who comes through that door is an enemy. I didn"t expect to see you here, sir."
"I hope not. In view of that performance, I hope not." He rubbed his throat, drank some whisky and coughed. "Didn"t expect to be here myself. Do you know how much bullion was aboard the Nantesville Nantesville?"
"Close on a million, I understand."
"That"s what I understood. Eight millions! Think of it, eight million pounds" worth. All this gold that"s being shovelled back from Europe into the vaults at Fort Knox usually goes in small lots, 108 lb. ingots at a time. For safety. For security. In case anything goes wrong. But the Bank knew that nothing could go wrong this time, they knew our agents were aboard, "they were behind with their payments, so they cleverly loaded fourteen hundred and forty ingots without telling anyone. Eight million. The Bank is hopping mad. And everyone is taking it out on me."
And he"d come up here to take it out on me. I said: "You should have let me know. That you were coming."
"I tried to. You failed to keep your noon-day schedule. The most elementary of crimes, Calvert, and the most serious. You failed to keep a schedule. You or Hunslett. Then I knew things were going from bad to worse. I knew I had to take over myself. So I came by plane and R.A.F. rescue launch." That would have been the high-speed Jaunch I"d seen taking a bad battering in the Sound as we had headed down towards the cove. "Where"s Hunslett?"
"I don"t know, sir."
"You don"t know?" He was using his quiet unemphatic tone, the one I didn"t care for very much, "You"re out of your depth in this one, Calvert, aren"t you?"
"Yes, sir. I"m afraid he"s been removed by force. I"m not sure how. What have you been doing in the past two hours, sir?"
"Explain yourself." I wished he"d stop s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g that d.a.m.ned monocle into his eye. It was no affectation, that monocle, he was nearly blind on that side, but h was an irritating mannerism. At that moment, anything would have irritated me.
"That R.A.F. launch that dropped you off here just now. It should have been here at least two hours ago. Why didn"t you come aboard then?"
"I did. We almost ran the Firecrest Firecrest down in the darkness as we came round the headland. No one here. So I went and had some dinner. Nothing but baked beans aboard this d.a.m.ned boat as far as I could see." down in the darkness as we came round the headland. No one here. So I went and had some dinner. Nothing but baked beans aboard this d.a.m.ned boat as far as I could see."
"The Columbia hotel wouldn"t offer you much more. Toast below the beans, if you were lucky." The Columbia was Torbay"s only hotel.
"I had smoked trout, filet mignon and an excellent bottleof hock. I dined aboard the Shangri-la." Shangri-la." This with the slight him of a smite. Uncle Arthur"s Achilles" heel was showing again: Uncle Arthur loved a lord like n.o.body"s business, and a knight with a seven-figure income was as good as a lord any day. This with the slight him of a smite. Uncle Arthur"s Achilles" heel was showing again: Uncle Arthur loved a lord like n.o.body"s business, and a knight with a seven-figure income was as good as a lord any day.
"The Shangri-la?" I Shangri-la?" I stared at him, then remembered. "Of course. You told me. You know Lady Skouras well. No, you said you knew her very well and her husband well. How is my old Sir Anthony?" stared at him, then remembered. "Of course. You told me. You know Lady Skouras well. No, you said you knew her very well and her husband well. How is my old Sir Anthony?"
"Very well," he said coldly. Uncle Arthur had as much humour as the next man, but discussing t.i.tled millionaires in tones of levity was not humorous.
"And Lady Skouras?"
He hesitated. "Well--"
"Not so well. Pale, drawn, unhappy, with dark smudges under her eyes. Not unlike myself. Her husband mistreats her and mistreats her badly. Mentally and physically. He humiliated her in front of a group of men last night. And she had rope burns on her arms. Why would she have rope burns on her arms, Sir Arthur?"
"Impossible. Quite fantastic. I knew the former Lady Skouras, the one who died this year in hospital. She------"
"She was undergoing treatment in a mental hospital. Skouras as good as told me."
"No matter. She adored him. He adored her. A man can"t change like that. Sir Anthony - Sir Anthony"s a gentleman."
"Is he? Tell me how he made his last millions. You saw Lady Skouras, didn"t you?"
"I saw her," he said slowly. "She was late. She arrived with the filet mignon." He didn"t seem to find anything funny in that, "She didn"t look very well and she"s a bruise on her right temple. She"d fallen climbing aboard from the tender and hit her head against a guardrail."
"Hit her head against her husband"s fist, more like. To get back to the first time you boarded the Firecrest Firecrest this evening. Did you search it?" this evening. Did you search it?"
"I searched it. All except the after cabin. It was locked, I a.s.sumed there was something in there you didn"t want chance callers to see."
"There was something in there that callers, not chance, didn"t want you you to see," I said slowly. "Hunslett. Hunslett under guard. They were wafting for word of my death, then they"d have lulled Hunslett or kept him prisoner. If wordcame through that I hadn"t been killed, then they"d have waited until my return and taken me prisoner too. Or killed us both. For by then they would have known that I knew too much to be allowed to live. It takes time, a long time, to open up a strong-room and get all those tons of gold out and they know their time is running out. They"re desperate now. But they still think of everything." to see," I said slowly. "Hunslett. Hunslett under guard. They were wafting for word of my death, then they"d have lulled Hunslett or kept him prisoner. If wordcame through that I hadn"t been killed, then they"d have waited until my return and taken me prisoner too. Or killed us both. For by then they would have known that I knew too much to be allowed to live. It takes time, a long time, to open up a strong-room and get all those tons of gold out and they know their time is running out. They"re desperate now. But they still think of everything."
"They were waiting for word of your death," Uncle Arthur said mechanically. "I don"t understand."
"That helicopter you laid on for me, sir. We were shot down to-night after sunset. The pilot"s dead and the machine is at the bottom of the sea. They believe me to be dead also."
"I see. You go from strength to strength, Calvert." The absence of reaction was almost total, maybe he was getting punch-drunk by this time, more likely he was considering .the precise phraseology that would return me to the ranks of the unemployed with economy and dispatch. He lit a long, thin and very black cheroot and puffed meditatively. "When we get back to London remind me to show you my confidential report on you."
"Yes, sir." So this was how it was coming.
"I was having dinner with the Under-Secretary just forty-eight hours ago. One of .the things he asked me was which country had the best agents in Europe. Told him I"d no idea. But I told him who I thought, on the balance of probabilities, was the best agent in Europe. Philip Calvert."
"That was very kind of you, sir." If I could remove that beard, whisky, cheroot and monocle, at least three of which were obscuring his face at any given moment, his expression might have given me some faint clue as to what was going on in that devious mind, "You were going to fire me thirty-six hours ago."
"If you believe that," Uncle Arthur said calmly, "you"ll believe anything." He puffed out a cloud of foul smoke and went on: "one of the comments in your report states: " Unsuitable for routine investigation. Loses interest and becomes easily bored. Operates at his best only under extreme pressure. At this level he is unique." It"s on the files, Calvert. I don"t cut off my right hand."
"No, sir. Do you know what you are, sir?"
"A Machiavellian old devil," Uncle Arthur said with some satisfaction. "You know what"s going on?"
"Yes, sir."
"Pour me another whisky, my boy, a large one, and tell me what"s happened, what you know and what you think you know."
So I poured him another whisky, a large one, and told him what had happened, what I knew and as much of what I "thought I knew as seemed advisable to tell him.
He heard me out, then said: "Loch Houron, you think?"
"Loch Houron it must be. I spoke to no one else, anywhere else, and to the best of my knowledge no one else saw me. Someone recognised me. Or someone"transmitted my description. By radio. It must have been by radio. The boat that was waiting for Williams and myself came from Torbay or somewhere near Torbay, a boat from Loch Houron could Inever have made it to the eastern end of the Sound of Torbay in five times the time we took. Somewhere near here, on land or sea, is a transceiver set. Somewhere out on Loch Houron there"s another."
"This University expedition boat you saw on the south sh.o.r.e of Loch Houron. This alleged University expedition. It would have a radio transmitter aboard."
"No, sir. Boys with beards." I rose, pulled back the saloon curtains on both sides, then sat down again. "I told you their boat was damaged and listing. She"d been, riding moored fore and aft in plenty of water. They didn"t hole it themselves and it wasn"t holed by any act of nature. Somebody kindly obliged. Another of those odd little boating incidents that occur with such profusion up and down the west coast."
"Why did you pull those curtains back?"
"Another of those odd little boating incidents, sir. One that"s about to happen. Some time to-night people will be coming aboard. Hunslett and I, those people think, are dead, At least, I"m dead and Hunslett is dead or a prisoner. But they can"t leave an abandoned Firecrest Firecrest at anchor to excite suspicion and invite investigation. So they"ll come in a boat, up anchor, and take die at anchor to excite suspicion and invite investigation. So they"ll come in a boat, up anchor, and take die Firecrest Firecrest out into the Sound, followed by their own boat. Once there, they"ll slice through the flexible salt-water cooling intake, open the salt-water c.o.c.k, take to their own boat and lift their hats as the out into the Sound, followed by their own boat. Once there, they"ll slice through the flexible salt-water cooling intake, open the salt-water c.o.c.k, take to their own boat and lift their hats as the Firecrest Firecrest goes down to join the helicopter. As far as the big wide innocent world is concerned, Hunslett and I will just have sailed off into the sunset." goes down to join the helicopter. As far as the big wide innocent world is concerned, Hunslett and I will just have sailed off into the sunset."
"And the gulfs will have washed you down," Uncle Arthur nodded. "You are very sure of this, Calvert?"
"You might say I"m absolutely certain."
"Then why open those blasted curtains?"
"The scuttling party may be coining from anywhere and they may not come for hours. The best time to scuttle a boat in close waters is at slack tide, when you can be sure that it will settle exactly where you want it to settle, and slack tide is not until one o"clock this morning. But if someone comes panting hotfoot aboard soon after those curtains are opened, then that will be proof enough that the radio transmitter we"re after, and our friends who are working the transmitter, are somewhere in this bay, ash.o.r.e or afloat."
"How will it be proof?" Uncle Arthur said irritably. "Why should they come, as you say, panting hotfoot?"
"They know they have Hunslett. At least, I a.s.sume they have, I can"t think of any other reason for his absence. They think they know I"m dead, but they can"t be sure. Then they see the beckoning oil lamp in the window. What is this, they say to themselves, Calvert back from the dead? Or a third, or maybe even a third and a fourth colleague of Calvert and Hunslett that we wot not of? Whether it"s me or my friends, they must be silenced. And silenced at once. Wouldn"t you come panting hotfoot?"
"There"s no need to treat the matter with levity," Uncle Arthur complained.
"In your own words, sir, if you can believe that, you can believe anything."
"You should have consulted me first, Calvert." Uncle Arthur shifted in his seat, an almost imperceptible motion, though his expression didn"t change. He was a brilliant administrator, but the more executive side of the business, the sand-bagging and pushing of people off high cliffs, wasn"t exactly in his line. "I"ve told you that I came to take charge."
"Sorry, Sir Arthur. You"d better change that report, hadn"t you? The bit about the best in Europe, I mean."
"Touche, touche, touche," he grumbled. "And they"re coming at us out of the dark, is that it? On their way now. Armed men. Killers. Shouldn"t we - shouldn"t we be preparing to defend ourselves? Dammit, man, I haven"t even got a gun." he grumbled. "And they"re coming at us out of the dark, is that it? On their way now. Armed men. Killers. Shouldn"t we - shouldn"t we be preparing to defend ourselves? Dammit, man, I haven"t even got a gun."
"You won"t need one. You may not agree with me." I handed him the Luger. He took it, checked the indicator and that the safety catch moved easily, then sat there holding it awkwardly in his hand.
"Shouldn"t we move, Calvert? We"re sitting targets here."
"They won"t be here for some time. The nearest house or boat is a mile away to "the east. They"ll be pushing wind and tide and they daren"t use a motor. Whether they"re rowing a boat or paddling a rubber dinghy they have a long haul ahead of them. Time"s short, sir. We have a lot to do to-night. To get back to Loch Houron. The expedition"s out, they couldn"t pirate a dinghy, far less five ocean-going freighters. Our friend Donald MacEachern acts in a highly suspicious fashion, he"s got the facilities there, he"s dead worried and he might have had half a dozen guns at his back while he had his in my front. But it was all too good to be true, professionals wouldn"t lay it on the line like that."
"Maybe that"s how professionals would expect a fellow-professional to react. And you said he"s worried." you said he"s worried."
"Maybe the fish aren"t biting. Maybe he"s involved, but not directly. Then there"s the shark-fishers. They have the boats, the facilities and, heaven knows, they"re tough enough. Against that, they"ve been based there for years, the place is littered with sharks - it should be easy enough to check if regular consignments of liver oil are sent to the mainland - and they"re well known and well thought of along the coast. They"ll bear investigating. Then there"s Dubh Sgeir. Lord Kirkside and his lovely daughter Sue."
"Lady Susan," Uncle Arthur said. It"s difficult to invest an impersonal, "Inflectionless voice with cool reproach, but he managed it without any trouble. "I know Lord Kirkside, of course"- his tone implied that it would be remarkable if he didn"t - "and while I may or may not be right about Sir Anthony, and I will lay you a hundred to one, in pounds, that I am, I"m convinced that Lord Kirkside is wholly incapable of any dishonest or illegal action."
"Me, too. He"s a very tough citizen, I"d say, but on the side of the angels."
"And his daughter? I haven"t met her."
"Very much a girl of to-day. Dressed in the modern idiom, speaks in the modern idiom, I"m tough and I"m competent and I can take care of myself, thank you. She"s not tough at all, just a nice old-fashioned girl in new-fashioned clothes."
"So that clears them." Uncle Arthur sounded relieved. "That leaves MS MS the expedition, in spite of your sneers, or MacEachern"s place, or the shark-fishers. I go for the shark-fishers myself." the expedition, in spite of your sneers, or MacEachern"s place, or the shark-fishers. I go for the shark-fishers myself."
I let him go for wherever he wanted to. I thought it was time I went to the upper deck and told him so.
"It won"t be long now?"
"I shouldn"t think so, sir. We"ll put out the lights in the saloon here - it would look very odd if they peered in the windows and saw no one here. We"ll put on the two sleeping-cabin lights and the stern light. That will destroy their night-sight. The after deck will be bathed in light. For"ard of that, as far as they are concerned, it will be pitch dark. We hide in the dark."
"Where in the dark?" Uncle Arthur didn"t sound very confident.
"You stand inside the wheelhouse. All wheelhouse doors are hinged for"ard and open outwards. Keep your hand on the inside handle. Lightly. When you feel it begin to turn, a very slow and stealthy turn, you can bet your boots, wait till the door gives a fraction, then kick the rear edge, just below the handle, with the sole of your right foot and with all the weight you have. If you don"t break his nose or knock him overboard you"ll at least set him in line for a set of false teeth. I"ll take care of the other or others."
"How?"
"I"ll be on the saloon roof. It"s three feet lower than the loom of the stern light even if they approach from the wheelhouse roof so they can"t see me silhouetted against the loom of the stern light even if they approach from the bows."
"But what arc you going to do?"
"Clobber him or them. A nice big Stilson from the engine-room with a rag round it will do nicely."