A Bridge of Magpies

The white sail and the breakers combined to look like a split image-far away near the channel entrance, until one saw the flared bow and characteristic black strake of a Nieswandt cutter. The way she was being handled and the press of sail made me certain it was Kaptein Denny. Then she came a little closer, and I spotted Gaok's unmistakable figurehead.

'That boat's in a hurry, Jutta:

'He's alone. I don't see anyone else.'

Goak finally came almost alongside at the same cracking pace before Kaptein Denny spun her round and tossed me a securing line.

He jumped aboard. His eyes were strained and red and his mouth was bracketed with fatigue. Salt had made a white fuzz on his beard stubble and round the neck of his heavy turtleneck sweater; it emphasized the rough planes of his face. However, there was a jauntiness about his stocky figure which I put down to excitement at the storm and his triumph over the sea's challenge.

`Dr Koch sent me. Urgent. You're to come at once. There's a strange ship at the Bridge of Magpies. She's up to no good.'

C H A P T E R E I G H T

What sort of ship?'

'A deep-sea trawler, so she says'

'Why, so she says?'

'I'm used to seeing all sorts on the fishing grounds, Not one like this, though.'

'What's different about her?'

'Big. Too big for a trawler. Perhaps a thousand tons. And too small for anything else.'

I could sense Jutta tensely wondering while I questioned Kaptein Denny, whether I would return to Possession. I intended to, but hadn't committed myself. The summons let Jutta off reprisal and me off the hook as far as she was concerned. It was my big face-saver. It solved one problem and created others. Yet I was uneasy that Koch felt he couldn't cope.

`What was she up to?'

`Nothing that I could see. She came in during the storm

"and anchored in the channel as far away out of sight of the huts as she could.'

'That's no reason for me to rush back.'

It was curious that Koch hadn't sent me a note giving the reasons for his anxiety. Disquieting, too, that he'd dispatched Kaptein Denny, post-haste and unrestricted-when he'd been so keen to keep him incommunicado on Possession.

'No, it's not. She's foreign built and decked-in for'rd with a kind of whaleback. You don't get that in a trawler. She's also carrying a lot of heavy gear on deck'

'What sort of gear-man?'

I didn't go aboard, Dr Koch did. With Breekbout, And then?'

'He came back to Possession looking worried. All he said was, take your boat at once and go and find Captain Weddell. That ship stinks.'

`You asked no questions?'

`You don't, when the jail doors are suddenly thrown wide open.'

'Also you knew exactly where to find me?'

'You used sail from Possession. That left one answer in the storm: Alabama Cove?

'My engine packed up.'

'J thought so. But that didn't stop you.'

Jutta said, We had a narrow escape getting here. Struan hurt his side:

Bad?'

'I can still handle a ship.'

'Good. Let's go then. I'll tow you out.'

'You'll – what?'

Tow. The gale's dying. I know a way back close inshore all the way.'

'You're a devil for punishment.'

'It's safer-really. After a blow like we've had you have to keep a weather eye open for rogue rollers. They seem to come out of nowhere. Jf one caught us out to sea, towing, we'd be in big trouble.'

'By the same token, why wouldn't that happen inshore too?'

The shoals and reefs would break up a wave before it could reach us there.'

There was a controlled zest about the man: he was itching to go. Either I was going to put my trust- possibly my life and Jutta's too-in his hands or I wasn't. He hadn't let me down over Alabama Cove.

'Coffee-' said Jutta. 'We can talk below.'

'No time.'

His hurry reawakened a tiny spark of suspicion in my mind. Why was he so anxious to move out? One would have thought a couple of hours' wait-until the wind finally dropped-wouldn't do any harm. I let it ride. Perhaps it had something to do with negotiating the coast?

'Right – shoot l' I said. 'Give me a hand with the anchors first.'

He came for'ard to help me. His eyes were everywhere-on the sea, on the land, on the sky.

I said, 'Towing will use up a lot of your fuel. We'd better transfer what's in Ichabo's tanks before we start. Her old clanker's had it: it won't want fuel this trip.'

'No time.'

Again there didn't seem all that much need for his bustle. I must have shown something of what I was thinking because he added, with a grin which disarmed me, 'If I run out of pa piss in the tanks.'

The down-channel tow wasn't a milk-run. It was a sweat, even in the relatively calm water of Tuscaloosa's lee, to fix the rope so as to avoid snarl-ups. But Kaptein Denny knew his business: he handled things surely and expertly. I sent Jutta aboard Gaok, to be safe in case we ran into trouble and had to cut Ichabo adrift. She wanted to stay-on the grounds that my injury needed further attention. It didn't-but it was nice to hear her.

Within half an hour of his arrival Kaptein Denny dragged Ichabo clear of her funkhole, at the end of a tough manila hawser. We left the miserable little island behind, with birds clustered over it like flies on a kill. Near New Bedford Point the sea showed signs that the gale was on its way out: the water glistened darkly instead of breaking white and there were patches of green amidst the universal-monotonous grey, Kaptein Denny took the hazards of the whalebone point in his stride but the way he squeezed the two cutters through, until white water came churning over lchabo's side, almost turned my seasoned stomach! Ichabo cavorted at the end of the hawser like a yo-yo free-falling in space with only a string to bring it up short. He repeated the act a little farther down the coast at the cost of much adrenalin. I never guessed there were such routes. The wind decreased; our speed increased. By afternoon the wind had fallen to a fresh breeze. Denny and I had agreed, on leaving Tuscaloosa, that when this happened (he had slated Seventy-four Rock, another half-submerged islet well down the coast as the place where it would happen and he was right) we would drop the tow and use sail, so as to make better time. But the wind was veering west, and with my injured side I couldn't manage the short, sharp tacks that were necessary. So Gaok took up the hawser again and strung Ichabo aJong that frightening shoreline, working up to a useful speed of six knots. Seals appeared as the water smoothed: one huge fellow, a sort of cheer-leader, led his pack round the cutters for nearly an hour, playing waterborne ring-o'-roses.

When night came I didn't want to blow our luck by carry. ing on, but Captain Denny wouldn't hear of anchoring. His knowledge of the way was uncanny. He rigged a light in Gaok's stern and I held station on it-as tense and nerve. 105 racking a business as flying a plane dual control when you can't hear the pilot and don't know what his next move will be. About midnight -I hadn't an idea where we were -

Kaptein Denny hailed me to say we were about to anchor. He cast off: Ichabo freewheeled on, and I felt utterly helpless. But I needn't have worried. Kaptein Denny ran the smartest shop, Gaok's guide light did a quick flipper turn, disappeared-and then the boat was back alongside Ichabo again, made fast, and sheep-dogging my powerless craft to anchor.

We had a quick hard-tack supper aboard Gaok and turned in. The last sound I remember hearing before dropping off was the thunder of the surf close by.

We started off again in the morning before the sun broke up the fine spidery structure of the fog. There was no wind and an almost uncanny quiet. Jutta joined me in Ichabo. Kaptein Denny told us that the switchback part of the trip was over and that it wasn't far to Possession, but he made a minor mystery out of the ship's position. I thought it boosted his ego.