Frazer now sprang into action. He dived for the rope, and caught it with just a few metres left. He yelled out for help, and the crew responded: this was a situation in which a common language wasn’t necessary. Frazer had time to wrap the rope three times round his wrist and arm, and brace his feet against the side of the ship, before he felt the massive jolt as the line reached its full length. He would almost certainly have been dragged overboard with Matahi and Amazon had two stout crewmen not thrown themselves on top of him.
Frazer managed to drag himself upright. He could see the two figures – the dark-skinned Matahi and the paler Amazon – being pulled along, entwined at the end of the rope. They were encased in a white foaming wake, as the schooner still made good headway.
He also saw something that made him gasp with horror. For there, leaping fully out of the water in pursuit of a flying fish, was the vivid red body and the reaching tentacles and gnashing, parrot-like beak of …
‘Red devils!’
This was a shoal of the much-feared diablo rojo – the Humboldt squid, one of the most intelligent, inquisitive and ruthless predators in the ocean. Frazer had watched a TV documentary about them, and he knew that, once they were in a feeding frenzy, they would eat anything that they could get their tentacles on – including each other. He had seen what those beaks could do to flesh – divers had taken to wearing chain mail when they were in the water with them.
His brain started to work. Standard procedure in this situation would have been to take in the sails, turn on the engine, throw it into reverse, bringing the ship to a standstill as quickly as possible.
The crew had already started to do this, frantically working at the ropes and pulleys. And he heard the engine fire up, and felt the juddering shudder, as the prop bit into the water.
But Frazer saw in an instant that this was a disaster. If the ship stopped then Matahi and Amazon would be helpless in the water, until they could send out the small launch to pick them up. And by then it might well be too late …
He checked that the two crewmen had a good hold of the rope, then he let go, and ran to the wheelhouse. Frazer was hoping the captain would be there, but there was only the first mate and the helmsman and a small man lurking at the back in the shadows.
‘Don’t stop!’ he yelled. ‘Whatever you do, don’t stop. You must keep her moving.’
The first mate, who spoke only a little English, looked puzzled.
‘But girl and man … in water …?’
‘Red devils. I mean Humboldt squid. All around them,’ Frazer gasped. Then he did a sort of mime, trying to get the message across. ‘We need to pull them clear.’
The little man at the back of the cabin looked at him with quizzical intelligence, and then spoke sharply. The first mate’s eyes widened, and he moved the engine controller from ‘reverse’ to ‘full ahead’. He then stuck his head out of the door and screamed at the crew to stop furling the sails.
Frazer ran back to the side of the Tian-long, and joined the other sailors there who were trying to pull in Amazon and Matahi. Frazer saw that he was no use – the sailors were fit and sinewy from their work at sea, and he was just getting in their way. He leaned further out, and a hand drew him back. He turned – it was the captain.
‘Your friends will be OK,’ he said. ‘So it is best if you do not join them in the sea.’
And it looked like he was right. Amazon was now clutching Matahi’s neck, which left his hands free to haul them up along the rope, as the crew were drawing them in from the other end. The thrashing shoal of squid and the flying fish were falling behind.
But then Frazer saw a small group of the red devils separate off from the main mass of squid and begin to surge towards Amazon and Matahi. They were famously inquisitive, and clearly, Frazer deduced, they were determined to check out this new and interesting potential menu item.
‘Faster!’ Frazer screamed. ‘Faster!’
‘What the heck?’ said a familiar voice.
It was Bluey. Frazer pointed to the drama happening at the end of the rope.
‘Humboldt squid … out there.’
‘Are you sure?’ Bluey replied, looking baffled. ‘They normally live closer to the coast … And they don’t usually feed by day,’ he continued, as he scanned the water.
And then he also saw a red missile launch itself over the waves.
‘Jeepers, you’re right!’ he exclaimed, and started to tear off his clothes. It was obvious to Frazer that he was planning on jumping in.
Frazer realized that it was a futile gesture, but he also understood why Bluey wanted to make it. He and Amazon were under his protection, and Frazer reckoned that he’d probably rather be torn apart by a ravening horde of squid than have to face Hal Hunt with this kind of news.
Bluey began to scramble up on to the gunwales, but the captain barked out an order, and two crewmen bundled him back down again.
‘Two we can help. Three, I think not,’ said the captain. ‘Now we all pull.’
And so they did. Eight of them, hauling in the rope. The captain gave commands in Cantonese to set the rhythm, and soon the rope was zipping through their hands.
Frazer checked again. Matahi was tiring, but still pulled arm over arm, complementing the efforts of the crew.
For a moment Frazer thought the squid had lost interest, but then he saw a dark shadow streak under the water towards Matahi and Amazon. The Polynesian let out a strangled cry of pain.
Again Frazer could imagine what had happened. He’d observed other species of squid, and knew all about the two lethal grabbing arms that the squid could project. They were capable of holding smaller prey and dragging it back to the mouth or, with bigger victims, of tearing off strips of flesh.
This was seriously bad news. The squid were now aware that the two objects moving through their territory were most definitely food.
‘Come on, guys, pull harder,’ Frazer screamed. But he regretted it as soon as he turned to look at them: Bluey and the crew members had heaved themselves to the point of exhaustion and beyond.
Now Matahi and Amazon were only ten metres away. Frazer could see the immense strain on the man. He could also see the fear on Amazon’s face. But it looked like it was all going to be OK. The squid were keeping pace, but had not attempted another attack. Ten metres became five, which became two. Frazer leaned over the side of the Tian-long, stretching down, although he knew it was futile. Matahi and Amazon were directly below him, right by the side of the ship.
And then another of the Humboldts made a dart at Matahi. Again those lethal arms shot out, and again the Polynesian strangled a cry.
And, as Frazer watched, he saw something truly astounding. The squid began to change colour. The deep red became a pattern of mottled browns, and then a bright orange, and finally returned to red. The other squid in the shoal seemed to echo these changes, and Frazer remembered something else he had heard – although it was barely credible – that the squid would sometimes communicate with each other to coordinate attacks. Could this really be about to happen now, before his eyes?
Then, as Matahi and Amazon reached the hull of the schooner, Frazer realized something else: they could not simply drag them up the side of the ship – it would batter and smash Matahi, and surely force him to let go of the rope.
‘They’re here,’ he yelled to those hauling on the rope behind him. ‘Tie it off. And we need some way of pulling them up …’
Matahi now looked more dead than alive. He had two jagged cuts, one on his shoulder and another on his thigh, and he was leaking blood into the ocean. It was all he could do to cling to the rope.
And the squid s
hoal seemed to sense it, and swooped closer again, thrashing and churning the water.
‘Climb,’ Frazer heard Matahi croak. ‘Up my back. Up my arms.’
And then Frazer saw his cousin pull herself up the broad brown back of the Polynesian. She managed to get her foot up on his shoulder. She looked up into Frazer’s face. Hope and fear met in her eyes.
Frazer stretched down again, as she reached up. Their fingers touched, separated, touched again. Frazer felt rough hands grabbing him from behind.
‘I’ve got you,’ said Bluey. ‘Pull her up. You can do it, Fraze.’
Frazer gripped and pulled, and at the same time Amazon pushed up from Matahi’s shoulders, and then she was hanging in the spray, dangling from Frazer’s hand. Frazer thought his arm was going to be wrenched from its socket, but he held on. And pulled again with all his strength.
For a brief moment he was reminded of how they had first met, when he had helped her climb through her dorm window back at boarding school, saving her from a nasty fall. This was rather different: there weren’t many red devils in England. Back then he had saved her from a broken ankle – now it was her life that was at stake.
So he ignored the pain and heaved. More arms reached down and enveloped Amazon, and she was drawn up and laid out gently on the deck.
Bluey and Frazer went to her side. The final effort had sucked away the last of her strength. She had swallowed a lot of water, and was blue with the cold. Her eyelids fluttered, and she tried to speak.
‘Take it easy, Amazon,’ said Bluey, and his own bright eyes were moist with tears. ‘You’ll be OK.’
‘We’ve got to get her below decks and warmed up,’ said the captain, kneeling next to them. ‘Mr Chung always travels with a personal physician. She will help her.’
Two deckhands lifted up Amazon’s limp body. But then she began to struggle wildly.
‘Matahi,’ she rasped. ‘Help him.’
Bluey and Frazer looked at each other, and then dashed to the side, where the rope still hung, as taught as a bowstring.
Matahi, abandoned and forgotten by them, was trying desperately to drag himself unaided up the rope, and now only his ankles were still in the water. And, horrifically, long red tentacles clutched at him, and tried to wrench him back down. Matahi’s face was alternately blank with exhaustion and contorted with pain. He was on the point of letting go, and giving himself up to the red devils and his ancient watery gods.
It was Bluey this time who leaned out over the side of the ship to reach down for the rescue. But the situation was increasingly desperate and ghoulish. The squid were writhing and coiling round Matahi’s legs, which ran with blood. And more were coming. Matahi looked up at him, his once impassive features now imploring for help.
Frazer felt helpless. And then he remembered something he had seen on deck, and spun to retrieve it. It was a gaff – a long stick with a hook on the end, used to help land fish, or to pull smaller boats towards the schooner. He returned to the side of the Tian-long just in time to see Bluey using all his lithe strength to pull up Matahi.
Frazer leaned over the side of the ship and started to jab at the squid, aiming for their eyes, or at the cruel teeth in the middle of the web of tentacles. It was working. They peeled off, some taking long strips of Matahi’s skin with them.
These were mostly smaller Humboldts – as long and thick as a strong arm – but then Frazer saw something that made him utter a cry of sheer terror. It was a monstrous squid, bigger even than Matahi. It exploded through the ship’s wake and soared upwards. With uncanny clarity, Frazer saw the cruel eye and the savage mouth, and the hook-rimmed suckers on the tentacles. It appeared that it was trying to envelop Matahi’s whole head.
Frazer had only a split second to act. He thrust down with the gaff, aiming right into the squid’s mouth. His aim was good, but the creature’s great mass and momentum drove it on, so that it rode up Matahi’s body, almost like a puppy jumping up at its master. Without Frazer’s thrust, it would now be chewing at Matahi’s face. Instead the diamond-hard beak crunched down on the wood of the gaff.
From somewhere Frazer found the strength to pivot and heave the huge squid over the gunnels and on to the deck, where it thrashed around, desperately trying to find something or someone to grasp. At the same moment Bluey finally managed to haul Matahi up out of the water. And, at last, other crew members had come to help, and carried him to the deck.
It was then that Frazer saw the full extent of the Polynesian’s injuries. His legs and torso were covered in welts and gashes, and the sinister circular cuts made by the suckers and their hooks.
‘He looks like someone’s been at him with a giant cheese grater,’ he said.
‘He needs some serious medical attention,’ added Bluey, panting heavily.
The captain came back up from below deck where he’d been helping to attend to Amazon.
‘Ah, yes, this is bad. The girl, she is fine. But I fear for your friend here. We will do what we can.’
And then the crew carried Matahi below deck to lie in the sickbay.
Frazer looked over at the red devil. The long gaff was still buried in its mouth. One giant eye seemed to stare at the boy, holding him in a malevolent gaze. It looked, if anything, more monstrous here on the ship, out of its element.
‘We should throw him back,’ he said. ‘He was only following his instincts.’
‘Too late,’ Bluey replied. ‘He’s gone.’
And then Frazer saw that there was no life in the eye. He was astounded to find that what he felt was sadness.
Amazon was checked over and given the all-clear by the doctor – a curt and rather unfriendly Chinese woman, who did not seem to think it was part of her job description to take care of stray children.
‘Take this,’ the doctor had said, handing her a small bottle full of a pale yellow mixture. ‘One spoon, three time a day, until all gone.’
‘What is it?’
‘Chinese tonic. Make blood strong. You weak.’
Amazon remembered something she had learned in Siberia, where leopards and tigers were poached so that their body parts could be used in traditional Chinese medicine.
‘It’s not made out of tiger bones, is it?’
‘Tiger bone? Stupid girl. No. Mr Chung is great animal lover. Never hurt animal. Would not let anything like that on boat. If you don’t want to take, don’t take. I am not doctor of girl, but of Mr Chung.’
The doctor turned to leave, but Amazon said, ‘Wait. Matahi, how is he?’
‘Who? Oh, you mean island man? He not good. Bad infection from cuts. We not have right medicine.’
‘But … but … he’ll be OK?’
The doctor shrugged and walked out of the cabin.
Until Frazer and Bluey came and told her about it, Amazon hadn’t fully realized the peril she had been in from the squid. Once Matahi had grabbed her, her sole desire was to cling to his back, and everything else in the universe shrank to insignificance.
When she heard the full account of how he had sacrificed himself for her, she insisted on getting up and going to see him.
Matahi was in bed, lying on his front. His back and legs were covered in gauze. Even though they had been recently changed, the blood was already coming through, in neat red polka dots, which soon joined to form bigger, darker pools.
She knelt down, so that her face could be next to his. His eyes were shut and his breath hardly stirred. She could feel the heat radiating from his body. He was burning with fever.
‘Thank you,’ she said, and kissed his cheek.
Matahi opened his eyes. It took him a moment to focus. Then he smiled weak
ly.
‘So, little sister is not hurt. Good.’
Then he closed his eyes again, and Amazon tiptoed quietly out of the room.
The next morning Bluey, Frazer and Amazon were on deck, making the most of a brief patch of blue in between the glowering clouds. Bluey had been talking about the Humboldt squid.
‘They really are amazing creatures. They only live a couple of years and yet they can grow up to two metres. They’re the world champions when it comes to turning food into muscle.’
‘I’ll make sure I congratulate it the next time one tries to eat me,’ laughed Amazon.
And then she stopped laughing. She was looking out over the sea when she saw something floating in the relative calm.
‘Is that a …?’
‘Shark,’ said Frazer. ‘But it’s …’
‘Dead,’ said Bluey, shaking his head sadly.
It wasn’t alone. The Tian-long was cruising through a grizzly floating field of dead sharks. Where their long, sharp dorsal fins should be there was nothing but an ugly red gash.
‘What’s happened?’ said Amazon. ‘… I don’t understand …’
‘Soup,’ said Bluey.
‘What?’ Amazon and Frazer exclaimed together.
‘Japanese and Korean fishing boats catch the sharks for their fins. They cut the fins off and then throw the shark back in the sea, alive usually. It takes them a while to die, but die they do. Then the fins get sent off to be made into shark’s fin soup.’
‘What a barbarous thing to do,’ said Amazon.
‘And what a waste!’ added Frazer. ‘All this killing just for the fins.’
Bluey was looking thoughtful.
‘It also explains something that was bothering me. Like I said, the Humboldts usually live in the waters along the west coast of North and South America. They shouldn’t really be this far out into the Pacific. Normally, predators – and that means sharks, basically – would keep their numbers in check. But, if you take out the apex predator, then something else is going to move on in.’
Shark Adventure Page 4
