Send a Gunboat (1960)

by Reeman, Douglas

  He caught the helmsman’s eye. “’Ere, watch yer course!” he growled. “You Chinks need a white walkin’ stick instead of a compass!”

  He walked to the wing of the bridge, and stood breathing heavily, and tried to think of Mary.

  In the wardroom Vincent groaned with anguish as he stared at the occupied seats, and breathed the foul air of tobacco smoke and gin. Blast them, they were making the place into a combination of a club and a public meeting place.

  Laker glanced up. “What’s the news, eh? Are we still bent on self-destruction? I’m goin’ to have a word with that Lieutenant Fallow in a moment and tell him what I think about it!”

  Vincent jerked his hand at the steward, trying to shut out the angry voice which beat mercilessly into his brain. “Large whisky, steward!” Peng glanced at him impassively, as if to question the sense of Vincent’s order. All the stewards knew that Vincent was normally meticulous and careful about his drinking habits when the ship was at sea.

  He swallowed the drink, his eyes far away and desperate. What’s got into me? To let that fat oaf speak to me like a damned rating! He twisted in his chair, his disordered thoughts making him re-live all the miseries and insults which he had suffered. Wait until I get back. He tried to fan up the old familiar gloating feeling, but he could feel only emptiness. He tried to think methodically about the future, but there was nothing. Nothing! He stood up, startled, that was it! He was going to be killed! He glared round wildly, as if looking for a way of escape. What could he do? Now that the last pretence had fallen, he could only think of the dangers ahead. That was the future, there could be nothing else.

  He stumbled from that hateful place and hurried along the deck to his cabin. With a trembling hand he unlocked the cupboard and drew out a bottle of whisky. Fool, fool! he told himself, but with an almost frantic eagerness he felt for a glass.

  The door opened, and Ursula leaned quietly against it. Her eyes were anonymous behind the sun-glasses, but her full lips twitched in passing alarm as she studied him.

  “Going to hang one on, David?” Her voice was soft and cool.

  He gazed at her uncertainly. “Come in and shut the door, if you want to.”

  “This isn’t quite the pleasure cruise that I’d hoped. I thought I might have seen a little more of you,” she shrugged. “But everybody seems to be in such a panic!”

  He coloured, but before he could answer, she had sauntered lazily past him to stare at the framed photographs which were arrayed neatly about the cabin.

  She paused at each one. The self-conscious uniformed group taken at Dartmouth College. Another of Vincent smiling whitely beneath a rowing trophy, and the rest a photographic record of his career.

  “This looks like the way I’ve always imagined the navy,” she said, her voice still casual. “It’s so vast, so impartial, somehow!” She turned to face him, pulling away her glasses. “You can’t let all this go, David!” Her eyes blazed with green fire.

  He shifted his feet, suddenly conscious of the weight of the bottle in his hand. What was she talking about? Why was she tormenting him?

  She crossed to him, gently removing the whisky from his nerveless grip. The warm, animal smell of her full body stirred him, in spite of himself.

  “Don’t you see, David? Your Captain’s doing what he thinks is right! He messed up his career, nearly lost everything,” she waved away the numbed protest. “Yes, I know all about it! But even though this was his last chance, he didn’t hesitate in what he knew was his real duty!” She ran her hands along his shoulders. “He’s a man! A real man, and you should be man enough yourself to realize it! Follow his example and show a little trust!” She pouted, “Hark at me! I didn’t think I had it in me!”

  Vincent gaped at her in amazement. “You’re a queer girl, Ursula, and no mistake! I’m just a bit weak, I suppose.”

  She twisted the buttons of his tunic between her fingers, her lashes lowered. “I know differently!”

  Vincent pulled her against him, but there was no passion in his heart, only the desire to hide and be protected.

  She led him to the narrow bunk and together they laid in a tight embrace. Vincent’s forehead was screwed into a tight frown, and as the girl eased his head against her breast, he shivered violently. Ursula stared up at the whirring fan, a distant smile on her mouth.

  * * * * *

  The deck canted slowly as the gunboat swung away on to her new track, and Louch watched his engine dials morosely. I hope they know what they’re doing, he thought. There’s not enough fuel to spend all our lives steaming round and round in ruddy circles. He accepted the mug of tea from his leading stoker. “Ta!” he remarked distantly, and when he sipped the strong beverage, he spat with sudden anger. “For God’s sake, let’s get away from this blasted island!” But only the tired engines heard him.

  Chief Petty Officer Herridge stepped on to the bridge and saluted. “You wanted me, sir?”

  “Er—yes! About tonight, Chief. I’m not too ’appy about you goin’ after the Captain in a pullin’ boat!” Fallow eyed him sombrely, waiting for the tough Cornishman to pass judgement.

  “No option, is there?”

  They studied the chart and noted the seemingly endless tangle of reefs and shoals around their objective.

  “Think he’ll be there when we find the place, sir?” Herridge asked quietly. “He was taking on a hell of a lot, if you ask me!” Normally he would never have thought of discussing the matter with an officer, but he knew that Fallow wanted to talk to him about it, and he had not forgotten his own unspoken promise to Rolfe.

  Fallow rubbed his chins worriedly. “Lord knows! But whatever ’appens, we’re not out of the wood yet!” He glanced quickly around the bridge, some of his old nervousness showing in his eyes. “Why did we ’ave to lose the radio? If only we could tell somebody what ’as ’appened!”

  Herridge watched him calmly. Easy there! he thought, watch it now! Aloud he said, “I reckon he’ll get those people away all right. If he can’t, nobody can!”

  “Er—Chief,” began Fallow awkwardly, “there’s something I’d like your opinion on.” He paused, swallowing hard. “Some of the passengers think I should leave the Captain behind and clear off! That’s what Laker ’as just been to see me about!” He looked straight at the other man, his brown eyes desperate. “I know I shouldn’t be talkin’ to you like this, an’ it’s not fair of me to ask you. But I shall be out of the Andrew soon, and anyway, I’d like to know what you think about it!” he ended defiantly.

  Herridge watched the ensign flapping dejectedly from the gaff, his face cautious. “Well, sir, what exactly did you say to Mr. Laker?”

  Fallow’s face was comical. “I told him to bugger off!”

  Herridge’s eyes widened. “Then I reckon that was the correct answer, and very diplomatically put!”

  They grinned at each other, and then lapsed into a companionable silence.

  The Wagtail ploughed on, her fate decided.

  * * * * *

  Rolfe watched in silence as the girl cut open the small striped fish with Chao’s knife. She laid it on the tin first-aid box, and began to remove the bones.

  He was fascinated by even her casual movements, and as she tossed the hair back from her eyes and glanced across at her brother, he saw the serious pressure of her lips. She beckoned quietly, and held up the fish for his inspection. Already it was curling under the relentless heat.

  “I think we had better try to get him to eat. It might help to moisten his mouth.”

  Brian Felton moaned as Rolfe gently removed Chao’s white jacket from his pain-racked face. His eyes seemed to have fallen back into his head, and the scarred side of his twisted features no longer appeared so stark when compared to his grey, lifeless skin.

  “Here, Brian, have a go at some of your sister’s cooking!” Rolfe forced a grin. He was horrified by the appearance of Felton’s legs through the rents in his tattered trousers. The skin around the groin gleamed an angr
y yellow as if lit by an inner fire.

  Felton stared up at him, his eye at first blank and wavering. Then the thin mouth twisted, and he moved his hands weakly. “Try anything once! Hope it’s not poison!”

  Rolfe put a small piece between the man’s lips and watched him move his jaws in slow, jerky bites.

  “Chao says it’s good stuff,” Rolfe added. “If you just chew it, it might keep away the dryness a bit!”

  “Well said, Doctor!” the voice was just a mumble. “But I wish you’d take the rest for yourselves! It’s wasted on me.”

  Rolfe heard the girl draw in her breath and he looked up quickly as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.

  Chao crouched beside them, a cheerful smile on his face. “I feed him, Captain-sir! Me more experienced!” He slid his hand under Felton’s head and prattled away cheerily, while he fed the fish into Felton’s parched mouth.

  Rolfe stood up, his bare shoulders feeling stiff and dry with the growing pain of sunburn. It was as if all the air had been sucked out of the crater, and indeed from the whole islet, to leave a glowing bowl of heat and pain. He no longer sweated and his mouth burned continuously, making his tongue feel twice its size.

  He moved slowly around the crater, forcing himself to strain his eyes across the inviting green sea, and watch for any possible danger. He swayed slightly, and leaned his hands on the rock, unable to move, yet aware of the heat coursing up from the dry surface.

  He turned as Judith’s shadow crossed the ground. She had untied the shirt-tails from between her legs, and as she crouched down by the edge of the cliff, she drew her brown legs up inside the shirt, making a small tent for her body. Her hair, dusty and loose, draped protectively around her shoulders, but her lips were dry, and his heart ached as he saw the pink tip of her tongue trying vainly to ease their discomfort.

  “Your shoulders are getting very burned,” she said gravely, “I think you had better take the shirt for a bit!”

  Rolfe tried to laugh, but it was a cracked sound which he heard. “Much as I’d like that, Judith, I think we’ll carry on as we are!”

  She dropped her eyes and rubbed the sand with her bare foot. “I don’t know how you can say such things! I wish I could be as calm as you are.”

  He slipped down beside her, his breath pounding with the effort of movement.

  “I’m not a bit calm, as it happens,” he said soberly. “I keep thinking of what might happen if the Wagtail doesn’t come for us, or if we find we can’t get to her. I’m worried about moving Brian. He’s pretty bad, as you know, and any shock might finish his chance of survival!”

  She rested her chin on her knees and pulled the shirt collar up across her neck. Rolfe trembled as he saw the warm curve of her breast through the sagging front of the shirt. He clenched his fists helplessly. She looked so small and perfect that he had to tear his mind away from the prospect of being left either to die of thirst on this god-forsaken place or to submit to recapture. The thought of what could happen to her as a prisoner in Santu made him feel sick and weak.

  Her hand found his wrist and her wide, hazel eyes studied him with concern. “We shall be safe soon, Justin, I feel it!” She said it with such calm assurance that he had to turn his face away lest she should see the anguish in his eyes.

  “Tell me about Hong Kong,” she said suddenly. “I want to know about so much. I’m afraid I’m rather inexperienced, as you’ve probably gathered.”

  He moved closer to her, letting his sore skin rest against her small body. “I don’t know it really well, but if we get there we’ll tour the place together!” He twisted round suddenly. “Judith, there are so many things I want to tell you!” He watched her worriedly, but she smiled across at him, her face encouraging. “I’ve made a mess of everything here for you, and I’ve not done much better with my own life! I wanted to tell you before about—” he groped for the right words—“about my marriage, and all that happened!”

  “You don’t have to say anything about it,” she answered softly. “I may be pretty innocent in some ways, but your trouble showed on your face the first day you arrived!” Her grip tightened. “It’s all over now, isn’t it?” He nodded dumbly. “Well, that’s that, then!” She laughed quietly, “I’m mean and grasping, I don’t care about her, whoever she was! She couldn’t have been any good, or she would have appreciated you, as I do!”

  “Judith,” he felt his eyes smarting, “while we’ve got the chance, let me tell you now. I love you! I want you!”

  She leaned against him. “What, looking like this?” But her words trembled with pleasure.

  “Just like this, just as you are! You’ve known it all the time, haven’t you?”

  She nodded dreamily. “All the time!”

  He knew that she was forcing herself to be brave, and trying to shut out the misery which surrounded them like a wall, but they both drew comfort and fresh strength from each other.

  The day dragged on, and their bodies became weaker and more parched, while from above the sun searched out their last reserves of strength and drove them from their scanty cover.

  Talking became impossible, and the journeys back and forth to tend to Felton’s needs had the makings of a new nightmare.

  Rolfe pulled himself alongside the man’s twitching form and examined his bandages. His stomach protested against the vile smell of the wound, but he could only stare wretchedly at the sunken face, knowing that he could do nothing to help him.

  It was late in the afternoon when he saw the ship. At first he could only stare dully at the long grey hull, his mind vacant and uncomprehending. Then as the shape hardened in his brain, he croaked over his blistered shoulder. “A destroyer. Making for the harbour!”

  He felt rather than saw that the others had joined him, and he watched the strange ship curve slowly away from the shore, to skirt the long line of creaming reefs. A faint trail of smoke whispered from the squat funnel, and as she moved, her fittings and equipment flashed brightly in the glare. Above her powerful bridge the radar aerials turned slowly, while from her gaff a red flag fluttered half-heartedly in the humid air.

  “One of theirs?” Judith’s voice asked hoarsely.

  He nodded, feeling his hopes fading in the wake of the ship. “I know the type. Ex-Russian, ‘Gordy’ class destroyer.” His trained mind ticked off the grim facts. “She’s mounting four big guns, five-inchers, and a hell of a lot of other stuff!”

  They waited, watching the ship and still half-hoping that it might turn away again, for the mainland.

  Judith sighed, as the raked stem slewed round the last reef and past the distant headland. The destroyer was making for the anchorage outside the harbour.

  “So Major Ling has kept his word,” Rolfe muttered, as he stared at the sea, which was again empty.

  Judith’s mouth quivered slightly. “Does that mean that your ship won’t come?”

  “Fallow’d be a fool to risk it now!” he answered flatly. Then, as the new thought penetrated his swimming brain. “We must signal them to keep away!” He swallowed hard, not looking at them. “Wagtail has no radar, nothing! And the radio is finished! By the time we got Brian down to the water the destroyer would be on us, and the Wagtail would be sunk!”

  Chao padded quietly away, his features dull and fatigued.

  “What do you want us to do?” Judith asked at length.

  He gripped her shoulders, searching her upturned face. “You mean, you agree with what I just said?”

  “It was the only decision, Justin!” She tried to smile, but her eyes were misty and her mouth trembled uncontrollably. “We must find another way!”

  They laid down, their precious reserves spent.

  “I want to be with you, Justin. Nothing else matters any more.”

  He laid his forearm across his aching eyes. The rock seemed to be searing right through to his spine. “It’s as if someone never intended us to be happy together!” He felt her tears running hotly across his arm, and they lay,
clinging to each other in silence, closing their eyes against the mocking sun.

  When she eventually spoke again, her lips were practically against his ear, and her voice sounded dry and weak.

  “How far will the Wagtail be from here when it comes?”

  He glanced at her, worriedly; wrenching his sodden brain back into consciousness, but she shook her head gently. “It’s all right, Justin, I’m not going to break down again! I—I just wanted to know if we shall see the ship from here.”

  He lay back again, seeing the picture of the quaint little gunboat in his mind. “I told Fallow to approach from the south-east and lie off outside the reef barrier. Santu harbour is in the north-west corner of the island, and I thought it advisable to keep the mass of the land between the ship and the main bulk of Communist forces!” The effort of speech made him more tired, but he felt the girl suddenly wriggle up on to her elbow. When he squinted painfully towards her, he saw that she was frowning and her eyes were thoughtful.

  “Suppose, Justin, just suppose that the destroyer has been looking for your ship?” She seemed to be trying to stop herself from appearing excited. “It might be possible that they’ve given up the hunt and that’s why they’ve gone to the harbour?”

  He wrestled with the idea as she hurried on before he could interrupt.

  “After all, they still don’t know we’re here, and they probably believe we got away somehow in the motor-boat.” Her eyes were so full of sudden hope that he hated himself for having to spoil her eagerness.

  “Well, just supposing you’re right in your idea, Judith,” he began slowly, “and it’s quite a possibility. We would still have the task of lowering your brother down the cliff and getting him to the boat.” He shook his head heavily, suddenly weary of the whole business. “It would kill him.”

  “It was just an idea,” she said in a small voice.

  “That reef barrier is about two miles from here, and the Wagtail will haul off about a mile beyond that. I did think that the boat would be able to come right through to this islet for us, but,” he shrugged his sore shoulders, “it would take a long time and it would be risking the lives of every man and woman aboard, each minute that we were making the attempt.” He wanted to tell her that he was prepared to sacrifice the ship and everyone in it if it meant saving her life, but he knew that he couldn’t bring himself to do it.