I'm a sea-creature/ he grinned to himself. And I keep forgetting it. He
looked back to the low silhouette of the Bermuda islands, the receding
arms of Hamilton Harbour and the flecking of the multi-coloured
buildings amongst the cedar trees, and then returned his attention to
the spread charts on the navigation table before him.
Warlock was still at cautionary speed Even though the the channel was
wide and clearly buoyed, yet the coral reef on each hand was sharp and
hungry, and David Allen's full attention was on the business of conning
Warlock out into the open sea. But as they passed the 100, fathom line,
he gave the order to his deck officer, Full away at 0900, hours, pilot,
and hurried across to join Nicholas.
I didn't have much of a chance to welcome you on board, sir. Thank you,
David. It's good to be back. Nicholas looked up and smiled at him.
Will you bring her round on to 240 magnetic and increase to 80% power?
Quickly David repeated his order to the helm and then shifted from one
foot to the other, beginning to flush under the salt-water tan.
Mr. Berg, my officers are driving me mad. They've been plaguing me
since we left Cape Town, - are we running on a job - or is this a
pleasure cruise? Nicholas laughed aloud then. He felt the excitement
of the hunt, a good hot scent in the nostrils, and the prospect of a fat
prize. Now he had Warlock under him, his concern for Peter's safety had
abated. Whatever happened now, he could get there very fast. No, he
felt good, very good.
We're hunting, David/ he told him. Nothing certain yet, -he paused, and
then relented, Get Beauty Baker up to my cabin, tell Angel to send up a
big pot of coffee and a mess of sandwiches - I missed breakfast - and
while we eating, I'll fill both of you in. Beauty Baker accepted one of
Nicholas cheroots.
Still smoking cheap/ he observed, and sniffed at the four-dollar cheroot
sourly, but there was a twinkle of pleasure behind the smeared lenses of
his spectacles. Then, unable to contain himself, he actually grinned.
Skipper tells me we are hunting, is that right? This is the picture -
Nicholas began to spell it out to them in detail, and while he talked,
he thought with comfortable self-indulgence, I must be getting old and
soft I didn't always talk so much. Both men listened in silence, and
only when he finished did the two of them begin bombarding him with the
perceptive penetrating questions he had expected.
Sounds like a generator armature/ Beauty Baker guessed, as he puzzled
the contents of the wooden case that had been flown out to Golden Dawn.
I cannot believe that Golden Dawn doesn't carry a full set of mechanical
spares. While Baker was fully preoccupied with the mechanics of the
situation, David Allen concentrated on the problems of seamanship. What
was the range of the helicopter? Has it returned to base yet? With her
draught, she must be heading for the Florida Straits. Our best bet
would be to shape a course for Matanilla Reef at the mouth of the
Straits. There was a peremptory knock on the door of the guest cabin,
and the Trog stuck his grey wrinkled tortoise head through. He glanced
at Nicholas, but did not greet him.
Captain, Miami is broadcasting a new hurricane alert.
