quarter of a million pounds.
He leaned closer to it, and only then did he realize how clever a copy
of the original it was. He shook his head in dismissal, The owners were
advised that the sea air may damage the original/ Charles Gras shrugged,
and spread his hands deprecatingly, 'and not many people would know the
difference. That was typical of Duncan Alexander, Nicholas thought
savagely. It could only be his idea, the sharp accountant's brain. The
conviction that it was possible to fool all of the people all of the
time.
Everybody knew that Chantelle owned that work, therefore nobody would
doubt its authenticity. That's the way Duncan Alexander would reason
it. It could not be Chantelle's idea. She had never been one to accept
anything that was sham or dross; it was a measure of the power that he
exerted over her, for her to go along with this cheap little fraud.
Nicholas indicated the forgery with his glass and spoke directly to
Charles Gras.
This is a cheat/ he spoke quietly, his anger contained and controlled,
but it is harmless. Now he turned away from it and, with a wider
gesture that embraced the whole ship, went on, But this other cheat,
this enormous fraud/ he paused to control the metallic edge that had
entered his tone, going on quietly again, this is a vicious, murderous
gamble he is taking. He has bastardized the entire concept of the
scheme. One propeller instead of four - it cannot manoeuvre a hull of
these dimensions with safety in any hazardous situation, it cannot
deliver sufficient thrust to avoid collision, to fight her off a lee
shore, to handle heavy seas. Nick stopped, and his voice dropped even
lower, yet somehow it was more compelling. This ship cannot, by all
moral and natural laws, be operated on a single boiler.
My design called for eight separate boilers and condensers, the standard
set for the old White Star and Cunard Lines.
But Duncan Alexander has installed a single boiler system.
There is no back-up, no fail-safe - a few gallons of sea water in the
system could disable this monster., Nicholas stopped suddenly as a new
thought struck him.
Charles/ his voice sharper still, the pod tanks, the design of the pod
tanks. He hasn't altered that, has he? He hasn't cut the corners
there? Tell me, old friend, they are still self -propelled, are they
not? Charles Gras brought the Courvoisier bottle to where Nicholas
stood, and when Nick would have refused the addition to his glass,
Charles told him sorrowfully, Come, Nicholas, you will need it for what
I have to tell you now. As he poured, he said, The pod tankers, their
design has been altered also. He drew a breath to tell it with a rush.
They no longer have their own propulsion units. They are now only dumb
barges that must be docked and undocked from the main hull and
manoeuvred only by attendant tugs. Nicholas stared at him, his lips
blanched to thin white lines. No. I do not believe it. Not even
Duncan - Duncan Alexander has saved forty-two million dollars by
re-designing Golden Dawn and equipping her with only a single boiler and
propeller. Charles Gras shrugged again.
And forty-two million dollars is a lot of money. There was a pale gleam
