Philip Pullman: Once Upong a time in the North

The young officer stepped past Lee and faced the line of riflemen without a tremor.

'You will all leave the harbour now, and go about your lawful business,' he said, loudly enough for everyone to hear. 'If there is one person left on this quayside by the time the Customs House clock strikes twelve, they will be arrested. All of you move.'

The Larsen Manganese men looked uncertain. But Poliakov, still taking care to remain behind

them, shouted:

'I protest! This is an outrage! I am the leader of a properly constituted political party, and this is a blatant attempt to deny my freedom of speech! You should be enforcing the law, not flouting it! That criminal Scoresby

'Mr Scoresby is under arrest, and so will you be if you do not turn round and leave the harbour. You have two minutes.'

Lieutenant Haugland's fox-daemon said something quietly to Hester. Poliakov drew himself up to his full height, and gave in.

'Very well,' he said. 'Under strong protest, and cheated of the justice we have a right to expect and a duty to demand, we shall do as you say. But I give you notice that -'

'Less than two minutes,' said Haugland.

Poliakov turned, and the crowd behind parted to let him through, and sullenly followed him away. The Larsen Manganese riflemen were the last to turn, but the implacable stillness of the Customs officer outfaced them, and finally their leader muttered an order, and they turned and walked back down the quay - walked, until he snapped another order and they clumsily organised themselves into a march.

'Mr Scoresby, your rifle, if you please,' said the young man.

'I would rather give it back to Captain van Breda,' Lee said, 'seeing that it belongs to him.'

He heard hasty footsteps behind him, and turned carefully again to see the Captain hurrying towards them. He had evidently heard the last exchange, because he said:

'Mr Scoresby, I must thank you - I have nothing to pay you with except the rifle itself - please take it, please. It is yours.'

'Very handsome, Captain,' said Lee. 'I'll accept it with thanks.'

'And now put it down,' said Haugland.

Lee bent to lay it on the ground.

'And your pistol.'

'It doesn't work,' said Lee.

'Yes it does. Put it down.'

Lee did so, and then straightened up, feeling dizzy. For a moment the sounds of the harbour receded: the cry of the gulls, the raised voices from the coal tanker and the crane driver across the water, the splash of the dredger, the striking of the Customs House clock; and then it seemed as if a dark cloud had sprung up out of nowhere and enveloped the sun, because the colour drained from the world and everything dimmed.

It only lasted a moment, and then he found another officer's hand steadying his arm, and came to his full senses again.

'Follow me, please,' said the officer, and set off briskly towards the end of the quay. As Lee passed the schooner he could see the crew unseating the heel of the derrick, and a man casting off a rope, and Captain van Breda hurrying up the gangplank and shouting an order.

'Where are we going?' said Lee. 'I thought your Customs House was back there.'

'It is,' said the Lieutenant, and left it at that; but as they passed the last warehouse Lee saw a launch tied up at a flight of steps, in the Customs and Revenue colours of navy and white. The engine was chugging quietly, and a rating held the painter tight through a ring in the wall to keep the boat steady as the first officer stepped on board.

Lee crouched to pick up Hester, who whispered, 'It's all right, Lee. Everything's fine.'

Deeply puzzled, he stepped on to the launch, and sat down in the little cabin as the other two officers followed.

The sailor cast off, and one of the officers took the wheel and opened the throttle. Lee looked back at the schooner, whose bow was already swinging out away from the quay.

The young officer had laid Lee's pistol and the Winchester on the bench opposite where Lee was sitting, and Lee could easily have reached either of them. He sat still and quiet, holding Hester close, until the launch had passed the dredger and rounded the lighthouse, and was pitching briskly in the waves of the open sea.

'All right, I give up,' he said. 'What the hell is going on?'

'Mr Scoresby, please take your pistol,' said Haugland. 'And I believe the rifle is also yours.'

'Well, now I'm dreaming,' said Lee. He took

the revolver and spun the cylinder, which ran smoothly and surely. 'Where are we going, and why?'

'We are going round the headland to the Barents Sea Company Depot, where you will find your balloon inflated and ready to leave. Here, by the way, is your luggage from the boarding house.'

He took Lee's kitbag from a locker. Too numb to be surprised any longer, Lee nodded and took it silently.

The officer at the wheel changed course, and the boat pitched and rolled in the lively sea. Lee watched the rocky shoreline, and saw a seal surface, and then another and another.

'They are fleeing from the bear,' said Haugland.

'Where's he?'

'On his way to the depot. He is not interested in seals for now. He has something to give you.'

'Well, this is a damn surprising morning,' said Lee.

'The fact is this, Mr Scoresby: there is a struggle going on throughout the northern lands, of which this little island is a microcosm. On one hand there are the properly constituted civil institutions such as the Customs and Revenue Board, and on the other the uncontrolled power of the large private companies

such as Larsen Manganese, which are dominating more and more of public life, though they are not subject to any form of democratic sanction. If Mr Poliakov wins this election, he will make life easier for Larsen Manganese and its fellows, and worse for the people of Novy Odense.'

'I thought he was campaigning against the bears,' said Lee. T thought that was his whole platform.'

That is what he wants simple people to think.'

'Oh,' said Lee. 'Simple people, eh. Well, he certainly worked that trick.'

'Until now he has been very careful to remain just within the law, but trying to deprive Captain van Breda of that cargo was a step too far. Whoever hired those gunmen was also, of course, committing a crime, but I have no doubt that we shall find it impossible to prove any connection with Poliakov. I am also sure that his lawyers will manage to confuse the court and secure an acquittal in the matter of the cargo. In short, Mr Scoresby, we are grateful to you for dealing with an unpleasant problem. Your action was all the more honourable in that you had no personal interest in the matter.'

'Oh, I don't think much about honour,' Lee said uncomfortably.

'Well, we are grateful, as I say. You will find your balloon fully provisioned, and there is a good east wind.'

Lee looked ahead through the spray-splashed cabin window. They were rapidly approaching the mole sheltering the depot, and Lee could see his balloon, as the young man had promised, already inflated and swaying in the wind. It was a case of thank you very much and don't come back, he thought.

As the launch passed the mole and slowed down in the calmer water inside it, Lee felt gingerly inside his coat for the damage to his shoulder. It hurt like hell, but as far as he could tell it hadn't done any structural damage. As for his ear, he felt that too; there was a bite- shaped gap at the top big enough to fit a finger in, and it was still bleeding.

'Before you put me in my balloon and cut the tether and wave goodbye,' he said, 'is there somewhere I can fix myself up? I take it you have no objection if I patch up the holes I seem to have acquired?'