Wealth of the Islands (15 page)

“
We tow you out now,
”
they told her.

She nodded, talking a deep breath as the water covered her limbs. Her wrist was smarting
again and she couldn
’
t help wondering if the smell of blood would reach the shark before they
were ready. She tried to keep calm, to remember all the victorious stories her father had told her.
No shark ever defeated him, she thought with pride. He had known their thinking processes and
exactly how they would react in any given circumstance. But did she? Had she been right to
set such a trap with herself as the bait
and only three men with outdated and almost useless harpoons to protect her?

The Polynesians let go of the ropes and she trod water gently, surveying the
world
through the bamboo bars that protected her. Na-Tinn held his harpoon close in beside
him,
his eyes flicking here and there across the water. Taine-Mal slipped overboard into
the
water, his knife gleaming and ready to do battle. But where was Gregory? Helen felt a moment
’
s panic when she couldn
’
t see him. She turned and twisted in the water, searching for him, only to find him close beside her, his harpoon firmly grasped in his hand.

“
Are you sure that thing works?
”
she asked him with a marked la
ck
of confidence.

“
It works!
”
he reassured her.
“
Look out now, it
’
s over there on your left!
”

She glanced where he was pointing, marvelling at his calmness.
“
It
’
s coming pretty close,
”
she whispered.

“
Isn
’
t that the idea?
”
he answered in such normal tones that she was ashamed of her own fears.

“
Well, of course it is!
”
she said rather heartily. She dropped down under the water, opening her eyes and trying to adjust to the green haze of the water. She could make out
the
giant dark shape of the shark quite well, coming closer and closer even while she watched. Its great snapping jaws made her shiver and she was suddenly concerned, not for herself, but for Gregory, swimming so closely beside her and without the protection of the cage.

She surfaced and flipped her wet hair back out of her eyes.
“
Why doesn
’
t Na-Tinn attack?
”
she cried out.
“
If he lets it get much closer it
’
ll be too late!
”

“
Hush up now,
”
Gregory said grimly, all his concentration directed on the great fish of the sea. He signalled with his hand to Na-Tinn to come in closer, until the shark had to swim between them to get to the cage. Taine-Mal stood up in his fragile craft, ready to dive in and help finish off the beast.

Helen heard the crack of the harpoon being fired and the whirring of the rope as it sprang through the air. It caught the shark amidships and its great tail thrashed
the
water as it tried to escape. A second later Na-Tinn had released his ha
r
poon also, but it missed the writhing fish and hit the edge of the cage just beside where Helen was treading water, moving as little as she could to disturb their aim. She heard the Polynesian swear and recoil the rope as fast as he could. He would never make it in time, she knew that! The great fish was coming nearer and nearer. With one sweep of its mighty tail it could break up the cage and she had nothing with which to protect to herself. She prayed that Gregory would be able to hold it away from her, but the harpoon was so old and inadequate that she doubted it.

She didn
’
t see Taine-Mal go into battle with his knife in his hand, reaching down to the belly of the shark and stabbing it with vicious strokes. She did see the shark turn and snap at its new attacker and then a new danger presented itself. She was horrified to see that Gregory had turned his back on the proceedings, hanging on to the harpoon with all his might. Another few inches and the shark
’
s jaws would reach him.

“
Look out!
”
she shouted vainly, knowing that he couldn
’
t hear her. She rattled the bamboo bars of her cage to try and distract the shark, but she was too late. Gregory received a great gash down the whole length of his leg and she could see his blood flowing freely into the water. He let go of
the
harpoon just as the shark snapped at him again, but this time
the
fish was too slow. Taine-Mal slit its throat as it turned, keeping below the fish the whole time, and in that second Na-Tinn released his harpoon a second time and dragged the dying fish away from Gregory, away from
the cage, and into the shallows where his family were waiting.

Helen broke out of the cage with her bare hands. She was oblivious of the scratches she received from the rough bamboo. Her only care was to reach Gregory as quickly as she could. He was hurt, for all she knew he was dying, and she was completely helpless, being kept from him by a barrier of her own contriving. When she had broken free, Taine-Mal had already taken Gregory into his canoe and was looking with horror at the long, angry wound that ran right down his thigh and leg.

Helen swam to the canoe and pulled herself level with Gregory
’
s ashen face.
“
It
’
ll need a few stitches,
”
he said faintly.
“
Did we get him?
”

She nodded, quite unable to speak. It would be weeks before Gregory
’
s leg would be well enough for him to dive again. She looked at the long gash, feeling rather sick.

“
We
’
ll have to get you to a doctor,
”
she said.

Taine-Mal nodded.
“
Plenty good doctor waiting on sand,
”
he told her cheerfully.
“
Boss be quite all right, you see!
”
He grinned cheerfully.
“
Got shark!
”
he added joyfully.
“
Plenty celebration tonight!
”

But Helen was beyond caring about the shark. She helped to ease Gregory out of the canoe and on to the fine white sand. She was terrified that the powdered coral would get into the wound and turn it septic. She had visions of him losing his leg and was horrified to find that she was crying.

The doctor was quite unlike any other doctor she had ever seen. He was dressed in no more than a tribal skirt, with his chest and arms naked and as smooth as a woman
’
s. He sat down cross-legged beside his patient and prepared an injection which he unceremoniously plunged into Gregory
’
s thigh. Helen watched him threading a needle as calmly as if he were seated in a European hospital with every facility at his command
and gritted her teeth to keep back
the
protests that rose unbidden to her lips.

“
Is it painful?
”
she asked, her voice hoarse with emotion.

The doctor grinned cheerfully at her.
“
Not painful, no!
”
he laughed.
“
Not painful at all! Look, Mr. de Vaux has fainted!
”

Helen swallowed, scared that she too would pass out, and the doctor began the lengthy task of sewing up the long wound as casually as if he were sewing up a rent in a pair of trousers.

CHAPTER SEVEN

“
HE
’
S a mighty skinny-looking fellow, but he
’
ll
l
ive!
”
said the doctor.

Helen was shocked.
“
Skinny
?”
she repeated.

The doctor grinned.
“
Can you drive the jeep?
”
he asked her.
“
You
’
d better get him settled in at the hotel before he comes round. That leg
’
ll pain him for a day or two yet.
”

“
Skinny
!”
Helen said again.

“
So he is!
”
the doctor said again.
“
Now, look at any Polynesian and you
’
ll see what a man ought, to look like. W
h
en he sits on the ground, he should rise up from it like a mountain with his head at the peak. He
’
s skinny!
”
He said it with wry affection
,
carefully easing Gregory
’
s unconscious form into the back of the jeep.

Certainly the doctor filled out his own prescription, Helen thought. He was a mountain of a man all right! Has thighs were enormous and his whole body was thick and soft. Only his face held a touch of austerity, his black eyes flickering intelligently behind yet more rolls of fat.

“
I wish the road were better,
”
Helen sighed.

The doctor nodded.
“
I
’
ll sit in the back and hold him,
”
he said.

“
And the shark?
”
Na-Tinn interrupted suddenly.
“
You must take the shark back with you. Missie Corrigan will need for party!
”

Helen would have refused to
take the monstrous fish. Even now, when it was dead and st
i
ll, she was afraid if its great jaws. But her word counted for nothing in the face of their exuberant whoops of joy as they loaded the shark on to the passenger seat beside her, head downwards and with its great tail waving backwards and forwards as they jolted along the tracks that served for roads on the Island. If it fell out, Helen thought, she wouldn
’
t be able to bring herself to touch it. She disliked everything about it, including its colour.

“
Gently now, he
’
s coming round,
”
the doctor warned her.

Helen slowed almost to a stop, glancing over her shoulder at Gregory. He looked very ill to her. His face was the colour of putty and his normally firm face was slack. The sight of him smote her like a physical blow. Why should she care so much? But she did, so it was no good going on about it, she chided herself. Now was the time for her to be calm and collected and to make t
h
ings as easy as she could for him.

She gritted her teeth.
“
It isn
’
t far now,
”
she said.

The smell of the shark beside her was strong and unpleasant. It was curious, she thought, how all species had their own distinctive smell and how one grew used to the ones that surrounded one all the time and was easily revolted by those which were strange. She half-hoped that the shark would fall out of the jeep and leave her in peace, but it had been wedged in too securely. Only the tail waved to and fro as they travelled on across the Island and just occasionally it came so close to her head that she could feel it against her hair. She shivered. She was beginning to be obsessed by the shark
’
s grim, grinning face, and the putty look on Gregory
’
s. The doctor looked barely competent to her. She just hoped that he knew what he was doing, moving Gregory at all! Though what else he could have done, she couldn
’
t have said.

The hotel looked large and familiar and comfortably Western. When it came in sight, Helen unconsciously relaxed. She put her foot down hard on the accelerator and the jeep shot forward the last few yards down the road towards the only skyscraper that the Islands could boast.

Miss Corrigan came running out of the hotel, almost as if she had been watching for their
arrival. Her eyes fell immediately on the shark.
“
Oh, it
’
s a big one!
”
She said ecstatically.
“
Just
the t
h
ing for my party!
”