grenadier uards, you know, carter. Why the sudden concern?”
“You heard what dr. Marston said. Captain bullen. He’s
in a critical condition with a hole through his lung.”
“Ah, I think I understand. You agree, doctor?” I held my breath.
The chances were that the old boy hadn’t even the faintest idea what we
were talking about. But again i’d underrated ills astuteness.
“For a man with a ruptured lung,” be said gravely, “there can be
nothing worse than a smoke-laden atmosphere.”
“I see. Jose!” carreras spoke rapidly in spanish to the guard,
who grinned amiably, got to his feet, and made for the door, picking up
a chair en route. The door swung to behind him.
“No discipline.” tony carreras sighed. “None of this brisk
sentry-go marching and counter-marching like buckingham palace, mr.
carter. A chair tilted against a wall. Our latin blood, I fear. But,
I warn you, none the less effective a guard for all that. I see no harm
in his keeping a watch outside; apart from jumping out through one of
the windows into the sea below not that you are in any condition to do
that anyway can’t see what mischief you can get up to.” he paused,
looked at me consideringly. “You are singularly incurious, mr. carter.
Far from being in character. Makes one suspicious, you know.”
“Curious about what?” I growled. “Nothing to be curious about.
How many of those armed thugs do you have aboard the campari?”
“Forty. Not bad, eh? well, thirty-eight effectives. Captain
bullen killed one and you seriously damaged the hand of another. Where
did you learn to shoot like that, carter?”
“Luck. Cerdan recovered yet?”
“Yes,” he said briefly. He didn’t seem to want to talk about
cerdan.
“He killed dexter?” I persisted.
“No. Werner, the nurse-the one you killed to-night.” for
a professed humanitarian, the death of one of his colleagues in
crime left him strangely unmoved. “A steward’s uniform and a tray of
food at face level. Your head steward, white, saw him twice and never
suspected, not that he went within thirty feet of white. And it was
just dexter’s luck that he saw this steward unlocking the radio room.”
“I suppose that same murderous devil got brownell?”
“And benson. Benson caught him coming out of the radio room after
disposing of brownell and was shot. Werner was going to dump him
straight over the side, but there were people directly underneath. He
dragged him across to the port side. Again crew beneath. So he emptied
a life jacket locker and put benson inside.” carteras grinned. “And
just your bad luck that you happened to be standing right beside that
locker when we sent werner up to dispose of the body, just before
midnight last night.”
“Who dreamed up this scheme of having the false marconi man in
kingston drill through from the wireless office to the cold-air trunking
in cerdan’s room below and buttoning the earphones permanently into the
wireless officer’s receiving circuit? cerdan, your old man, or you?”
“My father.”
“And the trojan horse idea. Your father also?”
“He is a brilliant man. Now I know why you were not curious. You
knew.”
“It wasn’t hard to guess,” I said wearily. “Not, that is, when
it was too late. All our troubles really started in carracio. And
we loaded those huge crates in caracio. Now I know why the stevedores
were so terrified when one of the crates almost slipped from its slings.
Now I know why your old man was so damned anxious to inspect the hold
not to pay his respects to the dead men in their coffins, but to see how
his men were placed for smashing their way out of the crates. And then
they broke out last night and forced the battens of the hatch. How many
men in a crate, carreras?”
“Twenty. Rather uncomfortably jammed, poor fellows. I think they
had a rough twenty-four hours.”
“Twenty. Two crates. We loaded four of those. What’s in the
other crates?”
“Machinery, mr. carter, just machinery.”
“One thing I am really curious about.”
“Yes?”
“What’s behind all this murderous business? kidnap? ransom?”
“I am not at liberty to discuss those things with you.” he
grinned. “At least, not yet. You remaining here, miss beresford, or do
you wish me to escort you up to your parents in the drawing room?”
“Please leave the young lady,” marston said. “I want her
to help me keep a twenty-four-hour watch on captain bullen. He
might have a relapse at any moment.”
“As you wish.” he bowed to susan beresford. “Good night, all.”
the door closed. Susan beresford said, “so that’s how they came
aboard. How in the world did you know?”
“How in the world did I know? you didn’t think they had forty men
hidden up inside the funnel, did you? once we knew it was careras and
cerdan, it was obvious. They came aboard at carracio. So did those
huge crates. Two and two, miss beresford, have never failed to add up
to four.” she flushed and gave me a very old-fashioned look, but I
ignored it and went on: “you both see what this means, don’t you?”
“Let him tell us, doctor,” miss beresford said acidly. “He’s just
dying to tell us.”
“It means that there’s something very, very big behind it all,” I
said slowly. “All cargoes, except those in free ports and under certain
transshipment conditions, which don’t apply here, have to be inspected
by customs. Those crates passed the carracio customs-which means that
the customs know what’s inside. Probably explains, too, why our
carracio agent was so nervous. But the customs let it pass. Why?
because they had orders to let those crates pass. And who gave them the
orders? their government. And who gave the government its orders? who
but the generalissimo? after all, he is the government. The
generalissimo,” I went on thoughtfully, “is directly behind all this.
And we know he’s desperate for money. I wonder, I wonder?”
“You wonder what?” marston asked.
“I don’t really know. Tell me, doctor, have you the facilities for
making tea or coffee here?”
“Never yet seen a dispensary that hadn’t, my boy.”
“What an excellent idea!” susan beresford jumped to her feet.
“I’d love a cup of tea.”
“Coffee.”
“Tea.”
“Coffee. Humour a sick man. This should be quite an experience
for miss beresford. Making her own coffee, I mean. You fill the
percolator with water
“Please stop there.” she crossed to my bedside and looked down at
me, her face without expression, her eyes very steady. “You have a
short memory, mr. carter. I told you the night before last that I was
sorry very sorry. Remember?”
“I remember,” I acknowledged. “Sorry, miss beresford.”
“Susan.” she smiled. “If you want your coffee, that is.”
“Blackmail.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, call her ‘susan’ if she wants,” dr.
Marston interrupted irritably. “What’s the harm?”
“Doctor’s orders,” I said resignedly. “O.k. Susan, bring the
patient his coffee.” the circumstances were hardly normal: I could get
back to calling her miss beresford later on.
five minutes passed, then she brought the coffee. I looked the
tray and said, “what? only three cups? there should
e four.”
“Four?”
“Four. Three for us and one for our friend outside.”
“Our friend you mean the guard?”
“Who else?”
“Have you gone mad, mr. carter?”
“Fair’s fair,” marston murmured. “‘john’ to you.” she looked
coldly at him, glared at me, and said icily, ‘have you gone mad? why
should I bring that thug coffee. ’11 do nothing
“Our chief officer always has a reason for his actions,” Marston
said in sharp and surprising support. “Please do as he asks.”
she poured a cup of coffee, took it through the outside door, and
was back in a few seconds.
“He took it?” I asked.
“Didn’t he just. Seems he’s had nothing except a little water to
drink in the past day or so.”
“I can believe it. I should imagine that they weren’t too well
equipped in the catering line in those crates.” I took the cup of
coffee she offered me, drained it, and set it down. It tasted just the
way coffee ought to taste.
“How was it?” susan asked.
“Perfect. Any suggestion I made that you didn’t even know how to
boil water I withdraw unreservedly.”
she and marston looked at each other and then marston said, “no
more thinking or worrying to do to-night, john?”
“Nary a bit. All I want is a good night’s sleep.”
“And that’s why I put a pretty powerful sedative in your coffee.”
he looked at me consideringly. “Coffee has a remarkable quality of
disguising other flavours, hasn’t it?”
I knew what he meant and he knew I knew what he meant.
I said, “dr. Marston, I do believe I have been guilty of
underestimating you very considerably.”
“I believe you have, john,” he said jovially. “I believe you have
indeed.”
I became drowsily aware that my left leg was hurting, not badly,