'My boy-friend, as you insist on calling him, has gone to visit relatives.'
'Oh, where?'
'I'm afraid I really couldn't say; he has relatives all over Aparoa,' Tansy replied airily.
'Which means that he's done a bunk and probably isn't on the island at all,' Blake responded dryly. 'In that case I have no choice.'
'No choice about what?' Tansy asked guardedly.
'You'll see. Get in the jeep, please.' His manner changed suddenly and he became curt and authoritative.
'Why? What for?'
But he didn't bother to answer, just propelled her to the waiting jeep where two soldiers stood guarding it. and Tansy saw with a sick feeling that they both carried rifles.
'Get in, Dr Harland.'
Tansy looked round at Blake uncertainly, but his eyes were cold as steel. Her heart sinking, she reluctantly obeyed him.
'Where are you taking me?' she demanded as he climbed in beside her and the jeep moved off.
He didn't even bother to look at her as he said matter-of-factly, 'To the prison. I'm putting you under arrest.'
Gazing at him in utter stupefaction, Tansy gasped, 'But—but you can't do that!'
Then he looked at her in derisive amusement. 'I told you, I can do anything I consider necessary.'
A cold chill of fear began to touch her, but she said bravely, 'You're bluffing to try to frighten me. Anyway, you can't use those cells in the prison any more, none of the locks have got keys.'
'They have now,' he replied calmly, his face expressionless. 'That's what my men were making at the forge this morning. I let it be known they were trying to make a replacement part in case you got the wind up and tried to get away. They finished the keys some time ago, but I thought I'd let you finish your clinic before I arrested you.'
'That's very big of you,' Tansy said sarcastically, then twisted round to look at the passing scenery, unwilling to let him see the consternation on her face. She had never thought that he would go this far; he must be bluffing, he must be! But when they drove through the gallows gate where convicts had once been hanged for all to see, and drew up in the courtyard, he merely said, 'Put her in the cell, Sergeant,' turned on his heel and marched away.
For a moment Tansy stared after him, at his ramrod- straight back and the arrogant thrust of his chin, but then the sergeant said, 'This way, miss,' and led her down a dark stairway, along an echoing passageway and then down some more stairs. Tansy knew where they were going, she had often played here as a child. She knew that down here were the dank cells without light and fresh air where the toughest prisoners had been manacled to the walls for weeks and months on end, without hope, without the mercy of death.
Despite all her attempts at fortitude, she drew back with a shudder as the sergeant pulled upon the massive iron door with a trap for the jailor to look through, and motioned her to go inside. She looked at him pleadingly.
'Sorry, miss. Major's orders.'
Then Tansy's chin came up. She wouldn't let him think she was afraid. So with her head high she stepped boldly into the cell. The heavy door clanged shut behind her, she heard the key turn in the lock, then the trap in the door was closed and she was left in total darkness!
Carefully she groped her way to the opposite wall and leaned against it, only to stand up quickly again as the cold, damp stones touched her skin. The cell must be under the stream that served the prison with drinking water and had seeped down through the old walls. In the light from the corridor when she had entered she had seen that the cell was completely bare, no bed or chair, nothing! If Blake had it in mind to wear her down then he was going all out to do it. No holds barred. She wouldn't give in, she thought defiantly. She could take the cold, the damp, and the darkness, take that and more besides before she would let him win this battle.
When next someone came to the cell and opened the trap Tansy was standing in the far corner, huddled against the wall with her arms wrapped round herself to try to keep warm. She gazed at the small square of light as a person lost in the desert gazes at a mirage. Then the light was blocked out as someone looked in on her. She heard an explosive bellow of rage and recognised Tupuhoe's voice. So that was Blake's ploy; to hold her as a hostage until Tupuhoe gave up the engine part. Fiercely she hoped that he wouldn't give in. But Tupuhoe looked upon her as a daughter and would be terribly angry and upset at seeing her in these conditions, which was precisely why Blake had let him see her.
Running to the door, Tansy tried to call out to him that she was all right, not to give in. But the sergeant immediately slammed the metal trap shut and the darkness closed in again.
For a long time her thoughts raced as she wondered what was happening in the prison office above her, then the outside images faded and she became aware only of her surroundings. The cold became more intense and she began to shiver uncontrollably. Her legs ached with standing and she longed to sit down, but the floor was wet with slime from the drops of moisture that fell from the ceiling, often dripping on her in the darkness and frightening her until she realised what they were. As the time dragged on she became hungry and thirsty, not having eaten since the early morning, and then only coffee and toast. The silence was intense, only the plop of the drips of water convincing her that she hadn't gone deaf. Then she heard a slight sound in the corner. At first she thought she was mistaken, but then it came again— a small, scratching sound. Tansy felt her skin begin to prickle with fear as well as with cold. She tried to back away, but was brought up short by the wall, her breath coming in little sobbing pants of fear. The noise came again, nearer, and little beads of perspiration broke out on her forehead as she stared wild-eyed into the impenetrable darkness.
Then something wet and furry brushed against her bare ankles. Tansy screamed in agonised terror and threw herself across the cell, groping frantically for the door. Frenziedly she beat against the iron panels with her fists, her screams filling the cell. By the time the sergeant got the door open she was on her knees in front of it, sobbing hysterically as she continued to beat upon it. The man lifted her to her feet and half dragged, half carried her up flights of stairs and along a corridor as she held on to him desperately, unable to feel anything but that moment of panic-stricken terror.
He pushed open a door and led her into a room where the sunlight was so bright that it hurt her eyes and she put her hands up to shield them. There were confused noises around her, of surprise, of anger. Someone sat her in a chair and gave her something to drink, but her hands were shaking so much that she couldn't hold the glass so somebody held it for her. It must have been brandy or some other spirit, because it made her choke and she tried to push it away. But whoever was holding it said, 'Drink it!' in a harsh, commanding voice. When she obeyed it brought warmth and feeling flooding back, although her teeth still chattered from cold and fright.
A warm blanket was put round her shoulders and somebody began to rub her hands vigorously. Opening her eyes properly at last, she saw that it was Tupuhoe, his lined face filled with concern. The next instant she was held fast in his arms as he muttered curses a thousand years old at someone behind her. Slowly Tansy raised her head and saw that she was in the converted office in the prison and that there were several people in the room. Besides Tupuhoe, dressed in his best Sunday suit, there was the sergeant, and two other soldiers who stood on either side of the door, and standing near the window, holding the glass from which she had just drunk and gazing back at her, was Blake Aston. His lips were drawn into a grim line in his set face and there was a look in his eyes of intense inner anger, held firmly in check.
Tansy turned away from him, aware of her hair clinging damply to her head, of the smears of dirt and green slime on her clothes. Looking up at Tupuhoe, she managed a smile and said in a voice that belied her words, 'I'm fine now. Really I am.'
Blake's voice behind her said, 'In that case you can be returned to your cell.'
Blake couldn't see the way that her face blanched with fear, but Tup
uhoe could. Holding her hands tightly, he turned to Blake and said indignantly in English, 'You cannot do this to her. It is cruel.'
'The remedy is in your hands,' Blake replied coldly. 'Return the part you took from the bulldozer and Dr Harland is free to go.'
Tansy stood up, trying not to tremble, not to think ahead. 'I'm quite ready to go back.' Then quietly to Tupuhoe in Polynesian, 'I'm all right. It was only a rat that scared me. I won't be afraid any more. Please don't let him win.'
The headman sadly shook his grey head. 'You are very brave, my daughter, but I cannot let you do this.' He looked over her head at Blake. 'You will give me your word that you will let Tansy go?'
'You already have it.'
Loosening his tie, Tupuhoe undid the top button of his shirt, revealing the part on a string round his neck. It had been carefully cleaned and polished until it shone. He placed it on the long table and Tansy heard Blake step briskly over to pick it up and examine it.
'It's still in good order. Very well, Dr Harland, you can go. The sergeant will escort you home.'
'I will take Tansy home,' Tupuhoe intervened.
'I'm afraid that won't be possible. You are still under arrest, Tupuhoe,' Blake said crisply.
Then Tansy turned to stare at him. 'Why?' she burst out. 'As a guarantee of our future good behaviour? You've got your damn bulldozer back in one piece. What more do you want?'
'There is still the matter of the missing explosives,' he replied evenly.
Tansy felt as if her legs had suddenly gone limp. 'When did you find out?' she asked dully.
'As soon as I returned here after the feast. The thieves had neglected to cover the tracks of the horse and cart. There hadn't been any horses near the prison since you forbade everyone to sell us food, so it was easy enough to follow the tracks as far as your stable. I soon found the dynamite was missing and then checked on the bulldozer.'
'But why did you only ask about the engine part?' Tansy said in bewilderment. 'Surely the dynamite was much more important?'
'I really don't think it necessary to explain my methods to you, Dr Harland,' Blake said coldly. He looked at the sergeant and nodded towards Tupuhoe. 'Take the old man and put him in the same cell the woman was in.'
Then Tansy saw it all. He had played on Tupuhoe's feelings for her to get the bulldozer part back and now he was going to use her feelings for Tupuhoe to get the explosives. Her face bleak, she crossed the room to stand opposite him. 'You can't do that, and you know it. Tupuhoe is an old man and he suffers from asthma.' She could have added that too many hours in the damp cell could kill him, but she didn't have to; Blake knew that already.
'I shall do what I have to, Dr Harland. That dynamite could be dangerous if it got into the wrong hands. Do you want someone to get blown to pieces because of your folly?'
'Oh, it's very well hidden, where no one, especially you, will ever find it,' Tansy retorted.
Scathingly he said, 'There's really no point in holding out. I can always have more dynamite brought to the island.'
'But not without making yourself look a fool in the eyes of your superior officers! And that's what this is all about, isn't it?' Tansy said, her face set in lines of utter contempt. 'You have to get the explosives back because you just can't bear to think that a tribe of primitive natives got the better of you! That's why you're threatening a woman and an old man. You're a coward, Major! A despicable coward!'
Blake's eyes stared into hers, the pulse at his temple beating fast as his face darkened. With a loud crack a pencil he had been holding snapped in two. He took a deep breath before he said, 'Do I put him in the cell or don't I?'
Tansy suddenly felt very tired. 'No. I'll tell you where it is.' She went slowly to the open window and leant against the stone surround, feeling completely drained of energy. They had had such high hopes of their plot, but Blake had beaten them hollow, got back everything that was lost in less than a day. In the room behind her she could hear orders being given, the door opening and closing, marching feet on stone, then she saw Tupuhoe being escorted across the courtyard to walk freely through the gateway.
Raising her eyes, she saw that the sun had already begun its descent and realised that she must have been locked in the cell for over two hours, then hastily thrust the memory of that terrible time away from her thoughts. Except for the mountain, this was one of the highest points on the island and she could just make out the tips of the palm trees on one of the tiny coral atolls far out on the horizon, turned now to gold in the shafts of the sun. Her eyes gradually widened as an idea occurred to her. Suppose she told Blake that the explosives were hidden somewhere else? The idea, once born, began rapidly to be enlarged and she had to put on a careful act of deep dejection when she turned round, in case anyone saw the light of hope deep in her eyes.
But there was only Blake in the room, leaning against the table, quietly waiting for her. He straightened up as she turned and said, 'Would you like another drink?'
Tansy shook her head wordlessly.
'I expect you'd like to change before we go.'
'Go?'
'I think it would be best if you showed me yourself exactly where the explosives are hidden.'
Tansy raised her eyes to his for a moment and then lowered them. 'Of course, you would want that, wouldn't you?'
He held the door open for her and she walked ahead of him out of the prison. Out in the road she stumbled over a stone and Blake went to help her, but Tansy wrenched her arm away and glared at him with deep hatred in her eyes. 'Don't you dare touch me!'
He opened his mouth to say something, then shut it in a grim line and stepped back to let her precede him into the jeep. At the house he followed her inside. Inara came from the kitchen and exclaimed with horror when she saw the state that Tansy was in. The normally placid native woman poured a stream of murderous Polynesian at Blake's head until Tansy broke in to ask her to make her something to eat. The cool, clean water of the shower was a delight as Tansy scrubbed herself clean of the filth from the cell, using her favourite scented soap to take away the smell of that dank place. Towel-drying her hair, she put on clean slacks and a sweater, knowing that she might need it before the day was out.
Blake was waiting in the hallway, but Tansy ignored him and went into the kitchen to eat the omelette Inara had prepared for her. Not until she had finished did she look at him. 'What have you done with Tupuhoe?' she asked.
He stirred in the chair where he had been waiting in apparent patience. 'He's under house arrest. The guard will be removed as soon as I have the explosives back safely. Where on the island is it hidden? Can we get there by jeep?'
Tansy schooled her features into a disdainful look. 'You don't think we'd be foolish enough to hide it on Aparoa, do you? It's on another island entirely.'
She turned to despondently take an orange from the overloaded fruit bowl on the table, her heart beating against her ribs. That Blake didn't trust her an inch she was quite certain, but her listless manner must have convinced him, because he said, 'I'll order my men to have the boat made ready for sea.'
'That won't be necessary. Your beautiful boat would be useless. It's hidden on a coral atoll that can only be reached by canoe. I'll order my rowers to have my canoe made ready,' she added in sarcastic imitation of his tone.
'So you're coming back to life, are you? If you're ready we'd better leave at once,' he added pointedly.
Tansy rose with feigned reluctance and let him drive her down to the harbour. Once there she turned to ask one of the children to fetch Teiho and the others, but Blake stopped her.
'Oh, no, you don't. I don't intend to be outnumbered on this trip. You and I are going alone.'
'But—but it's a long way,' said Tansy, trying to hide her consternation.
'Then we'd better get going, hadn't we?'
Before she had time to protest or think of some way of making him change his mind, Tansy found herself in the prow of a canoe with Blake kneeling in the stern, propelling
it strongly through the water.
'I didn't know you could paddle a canoe,' Tansy remarked waspishly.
'So now you do. Turn round and look out for coral- heads.'
Rather sulkily Tansy obeyed him, knowing that their safety would depend on her watchfulness. Once outside the harbour, Blake put up the sail that sent the canoe gliding through water so clear that she could see rocks and shells, and fish swimming in the translucent green depths below as the waves of the great ocean formed and fled in the golden sunlight. It was a silent journey except when she told him in which direction to steer, for she was busily thinking ahead to how she would handle the situation when they reached the coral atoll.
At length the tops of its few trees and shrubs came into view and Tansy leant back to pick up another paddle. 'We have to go round to the other side of the island.'
Carefully they paddled round, holding the canoe back from the tide that threatened to carry it on to the reef. On the lee side of the island an outcrop of rocks jutted out to sea and Tansy steered towards them. 'It will be better if you jump for the rocks,' she called back over her shoulder without taking her eyes from the dangerous shore. 'Then you can catch hold of the canoe while I get out and we can lift it over the rocks into the lagoon.'
'Isn't there a way through the reef?' Blake almost had to shout above the roar of the surf.
'Yes, but it's very small. My rowers know it, but I'm not sure. It will be safer the other way. Or else we can go back and get the natives,' she added to press home her point.
He hesitated, then, 'No, we'll do as you say. Take her in close and try and hold her steady.'
A quick look over her shoulder showed her Blake braced to jump as she took advantage of a wave to go in near to a big, flat-topped rock. She felt the canoe lighten with a jerk as he leapt out. One look ensured that he had landed safely and was picking himself up, and then she had the paddle dipping deeply into the water and scudding dangerously near the reef as she put as much distance as she could between them. She heard a shout behind her, but took no notice. Let the hateful man find out for himself what it was like to be alone and cold in the dark, but on a deserted island instead of in a damp cell!
Sally Wentworth - Conflict In Paradise Page 11
