I fell to my knees, sobbing.
‘I can tell you that it happened quickly,’ said Otto Streep to the captain.
In the rear part of the cage, where the drama had taken place, there was nothing! That was what was so surprising. But then on closer inspection, there were two or three strips of torn black satin. And two or three little pools of red. In the middle of the biggest pool, a piece of jade, a water lily in this little lake of blood.
Behind me, in a low voice Streep was busy explaining to more and more newcomers what must have happened, according to him.
‘When the tiger growled, it was already all over. I had managed to get him back into the rear part of the cage, not without difficulty, believe me. I can usually get him to do what I want. For the rest, there is only one possible supposition. The poor girl must have wanted to look at the animal from as close as possible. Once she was inside the cage, in a fatal accident, she must have unknowingly started this mechanism here. It operates both the entrance to the cage and also the dividing grill inside, the one opening when the other has closed, and vice versa. Suddenly she found herself trapped, at the mercy of the creature. It was then that, alerted by her cries, I rushed out of my cabin . . . . But alas! It was too late, as you can see.’
‘This mechanism, designed to be switched on from outside the cage, can it also be operated by someone actually in the cage?’ asked the captain.
‘If that person has lost his mind, then yes, certainly it can! That is clearly what must have happened. Three or four steps from where this gentleman is standing, and seized with a sudden yet understandable terror, she would have automatically put her hand through the bars of the cage and clung onto the first thing she found. Fate dictated that it should be the switch. At least that’s how I imagine the scene. How else do you think it could have happened . . . . . ?‘
‘Yes,’ said the captain, ‘you’re right. That’s how it must have happened.’
Everyone was quiet now. All that could be heard was the sound of the sobs in my throat, which I tried to hold back.
Otto Streep punched me on the shoulder. ‘Come on! Show that you are a man, for God’s sake! Get to your feet, and let’s clear this up!’
*
Dawn was just breaking, a dreadful equatorial dawn, warm and pale. I sat in my cabin, staring emptily into space, waiting. It would have been a service to me if anyone could tell me what I was waiting for.
Streep came in, shaved and dressed.
‘Come on, stand up! You need shaking up a bit, damn it! Today’s going to be rather busy, you know! It’s not going to be worth having done everything that you have done over the past six months, in terms of getting the fruits of your labours, if at the last minute . . . . But I’m not going to lose my head at least! We shall meet the judge at eight o’clock this morning for the legal statement and permission to inter the remains. I have already spoken with the port official. He completely agrees with the way I see things. But you will also have your opportunity to say something, since you are the owner of the animal. But we mustn’t let him get annoyed, our little Kublai! It’s not his fault after all! But hold on, what’s this?’
He had suddenly stopped by the two ruby rings. At the same moment he noticed the pearl necklace draped around the photograph of the tiger.
‘What on earth . . ? She had all this on her, last night? Women are decidedly idiotic, even the best organised, as in this case. But what’s the matter with you now?’
Nothing! I had started to weep again, my head in my hands.
‘Come on, be brave. The law will be here any moment now. Do what you want with these jewels. But that’s enough of that for today.’
*
Unsteadily I got dressed. Some sort of bell was ringing in my head. When I was ready I got my cap and went up on deck.
Some way off I could see Streep. He was coming towards me. Now it was he who had the eyes of a madman. What on earth could have happened now? On my word of honour, he was staggering.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘What’s the matter? Come! Come on! Come and see for yourself! Because from now on I am no longer responsible for explaining anything, anything at all!’
He half-turned, and took me towards the tiger’s cage. What more could Kublai have done now?
‘Kublai!’ I cried, my head pressed against the bars.
‘Well?’ said Streep, his hands on his hips, ‘What do you make of that? What did I tell you?’
‘Kublai!’ I yelled at the top of my voice. ‘Kublai, where is he?’
Streep burst out into demented laughter.
‘Where is he? But what do you mean? That’s him in front of you! So you don’t recognise him either?’
Kublai! How could I have recognised him? He was no longer white!
*
He continued to look at the two of us, without so much as a murmur, nodding his enormous head. Between their narrow eyelids, there was a sarcastic expression in his eyes. You could have said that he thought he had made an excellent joke.
He was still the same splendid creature, a wild animal of the size you wouldn’t see again in a long time. Yes, but all the stripes, which up until then had only been visible transparently, so to speak, on his magnificent and immaculate coat, had now turned black, against a fur which itself had suddenly become fawn. Kublai was still the most beautiful of tigers, but now he was a tiger like all the others. Clearly I could only feel an ambivalent sort of rapture towards him.
Streep, however, as if he was alone, was delivering a sort of rambling and senseless monologue. The explanations which he tried to come up with could only serve to exasperate me.
‘Unheard of! Completely unheard of! But not as rare as one might think, however. It’s a phenomenon well noted among stoats, for example. In winter their fur is completely white, and in summer a reddish brown. Yes, but a tiger! A tiger! And to top it all, in less than two or three hours! It’s unheard of, absolutely unheard of! They only happen to me, such stories . . . !’
‘That’s enough!’ I cried. ‘And how does this concern you, may I ask?’
Suddenly, no longer knowing what I was doing and overwhelmed by rage, I shook my fist at Kublai.
‘To have lost everything in one night, in a single night! Look at that filthy creature! He seems to be taunting us, and now he’s only worth a twentieth of what he was worth before. If only I had a revolver, a good revolver, and right now you would me see me get rid of him, him also . . . !’
I stopped . . . but too late perhaps! Now it was Streep who was looking at me, with a strange, curious expression. He seemed to have recovered his presence of mind.
‘Him also? Why him also? Really, this whole adventure is beyond me. I had imagined that all this was just the terrible consequence of chance. But now there has been one death, or rather two deaths, which have not been natural, according to you?’
I was silent. He made a gesture as if to brush aside an unwelcome thought. Then he smiled.
‘Let’s not talk any more about it! Never again! But there’s just one last thing: you know, I think I can see what you’re saying. Do you doubt it? It’s strange, that these two mechanisms, lock and pulley, pulley and lock, should have both worked so badly!’
The Gobi Desert Page 18