|
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
|
|
at the beginning of which Wrungel finds himself
in deadly peril and in the end is reunited with the Rage
|
At long last we reached the port town of Para. The town, truth
to be told, was nothing to write home about-dirty, dusty, hot, with swarms
of stray dogs overrunning the streets. But after the wilds of the Amazon
it was an outpost of civilisation, though the local people, frankly speaking,
did not look over-civilised. Actually, they were of a savage aspect and
all wore knives at their belts. Just walking in the street was a scary
business.
Well, we cleaned up and shaved after our trying trip, my companions
said goodbye to me, boarded ships and sailed home. Fooks and I would have
liked to go too, but we had no papers, and they would not let us out.
There we were, like crabs on a shallow bank, stranded in a strange country,
with no shelter, no employment and no means of subsistence. We tried looking
for a job, but there were too few jobs going, except as labourers at rubber
plantations. That meant going back up the Amazon, and the idea did not
attract us at all - we had had our fill of the river.
We wandered about the town for a while and finally sat down
on a bench in a park to discuss the situation. Suddenly a policeman approached
us and said the governor wanted to see us. It was a flattering invitation
to be sure, but I do not relish all these official receptions and meeting
various VIPs. Still, we were not in a position to decline the summons,
so off we went.
The governor proved to be a hippopotamus of a man, who received
us sitting in a bath, fan in hand, snorting and splashing in true hippopotamus
fashion. On both sides of the bath stood two aides in dress uniform.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" the governor asked
us.
I said: "This is my sailor Fooks, whom I took on in Calais.
And I am Captain Wrungel. Perhaps you have heard of me?"
When he heard my name, the governor gasped, dropped his fan
and sank into the water, head and all. He might have drowned too if the
aides did not come to the rescue. They pulled him out, purple and coughing.
After he had regained his breath he said:
"What? That same Captain Wrungel? What's going to happen now?
Rioting, fires, revolution, reprimands, demotion! Oh no! I admire your
courage of course and have nothing against you personally, but as a representative
of the Federal government I insist that you leave the territory under
my jurisdiction at once. Issue the Captain an exit permit, Lieutenant!"
The aide had the paper ready in no time, put a stamp on it
and handed it to me. This suited me to a T. I bowed, saluted and said:
"Much obliged, Your Excellency! I am only too ready to carry
out your order. May I go now?"
,
With these words I turned on my heel and walked out, Fooks following.
We made straight for the harbour. Suddenly we heard the noise of stamping
feet behind. I glanced back and saw some forty characters, wearing top
boots and broad-brimmed hats and carrying knives and automatic machine-guns
giving us chase and shouting: "There they are, catch them, hold them!"
Well, it looked like they were after us. The last thing I
wanted was to be caught and held. There was nothing for it but run. We
ran some distance, but I soon got winded and had to stop for a breather
by some kind of a booth.
You can't do much running, you know, in that heat and at my time of life.
Fooks, now, was as fresh as a daisy-he was a man of slight build and running
came easy to him. Still, the turn of events had alarmed him too. He was
pale and his eyes were darting here and there. Suddenly he brightened
up and gave me a familiar slap on the back.
"You just stay here, Captain," he said, "and I'll run along.
You are quite safe where you are."
And he broke into a gallop.
I did not expect him to leave me in the lurch jlike that and
was quite upset, to tell the truth. The only thing left was to climb a
palm tree. Well, I started climbing one, hearing the chase approaching
with every second. Half way up the tree I glanced down, and at a closer
range they looked even more frightening - all great hulking men, with fierce
visages and yelling mouths. I felt quite weak with fear, if truth be told.
It looked as though all was up with me. I clung to the palm for dear life.
They were already milling at the foot of the tree snorting and stamping.
From what they said to each other I gathered that they were a posse of
plainclothesmen and not a mob of scalp-hunters as I had thought. The governor,
it transpired, had had a change of heart, regretted his amiability and
sent them after Fooks and me. To arrest us and clap us down in prison.
 |
I came back to the bench in the park where the policemen had delivered the governor's summons and dozed off. At dawn Fooks woke me up.
"Good morning, Captain," he greeted me. "What did I say-you were safe."
"Yes, but why?"
"That's why," he said, walking behind me and peeling off my back a warning sign with scull and crossbones. I don't know where he had pinched it-most probably that booth housed a transformer and bore this sign. At any rate he had saved me.
We had a good laugh about the incident. Fooks, it appeared, had not wasted time. He had bought tickets for a steamer. During embarkation I showed the governor's exit permit and they let us through without a murmur, even wished us bon voyage. We had a decent state-room and travelled in style as far as Rio de Janeiro.
Once there we started making inquiries and found out that the Rage had been tossed out ashore not far from the city. It was damaged of course, but Lom had had her repaired, and propped her up on shore awaiting further orders. He had had a long wait, as you can understand, since I had been otherwise engaged, and he lived like a hermit in a shack on the beach.
Fooks and I hired a local cab-a kind of basket on wheels-and went to the address we had been given in search of my yacht and first mate.
As we were riding along the seashore, we had a chance to observe a sad but instructive picture illustrating the local economic pattern. Some two hundred porters were moving in a line from a warehouse to the water's edge, dumping sugar into the sea by the sackful. The sea was thick as syrup, the bees and flies were swarming in a cloud above. We wondered what all this was about and were told that the demand for sugar had dropped and the prices were so low that it made better sense, economically speaking, to dump sugar into the sea than sell it cheap. In this way the prices would be stabilised and the living standard raised. In other words, it was the right thing to do and there was nothing to be surprised at. We shook our heads and drove on.
Soon we sighted our beauty on the shore, waiting for her I indomitable captain in the company of a fierce-looking character. He wore a hat as wide as an umbrella, pants with a fringe and a knife on his belt. He made a beeline for us, and my heart sank-they were too free with their knives for my liking here.
But no, it was not a local thug attacking us, it was Lom beyond himself with delight. He had simply adopted the local dress fashion, that's all.
We hugged and even cried a little, and spent the evening telling each other about our adventures. The next morning we knocked the wedges from under the keel, launched the Rage and hoisted the flag. I was moved to tears, young man, indeed I was. It is a great joy you know, to find yourself back on your own deck. We could now continue our cruise. All that was left was to settle matters with the port authorities.
I did not expect any trouble there. So I came to the captain of the port, "commandante del baja" as they call him, and asked for clearance.
But at the sight of me the port captain got all purple in the face and started yelling his head off:
"Oh, so you are the captain of the Rage! A troublemaker, that's what you are! I've got a sheaf of complaints from all over the world about you. Admiral Kusaki says you've destroyed an island and harassed a sperm-whale. Our governor reports you have left the port of Para without his permission..."
"That's not true," I said, "here's his permit. Allow me..."
"No I won't!" he stormed. "I won't allow anything. You cause nothing but trouble! Get out!" And he yelled:
"Lieutenant! Have that yacht sunk at once!"
Greatly troubled, I hurried back to my boat. On the shore near our camp I found an official in charge of the sinking operation. They had not lost any time.
"Is that the yacht to be sunk?" he asked me. "Don't you worry, sir, we'll do it in a jiffy."
I was at my wits' end.Once the yacht is sunk, try and salvage it from the bottom! But again myljresourcefulnessi saved the day.
"What are you going to use for ballast, young man?" I inquired. "Sand? Surely it's too much of a bother. Why not load it with those sacks of sugar they are dumping into the sea over there? The sacks are ready and tied, and your task will be lightened considerably."
"That's true," he said. "Good idea."
The porters ran along the gangway one after another, filling the hold with sacks, packing the house full, and then dumping them on deck. My poor Rage sank deeper and deeper under the weight, and soon just the masts remained visible. Then there was a gurgle and the masts disappeared as well. Fooks and Lom watched the sinking of their beloved ship with tears in their eyes, whereas I was in the best of moods. I told my crew we would stay in camp until the Rage floated up again.
 |
"Come back at once! I won't allow this!"
And trotting alongside him was none but my old acquaintance Admiral Kusaki, berating the captain:"D'you call this keeping up your end of the deal, Commandant? Be so kind as to return the money you’ve been paid!"
"Sort it out between yourselves, you two tricksters," I thought, waved goodbye to them and set on course.
