“Where have you been all day?” asked the doctor.
“I had to visit a plantation we’ve got over at the other end of the island. I thought I’d be back earlier, but the manager’s just had a son and he was giving a feast. I had to stay for it.”
“Fred was looking for you. He wanted to go for a walk.”
“I wish I’d known. I’d have taken him with me.” He threw himself into a chair and called for beer. “I’ve had the best part of ten miles to walk and then we had to row back half-way round the island.”
“Like to play chouette?” asked the skipper, giving him his sharp, foxy look.
“No, I’m tired. Where’s Fred?”
“Courtin’, I expect.”
“Not much chance of that here,” said Erik, good-naturedly.
“Don’t you be too sure. Good-lookin’ young fellow, you know. The girls fall for ’im. At Merauke I ’ad a rare job keepin’ ’em away from ’im. Between you and me and the gate-post I should ’ave said ’e clicked good and proper last night.”
“Who with?”
“That girl up there.”
“Louise?”
Erik smiled. The idea was quite preposterous to him.
“Well, I don’t know. She come and ’ad a look at the boat with ’im this mornin’. And I know ’e dolled ’imself up somethin’ fierce to-night. Shaved ’imself. Brushed ’is ’air. Put on a clean suit. I ask ’im what it was all about and ’e tell me to mind me own bloody business.”
“Frith was down here this morning,” said Dr. Saunders. “It may be he asked Fred to go and have supper there again to-night.”
“He ’ad supper on the Fenton,” said Nichols.
He dealt the cards. The players went on with their game. Erik smoking a big Dutch cigar watched them and sipped his beer. Now and again the skipper gave him that sidelong glance of his in which there was something so unpleasant that it sent a shiver down your spine. His little close-set eyes glittered with malicious amusement. After a while Erik looked at his watch.
“I’ll go down to the Fenton. Maybe Fred’d like to come fishing with me to-morrow morning.”
“You won’t find ’im,” said the skipper.
“Why not? He wouldn’t be at Swan’s as late as this.”
“Don’t you be too sure.”
“They go to bed at ten and it’s past eleven now.”
“Maybe ’e’s gone to bed, too.”
“Rot.”
“Well, if you ask me I think that girl looked as though she knew a thing or two. It wouldn’t surprise me if they was comfortably tucked up together at this very minute. And very nice too. I wish I was in ’is place.”
Erik was standing up. With his great height he towered over the two men seated at the table. His face grew pale, and he clenched his fists. For a moment it looked as though he would hit the skipper. He gave an inarticulate cry of rage. The skipper looked up at him and grinned. Dr. Saunders could not but see that he was not in the least frightened. A blow from that great fist would certainly have knocked him out. He was a mean skunk, but he had pluck. The doctor saw with what a tremendous effort Erik controlled himself.
“It’s not a bad plan to judge others by oneself,” he said, his voice trembling, “but not if one’s a mangy cur.”
“ ’ave I said anythin’ to offend you?” asked the skipper. “I didn’t know the lady was a friend of yours.”
Erik stared at him for a moment. His face showed the disgust he felt for the man, and his withering contempt. He turned on his heel and walked heavily out of the hotel.
“Wanting to commit suicide, skipper?” asked the doctor dryly.
“I known a lot of them big fellows. Sentimental, that’s what they are. Never ’it a chap smaller than yourself. Their minds don’t work quick, you know. A bit stupid, generally.”
The doctor chuckled. It diverted him to think of that rascal making shrewd use of the decent feelings of others to go his crooked, nasty way.
“You took a risk. If he hadn’t had himself well in hand he might have hit you before he knew what he was doing.”
“What was ’e upset about? Sweet on the girl ’imself?”
Dr. Saunders thought it unnecessary to tell him that Erik was engaged to Louise Frith.
“There are men who object to hearing their girl friends spoken of in that way,” he answered.
“Come off it, doc. Don’t pull that stuff on me. It don’t go with you at all. If a girl’s easy a chap likes to know. If someone else ’as been there, well, there’s a chance for ’im, ain’t there? Stands to reason.”
“You know, you’re one of the dirtiest tykes I’ve ever met, skipper,” said the doctor in his detached manner.
“That’s a compliment in its way, ain’t it? Funny part is, you don’t like me any the less if I am. Seems to me to prove you ain’t exactly a saint yourself. And I don’t mind tellin’ you I’ve ’eard as much in various quarters.”
Dr. Saunders’ eyes twinkled.
“Digestion troubling you to-night, skipper?”
“I ain’t exactly comfortable, and it would be a lie if I said I was. I don’t say I’m in pain, mind you, but I just ain’t comfortable.”
“It’s a long business. You can’t expect to be able to digest a pound of lead after a week’s treatment.”
“I don’t want to digest a pound of lead, doc, and I don’t pretend for a minute I do. Mind you, I ain’t complaining. I don’t say you ain’t done me good. You ’ave. But I got a long way to go yet.”
“Well, I’ve told you, have your teeth out. They’re no use to you, and God knows, they don’t add to your beauty.”
“I will. I give you me word of honour. The minute I’m through with the cruise. I don’t see why we can’t pop over to Singapore. Sure to be a good American dentist there. The kid wants to go to Batavia now.”
“Does he?”
“Yes, ’e got a cable this mornin’. I don’t know what it was all about, but ’e’s all for stoppin’ on ’ere a bit and then goin’ to Batavia.”
“How d’you know he got a cable?”
“I found it in the pocket of ’is pants. He put on a clean suit to go ashore in, and ’e left his pants lyin’ about. Untidy little blighter. That shows you ’e’s not a sailor. A sailorman’s always tidy. Has to be. It was all Greek to me. The cable, I mean. In cypher.”
“I suppose you didn’t notice that it was addressed to me?”
“You? No, I can’t say I did.”
“Well, have another look at it. I just gave it to Fred to decode.”
The doctor found it highly diverting thus to throw Captain Nichols off the scent.
“Then what’s the reason of all this changin’ around? He was always for keepin’ away from big places. Naturally, I thought it was on account of the cops. Anyhow, I mean to get to Singapore or sink the ruddy boat in the attempt.” Captain Nichols leaned over impressively and looked with deep emotion into the doctor’s eyes. “I wonder if you realise what it means to a chap not to ’ave ’ad a beefsteak and kidney puddin’ for ten years. Talk of girls. You can ’ave all the girls in the world you like. There’s not one I wouldn’t give if I could only eat a suet puddin’ with plenty of treacle and a good wallop of cream all over it. That’s my idea of ’eaven and you can put your golden ’arps where the monkey put the nuts.”
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