WITH THE ENGINE at dead slow the Vulkan slid smoothly through the black water, the gentle thrust of her sharp stem hardly making a ripple to disturb the reflections of a million bright stars. The night air was heavy and humid, and on the bridge every man felt the quickening of his heart as the scent of invisible land moved inquisitively around the wheelhouse.
Von Steiger’s shadow moved from the port door until his small beard shone wickedly in the binnacle light. ‘Steer south-west by south!’
Lehr, the Coxswain, repeated the order, and the silence was broken by the discreet creaks of the wheel’s spokes being eased over.
From the forward deck the silvery chimes of two bells rang out with unexpected suddenness, and von Steiger cursed in the darkness. ‘For God’s sake send a man down there! Do you want every damned Brazilian to hear us coming!’
He tried to relax and concentrate on the impenetrable black curtain ahead of the ship. He could almost feel the great mass of land beyond the bows, but instinct and training made him stand quite still and control his anxiety. There was no moon, and although this helped their stealthy approach, it made the actual navigation a nightmare.
Behind him by the chart he could hear Dehler’s heavy breathing as he bent over a small pool of light, his thick fingers working with parallel rule and dividers. Poor Dehler, he thought absently. Second in command in name only. He had taken the news of von Steiger’s choice with surprising calm, his heavy face devoid of expression. Von Steiger had looked for relief, anger or even open disagreement, but the man’s eyes had been blank.
He heard the scrape of metal as the machine-gun crews on either wing of the bridge swivelled their oiled weapons and clipped the long belts into place. Every other gun was still covered, and as she moved so quietly towards the land the Vulkan was more like her true self than she had been since leaving Germany. All the false deckhouses had been either removed or completely modified, and a hastily applied layer of white paint had once more transformed her upperworks. She wore neither flag nor name, and was ready for instant action should she be challenged.
Von Steiger watched the pale blobs of white on the distant fo’c’sle head where Sub-Lieutenant Seebohm and his anchor party waited to let go. He could see the triangular shape of Seebohm’s arm-sling as he gesticulated to the rating with the hammer who would, with luck, knock away the slip and let the great anchor go plummeting to the bottom, for the first time since leaving Kiel.
‘Start sounding!’ He could sense the excitement in Damrosch’s voice as he repeated the order. Every man aboard was keyed up to the limit. It only needed them to be pinned down by a Brazilian searchlight or challenged by a gunboat, and all hell would be let loose.
Far out on his small platform on the ship’s side the burly figure of the leadsman ran the long line through his hands and tested the fourteen pounds of lead on its end. When he heard the order he lowered the lead slowly over the edge of his platform and allowed the slender chain rail to take the weight of his body. Slowly, rhythmically, he began to swing the line back and forth, the heavy lead almost touching the gurgling bow-wave on each downward stroke. Then, as the arc lengthened he jerked the line towards him, so that in a few seconds he had the lead swinging in a complete circle. Then, with one final mighty heave, he cast it from him, feeling the line with its telltale markings snaking away through his fingers. Forward and down into the clear water, its passage making a gay commotion of green phosphorescence. He waited, felt it strike the bottom and called, over his shoulder, ‘By the mark ten!’
Von Steiger grunted. They were right in the narrow approach to Corata. A cable or so either way could be the finish of the Vulkan. It hardly seemed worth the risk. He shook his head angrily. He was committed now, and, in any case, the risk was more than justified. It had to be.
Heuss moved silently to his side. ‘All watertight doors closed, Captain! Wounded on deck, and boats swung out as ordered!’
‘Good. I am not expecting trouble, but one cannot be sure.’
‘You have been here before, sir?’ Heuss spoke coolly, but von Steiger could sense the tension in his tone.
‘Yes. Nearly two years back. When Brazil was still neutral. It was one of the places shown in the Intelligence Log supplied to all commerce raiders. Reliable then, but a lot of water has flowed in that time.’
‘And blood, sir.’
Von Steiger smiled grimly. How like Heuss to find double meanings in everything he said.
‘This man Fleiuss, his attitude may have changed, too.’
‘I shall tell him his attitude, Heuss! Make no mistake about that!’
‘By the mark ten!’ The leadsman’s chant floated eerily up from the darkened deck.
‘Good. It will not be long now.’ In a sharper tone he added: ‘In a few moments we shall be sighting the first of the islets. Fine on the starboard bow it should be. Coxswain, when we have found it I want you to bring her head up to the eastern tip and steer as close as you can! The channel is no more than half a cable wide at that point!’
‘I understand, Captain!’ Lehr hunched his massive shoulders and sniffed at the air through the open window in front of him.
Von Steiger fretted with concealed impatience. They all accept my word without question, although we might be right off course. A bead of sweat formed beneath the rim of his cap at the thought of Vulkan’s twenty-two feet of draught moving towards what might in reality be one of the outlying reefs.
‘By the deep eight!’
‘Damn!’ he swore softly. ‘Bring her head up half a point!’
A few agonising moments, then, ‘By the deep nine!’
That’s more like it, he breathed.
‘Well, Heuss, you know exactly where you have to go? If there is anything else you wish to know, let me have it from you now. There will be no time at all in a moment!’
Heuss seemed to relax slightly. ‘Take both boats and make for the beach. The beach is at the south-western end of the anchorage and is at the bottom of a giant cleft in the rock cliffs.’
Von Steiger interrupted: ‘The beach is nothing at all really, so watch for those two pinnacles of rock on either side of the cleft. Just think of two great book-ends, and there you are!’
Heuss nodded. ‘Up the path from the beach, and right at the top of the gully. Through the coffee plantation, and straight on to the house. It is the only one there?’
He grunted. ‘Intelligence reports so!’
‘See this man Fleluss, and bring him to the ship.’
‘That is about all there is to it,’ said von Steiger wryly. ‘But do not forget to deploy your men right round the cove and up on the rocks above. When dawn breaks they will be able to see miles out to sea, so I shall be relying on them to a great extent. The ship will be invisible from a seaward approach, but then, too, will any intruder be invisible to me!’
‘I have arranged all that, Captain.’ Heuss refused to respond to the Captain’s humour. ‘They are all picked men, and Lieutenant Kohler is in charge of the beach party.’
‘By the mark seven!’ The chant was like a dirge.
Damrosch’s voice broke in on his thoughts. ‘There it is, Captain! At green four-five! Look, sir, land!’
Heuss lowered his glasses, and stared at the Captain. A quick glance had verified Damrosch’s report. There was no mistaking the faint white line of breaking waves and the imperceptible darkening beyond. Land, after all this time. The last glimpse for him had been a nightmare vision of snow-capped mountains and screaming winds in the Denmark Strait. He felt himself sweating slightly and trembling with furious admiration. How did he do it? He had willed the ship here, that was the only explanation he could find. Nothing else fitted. No wonder that girl admired him. He felt the pain reawake in his breast. Two people like Caryl Brett and Felix von Steiger, a nation—a war—apart, and neither a stranger to pain and hatred, yet both so similar it was uncanny.
He wondered if she had reported him to the Captain for his behaviour. He felt the shame burning his cheeks as he recalled her face and the crimson mark where he had struck her.
‘Bring her round, Coxswain!’ Von Steiger’s voice was terse. ‘She won’t bite you!’
Heuss followed his captain’s ghost-like figure on to the starboard wing and stared past him at the black mass of land. No cheerful buoys, no lighted houses, not even a nodding fishing boat to guide them in. Just the calm sea, broken at the far edge by a writhing line of pure white breakers.
The engine was so muffled that they could not hear its pounding rhythm. Only the persistent vibration and rattle of glass and instruments showed that it was still alive.
Von Steiger placed his hands on the teak rail and breathed deeply. ‘That smells good! Peace must smell like that!’
‘By the mark five!’
‘Christ!’ said von Steiger calmly. ‘That coxswain is so nervous of losing his pension he is still holding her head round! I imagine that new depth will change his mind for him!’
Heuss heard the wheel spin round, and saw the black wedge of the bows sidle nearer to the whitecaps on the shore.
‘I shall get below, Captain. The landing party must be ready to get away as soon as you give the order!’ He saluted, and moved to the top of the ladder. He faltered, the nagging question bursting from him. ‘What if he will not come to the ship, sir?’
‘Persuade him, Heuss. You should be good at that!’ His white-clad body turned at the rail, his face hidden in the darkness. ‘If anything goes wrong, and it is the fault of this agent, shoot him!’ He added, half to himself, ‘He has got fat enough at our expense!’
‘By the deep eight!’
The land seemed to swoop up and over them, and all at once the ship was no longer the only thing to share the sea and the stars. A great ragged dome of black rock towered high above the mastheads and shut out the stars like a curtain. At its foot the waves leapt and curtsied in a mad dance of worship, and, as the silent ship glided past, a few nodding gulls rose screaming from their nests, disturbed and querulous.
‘Hard a-port!’ His voice rapped across the polished machine gun and galvanised the helmsman into action. Von Steiger watched a gap-toothed rock sidle past and vanish astern. He remembered that rock from before. He remembered, too, the ship he had then commanded, and the wave of cheerful optimism with which they had greeted the shore. It had been a tremendous cruise and had taken him as far as the Indian Ocean. He had cut the British blockade twice. Once to break into the Atlantic and start a raid on the enemy’s commerce, which had been unbeaten and stupendous in its results, and again when he had returned victorious to Kiel. He could remember the cheering crowds, the brass bands and the house-flags streaming like yachts’ pennants from every halyard and yard, each flag taken from a victim or captured prize. Freda had been there to greet him, too. He recalled her face briefly. like a portrait revealed in a flash of lightning, as she had stood by his side before the Emperor. The greatest decoration pinned to his tunic, more crowds and screaming applause and the quiet dusty road to Plön. The nodding horses with their heads together over the polished shafts, and Reeder sitting proudly on his piled baggage.
‘Second isle on the port bow, Captain!’
He lifted his glasses, the small dream dispersed as if by a wind. ‘Take her straight for that next reef, Coxswain. I will tell you when to swing her round!’
Trust me! You big, obstinate ox, he thought angrily. I have no wish to sink my ship either!
Dehler loomed behind him. ‘We shall be coming into the tide-race soon, Captain!’
‘Very well. Increase speed. Half speed as we come up to the reef, and then full ahead! Tell the Coxswain that if he wishes to draw his pension he will have to move very sharply. Wheel hard over when I give the signal!’
‘I have been telling him what to do for the last twenty-four hours, sir.’
‘Even so, Dehler, watch everything!’
‘By the mark five!’
Von Steiger winced. Only a few feet beneath the raider’s barnacled hull now. He watched the angry surf, his eyes slitted as if gauging the strength of a human enemy.
He lifted his hand, and the telegraph jangled urgently. The great screw sprang to life, churning the water into a mad white maelstrom and making every plate shudder in protest. Another brief signal, and the bows, which were rushing straight for the barrier of rock, pivoted round like a bull warded off by a matador’s cape.
Von Steiger held his breath until he thought he would burst. Ten seconds, twenty seconds, while the maze of islets swung past the bows in a madly pivoting panorama.
‘Full speed astern! Wheel amidships!’ A great hand seemed to seize the ship by the stern and pulled her slowly back from her headlong flight.
‘Stop engine! Slow ahead!’ He peered over the rail, his glasses looking for those two pinnacles of rock. He grunted; there they were. Like the steeples of a shelled and deserted cathedral, black against the stars.
‘Stop engine! Stand by to let go!’ He heard the orders being repeated and passed forward to the cable party. Another painful ten seconds, while he waited, in spite of his outward calm, for the keel to slice into the rocky spines beneath it.
Then, ‘Slow astern!’ With a muffled roar the greased cable thundered through the hawse-pipe, the great rust-marked anchor breaking the quiet of the enclosed water and making a mad dance of phosphorescence. Slowly the ship moved astern paying out the cable ahead of it. The telegraph jangled again, and the engine fell into silence.
Von Steiger felt the vibration die in the teak rail under his hands, and was aware of the great peace which fell over his ship like a cloak. Only the slap and ripple of wavelets alongside and the muffled sigh of the deep water beyond the shelter of the islets and reefs disturbed the humid air. He could imagine Niklas and his engine-room staff leaning on their silent wheels and scarred shovels, and staring at the great, demanding dial of the telegraph, which, for the first time, read, ‘Finished with engine!’
* * * * *
Renato Fleiuss, the German agent in Corata, shifted uncomfortably in his chair and watched von Seiger across Reeder’s stooped shoulders as the steward poured two large measures of Scotch whisky. In his expensive drill suit his bloated body looked gross, and the oily skin of his face was covered by a sheen of sweat as his dark, gimlet eyes studied the neat Captain with a mixture of apprehension and fury.
Reeder left the cabin, and Fleiuss’s anger burst like a flood. ‘And now, Captain, perhaps you will tell me the meaning of all this? You must be a maniac to come here after all that has happened!’
Von Steiger raised his eyebrows, and lit one of his cheroots. He did not reply. But watched the other man with interest.
‘When my men reported the presence of your ship I could hardly believe my ears! Here, in Brazil, a hostile country, you dare to show your face!’
‘It is too dark for anyone to see!’ Von Steiger pointed to the whisky. ‘Drink some, Fleiuss, it will calm your nerves!’
‘What are you thinking of, Captain? There is nothing for you here! Things have changed since you last came in the Isar. Then Germany was great and feared. A chain of resources and supplies stretched around the world. Neutrals turned a blind eye to your comings and goings, provided that our money was good. But even now Brazil is against you! Because the stupid U-boat commanders repeatedly sank her shipping.’ He wagged a fat finger, so that the ruby rings glinted like droplets of blood. ‘After fair warnings, too, and again after other provocations, Brazil declared war. Every door is shut to you. It is over!’ He mopped his face with a silk handkerchief. ‘Please go away! You are endangering us all here!’
‘Have you finished?’ The voice was still calm. ‘Surely you realise better than most that I want stores and fuel? I can see that you have feathered your nest here, but for me the war still goes on.’ His voice hardened. ‘Already my men are going ashore. Before dawn I want every sort of supply you can provide. My officers will give you lists. Fresh fruit, vegetables, water and, above all, fuel!’ He watched the mounting indignation on the man’s face. ‘I believe your coffee steamers still call here once a month?’
‘What of it?’
‘Then you will have retained a good supply of coal for them, and the lighters to ferry it from the shore.’ He smiled faintly. ‘I want all that coal, Fleiuss!’
‘It is not fair! I was warned by the courier that you might come! But still I could not believe you would be so foolish! And now you are trying to ruin me!’ He waved his hands. ‘I have won the confidence of people here, and they trust me! I have become one of them!’
‘Enough! For years you have waxed fat at the expense of Germany! Without too much risk you have settled here and made yourself more than just comfortable! You are rich, and powerful in your own way!’ He waved down the man’s protests, the gesture brief and scornful. ‘I want to hear no more! I am landing my wounded men also. You will see that they are cared for and taken to the nearest town. Maybe they will be repatriated, but in any case they will be well cared for. You will do all these things, Fleiuss, whatever your scheming brain is plotting right at this moment. You may think that you can destroy me by informing your powerful Brazilian friends, either now or later, when I am once more at sea. Forget such things, and face what you have to do!’
‘Betray you! I am a German, Captain!’ The shifty eyes blinked with discomfort.
‘I am glad you remember! But I am not merely relying on your own interpretation of patriotism!’ His lip curled with contempt. ‘If you try to betray me you will never live to enjoy your revenge. After the war, if Germany wins you would soon be hounded down for your cowardice, and should we lose the Brazilians would be quick to dispose of you also, provided they were given certain information about your activities!’
Fleiuss’s mouth hung open. ‘You would not inform on me?’
‘For my ship I would do much more than that!’ He turned away as the sounds of oars and boats drifted through the open scuttle.
The wounded were on their way. Von Steiger had been on deck to see them, while he had awaited Heuss’s return with the agent. The men had been brave, but frightened. Like most sailors they were unwilling to leave their ship and the illusion of security it offered. His eyes had stung as he had moved about the darkened decks. A handshake here, a fumbled embrace there, and teeth which gleamed in smiles at his quick, well-used jokes.
Fleiuss sighed, recognising his own defeat in those brooding eyes. ‘I will get the stores. Captain. Before dawn if you wish it so.’ He fumbled in his pocket and handed across some folded papers. ‘The courier brought these for you. I was to give them to you if you called.’ A small spark of pleasure showed in his heavy face. ‘It would appear from what the courier told me that you are not too popular with the High Command? You are still headstrong perhaps, and resent the interference of your superiors?’
Von Steiger leafed through the brief reports. Local shipping, warship movements, etc., there were still a few conscientious agents about, he thought. He opened the last envelope, and felt his heart chill.
Fleiuss downed his whisky and looked up with interest. ‘Bad news, Captain?’
Von Steiger walked to the scuttle and lifted a corner of the black curtain. So Heinz was dead. Killed, as he had prophesied, leading his men into the wire and the machine guns.
‘My brother-in-law is dead,’ he answered sharply, excluding the other man who sat like a fat spider, his face working with fresh ideas.
‘But, Captain, surely you can see that it is all hopeless now?’ He spread his hands, his voice wheedling but insistent. ‘The war is lost for Germany! If you carry on as you are doing, what difference can it make? The big days are gone for ever. The eagle is reduced to picking up crumbs!’
Von Steiger turned on him with sudden fury, his eyes blazing. ‘What do you know of war? You, or your stinking kind? Better men than you are shot for cowardice, or fall weeping in the mud of Flanders! What do you want me to do? Surrender and scuttle my ship I suppose? Or perhaps sell her to your friends? Do not endanger your skin even by suggesting it!’
‘I am sorry, Captain. I was only trying to help.’
‘And so you will! Attend to my orders, and at once! You will be guarded at all times while I am here, just in case your memory should lapse, and my pickets will surround your estate. You are far from any other town or village, and I think you are intelligent enough to understand what I mean. I will leave when I have replenished my stores, and you will be in peace. But see that my wounded are cared for. Your own life will be measured against their security!’ He looked suddenly tired. ‘Now go away! I want to think.’
He stared at the picture of his son until Fleiuss had left the cabin, and then poured another glass of spirit. Poor Heinz. He tried to picture him as he had last seen him. Instead he saw a one-armed man, old before his time, leading his ragged soldiers into nothingness.
With a jarring crash the door flew open, and he swung round to confront a wide-eyed petty officer.
‘Captain! I am sorry to burst in!’ The man swallowed, and waved his hands hopelessly. ‘Something terrible has happened!’
‘Speak, man! Don’t gabble at me!’
‘Some of the prisoners have escaped in the dory! They overpowered a guard and got away in the darkness!’ The man stared at his captain, appalled by his own words.
‘Who were they?’ Von Steiger thought he already knew that answer, but forced himself to wait.
‘The Captain of the collier, Mason, and his mate Cobb. Also the man Gelb!’ He had turned white, and von Steiger knew there was worse to come. ‘They took a rifle, and then overpowered Lieutenant Heuss. They knocked him unconscious and took him as a hostage. They also took the woman, Captain!’
Von Steiger crossed the cabin in two strides and shook the petty officer by his jacket. ‘What? Are you certain of all this?’
‘Yes, Captain! The sentry who was tied up saw the whole thing! She screamed and fought them! But they dragged her away!’
‘Call the Quarter Guard! Summon all the officers at once, and alert the pickets! They cannot get very far tonight!’
He paced across the cabin, listening to the sounds of shouted orders and the clatter of the guard boat alongside.
It would have to happen now. Hardly a man still aboard, and that swine Gelb must have waited for just this moment. His senses and thoughts reeled and surged in disordered confusion, but through it all he seemed to feel one strange steadying message. Caryl Brett had fought them. She was a hostage, as much as Heuss. She was no party to Gelb’s plan. He walked to the bunk in the sleeping quarters. He imagined he could sense the feel of her presence or still hold on to the comfort of her belonging in this place.
Dehler and Kohler arrived together, their faces apprehensive as they saw the cold anger in von Steiger’s eyes.
Von Steiger did not waste words. ‘You have heard what has happened? This is what I intend to do. At dawn I want every available man on the beach. Split them into platoons and cover the whole area. Kohler, you can take your men and start from the far end of the gully, and I will move towards you from the beach. Ebert can take his men along the west side of the cove and beat out every cave and cranny in the rocks there. We must find those men! If we sail without them they will have a hornets’ nest around our heads before we have gone a hundred miles, or much less. If we cannot find them soon we will be pinned down here, and maybe discovered by a police patrol or casual ship. Gelb is in a strong position if he can remain hidden, and he knows it. He is not a fool, I think, but a dangerous man!’
Kohler blinked his pale eyes. ‘We will shoot them like dogs!’
‘We must make contact first, Kohler! I can deal with them then. They have two hostages, and will want to bargain. I do not want them hurt!’
‘Two, Captain?’ Dehler frowned. ‘Surely the woman is as dangerous as they?’
‘She is a hostage also. No harm must come to her!’
Dehler licked his lips. ‘But, Captain, she is not worth the risk! She is only a prisoner!’
Von Steiger smiled straight at him, and ignored Kohler, who was already peering at the map of the cove.
‘Dehler, I can read you like a book! Do not imagine I cannot see how your thoughts are going! Attend to my orders at once, and do not try to be clever at Heuss’s and Frau Brett’s expense!’
He turned away, dismissing them. ‘Now we must get that coal! Tomorrow there will be much for all of us to do.’
As he walked on to the darkened deck he felt the pang of loss even stronger. The sick-bay door was open, and the place was deserted. She had not wanted to leave. Whatever she had wished to do later, she had not wanted to leave him like this.
He watched the first coal-lighter being rowed alongside, and rested his hands on the guardrail. Somewhere out there, inside his ring of pickets, the three escaped prisoners and their hostages were waiting and hiding. The land was unbroken and wild, and too dangerous for movement by night. Von Steiger lit his cheroot and wondered if they could see the glare of the match from the shore. Perhaps the girl could see it and would feel hope. If Gélb saw it he might even recognise it as a warning. Von Steiger glanced at the watchful shape of a machine gunner and threw the cheroot over the rail.
Heuss may already be dead, but if they have harmed that girl it will be my own doing!
If Gelb could have seen his face, he might well have known the meaning of fear.