TAMADA TALKS
Tamada's galley was as orderly and efficient as the operating-room of a
first-class hospital. And Tamada at his work had all the deftness and
some of the dignity of a surgeon. There was no wasted move, there was no
litter of preparation, every article was returned to its specified place
as soon as used, and every implement and utensil was shining and
spotless.
It was an hour from the third meal of the day. Tamada was juggling the
food for three messes, and he was doing it with the calm precision of
one who has every detail well mapped out and is moving on schedule. The
boy Sandy was not there, probably engaged in laying the table for the
hunters' mess, Rainey imagined.
Tamada regarded him with eyes that did not lack a certain luster, as a
sloeberry might hold it, but which, beneath their hooded lids, revealed
neither interest, nor curiosity, nor friendliness. They belonged in his
unwrinkled face, they were altogether neutral. Yet they seemed covertly
to suggest to Rainey that they might, on occasion, flame with wrath or
hatred, or show the burning light of high intelligence. Seldom, he
thought, while their gaze rested on him impassively, would they soften.
"Tamada," he queried, "you think I am your friend, that I would rather
help you than otherwise?"
"I think that--yes?" answered the Japanese without hesitation and
without servility. And his eyes slowly searched Rainey's face with
appraising pertinacity for a second or two. His English, save for the
oddness of his idioms and a burr that made _r's_ of most his _l's_, and
sometimes reversed the process, was almost perfect. His vocabulary
showed study. "You are not hating me because you are Californian and I
Japanese," he said. "I know that."
There was little time to spare, and there was likelihood of
interruption, so Rainey plunged into his subject without introduction.
"They promised you a share of this treasure, Tamada?" he asked.
"They promised me that, yes."
"They do not intend to give it to you." There was a tiny, dancing
flicker in the dark eyes that died like a spark in the night air. Rainey
recalled Lund's opinion that little went on that Tamada did not know.
"You may have guessed this," he hurried on, "but I am sure of it. I,
too, am promised some of the gold, but they do not intend to give it to
me. They will offer Mr. Lund only a small portion of what was originally
arranged, the same amount as the rest of them are to get. He will refuse
that to-morrow, when a meeting is to be called. Then there will be
trouble. I shall stand with Mr. Lund. If we win you will get your share,
whether you help us or not. If you help us I can promise you at least
twice the amount you were to get."
"How can I help you? If this is to be talked over at a meeting I shall
not be allowed to be present. If trouble starts it will do so
immediately. Mr. Lund"--he called it Rund--"is not patient man. What can
I do? How can I help you?"
Rainey was nonplused. He had seized the first opportunity
of sounding the Japanese, and he had nothing outlined.
"I do not know," he said. "I must talk that over with Mr. Lund. I wanted
to know if you would be on our side."
"Mr. Lund will not want me to help you. He does not like color of my
skin, he does not like Japanese because he thinks they make too good
living in California, and making more money than some of his countrymen.
I do not think it help you for me to join. I do not see how you can win.
If you can show some way out I will do what I can. But I like to see way
out."
He mollified the bald acknowledgment of his neutrality with a little bow
and a hissing-in breath. Back of it all was a will that was inflexible,
thought Rainey.
"If we lose, you lose," he went on lamely. He had come on a fool's
errand, he decided.
"I think I shall get my money," said Tamada, and something looked out of
his eyes that betrayed a purpose already gained, Rainey fancied, as a
chess player might gain assurance of victory by the looking ahead to all
conceivable moves against him, and providing a counter-play that would
achieve the game. It was borne in upon him that Tamada had resources he
could not fathom. The Oriental gave a swift smile, that held no mirth,
no friendship, rather, a sardonic appreciation of the situation, without
rancor.
"They are very foolish," he said. "They make me cook, they eat what I
serve. They say Tamada is very good cook. But he is Jap, damn him.
Suppose I put something in that food, that they would not taste? I could
send them all to sleep. I could kill them. I could do it so they never
suspect, but would go to their beds--and never get up from them. It
would be very easy. Yet they trust me."
The statement was so matter-of-fact that Rainey felt his horror gather
slowly as he stared at the impassive Oriental.
"You would do that? What good would it do you? You would have to kill
them all, or the rest would tear you apart. And if you murdered the
whole ship where would you be? You talk as if you were a little mad.
Suppose I told Carlsen of this?"
Tamada was smiling again. He seemed to know that Rainey was in no
position to betray him--if he wished to do so.
"I did not say I would do it. And, except under certain circumstances,
it do me little good. I do not expect to do it. But it would be easy.
Yet, as you say, it would not help you to kill only few, those who will
be at the meeting, for example, even if I wish to do. No, I do not see
way out. If, at any time there should seem way out and I can help you, I
will."
He turned abruptly to a simmering pot and rattled the lid. The hunter,
Deming, stuck his head in at the door.
"Smells good," he said. "Evening, Mr. Rainey."
He seemed disposed to linger, and Rainey, not to excite suspicion toward
himself or Tamada, went back on deck. What did Tamada mean by "except
under certain circumstances"? he asked himself. For one thing he felt
sure that Tamada had some basis for his expression that he expected to
get his money. _He knew something_. Was it merely the Oriental method of
_jiu-jitsu_, practised mentally as well as physically, the belief in a
seemingly passive resistance against circumstances, waiting for some
move that, by its own aggressiveness, would give him an opening for a
trick that would secure him the advantage? What could one Japanese hope
to do against the crowd?
A thought suddenly flashed over Rainey. Was Tamada in league with
Carlsen? Had he mistaken his man? Did Carlsen plan to have Tamada
undertake a wholesale poisoning to secure the gold himself, providing
the drugs? Was it a friendly hint from the Japanese?
Still mulling over it he went down to supper. The girl was not present.
Carlsen appeared in an unusual mood.
"I was a bit hasty, Rainey," he said, with all appearance of sincerity.
"I've been worried a bit over the skipper. He's in a bad way.
"Forget what happened, if you can. I apologize. Though I still think
your interference in my private affairs unwarranted. I'll call it
square, if you will."
He nodded across the table at Rainey, saving the latter a reply which he
was rather at a loss how to word. Amenities from Carlsen were likely a
Greek gift. And Carlsen rattled on during the meal in high good spirits,
rallying Rainey about his poker game with the hunters, joking Lund about
his shooting, talking of the landfall they expected the next day.
To Rainey's surprise Lund picked up the talk. There was a subtle,
sardonic flavor to it on both sides and, once in a while, as Tamada,
like an animated sphinx, went about his duties, Rainey saw the eyes of
Carlsen turned questioningly upon the giant as if a bit puzzled
concerning the exact spirit of his sallies.
Rainey admired while he marveled at the sheer skill of Lund in this sort
of a fencing bout. He never went far enough to arouse Carlsen's
suspicions, yet he showed a keen sense of humorous appreciation of
Carlsen's half-satirical sallies that, in the light of Sandy's
revelation, showed the doctor considered himself the master of the
situation, the winner of a game whose pieces were already on the board,
though the players had not yet taken their places. Yet Rainey fancied
that Carlsen qualified his dismissal of Lund as a "blind fool" before
they rose from the table, without disturbing his own equanimity as the
craftier of the two.
Later, when his watch was ended and he was closeted with Lund in the
latter's cabin, the giant promptly quashed all discussion of Tamada's
attitude.
"I'll put no trust in any slant-eyed, yellow-skinned rice-eater," he
announced emphatically. "They're against us, race an' religion. They
want California, or rather, the Pacific coast, an' they think they're
goin' to git it. They're no more akin to us than a snake is a cousin to
an eel. They're not of our breed, an' you can't mix the two. I'll have
no deal with Tamada, beyond gettin' dope out of him. If he helped us it
'ud be only to further his own ends. Not that he can do much--unless--"
He lowered his voice to a husky whisper.
"There's one thing may slip in our gold-gettin', matey," he said--"the
Japanese. I doubt if this island is set down on American or British
charts. But I'll bet it is on the Japanese. I don't know as any nation
has openly claimed it, but it's a sure thing the Japs know of its
existence. They don't know of the gold, or it wouldn't be there.
Rightly, the island may belong to Russia, but, since the war, Russia's
in a bad way, an' ennything loose from the mainland'll be gobbled by
Japan.
"What the Japs grab they don't let go of. On general principles they
patrol the west side of Bering Strait. If one of their patrols sees us
we'll be inside the sealin' limit, an' they'll have right of search.
They'd take it, ennyway, if they sighted us. They go by _power_ of
search, not right. They won't find enny pelts on us, we've got hunters
aboard, we're pelagic sealers, they won't be able to hang up enny
clubbin' of herds on us.
"But, if they should suspicion us of gittin' gold off enny island they
c'ud trump up to call theirs, if they found gold on us at all, it 'ud be
all off with us an' the _Karluk_. We'd be dumped inside of some Jap
prison an' the schooner confiscated.
"An', if things go right with us, an' we ever sight the smoke of a Jap
gunboat comin' our way, the first thing I'll be apt to do will be to
scrag Tamada or he'll blow the whole proposition, whether we've got the
gold aboard or not. Even if he didn't want to tell becoz of his own
share, they'd git it out of him what we was after."
Did this, wondered Rainey, explain Tamada's "certain circumstances"? Was
he calculating on the arrival of a Japanese patrol? Had he already
tipped off to his consul in San Francisco the purpose of the expedition,
sure of a reward equal to what his share would have been? If so, Rainey
had made a muddle of his attempt to sound Tamada. He felt guilty, glad
that Lund could not see his face, and he dropped the subject abruptly.
Lund seemed to know that something was amiss.
"Nervous, Rainey?" he asked. "That's becoz you've not bin livin' a man's
life. All yore experience has bin second-hand, an' you've never gone
into a rough-an'-tumble, I take it. You'll make out all right if it
comes to that at all. Yo're well put up, an' you've got solid of late.
Now yo're goin' to git a taste of life in the raw. Not story-book stuff.
It's strong meat sometimes, an' liable to turn some people's stomachs.
I've got an appetite for it, an' so'll you have, after a bit.
"Ever play much at cards?" he went on. "Play for yore last red when you
don't know where to turn for another, an' have all the crowd thinkin'
yo're goin' broke as they watch the play? An' then you slap down a card
they've all overlooked an' larf in the other chap's face?
"That's what I'm goin' to do with Carlsen. I've got that kind of a card,
matey, an' I ain't goin' to spoil my fun by tellin' even you what it is,
though yo're my partner in this gamble. It's a trump, an' Carlsen's
overlooked it. He figgers he's stacked the deck an' fixed it so's he
deals himself all the winnin' cards. But there's one he don't know is
there becoz he's more of a blind fool than I am, is Doctor Carlsen."
Lund chuckled hugely as he mixed himself some whisky and water. Rainey
refused a drink. Lund was right, he was nervous, bothering over what the
outcome might be, and how he might handle himself. He was not at all
sure of his own grit.
Lund had hit the nail on the head. All his experience had lain in
listening to the stories of others and writing them down. He did not
know whether he would act in a manner that would satisfy himself. There
was a nasty doubt as to his own prowess and his own courage that kept
cropping up. And that state of mind is not a pleasant one.
"All be over this time ter-morrer," put in Lund, "so far as our bisness
with Carlsen is concerned. You git all the sleep you can ter-night,
Rainey. An' don't you worry none about that gal. She's a damn' sight
more capable of lookin' after herself than you imagine. You ain't
counted her in as bein' more than a clingin' vine proposition. Not that
she could buck it on her own, but she's no fool, an' I bet she's game.
"Soft on her?" he challenged unexpectedly.
"I haven't thought of her in that way," Rainey answered, a bit shortly.
"Ah!" the giant ejaculated softly. "You haven't? Wal, mebbe it's jest as
well."
Rainey took that last remark up on deck and pondered over it in the
middle watch, but he could make nothing out of it. Yet he was sure that
Lund had meant something by it.
In the middle of the night the cold seemed to concentrate. Rainey had
found mittens in the schooner's slop-chest, and he was glad of them at
the wheel. The sailors, with but little to do, huddled forward. One man
acted as lookout for ice. The smell of this was now unmistakable even to
Rainey's inexperience. On certain slants of wind a sharper edge would
come that bit through ordinary clothes. It was, he thought, as if some
one had suddenly opened in the dark the doors of an enormous
refrigerator. He knew what that felt like, and this was much the same.
The weather was still clearing. In the sky of indigo the stars were
glittering points, not of gold, but steel, hard and cold. Ahead, the
northern lights were projected above the horizon in a low arch of
quivering rose. And, out of the north, before the wind, the sea advanced
in the long, smooth folds of a weighty swell over which the _Karluk_
wore her way into the breeze, clawing steadily on to the Aleutians and a
passage through to Bering Strait.
At two bells the hunters began to come on deck for a breath or so of
fresh air after the closeness of their quarters, as they invariably did
following a poker session. They did not come aft or give any greeting to
Rainey, but walked briskly about in couples, discussing something that
Rainey did not doubt was the next day's meeting. Doubtless, in the
confidence of their numbers, they considered it a mere formality. Lund
would take what they offered--or nothing. And Carlsen had guaranteed the
skipper's signature to an agreement.
They got their lungs recharged with good air, and then the cold drove
them below, and Rainey, with the length of the schooner between him and
the watch, was practically alone. He went over and over the situation
as a squirrel might race around the bars of his revolving cylinder, and
came to only one conclusion, the inevitable one, to let the matter
develop itself. Lund's winning card he had bothered about until his
brain was tired. The only thing he got out of all his fussing was the
one new thought that seemed to fly out at a tangent and mock him.
If Carlsen was deposed, and the skipper continued ill--to face the worst
but still plausible--if Carlsen, being deposed, refused to act, and the
skipper was too sick to leave his room--who was going to navigate the
schooner? Not a blind man. And Rainey couldn't learn navigation in a
day. There was more to it in these perilous seas than mere reckoning.
Ice was ahead.
What could Lund make of that? Supposing that card of his did win, how
could they handle the schooner? He, in his capacity of eyes for Lund,
would be about as competent as a poodle trying to lead a blind pedler
out of a maze.
The lookout broke in on his mulling over with a sudden shout.
"_Ice! Ice!_ Close on the starboard bow!"
Rainey put the helm over, throwing the _Karluk_ on the opposite tack.
The berg slipped by them, not as he had imagined it, a thing of
sparkling minarets and pinnacles, but a hill of snow that materialized
in the soft darkness and floated off again to dissolution like the ghost
of an island, leaving behind the bitter chill of death, rising and
falling until, in a moment, it was gone, with its threat of shipwreck
had the night been less clear.
Five times before eight bells the cry came from forward, and the heaps
of shining whiteness would take form, gather a certain sharpness of
outline, and go past the beam with the seas surging about them and
breaking with a hollow boom upon their cavernous sides. And this was in
the open sea. Lund had suggested that the strait would be full of ice.
Rainey felt his sailing experience, that he came to be rather proud of,
pitifully limited and inadequate in the face of coming conditions.
When he turned in at last, despite his determination to follow Lund's
admonition concerning sleep, it would not come to him. Hansen had taken
over the deck stolidly enough, with no show of misgivings as to his
ability to handle things, but his words had not been cheering to Rainey.
"Plenty ice from now on, Mr. Rainey. Now we bane goin' to have one hard
yob on our hands, by yiminy, you an' me!"