Angel's Ransom by David Dodge Page B

‘All right. There ’s a bottle of bay rum in my cabin. It may make you sick, but it ’s drinkable.’
    Freddy put the cup down with a crash. ‘Where in your cabin?’
    ‘With my shaving gear. Keep out of Holtz ’s way after ward.’
    ‘I will. Thanks, Sam. Thanks! I - thanks.’
    He was gone.
    Marian said, ‘Aren’t you afraid that Holtz will punish you for insubordination, Captain?’
    Blake had opened the shut-off valve of the stove. He made an excuse of testing each burner so he could choose his words before he answered.
    ‘You’re still having trouble facing realities, aren’t you? I don’t mind that you think I’m a coward. What is dangerous is that you don’t seem to understand how important it is that we all be cowardly. We’re excess baggage as far as Holtz is concerned. We’ve got to cringe, show him we’re helpless against him, so he can lord it over us and enjoy the fact of our existence. The minute he thinks we’re a danger to him, we’re finished. It ’s as simple as that.’
    ‘You were dangerous to him when you tried to wreck us. You survived without cringing.’
    ‘He needed me, for one thing, or thought he did. He doesn’t now. He hasn’t needed anyone else for a minute, except you and Freddy, and he stopped needing you the minute you brought him aboard. I don’t think you realize even now how close you came to being shot, when you were going to scream for help back there in the harbor .’
    She did not answer. The stubborn opposition in her face remained.
    He said, ‘Bruno ’s scheme is as ridiculous as it is dangerous. He doesn’t know enough to be afraid of Holtz. I do. You’d better try to learn.’
    ‘I’d rather spend my time thinking o f a way to beat him.’ The sheer mulishness of her attitude, his frustrating inability to make an impression by reasoning with her, angered him suddenly beyond control. In the small confines of the galley she was within his arm ’s reach. He took her by the shoulders and shook her like a doll, until her teeth clicked and her hair fell into her eyes and her weight was more in his hands than on her own feet.
    ‘You’re not accepting challenges just for yourself now,’ he said bitterly. ‘Get it through your head! We’re all in this together! If you want to die, do what Freddy told you to do. Jump overboard! But don’t try to take the rest of us with you!’
    She swayed dizzily against him, her eyes closed. His anger faded as quickly as it had come. Her shoulders were soft under his gripping fingers, fragile, and she did not struggle against what must have been a painful grip. Ashamed, he held her until he was sure she had her balance, then left the galley. He was grateful that he had not descended to the ultimate cruelty of reminding her that it was through her fault they were there. Adding the burden of his blame to Freddy ’s could do no good, and would certainly not make her any less determined to thwart Holtz.
    A few minutes more than his allotted half hour had passed before he returned to the pilot-house. When he took the wheel, Jules pointed out the tardiness, and warned against a repetition of it.
    ‘I’m not going to slug you for it this time,’ he said. ‘We’re all getting along fine, so far. Let ’s keep it that way, eh? Nobody hurt, nobody mad, nobody with any bright ideas. Right?’
    Blake agreed wearily. Nobody hurt, nobody mad, nobody with bright ideas. He wished it were true.
    Minutes after the sailor had left him again alone, Freddy appeared on the foredeck. He wore a jaunty yachting cap, carried a suspicious bulge in his arm sling, and dragged a deck-chair after him. His relaxed, almost cheerful, manner showed that he had already been at the bay rum bottle. For Blake ’s benefit, he pantomimed that he was obeying orders to stay out of Holtz ’s way by putting the length of the cruiser between them. He set up the chair on the open deck, plumped himself down in it, took a long drink from the bottle that was