Tiger Island bby Carl Jacobi
Page 1
Thrilling Adventures, May, 1937
HE island came into sight off the of the wheelhouse to meet the skipper who Morinda’s port bow at six bells in the
had just come up from below.
T afternoon watch. Haxton was on the “There she is, sir,” Fail said, eyeing bridge when Fail, the first officer, strode out without interest Captain Ganler’s drink
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2
reddened face. “Tiger Rock dead ahead. We
New Guinea coast. But Ganler had discovered
slide in to the lee of it, same as before, eh?”
something that put copra in second place in
He awaited confirmation.
his mind. He had outlined the situation to
Ganler swayed slightly, jerked the Haxton before sailing.
glasses to his eyes. He looked a long time,
Just south of the line in longitude 142o
first at the island and the little cove, then at the 19' E., was Tiger Island. A British possession, horizon. Then he nodded.
uninhabited, with a virgin bed of pearl oyster
“Quarter speed. See if you can find the
on the south bank. Outside the Queensland
same anchorage. Haxton!” he answered boundaries; therefore open fishing.
thickly.
“But it’s sixteen fathoms and too deep
Haxton, a frown on his lean face, for the natives,” Ganler had said. “I need turned and came forward. He hadn’t liked
another diver. I’ll pay you regular rates and
Ganler’s looks the day he came aboard. Now
passage back. What say?”
that the skipper was drunk, he liked them even
Haxton entered his cabin, opened a
less.
chest and began to haul out his heavy diving
“Haxton—”
Ganler rubbed a beefy dress. There was a fly in the ointment hand over his unshaven face and spat over the
somewhere, he felt sure. It was odd for one
rail, “haul that newfangled diving gear of thing, that a ship of such low tonnage carried a yours on deck and get ready for a dive. Move,
wireless in these seas. Yet that proved to be
damn you! Want to get as many shells as we
the one favorable item. For Simms, the
can before dark. Fail will go down with you.”
wireless op, was the only man with whom
For a moment while he relit his cigar,
Haxton had cared to make friends. There was
Haxton studied the skipper coldly. Then he
something about his quiet attitude that
nodded, stepped to the port ladder and headed
inspired confidence.
below.
The diving dress laid out on the floor,
Somehow this job, which had seemed
Haxton stripped and donned a suit of
such a gift from the gods before, had taken on
underwear. He was pulling on his heavy socks
an unsavory aspect. Not to have accepted when the door opened and Simms entered.
would have meant another two months on the
“Hello,” the op said. “Understand you
beach back in Port Moresby, of course. Pearl
want me to handle your lines.”
fishing was pretty much a closed game these
He was a tall man. Clear grey eyes
days. A diver out of work couldn’t be very
were shining pleasantly under the visor of his
choosy.
blue cap. Haxton nodded.
“Help me carry this stuff out on deck.
YET he had known what he was up against
I’m going down right away.”
when he shipped. The Morinda was a dirty, rat By the time two Malays on the after
infested tramp. Captain Ganler had a blood
well-deck had clumsily helped Haxton into his
temper that came to a head on the slightest
rubber suit, the Morinda had reached a point provocation. Fail, the first mate who was to
just within the entrance to the cove. Ganler
help with the diving, was a hard faced bawled a command. A gong clanged, and the scoundrel. A nondescript Limey for a Second,
engines came to a dead stop. The anchor chain
Eurasian quartermasters, and a lascar Chinese
shot out through the hawse hole. Beyond,
fo’c’sle didn’t improve the picture.
Tiger Island presented its silent, palm-fringed The
Morinda had come up through the
shore.
Dampier straits, taking on copra along the
Fail got into his own suit, a cheap
Tiger Island
3
piece of shoddy that had seen better days, and
With his lamp feebly illuminating his
the two divers stood waiting orders.
movements, Haxton seized the nearest. Fail
“Now listen.” Ganler looked at them
stepped to his side; they pressed their helmets with bloodshot eyes. “Fail, you go down first.
together, a method of conversing under water.
Three jerks on the line if it’s the right spot,
“You work here. I’ll go farther in.
and Haxton follows. It’s sixteen fathoms, but
Take the big ones, not those that are too
you’re stayin’ below until you get a good load.
young.”
Remember, we’re after pearls, not button
Haxton nodded. He looked down at the
shells.”
oyster bed. No yellow or inferior green edged
The copper helmet was fastened down
shells here. They were pure white. Chances
on the head of the first mate. He went overside were, it would be rich in pearls.
in a stream of bubbles. Almost immediately
When the basket was filled, Haxton
his line jerked three times. Haxton motioned
sent it up, watching it disappear like a fat
Simms to his side.
porpoise in the murk. His eyes had grown
“Ganler’s drunk, so I’m depending on
more accustomed to the depth now, and he
you,” he warned. “That pump—”
stared about him curiously. Funny no one had
“Don’t worry,” Simms nodded, as he
thought to fish here before. But of course most replied quietly. “If any of these swabs British islands lay inside the Australian interfere, there’ll be trouble.”
boundaries.
Simms helped the Malays place the
Five more baskets, and Haxton moved
helmet on Haxton’s head. He gave it a quarter
slowly in toward the island. He selected shells turn, locked it into position. The lead belt and with an experienced eye. Abruptly he noticed
heavy breastplate were already secured. a darker shape lying on the ocean floor some Haxton seized his electric lamp. Native distance ahead. Curious, he hesitated a handlers lifted him overside onto the sea moment, began to work his way toward it.
ladder.
An instant later he was standing rigid,
For an instant he hung there, the water staring down. An inert, armored figure lay swishing over his head. Then with a jerk, he
there, half hidden in the marine growth. The
began to descend. The water changed quickly
figure was that of another diver, his life line from blue to pea green. Air gurgled out the
&n
bsp; and airhose lying in a twisted tangle beside
exhaust valve in the back of his helmet. He
him.
swallowed several times to relieve the heavy
Dead! For a moment Haxton’s brain
sensation in his ears and throat. Down, down
refused to act. Then a succession of thoughts
he went, while the pressure against his suit
assailed him. A dead diver here on the sea
slowly increased.
floor—The Morinda alone had visited these An eternity, and then abruptly his lead shoes
waters in recent months—Then the man was
struck bottom.
off the Morinda on her previous trip. But what He jerked his life line once, stood had caused the accident, if accident it was?
motionless, waiting for that first dizzy feeling Unmindful of Fail who had
to pass. He switched on his lamp and looked
approached and stood glaring at him, Haxton
about him. Five feet away stood Fail. bent down and examined the rubber-clad Magnified by the water, the man seemed twice
body. Wide-open eyes stared at him out of the
his ordinary height.
faceplate. But he saw no mark of violence on
Two large wire baskets settled to the
the suit.
bottom, each at the end of a separate line.
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4
THIRTY seconds, Haxton like a wooden bothers with a wireless. I signed on the day image, remained transfixed to the spot. Then
before you did, you know, and only because
he seized his line, jerked twice in rapid my last ship was being scrapped by her succession.
owners.”
Immediately the line tightened, and he
was jerked upward. He ascended swiftly to the
HAXTON nodded, finished dressing in
approximate seventy foot level. There he silence. He slid into a suit of white drill, then stopped, swayed with the current, while the
strode across to the locker and took out an
necessary period of decompression sailed by.
automatic.
When he finally gained the deck,
“You might need this,” he said,
Haxton waited until his suit was entirely handing it to Simms. “Won’t hurt to have it removed before he answered the skipper’s along at any rate. I’m going up and have a sullen glare.
look at our position.”
“Ganler,” he said, “there’s a dead diver
Haxton made his way quickly to the
down there. Dead and off this ship. I want to
bridge and the deserted charthouse. With a
know what it means.”
quick glance over his shoulder he bent over
Ganler wiped his mouth, clamped his
the table and examined the chart which lay
yellow teeth down harder on his greasy pipe.
upon it. Carefully he traced the Morinda’s
He glared at Haxton sneeringly.
course from Port Moresby. Almost directly on
“Keep your shirt on,” he snarled. “That
the equator a circle in red ink had been drawn
diver was a dirty Malay I picked up in Rabaul.
around a pinpoint whose marking read: Tiger
Can I help it if his suit was old and rotten? His Island. With the aid of dividers Haxton
line busted, that’s all.”
checked the position.
“His air hose broke?” Haxton repeated
Frowning, he stood up, drew a cigar
unbelievingly.
from his pocket. The island was in the location
“Sure.”
Ganler had said, British owned and outside of
“Why didn’t you tell me about it any restricted pearl fishing ground. Haxton before?” Haxton’s eyes narrowed.
gnawed his lips, went down the ladder and
“I had reasons. Main one is, you walked aft.
blokes are a superstitious crowd, and I wasn’t
Fail was up now. He had stayed
takin’ any chances of you backin’ out.”
underwater the full time limit, and his face
Haxton pressed his lips together was white and drawn with pain. By the after grimly. He turned without another word, and
hatch, five Malays squatted on the planking,
headed for his cabin. Simms followed. There,
busily opening the shells which had been
while the radio operator looked at him with
brought aboard.
puzzled eyes, Haxton briefly described the
Within twenty minutes the bed proved
situation.
its value. The Malays extracted three pearls,
“It might be true, of course,” he then two more. Ganler pawed over them concluded. “These Malays are careless as hell.
greedily.
But all the same, I don’t like it.”
“Smooth, eh?” he said, turning to
“Fail’s a blackguard,” Simms replied
Haxton. “A fortune just waiting to be taken
slowly. “Ganler’s worse. He keeps me at the
up. Tomorrow you dive full time. I’ve had
wireless every minute I’m awake. Wants a
enough of your stalling.”
report on every ship in the district. And if you A flush rose to Haxton’s face, but he
ask me, it’s funny a ship carryin’ only copra
made no reply. A few moments later, he
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5
entered the wireless room. Simms was at the
after main hatch. Then voices came to his
transmitter. He looked up at the sound of
ears, and he saw the skipper standing at the
steps.
taffrail, a darker shadow in the gloom. Ganler
“K.P.M. ship off Halmahera,” he said.
had night glasses to his eyes. He was gazing
“Reports a bad typhoon there, but it’ll miss us seaward.
of course. What’s new?”
Haxton hugged the shadows and
“Nothing new.” Haxton dropped into a
watched. The voices he had heard, began
chair and studied his cigar. “There’s pearls
again. They were speaking Malay, and they
here, which makes Ganler plenty satisfied.
seemed to come from beyond the ship, from a
The position is right, according to the chart.
point low down near the water.
Open fishing. And yet that dead diver—”
A moment later two lascars came over
Simms got up abruptly, paced to the
the rail. They mumbled something to the
door and closed it.
skipper and shuffled off.
“Listen,” he said. “Couple of minutes
Ganler continued his scrutiny of the
ago I was up for’ard, and I heard two of that
black sea. From east to west he looked, long
black gang talking. Those lascars are a bad lot and intently. Chuckling softly, he turned and
and have a lingo that beats me, but there were
headed for his cabin. He passed within a few
a few words in pidgin English that set me to
feet of Haxton, but the diver made no sound.
thinking. One of them said something about
When he had gone, Haxton darted up
‘deep down fellah off when sea fellah come.”
to the rail, and leaned over. Only dark water
Now what does that mean?”
below. Then a heavier blot in the blackness
Haxton smoked a moment, shook his
met his eyes, and he understood quickly.
head.
&n
bsp; A bo’sun’s chair had been rigged over
“Search me,” he replied. “Might mean
the rail. The two Malays suspended in it, had
anything. But maybe we’re worrying our stretched a sheet of canvas across the ship’s heads over nothing at all. See you at mess.”
stern. Nailed down, the canvas completely hid
Haxton slept poorly that night. Sultry
the name, Morinda, from all outward eyes.
heat filled his cabin, and at three bells—one
“Blind ship, eh?” Haxton whistled
thirty a.m.—he got up and decided to catch a
softly. Something definitely was in the wind.
breath of air.
But what?
Pajama clad, he strolled out on the
He stood there in silence a long time.
for’d well deck. The Morinda lay under a A quarter of an hour later when he went to his
vault of blackness. Water slapped bunk, he was no nearer an explanation. He rhythmically against the sides. Farther off, stirred restlessly until the change to the waves washed against the island’s shore.
morning watch, when he fell into a troubled
All at once, the diver noticed that the
sleep.
regulation anchor light was not lighted. Not
Morning, and Ganler was drunk again.
necessary in these waters, of course, but still a He stayed in his cabin, not appearing until
ship without riding lights—Haxton turned. noon. Then he staggered into the mess cabin, The aft light, fifteen feet lower, was not whiskey bottle in one hand, faced Haxton, visible either.
swaying.
With a scowl he made his way slowly
“You dive right away, see,” he
toward the poop. What possible reason could
growled. “You go down, and you stay down