Coertze dragged me from under the lorry and said, ‘Are you all right?’
I rubbed my sore head. ‘I’m O.K. What happened?’
‘They didn’t know what hit them—or they didn’t know what they hit. The smash shook them up too much to be of any use; we drove them from the lorry and they ran for it.’
‘How many of them were there?’
‘They were jammed in the back of the lorry like sardines. I suppose they thought they could smash in the gates, drive into the yard and get out in comfort. They didn’t get the chance.’ He looked at the gateway. ‘They won’t be coming that way again.’
The gateway, from being our weakest point had become our strongest. The tangled mess of the lorry and the car completely blocked the entrance, making it impassable.
Piero came up and said, ‘We have three prisoners.’
‘Tie them up and stick them with the others,’ I said. One commodity which is never in short supply in a boatyard is rope. Torloni was now missing eleven men—a quarter of his
force. Perhaps that would make him think twice before attacking again.
I said to Coertze, ‘Are you sure they can’t attack us from the sides?’
‘Positive. We’re blocked in with buildings on both sides. He has to make a frontal attack. But, hell, I wish I knew where that other lorry went.’
The telephone began to ring shrilly.
I said, ‘I thought you said the wire had been cut.’
‘Piero said it had.’
We ran to the office and Coertze grabbed the phone. He listened for a second, then said, ‘It’s Torloni!’
‘I’ll speak to him,’ I said, and took the phone. I held my hand over the mouthpiece. ‘I’ve got an idea—get old Palmerini up here.’ Then I said into the phone, ‘What do you want?’
‘Is that Halloran?’ The English was good, if strongly tinged with an American accent.
‘Yes.’
‘Halloran, why don’t you be reasonable? You know you haven’t a chance.’
I said, ‘This phone call of yours is proof that we
have
a chance. You wouldn’t be speaking to me if you thought you could get what you want otherwise. Now, if you have a proposition, make it; if you haven’t, shut up.’
His voice was softly ugly. ‘You’ll be sorry you spoke to me like that. Oh, I know all about the Estrenoli woman’s old soldiers, but you haven’t got enough of them. Now if you cut me in for half I’ll be friendly.’
‘Go to hell!’
‘All right,’ he said. ‘I’ll crush you and I’ll like doing it.’
‘Make one more attack and the police will be here.’ I might as well try to pull a bluff.
He thought that one over, then said silkily, ‘And how will you call them with no telephone?’
‘I’ve made my arrangements,’ I said. ‘You’ve already run into some of them.’ I rubbed it in. ‘A lot of your men are mysteriously missing, aren’t they?’
I could almost hear his brain click to a decision. ‘You won’t send for the police,’ he said with finality. ‘You want the police as little as I do. Halloran, I did you a favour once; I got rid of Estrenoli, didn’t I? You could return the favour.’
‘The favour was for Metcalfe, not me,’ I said, and hung up on him. He wouldn’t like that.
Coertze said, ‘What did he want?’
‘A half-share—or so he said.’
‘I’ll see him in hell first,’ he said bluntly.
‘Where’s Palmerini?’
‘Coming up. I sent Giuseppi for him.’
Just then Palmerini came into the office. I said, ‘First, how’s the boat getting on?’
‘Give me fifteen minutes—just fifteen minutes, that’s all.’
‘I may not be able to,’ I said. ‘You’ve got some portable floodlights you use for working at night. Take two men and bring them up here quickly.’
I turned to Coertze. ‘We want to be able to see what’s happening. They’ll have to come over the wall this time, and once they’re over it won’t be easy for them to get back. That means that the next attack will be final—make or break. Now here’s what we do.’
I outlined what I wanted to do with the lights and Coertze nodded appreciatively. It took a mere five minutes to set them up and we used the Fiat and a truck to give added light by their headlamps. We placed the men and settled down to wait for the impending attack.
It wasn’t long in coming. There were odd scraping noises from the wall and Coertze said, ‘They’re coming over.’
‘Wait,’ I breathed.
There were several thumps which could only be made by men dropping heavily to the ground. I yelled,
‘Luce!’
and the lights blazed out.
It was like a frozen tableau. Several of the enemy were on our side of the wall, squinting forward at the light pouring on to them. Several others were caught lowering themselves, their head turned to see what was happening.
What they must have seen cannot have been reassuring—a blaze of blinding light behind which was impenetrable darkness heavy with menace, while they themselves were in the open and easily spotted—not a very comfortable thought for men supposedly making a surprise attack.
They hesitated uncertainly and in that moment we hit them on both flanks simultaneously, Piero leading from the right and Coertze from the left. I stayed with a small reserve of three men, ready to jump in if either flank party had bitten off more than it could chew.
I saw upraised clubs and the flash of knives and three of Torloni’s men went down in the first ten seconds. We had caught them off balance and the flank attacks quickly rolled them up into the centre and there was a confused mob of shouting, fighting men. But more of the enemy were coming over the wall fast, and I was just going to move my little group into battle when I heard more shouting.
It came from
behind
me.
‘Come on,’ I yelled and ran down the yard towards
Sanford.
Now we knew what had happened to that other lorryload of men. They had come in from the seaward side and Torloni was attacking us front and rear.
Sanford
was beseiged. A boat was drawn up on the hard and another boat full of men was just landing. There was a fight going on round
Sanford
with men trying to climb up on the deck and our working party valiantly trying to drive them off. I saw the small figure of old Palmerini; he had a rope with a block on the end of it which he whirled round
his head like a medieval ball and chain. He whirled it once again and the block caught the attacker under the jaw and he toppled from the ladder he was climbing and fell senseless to the ground.
Palmerini’s sons were battling desperately and I saw one go down. Then I saw Francesca wielding a boat-hook like a spear. She drove it at a boarder and the spike penetrated his thigh. He screamed shrilly and fell away, the boat-hook still sucking out of his leg. I saw the look of horror on Francesca’s face and then drove home my little attack.
It was futile. We managed to relieve the beleaguered garrison on
Sanford,
but then we were outnumbered three to one and had to retreat up the yard. The attackers did not press us; they were so exultant at the capture of
Sanford
that they stayed with her and didn’t follow us. We were lucky in their stupidity.
I looked around to see what was happening at the top of the yard. Coertze’s party was closer than I had hoped—he had been driven back, too, but he was not under attack and I wondered why. If both enemy groups now made a concerted effort we were lost.
I said to Francesca, ‘Duck under those sacks and stay quiet—you may get away with it.’ Then I ran over to Coertze. ‘What’s happening?’
He grinned and wiped some blood from his cheek. ‘Our outside boys concentrated and hit Torloni hard on the other side of the wall, all fifteen of them. He can’t retreat now—anyone who tries to go back over the wall gets clobbered. I’m just getting my breath back before I hit ‘em again.’
I said, ‘They’ve got
Sanford.
They came in from the sea—we’re boxed in, too.’
His chest heaved. ‘All right; we’ll hit ‘em down there.’
I looked up the yard. ‘No,’ I said. ‘Look, there’s Torloni.’
We could see him under the wall, yelling at his men, whipping them up for another attack. I said, ‘We attack up
the yard—all of us—and we hope that the crowd at the back of us stay put for the time we need. We’re going to snatch Torloni himself. Where’s Piero?’
‘I am here.’
‘Good! Tell your boys to attack when I give the signal. You stay with Coertze and me, and the three of us will make for Torloni.’
I turned to find Francesca at my elbow. ‘I thought I told you to duck out of sight.’
She shook her head stubbornly. Old Palmerini was behind her, so I said, ‘See that she stays here, old friend.’
He nodded and put his arm round her. I said to Coertze, ‘Remember, we want Torloni—we don’t stop for anything else.’
Then we attacked up the yard. The three of us, Coertze, Piero and I, made a flying wedge, evading anyone who tried to stop us. We didn’t fight, we just ran. Coertze had grasped the idea and was running as though he was on a rugby field making an effort for the final try.
The goal line was Torloni and we were on him before he properly realized what was happening. He snarled and blue steel showed in his hand.
‘Spread out!’ I yelled, and we separated, coming at him from three sides. The gun in his hand flamed and Coertze staggered; then Piero and I jumped him. I raised my arm and hit him hard with the edge of my hand; I felt his collarbone break and he screamed and dropped the pistol.
With Torloni’s scream a curious hush came over the yard. There was an uncertainty in his men as they looked back to see what was happening. I picked up the gun and held it to Torloni’s head. ‘Call off your dogs or I’ll blow your brains out,’ I said harshly.
I was as close to murder then as I have ever been. Torloni saw the look in my eyes and whitened. ‘Stop,’ he croaked.
‘Louder,’ ordered Piero and squeezed his shoulder.
He screamed again, then he shouted, ‘Stop fighting—stop fighting. Torloni says so.’
His men were hirelings—they fought for pay and if the boss was captured they wouldn’t get paid. There is not much loyalty among mercenaries. There was an uncertain shuffling and a melting away of figures into the darkness.
Coertze was sitting on the ground, his hand to his shoulder. Blood was oozing between his fingers. He took his hand away and looked at it with stupefied amazement. ‘The bastard shot me,’ he said blankly.
I went over to him. ‘Are you all right?’
He held his shoulder again and got to his feet. ‘I’m O.K.’ He looked at Torloni sourly. ‘I’ve got a bone to pick with you.’
‘Later,’ I said. ‘Let’s deal with the crowd at the bottom of the yard.’
We were being reinforced rapidly by men climbing over the wall. This was our mobile force which had taken Torloni’s men in the rear and had whipped them. In a compact mass we marched down the yard towards
Sanford,
Torloni being frog-marched in front.
As we came near
Sanford
I poked the pistol muzzle into Torloni’s fleshy neck. ‘Tell them,’ I commanded.
He shouted, ‘Leave the boat. Go away. Torloni says that.’
The men around
Sanford
looked at us expressionlessly and made no move. Piero squeezed Torloni’s shoulder again. ‘Aaah. Leave the boat, I tell you,’ he yelled.
They raised their eyes to the crowd behind us, realized they were outnumbered, and slowly began to drift towards the hard where their boats were drawn up. Piero said quietly, ‘These are the men from La Spezia. That man in the blue jersey is their leader; Morlaix; he is a Frenchman from Marseilles.’ He looked speculatively at their boats. ‘You may
have trouble with him yet. He does not care if Torloni lives or dies.’
I watched Morlaix’s crowd push their boats into the water. ‘We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,’ I said. ‘We’ve got to get out of here. Somebody might have notified the police about the brawl—we made enough noise, and there was a gunshot. Did we have many casualties?’
‘I don’t know; I will find out.’
Palmerini came pushing through the crowd with Francesca at his side. ‘The boat is not harmed,’ he said. ‘We can put her into the water at any time.’
‘Thanks,’ I said. I looked at Francesca and made a quick decision. ‘Still want to come?’
‘Yes, I’m coming.’
‘O.K. You won’t have time to pack, though. We’re leaving within the hour.’
She smiled. ‘I have a small suitcase already packed. It has been ready for a week.’
Coertze was standing guard over Torloni. ‘What do we do with this one?’ he asked.
I said, ‘We take him with us a little way. We may need him yet. Francesca, Kobus was shot; will you strap him up?’
‘Oh, I didn’t know,’ she said. ‘Where is the wound?’
‘In the shoulder,’ said Coertze absently. He was watching Walker on the deck of
Sanford.
‘Where was that
kêrel
when the trouble started?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I never saw him from start to finish.’
We put
Sanford
into the water very easily; there were plenty of willing hands. I felt better with a living, moving
deck under my feet than I had for a long time. Before I went aboard for the last time I took Piero on one side.
‘Tell the Count I’ve taken Francesca away,’ I said. ‘I think it’s better this way—Torloni might look for revenge. You men can look after yourselves, but I wouldn’t like to leave her here.’
‘That is the best thing,’ he said.
‘If Torloni wants to start any more funny tricks you know what to do now. Don’t go for his men—go for Torloni. He cracks easily under direct pressure. I’ll make it clear to him that if he starts any of his nonsense he’ll wind up floating somewhere in the bay. What did you find out about casualties?’
‘Nothing serious,’ said Piero. ‘One broken arm, three stab wounds, three or four concussions.’
‘I’m glad to see no one was killed,’ I said. ‘I wouldn’t have liked that. I think Francesca would like to speak to you, so I’ll leave you to it.’
We shook hands warmly and I went aboard. Piero was a fine man—a good man to have beside you in a fight.
He and Francesca talked together for a while and then she came on board. She was crying a little and I put my arms about her to comfort her. It’s not very pleasant to leave one’s native land at the best of times, and leaving in these circumstances the unpleasantness was doubled. I sat in the cockpit with my hand on the tiller and Walker started the engine. As soon as I heard it throb I threw it into gear and we moved away slowly.