Pearls (38 page)

No, he couldn't lose him this way, this just couldn't be happening. He swore at his crew to hurry. He had to get down there, he had to save his son.

***

Jamie had watched helplessly as first the lifeline, then his air hose, had parted. He had immediately shut down his air valve to trap as much air as possible in his suit. It was a futile gesture. Soon, the little air he had managed to save would be used up and he would die anyway.

He looked up. The
Rose
was just than sixty feet above him. It might as well be sixty miles. Before the snag, the
click-clack
of the pump and the hiss of the air bubbles had been comforting, his connection to the world of the air and sky. Now there was utter silence, except for the tolling of Dead Man's Rocks.

But he was not entirely alone. Two huge eyes were watching him from a cave in the lee of the underwater cliff.

***

It took up to half an hour for a man to put on the cumbersome diving dress. Cameron broke all records; he did not bother with flannels, just put the rubber suit straight on over his shirt and white trousers. He would not be down there long enough to worry about the cold and muscle cramps. Minutes would tell the story.

He used the lead line that Wes had thrown overboard as his marker. After his tenders had strapped on the lead-weighted boots, he hung over the port side while the copper breast plate and helmet were screwed into place, cursing at his Japanese tender all the while for his slowness, hurry up, damn your rotten soul. He did not wait for this signal, as soon as the face plate was screwed in he threw himself off the ladder, feet first, into the deadly waters of the Sound.

Wes's marker put him within fifty metres of Jamie. Even then, he was invisible in the swirling, muddied water. It was the trailing red air hose, waving in the tide, that led him to his boy. Cameron had entered upcurrent, and now he let the sea carry him towards his marker.

***

Jamie felt himself falling forwards, but the heavy lead boots held him upright against the tide. Each breath was an effort. There was a crushing weight on his chest and a terrible pain behind his eyes. A parrot fish darted up to the face plate and peered in at him, curious, then swam away again.

Wes, you were right. You told me I would find nothing or find a bitter death. You were right, right both times. What a fool I am.

And what a waste, to die over a shellfish. In the end I was my father's son after all, ready to risk everything to prove a point to myself, to Fate. Stubborn just like him. I wanted to fly. Now I'm going to die without even a glimpse of blue sky.

I'm going to die because of George, because he couldn't let go of the damned company, because he just couldn't bear the thought of Cameron beating him. It was all so stupid. Tanaka and the rest of the Japanese ran the pearling now. Even if I had won back a few shares, what was there left at Niland and Company for George, for Cameron, for me, for any of us?

He stared at the shadow on the sand as the grouper moved out of its cave and finned a little closer to the strange creature in the copper helmet, now bowing slowly forward at the waist, like a humble subject before its emperor.

The pressure was building behind his eyes, like it was going to squeeze them right out of his head. His lungs dragged at the stale air in the suit. There were black spots in front of his eyes. He felt himself slipping away, taking refuge in the darkness, relief from the panic and the pain.

***

Jamie was bent double, arms limp, his helmet almost at the level of his lead-soled boots. Cameron untied the lifeline at his waist and looped it around Jamie's waist. What if he was already dead?

Stay calm, he thought. Worry about life and death when you're at the surface.

He gave a series of rapid tugs on the lifeline: Haul up till the rope breaks!

He watched the slumped, helmeted figure straighten with the tension on the line then rise quickly towards the copper hull of the
Rose
.

A shadow moved at the edge of his vision and he turned around. The grouper had moved out of its lair, and as he watched it opened its jaws on their massive hinges, so that its eyes, the whole head, became invisible.

'Jesus,' Cameron muttered.

He opened up the air valve on his helmet. The air hissed in and his suit expanded quickly. Cameron felt himself start to rise from the bottom. The whaleboats should already be in the water by now. He prayed that they were.

***

Jamie opened his eyes. A huddle of faces peered down at him, swimming in and out of focus, all of them shouting at once. His head drummed with pain. He tried to move his arms to his face but he could not raise them even a few inches from the deck. He was still in his suit, he realised. Only the corselet and helmet had been removed.

The sun was in his eyes. He groaned and turned his head to the side.

'Where is the
tuan
?' he heard Marab, Cameron's bosun, repeating over and over. 'Where is the
tuan
?'

***

He heard the mournful notes of a funeral bell. He looked up and there it was, the boulder rolling in the underwater tunnel at the Graveyard. He felt himself being pulled backwards, the
Roebuck
drifting with the current, the sails not set right, the wind and current dragging her back across the reef. Why didn't they start the engines? Then he remembered the
Roebuck
did not have engines, he had removed the compressors during the layup, to save money. Didn't think he'd need them.

He watched helplessly as his red air hose pipe tracked across the face of the reef watched it bend and stretch round a coral snag. He held his breath, helpless. It split and broke, with a roar of bubbles. He screwed his air valve shut, all the time knowing it was useless. This is it, he thought, My day to die.

Without his lifeline he was lost on the bottom of the ocean. He imagined Wes and his own number one on the
Roebuck
sending down new divers but by the time they found him it would be too late. How much oxygen was left inside the suit? A minute or two at most, he supposed. The suit started to deflate with the pressure of the water.

I never thought I'd die down here like this.

He saw something looming out of the shadow of the cliff. He supposed it was the giant grouper come for his dinner. But it was only Flynn, in his white linen suit, a gin bottle in his hand and a cheroot clamped between his teeth.

He staggered across the reef, worse for wear even in death, and clapped him on the shoulder. 'Well look at you, my boy. What a fine old pass the two of us have come to. This is what you get for not knowing when to quit.'

'Is this your doing, Flynn?'

'Me, my boy? No, not me. I've enough of the world to interfere in it any more. You did this. It's all your own work!'

'Is this is, then?'

'Well, sure as hell looks like it. You couldn't leave well enough alone, could you? Kate tried to tell you.'

'I'm not sorry. At least I saved my son.

'Aye you did that. You can tell that to Saint Peter when you see him and maybe it'll help. You'll need all the help you can get Cameron, believe me. Well, I'll be seeing you soon. Don't keep me waiting!'

He vanished into the murk.

Cameron listened to the echoing silence of the helmet. Yes, he mustn't keep Flynn waiting, not when there was gin to be drunk in heaven. Already he was feeling a little sleepy. His breath echoed like a gale in the shrouds.

Kate look after Elvie for me. I don't know what she'll do without me, so look out for her, will you?

Chapter 69

The
Roebuck
came back the next day flying the black flag, the
Rose
following her in. Kate knew what it meant. She waited down on the shore with Tanaka and Kendo and Sergeant Clarke, watched the whaleboat come in, Wes and Jamie sitting in the prow. She didn't wait for them to beach, waded into the water in her long skirts. His body was covered up with a blanket in the bottom of the boat.

Wes and Jamie carried him up the beach and set him down. She bent down and drew back the blanket, kissed him on the lips one last time. She didn't mind their shocked faces, didn't care who saw. He was blue and he was cold. Not like Cam at all.

She looked up the beach and saw a little girl standing on the dunes. As soon as she saw them she turned and ran. Sergeant Clarke started up the dunes after her but Kate stopped him. 'It's all right,' she said. 'I should do this. Mister Tanaka, will your driver take me to the McKenzie bungalow please?'

***

Elvie sat on the front steps. Her school satchel had been thrown in the garden, books lay face down in the dirt. Elvie sat with her head between her knees. She was very still, not crying, not even a tear, just staring at nothing.

'I knew this would happen,' she said.

Kate sat down next to her.

They sat for a long time saying nothing.

'You'd better come home with me,' Kate said eventually.

'You're not my ma.'

'No, but I should have been. It's not too late, even now. It's what he would have wanted, you know.'.

She stood up and held out her hand. Elvie hesitated then reached up and took it. Kate led her to the car and they drove back into town.

Epilogue

Tom Ellies took out his pipe and rolled the pearl across the black velvet on his work table.

'Well?' Kate said.

'It's perfect Mrs Niland. The most beautiful pearl I've ever seen in my life.'

'How much is it worth?'

'Even these days you might get ten thousand pounds for it in London. It's a rare gem. May I ask how you came b y it?'

'It does not belong to me.'

'Your husband?'

'Nor my husband. It was found in the late Mister McKenzie's pearl box. I intend to put in a strong box for his daughter until she reaches a majority. She can decide then what she will do with it.'

'I see. I was sorry to hear about Mister McKenzie. He was a brave man. Do you think he knew about the pearl when he went down after your son?'

'Of course. No one else would have put it in the box. He was the only one with the key. He must have found that very day.'

'A tragedy.'

'The Japanese have a saying, Mister Ellies.
I cannot die unless it is my day to die.
It was his day to die. Rare that a man can save a life and still leave a legacy like this behind him. I'll never see the like again. If you had shaved him down to nothing for all his faults you would still have had a pearl at the end of it. Thank you for your time, Mister Ellies. I shall leave a cheque for you in the morning.'

Ellies nodded and gave her the pearl. She put it back in her purse and left. He put his pipe in his mouth and lifted the shade, watched the comings and goings on Bitter Moon Lane. He had heard so many stories in this room. He only wished that one day he might get to tell them.

THE END

Latest Release by Colin Falconer

Isabella

She was taught to obey.

Now she has learned to rebel.

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Read a short excerpt below

“You will love this man. Do you understand? You will love him, serve him and obey him in all things. This is your duty to me and to France. Am I clear?”

Isabella is twelve years old, pretty, bony and awkward. She keeps her eyes on the floor and nods her head.

Her father, the King of France, is the most handsome man she has ever seen. In the purple, he is magnificent. His eyes are glacial; a nod from him is benediction, one frown can chill her bone-deep.

He puts his hands on the arms of her chair and leans in. A comma of hair falls over one eye. He rewards her now with a rare smile. “He is a great king, Isabella, and a handsome husband. You are fortunate.”

A log cracks in the hearth.

She raises her eyes. He strokes her cheek with the back of his hand. “You will not disgrace me.”

She shakes her head.

“Much is dependent on this union.”

Her, breathless: “I will not disappoint you.”