‘I’m going to give him a hammering,’ I repeated.
‘He deserves it. No man better. But not now. See here, if we can’t get out of it any other way, I’ll get Ward’s permission to accept this offer. Six into a hundred gives us over sixteen thousand a share—eight thousand each for you and myself. That’s none so bad. If Ward consents we’ll take that, and you can have a scrap with Cheyne thrown in as bonus on your share. Will that do? Promise you won’t touch him, or make trouble before then.’
‘Very well. I promise.’
‘That’s better,’ said he, much relieved. ‘And now let’s get this ballast out and load—load deep for once. No more pretence at ballast. This is coprolites, henceforth. Now come on deck and work some of your bad temper out of you.’
We slung the ballast straight over the skeleton wharf out on the mud, an absence of precaution showing more clearly than anything else could have done that the end of our trading operations was in sight. The hold was almost empty by low water and we were able to get a few tubs of mud aboard before the rising tide stopped our work.
Cheyne didn’t come near us all day. He lay abed late, not coming out of the office until midday. Then he only waved a hand, and set out for Terneuzen—for lunch, I suppose. When we knocked off, at about half-past two, Voogdt changed into clean clothes and followed him. He got back about five.
‘Mainwaring and Colley are there,’ he announced, as we sat down to tea. ‘Mainwaring’s an English tourist of weak intellect and Colley’s his attendant. They’re coming down this way for a walk about dusk.’
‘Are they coming aboard?’ I was feeling much better after a day’s steady work, for there’s nothing like hard exercise for the temper.
‘Coming aboard! No fear. They’re going down the embankment towards Van Noppen’s show. I’m going for a walk, too. You and Sellick will stay here and keep a sharp look-out.’
He went off about half-past six, after a chat with Sellick, scrambled down the embankment, pipe in mouth, and set off inland, strolling at an easy pace. Sunset was at seven, and just as the great red ball touched the western marshy skyline I saw Mainwaring and Colley coming down the path from the town. Mainwaring was walking jerkily, as though he were on tiptoe, and Colley slouched along a pace in his rear, his hands in his pockets. They were first rate at acting a part, for if Voogdt hadn’t told me what they were playing at, I should have put them down as somebody a bit dotty and his keeper. As they passed the wharf, Mainwaring stopped and pointed at us.
‘See the little ship, John,’ he said, sort of weakly interested.
‘Ah!’ said Colley sulkily. He spoke exactly as a bored attendant on a madman would speak, and after Mainwaring had twaddled some more about the little ship they went on down the banks as before.
I whipped below and watched them through the glasses until it got too dark to see what they were at, and then I went on deck again. The last I saw of them they had passed the German sheds and were walking farther down the embankment. When I got on deck, I found Sellick going up the gang-plank.
‘Here, where are you going?’ I asked.
‘Ashore. Just a stroll to stretch my legs. No objection, is there? I’m obeying orders.’
‘All right,’ I said, and he went up the wharf, disappeared behind the office, and I saw no more of him.
I walked up and down for a bit, had a chat with ’Kiah on the fo’castle head, and then, wondering what time it was, peeped down into the cabin. Our clock said half-past eight, and it was getting very dark. I was just beginning to wonder whether Mainwaring and Colley had lost their way when I heard two men walking up the embankment from the direction in which they had gone. Having nothing else to do I went ashore to the end of the wharf to see them pass, but they were only two labourers apparently on their way home to Terneuzen, instead of the two men I had expected. They lingered by our sheds for a moment and then went on, saying goodnight to me in Dutch as they passed. They couldn’t have gone five minutes, and I was just sitting down upon a bollard to rest, when Colley came running up the embankment at top speed. He had kept to the grassy edges of the path and was on me almost before I heard him.
‘Anything wrong?’ I asked, startled.
‘No. Got a pair of pliers or stout shears aboard? Anything that’ll cut wire. Yes? Run, quick.’
I slipped aboard and brought him a knife I kept in the cabin for odd jobs, which had a pair of wire nippers on it.
‘Will this do?’ I asked.
He looked at it contemptuously.
‘It must, if you’ve nothing better. Anybody passed here? Two men? That’s right. Did they hang about the place at all? Yes? Good. Don’t let anybody go near there—near the sheds—till we come back.’
He ran off as silently as he had come, leaving me to wonder what was going on.
As I sat I was facing our sheds, the office immediately opposite me, two stores on the left and one larger on the right. Behind, tied alongside the wharf, was the Luck and Charity, her bows towards the river and her stern about thirty feet from where I sat. The path along the embankment was wider here, worn by traffic to a good broad road, narrowing off again to left and right in the directions of Terneuzen and the German sheds. The night was fine, but clouds hid the stars and it was very dark, so that it was as much as I could do to make out the shape of the gable-end over the office. From the top of the embankment the marshy horizon all round lay low and dark, blurred a little with the low mists lying on the pastures.
It was a cheerless place by night, low-lying, damp and cold; the only lights visible were one or two twinkles from the houses by Terneuzen dock, and a cheery glow from our fo’castle hatch, shining up through the faint haze that lay over the water. I was just on the point of going down there for warmth and ’Kiah’s company when Sellick came from behind the sheds, crossed the road, and sat down beside me on the bollard.
‘Where’ve you been?’ I asked.
‘Just over there.’ He spoke in a whisper, nodding towards the office. ‘Squatting on the grass behind that hut. Watching you, for one thing.’
‘Colley’s just been here. He says we’re not to go near the sheds.’
‘I heard him. No fear of my going, anyhow.’
‘Did you see those two men pass?’
‘I did. Shut up, skipper. Listen.’
We listened with all our ears, but could hear nothing except the light breeze sighing in the grass, and ’Kiah whistling some melancholy strain down in the fo’castle behind us.
Suddenly I remembered the appointment with Van Noppen in our office at nine-thirty, and was thinking it was time some of the others put in an appearance when Voogdt came quickly and quietly across the road.
‘Time?’ he said sharply, in a low voice.
Sellick had a watch and struck a match. ‘Ten to nine,’ he said.
‘Good. We’re on time, then. Anything to report, Frank?’
‘One of those two chaps stopped by the living shed. Messing about the bottom of the wall, as far as I could see.’
‘Whereabouts?’
‘Far side. Near the middle of the shed.’
‘Right. Clear out, you two. Get aboard. Your work’s done. I’m on duty here.’
‘Colley says no one is to go near the sheds,’ I put in.
‘That’s all right, Jem. I know. Ah! Here they are. I want you, Harry. Disappear, Mainwaring. Take charge of this, Frankie.’
He handed Sellick what looked to me like a long limp riding-switch, and slipped across the road again, Colley at his heels.
Sellick strolled out along the wharf towards our gang-plank, and I was turning to follow him when something plucked at my trouser-leg. Stooping, startled, to see what it was I found my head close to Mainwaring’s upturned face. He was lying prone upon the grass.
‘Lie down here, skipper,’ he said. ‘Frankie’ll look after the ship for you. Stay and see the fun. Take cover behind the bollard.’
As I lay down behind him a match was struck behind the office and in less than a mi
nute the other two came across the road, walking slowly and carefully, Voogdt with a bundle clasped in his arms.
‘For God’s sake don’t jolt it, Austin,’ Colley’s voice sounded very earnest. ‘Put it down here on the grass. Gently, now.’
‘Not too close to my head,’ Mainwaring said plaintively.
Neither of them as much as noticed him. ‘Let’s have a light again … Matches are safe enough,’ Colley said. He was kneeling by the bundle, feeling it all over with his hands. Voogdt struck a match and by its flickering light I saw it was of sailcloth, about as big as a man’s head, tied carelessly enough with a piece of stout line.
The match went out, but after more fumbling in the dark, Colley seemed to get the bundle open.
‘Another match,’ he demanded.
The sailcloth now lay flat, and standing on it was a common kitchen saucepan, its handle broken off short, filled with coarse yellow crystals, like brown sugar, only that the crystals were larger.
‘My hat!’ Colley whispered, in awed tones.
‘What is it?’ Voogdt asked.
‘Picric acid, by the look of it.’ He picked out two crystals rather larger than peas and put them by on the bollard. ‘Throw away that match and bear a hand, Austin. Take it by handfuls at a time, and spread it on the mud below there. Don’t throw it. Walk down and spread it on the mud by hand.’
When the saucepan was empty he took it farther down the embankment and threw it into a pasture field, and just as he rejoined us I heard a step I knew approaching down the embankment.
‘There’s Cheyne coming,’ I said.
At the words our two men disappeared noiselessly into the darkness. I never saw how or where they went. Mainwaring, beside me, gave one wriggle backwards and I suppose slid down over the bank. By the time I was on my feet again Colley had gone too, and Voogdt and myself were alone.
‘That you, Cheyne?’ Voogdt called.
‘That’s me. Am I late? Van Noppen turned up yet?’
‘Not yet.’
‘That’s all right, then. I’ll open the office. We may as well wait inside as out here.’
His shadowy form approached the office door and I heard his latchkey in the lock.
‘Is it all clear for him to go in?’ I asked, in a whisper.
‘All clear. Got the hang of things yet?’
‘An attempt to blow up the shed?’
‘That’s about it.’
‘Are you sure there isn’t any explosive stuff left there?’
‘No odds if there is. We’ve cut their wire. Pretty road-making, eh? Now I’ll go in to Cheyne. You stay here and keep an eye open for Van Noppen.’
The German turned up punctually to time, and we went into the shed together, passing straight through the narrow outer office into Cheyne’s living-room. I’d been there several times before, without taking much notice of the place, but now with my nerves strung and alert every detail leaped to the eye. The frowsy bed in the far corner; the writing-table by the window; the stove bricked into one angle, with a cheap American alarm clock ticking noisily on the narrow mantelshelf; I can see them now as clearly as if in a photograph. In the middle of the room was a table with a green baize cover, and against the partition hung a row of coats and oilskins. Everything was neglected, dusty and uncomfortable. Kept tidy the place would have made decent quarters enough for a single man; but how Cheyne, a sailor, could have ever lived in such a litter beat me. It’s queer how little things affect you. Knowing Chyene a rogue and hating him like poison, I yet felt more ashamed at the moment of his untidy house than of his rascality. Remembering the neatness of Van Noppen’s room—the room we had burgled—I felt it disgraceful that he should see our headquarters in such a state.
Cheyne was sitting at the table as we entered, the inevitable bottle and siphon before him, and Voogdt sprawled at ease upon his unmade bed. Van Noppen sat down, refusing Cheyne’s invitation to drink, and I stood leaning against the office partition behind him. I wouldn’t sit in Cheyne’s quarters. Behind me, to my right, was the door; opposite, in the far right-hand corner, the fireplace. Opposite to that again, in the far left-hand corner, stood the bed, and immediately on my left was the washstand, set squarely in the corner at its foot, the coats and oilskins hanging on the wall beside it. The window was between the fireplace and the bed, and Cheyne sat with his back to it, facing Van Noppen, the lamp standing on the table between them. I stood behind the German’s back, whilst Voogdt, lying on the bed, well back from the light, commanded a view of the whole room, and of all our three faces, Cheyne in profile, Van Noppen three-quarter face, and me full face. Also he had the best view of the door, which was diagonally opposite from the corner in which he lay. As for me, I could see everything in the room except Van Noppen’s face, which was turned away from me, and the door, which was behind my right shoulder.
After a bit of palavering round the subject, Cheyne took the conversation in charge, and told Van Noppen he had reported the offer to us, and that we were prepared to come to terms, if possible. Van Noppen looking round over his shoulder at me, as though he wanted me to corroborate Cheyne, I told him at once that I had nothing to say in the matter.
‘There’s my partner,’ I said, nodding to Voogdt. ‘He speaks for me. I’m only here to listen, so it’s no good asking me questions. What he says I’ll stand to.’
As far as I remember, Voogdt, after a lot of haggling, demanded a hundred and fifty thousand pounds. Van Noppen didn’t definitely refuse him. He said he wasn’t empowered to agree to so much, but that he would consult his principals. That should have ended the matter for the present, but Voogdt started a long roundabout catechism that I couldn’t follow at all. At first I thought he was trying to find out the names of Van Noppen’s employers, but after a few questions about them he drifted purposely off into a series of questions that didn’t seem to me to have any bearing on the matter. How did Van Noppen intend to pay us? What was the present rate of exchange—marks for pounds sterling? Were the Delfzyl Company prepared to make us an additional offer for the Luck and Charity? Silly questions like that. And several times he repeated himself, so that even Cheyne at last had to call him to order and tell him he was wasting time. As for Van Noppen, he began to fidget under the cross-questioning, and at ten past ten got up and announced that he must be going, and just as he rose I heard somebody move in the outer office behind me. He would pass on our demands to his employers, he said, and he thought he might get them to spring the extra money. With that he turned to the door and, the conversation being over, Cheyne leaned back in his chair. His movement let the lamplight fall on Voogdt’s face behind him, and it startled me. He, the man whose sleepy, silly questions had bored us all, was about as sleepy as a crouching cat. Behind his half-closed eyelids the lamplight shone on the keenest pair of watching eyes I have ever seen. Seeing something was in the wind, I glanced at Van Noppen’s face as he stretched a hand to the door. It was deadly pale, and I saw that he was breathing short and quick.
‘Half a minute,’ Voogdt drawled. ‘Half a minute, Mr Van Noppen. I’ve one or two more questions—’
‘Tomorrow,’ the man said, and something clicked in his throat as he said it.
‘You’ve left your hat,’ Voogdt said, sitting upright on the bed. ‘There, on the table. What’s your hurry?’ Van Noppen glanced at the clock and his face was the colour of ash. Taking no notice of Voogdt or of the hat, he jerked the door open—and fell slap into the arms of Mainwaring and Colley. Entering, they pushed him back into the room.
‘Herr Gott!’ he said, under his breath. He was struggling to pass them, but Mainwaring, beaming, held him fast, whilst Colley shut the door and leant against it.
‘What’s the hurry, my dear sir?’ Mainwaring asked.
Van Noppen’s chin went up as though he were choking. He couldn’t answer. Voogdt’s drawl came from the corner again.
‘The gentleman’s pressed for time,’ he said cruelly. ‘Two questions, Van Noppen, and then you shall g
o home to by-by. Are your employers a private firm, or the German Government?’
He was choking, frantic with terror, and when he got his answer out it was in German. A private firm, he swore.
‘How called?’ Voogdt snapped out the question like an order.
‘Nobel’s,’ he said, and with one jerk dragged himself free of Mainwaring’s hold and jumped at the door. Colley caught him, Mainwaring was on him in the same moment: there was a short struggle—and they laid him, gently enough, on the floor. He had fainted in their arms.
Voogdt stood over him as he lay.
‘Poor devil!’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t go through his last ten minutes for minted gold. Put him on the bed and give him some brandy, Cheyne.’
‘What’s it all about?’ Cheyne asked angrily. ‘Who the devil are these chaps?’
‘Friends of mine. You see, Mr Van Noppen had arranged an accidental explosion for our benefit. For some time past he has been repairing the ruts in the road down the embankment, and as he filled them in, he laid an insulated wire along one of ’em. This evening one of his men planted a packet of picric acid under this house, and judging from the time he fainted, I guess it was to have been touched off at ten-fifteen. I expect his men have been waiting this last half an hour to run down and tear up any ends of insulated wire left showing. It would then have been just an unexplained accident. At all events neither you, myself nor West here would have had any explanation to offer, for certain.’
‘How did you find it out?’ I asked.
‘I went down there this evening with these two’—he indicated Mainwaring and Colley—‘as skirmishers, scratched up a bit of rut that had been filled in and found the wire. You remember seeing it in Van Noppen’s room? So I cut out a four-foot section, replaced the stones I’d dug up, and then came here, and removed the picric acid, as you saw. The two men who brought it passed us on their way here. That’s all.’
‘The swine!’ roared Cheyne. ‘What about his offer to buy us out.’
‘Ah! I’m afraid that wasn’t a bona-fide offer. Our business is finished, Cheyne. Full reports of the wolframite deposits will be in all the papers the day after tomorrow.’
The Mystery of the Mud Flats Page 25