The Snow Tiger / Night of Error

by Bagley, Desmond

  McGill tugged at his ear thoughtfully. ‘The problem was to explain the evidence and to get them to accept it. Mr Ballard had already accepted it. Mr Cameron wanted to go through the figures in detail, but he came around in the end. The others weren’t as convinced. It went like this …’

  It was Cameron, the engineer, who saw the true significance of the cup crystals. ‘Could you draw a picture of one of those, Mike?’

  ‘Sure.’ McGill took a pencil from his pocket and made a drawing. ‘As I said, it’s conical in shape – like this – and it has this hollow in the blunt end. That’s why it’s called a cup crystal.’

  ‘I’m not worried about the hollow.’ Cameron stared at the drawing. ‘What you’ve sketched here is a pretty good picture of a tapered roller bearing. You say these are likely to form under that layer of hard hoar frost?’

  ‘Correct.’

  ‘That’s not good,’ said Cameron. ‘That’s not good at all. If you get a lot of weight on top pushing downwards vertically by gravity then there’ll be a resultant force sideways on the slope. The whole hillside could come down on ready-made bearings.’

  Cameron passed the drawing to Dobbs who looked at it with Quentin, the union man, peering over his shoulder. ‘Any of those cup things there now?’

  ‘There are indications of them forming in one of the samples I took. I’d say the process is well under way.’

  ‘Let’s have a look at your stress figures.’ Cameron grimaced as he began to go through the equations. ‘I’m used to working with stronger stuff than snow.’

  ‘The principle is the same,’ said McGill.

  Dobbs handed the drawing to Ballard. ‘Are you seriously telling us that there’ll be an avalanche which will fall on this mine?’

  ‘Not exactly,’ said McGill carefully. ‘What I’m saying, at this moment, is that there is a potential hazard that must be watched. I don’t think there is a present danger – it’s not going to come down in the next hour or even today. A lot depends on future events.’

  ‘Such as?’ asked Ballard.

  ‘The way the temperature goes. Future snow precipitation. An appreciable rise in wind speed wouldn’t help much, either.’

  ‘And the forecast is for more snow,’ said Ballard.

  McGill said, ‘When you have a potential hazard like this you have to take precautions. Protecting the mine portal, for instance. There’s a steel construction called Wonder Arch which comes in useful. It was developed at Camp Century in Greenland specifically for this type of application. It’s used a lot in the Antarctic.’

  ‘Is it expensive?’ asked Dobbs. His voice was clouded with doubt.

  McGill shrugged. ‘It depends on how much money you put against lives on the balance sheet.’ He turned to Cameron. ‘Joe, remember me asking if you’d heard of Granduc in British Columbia?’

  Cameron looked up from the figures. ‘Yeah. I hadn’t.’

  ‘Granduc is remarkably like your mine here. They installed Wonder Arch – put in a covered way to the mine portal.’ He rubbed the side of his jaw. ‘It was like closing a stable door after the horse has gone; they put in the arch in 1966 after the avalanche of 1965 when twenty-six men died.’

  There was a silence broken after a while by Cameron. ‘You make your point very clearly.’

  Ballard said, ‘I’ll put it to the Board of Directors.’

  ‘That’s not all,’ said McGill. ‘You got to look at the situation in the long term. That slope is dangerous mostly because it’s been stripped of timber. It will have to be stabilized again, and that means building snow rakes. Good snow rakes cost sixty dollars a foot run – I doubt if you’d get away with under a million dollars.’

  The sound of Dobbs’s suddenly indrawn breath was harsh.

  ‘Then there’s the snow deflection walls at the bottom,’ went on McGill inexorably. ‘That’s more – maybe even half a million. It’s going to cost a packet.’

  ‘The Board won’t stand for it,’ said Dobbs. He stared at Ballard. ‘You know we’re just paying our way now. They’re not going to put in all that extra capital for no increase in production. It just isn’t on.’

  Quentin stirred. ‘Would you want to close down the mine?’

  ‘It’s a possibility,’ said Ballard. ‘But it’s not my decision.’

  ‘My people would have something to say about that. There’s a lot of jobs at stake.’ Quentin looked at McGill hostilely and threw out his hand. ‘And who’s to say he’s right? He comes busting in here with his tale of doom, but who the hell is he, anyway?’

  Ballard straightened. ‘Let’s get one thing clear,’ he said. ‘As of yesterday Dr McGill became a professional consultant employed by this company to give us advice on certain problems. His qualifications satisfy me completely.’

  ‘You didn’t talk to me about this,’ said Dobbs.

  Ballard gave him a level stare. ‘I wasn’t aware I had to, Mr Dobbs. You are so informed now.’

  ‘Does the Chairman know about this?’

  ‘He’ll know when I tell him, which will be very soon.’

  Quentin was earnest. ‘Look, Mr Ballard; I’ve been listening carefully. There’s not been an avalanche, and your friend hasn’t said there’s going to be one. All he’s been talking about are potentials. I think the Board is going to need a lot more than that before they spend a million and a half dollars. I don’t think this mine is going to close – not on this kind of talk.’

  ‘What do you want?’ asked McGill. ‘Avalanche first – and protection later?’

  ‘I’m protecting the men’s jobs,’ said Quentin. ‘That’s what they put me in here for.’

  ‘Dead men don’t have jobs,’ said McGill brutally. ‘And while we’re at it, let’s get another thing quite clear. Mr Ballard has said that he has engaged me as a professional consultant, and that is quite true. But fundamentally I don’t give one good goddamn about the mine.’

  ‘The Chairman will be delighted to hear it,’ said Dobbs acidly. He looked at Ballard. ‘I don’t think we need carry on with this any more.’

  ‘Carry on, Mike,’ said Ballard quietly. ‘Tell them the rest. Tell them what’s really worrying you.’

  McGill said, ‘I’m worried about the town.’

  There was a silence for the space of ten heartbeats and then Cameron cleared his throat. ‘It’s snowing again,’ he said, not altogether inconsequentially.

  ‘That just about finished the meeting,’ said McGill. ‘It was decided that the mine management should consult with the town council that afternoon, if possible. Then Mr Ballard was to communicate by telephone with the Presi … Chairman of his company.’

  Gunn had his hand up, and Harrison said, ‘Yes, Mr Gunn?’

  ‘May I question the witness, Mr Chairman?’ Harrison inclined his head, and Gunn proceeded. ‘Dr McGill, the meeting you have just described took place a long time ago, did it not?’

  ‘The meeting took place on the sixteenth of July. On the Friday morning.’

  ‘It is now December – nearly five months later. Would you say that you have a good memory, Dr McGill?’

  ‘About average.’

  ‘About average! I put it to you that you have a much better than average memory.’

  ‘If you say so.’

  ‘Indeed, I do say so. When I listened to your evidence – when you related the conversations of others ad verbatim – I was put in mind of a stage performance I saw quite recently in which a so-called memory man amazed an audience.’

  ‘Mr Gunn,’ interjected Harrison. ‘Irony and sarcasm may, or may not, have their place in a law court; they have certainly no place here. Please refrain.’

  ‘Yes, Mr Chairman.’ Gunn did not seem put out; he was aware that he had made his point. ‘Dr McGill, you have given evidence that Mr Quentin, the elected union leader at Hukahoronui mine, seemed – and I use the word advisedly – seemed to be more intent on filling the pockets of his comrades than in preserving their lives. Now, Mr Quentin is not here to
defend himself – he was killed in the disaster at Hukahoronui – and since I represent the union I must defend Mr Quentin. I put it to you that your recollection of this meeting so long ago may be incorrect.’

  ‘No, sir; it is not incorrect.’

  ‘Come, Dr McGill; note that I said that your evidence may be incorrect. Surely there is no loss of face in admitting that you may be wrong?’

  ‘My evidence was correct, sir.’

  ‘To traduce a dead man when it is not necessary is not thought to be good manners, sir. No doubt you have heard the tag, “De mortuis nil nisi bonum.” ‘ Gunn waved his arm largely. ‘The good and wise men who caused this hall to be built saw fit to include cogent aphorisms in these windows to guide them in their deliberations. I draw your attention to the text in the windows just above your head, Dr McGill. It reads: “Be not a hypocrite in the sight of men, and talk good when thou speakest.”’

  McGill was silent, and Gunn said, ‘Well, Dr McGill?’

  ‘I was not aware that I had been asked a question,’ said McGill quietly.

  Harrison shifted uneasily on his seat and seemed about to interrupt, but Gunn waved his arm again. ‘If it is your claim to have a memory so much better than other men then I must accept it, I suppose.’

  ‘I have an average memory, sir. And I keep a diary.’

  ‘Oh!’ Gunn was wary. ‘Regularly?’

  ‘As regularly as need be. I am a scientist who investigates snow, which is an evanescent and ever-changing substance, so I am accustomed to taking notes on the spot.’

  ‘Are you saying that while that very meeting was in progress you were actually taking written notes of what was said?’

  ‘No, sir.’

  ‘Ha! Then a period of time must have elapsed between the meeting and when you wrote down your impressions. Is that not so?’

  ‘Yes, sir. Half an hour. I wrote up my diary in my bedroom half an hour after the meeting ended. I consulted my diary this morning before I came to this hearing to refresh my memory.’

  ‘And you still insist on your evidence as it relates to Mr Quentin?’

  ‘I do.’

  ‘Do you know how Mr Quentin died?’

  ‘I know very well how Mr Quentin died.’

  ‘No more questions,’ said Gunn with an air of disgust. ‘I am quite finished with this witness.’

  McGill glanced at Harrison. ‘May I add something?’

  ‘If it has a bearing on what we are trying to investigate.’

  ‘I think it has.’ McGill looked up at the roof of the hall, and then his gaze swept down towards Gunn. ‘I also have been studying the texts in the windows, Mr Gunn, and one, in particular, I have taken to heart. It is in a window quite close to you, and it reads: “Weigh thy words in a balance lest thou fall before him that lieth in wait.”’

  A roar of laughter broke the tension in the hall and even Harrison smiled, while Rolandson guffawed outright. Harrison thumped with his gavel and achieved a modicum of quiet.

  McGill said, ‘As for your Latin tag, Mr Gunn, I have never believed that latinity confers virtue on stupidity, and therefore I do not believe that one should never speak ill of the dead. I believe in the truth, and the truth is that the death toll in the Hukahoronui disaster was much higher than need be. The reason lies in the actions, reactions and inactions of many men who were confronted with an unprecedented situation beyond their understanding. Mr Quentin was one such man. I know that he died in the disaster, and I know that he died heroically. Nevertheless, the truth must be told so that other men, in the future, when faced with a similar situation will know the right things to do.’

  ‘Mr Chairman!’ Gunn was waving his arm, but Rickman had beaten him to it. He was on his feet, finger upraised. ‘This is monstrous! Must a witness make speeches and lecture us to tell us our duty? Must …’

  Harrison’s gavel cracked down sharply, cutting off Rickman in mid-spate. ‘Mr Rickman, may I again remind you that this is not a court of law and that procedure is at my sole discretion. Dr McGill has just restated the nature and intention of this Commission of Inquiry in words more well chosen and acute than I myself used yesterday during the opening proceedings. I have noted in counsel a regrettable tendency to adversary tactics, a practice against which I warned you. I will have no more of it.’

  There was a dead silence.

  Dan Edwards was busily scribbling. ‘Boy, oh boy, oh boy! Good copy at last.’ He tore off a sheet and handed it to a youth behind him. ‘Get that back to the office as fast as you can.’

  Harrison laid down his gavel. ‘Dr McGill: you say that the mine management had a meeting with the Hukahoronui Town Council on the afternoon of Friday, the fifth of July.’

  ‘No, sir. I said that was the arrangement at the meeting in the morning. In the event it proved to be impossible.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Three of the councillors were absent from town that day and it was impossible to find a quorum. The meeting was held next morning – the Saturday morning.’

  ‘A delay of half a day.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’ McGill hesitated. ‘Mr Ballard and I debated whether or not to approach the two councillors who remained in town and we decided against it. Our view was that such an important matter should be communicated to the council as a whole; we did not want to tell a complicated story twice.’

  ‘So you met on the Saturday?’

  ‘Yes, sir. There was one other person present at my request.’

  ‘Oh, who was that?’

  ‘Mr Turi Buck. I have to tell you that I was not present during the entire meeting. I left half way through.’

  Harrison bent forward and said to Reed, ‘Is Mr Buck present?’

  ‘Yes, Mr Chairman.’ Reed turned in his seat. ‘Will you step forward, Mr Buck?’

  Turi Buck came forward and stood before the rostrum. ‘Were you present during the entire meeting under discussion, Mr Buck?’ Harrison asked.

  ‘Yes, sir; I was.’ Turi’s voice was strong.

  ‘Then you will replace Dr McGill in the witness chair.’

  McGill stepped down and went back to his place, winking at Ballard as he passed.

  EIGHT

  Harrison said, ‘Mr Buck, would you be related to that illustrious member of your race, Sir Peter Buck?’

  A ghost of a smile hovered on Turi’s seamed face. ‘No, sir.’

  ‘I see.’ Harrison drew his note-pad towards him. ‘Can you tell us who was present at this meeting?’

  ‘There was Ia … Mr Ballard and Mr Cameron from the mine. Dr McGill was there. And there was Mr Houghton, the mayor, and Mr Peterson – that’s to say John Peterson – and Eric Peterson, Mr Warrick and Mrs Samson.’

  ‘The last five were members of the council?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  Harrison consulted a list. ‘Wasn’t Mr Quentin present?’

  ‘Oh yes; he was there. I forgot about him.’

  ‘Well, Mr Buck, perhaps you can tell us what went on at the meeting.’

  Turi frowned. ‘It started off by Dr McGill telling of what he’d found. From what I’ve been hearing while I’ve been here I’d say it was just what he’d said at the meeting at the mine on the Friday. He told them there was a danger of avalanche and he told them why.’

  ‘What was the general reaction?’

  ‘They didn’t believe him.’

  Lyall put up his hand. ‘Mr Chairman.’

  ‘Yes, Mr Lyall?’

  ‘It is incumbent on me to point out that of the ten people present at that meeting only four are able to be here at this inquiry. I ought to add that of the five council members only Mr Eric Peterson is able to be here.’

  Harrison stared at him. ‘Now that you have given me that information – of which, I might add, I was well aware – what am I supposed to do with it?’

  ‘With respect, sir, one might think that Mr Eric Peterson is best qualified to give the reaction of the council.’

  ‘Does Mr Peterson wish to be a wi
tness?’

  ‘He does.’

  ‘Then he will have his chance later. At present we are hearing the evidence of Mr Buck.’

  ‘Again with respect, Mr Chairman; may I point out that of the original mine management only Mr Ballard is here. Mr Dobbs and Mr Quentin are dead, and Mr Cameron is in hospital. It is well known in Hukahoronui that Mr Ballard and Mr Buck are friends of many years standing, and there has been evidence given here of the friendship between Mr Ballard and Dr McGill. It may be thought that the evidence given here is, shall we say, too one-sided.’

  Harrison leaned back in his chair. ‘It is evident, Mr Lyall, that you are doing at least one of two things. You are impugning the integrity of this Commission, or you are questioning the honesty of Mr Buck. Possibly you are doing both. Do I understand you correctly?’

  ‘I do not question the integrity of the Commission, sir.’

  Turi’s face was stricken as he half rose from his chair. Ian Ballard wriggled in his seat. He dug his elbow into Rickman’s ribs, and said, ‘The bastard! the utter bastard! Intervene and get on with that line of questioning I gave you.’

  Rickman shook his head. ‘It would be most unwise. It wouldn’t be in the interests of the company.’ He twisted his head and looked at Lyall. ‘See how he’s stirring things up.’

  ‘But, God damn it, he’s making us into some sort of conspiracy.’

  Rickman stared at him unwinkingly. ‘But not involving the company,’ he snapped.

  Turi Buck lifted his hands helplessly. They were trembling as he said to Harrison, ‘May I be excused from the witness chair, sir?’

  ‘No, you may not, Mr Buck.’ Harrison turned his head. ‘Yes, Mr Ballard?’

  Ballard lowered his hand. ‘I would like to question Mr Buck.’

  Harrison frowned. ‘I thought you had representation, Mr Ballard. I gave warning at the beginning of this hearing that I would not allow it to be turned into a free-for-all.’

  Ballard said, ‘As of thirty seconds ago Mr Rickman ceased to represent me personally. He will, of course, continue to represent the company.’

  A wave of noise washed across the hall. Amid the uproar Rickman said, ‘You bloody young fool! What the devil do you think you’re doing?’