A Multitude of Sins

by Margaret Pemberton

  ‘That sounds a dodgy proposition,’ Captain Bassett said with a shiver. ‘I shouldn’t fancy our chances anywhere within a twenty-mile radius of Kowloon. Mirs Bay sounds much more attractive.’

  The Chinese at the helm turned off the engine, and the boat rode ashore on stones and sand.

  ‘How far to the east coast?’ Fisher asked as they waded ashore.

  ‘A mile, perhaps less. It’s a very narrow neck of land here,’ Raefe said abruptly, his jacket pulled close about him.

  Elizabeth crossed the sand towards him, slipping her hand into his, needing brief physical contact with him to express her relief that so far none of them had been hurt. Raefe gave her hand a tight squeeze and then released it as he strode across to the boatmen, confirming with them that they would wait for four hours in case they should return.

  Captain Bassett looked after him, and then back to Elizabeth, bewilderedly. He had been given to understand that she was Harland’s wife. If she was, and if she was also Elliot’s mistress, then the trek ahead was going to be fraught with more than one kind of danger.

  Raefe took the lead, and they set out on a wide earth-covered path winding through the sweet-smelling fir trees. They had only gone twenty yards or so when Fisher halted abruptly. ‘We’re being followed!’ he hissed. ‘Listen.’

  Everyone froze, listening intently. There was nothing to be heard but the soughing of the wind in the trees.

  ‘You’re mistaken, old chap,’ Captain Bassett said, heaving his rucksack into a more comfortable position on his back. ‘Come on, that motor torpedo-boat won’t wait for us for ever.’

  Once more they began to move forward, walking in single file, Elizabeth immediately behind Raefe, and Adam behind her, Captain Fisher and Captain Bassett taking it in turns to bring up the rear.

  The track climbed steeply at one point and then began to run down towards the sea. ‘I can see it!’ Adam whispered to Raefe, pointing out a single boat low in the sea. ‘How do we manage to attract its attention without making any noise and alerting any Japs that might be lurking around?’

  ‘We can’t,’ Raefe said with unusual sharpness. ‘We have to take a risk.’

  Hurriedly they scrambled down to the shore, and then Captain Bassett stripped off his shirt and began to wave it furiously as they all shouted across the sea at the top of their lungs. Minutes later they could see a skiff being lowered, and Elizabeth leaned against Raefe, weak with relief.

  ‘It’s going to be all right,’ she said as his good arm closed around her waist. ‘Once we’re aboard the boat, we’ll be relatively safe.’

  There was a small sound from behind them, and this time they all heard it. ‘What the devil …’ Captain Bassett expostulated, whipping round, his gun in his hand.

  A small weary figure began to walk towards them across the narrow strip of sand.

  ‘It’s the child!’ Adam said incredulously. ‘She’s followed us.’

  ‘Then, she’ll have to go back,’ Fisher said brusquely. ‘It’s bad enough that we have to take the responsibility for a woman without having a child tagging on as well.’

  The child, sensing how unwelcome she was, hung back. Elizabeth looked pleadingly across at Raefe. ‘We can’t leave her here! She’ll starve! At least let us take her with us as far as Mirs Bay. There’ll be a village there. People. We’ll be able to find someone to leave her with.’

  ‘My God, I’ve never heard of anything so ridiculous!’ Fisher began contemptuously.

  ‘Please, darling!’ Elizabeth said urgently. ‘It will only be another few hours and then she will be safe as well!’

  Raefe looked across at the pathetic figure of the child. Her dress was ragged, offering her no protection at all against the cold night wind, and her feet were bare. ‘All right,’ he said curtly. ‘But she’s your responsibility, Lizzie. No one else’s.’

  The skiff had grounded ashore, and a dark-uniformed figure was herding Bassett and Fisher aboard. Elizabeth ran across to the little girl. ‘Come on,’ she said, taking her hand. ‘Stay close to me.’

  Adam looked at Raefe curiously as they were ferried from the skiff to the boat. The bones of his face seemed to have taken on sharper lines than usual, and beneath his heavy jacket his injured arm hung far more awkwardly than it had previously done.

  The captain of the boat immediately commandeered Raefe, and Adam was unable to ask him again if he was all right.

  Crouching low in cramped but far drier conditions than they had experienced on the motor-boat, they slipped out into the China Sea at a brisk twenty knots. They sailed steadily east through the darkness, giving the gaunt outline of the Stanley Peninsula a wide berth and then continuing northwards along the indented coast of the New Territories, towards Mirs Bay.

  ‘Where do you want us to put you ashore, sir?’ the captain asked Raefe as the first rays of dawn began to streak the sky.

  ‘There’s a small bay, just north of Nam-O,’ Raefe said, glad of the disguising darkness as he stood at the captain’s side. ‘Put us ashore there.’

  The captain sailed in as near to the coast as he dared and then the skiff was lowered into the water and they climbed down into it, shivering with cold as they were paddled ashore.

  ‘What now?’ Adam asked as they wearily waded ashore just as the sun was rising. ‘It’s pretty lonely here. How far do you think the village is?’

  Raefe looked grey with exhaustion. ‘Not far,’ he said tersely. ‘About half a mile.’

  ‘Can’t we lay up here?’ Henry Bassett asked him and then, seeing the look of veiled contempt that Fisher gave him, added hurriedly: ‘I was thinking of Mrs Harland. She must be extremely tired.’

  Elizabeth was, but she shook her head in dental, sensing that Raefe desperately wanted them to push on. ‘No,’ she said, still holding the hand of the little Chinese girl. ‘Please don’t worry about me, Captain Bassett. I’m fine.’ She smiled at him, and Captain Bassett felt a rush of heat to his groin. Even in the darkness of the previous evening he had realized that she was a remarkably beautiful woman. Now, in the pale golden light of the rising sun, he saw for the first time just how beautiful. Her silvery-blonde hair was pulled away from her face, secured at the nape of her neck with coral pins. Her green-gold eyes were thickly lashed, full of staunch endurance. He noted the creased and blood-spattered uniform beneath the army jacket that she was wearing for warmth, and wondered what her civilian profession was. Probably she didn’t have one. Her husband, Adam Harland, was obviously crazily in love with her if the concern in his eyes whenever he looked across at her was anything to go by. As Captain Elliot was.

  Henry Bassett wondered if Adam Harland knew of the liaison between his wife and the Captain. There was such a close sense of unity between them all that he thought he couldn’t possibly know. Still pondering on the relationship of his companions, he brought up the rear as they walked away from the beach and inland, between carefully tended paddy-fields to the village.

  ‘It’s a Hakka village,’ Raefe said briefly to Adam as they began to enter it. ‘The people should be friendly, but I doubt if there will be any Chinese guerrillas there to give us help. If there aren’t, we shall just have to press on by ourselves.‘

  Although it was still very early, half a dozen small children ran to meet them, waving their arms in greeting and shouting for others to come and see the funny foreigners. The children led them into the heart of the village, past primitive dwellings with pigs nosing for food, and into a small paved courtyard with a fung-shui tree growing in the centre.

  ‘This is obviously the village square,’ Adam murmured to Elizabeth as an elderly headman in a blue cotton jacket and long trousers invited them all to sit down with him around a large stone table. The village women, wrinkled and bent from hard work in the fields, and dressed in traditional black trousers and tunics, grinned toothlessly at them and offered them tea.

  They drank it gratefully, and Adam remembered the first time he had drunk Chinese tea, sitting with Be
th in the little teahouse near the waterfront on their first morning in Victoria. It seemed so long ago, so much a part of another age, that he couldn’t believe it was barely two years.

  Raefe had been speaking to the headman in Cantonese, with Captain Fisher watching him closely. At last he turned round to them, saying briefly: ‘The headman is going to give us one of his young men as a guide to the nearest guerrilla camp. He has also invited us to eat with them.’

  ‘Jolly good show,’ Captain Bassett said cheerily, beaming good-naturedly at the women as they brought rice-bowls and chopsticks and set them on the table in front of them.

  ‘I need to talk to you,’ Raefe said quietly to Adam, and while Elizabeth was busily filling the little Chinese girl’s bowl with rice and vegetables and fish from a large central dish he quietly slipped away from the table.

  Adam followed him towards the fung-shui tree, full of his old apprehension. He had known something was wrong ever since the coastal battery had opened fire on them when they were crossing to Lamma Island.

  ‘You’re going to have to go on without me,’ Raefe said to him harshly when they were out of earshot of the others.

  Adam stared at him, stupefied. Whatever he had expected, it had not been a calamity of these proportions. ‘But you have to come with us,’ he gasped. ‘It’s over a thousand miles to Chungking! We don’t stand a chance without you!’

  ‘You don’t stand a chance with me,’ Raefe said grimly, and slowly and with difficulty he opened his heavy army jacket.

  The makeshift pad was dark with blood. Near-black deoxidized blood.

  ‘Oh my God,’ Adam whispered. ‘I knew it! I knew you’d been hit!’

  ‘And I knew there wasn’t any point in letting anyone know,’ Raefe said drily and Adam was horrified at how difficult he was finding it even to speak. ‘I just wanted … to be sure that you had a guide.’

  He swayed on his feet, and Adam seized his arm, supporting him. ‘What do you want me to do?’ he asked urgently, knowing with sickening horror that Raefe could not possibly survive his wound.

  ‘The maps and compass and medical supplies are … in my rucksack,’ he said, beads of sweat trickling down from his forehead. ‘The Hakka guide will take you to the guerrillas.’ He paused, drawing in a deep ragged breath, and then said: ‘Keep on the right side of Fisher. He’s an irascible devil, but you need him.’

  ‘Elizabeth won’t leave you behind,’ Adam protested. ‘We’ll stay here, in the village.…’

  Raefe shook his head. ‘No,’ he said adamantly. ‘This is Japanese-controlled territory. It isn’t safe. If the motor torpedo-boat was sighted as we came ashore … then there’ll be Japs here within the hour. You have to leave now. Immediately.’

  ‘Beth will never agree to that! There’s no way on God’s earth that I could persuade her to leave you behind.’

  Raefe managed a slight grin. ‘I know,’ he said, ‘and I’m glad.’ He drew in a deep steadying breath, and when he could speak again he said: ‘Leave Lizzie to me. I’ll tell her that I’m bringing up the rear and will meet up with you at nightfall. But, for God’s sake, don’t allow her to talk to me for more than a few seconds or she’ll guess the truth.’

  ‘Oh Jesus,’ Adam said brokenly. ‘Oh God!’

  Raefe licked his lips. ‘I want you to do one thing for me, Adam.’

  ‘Anything!’ Adam was near to tears. This was the man he had hated with every fibre of his being, and it was the man whose death was nearly going to destroy him with grief.

  ‘Lizzie is pregnant.’ He saw the incredulity in Adam’s eyes, and the old grin touched the corners of his mouth again. ‘Look after her for me, Adam. And look after the child.’

  Their hands were tightly clasped. Adam could feel the tears streaming down his face. Elizabeth was walking towards them, revived by the hot tea and the plentiful food.

  ‘Are you having a private conversation, or can anyone join in?’ she called out good-humouredly.

  ‘Don’t let her stay with me!’ Raefe hissed fiercely to Adam. ‘Not for a second longer than necessary!’

  Adam gave Raefe’s hands a last tight squeeze and then turned away, unable to speak. Elizabeth did not notice his distress; she had eyes only for Raefe and was shocked at how exhausted and gaunt he looked. ‘You haven’t eaten,’ she said gently. ‘You’ll feel better if you do.’

  He gathered up the last reserves of his strength and flashed her a brilliant down-slanting smile. Her hair was like spun gold, and he longed to reach out and touch it, but he knew that if he did so his shaking hand would betray him. He leaned against the tree, feigning his old nonchalance. ‘I want you to leave with Adam and Bassett and Fisher,’ he said, making a superhuman effort to keep the pain from his voice. ‘I’m going to bring up the rear, keeping well behind.’

  She nodded. She didn’t like the idea of marching all day without him at her side, but he was in command and she had no intention of making his task any harder than it already was.

  ‘Jung-shui doesn’t want to remain behind in the village. She wants to come with us. Can she? I’ll share my rations with her and make sure that she is no trouble.’

  ‘Jung-shui, is that her name?’ He was playing for time, trying to think. It might be best if the child went with her. Having such a responsibility might help her through her grief when she discovered that he would not be rejoining her. ‘Yes,’ he said, knowing that Fisher wouldn’t like it but that Adam would be able to deal with the situation. ‘Take her with you if you want, but you’ll have to be parted from her eventually.’

  Elizabeth was not so sure. The child had no family. The idea of keeping her with her permanently had already begun to take root.

  Adam was looking across at them anxiously. Raefe knew that in a second he was going to do as he had asked and ensure that Lizzie remained with him no longer. ‘You must go,’ he said harshly. ‘The others are waiting.’

  ‘And I’ll see you tonight?’ She was smiling up at him, all the love she felt for him glowing in her eyes.

  ‘Yes,’ he said, feeling his heart break within him. ‘I’ll see you tonight, Lizzie.’

  She stood on tiptoe, uncaring of what Captain Bassett or Captain Fisher thought, and kissed him tenderly on the mouth. ‘I love you,’ she said, thinking joyously of all the years that lay ahead of them, and then she turned swiftly on her heel, picking up her rucksack and following Adam as he began to stride quickly out of the village in the Hakka boy’s wake.

  The village children scurried along at their side, and at the edge of the village Adam paused, thanking the village headman for his hospitality and his help. As Bassett and Fisher shook hands with other village elders who had come to wave them on their way, Elizabeth turned for a last glimpse of Raefe. He was leaning against the fung-shui tree, looking as relaxed and as insolently nonchalant as he had been the first time she had set eyes on him, in the Hong Kong Club’s bar. The sun gleamed on his tumbled dark hair, sheening it to blue-black, and an odd ironic smile touched the corners of his mouth as he lifted his hand in farewell. She pressed her fingers to her mouth, blowing him a kiss, and then she turned, plunging after Adam as he strode out on to the narrow path leading between the paddy-fields and towards the hills.

  Despite their lack of sleep, they trekked all day. At one point, as they reached a high ridge, they could see the shimmer of the sea and then it was lost to view as they clambered down into a ravine thick with fir and bamboo. Jung-shui kept up a valiant pace at Elizabeth’s side, not asking where they were going, not caring, grateful merely to have Elizabeth’s protection.

  Shortly after midday their young Hakka guide became increasingly nervous, constantly stopping and cupping his ear, as if listening to sounds that the rest of them couldn’t hear.

  ‘What is it?’ Adam asked nervously. ‘Are we being followed?’

  ‘Not sure,’ the Hakka boy said succinctly and then, moving with ever-increasing caution, he cut away from the track, leading them up a steep slope through s
haded groves of bamboo. At the summit he lay flat, signalling for them to follow suit. They did so only just in time. A Japanese patrol was marching down the track, in the direction of the village.

  ‘It would seem a good moment to take a rest,’ Lawrence Fisher said drily, heaving his rucksack wearily from his shoulder.

  The Hakka boy nodded in agreement, speaking rapidly in Cantonese to Henry Bassett.

  ‘He says we should stay here until dusk, in case there are more patrols following,’ Henry translated. There were no protests; everyone was desperate for rest.

  ‘What about Raefe?’ Elizabeth whispered urgently to Adam. ‘Will he be safe?’

  Adam thought of Raefe, his life-blood seeping away beneath the heavy army jacket. ‘Yes,’ he said abruptly, not able to look her in the eyes. ‘He’ll be safe.’

  At dusk they began to walk again, bypassing many villages that had been bombed and were now charred ruins. It was shortly after midnight when they reached the guerrilla headquarters at Wang Nih Hui.

  ‘Thank God,’ Henry Bassett had said thankfully, sinking down on to a pile of straw. ‘I couldn’t walk another step.’

  ‘You’ll have to tomorrow,’ Fisher said tartly.

  Henry didn’t care about tomorrow. Fully clothed, he closed his eyes and in seconds was asleep, snoring loudly.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Elizabeth said worriedly to Adam. ‘Where is Raefe? Why hasn’t he caught up with us?’

  ‘He will do,’ Adam said, wondering how the hell he was going to break the news to her. ‘Try to sleep, Beth. We’re going to have just as long a trek to face in the morning.’

  She slept restlessly, waking often, aware that Raefe had still not joined them. At dawn the guerrilla camp bustled into life. Sausages were provided for them and also the unexpected luxury of hot cocoa.

  ‘Today we have to cross the Tah Shui-Shao road which is heavily used by Japanese patrols and convoys,’ the guerrilla leader told Henry Fisher, squatting down at his side. ‘A party of our men are going ahead now to plan the best way of crossing it.’