" I'll take this ship apart rivet by rivet to find the chart," Upton went on savagely. I believed him. He rounded on me. " Will you take me to Thompson Island?"
I evaded a direct answer. " How should I know where
Thompson is?"
" You've got Norris' chart, and that shows the true position of Thompson Island."
I saw the fallacy of what Upton was saying. What I and I alone knew was that Captain Norris' chart was priceless up to a point. Beyond that point the centuries-old secret of the lost island was one man's only-mine. Kohler must have known, too; Pirow obviously did not.
" Will you take me to Thompson, according to the chart?" Upton rasped. Even Walter stood back at Upton's anger.
No.,,
" No?" he replied. " We'll see. Walter! The islander. You know what to do."
Walter's sea-boot crunched into Sailhardy's face. Pirow stood grinning. Walter raised his boot to kick again. Norris' chart-without me-wasn't worth risking Sailhardy's life. It was obvious that Upton considered Sailhardy expendable.
" Stop!" I shouted. " Stop!"
" Where is it?" demanded Upton.
" Walter," I said softly. " Never let me find you alone, particularly if I have a fiensing knife in my hand. Remember that!
" The big skipper looked uneasy, but Upton seemed beside himself. I thought I still might find out what he knew, that I did not, about Thompson Island.
" I'll take you to where the chart says, providing you tell me what you are looking for on Thompson Island," I said. " We could do a deal." I knew in advance what his share would be from a bargain like that-square miles of open sea. He'd receive the same share, if he trusted to the chart by him87 self, without me. I thought wryly to myself, I was somewhat in the same position as old John Wetherby after Norris' original discovery had started the world talking, except that in my case it was my life and Sailhardy's that were at stake. John Wetherby had faked a chart when the Admiralty had insisted; he had kept back his superior knowledge by virtue of Norris' original. Now in my mind-it was not written down
– was the knowledge which superseded the information of the Norris chart. I could afford to let Upton have the original chart. He had obviously seen the fake at the Admiralty.
" No deal," snapped Upton. " On lesser matters, maybe, but not on this. Think quickly! Walter has an educated boot, and what is one bloody Tristan islander more or less?" I played for time. " Or one Bruce Wetherby more or less?"
Upton gave a brittle laugh. " In principle, yes. In practice, it is harder to get rid of a Royal Society man than an unknown islander."
Walter grinned. " All sorts of accidents happen on factory ships, with all the machinery and knives. Strange things." He glanced at Sailhardy's battered face. " Who would know whether it was a boot or a falling tackle block which smashed in his face?"
" If it's a question of disposing of one body or two…" I began.
" Shut up I" Upton snarled. "Don't talk round it. It's the chart or…" He gestured at the unconscious form on the floor.
" It is in the helicopter cabin," I said. " It's tucked away behind the quilting near the pilot's seat."
" God help you if you're lying," he said. " Walter, get up to the machine-quick! Bring it here!"
Upton and Pirow both drew back to the doorway as Walter left. Pirow kept the Luger trained on me. I felt like a battered bull whale after a deep-sea duel.
" So the whole business of the Blue Whale was a bluff?" I asked slowly.
Upton had regained some of his composure. " Not entirely. Not entirely."
" Then why the hell drag along four catchers-you wanted five-to look for Thompson Island? It's beyond me."
What quality of doom did Thompson hold? John Wetherby had died mouthing the name; Norris and his famous Sprightly 88 had gone to their eventual deaths in the wastes round Thompson after returning, following the first discovery, when and where, no one knew; Joseph Fuller had been drowned at his Stonington lighthouse; Francis Allen had been lost in the ice with the ship bearing his name. Now Thompson was driving to near-mania and murder a whaling tycoon who could apparently reap no benefit from its rediscovery. And why was it so valuable that Upton would allow nothing to stand in the way?
" The Blue Whale story was ideal cover," he explained. " I had to have a string of ships-you remember Nelson's frigates before Trafalgar? The catchers were to serve the same purpose in scouring the waters round Bouvet for Thompson. They were to be my eyes. That was before I knew you had the chart."
" If Nelson had had a helicopter, he would not have needed a string of frigates," I replied.
He grinned. " Touche. But I have read Kohler's weather study of Bouvet. If it's not blowing a bloody gale, it's fog; and if it's not fog, it's total cloud; and if it's not total cloud, it's an impossible sea. An American coastguard cutter flew a helicopter near Bouvet a couple of years ago. They damn near lost it, after only half an hour in the air. I don't have to tell you about Bouvet's weather."
" If you didn't know I had Norris' chart, why bring me into it?"
" Not even I could wheedle out of the Admiralty your secret report on the sinking of the Meteor," he said. " But I know that you sighted land as you went into action. Once
I knew you had the chart, that naturally became redundant.
The two things are the same."
I averted my eyes so as not to give myself away. Let him go on thinking they were the same! He'd never find Thompson Island his way. If he went on regarding Sailhardy and me as expendable, my knowledge might well buy our lives.
The door burst open. Walter and Helen tried to push through at the same time. Walter held the folded chart triumphantly. His right hand was smeared with blood.
Helen gave a gasp as she saw Sailhardy on the floor. She looked in disbelief at Pirow and the gun, and at me. Her face was flushed with anger.
" Daddy, what on earth…?" She indicated Walter, 89 speaking rapidly. " What right has this lout to break into my cabin, and tear down the fittings like a madman? It is my machine, and what I say goes. He grabbed the quilting and tore it to pieces… Bruce, Bruce! He killed Suzie Wong!"
" You bastard, Walter!" I said.
" Who the hell is Suzie Wong?" demanded Upton.
" My good-luck bird-this oaf killed her!" she repeated. " What right has he…"
" I wrung the bloody thing's neck," said Walter: " It is unimportant. It flies at me when I look for the chart." Upton did not seem to hear her. He stood, mesmerised by the parchment Walter held in his hand. " Get out!" he told her roughly. " Get out! One miserable bird does not matter. Nor would a life-for this!" He took the chart from Walter. " Get out!" he said. " If you want to cool off and mourn your bloody bird, go and fly your precious helicopter in circles."
Helen stook back, stunned by his outburst. His megalomania sickened me. She backed to the door. " Yes, that is just what I will do," she said in quiet anger. " I don't know what you all are up to, but remember I have seen this little scene, even if no one else of the crew has."
She shut the door, but I do not think Upton even noticed.
In less than a minute I heard the machine take off. Upton unfolded the chart. Then he stabbed his finger again and again at a little circle from which the wandering line of the Sprightly's track radiated. " Thompson Island! Thompson Island!"
He turned on me. The fury was gone, and the eyes seemed even brighter. He could not control his hands. He pointed at the corner of the parchment, where there was a marginal note. " November-December 1825. The log and track of the Sprightly!" he whispered. "Thompson Island!" Pirow edged round, keeping the automatic trained on me. " There's Bouvet, too. There are Norris' soundings of the Bollevika anchorage."