Laura Restrepo - Isle of Passion

He called her Alta or Altita, and she called him Towhead, German, or gringo. He worked hard to teach her how to play chess, she wanted him to learn Spanish.

“Caballa,” he said, holding the horse chess piece.

“ Caballa to you. It is called caballo .”

“ Caballa to you, too. That’s not the way you move that piece.”

“And how is it that, before, no one could understand you, and now, suddenly, you talk like a person?”

“Because now I want to, and before I didn’t.”

That was true. For the first time in his long stay in America, Gustav Schultz felt the desire and the need to communicate with someone.

“And how come you were crazy before and now you’re not?”

“I was not crazy before and I’m not crazy now.”

His aggressive behavior had disappeared. However, he still had the chain on his neck, and when someone approached him other than Altagracia, he roared and smashed dishes on the floor.

“I’m going to ask for this animal chain to be taken off,” she said.

“Don’t ask for anything. If they take off the chain and declare me sane, they will never let you come back to me anymore.”

“I am going to tell everybody that you can speak Spanish.”

“No, don’t say a word. I don’t want to talk to them.”

Their passion started slowly, softly. They felt it coming once she took off the shawl that always covered her head, and her hair, liberated, dropped down to her ankles. It was a yard and a half of natural silk, a black-as-night cascade, a shining animal with a life of its own. Schultz could not believe what he saw. He finally dared to touch it, as if putting his hands into a treasure chest full of precious stones.

“This is pirate Clipperton’s treasure. Everybody tried so hard, but I am the one who found it.”

“It’s just black hair, like everybody else’s. Your hair is nicer, because it’s blond.”

“You don’t know what treasure you have on your head, my child.”

“I bet you don’t know how to braid it.”

“I bet I do.”

He helped her lose her virginity with tenderness and without any pressure. From then on, he devoted himself to teaching her how to make love with the same patience and wisdom with which he was teaching her to play chess.

Three months had elapsed since the hurricane, and the ship from the Mexican Navy was already two months late. Captain Jens Jensen, who had felt hopeful about the guarantees of government help Arnaud had offered him, came to the conclusion that it was absurd and suicidal to keep waiting. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became, and he knew that he should have realized this since the day following his forced arrival at Clipperton.

He asked Arnaud’s permission to repair a rowboat.

It was a ten-foot boat, big enough for four men. He supplied it with four oars and improvised a mast and a sail. When it was ready, he informed Arnaud of his decision to send part of his crew — his best four seamen — to the Mexican coast to ask for help.

“You are sending them to their deaths,” Arnaud told him.

“Perhaps not,” answered Jensen.

“They are going to be smashed against the reefs. They’ll get lost at sea. The dark nights will turn into nightmares. They’ll run out of food and water. And the sharks will attack them.”

“You are an army man, Captain Arnaud, and you mistrust the sea. I am a mariner and I can’t stay locked on land, doing nothing, abusing your hospitality, and risking the lives of your people and mine.”

“Better wait a little longer. The supply boat should come within two weeks, God willing.”

“You said it: God willing. With all respect for your beliefs, I prefer to place my trust in my own men.”

“Well, then, you have my blessings. May God protect your men.”

The following day, June 4, Second Lieutenant Hansen and three crewmen, Oliver, Henrikson, and Miller, sailed toward Mexico in the small sailboat, with some navigational instruments Arnaud had provided, and food and water for twelve days.

The entire Clipperton population — except Gustav Schultz and Altagracia Quiroz, who were in a world of their own — stood at the dock to watch them leave.

1. On 21 June, at about 1500, while the Cleveland was anchored at Acapulco, a small boat approached. It was commanded by L. Hansen, second lieutenant from the U.S. schooner Nokomis , with a crew of two. Having left Clipperton Island 17 days earlier, they arrived in very poor physical condition and reported having lost a man en route. The lieutenant also reported that the Nokomis had sailed from San Francisco under Captain Jens Jensen and was shipwrecked at Clipperton before dawn on 28 February 1914, with the following crew: Captain Jens Jensen, his wife, and two children; First Lieutenant C. Halvorsen, Second Lieutenant L. Hansen; and J. Oliver, H. Henrikson, J. Halvorsen, and W. Miller, seamen; H. Brown, shipboy; and H. Knowles, cook. Hansen stated that when he left the island, those who remained had supplies for only 17 days.

2. In view of this report, I considered they were in urgent need of help, so I left for Clipperton at 0930 the following morning. I had notified the British vice consul and the London agents of the Pacific Phosphate Company Ltd., who were sending 200 bales of foodstuffs to their Clipperton representative and to the Mexican troops posted there, consisting of two officers, eleven men, and their families. The Cleveland arrived at the island on the 25th at 1100.

3. That afternoon the above-mentioned individuals came aboard, together with the Pacific Phosphate Company Ltd. representative, Mr. G. Schultz, his wife, and daughter. Mr. Schultz, a German citizen who had stayed on the island for several years representing that company, was in a personal situation. His relationship with the officer in charge of the post on the island had reached such antagonism that the commanding officer reported that Mr. Schultz, in his opinion, had lost his mind. From his side, Mr. Schultz reported on the Clipperton shipwreck of Captain Jens Jensen’s ship at dawn on 28 February 1914, and Schultz also said that his relationship with the Mexican officer in charge had soured. In consequence, I considered it prudent to take Mr. Schultz and his family to Acapulco.

4. At 1520 I greeted a Mexican boat commanded by the port captain, Ramón Arnaud Vignon, who signed the receipt for the 200 bales of foodstuffs. The port captain departed the Cleveland at 1555.

(Signed)

Captain W. Williams

ON JUNE 25 Ramón Arnaud was having some fish with his wife and children when he saw a ship looming on the horizon. His reaction was that of a person watching a loved one return, because he thought the ship belonged to the Mexican Navy. They had finally come to take care of him! Where was Captain Jensen? Ramón already knew what to tell him. He would say, “Don’t you see it was better to wait? I knew my superiors would not fail me.”

Alicia saw her husband instantly shift from joy to dejection: his face turned paper white as he realized his mistake. The approaching vessel was flying the American flag. It was the U.S.S. Cleveland coming to the rescue of the crew of the Nokomis .

In spite of the many requests to his superiors that Arnaud had sent through the four Dutchmen, the ship had not come for him but for Jensen’s people. Jensen had been right to mistrust his words and to act on his own, Ramón Arnaud thought bitterly.