The girl looked worried. ‘Do you think they’ll use violence?’
Keeton opened his shirt and pointed at the scars. ‘There’s your answer. To get this gold they’ll do anything. But I’ll see them in hell before they take it. Are you with me, Ben?’
‘I’m with you, Skipper. I’ve got a stake in this too, remember.’
‘Got your Luger handy?’
‘I’ll get it.’
Dring went into the cabin. Keeton looked at the girl. ‘Are you scared?’
‘Yes‚’ she said.
‘There’s no need to be.’ He pressed her hand. ‘We can deal with Mr Rains and company. I know them and they’re all yellow when it comes to the push.’
‘Perhaps I am too.’
‘Not you‚’ he said.
Dring came back with his automatic and Keeton’s revolver. ‘I thought you might want your gun too, Skipper.’
‘Thanks‚’ Keeton said. He saw that Dring had loaded the Colt. He slipped it into his belt.
The launch had grown bigger. They could see the bow wave curling outward on each side of the sharp stem as it sliced through the water. The glass of the cabin top flashed when the sun caught it like the signal of a heliograph.
‘They know where they’re going‚’ Dring said.
The yawl heaved lazily and the two men and the girl reacted automatically to this movement as they watched the approaching launch. Keeton lifted his binoculars again and the launch expanded in his vision. He could see the white paint, the varnished woodwork and the polished brass. He could see a man.
‘It’s Rains sure enough.’
The launch was bigger than the yawl, and as it came nearer they caught the thunder of its engine; it was a powerful sound.
‘Plenty of reserve there‚’ Dring said. ‘You were right, Skipper. No use running.’
The launch came on without slackening speed, heading straight for the yawl. It looked almost as though the men in it were intent on slicing the smaller craft in two.
‘What are they up to?’ Dring sounded uneasy. ‘Do they mean to sink us?’
Keeton shook his head. ‘Not likely. Not before they’ve found out what we have on board.’
As if to confirm his words the engine of the launch suddenly quietened and she turned broadside on to the yawl. Three men were visible across the fifty yards that lay between the two vessels.
‘Doesn’t look as if they recruited any help‚’ Keeton said. ‘It’s natural. They wouldn’t want to split the take any further.’
He heard Rains’s voice. ‘Ahoy there! Roomer ahoy! Enjoying your fishing, Keeton?’
Keeton said nothing. He waited for Rains to go on. Rains did not waste time.
‘Got any gold on board?’
Keeton shouted: ‘Get away from here, Rains. I’m warning you. Don’t make trouble or you may get more than you bargained for.’
He heard Rains’s laugh and Smith’s high-pitched cackle like an echo. They seemed to be amused. Only Ferguson did not laugh.
Keeton saw Rains go to the controls. With propeller and rudder he manoeuvred the launch alongside the yawl. They bumped sides gently with coir fenders squeaking, and Smith quickly looped a rope over the rail of the yawl.
Rains looked down from the superior height of the deck of the launch. ‘Well, Mr Keeton; do we come aboard?’
‘You stay where you are‚’ Keeton said. ‘I’ve had you bastards on board my ship once too often already.’
Rains pretended to be shocked. ‘Such language in front of Miss Dring.’ He stared at the girl and licked his blubbery lips. ‘Such lack of hospitality too, after we’ve come all this way to see you.’
‘You’ve seen me. Now you can go all the way back again. You’re not wanted here.’
Smith gave a sudden tug at Rains’s sleeve. ‘Look there! Can you see it?’
Rains’s gaze moved away from the girl and followed the direction of Smith’s pointing finger.
‘Well, well, well!’ he said. ‘Now if that isn’t a ship’s masthead, then I’m a Dutchman. And maybe down below is a ship called the Valparaiso. What do you say, Mr Keeton — Mr Lost-Memory Keeton?’
‘You’re doing the talking‚’ Keeton said.
‘But I’d like you to do some too.’ He ran an appraising eye over the yawl. ‘You’re pretty low in the water; lower than last time I saw you. You wouldn’t by any chance be carrying cargo, would you?’
‘That’s your guess.’
‘I’m going to do more than guess‚’ Rains said. ‘I’m coming on board to take a look.’
‘You’re staying right where you are. Keep your lousy feet off my ship.’
Rains laughed contemptuously. ‘Are you being tough, Keeton? It isn’t wise. We can be a lot tougher. You’ve given us enough trouble, boy; don’t give us any more. You might get hurt, and the young lady might get hurt. Like I said, I’m coming aboard.’
He made a move as if to step across from the launch to the yawl. Then he stopped. He found himself looking down the barrel of a .45 Colt revolver.
‘Do you get the meaning?’ Keeton said. ‘Or do I have to spell it out?’
Rains stared at the revolver; then his gaze lifted and he looked into Keeton’s eyes. What he saw there gave him no encouragement to put matters to the test.
‘So you mean to play it rough, boy? You really mean to.’
‘It’s the only way you understand‚’ Keeton said. He spoke suddenly to Ferguson, and the journalist gave a start as if the words had touched a nerve. His eyelid flickered up and down uncontrollably. ‘Mr Ferguson‚’ Keeton said, ‘I don’t know how you got yourself mixed up with these characters, but believe me, you’d have done better to stay clear of them. This is poison, Mr Ferguson, sheer poison.’
‘Don’t listen to him‚’ Smith said. ‘He’s a fine one to talk. You stick with the boys, Ferg, and you’ll be all right.’
Ferguson licked his dry, thin lips. ‘You don’t scare me, Keeton. I know what I’m doing.’
‘I hope you do‚’ Keeton said; and then to Smith: ‘Cast off, steward. We’ve had our talk.’
Smith looked at Rains for guidance. Rains said savagely: ‘Do what the man says. Cast off.’
Smith gave a shrug and let slip the rope holding the two vessels together. He gave a push with his foot and a gap opened between them. Rains went back to the controls; the propeller of the launch churned water and the gap widened.
‘Now what do they do?’ Dring said.
‘Who knows? One thing is certain: they won’t go far.’
He was right on that point. About two hundred yards from the yawl the launch came to a stop and they saw the anchor splash into the water.
‘Now they’ll keep watch on us‚’ Dring said.
‘As soon as it’s dark we’ll get away. They’ll lose us then.’
‘I don’t think that’s quite their idea.’
‘No‚’ Keeton said. ‘But it’s mine.’
Chapter Ten
Clash
Soon after midnight they hauled up the anchor and eased the yawl away from the reef. There was a light breeze to help them, and the sails rustled softly. There was no moon and they showed no lights. The ghostly shape of the reef was dimly visible in the starlight, and away to port, a deeper shadow in the engulfing shadow of the night, was the launch, her riding lights glittering.
‘They may spot our sails‚’ Dring said, keeping his voice low.
‘It’s possible — if they’re keeping a sharp look-out‚’ Keeton answered. ‘But I doubt it. Rains was always a slack officer. If we can once put a mile or so between us and them we should be pretty safe.’