looked directly across the table at Nicholas.
I believe she is as safe as the world's leading marine architects and
naval engineers can make her. He paused, and there was a malevolent
gleam in his eyes now, So safe, that I have decided to end this
ridiculous controversy by a display of my personal confidence.
What form will this show of faith take, Mr. Alexander? The anchor-man
sensed the sensational line for which he had been groping and he leaned
forward eagerly.
On Golden Dawn s maiden voyage, when she returns from the Persian Gulf
fully laden with the El Barras crudes, I and my family, my wife and my
step-son, will travel aboard her for the final six thousand miles of her
voyage from Cape Town on the Cape of Good Hope to Galveston in the Gulf
of Mexico. As Nicholas gaped at him wordlessly, he went on evenly,
That's how convinced I am that Golden Dawn is capable of performing her
task in perfect safety. Thank you. The anchor-man recognized a good
exit line, when he heard one. Thank you, Mr. Alexander.
you have convinced me - and I am sure many of our viewers. We are now
crossing to Washington via satellite where The moment the red in use
light flickered out on the television camera, Nicholas was on his feet
and facing the real Duncan Alexander. His anger was fanned by the
realization that Duncan had easily grandstanded him with that adroit
display of showmanship, and by the stabbing anxiety at the threat to
take Peter aboard Golden Down on her hazardous maiden voyage.
You're not taking Peter on that death trap of yours, he snapped.
Thats his mother's decision/ said Duncan evenly. As the daughter of
Arthur Christy, she's decided to give the company her full support/ he
emphasized the word full'.
I wont let either of you endanger my son's life for a wild
public-relations stunt. I'm sure you will try to prevent it, Duncan
nodded and smiled, and I'm sure your efforts will be as ineffectual as
your attempts to stop Golden Dawn., He deliberately turned his back on
Nicholas and spoke to the oil man. I do think that went off rather
well/ he said, don't you? James Teacher gave a graphic demonstration of
why he could charge the highest fees in London and still have his desk
piled high with important briefs. He had Nicholas urgent application
before a Judge-in-Chambers within seventy hours, petitioning for a writ
to restrain Chantelle Alexander from allowing the son of their former
marriage, one Peter Nicholas Berg, aged twelve years, to accompany her
on an intended voyage from Cape Town in the Republic of South Africa to
Galveston in the state of Texas aboard the bulk crude-carrier Golden
Dawn, and/or to prevent the said Chantelle Alexander from allowing the
child to undertake any other voyage aboard the said vessel.
The judge heard the petition during a recess in the criminal trial of a
young post-office worker standing accused of multiple rape. The judge's
oak-panelled book-lined chambers were overcrowded by the two parties,
their lawyers, the judge's registrar and the considerable bulk of the
judge himself.
Still in his wig and robes from the public court, the judge read swiftly
through the written submission of both sides, listened attentively to
