Hammond Innes - Solomons Seal

He hesitated, then said, ‘In the vicinity of Tin Can Bay, just south of Fraser Island.’ It was at the northern end of Fraser Island that Sandy Cape marked our point of departure for the Coral Sea.

He wouldn’t tell me anything more, sitting there sucking on an empty pipe, the creases in his forehead deepening and his mind far away. He was so tense, so uncommunicative that I was certain this was what had started him drinking that night. I went to my cabin and lay on the bunk, but I couldn’t sleep. There were some dog-eared paperbacks on the shelf above my head, including Conrad’s The Nigger of the Narcissus , but I couldn’t concentrate, which was probably just as well, since it wasn’t the ideal book to read in the circumstances.

I was on watch again at eight, and as Holland was handing over to me, Shelvankar came in. It was dark now, and I was concentrating on locating the stern light of the coaster ahead of us. I heard a muttered curse and turned to find Holland staring down at a message in his hands, his face gone pale and looking as though he couldn’t believe it. He was staring at it so long he could have read it through half a dozen times, and the little Indian standing close beside him as though enthralled by its dramatic potential.

Suddenly Holland turned to me. ‘Didn’t you tell me you’d met my sister?’

I nodded.

‘When was that? How long ago?’

‘About a month.’ And guessing what the message must be, I said, ‘She’s on her way to Sydney, is she?’

He didn’t answer that, staring at me, very tense. ‘How did you come to meet her? Was it about the house?’

‘Yes.’ And when I started to explain, he said, ‘I know all about the sale. But that was to provide for Tim, and she’d taken a job as a stewardess. I didn’t expect her out here for at least another month. Somebody must have given her money.’

He sounded so suspicious that instead of asking him about his brother, I found myself having to explain the value of the stamps. And all the time I was speaking he was staring at me, very pale, and still with that tenseness. ‘So you arranged for two thousand pounds to be put to her credit in a bank at Southampton. And you didn’t tell me.’ His voice was harsh, a little out of control. ‘Why are you here? Did she ask you to contact me?’ And without waiting for a reply, suddenly aware of the little Indian standing close beside him, avidly taking it all in, he said, ‘We can’t talk here. Hand the bridge over to Luke; then come to my cabin.’ And he left abruptly, the flimsy still clutched in his hand.

His cabin was next to the wheelhouse, and as soon as the second officer had taken over, I joined him. He was sitting on his bunk, staring fixedly at nothing. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ he muttered again, almost petulantly. ‘If I’d known she was going to fly out … ’ He looked up at me. ‘That night when you came on board, if I’d known then … you should have told me.’

‘I didn’t think it was the moment,’ I said.

He stared at me, finally nodding his head. ‘No, perhaps not. And you seem to have done the best you could for her. I’m grateful.’ He said it as a matter of form, nothing more. And then he was silent for a long time, lost in his own thoughts. The odd thing was he didn’t seem at all happy at her imminent arrival, his reaction one of alarm rather than pleasure.

‘When did you last see her?’ I asked.

‘What? Oh, let me see, it must be about five years ago now. I went over to England, to discuss things with my father.’ Remembering Mrs Clegg’s description of the father, I thought he probably took after him, and wondered what the mother had been like, the two of them, brother and sister, so completely different. ‘She shouldn’t have come,’ he muttered to himself.

‘What did you expect her to do?’

He shook his head vaguely. ‘It’s no place for her,’ he mumbled, but I knew it wasn’t that. For some reason he was afraid of her. ‘I never thought she’d come, not suddenly like this. She talked about it, of course. She was always writing to me. Once a week, regularly.’

‘She’ll have told you then — about your brother. She says it’s sorcery.’

But he didn’t seem to take that seriously. ‘Ever since Mother was killed … ’ He shook his head, his mind on something else. ‘It’s Hans,’ he murmured. ‘It must be Hans.’ He looked up at me. ‘Hans Holland,’ he said. ‘We have a partnership arrangement. Perenna doesn’t approve.’

‘He’s a relative, is he?’

He nodded. ‘A bit removed, you might say.’

‘Was he in England two or three months ago?’

‘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.