Philip Pullman: Once Upong a time in the North

The obstruction inside the door had been cleared, and the crowd was moving up the steps, marshalled by the Larsen Manganese security men. Miss Poliakova stumbled, and Lee offered his arm, which she took readily. Meanwhile Sigurdsson was pressing close at his other side, saying something that Lee couldn't quite hear and wasn't interested in, because the closer he got to Miss Poliakova, the more he was aware of the delicate floral scent she was wearing, or perhaps it was the fragrance of her hair, or perhaps it was just the sweet fact of her young body pressed against his side; anyway, Lee was intoxicated.

'What did you say?' he said to Sigurdsson, reluctantly.

The poet had been plucking at his other arm, and was eagerly gesturing for Lee to bend his head as if to receive a confidence.

'I said you might be able to make yourself useful to ()lga's father,' Sigurdsson murmured as they entered l he main hall. The place was set out with wooden ( hairs, and the platform was decorated with bunting and banners bearing the slogan POLIAKOV FOR PROGRESS AND JUSTICE.

'You don't say,' said Lee.

'I'll introduce you after the meeting.'

'Well... thanks.'

Lee's attitude to fathers was that he preferred to keep them at a distance. Fathers did not want their daughters doing what Lee had in mind. But before he could think of an excuse, he found himself in the front row, where all the seats were reserved.

'Oh, I can't sit here,' he protested. 'These seats are for important guests

'But you are an important guest!' said the poet roguishly, and the girl said, 'Oh, do stay, Mr Scoresby!'

'Damn fool,' muttered Hester, but only Lee heard her, as she intended.

They had hardly sat down when a stout official came out on to the stage and announced that they were closing the doors because the great desire of the people to hear the candidate speak meant that the hall was already full beyond its legal capacity, and they couldn't let anyone else in. Lee looked around and saw people standing three deep at the back and around the sides of the auditorium.

'He's a popular man, your father, no doubt about that,' he said to Miss Poliakova. 'What's his main policy?

What's he going to do when he gets into office?'

'Bears,' she said with a delicate shudder, and made a face expressive of polite horror.

'Oh, bears, eh,' said Lee. 'He doesn't like bears?'

'I'm scared of bears,' she said.

'Well, that's understandable. They're - uh - they're pretty big, after all. I ain't never dealt with your special Arctic bears, but I was chased by a grizzly once over in the Yukon.'

'Oh, how frightful! Did he catch you?'

And once again Lee felt as if he'd missed the bottom step in the dark: could she really be this stupid? Was she doing it on purpose?

'Well, he did,' he said, 'but it turned out the old feller only wanted to borrow a griddle to cook up a salmon he'd caught. I was agreeable to that, and we sat around yarning over supper. He drank my whisky and smoked my cigars, and we promised to keep in touch. But I lost his address.'

'Oh, that's a pity,' she said. 'But, you know...'

Lee scratched his head, but he didn't have to think of anything else to say because at that point a group of three men came on to the stage and the whole audience stood to applaud and cheer. Lee had to stand as well, or seem conspicuously rude, and he looked around for his boarding-house acquaintance, but among all the faces bright with fervour, the eyes ablaze with enthusiasm, he couldn't spot him anywhere.

As they sat down again Sigurdsson said, 'Wonderful response! Promises very well, wouldn't you say?'

'Never seen anything like it,' said Lee. He settled back to listen to the speeches.

And very shortly afterwards, it seemed, he was woken up by a roar from the crowd. Cheers, clapping, shouts of acclamation echoed around the big wooden hall as I ,ee sat blinking and clapping with the rest.

On the platform stood Poliakov, black-coated, heavy- bearded, red-cheeked, with one fist on the-lectern and (lie other clenched at his heart. His eyes glared out across the hall, and his daemon, a kind of hawk that I.ее didn't recognise, sat on the lectern and raised her wings till they were outspread.

Lee murmured to Hester, tucked into his coat,

'How long have I been asleep?'

'Ain't been counting.'

'Well, damnit, what's this diplomat been saying?'

'Ain't been listening.'

He stole a glance at Olga, and saw her settled, placid, adoring gaze rest on her father's face without any change of expression, even when the candidate suddenly banged the lectern with his fist and startled his own daemon into taking to the air and wheeling around his head before settling on his shoulder - a fine effect, Lee thought, but Hester muttered, 'How long'd they spend practising that in front of a mirror?'

'Friends,' Poliakov cried. 'Friends and citizens, friends and human beings, I don't need to warn

you about this insidious invasion. I don't need to warn you, because every drop of human blood in your human veins already warns you instinctively that there can be no friendship between humans and bears. And you know precisely what I mean by that, and you know why I have to speak in these terms. There can be no friendship, there should be no friendship, and under my administration I promise you with my hand on my heart there will be no friendship with these inhuman and intolerable...'

The rest of the sentence was lost, as he intended it should be, in the clamour, the shouts and the whistles and the stamping that broke over it like a great wave.

The poet was on his feet, waving his hands above his head with excitement, and shouting, 'Yes! Yes! Yes!'

On Lee's other side, the candidate's daughter was clapping her hands like a little girl, stiff fingers all pointing in the same direction as she brought her palms together.

It seemed that the end of the speech had arrived, because Poliakov and his men were leaving the platform, and others were beginning to make their way along the rows of chairs, soliciting donations.

'Don't give that bastard a cent,' said Hester.

'Ain't got a cent to give,' muttered Lee.

'Wasn't that magnificent?' said Sigurdsson.

'Finest piece of oratorical flamboyancy I ever heard,' said Lee. 'A lot of it went over my head, on account of I don't know the local situation, but he knows how to preach, and that's a fact.'

'Come with me, and I shall introduce you. Mr Poliakov will be delighted to make your acquaintance -'

'Oh, no, no,' said Lee hastily. 'It wouldn't be right to waste the man's time when I ain't got a vote to give him.'

'Not at all! In fact I know he will be most gratified to meet you,' said Sigurdsson, lowering his voice confidentially and seizing Lee's elbow in a tight grip. 'There is a job he has in mind,' he murmured.

At the same moment, Olga clutched Lee's other sleeve.

'Mr Scoresby, do come and meet Papa!' she said, and her eyes were so wide and so candid, and her lips were so soft, and what with those eyes and those lips, and the delicate curls of hair, and that sweet heart- shaped face, Lee very nearly lost his presence of mind altogether and kissed her right there. What did it matter if she had the brain of a grape? It wasn't her brain Lee wanted to hold in his arms. Her body had its own kind of intelligence, just as his did, and their bodies had a great deal to say to each other. His head swam; he was fully persuaded.

'Lead me to him,' he said.

In the parlour behind the platform, Poliakov was standing at the centre of a group of men with glasses in their hands and cigars alight, and the little wood- panelled room was filled with laughter and the loud bray of congratulations.