Wealth of the Islands (6 page)

“
Michael
’
s mother,
”
Helen answered with restraint, because she couldn
’
t bear him to see how badly she had been hurt.

Gregory stared at her, open-mouthed.
“
You must have very strange customs in your family,
”
he said at last.
“
But it isn
’
t any of my business. Are you ready to go?
”

She nodded and stood up, pushing her chair in under the table. Miss Corrigan had been right about the lonely state of the dining-ro
o
m, she thought. It was too big for anyone to have to eat in it alone. And
the
palm tree that was the central feature of the decorations was a great mistake, for it towered up into the glass-domed roof and one couldn
’
t even see it unless one craned one
’
s neck to do so.

She grabbed her bag containing her rubber suit and hurried out after Gregory, a faint stirring of excitement within her as she thought of the clear blue water and how lovely it would be to feel it all round her. It was so long since she had been diving! Not since before her marriage. She shivered suddenly, remembering that that had been when she had met Michael. Oh well, she wouldn
’
t dwell on it, she promised herself. She would think back to far happier days, when her father had been alive and they had dived together in the Mediterranean. With some success too, she remembered gratefully. But then her father had always been lucky in anything he had touched. They had teased him about it. Lucky in money
and
lucky in love, they had said
with varying amounts of envy. Now, Helen had the money he had made and she wasn
’
t lucky at all!

Gregory interrupted her reverie by pointing out the copra plantations that fell away behind the little town that had grown up round the harbour.

“
Before the war, they used to pay the Islanders in gold,
”
he told her.
“
Now they have to accept paper like everyone else.
”
He laughed.
“
There
’
s a fortune down there in this ship, if we can ever get it out!
”

“
Why shouldn
’
t we?
”
she responded gaily.

He looked at her with amusement.
“
The ship is pretty badly mauled,
”
he warned her.
“
And that reminds me, look out for the coral. If you jag yourself on it, it takes a long, long time for the wounds to heal.
”

“
I
’
ll take care,
”
Helen promised.

By day, the whole island looked different. She had thought she had known what to expect from films and pictures in geographical magazines, but the reality was more alive than any of these. True, it was dingier too, but she so very much preferred it. She particularly liked the older part of the town which they were walking through now: there was still the old tin-roofed trading post, now abandoned, and a whole series o
f
houses in various stages of dilapidation, with thatched roofs and walls of woven palm leaves. Here and there, a new house shone pale green and gold amongst the dark browns and greys of the older homes, some of which had been long left to decay in their own time where they stood. Children peeked out through holes in the walls and came out laughing when they saw Gregory striding past. Dogs dashed hither and thither about their
o
wn business, but even they apparently thought it worth while to follow Gregory down to the rickety jetty. By the time they arrived there, Helen felt something o
f
a Pied Piper, but Gregory showed no signs of even noticing the train of children at his heels.

He grinned when Helen, clad in shirt and slacks, jumped easily aboard the
Sweet Promise,
bag in hand, but he said nothing. He swung his own long body up over the bows and squatted down to check the diving equipment that he must have put there earlier.

“
Look out, pidgins!
”
he shouted to the children, and they scattered away from the jetty, running for all they were worth.
“
Their parents will kill them if they interfere with my things,
”
he added with a smile to Helen.

“
They weren
’
t doing any harm,
”
Helen replied, her voice tinged with disapproval.

He laughed.
“
They talk big round here—bigger than their actions! Killing is only a light tanning, and most of the parents are too gentle even to think of doing that! You don
’
t have to worry about the little beggars.
”

Helen was annoyed that he had seen through her so easily.
“
Where are the rest of the crew?
”
she asked to change the subject.

“
Na-Tinn is just coming. His brother is down below, stowing some of the stuff away that we won
’
t need today. His name is Taine-Mal.
”

Helen practised both names in her mind so that she wouldn
’
t forget them and, at that very moment, one of the Polynesian sailors she had met the evening before came running along the jetty and leaped on board beside her.

“
This is Na-Tinn,
”
Gregory told her. Helen shook hands with the mountain of a man beside her. When he grinned at her, she saw that his teeth were hideously disfigured by being filed into points, giving him the expression of a shark rather than a man.
“
Welcome on board,
”
he said warmly.

Gregory came over to them and stood a few feet off with his hands on his hips.
“
She
’
s Michael Hastings
’
wife,
”
he drawled
.

Na-Tinn withdrew his hand hastily.
“
That pidgin made life bad!
”
he said hoarsely, forgetting his precise English in the heat of the moment.

Helen
’
s smile fell from her face and she turned away so that they would not be able to see the sudden tears which had rushed into her eyes.
“
I
’
m his widow, not his wife,
”
she said huskily.

Na
-
Tinn shook his head sadly.
“
Same thing,
”
he muttered.
“
Why you come here?
”

“
Now that
’
s a good question,
”
Gregory agreed under his breath.

“
Does it matter?
”
Helen said pugnaciously.
“
That
’
s my business. As long as I can dive properly, I don
’
t see that you need to know anything else!
”

Gregory shrugged.
“
We
’
d better get going, then,
”
he said.
“
Cast off, will you, Na-Tinn?
”

Everybody had their own task once the boat was under way and Helen felt frankly in the way. As yet, no particular task had been assigned to her and she felt excluded, by Gregory and by the others, for something that was not her fault and which she didn
’
t understand.

“
Do you want to take a turn at the wheel?
”
Gregory asked her, when they were clear of the little harbour and its flotilla of fishing boats and canoes. It was uncanny the way he was able to read her thoughts! But on this occasion she didn
’
t mind. She went aft as quickly as she could and squeezed into the cockpit beside him.

“
May I really?
”
she asked eagerly.

“
May as well see what use you
’
re going to be on the boat as well as in the water,
”
he grunted.

He took one hand away from the wheel, steering it casually with the fingers of one hand while she got herself into position. She had to get very close to him to put her own hands on the wheel at all and she was surprised by the hardness of his body and the disturbing quality of his warm breath on the back of her neck.

“
Have you got it?
”
he asked her almost immediately.

“
I think so,
”
she said. It was hard to concentrate with him being so close to her, and that annoyed her. She had thought that she had long ago outgrown such adolescent reactions.

“
Good,
”
he said briefly, and was gone, a faint smile on his face, leaving her to steer the
Sweet Promise
out and away from the main island towards the reef where the Navy ship had come to grief so many years before.

It was a wonderful sensation to feel a deck under her feet again, to feel the lifting of the timbers straining against deep waters. She had forgotten how good it was, how much she loved the salt water on her face and the smell of the billowing canvas when the engine had been shut off, and the creaking sound of rope against tackle, augmented by the slapping of the boat
’
s hull against the deep green waves
.

Na-Tinn came and relieved her at the wheel after a while, when the wind had caught their sails and they were slipping through the sea with an easy lilt that delighted her.

“
Taine-Mal will give you a cup of coffee if you go below,
”
he told her with his wide, shark-faced grin.
“
Time to get ready to dive too. Boss, he say that!
”

Helen was reluctant to give up the wheel that was tugging gently in her hands as if it were a living thing, but when he pointed ahead the water was so clear that she thought she could make out the tip of the reef they were aiming for and knew that it was indeed time for her to get ready for her first dive in the Pacific Ocean. She was nervous, but not abominably so. She was glad though of the hot coffee that Taine-Mal liberally supplied her with, grinning like his brother to show pointed teeth, all neatly filed in some terrible ceremony in his youth.

Gregory was already sitting on the edge of the deck with his feet dangling over the edge when she went back up on deck, her bathrobe pulled tightly
about her. His body was burned gold in the sun and made hers seem whiter than it really was.

“
Hi there!
”
he greeted her.
“
You
’
ve made it!
”
His smile was more friendly than she had expected.

“
I do my best to please,
”
she smiled back.

His eyes crinkled with sudden laughter.
“
You please all right,
”
he said.
“
If you can only dive as well as you look, I
’
ll take you on, I swear by Neptune and all the others that I will!
”

Helen looked down her nose and frowned.
“
Do you know the legend of the boy and the dolphin?
”
she asked him.

“
Only that it brings good luck,
”
he admitted.

“
My father once thought he saw a boy riding a dolphin,
”
she said solemnly.
“
He was the luckiest man I
’
ve ever known. I was just wondering if there was any equivalent symbol of good luck for these waters.
”

He frowned.
“
If you
’
re a good diver, you don
’
t need good luck,
”
he said smartly.
“
I should have thought you
’
d have known that?
”

She nodded, not looking at him.
“
One always needs good luck,
”
she said.

He didn
’
t answer her. The sails came rushing down and hit the deck and Na-Tinn shouted to Gregory to drop the anchor.