Journey into Fear 1940

Author:Eric Ambler
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-09-29T19:54:27+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

He undressed slowly, got into his bunk and lay there staring at the cracks in the asbestos round a steam-​pipe which crossed the ceiling. He could taste Josette’s lipstick in his mouth. The taste was all that was left to remind him of the self-​assurance with which he had returned to the cabin; the self-​assurance which had been swept away by fear welling up into his mind like blood from a severed artery; fear that clotted, paralysing thought. Only his senses seemed alive.

On the other side of the partition, Mathis finished brushing his teeth, and there was a lot of grunting and creaking as he clambored into the upper berth. At last he lay back with a sigh.

“Another day!”

“So much the better. Is the porthole open?”

“Unmistakably. There is a very disagreeable current of air on my back.”

“We do not want to be ill like the Englishman.”

“That was nothing to do with the air. It was seasickness. He would not admit it because it would not be correct for an Englishman to be seasick. The English like to think that they are all great sailors. H’e is drole, but I like him.”

“That is because he listens to your nonsense. He is polite —too polite. He and that German greet each other now as if they were friends. That is not correct. If this Gallindo . . .”

“Oh, we have talked enough about him.”

“Signora Beronelli said that he knocked against her on the stairs, and went on without apologising.”

“He is a filthy type.”

There was a silence. Then:

“Robert!”

“I am nearly asleep.”

“You remember that I said that the husband of Signora Beronelli was killed in the earthquake?”

“What about it?”

“I talked to her this evening. It is a terrible story. It was not the earthquake that killed him. He was shot.”

“Why?”

“She does not wish everyone to know. You must say nothing of it.”

“Well?”

“It was during the first earthquake. After the great shocks were over they went back to their house from the fields in which they had taken refuge. The house was in ruins. There was part of one wall standing, and he made a shelter against it with some boards. They found some food that had been in the house, but the tanks had been broken and there was no water. He left her with the boy, their son, and went to look for water. Some friends who had a house near theirs were away in Istanbul. That house, too, had fallen, but he went among the ruins to find the water tanks. He found them, and one of them had not been broken. He had nothing to take the water back in, so he searched for a jug or a tin. He found a jug. It was of silver and had been partly crushed by the falling stones. After the earthquake, soldiers had been sent to patrol the streets to prevent looting, of which there was a great deal because valuable things were lying everywhere in the ruins. As he was standing there trying to straighten the jug, a soldier arrested him.

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