Round the Bend by Nevil Shute

Author:Nevil Shute [Shute, Nevil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-47416-2
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2010-12-06T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

God be thy guide from camp to camp; God be thy shade from well to well;

God grant beneath the desert stars thou hear the Prophet’s camel bell.

JAMES ELROY FLECKER

MAJOR HEREWARD was adamant that Connie had to leave the Persian Gulf. He said that I could see the Resident if I liked, but it was obvious that they had made their minds up. He made it pretty clear, too, that if they had any trouble with me they’d kick me out too. They didn’t seem to have a lot of use for any of us, and yet, I think we’d done a useful job while we were there. Perhaps it would have been better if I’d gone into the officers’ mess, as I could have done long before. I should have got invited to the Residency parties then, and got alongside them more. Perhaps I had stuck too closely to the job.

Using his own words, I told him that what he proposed raised rather large issues. “Maybe I shall wind the business up,” I said. “The chief engineer is a key man in a thing like this. In any case, I’m not going to decide anything tonight. I may go to London and talk it over with your people there. Mr. Shaklin has done nothing but talk a very harmless and sincere form of religion.”

“Not Christian,” he said.

“No,” I replied. “Not Christian. Does that make a difference?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I can’t enter into that. Where British subjects are concerned, one expects Christianity. However, Mr. Cutter, there it is. I don’t want to upset your business unduly, but I want Shak Lin out of this district within a fortnight. We can’t have him here any longer than that.” He got up to go.

I got up with him. “I understand what you want. I’ll think it over and let you know what I’m going to do.”

He went out and got into his car and drove away. I went back to my chair and flopped down into it, tired and depressed. Nadezna came back from the hangar presently, and found me sitting so, staring idly at the pad in front of me, wondering with a dulled brain what I was going to do. She said, “They’re all very pleased. Gujar was asking if you’re going on the next Bali trip yourself, or if you want Arjan Singh to go with him, or what.”

I could not take in what she was saying. “What’s that?” I asked.

She looked at me curiously, and repeated the question. “Arjan—no—I don’t know,” I said. “I’ll have to think about it.”

“Is anything the matter?” she asked.

I shook my head; I wanted time to think about things before spilling them to anyone. “I’ll be going off in a minute. If you’ve got the letters I’ll sign them now.”

I think it was on that day that my business stopped being fun. Up till then, it had been a game to me. I had made money out of it, it is true, but this had been a paper profit that I had seen nothing of.

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