'Will you send people to guard us right away? You have promised no harm will come to us here.'

I thought that we could leave some of the lads with him while we went back, or even send a radio message for assistance before we left. Hadley would follow us back to Papeete, if he was indeed on our trail, and a couple of Geordie's stalwarts would be more than a match for him if he landed after we'd left.

Schouten said, 'The letter will not take long, but you must make yourself comfortable while I write. You would not drink with me before – will you drink now?'

I said, 'I'd be honoured, doctor.'

He went to the cupboard and got another glass, stirring the broken pieces on the floor as he did so. 'You gave me a shock,' he said ruefully. 'I thought the dead had come to life.'

He poured a stiff drink and handed it to me. 'I am deeply sorry about your brother, Mr Trevelyan. You must believe that.'

'I believe you, doctor. I'm sorry for the rough time I gave you.'

He grimaced. 'It wasn't as rough as the time the big man gave me.'

No, it wasn't, I thought, but we'd both operated on the same raw nerve – Schouten's fears for his patients and his hospital. I felt ashamed of myself. I finished the drink quickly and watched Schouten scratching with his pen. I could see it was going to take a while, so I said, 'When will you finish?'

To tell it in detail will take a long time. Also I do not write English so well as I speak it,' said Schouten. 'If you wait, you will have dinner, of course.'

'No. I'll go back to my ship and make arrangements to leave someone here with you, when we go back to Papeete. I'll come back later tonight or early in the morning.'

Schouten inclined his head. 'As you wish. I will be glad of a guard.' He resumed his writing and I got up to go, and then just as I got to the door, he said, 'One moment, Mr Trevelyan. Something has just come back to me.'

I waited by the door and he rose from his desk. 'You were asking about the name – the one they mentioned. The big man spoke it and the other made him be quiet.'

'What was it?'

Schouten escorted me on to the verandah. As Piro saw us he started the engine of his jeep. Schouten said, 'It was a strange name – it sounded Spanish. It was Ramirez.'* 2*

We had gone a mile when the jeep broke down. The roar of the engine faded and we bumped to a halt. Piro hopped out, bent over the engine and struck a match. 'She dead,' he said in an unworried voice.

I was impatient to get back to Esmerelda. I wanted to beat Kane into a pulp. I know that no man stays angry forever -you can't live on that plane – and I was nursing my anger because I wanted to let it rip. I intended to hammer Kane to a jelly. Jim Taylor had sensed my tension and had wisely refrained from asking me any questions.

Piro struck another match and poked experimentally into the entrails of the jeep. Then he looked up and said cheerfully, 'She no go.'

'What's the matter?'

'No essence.'

I said, 'Damn it, why didn't you fill it up? Why didn't you look at the gauge – this thing here?'

'She broke.'

'All right, we'll walk – we just have to follow the beach.'

Piro said, 'No walk. Canoe along here. We walk on water.'

We followed him a couple of hundred yards up the beach to where the road turned inland and he strode to the water's edge. 'Here is canoe, sir – I take you back.'

It was only a couple of miles but it seemed longer in the darkness. We very soon saw the riding lights of Esmerelda in the clear air but it took an age to get within hailing distance. Some of the other canoes were still alongside and there was an air of festival on deck, with crew and locals apparently sharing their evening meal. Campbell, Clare and Paula were waiting at the rail as I climbed on board and they saw at once that I was in no happy mood. I said to Campbell in a low voice, 'Where's Kane?' I couldn't see him in my first sweeping survey of the deck.

'Geordie's been watching him. He's given him a job below. What happened, man?'

I said, 'That bastard – and Hadley – killed Mark.'

Paula drew in her breath with a hiss. Campbell said, 'Are you sure?'

'It may not hold in a court of law but I'm sure.' I was remembering the tears on Schouten's cheeks. 'I want to have a talk with Kane – now!'

'He doesn't look like a murderer.'

'Which one does?' I said bitterly. 'I've heard a filthy story. Ramirez was involved too.', Campbell started. 'How do you reckon that?'

'Can you describe him?'

'Sure. He's a tall, thin guy with a beak like an eagle. He's got a hell of a scar on the left side of his face.'

'That does it. He was there when Mark was killed.

Schouten saw him and described him, all but the scar, and Hadley mentioned his name. He's tied up in it all right, right up to his goddam neck – which I hope to break. But first I want Kane.'

Campbell turned to Clare and Paula. 'Go to your cabins, girls.'

Paula turned obediently but Clare argued. 'But Pop, I'

There was a whipcrack in Campbell's voice. 'Go to your cabin!' She went without another murmur and he turned to me.

'Clear this lot off,' I said. Tell Ian. Let's find Kane.'

I went down into the forecastle but Kane wasn't there, nor was he on deck. We roped in the crew and they set out to search the ship but there was no sign of him. My jaw was aching from holding it clenched for so long.

'He's skipped,' said Ian.

'Geordie – where's Geordie?' I said.

But Geordie had vanished too.

I ran up on deck to find that several of the locals were still hanging around. I shouted for Piro and he emerged from the pack.

'Can you help us find two men on the island? Can you search?'

'What men?'

'The captain and one of the crew. The captain is the big man you saw when we came. The other one is thin, tall. Stay away from him – he's dangerous.'

Piro rubbed the top of his head. 'Dan-ger-ous?'

'He's bad. He might fight – might kill you.'

Piro shrugged. 'You pay – we find.'

He dropped into his canoe with two or three of our men, and Ian was already directing the clearing of our inboard launch which was being swung over the side. Piro was shouting instructions in his own language to the suddenly galvanized locals. Campbell came up from below. 'Got a gun?' he asked me.

'I won't need a gun. I'll tear that bastard apart.'

'Come here,' he said and took me under a light. He opened his hand and I saw a round of ammunition in his palm. 'I found that on the floor by his bunk – a. 38 slug. Kane must have dropped it in his hurry and that means he's armed.'

'Christ, we must stop these natives making a search,' I said. 'We don't want any deaths.'

I turned to race on deck but he held my arm, pushing something heavy into my hand. 'Here's a gun,' he said. 'Can you shoot?'

I hung onto it tightly. 'I'll soon find out, won't I?' I stuffed it into the pocket of the light anorak I was wearing. 'You'd better stay here.'

'Son,' said Campbell, 'I'm not as old as that – not yet.'

I looked into his frosty eyes and said, 'We'd better make it snappy, then.' We ran up on deck and I dropped into the launch and looked ashore. Little spots of light were moving in the darkness, coming and going, sometimes vanishing and reappearing as the torches were occulted by the palm trees. 'Damn, they've started to search.' I turned to Ian. 'Kane's armed.'

'Let's go – I've got six – the rest are ashore already. They know the score.' The engine started first time off, which was a tribute to someone, and as we sped shorewards I said to the. men around me, 'Listen, chaps, we're looking for Geordie. If you come up against Kane steer clear of him. Don't push him too hard – he's got a gun. And as you find the natives send them back to their village.'

Taffy Morgan said, 'What's Kane done now?'