Amitav Ghosh - Flood of Fire

What were they talking about, looking at each other so intimately?

Zachary had to know; the curiosity that had taken possession of him was too powerful to be resisted. Before he was aware of it, his feet were moving, carrying him down the companion-ladder to the maindeck. Plunging into the throng of guests, he began to work his way towards the couple. But he was only a few paces away when he thought the better of it: if Mrs Burnham spotted him she might well guess what he was up to.

He came to a halt, thinking about what to do next, and just then his eyes fell on the white uniform of a fifer: a moment later he realized that it was Raju — the boy was wandering about as though he had lost his way.

‘Hey there, kid-mutt!’

‘Hello, sir,’ said Raju in a small, scared voice.

‘How are things with you?’

‘All right, sir.’

‘Do you like being a fifer?’

‘Yes, sir. I like it. Most of the time.’

‘But not now? Is that why you’re wandering around like a lost puppy?’

‘Sir, the drummers told me to find them some grog. They said the youngest fifer always has to do it. But I don’t know where to find a bottle of grog, sir, and I’m afraid they’re going to be angry with me.’

Dropping to his heels, Zachary squatted close to Raju’s ear. ‘Listen, kid-mutt — I’ll find you a bottle of grog, I promise. But you’ll have to win it from me fair and square.’

‘How, sir?’

‘By playing a game.’

‘What game, sir?’

Zachary inclined his head towards Captain Mee and Mrs Burnham. ‘Do you see those two over there?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘All right, so the game’s this — you have to sneak up behind them and listen to what they’re saying. But they can’t know that you’re there. It’s a secret game, right? Only you and I are playing.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘You think you can do it?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Go on then.’

Leaving Raju to work his way across the deck Zachary cornered a steward and slipped him a Spanish dollar: ‘Can you bring me a bottle of grog? Jaldee ekdum?’

‘Yes, sir. Ekdum jaldee.’

As he waited for the steward to return Zachary saw that Raju had circled around the deck and was eavesdropping unnoticed on Captain Mee and Mrs Burnham. Then the bottle of rum arrived and Zachary beckoned to Raju to come back.

Dropping into a squat again, he said: ‘Did you hear anything, kid-mutt?’

‘Yes, sir. Mrs Burnham was talking about a milliner’s shop, near the St Lazarus Church in Macau. She said that she often goes there.’

‘Oh? And what did he say to that?’

‘He said he would meet her there.’

‘Anything else?’

‘That’s all I heard, sir.’

Zachary patted Raju on the back and handed him the bottle. ‘You did good, kid-mutt; you’ve won the grog fair and square. But remember, it’s a secret — not a word to anyone!’ ‘Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.’

*

Not for a moment after setting foot on the Anahita ’s quarter-deck had Shireen been able to forget that Bahram’s accident had happened here; that it was from this very deck that her husband had fallen to his death. Through the duration of Mr Burnham’s oration and the ceremony that followed, she had wondered whether it was from the jamná side that he had fallen or the dáwa. Or had he perhaps tumbled over the stern? In thinking about these things she was seized by a strange disquiet — a feeling that only deepened when she saw Freddie leading Paulette towards her. But once introductions had been made Shireen took a liking to her; she invited her to sit on the bench and for a while she listened quietly as Zadig and Paulette talked about gardening.

Then at last Shireen gingerly broached the subject that had been weighing on her mind: ‘Is it true, Miss Lambert, that you were on the island the day my husband died?’

‘Yes, Mrs Moddie,’ said Paulette. ‘I was up in the nursery that day and I saw this ship, the Anahita , at anchor below. Although there were many ships in the bay that morning, the Anahita was the one that caught my eye.’

‘Why?’ said Shireen.

‘Because there was a ladder — a rope-ladder — hanging out from an open window, at the back.’

‘You mean from my husband’s suite? In the stern of the ship?’

‘Yes,’ said Paulette. ‘That was where it was.’

Taken aback, Shireen cried: ‘But why would there be a ladder in his window?’

‘I cannot tell you why it was there,’ said Paulette. ‘It seemed very strange to me too, because there was nothing below but water.’

Shireen turned to Freddie and Zadig. ‘Did you know about this ladder?’

Zadig shook his head. ‘This is the first I’ve heard of it, Bibiji.’

‘I did not speak of it to anyone,’ said Paulette. ‘To be truthful, I had forgotten about it until Freddie asked me.’

‘But how would Freddie know?’ cried Shireen, turning towards him. ‘Had someone told you about the ladder, Freddie?’

‘No,’ said Freddie. ‘No one told me. But I see in my dreams, lah, the ladder, hanging from the window. That is why I ask Miss Paulette, ne? Then she tell me, yes, she saw in the morning, but after an hour it was gone.’

‘Vico must have taken it in,’ said Zadig. ‘But he never uttered a word about it to me.’

All of this was completely incomprehensible to Shireen. ‘‘But why would there be a ladder there? Do you think there was some foul play?’

‘No,’ said Zadig, with a shake of his head. ‘If there had been foul play the ladder would not have been left hanging. And anyway there was no sign of a struggle in the cabin or on Bahram-bhai’s body.’

‘But what happened then?’ said Shireen. ‘Why would there be a ladder hanging out of his window? What was its purpose? To climb up or go down?’

Nobody said a word, so Shireen turned again to Freddie: ‘You know the answer, don’t you, Freddie? Tell me what the ladder was for, please.’

Freddie did not answer at once: his eyes were closed and he seemed almost to be in a trance. When he spoke again his voice was very soft.

‘I think Father went down the ladder because someone call him.’

‘Who?’

‘My mother.’

‘Your mother?’ cried Shireen. ‘But that’s impossible. Hadn’t she died some years before?’

Freddie shook his head: ‘Did not die, lah, my mother,’ he said. ‘Was murdered, ne? By men who came looking for me. She help me get away and did not tell them where I went. So they stabbed her and threw in the river — the Pearl River. There was no funeral, nothing, so she is still in the river, still in the water, this water that we are on. I see her sometimes, she has not found rest, so she comes to me. That night, when Father come here from Canton, in this ship, I think she come to him too and call him away. He went down the ladder to go to her. I have seen it so in my dreams, lah.’

‘No!’ Shireen’s head was spinning already, and it began to turn even faster now as she jerked it violently from side to side. ‘No! I cannot believe it. I will not believe it.’

Then all of a sudden, everything went dark.

*

The fuss on the quarter-deck was loud enough to cause Kesri some concern. He kept a careful eye on it and when he saw a prone body being carried away he realized that there was no reason for undue alarm: a lady had swooned and was being taken inside.

Shortly afterwards he spotted a memsahib in a black dress and bonnet coming towards him. He did not make too much of it; several sahibs and memsahibs had already approached him with complimentary words about his squad of sepoys: he assumed that this missy-mem was going to do the same.

But when she came face to face with him she said nothing; she just stood there silently, staring.