A Hidden Heart of Fire

by Edna Dawes

  She was considerably gratified by Rod’s reaction—it compensated for last night. In fact, if she had ever wanted to cause a sensation, this was her moment, because four pairs of eyes widened with admiration when she entered with Matt and Meg. Rod said “Hello” casually, but his look betrayed him; Charlie gave a wolf whistle, and Ben’s conspiratorial wink warmed her heart.

  The fourth man came as something of a shock, because he was almost certainly the nocturnal wanderer she had seen the previous night. Rod introduced him as Alec Cook, a fellow-scientist, and went on to explain that Alec had given up the opportunity to join a large-scale polar expedition to assist on Wonara.

  “How do you do, Nancy?” Alec said, adopting her first name immediately, as Australians usually did. “I’m in charge of the music tonight, so if there is a particular tune you would like, let me know—and I’ll get the boat to bring it next month.”

  They all laughed, and Ben took up the theme by saying: “And I’m barman. What’ll you have? There’s beer—or beer.”

  He was exaggerating slightly, but Nancy chose beer because she didn’t care much for whisky and it was too early for some concoction Ben called a Kangaroo’s Side-splitter.

  Over the general conversation she studied Alec Cook. Of medium height, he had crisp, dark hair and intense brown eyes—probably some Italian blood in his ancestry—and was not more than thirty, she guessed. In contrast to the other men, Alec was relatively quiet and Nancy observed a withdrawn, almost secretive, air about him.

  Sheila Maitland arrived, looking slightly milkmaidish in a simple dress of yellow cotton. Alec had been watching the door and he tensed with awareness at her entrance. Several seconds later the Australian girl was surrounded by the staff of Wonara Research Station, all of them anxious to make her welcome and offer a drink. Nancy was left staring at the group. She herself had caused a sensation which had knocked them flat with admiration, but this girl had drawn everyone in the room to her side immediately!

  Ben touched Nancy’s elbow at that moment and said: “Seems a pity to waste this music. If you can stand a jackeroo-style quick step, let’s go.”

  Nancy had never experienced true friendship with a man, but as she was swung around the room in Ben’s arms, deep affection, respect and a feeling of kinship grew inside her. Why hadn’t some girl snapped him up when he was young? He must have been a knockout at thirty!

  “Why aren’t you married, Ben?” she asked.

  “She left me—couldn’t stand the life I led. Every time I went below the surface she died a thousand deaths—so she said.”

  “Did you never think of changing your occupation?”

  “No. This sort of life is in my blood. We both knew it wouldn’t work any other way. I see her from time to time.”

  “Has she married again?”

  “She’s still hitched up to me.”

  The English girl studied his brown, angular features. “I suppose your wife hasn’t red hair, by any chance?”

  His easy grin appeared. “At twenty she was a lot like you.”

  The music stopped and Ben led Nancy across the room to the crowd round Sheila.

  “Hi, Sheila,” he said. “This poor girl has bruised toes already, and I have hardly begun. Hey, Alec, put on some more music. I’m about to enslave my second partner. Look out, Meg,” he joked, “you’re next!”

  While Ben danced with Sheila, Charlie and Nancy discovered a mutual talent for the cha-cha, and the little Cockney soon had his partner laughing at his antics.

  The atmosphere in the mess-room, although progressively more uninhibited as time wore on, was not without its nuances. Nancy was watching Alec, who was watching Sheila; and Ben kept an eye on Rod, who couldn’t keep his eyes off Nancy. The only three really relaxed people in the room were Meg, Matt and the volatile Charlie.

  Sheila showed an interest in Nancy’s work. “You must think me very unfashionable,” she said with a smile, “but Wonara is not demanding, as far as social life is concerned. I have a magazine delivered every month by the boat, but it is usually months out of date by then. When I get back to civilization I’ll try to make up for it.”

  “How much longer are you likely to be here?”

  “Another year unless the money runs out before then. Poor Rod is working round the clock to get things done before the rainy season starts. When it does, we get occasional mountainous seas, and storms hit the island with annoying frequency. It makes his side of the project much more dangerous, because he goes down when conditions are not really ideal. Since Jim died he has had to do all his own photography, which slows things up, and with Alec just recovering from one of his attacks of malaria, the hours Rod has spent below the surface are too much for one man. What a pity you don’t know how to handle an underwater camera! You could have been useful during your visit.”

  Sheila had spoken quite normally—Nancy was almost sure there had been no hidden barb in her voice—yet that last sentence pricked her. That, then, was the difference between herself and the Australian girl. Sheila was admired as a courageous person who did extremely useful work; Nancy was regarded as a glamorous ornament.

  Suddenly a warm rush of anger filled her. She herself would not judge a person on appearances alone; so why should they? With this thought still burning inside her, she glanced up and caught Rod’s eyes. In an instant she was out of her chair and facing him.

  “You are the only person I haven’t danced with tonight, Rod!”

  His dancing was unimaginative, but Nancy didn’t let that deter her. Unless he wished to hold her very close against him, his hand had to rest on her bare waist. It would be interesting to discover how he coped with a battery of full-blooded feminine seduction when he was used to blonde, blue-eyed capability!

  She soon found out! At the end of the dance, Rod grabbed her wrists and said: “Let’s walk.”

  The mess-room was practically on the beach, so they stepped on to sand immediately. The cove was like a scene silvered with Christmas glitter and the warm breeze sent Nancy’s hair flying out behind her like the palm fronds above.

  They walked to the foot of a cluster of palms and stood watching the surf for several seconds before Rod let her wrist drop and said: “You made a dead set at me in there. Why?”

  Taken off-guard she replied: “You weren’t exactly uninterested.”

  “Look, Nancy, we have been on Wonara for twelve months. Any woman who looks and behaves as you do is asking for trouble. There is nothing I would like more, right now, than to take you over to my bungalow. The only things stopping me are the fact that you are here for another four weeks—and that however much you might excite me, I just don’t like you.”

  She gritted her teeth. “You don’t mince your words, do you?”

  “It is an Australian characteristic—and here’s another! We have no time for pretentiousness. This place may seem like beyond the black stump to you, but the people here have sacrificed their comfort willingly, in order to do important work. It gets my back up to see someone like you putting them down with socialite disdain. I can’t think of any way of getting rid of you before the boat comes, but if I had known what a packet of trouble I was going to land myself with, I would never have agreed to your visit.”

  She had started to shake. “If I could leave before the month is up, I would, believe me! But I’m afraid I can do nothing about my pretentiousness. Neither can I agree to go around in shapeless sacks so that you won’t be tempted to take me to your bungalow against your better judgment.”

  . . . Everyone carefully looked the other way when they went back, and Nancy felt her cheeks begin to burn. Ben came to her rescue once more by insisting that she should try his Kangaroo’s Side-splitter. She took it recklessly, then followed it with another.

  When she went to bed that night, she could not sleep, ashamed now for her half-teasing way of leading Rod on. He was too fine a person for the kind of easy flirtation which her city friends took in their stride.

  Restle
ssly she turned on her side, then went rigid. Silhouetted against the window was a dark figure. Someone was in her room! With Rod’s words still fresh in her ears she angrily reached for the small torch she kept beneath her pillow and pressed the switch. From out of the darkness, caught in the circle of yellow light, loomed a travesty of green and yellow features with bulging, outsize eyes and a hideous gaping mouth!

  Nancy was terrified and she screamed. The vision vanished, but she was still sobbing incoherently when Matt switched on the light. Frozen with shock, she hardly noticed Rod appear in her doorway, and between them the two men pulled out her mosquito net and helped her to her feet. Matt led her to the lounge while Rod looked for a possible snake It was unusual for one to get into the bungalows, but not unknown.

  When he came in, Matt asked him: “Any clues? I can’t get any sense out of her yet.”

  Rod shook his head and looked at the girl carefully. This was no act; she was scared out of her wits! He walked to the sideboard and poured a small tot of brandy.

  “Drink this,” he instructed her. “Whatever was there, has gone. Take your time, then tell us what frightened you.”

  She looked at him for the first time, a large figure clad only in the shorts he had pulled on in haste, his dark hair tousled from sleep. “I don’t think I should drink any more,” she said through her shudders.

  “Go on! The hair of the dog—or maybe the hair of the kangaroo, in this case.” He smiled sympathetically.

  The drink stopped her trembling sufficiently for her to describe what she thought she had seen.

  The two men looked at each other. “T’iang’s boys,” said Matt, and Rod nodded.

  “I’ll have a look around, but he’s sure to have gone by now.”

  “Watch your step, Rod. They may have got it in for you, after their last visit.”

  “You might check with Nancy to see if anything is missing.” He went out, and when the girl seemed recovered, Matt explained what the terrible vision had most likely been.

  “Do you remember my mentioning the gang of village youths who make occasional raids here? No doubt your arrival on the boat was noted and the sight of your expensive luggage, especially the camera, was too much of a temptation for them. We ought to have expected this, I suppose. That hideous face you described was one of the ceremonial masks worn by the natives of this part of the Pacific. They wear those masks so that we shan’t recognize them.”

  “So much for Rod’s theory that they wouldn’t come when the moon is full!”

  “Yes, and so much for his disciplinary action. We caught two of them last time, so he tied them up in the generator shed for the rest of the night. It must have been a frightening three hours, because they all live in dread of machinery of any kind. When Rod released them, he sent them off with a warning that it would be lengthened to a couple of days if he ever caught them again. We thought that threat would deter them, but apparently not.”

  “Shouldn’t you have gone with Rod?” she asked anxiously.

  “And leave you and Meg alone here?” He stood up. “We had better check if anything of yours is missing.”

  “I shouldn’t think so. I wasn’t asleep, so I saw him as soon as he climbed through the window. He ran off when I shone my torch on him.” She pushed back her hair. “Sorry I made such a fuss. Did I scare Aunt Meg?”

  “You gave us both a bit of a start, but I wouldn’t let Meg get up. She becomes very breathless when over-excited. I’ll make a cup of tea, now we are all awake.”

  He went through to the kitchen at the back, and Nancy gathered her courage together to go to her room for a housecoat and slippers, but she hadn’t crossed the room before Rod ran up the steps and announced: “No one, just as I thought—oh, where’s Matt?”

  “Making tea. I’m trying to feel brave enough to go for my housecoat.” She pushed back the heavy red hair which had swung across her face.

  “Would you like me to come with you?” he asked.

  She looked at him for several loaded seconds. “As long as you don’t think I have an ulterior motive.”

  “Tell me where I can find it,” he said tightly, heading for her room.

  “Over the chair by the bed,” she called to his back.

  They had tea, and Nancy curled up in a chair while the men discussed the possibility of acquiring a guard dog, or rigging up a trip-wire which set off an alarm. Rod walked restlessly about the room.

  “We should have an electric fence around the compound, and a series of burglar alarms.” He stopped in front of Nancy. “I’m sorry about this. I’ll sleep outside on the veranda for the remainder of the night if it will make you feel safer.”

  “No, that’s not necessary,” she replied quickly. “I’d like someone to go with me while I close the shutters, then I’ll be all right.”

  “Matt, you’ll do that, won’t you? If it is any consolation, Nancy, the man wouldn’t have harmed you in any way. All they ever do is steal what they fancy, then hop it.”

  “I’ll bear that in mind,” she said. “Thank you for coming over so promptly, Rod. Good night.”

  “Good night. Sleep well.”

  After the disturbance, Nancy slept late into the morning. Privately she had made some resolutions as a result of her wakeful hours last night, and as soon as Meg settled to re-read some letters, Nancy put on a bikini which had a matching cotton beach-coat, and went in search of Ben.

  As she crossed the compound she was surprised by Rod’s cheery greeting—surprised, because he was in his office and not out diving.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked, coming on to the veranda.

  “Fine, thanks. It all seems less terrifying in the light of the sun.” She walked on to prove there was no intention on her part to disturb the work of the research team, but it took a stern inner voice to tell her to do so.

  Rod showed no signs of his second disturbed night. His clear eyes shone and the sheer masculinity of him as he leant on the rail was like a magnet. Luckily, Nancy’s strength of purpose was strong enough to withstand temptation and she continued down the beach to the boathouse where she could hear a broad Australian bush song being given an uninhibited airing.

  Ben was standing in one of the boats tied up to the jetty, tinkering with the motor. Nancy watched him for several seconds and grinned to herself at the verse he was rendering.

  “Are you sure it was not your singing which broke up your marriage?” she asked in amusement.

  He looked up in dismay. “Stone the crows! If I had known you were there, I’d have done the polite version!”

  She laughed and took the hand he offered. “I’ll bet there isn’t one.” It was a short step into the boat.

  She sat hugging her knees while he wiped his brow with a large handkerchief. “Those Kangaroo Side-splitters are not for me, Ben. I’m sticking to beer, in future.”

  He looked at her in the crinkle-eyed manner he used so often. “You looked as if you needed one, after your session with Rod. When I told you to give him a dash of ginger, I didn’t mean undiluted. If you had a fight on your hands, I’m not surprised.”

  “We did fight—but not in the way you think,” she told him candidly.

  “You’re not stuck on him, are you?”

  “I may very well be if I sit around mooning every day,” she said with business like common sense. “I want to ask you a favour. Say no, if it’s impossible.”

  “Go on.”

  “I am quite capable as a skin-diver although I have never done deep diving alone, and I want to know if you would show me how to do underwater camera work.”

  “Hmm!” He scratched his head thoughtfully.

  He had seen the danger signals flare between his boss and this girl; would it be worth risking Rod’s anger to keep her occupied and out of harm’s way, or should he obey the rules? His decision was basically a selfish one, because he couldn’t resist the opportunity to get back in harness. It was possible to instruct his pupil without venturing too far down. In
fact, the fundamentals could be demonstrated in only ten to fifteen feet of water.

  “Before we start any instruction you’ll have to show me how good you are beneath the surface. Your idea of capability may be my idea of foolhardiness.”

  She jumped up and set the boat rocking. “You’re a darling, Ben!”

  “Yeah,” he agreed gruffly. “Let’s see what you call me after several lessons.”

  . . . They anchored off the western headland of the cove and put on rubber flippers. “Have you used a breathing set before?” Ben asked her.

  She shook her head. “Not like that one.”

  “The theory is quite simple. Look, like this.” He slipped over the side into the water, inserted the mouthpiece, and swam back and forth near the boat with his face just below the surface. The sea was so clear with the sun shining through it, that Nancy could see his every movement.

  He came up and held on to the boat while he pushed up the mask. “Get the idea?”

  “I think so.”

  Soon she was clinging to the boat, too, but he had some instructions to give before they set off.

  “Keep close to me all the time. I don’t know how your geography is, but most of the islands round here are in a volcanic belt and Wonara is no exception. As a result, there is a wide shelf which extends for a mile or so all around the island. Beyond that, the sea-bed drops away vertically like a cliff face, and a diver can get into serious trouble in that unfathomable area. Never, never go there alone. None of us would. Okay, off you go!”

  It was hypnotic beneath the waves. The crystalline blue caused by the sun through the sea lured Nancy on and on, and she soon got the hang of underwater communication as Ben pointed out all the interesting things to be found on and around the small reef. There were plants in unbelievable colours waving seductive fronds which lured fish to their doom as the singing sirens lured ancient mariners, and there were several innocent-looking creatures over which Ben waved his hand to indicate that they should be given a wide berth.