and phoned captain bullen."
"The captain?"
"Who else could I phone, sir?" who else, indeed? apart from myself the captain was the only deck officer who really knew what had happened, who knew where the bo'sun was concealed and why. Macdonald had his arm round me now, still half supporting me, leading me forward to the cross passage that led to the wireless office. "He came at once.
He's there now, talking to mr. jenkins. Worried stiff thinks the same thing might have happened to you as happened to benson. He gave me a present before I came looking for you." he made a movement and I could see the barrel of a pistol that was all but engulfed in his huge hand.
"I am hoping that I get a chance to use this, mr. carter, and not the butt end, either. I suppose you realise that if you had toppled forward instead of sideways, you'd most likely have fallen over the rail into the sea."
I wondered grimly why they hadn't, in fact, shoved me over the side but said nothing, just concentrated on reaching the wireless office.
Captain bullen was waiting there, just outside the door, and the bulge in the pocket of his uniform jacket wasn't caused only by his hand. He came quickly to meet us, probably to get out of earshot of the wireless officer, and his reaction to my condition and story of what had happened was all that anyone could reasonably have wished for. He was just mad clear through. I'd never seen him in such a mood of tightly controlled anger since i'd first met him three years ago. When he'd calmed down a bit, he said, "but why the devil didn't they go the whole hog and throw you overboard while they were at it?"
"They didn't have to, sir," I said wearily. "They didn't want to kill me. Just to get me out of the road."
he peered at me, the cold eyes speculative. "You talk as if you knew why they coshed you."
"I do. Or I think I do." I rubbed the back of my neck with a gentle hand. I was pretty sure now there weren't any vertebrae broken; it just felt that way. "My own fault. I overlooked the obvious. Come to that, we all overlooked the obvious. Once they'd killed brownell and we'd deduced, by association, that they'd also killed benson, I lost all interest in benson. I just assumed that they'd got rid of him. All I was concerned with, all any of us was concerned with, was to see that there was no further attack made on the wireless office, to try to find out where the receiver was, and to figure what lay behind it all.
Benson, we were sure, was dead, and a dead benson could no longer be of any use to us. So we forgot benson. Benson belonged to the past."
"Are you trying to tell me that benson was is-still alive?"
"He was dead all right." I felt about ninety, a badly crippled ninety, and the vice round my head wasn't easing off any I could notice.
"He was dead, but they hadn't got rid of him. Maybe they hadn't a chance to get rid of him. Maybe they had to wait till it was real good and dark to get rid of him. But they had to get rid of himself we'd found him, we'd have known there was a murderer aboard. They probably
had him stashed away in some place where we wouldn't have thought of looking for him anyway, lying on top of one of the offices, stuck in a ventilator, behind one of the sundeck benches it could have been anywhere. And I was either too near where they'd stashed him, so that they couldn't get at him, or they couldn't chuck him overboard as long as I was standing by the rail there. Barring myself, they knew they were safe enough. Going at maximum speed, with a bow wave like we're throwing up right now, no one would have heard anything if they had dropped him into the sea, and on a dark and moonless night like this no one would have seen anything either. So they'd only me to deal with and they didn't find that any trouble at all," I finished bitterly.
bullen shook his head. "You never heard a thing? not the faintest fall of a footstep, not even the swish of a cosh coming through the air?"
"Old flannel-feet
"The captain?"
"Who else could I phone, sir?" who else, indeed? apart from myself the captain was the only deck officer who really knew what had happened, who knew where the bo'sun was concealed and why. Macdonald had his arm round me now, still half supporting me, leading me forward to the cross passage that led to the wireless office. "He came at once.
He's there now, talking to mr. jenkins. Worried stiff thinks the same thing might have happened to you as happened to benson. He gave me a present before I came looking for you." he made a movement and I could see the barrel of a pistol that was all but engulfed in his huge hand.
"I am hoping that I get a chance to use this, mr. carter, and not the butt end, either. I suppose you realise that if you had toppled forward instead of sideways, you'd most likely have fallen over the rail into the sea."
I wondered grimly why they hadn't, in fact, shoved me over the side but said nothing, just concentrated on reaching the wireless office.
Captain bullen was waiting there, just outside the door, and the bulge in the pocket of his uniform jacket wasn't caused only by his hand. He came quickly to meet us, probably to get out of earshot of the wireless officer, and his reaction to my condition and story of what had happened was all that anyone could reasonably have wished for. He was just mad clear through. I'd never seen him in such a mood of tightly controlled anger since i'd first met him three years ago. When he'd calmed down a bit, he said, "but why the devil didn't they go the whole hog and throw you overboard while they were at it?"
"They didn't have to, sir," I said wearily. "They didn't want to kill me. Just to get me out of the road."
he peered at me, the cold eyes speculative. "You talk as if you knew why they coshed you."
"I do. Or I think I do." I rubbed the back of my neck with a gentle hand. I was pretty sure now there weren't any vertebrae broken; it just felt that way. "My own fault. I overlooked the obvious. Come to that, we all overlooked the obvious. Once they'd killed brownell and we'd deduced, by association, that they'd also killed benson, I lost all interest in benson. I just assumed that they'd got rid of him. All I was concerned with, all any of us was concerned with, was to see that there was no further attack made on the wireless office, to try to find out where the receiver was, and to figure what lay behind it all.
Benson, we were sure, was dead, and a dead benson could no longer be of any use to us. So we forgot benson. Benson belonged to the past."
"Are you trying to tell me that benson was is-still alive?"
"He was dead all right." I felt about ninety, a badly crippled ninety, and the vice round my head wasn't easing off any I could notice.
"He was dead, but they hadn't got rid of him. Maybe they hadn't a chance to get rid of him. Maybe they had to wait till it was real good and dark to get rid of him. But they had to get rid of himself we'd found him, we'd have known there was a murderer aboard. They probably
had him stashed away in some place where we wouldn't have thought of looking for him anyway, lying on top of one of the offices, stuck in a ventilator, behind one of the sundeck benches it could have been anywhere. And I was either too near where they'd stashed him, so that they couldn't get at him, or they couldn't chuck him overboard as long as I was standing by the rail there. Barring myself, they knew they were safe enough. Going at maximum speed, with a bow wave like we're throwing up right now, no one would have heard anything if they had dropped him into the sea, and on a dark and moonless night like this no one would have seen anything either. So they'd only me to deal with and they didn't find that any trouble at all," I finished bitterly.
bullen shook his head. "You never heard a thing? not the faintest fall of a footstep, not even the swish of a cosh coming through the air?"
"Old flannel-feet
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