‘Yes. I think he’s still somewhere in Europe. He’s got big ideas, you see, and he’s looking for an ore carrier now.’
‘And he’s got red hair, has he?’
‘Yes, why?’
‘I think he visited them in Aldeburgh.’ It seemed to worry him, and I said, ‘Are you afraid your sister will ask awkward questions, about the partnership, I mean? You’re still a separate company, aren’t you?’
‘Yes.’ I had his attention now, his eyes on me, his fingers drumming nervously. ‘And the ship’s still mine.’ He sounded defensive. ‘I’ve had to borrow, of course, but we’re still solvent. It’s been a company since 1947, when my grandfather started it going after the war. He was running all sorts of craft then. Even when I took over, we still had some schooners. But it wasn’t until Hans began to undercut us that things became difficult. He started from scratch with two of those ugly little ramp-propelled lighters. RPLs. I had to make a deal with him then, and for that we needed something better than beat-up old coasters and the schooners.’
‘So you bought this vessel and named her after your sister?’
‘Yes.’
‘So why don’t you want her out here?’
I thought for a moment he wasn’t going to answer, but then he said, ‘Perenna and I … ’ He gave a little shrug. ‘The point is, whether it’s a house or a ship or a business, she wants to run it herself. The last I heard from her, she was at Southampton. That was before I left Buka. Now there’ll be letters waiting for me at Chinaman’s Quay.’ He smiled wearily. ‘If I’d been at Madehas instead of in Sydney, I’d have known all about you and those damned stamps.’ He sighed. ‘What the hell do I say to her? This’ — he tapped the message — ‘is an inflight from a Qantas aircraft en route from Singapore to Perth. She knows I’ve been in Sydney for engine overhaul, and she expects me to meet her at the airport. You think she’ll have enough cash with her to fly on to Bougainville?’
‘Why not tell her to meet you at that beach you’re putting into?’
‘No.’ He said it quite violently. ‘No, she can’t come on the ship.’
‘Why ever not?’
He stared at me, a puzzled frown and his eyes worried. ‘There’s no place for her, no proper accommodation. I can’t have a woman on board. Not Perenna. She’d — she’d be difficult.’ He had got to his feet. ‘I’ll tell her to contact the agents. That’s the best thing. They can arrange hotel accommodation and fix it for her to fly on to Kieta. Better still, she could stop off at Perth and stay with her aunt for a while. Yes, that would be best.’ And he nodded, smiling nervously as he pushed past me, pleased at having worked out a solution.
I went back to the bridge and took over from Luke again. The coaster was still there ahead of us, and nothing to do but follow her. The chart showed Kieta as the main port of Bougainville. I tried some star fixes then. The night was very clear, ideal for sextant practice, but after I had twice made a nonsense of my calculations, I gave it up. I just couldn’t concentrate, my mind on Perenna Holland instead of star charts and correction tables. I slid the starboard bridge wing door open and stood thinking about it in the cool night air. Well, I had done my best. I had tried to explain, and if he didn’t share his sister’s belief about sorcery, it was none of my business. But it still didn’t make sense expecting her to fly on to Kieta when she could so easily join ship at this beach we were putting in to. And she certainly wouldn’t stop with an aunt in Perth, not when she had come so far, working her passage until I’d got her the money to fly the last part.
I found myself gazing for’ard over the backs of the empty Haulpaks to the gap left for the two trucks we were going to load from a deserted beach in the small hours of tomorrow night. No Customs, the Indian had said. I wondered what those trucks would be filled with — drink, cigarettes, or was it something more serious? Drugs? Was that what he was afraid of, that she’d find out he was smuggling drugs?
There was a light on in the signals office, and suddenly my mind was made up. I went back to the chart table, wrote out my message and then took it to Shelvankar. He was alone, sitting at a portable typewriter, a cigarette burning in an old tobacco tin, the air thick with smoke. The place was littered with cardboard boxes, and as he glanced up at me, dark eyes magnified by the thick lenses of his glasses, he looked more like a storekeeper than a radio officer. I handed him the message I had written. ‘I want that sent right away.’ He read it, taking his time. Finally he put it down.
‘You know Miss Holland?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’
He shook his head uncertainly. ‘I will have to ask the Captain.’ He was getting to his feet, but I pushed him back into his chair. ‘Just send it,’ I told him.
‘But Mr Slingsby, I cannot do that. It is very difficult, you see. Captain Holland has already sent quite different instructions to his sister. She is to fly to Kieta.’
‘At his expense?’
‘No, he don’t say anything about who pays for the ticket. He just tells her he can’t meet her and if she doesn’t stay with her aunt at Perth she must fly on to Kieta.’
‘So, after coming all across the Pacific to see him, she’s fobbed off with an aunt or else she has to fly up to Townsville, get the Air Niugini flight to Port Moresby, then switch to another flight to Bougainville.’
‘Is none of my business, Mr Slingsby. If you do not agree, then you talk with Captain, please.’
‘I’ve already talked to him. He’s worried about that beach cargo.’ I hesitated, sure that this little man knew what it was, but not certain I could wring it out of him. ‘You keep the ship’s accounts, don’t you?’ I saw a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes. ‘Well, don’t you?’
‘Yes. But I don’t see-’
‘Then tell me this. Just how much are you in the red? You’ve been losing money-’
‘The Hollands, they run very good shipping line. Is very important for the islands.’
‘I’m not talking about the Hollands. I’m talking about this ship. It’s been losing money, hasn’t it?’
He was silent for a moment. Then he said, ‘There is a recession, you know. All over the world. In the Solomons and Papua New Guinea, too. Everyone is affected by it. But we were all right until we have to go to Sydney for engine repairs. This is very old ship now.’
‘And Holland’s in debt — to his partner?’
He didn’t have an answer to that, and because I had already come to the conclusion that Jona Holland was no businessman and relied entirely on this man for cargo arrangements and all the accounts, I said, ‘You know everything that goes on in this ship, Mr Shelvankar, so I’m sure you have discovered what my normal business is. I deal in land and big estates, which means I know all about figures and can read your books the way an accountant can. Do you want me to get Captain Holland to let me check through them?’
There was a shocked look in his eyes as he said quickly, ‘I assure you, Mr Slingsby, there is no need for that. Everything is accounted for very meticulously. I am a most meticulous person.’
I knew I had him then. In total control of the business side, he didn’t have it in his nature not to fiddle something. ‘You send that message. Quote the flight number and ask for it to be delivered to Miss Holland on board the aircraft.’
For a moment he sat there staring up at me. Then he nodded. ‘Okay, I send it. But on your responsibility, you understand. I am not responsible.’
‘Just send it.’
Chapter Four
The last night watch is always a lonely one, but at 04.00 that morning I felt lonelier than usual. Tiredness may have had something to do with it. I had been on the bridge until past midnight and had had very little sleep. But that wasn’t the real reason. It was the strangeness of the ship, the crew all islanders who didn’t speak my language, and a coast I had never seen before. As I stood there on the bridge, the night dark and overcast, a black helmsman at the wheel and only the lights of that coaster ahead for company, the sense of isolation was very strong.