Return to Skull Island

by Ron Miller

  “Well, I don’t know what’s stopping you. You’re welcome to the damn place if you want it.”

  “I am indeed glad to hear that. The problem is, Mr. Denham, is that you were very, ah, circumspect when speaking of the island’s exact location. All we know is that it lies in the Indian Ocean somewhere west of Sumatra. But exactly where, well, that is indeed a mystery.”

  I felt Pat touch my arm. I looked up to see her glaring at me intensely. She turned that into a charming smile which she aimed at Nakayama.

  “Will you pardon me for just a moment, Mr. Nakayama? I’d like to speak to Mr. Denham for a moment.”

  “Indeed by all means! Thank you very much, Captain,” he added as Englehorn, by way of distraction, poured the diplomat another drink.

  Pat pulled me into a corner of the room and hissed into my ear. “I don’t trust Nakayama any further than I could throw him—which, I admit, would be pretty far since he’s such a little runt—but you get my drift. Don’t give away anything. Whatever he’s up to, this might be your big chance to recover from Kong.”

  She was right. As much as I wanted to wash my hands of Skull Island—and if anyone was welcome to it, the Japs were—this might be an opportunity to recoup my loses, and maybe even allow me to return to the States without a price on my head.

  We went back to the table and took our seats. I saw that Nakayama and the captain seemed to be getting along very well.

  “We had high hopes of contacting you in New York, Mr. Denham, but, ah, certain circumstances prevented that. We were indeed dismayed to discover that you had, in fact, completely disappeared. Just imagine our surprise and astonishment when you turned up in a report from Chang-chun, of all places!”

  “Just imagine.”

  “When we learned of the arrival of the Venture in Ying-kou, I hastened to meet it. I was certain it must be waiting your imminent appearance.”

  “Oh, I’m not that important.”

  “He said ‘imminent,’ not ‘eminent’,” muttered Pat.

  “I took the first train from Peiping, a journey of some two hundred and forty kilometers, in order to meet you, Mr. Denham. What a happy circumstance indeed that we arrive on almost the very same day.”

  “Coincidences sure are something aren’t they?”

  “So please, if you will be so gracious, I will inform you of the exactitude of my mission. As I said, Tokyo would very much like to discover the location of such a wonderful island. My orders are to inform you that the University of Tokyo would like to offer you a commission, a commission to lead an expedition back to this island. The university is much interested in collecting and classifying the unique flora and fauna you described. And it must be added that the natives and their customs would appear to have some bearing on a few ancient legends and myths of my people, which would be of great interest as well. The university will agree to underwrite the full expenses of this expedition as well as pay you a handsome stipend for your time, effort and expertise.”

  “That’s a swell offer, Mr. Nakayama, but I’m not the only one who has to agree to this. The Venture belongs to Captain Englehorn here. Besides, there’s Frank Buck and Roy Andrews. They’re counting on the Venture.”

  “And don’t forget me,” added Pat.

  “Who could?” I said. Then, to Nakayama: “Why the pretense of going flower-gathering? Why not just mount a full-scale expedition and get the job done properly?”

  “There are, ah, indeed many delicate considerations, Mr. Denham, not the least of which is the, ah, international situation. I believe you must have some idea of the current instability of certain relations, especially here in the East. It is best if the University appears to be the only interested party. It will charter this ship and neither my name nor that of my government shall be directly involved.”

  I glanced at Englehorn, who merely raised an eyebrow, and said, “It all sounds fine to me, Mr. Nakayama. But I have to wait for the arrival of Buck and Andrews. I can’t leave them in the lurch.”

  “I understand perfectly and your concern indeed speaks well for you, Mr. Denham. Besides, I understand that the gentlemen undoubtedly possess both knowledge and skills which may indeed prove useful. It is entirely possible they could be persuaded to join in our—your venture. Judging by what I have seen of the reports of your late adventure, a big-game hunter and a paleontologist might indeed prove invaluable additions to the company.”

  “I don’t think they’d have any objections.”

  “I don’t know about them, but I’m certainly game,” added Pat. “Mr. Nakayama may not be aware of it, but there’s a seaplane in the hold. It’s a brand-new Fairchild 82. It’s better than anything Japan has ever come up with—and I’ve got nearly fifty hours in the cockpit. You’ll need that plane and if you need it, you’ll need me, too.”

  “She’s right,” I said. “If you want me, you have to take Miss Wildman, as well.”

  “Oh, please, Mr. Denham! I was about to make no objection! It would indeed be the greatest pleasure and honor to have the lovely—and talented—Miss Wildman as a member of our expedition.”

  I wasn’t so sure if I liked the emphasis he put on “talented,” though I could come up with no reason why. I guess it just reinforced the nagging notion I had that the two already knew each other.

  In any event, we came to an accord that was agreeable to all of us, pending the return of Buck and Andrews. And when they showed up a few days later, they were only too happy to sign on.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  We left Ying-kou two days later, which is the time Englehorn needed to fuel and provision the Venture, now that he had some good hard cash to spend. Nakayama had come well-provided and as soon as we all shook hands on the deal, he had opened his briefcase and pulled out a sheaf of bills a couple of inches thick.

  Three and a half days after that we were moored at Yokosuka, with the broad expanse of Tokyo bay behind us. Here we were to meet with representatives from Tokyo University and make the final arrangements for the expedition.

  The morning following our arrival, I was at the railing with Pat, enjoying the view. I remarked on the large number of naval ships and she told me that Yokosuka was one of main bases for Japan’s navy. “For the past twenty-four or twenty-five years,” she said, “the Japanese have been developing Yokosuka as the Naval Air Arsenal, or whatever they’re calling it now. They mostly run tests on foreign-built aircraft here, largely to see what they can copy. The city was nearly destroyed by the great earthquake of twenty-three, but since then it’s been rebuilt and has even absorbed a couple of neighboring towns.”

  “Enterprising little scamps, aren’t they?”

  I heard a shout from the bridge and glanced toward the shore. A launch was headed our way with what looked like half a dozen people on board. It pulled alongside as the gangway was lowered. Pat and I strolled over to join Englehart in welcoming our latest guests. Only one drew our attention. He was a tough-looking bird about forty years old, though it’s hard to tell with Orientals. He wore a western-style business suit, but seemed uncomfortable in it. From that and his bearing I was willing to guess he wasn’t used to wearing civilian clothes. His smile on seeing us seemed honest enough, though, and we all shook hands as introductions got passed around.

  The newcomer was Professor Seiichi Ito, a biologist and geologist from the University of Tokyo. He told us he had come with the plans for the expedition and Englehart invited Pat, Roy, Frank and me to the ship’s mess to talk them over. For only the third time since I’ve known him, Englehart unlocked his store of liquor and brought glasses and his precious bottle to the table as we sat around it. We toasted each other, our respective countries, the success of the project and got down to business.

  “You have been made aware, I’ve been told,” Ito began in better English than my own, “that I will be de facto leader of the expedition. This is one of the conditions of the university’s backing. This is, I assume, perfectly agreeable.”

  We all ag
reed that it was agreeable. Especially since Ito had made it clear he hadn’t been asking a question.

  “I will, of course, value the expert advice and special experience each of you bring to our enterprise—especially your own, Mr. Denham, since you are the only one among us who has ever set foot on this island. I am, after all, only a humble professor and not a—ha ha ha!—admiral.”

  This, too, seemed perfectly acceptable, though he was wrong about one thing. Englehorn had been on the island once, too, though he’d gotten no further than the native village.

  “My associates—various graduate students, assistant professors and the like—will be arriving shortly, along with our, ah, scientific supplies and equipment.”

  In fact, as we discovered when we regained the deck, they were arriving at that very minute. Several boatloads, in fact, including a barge carrying a stack of enormous crates. While our second mate attended to the lading of the supplies and whatnot, I paid attention to the young men filing onto the deck. There were fifty-five in all and although Ito had described them as students of anthropology, biology, paleontology, botany and zoology not one of them looked much like a student to me. For one thing, they were all so far as I could tell the same age, just about the same height, and apparently in tip-top physical shape. For another thing, students don’t automatically arrange themselves in ranks at attention. It seemed to me it was all they could do to not salute the professor. But then, I’ve seen worse at German universities, so I just figured that Japanese students were better behaved than their American counterparts. There weren’t any females among the students, either, which kind of surprised me since dames go for things like butterflies and flowers and whatnot. But for all I knew Japan’s universities hadn’t gone coed yet.

  Englehorn expressed some concern about where such a large number of passengers could be bunked, but Ito assured him that even that had been anticipated. One of the crates being loaded, he said, contained folding camp cots. Six or more of these could be crammed into each stateroom, others in the salon, the rest scattered wherever there might be room.

  “They are students,” Ito explained, “and used to crowded dormitories. If you will excuse me?”

  He turned to bark orders at his students, who marched off double-time to do whatever it was he had commanded. Englehorn took advantage of this to head for one of the open hatches, where a crate the size of a small auto was being lowered into the hold and he hadn’t liked the way it was being handled. Left to ourselves, Pat and I climbed to the flying bridge where we could overlook everything and be out of the way.

  I saw the frown on Pat’s face and asked her what was on her mind.

  “I dunno,” she said. “I can tell you one thing, though. If that Ito’s a professor of anything I’m a three-toed tamandua.”

  “I’ve had profs as tough-looking as that bird.”

  “I had no idea you were a college boy.”

  “Sure. I put in a couple of years before I decided to see the world.”

  “Must have been a correspondence course. Say, what are they doing over there?”

  She was pointing at the door to the radio room, which was just below us. A couple of the burly Jap students were manhandling a large crate through it, all the while Sparks, our radio operator, was yelling his head off.

  “Let’s go down and find out.”

  By the time we got there, the second mate had joined in.

  “They’re putting in new radio equipment!” Sparks was complaining.

  “So what’s wrong with that?” the mate said. “Your old stuff wasn’t much better than a couple a tin cans and a string.”

  “I don’t like being ordered outta my own place, not by a bunch a Chinks, I don’t.”

  “They’re Japs,” I said, “not Chinks.”

  “They’re all a bunch a yella devils no matter what you call ‘em. Besides, I got me a gander at some of that new equipment and I don’t like it one bit.”

  “What’s wrong with it?” the mate asked.

  “I’ll tell you what’s wrong. It ain’t just radio. That’d be OK so far as that goes—God knows this crate needs new equipment—but some of that stuff’s for coding. I asked one of them goons what they was going to use coding equipment for and that’s when I got tossed out on my ear.”

  I kind of wondered about this myself and when I saw Englehorn and Ito approaching, I stopped them and asked.

  “I don’t know but if I agreed to having my radio room ransacked,” Englehorn said, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

  “Surely you have no objection to the installation of the latest state-of-the-art devices?” Ito asked in surprise. “And at no cost to you, I might add.”

  “I guess not,” said the captain, chewing on his pipe. “But what about this coding business?”

  Ito laughed. “That is simple enough! Mr. Denham here of all people surely knows the power of the world’s press. It can be used for both great harm and great good. If word were to get out prematurely about our expedition and its discoveries—that is, if we make any, of course—it could cause irreparable damage. Why, we might arrive at the island to find it overrun with reporters, movie stars and tourists!”

  I admitted he had a point there.

  “So, it is surely a reasonable precaution to encode all our communications. It’s well-known that the world’s news services routinely monitor the airwaves. Word about a new expedition to Skull Island would bring on a flood of reporters. Nevertheless, this is no excuse for the rudeness of my, ah, student. I offer my most sincere apologies. Rest assured such an incident will not be repeated.”

  The lading was completed shortly after noon. There seemed to be no reason to delay our departure, especially since the tide was in our favor, so, with Ito’s enthusiastic agreement, Englehorn gave the orders to get under weigh. In answer to the command telegraphed to the engine room, the ship gave a shudder and then a prolonged thrumming told me that we were under power and that the propeller was churning the water behind us.

  “We’re on our way,” I told Pat.

  “This is going to be some fun,” she replied, with a doubtful note that made me look at her sharply, but all she did was give me one of her dazzling smiles.

  As we rounded Katshiri-Ki Point I heard the engines stop. The ship slowed and began rocking in the gentle swell that was coming out of the harbor. At the same time, there was a lot of shouting coming from the bridge . . . and no less disturbing sounds from below.

  As Pat and I watched in astonishment, the entire ship’s company was led on to the main deck, herded there by Ito’s students, who were now brandishing rifles and automatics. Above us, Ito came out onto the flying bridge, holding a pistol at the back of a glowering Englehorn.

  “Gentlemen,” said Ito. His voice wasn’t loud but had great carrying power. “Gentlemen, I am Captain Ito of the Japanese Imperial Navy. You will now consider this vessel under the command of His Imperial Majesty’s Navy. No harm will befall any of you if you simply do as you are told. Anyone who disagrees with this please let me know now and you will be safely conveyed ashore. I assure you no one will be treated unkindly. You will be taken to Tokyo and allowed to find a place on any American or European vessel that will have you. Otherwise, you will consider yourselves subservient to my men who will take over the handling of this ship. Any interference with their duties will not under any circumstances be tolerated. There will be no warnings and no second chances. I hope I make myself perfectly clear?”

  I thought he had been clear as a bell.

  I turned to Pat. She was scowling at Ito as her fists clenched on the railing. I saw flecks of paint flake off between her fingers.

  “You recognized him right off the bat, didn’t you?”

  “Not really. I’ve seen him only once before. It was at the palace in Changchun. He had been there the evening after we arrived. I saw him leaving just before we joined the emperor for dinner. I asked the servant who took me to my room later who it was and he said he didn’t know the m
an’s name but it was the Naval Attaché to Manchuko. He’d paid visits to the emperor often. I knew I’d seen him before when he arrived this morning, but I didn’t recognize him out of uniform. I’d only seen him that one time, you know.”

  “You must have eyes like a Kodak. You think they had been meeting about us?”

  “In the light of recent events, it would seem likely.”

  We were interrupted by Englehorn, who came storming out of the bridge. I believe he would have thrown Ito overboard if the “student” standing next to the Jap hadn’t shoved a gun in the old man’s ribs. This didn’t stop the captain from demanding an explanation for this act of piracy.

  “Call it what you will, Captain,” said Ito, “but your ship has been commandeered by the Imperial Navy for the duration of this expedition.”

  “Imperial Navy my ass! It’s an act of war, is what it is. This ship is registered in New York. It’s an American merchant vessel.”

  “I don’t really care where it is registered, my dear Englehorn, or what nation it calls home. You see?” he said, gesturing to where the stars and stripes flew from the mast. “We have not taken possession of your ship. It still flies your flag. We have only taken control—and temporary control at that. The Venture will be returned to you once our mission has been completed. You will received the agreed-upon fee and your men will received their promised bonuses. And I can tell you that once you do return home you may bluster all you like, but I and my government will simply deny any and all accusations you may care to make.”

  I thought old Englehorn was going to explode on the spot, but he was smart enough to see that Ito had him over a barrel. There wasn’t much he could do, other than preserve as much dignity as he could manage in the circumstances.

  “We shall see about that,” he said. “In the meantime, I see no other recourse but to surrender my ship to your command.”

  Ito laughed and slapped the old man on the shoulder. “You’ll see! Everything will come out all right in the end. You will have no reason for complaint, I’ll make sure of that. In the meantime, please inform your crew that from this moment the Venture is under my command and will be handled by my crew. No harm will come to them if they do as they are told. Otherwise, I will be forced to confine them below deck for the duration. As for you,” he said, turning to Pat and me, “you and Messrs Buck and Andrews will be permitted the freedom of the ship so long as you agree to cooperate.”