Late in the afternoon the wind died down. They found themselves drifting and they still had not reached the Slätbaken approach. They could see a warship passing by on the horizon, and shortly afterwards another one. He could see through the telescope that they were gunboats, but they were too far away to be identified. They steered to the nearest skerry, beached the dinghy, lit a fire and ate the potatoes and cold fish she had brought with her in a basket. She also had a jug of water.
The summer’s night was light. A few stars twinkled in the sky. Despite everything he felt quite close to the woman he would soon abandon. She was by his side, despite his efforts to build a wall of inaccessibility around himself.
She had lain down, using the basket lid as a pillow.
‘Is it true?’ she asked suddenly. ‘The stars, the winter darkness and the light summer nights — is it true that they will never end? Or will they cease to exist? You must know, because you can measure depths and see distances that nobody else can see.’
‘Nobody can know that,’ he said. ‘You can only believe.’
‘What do you believe?’
‘That you can go mad if you look too far out into space.’
She thought over his reply.
‘My husband,’ she said eventually. ‘He used to dream about that. He would get restless when it started getting dark in the autumn. Strangely scared. He had to go outside at night, I had to go out with him and hold him tight. He could never explain it. He started to stammer as autumn set in. He never stammered at other times, but then, as it grew dark and the eels started to run, he would stare up at the stars and begin to stammer. He could not understand it, he said. It was beyond comprehension. There was a sailor on Haskö who got drunk and claimed that nothing came to an end, not the sky, not the stars, nothing. Everything just kept on going for ever.’
‘Nobody can know that,’ he said again. ‘You are alone with the stars even if you see them together with somebody else.’
‘Can you see your daughter up there? And your wife?’
‘I can see them. But I don’t want to talk about them.’
She said no more. Soon it will all be over, he thought.
The fire died out.
At daybreak they continued towards Slätbaken and the approach to the Göta Canal. They had a following wind, sailed through the sound at Stegeborg and had fresh winds when they came to Slätbaken itself.
Small boats were queuing up at the first set of locks at the entrance to the canal. They headed for the mouth of the river and rowed to the quays in the centre of Söderköping.
Their leave-taking was perfunctory. Her last impression had to be that he was telling the truth, that he really would complete his mission and hand the results over to his superiors in Stockholm. Then he would return to fetch her from Halsskär.
They moored at the quay next to the Brunns Hotel. It was low water. He clambered on to the quay. She stayed in the boat.
‘Go home now,’ he said. ‘Sail carefully. I’ll soon be there.’
He waved to her. She waved back and smiled.
He hoped she believed him. To be on the safe side he did not turn round.
Chapter 144
Two days later Tobiasson-Svartman was back in Stockholm. He went straight home from the station.
Kristina Tacker was surprised but delighted to see him. On the hall table was a message from Skeppsholmen, requesting him to report as soon as possible.
It was drizzling the following morning. As he crossed the bridge to Skeppsholmen he noticed a familiar face. Captain Rake looked thinner, and his face was very pale. Tobiasson-Svartman could see that something was troubling him, perhaps he had some crisis in his life.
‘I’ve seen the new chart for the navigable channel at Sandsänkan,’ Rake said. ‘I hear that we’ll be able to start using it soon.’
‘It won’t save as much time as I’d hoped,’ said Tobiasson-Svartman. ‘A ship progressing at full speed, let’s say twenty knots, will save fifty minutes. I’d hoped for something better than that. But the seabed didn’t behave itself as I would have liked.’
‘So the seabed is a bit like people.’
‘There’ll be less of a risk of being hit by torpedoes and mines, of course. And the new channel ought to be able to cope with the considerable increase in draught that we can expect new naval vessels to have.’
Tobiasson-Svartman shook hands and made to continue on his way to Naval Headquarters. But Rake held on to his hand.
‘I never cease to be surprised about how my memory works,’ Rake said. ‘I’ve seen an endless procession of bosuns and officers passing through my life, but even so, the most graphic memory is that of Bosun Rudin.’
‘The man who died while he was being operated on for his appendix?’
‘An insignificant spider in the massive web. But for some reason I can’t shake him off. I wonder why.’
Rake let go of his hand and saluted.
‘I talk too much,’ he said. ‘But at least I don’t ask what you are doing now, because I take it for granted that whatever you’re up to, it’s secret.’
Tobiasson-Svartman watched Rake walking over the bridge. He was hunched, his long overcoat flapping around his legs.
Chapter 145
He was ushered in without delay.
To his surprise there were only two people waiting for him. One was Vice Admiral H: son-Lydenfeldt, the other a civil servant with a pale complexion and big bags under his eyes.
As he sat down in the chair provided for him, he felt a nagging pain in his stomach.
The vice admiral eyed him up and down.
‘Are you aware of why you are here, Commander Svartman?’
‘No, but I do know that I must ask for an extension of my unpaid leave.’
‘Why?’
‘I’m not restored to health.’
The vice admiral pointed impatiently at a file in front of him on the desk.
‘Restored from what? The only reason you have given is exhaustion. Who the hell isn’t exhausted? We’re all exhausted. The world is exhausted. Our highly esteemed Naval Minister Boström sometimes nods off during our meetings. Not because he’s bored, but because he’s exhausted, he claims.’
Tobiasson-Svartman was about to justify his claim to be exhausted but the vice admiral held up his hand.
‘You have been summoned here for a different reason. It has been reported that while you have been on leave you have undertaken journeys, and you have been seen in the Östergötland archipelago. We’ve received reports from people wondering if you are a spy working for Germany or Russia. And there are other relevant circumstances. Not least the fact that you claimed to have found errors in the charts you have produced yourself. It has become clear that you were lying. We haven’t been able to throw full light on that one yet, but it is obvious that you have been making strange and clearly unjustified assertions and acting in highly questionable ways. What do you have to say to that?’
Tobiasson-Svartman was struck dumb. He had no idea how to answer. He felt himself blushing. The vice admiral had more to say:
‘I don’t think you are so damned stupid as to be a spy. But you have betrayed our confidence in you and caused a lot of trouble. You have proved to be unreliable. As nothing harmful has ensued, and as you are basically a competent hydrographic engineer, one of the best we have ever had, all we ask is that you resign your commission. If you refuse, we shall dismiss you and the reasons will be dishonourable. If you resign voluntarily, we shall give you the best possible reference that the circumstances allow. Is that clear?’