murdered,” Nye pointed out. “Begg will anger the Malays and Chinese so much they’re bound to turn on us. These aren’t the old days. What do you think a dozen bloody Ghoorkas can do against a thousand coolies?”
There was a glint of malice in Hira’s eyes. “So you don’t want me to report this to the Official Representative, gentlemen?”
“Better not,” said Nye. “We’ll all keep mum, eh?”
I watched the nurse cleaning the blood from Underwood’s body. The cocaine had knocked him out completely. I walked to the door of the ward and lit a cigarette, watching the mosquitoes and the moths fluttering around the oil lamp in the lobby. From beyond the open door came the sound of the sea striking the stones of the quay. It no longer seemed peaceful. Instead the silence had become ominous. As the other three men joined me I inclined my head.
“Very well,” I said. “I’ll say nothing.”
* * *
N ext morning New Birmingham was deathly quiet. I walked through empty streets. I felt I was watched by a thousand pairs of eyes as I made my way up to the airpark.
I did not call in at the hotel. There was no point now in hoping to see Underwood there. He had died in the night at the hospital. I carried on past it and stood by one of the ruined hovergyros, kicking at a broken rotor which lay on the weed-grown concrete beside the machine. From the forest behind me came the sounds of dawn. At this hour some of the nocturnal animals were still about and the diurnal inhabitants were beginning to wake. Hornbills, cockatoos, fairy bluebirds and doves fluttered among the trees, filling the air with song and with colour. They seemed to be celebrating something, perhaps the end of the human occupation of the island. The air was rich with the stink of the forest, of animal spoor and rotting tree trunks. I heard the chatter of gibbons and saw tiny shrews skipping along branches heavy with dew. On the wall of the hangar the beady eyes of lizards regarded me coldly as if I had no business to be there.
I turned towards what had been the main control building where the murdered man had locked up his wireless apparatus before going off on what was to prove his final orgy.
The whole building had been sealed before the airship personnel had left. The windows on all three storeys had been covered by steel shutters and it would take special tools and a lot of hard work to get even one of them down. All the doors were locked and barred and I could see where various attempts to open them had failed.
I walked round and round the concrete building, pushing uselessly at the shutters and rattling the handles of the doors. The chirring sounds from the forest seemed to mock my helplessness and at length I stopped by a door which had evidently been in recent use, tried the handle once more, then leaned against the frame, looking back across the deserted park, with its broken bones of flying machines and its rusting mast, at the spruce hotel beyond. The sun glinted on Olmeijer’s gilded sign: ROYAL AIRPARK HOTEL, it said, THE ISLAND’S BEST.
A little later someone came out through the French windows leading from the bar and stood on the verandah. Then they saw me and began to walk slowly through the tall grass towards me.
I recognized the figure and I frowned. What could he want?
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Message
I t was Dempsey. of course. He had shaved and put on a suit slightly cleaner than the one he had worn on the previous day, but he wore the same tattered native shirt underneath it. By the pupils of his eyes I saw he had not yet had his first pipe of opium.
He shuffled towards me, coughing on the comparatively cold air of the early morning. “I heard about Underwood,” he said. He crossed the cracked concrete and stood looking at me.
I offered him a cigarette which he accepted, fumbling it from my case and trembling slightly as I lit it for him.
“You knew the Chinese were after Underwood, didn’t you?” I said. “That’s
There was a glint of malice in Hira’s eyes. “So you don’t want me to report this to the Official Representative, gentlemen?”
“Better not,” said Nye. “We’ll all keep mum, eh?”
I watched the nurse cleaning the blood from Underwood’s body. The cocaine had knocked him out completely. I walked to the door of the ward and lit a cigarette, watching the mosquitoes and the moths fluttering around the oil lamp in the lobby. From beyond the open door came the sound of the sea striking the stones of the quay. It no longer seemed peaceful. Instead the silence had become ominous. As the other three men joined me I inclined my head.
“Very well,” I said. “I’ll say nothing.”
* * *
N ext morning New Birmingham was deathly quiet. I walked through empty streets. I felt I was watched by a thousand pairs of eyes as I made my way up to the airpark.
I did not call in at the hotel. There was no point now in hoping to see Underwood there. He had died in the night at the hospital. I carried on past it and stood by one of the ruined hovergyros, kicking at a broken rotor which lay on the weed-grown concrete beside the machine. From the forest behind me came the sounds of dawn. At this hour some of the nocturnal animals were still about and the diurnal inhabitants were beginning to wake. Hornbills, cockatoos, fairy bluebirds and doves fluttered among the trees, filling the air with song and with colour. They seemed to be celebrating something, perhaps the end of the human occupation of the island. The air was rich with the stink of the forest, of animal spoor and rotting tree trunks. I heard the chatter of gibbons and saw tiny shrews skipping along branches heavy with dew. On the wall of the hangar the beady eyes of lizards regarded me coldly as if I had no business to be there.
I turned towards what had been the main control building where the murdered man had locked up his wireless apparatus before going off on what was to prove his final orgy.
The whole building had been sealed before the airship personnel had left. The windows on all three storeys had been covered by steel shutters and it would take special tools and a lot of hard work to get even one of them down. All the doors were locked and barred and I could see where various attempts to open them had failed.
I walked round and round the concrete building, pushing uselessly at the shutters and rattling the handles of the doors. The chirring sounds from the forest seemed to mock my helplessness and at length I stopped by a door which had evidently been in recent use, tried the handle once more, then leaned against the frame, looking back across the deserted park, with its broken bones of flying machines and its rusting mast, at the spruce hotel beyond. The sun glinted on Olmeijer’s gilded sign: ROYAL AIRPARK HOTEL, it said, THE ISLAND’S BEST.
A little later someone came out through the French windows leading from the bar and stood on the verandah. Then they saw me and began to walk slowly through the tall grass towards me.
I recognized the figure and I frowned. What could he want?
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Message
I t was Dempsey. of course. He had shaved and put on a suit slightly cleaner than the one he had worn on the previous day, but he wore the same tattered native shirt underneath it. By the pupils of his eyes I saw he had not yet had his first pipe of opium.
He shuffled towards me, coughing on the comparatively cold air of the early morning. “I heard about Underwood,” he said. He crossed the cracked concrete and stood looking at me.
I offered him a cigarette which he accepted, fumbling it from my case and trembling slightly as I lit it for him.
“You knew the Chinese were after Underwood, didn’t you?” I said. “That’s
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