Jack Higgins - East Of Desolation

by East Of Desolation [lit]

  "Is that Jack?" she asked as we continued our turn. "I didn't get a good look."

  I shook my head. "Olaf Sørensen--- he's a Greenlander from Godthaab. Knows this coast like the back of his hand. Jack signed him on as pilot for the duration of the trip."

  "Is he carrying his usual crew?"

  "They all came with him if that's what you mean. An engineer, two deck hands and a cook--- they're American. And then there's the steward--- he's a Filipino."

  "Tony Serafino?"

  "That's him."

  She was obviously pleased. "There's an old friend for a start."

  I went in low once just to check the extent of the pack ice, but there was nothing to get excited about and I banked steeply and dropped her into the water without wasting any more time. I taxied towards the shore, let down the wheels and ran up on to dry land as the first of the village dogs arrived on the run. By the time I'd switched off the engine and opened the side door, the rest of them were there, forming a half-circle, stiff-legged and angry, howling their defiance.

  A handful of Eskimo children appeared and drove them away in a hail of sticks and stones. The children clustered together and watched us, the brown Mongolian faces solemn and unsmiling, the heavy fur-lined Parkas they wore exaggerating their bulk so that they looked like little old men and women.

  "They don't look very friendly," Ilana Eytan commented.

  "Try them with these." I produced a brown paper bag from my pocket.

  She opened it and peered inside. "What are they?"

  "Mint humbugs--- never been known to fail."

  But already the children were moving forward, their faces wreathed in smiles and she was swamped in a forest of waving arms as they swarmed around her.

  I left her to it and went to the water's edge to meet the whaleboat firm the Stella which was already halfway between the ship and the shore. One of the deckhands was at the tiller and Sørensen stood in the prow, a line ready in his hands. As the man in the stern cut the engine, the whaleboat started to turn, drifting in on the waves and Sørensen threw the line. I caught it quickly, one foot in the shallows, and started to haul. Sørensen joined me and a moment later we had the whaleboat around and her stern beached.

  He spoke good English, a legacy of fifteen years in the Canadian and British merchant marines and he used it on every available opportunity.

  "I thought you might run into trouble when the mist came down."

  "I put down at Argamask for an hour."

  He nodded. "Nothing like knowing the coast. Who's the woman?"

  "A friend of Desforge's or so she says."

  "He didn't tell me he was expecting anyone."

  "He isn't," I said simply.

  "Like that, is it?" He frowned. "Desforge isn't going to like this, Joe."

  I shrugged. "She's paid me in advance for the round trip. If he doesn't want her here she can come back with me tonight. I could drop her off at Søndre if she wants to make a connection for Europe or the States."

  "That's okay by me as long as you think you can handle it. I've got troubles enough just keeping the Stella in once piece."

  I was surprised and showed it. "What's been going wrong?"

  "It's Desforge," Sorensen said bitterly. "The man's quite mad. I've never known anyone so hell-bent on self-destruction."

  "What's he been up to now?"

  "We were up near Hagamut the other day looking for polar bear, his latest obsession, when we met some Eskimo hunters out after seal in their kayaks. Needless to say Desforge insisted on joining them. On the way back it seems he was out in front on his own when he came across an old bull walrus on the ice."

  "And tried to take it alone?" I said incredulously.

  "With a harpoon and on foot."

  "What happened?"

  "It knocked him down with its first rush and snapped the harpoon. Luckily one of the hunters from Hagamut came up fast and shot it before it could finish him off."

  "And he wasn't hurt?"

  "A few bruises, that's all. He laughed the whole thing off. He can go to hell his own way as far as I'm concerned, but I'm entitled to object when he puts all our lives at risk quite needlessly. There's been a lot of pack ice in the northern fjords this year--- it really is dangerous--- and yet he ordered me to take the Stella into the Kavangar Fjord because Eskimo hunters had reported traces of bear in that region. The ice was moving down so fast from the glacier that we were trapped for four hours. I thought we were never going to get out."

  "Where is he now?"

  "He left by kayak about two hours ago with a party of hunters from Narquassit. Apparently one of them sighted a bear yesterday afternoon in an inlet about three miles up the coast. He had to pay them in advance to get them to go with him. They think he's crazy."

  Ilana Eytan managed to disentangle herself and joined us and I made the necessary introductions.

  "Jack isn't here at the moment," I told her. "I think that under the circumstances I'd better go looking for him. You can wait on the Stella."

  "Why can't I come with you?"

  "I wouldn't if I were you. Apparently, he's finally caught up with that bear he's been chasing. No place for a woman, believe me."

  "Fair enough," she said calmly. "I've never been exactly a devotee of Jack's great outdoors cult."

  The deckhand was already transferring the stores from the Otter to the whaleboat and I turned to Sørensen, "I'll go out to the Stella with you and I'll take the whaleboat after you've unloaded her."

  He nodded and went to help with the stores. Ilana Eytan chuckled. "Rather you than me."

  "And what's that supposed to mean?"

  "When Jack Desforge starts beating his chest wig it's time to run for cover. I'd remember that if I were you," she said and went down to the boat.

  I thought about that for a while, then climbed inside the Otter, opened a compartment beneath the pilot's seat and pulled out a gun case. It contained a Winchester hunting rifle, a beautiful weapon which Desforge had loaned me the previous week. There was a box of cartridges in the map compartment and I loaded the magazine with infinite care. After all, there's nothing like being prepared for all eventualities and the girl was certainly right about one thing. Around Jack Desforge anything might happen and usually did.

  .....

  The diesel engine gave the whaleboat a top speed of six or seven knots and I made good time after leaving the Stella, but a couple of miles further on the pack ice became more of a problem and every so often I had to cut the engines and stand on the stern seat to sort out a clear route through the maze of channels.

  It was hard going for a while and reasonably hazardous because the ice kept lifting with the movement of the water, broken edges snapping together like the jaws of a steel trap. Twice I was almost caught and each time got clear only by boosting power at exactly the right moment. When I finally broke through into comparatively clear water and cut the engine, I was sweating and my hands trembled slightly--- and yet I'd enjoyed every minute of it. I lit a fresh cigarette and sat down in the stern for a short rest.

  The wind that lifted off the water was cold, but the sun shone brightly in that eternal blue sky and the coastal scenery with the mountains and the-ice-cap in the distance was incredibly beautiful--- as spectacular as I'd seen anywhere.

  Suddenly everything seemed to come together, the sea and the wind, the sun, the sky, the mountains and the icecap, fusing into a breathless moment of perfection in which the world seemed to stop. I floated there, hardly daring to breathe, waiting for a sign, if you like, but of what, I hadn't the remotest idea and then gradually it all came flooding back, the touch of the wind on my face, the pack ice grinding upon itself, the harsh taste of the cigarette as the smoke caught at the back of my throat. One thing at least I had learned, perhaps hadn't faced up to before. There were other reasons for my presence on this wild and lovely coast than those I had given Ilana Eytan.

  I started the engine again and moved on, and ten minutes later s
aw a tracer of blue smoke drifting into the air above a spine of rock that walled off the beach. I found the hunting party on the other side crouched round a fire of blazing driftwood, their kayaks drawn up on the beach. Desforge squatted with his back to me, a tin cup in one hand, a bottle in the other. At the sound of the whaleboat's engine he turned and, recognising me, let out a great roar of delight.

  "Joe, baby, what's the good news?"

  He came down the beach as I ran the whaleboat in through the broken ice and as always when we met, there was a slight edge of unreality to the whole thing for me; a sort of surprise to find that he actually existed in real life. The immense figure, the mane of brown hair and the face--- that wonderful, craggy, used-up face that looked as if it had experienced everything life had to offer and had not been defeated. The face known the world over to millions of people even in the present version which included an untidy fringe of iron-grey beard and gave him--- perhaps intentionally--- an uncanny resemblance to Ernest Hemingway who I knew had always been a personal idol of his.

  But how was one supposed to feel when confronted by a living legend? He'd made his first film at the age of sixteen in 1930, the year I was born. By 1939 he was almost rivalling Gable in popularity and a tour as a rear gunner in a B.17 bomber when America entered the second world war made him a bigger draw than ever when he returned to make films during the forties and fifties.

  But over the past few years one seemed to hear more and more about his personal life. As his film appearances decreased, he seemed to spend most of his time roaming the world in the Stella and the scandals increased by a sort of inverse ratio that still kept his name constantly before the public. A saloon brawl in London, a punch-up with Italian police in Rome, an unsavoury court case in the States involving a fifteen-year-old whose mother said he'd promised to marry the girl and still wanted him to.

  These and a score of similar affairs had given him a sort of legendary notoriety that still made him an object of public veneration wherever he went and yet I knew from the things he had told me--- usually after a bout of heavy drinking--- that his career was virtually in ruins and that except for a part in a low budget French film, he hadn't worked in two years.

  "You're just in time for the kill," he said. "These boys have finally managed to find a bear for me."

  I slung the Winchester over my shoulder and jumped to the sand. "A small one I hope."

  He frowned and nodded at the Winchester. "What in the hell do you want with that thing?"

  "Protection," I said. "With you and your damned bear around I'm going to need all I can get."

  There was a clump of harpoons standing in the wet sand beside the kayaks and he pulled one loose and brandished it fiercely.

  "This is all you need; all any man needs. It's the only way--- the only way with any truth or meaning."

  Any minute now he was going to tell me just how noble death was and I cut in on him quickly and patted the Winchester.

  "Well this is my way--- the Joe Martin way. Any bear who comes within a hundred yards of me gets the whole magazine. I'm allergic to the smell of their fur."

  He roared with laughter and slapped me on the back. "Joe, baby, you're the greatest thing since air-conditioning. Come and have a drink."

  "Not for me, thanks," I said.

  He had a head start anyway, that much was obvious, but I followed him to the fire and squatted beside him as he uncorked a nearly empty bottle and poured a generous measure into a tin cup. The hunters from Narquassit watched us impassively, a scattering of dogs crouched at their feet. Desforge shook his head in disgust.

  "Look at them--- what a bloody crew. I had to bribe them to get them this far." He swallowed some of his whisky. "But what can you expect? Look at their clothes--- all store bought. Not a pair of sealskin pants among them."

  He emptied the dregs of the bottle into his cup and I said, "I've brought a visitor to see you--- a girl called Eytan."

  He turned sharply, bewilderment on his face. "Ilana--- here? You're kidding."

  I shook my head. "She flew into Søndre from Copenhagen last night."

  "Did she say what she wanted?"

  I shook my head. "Maybe she's come to take you home."

  "Not a chance." He laughed shortly. "I owe too many people too damned much on the outside. Greenland suits me just fine for the time being." He leaned across, full of drunken gravity. "I'll tell you something in confidence--- confidence, mind you? There's a lulu coming up that'll put me right back there on top of the heap and take care of my old age. Milt Gold of Horizon should be in touch with me any day now."

  "Maybe this Eytan girl has a message for you," I suggested.

  His face brightened. "Heh, you could have a point there."

  There was a faint cry from along the beach and we turned to see an Eskimo trotting towards us waving excitedly. Everything else was forgotten as Desforge got to his feet and picked up a harpoon.

  "This is it," he said. "Let's get moving."

  He didn't even look to see if he was being followed and I shouldered the Winchester and went after him, the hunters from Narquassit following. You can tell when an Eskimo is happy because sometimes he'll actually smile, but more often than not it's impossible to know how he's feeling at any given moment. Allowing for that I still got a definite impression that the men from Narquassit were something less than enthusiastic about the whole thing and I didn't blame them one little bit.

  We reached the end of along strip of shingle beach and started across a much rougher section that was a jumble of great boulders and broken ice when one of the hunters cried out sharply. They all came to a halt and there was a sudden frenzied outburst of voices as everyone seemed to start talking at once.

  And then I saw it--- a great shaggy mountain of dirty yellow fur ambling along the shoreline and as the first dog gave tongue, he paused and liked over his shoulder in a sort of amiable curiosity.

  You don't need to be a great white hunter to shoot a polar bear. One thousand pounds of bone and muscle makes quite a target and it takes a lot to goad it into action, but when he moves, it's at anything up to twenty-five miles an hour and a sidelong swipe from one of those great paws is guaranteed to remove a man's face.

  Desforge saw only the quarry he'd been seeking for so long and he gave a howl of triumph and started to run, harpoon at the trail, showing quite a turn of speed considering his age.

  The dogs were well out in front, but the Eskimo hunters from Narquassit looked considerably more reluctant and I knew why. In their mythology and folklore the polar bear holds roughly the same position as does the wolf for the North American Indian, a creature of mystery and magic with apparently all the cunning of Man: on the other hand, they weren't keen on losing their dogs and went after them fast and I brought up the rear.

  The bear loped across the strand and skidded onto the pack ice, making for the nearest water, a dark hole that was perhaps ten or twelve feet in diameter. He plunged in and disappeared from view as the dogs went after him closely followed by Desforge, the hunters some little way behind.

  I shouted a warning, but Desforge took no notice and started across the ice to where the dogs ringed the hole howling furiously. A moment later it happened--- one of the oldest tricks in the book. The bear sounded, striking out furiously with both paws, erupting from the water and falling across the thin ice with his whole weight. A spider's web of cracks appeared that widened into deep channels as he struck again.

  The hunters had paused on the shore, calling to the dogs to come back. Most of them managed it safely, yelping like puppies, tails between their legs, but three or four tumbled into the water to be smashed into bloody pulp within seconds as the bear surged forward again.

  Desforge was no more than ten or twelve feet away and he hurled the harpoon, losing his balance at the same moment and slipping to one knee. It caught the bear high up in the right side and he gave a roar like distant thunder and reared up out of the broken ice, smashing the haft of the harpoo
n with a single blow.

  Desforge turned and started back, but he was too late. Already a dark line was widening between him and the shore and a moment later he was waist-deep and floundering desperately in the soft slush. The bear went after him like an express train.

  Desforge was no more than four or five yards away from the shore as I burst through the line of hunters and raised the Winchester. There was time for just one shot and as the bear reared up above him I squeezed the trigger and the heavy bullet blew off the top of its head. It went down like a tower falling, blood and brains scattering across the ice and Desforge fell onto his hands and knees on the shore.

  He lay there for a moment as the hunters rushed forward to catch the carcase before it went under the ice. When I dropped to one knee beside him he grinned up at me, the teeth very white in the iron-grey beard as he wiped blood from his forehead with the back of one hand.