clucking and tut-tutting noises, as Nicholas discussed the wine list
with the sommelier but he nodded reluctant approval when they settled on
a Chablis Moutonne and a Chambertin-Clos-de-&ze, then he applied himself
with equal gusto to the food, the wine and Samantha, 'You can tell a
woman who is made for life and love, by the way she eats/ and when
Samantha made wide lascivious eyes at him over her trout, Nicholas
expected him to crow like a cockerel.
Only when the cognac was in front of them, and both he and Nick had lit
cheroots, did he demand abruptly: So, now, Nicholas, I am in a good
mood. Ask me. I need a Master for my new tug/ said Nick, and Jules
veiled his face behind a thick blue curtain of cigar smoke.
They fenced like masters of opoee all the way from Nantes to St Nazaire.
Those ships you build, Nicholas, a-re not tugs. They are fancy toys,
floating bordellos - all those gimmicks and gadgets Those gimmicks and
gadgets enabled me to deal with Christy Marine while you still hadn't
realized that I was within a thousand miles. Jules blew out his cheeks
and muttered to himself Twenty-two thousand horsepower, c'est ridicule!
They are over-powered I needed every single one of those horses when I
pulled Golden Adventurer off Cape Alarm. 'Nicholas, do not keep
reminding me of that shameful episode. He turned to Samantha. I am
hungry, ma petite, and in the next village there is a patisserie, he
sighed and kissed his bunched fingers, you will adore the pastry, Try
me/ she invited, and Jules had found a soul mate.
Those fancy propellers - variable pitch - ouf! Jules spoke through a
mouthful of pastry, and there was whipped cream on his mustache.
I can make twenty-five knots and then slam Warlock into reverse thrust
and stop her within her own length. Jules changed pace, and attacked
from a new direction.
You'll never find full employment for two big expensive ships like that.
I'm -going to need four, not two, Nick contradicted him.
We are going to catch icebergs, and Jules forgot to chew, as he listened
intently for the next ten minutes. One of the beauties of the iceberg
scheme is that all my ships will be operating right on the tanker lanes,
the busiest shipping lanes in all the oceans Jules shook his head in
admiration, you Nicholas/ move too fast for me. I am an old man,
old-fashioned You're not old, Samantha told him firmly. You're only just
in your prime. And Jules threw up both hands theatrically.
Now you have a pretty girl heaping flattery on my bowed grey head/ he
looked at Nicholas; is no trick too deceitful for you? It was snowing
the next morning, a slow sparse sprinkling from a grey woollen sky, when
they drove into St Nazaire from the little seaside resort of La Baule
twenty-five kilometres up the Atlantic coast.
Jules had a small flat in one of the apartment blocks. It was a
convenient arrangement, for La Mouette, his command, was owned by a
Breton company and St Nazaire was her home port. It was a mere
twenty-minute drive before they made out the elegant arch of the
suspension bridge which crosses the estuarine mouth of the Loire River
at St Nazaire.
Jules drove through the narrow streets of that area of the docks just
