India Dark (10 page)

‘What do you mean?' I asked warily.

‘First question, please,' said Tempe. She pulled her petticoat up higher and then leant forward, putting her pretty face close to mine. ‘What happened last night?'

‘I don't know what you're talking about. Lizzie always goes for a walk on deck in the evenings.'

‘Surely you're not such a dunderhead that you didn't notice Eliza was missing for
hours
,' said Clarissa.

‘She wasn't missing. She was with Lionel. He saw her back to our cabin.'

‘Not Mr Arthur?'

‘If she was with Mr Arthur, she was with Lionel as well.'

The jury looked at each other knowingly, as hideous as three witches.

‘Do you think she's in love with him?' asked Tempe.

‘With Lionel?' I asked, incredulous. ‘She pities him, that's all.'

There was something lumpy about poor Lionel. Lumpy and clumpy and a little bit sad. It didn't seem possible that anyone should fall in love with him, least of all Lizzie.

‘No, silly. Mr Arthur, of course!' said Clarissa.

‘No!' I shouted. ‘How can you be so beastly, Clarissa! Lizzie's not like you. She's good and kind and pure of heart.'

‘Hush, hush,' said Tempe. ‘We didn't know you and Eliza had become quite so thick. We thought you were Tilly's little friend.'

‘I'm Tilly's friend too. But I'm not a sneaking hound,' I shouted.

Fighting back tears, I dashed out into the corridor, away from their awful insinuations, away from the horrible inquisition, away from their nasty secrets and dirty lies.

19

CABIN FEVER

Poesy Swift

I went back to our cabin but Lizzie wasn't there and I was glad. I couldn't bear to face her. What if she asked me about why Ruby and Clarissa and Tempe had wanted to see me? She would be appalled.

I picked up my two dollies, Topsy and Turvy, and pressed their little bodies against my cheeks. Yada had tried to clean them once with eucalyptus oil, and ever since they had smelt of gum trees. It didn't make me long for home. It made me think of Charlie and us being wedged side by side in our tree outside Balaclava Hall. I tucked them into my apron pocket and stepped out into the passageway.

I knew I'd be in terrible trouble if I was caught but I simply couldn't sit on my bunk waiting for Lizzie. I tiptoed down the corridor with my heart in my mouth and knocked on Charlie's door. I hoped he'd be alone because Lionel was nearly always shadowing Mr Arthur. When no one answered, I opened the door myself.

‘Poesy!' exclaimed Charlie. He was sitting on his bed in his undershorts. He jumped up quickly and turned his back on me while he pulled on his trousers.

‘I knocked,' I said, stepping into the room and shutting the door behind me. I suppose I should have been embarrassed to catch him half-undressed but I felt oddly pleased. It made me feel we were like brother and sister.

Charlie and Lionel's cabin was tiny, no bigger than a cupboard with two little bunks set into the wall. I looked around with curiosity, trying not to stare at Charlie's naked chest, while he pulled on his singlet.

‘I was sewing up my trousers so the pockets make a cone shape, rather than squares,' he said. ‘It makes it easier to find things when you're doing a trick. Would you like to see?'

‘I thought you said girls shouldn't know about magic.'

‘You're not like the other girls,' he said. He snatched an old Gladstone bag from beneath his bunk.

‘I want to show you everything. You see this, this is my
servante
, my magic bag of tricks.'

He patted the bunk and we sat down opposite each other with the
servante
between us. One by one, he showed me his props: hats, balls, dice, cards, eggs, wands, coins, handkerchiefs and two tiny jars of white powder. Then he took out a shiny red book with a wizard dressed in a long shroud on the cover and rubbed his hands over it. The title,
The Magician Annual 1909
, was embossed in silver letters.

‘It's science, really,' said Charlie. ‘Not mumbo-jumbo.'

I leaned closer to him as he flicked through the pages, pointing out news of the world of magic and explaining the tricks. Suddenly, he looked up.

‘Why are you here, Poesy?'

‘If I have to be locked in a cabin, I'd rather be locked in with you than anyone.'

He smiled but he wouldn't look at me. The silence between us grew until I couldn't bear the weight of it. My eyes began to sting with tears.

‘It's just I hate the way all the girls do nothing but talk about men and boys in a really horrid way.'

Charlie pulled a face. ‘That's what they do, that lot. They flirt and tell stories. If you don't like 'em, don't listen. Then it won't matter what they say.'

‘But they tell lies! They pretend that men like them and they think every girl wants nothing but to be kissed and it's all they want to talk about.'

Charlie shrugged. ‘I don't pay those girls no mind. All a storm in a teacup, if you ask me.'

‘Do none of the boys listen to them?'

‘I should think not,' he replied. He reached into his
servante
and pulled out a red velvet bag.

‘Let's not talk about all that rubbish any more. I'll show you a trick. Have you got something I could do a vanishing act with?'

‘I wish you could put all those girls' terrible lies in that bag and make them vanish.'

Charlie rolled his eyes.

‘I've got Topsy and Turvy,' I said, pulling my dolls out of my apron pocket. ‘But you won't really make them disappear for good, will you?'

‘No,' he said, scrunching up his nose. ‘I'm going to make them come to life and actually be like Houdini. You watch. There's more to these dolls than meets the eye.'

Charlie took Topsy and Turvy from me and turned them this way and that, studying them closely. He smoothed their wiry black hair down and adjusted the fall of their dresses. When he finished examining them, he winked at me and then he made Topsy and Turvy dance about on the top of his
servante
while he whistled a little tune. Next he made them peek over the edge of the case to look at what was hiding inside. He animated them so well, it was almost as if they were really alive. When they'd finished studying all his things, he sat them both in the crook of his arm while he shook out a soft red velvet bag and showed Topsy and Turvy how it was lined with black silk.

Before I could stop him, he'd tumbled them both into the bag.

‘Now look into my
servante
and fish out that long green ribbon,' he said as he held the bag firmly shut with both hands. ‘We don't want them to escape. We want them to prove that the magic has taken hold of their souls.'

My heart fluttered in my chest but I did as I was told and tied the ribbon in a tight knot around the top of the bag. ‘Now you keep hold of both ends of the ribbon, Poesy, so you can be sure that Topsy and Turvy are safe inside.'

While I held the long ribbon stretched in either direction, Charlie pulled out a silk scarf and covered the bag. I could feel my heart beating faster. The air in the cabin suddenly seemed very close. I pulled the ribbons tighter and tighter, almost afraid that Topsy and Turvy really were going to come to life and wrestle their way out of the bag. And then, that's exactly what they did.

Charlie put one hand under the scarf and up jumped Topsy and Turvy. I let out a shout of surprise and at the same moment he threw away the silk scarf and I was left holding the two ends of the ribbon with the bag still firmly hanging in the middle. It was extraordinary. I grabbed the bag and untied the ribbon. Of course it was empty, for Topsy and Turvy were sitting on Charlie's knee. I studied the bag to see if there was some secret hole that he had slipped them through, but it was neatly sewn on all sides.

‘How did you do that?' I asked.

‘If I told you, it wouldn't be magic.'

‘Please, Charlie. I can't bear not knowing. You mustn't lie to me.'

‘I'd never lie to you, Poesy,' he said, suddenly hurt and shy in the same instant. He hung his head and picked at Topsy and Turvy's clothes. ‘I just can't tell you all my secrets.'

Even though I longed to know how he'd done it, I nodded. Gently, I prised the dolls from his fingers. I kissed each of them tenderly and then tucked them back in my pocket. All the while, Charlie sat watching me.

‘One day, perhaps I might tell you,' he said.

We stared at each other for a long moment.

‘One day,' I said, ‘we might tell each other everything.'

20

LITTLE PIGGIES

Tilly Sweetrick

It was dreadful being cooped up. I felt like a wild bird trapped in captivity. Every time I tried to creep out of my cabin, Mr Arthur or that awful sneak Lionel would be patrolling the ship and would shoo me back into my cage.

We steamed across the Java Sea and crossed the Equator during the night. When we reached Singapore, a health inspector came on board, took away the body of the dead stoker, and declared the
Ceylon
was to be quarantined for two weeks.

‘Two weeks!' The pronouncement shot through the troupe like a whipping, a prison sentence.

That same afternoon, Mr Arthur called a meeting in the dining hall. The air was steamy and everyone was thirsty but the doctor said we had to keep drinking nothing but tea until the all-clear was given. Everyone sat slumped in their seats, utterly miserable.

‘Rehearsals will continue so you won't be confined all day. I want you in the dining hall every morning by ten o'clock sharp but at other times you'll keep to your cabins. We've booked the Victoria Theatre here in Singapore and we must be ready to open our season as soon as we're off the ship.'

‘We can't spend another two weeks in our cabins,' I said. ‘You simply can't treat us like cattle, only allowed out for milking.' I looked at Mr Arthur pleadingly but he ignored my warning. His face was drawn and his mouth set in a grim line. If only he'd listened to me.

At the end of our first week in quarantine, I was quietly making my way to the dining hall for rehearsals when it happened. As I turned onto the main deck, a dozen girls came pelting towards me. Ruby was in the lead, her tawny hair loose. She threw her arms up in the air to slow her pace and nearly collided with me. While the others streamed past, she put her arms on my shoulders, breathless with laughter.

‘C'mon,' she said. ‘We're playing Stampede.' She grabbed my hand and broke into a run again, dragging me through the crowd of girls. ‘Charge!' she yelled and the whole retinue of big ones, middlings and even little Flora and Daisy went racing to the stern, their shoes slapping loudly on the wooden deck. The steamer seemed to rock under the force of us and I found a bubble of laughter moving up through my chest. It was the silliest race in the world, twenty girls running on the deck of a steamship.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a crowd of sailors standing above us – even the black-faced stokers had come up from the furnace to watch the horde of girls and their flying skirts. And I saw Miss Thrupp and Eloise standing by an open door, shouting and waving for us to stop. But no one listened. The only voice that rang clear over the sound of the sea and the steamer was Ruby's. ‘Stampede, stampede,' she cried, and the girls squealed and shrieked and slid recklessly towards the other end of the ship.

We had turned for the next race when Mr Arthur came striding down the deck towards us. Ruby held my hand tighter. ‘Let's charge him,' she said, her eyes bright and fierce. That's when I tried to twist free.

Some of the middling girls stopped running and began to murmur, disappearing around the stern of the steamer. Suddenly there were only a handful of us. Ruby hesitated. Mr Arthur grabbed her by both arms.

‘Stop that. You're hurting me,' she cried out.

‘You stupid girl! What do you think you're up to? You're leading a riot.'

‘We were only having fun. Playing,' she said. ‘You said, “Go and amuse yourself, Ruby.” '

‘You know perfectly well what I meant. Stop being childish.'

‘If you treat me like a child, why shouldn't I act like one?'

‘You will go to your cabin and stay there for the rest of the day.'

‘You can't keep us cooped up in those poky cabins any longer. What do you think we are? Pigs? You think you can keep us in our little piggy pens and then trot us out when you fancy?' Then she started to oink, snort and squeal as if she really was a pig.

Mr Arthur grew bright red in the face. Then he did it. He slapped her face sharply with his open hand. I was standing so close to them both that I could feel the swish of his hand moving through the air. Instinctively, I raised an arm to protect myself. Ruby ducked, too late, covering her cheeks with both hands. That didn't stop him, though. He boxed her ears twice until she was bent over with the shock of the blows. Then his hands flew like great ugly wings, slapping Ruby as she crouched down on the deck, trying to fold in upon herself. She fell to her side, panting and crying out like a wounded animal. I couldn't bear it. I jumped at Mr Arthur and grabbed him by the arm.

‘Please, sir, please.' I hung on his forearm with all my weight but he was much too strong for me. Ruby tried to crawl away while I shrieked for him to stop. Suddenly, we were surrounded by people. A group of sailors restrained Mr Arthur while Miss Thrupp leant over Ruby and tried to raise her to her feet. Ruby was howling now, with her mouth open and a stream of saliva running down her chin. She tried to push Miss Thrupp away too. Her hair fell wild and tangled across her face.

‘Tilly,' cried Miss Thrupp. ‘Fetch Tempe and Clarissa, quickly.'

And I ran. Down below the decks, along the corridors I ran, calling out, shouting for the other girls. But only Poesy came. I fell into her arms and sobbed.