China Seas by John Harris

Author:John Harris [Harris, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: China Seas
ISBN: 9780755125838
Publisher: House of Stratus
Published: 2013-01-10T05:00:00+00:00

It was fortunate that Abigail had disappeared from the scene for a matter of two months – three months if things turned out as she wished and Polly was happy away from the side of young Wissermann. It was her intention to visit the Wissermann relations in San Francisco and anything could happen.

But Abigail’s absence gave Willie time. A week to Vladivostok, a day there to accomplish all he needed to do, a week back. It gave him ample scope to settle again into his routine so that nothing would seem to have happened by the time she returned.

It wasn’t hard for him to pass as a mixed-blood Chinese. There were thousands like Kee, with a Chinese mother or father, who spoke both English and Chinese and possessed the attributes and instincts of both nations. He and Kee could almost have been brothers because they were of much the same size and both possessed black hair and swarthy complexions. Kee’s passport was in perfect order and any doubts about the one he produced for Willie could be explained by the fact that his ‘brother’ had gone to sea as a boy and had never had a settled home in any city or port.

Kee had found a master, a Chinese first mate called John Yeh. ‘He’s good,’ he said, ‘and he has all the necessary sea time and experience. He’ll do it without question, especially if we make his fourth stripe permanent.’

‘Tell him if we pull it off, he’s got a job for life.’

Yeh was a burly, blank-faced young man who took over the ship without requiring explanations, moved Roper’s belongings ashore, ordered the repainting Willie had demanded, and made a point of laying in half a dozen Chinese merchant marine flags.

There was a snowstorm blowing and it was cold enough to sting the nostrils as they made their way into Vladivostok. The sea was ice-blue under the leaden sky and the dock area seemed bleak and almost deserted. There were huge piles of timber stacked ready to be loaded aboard ship, and mountains of coal. Carts waited, their horses drowsing in the harness, but there appeared to be no fishing craft and very little in the way of shipping, while the dockside cranes were motionless, like great gallows hanging out over the water.

Leaving Kee on board, Willie went ashore alone. Fading posters edged in black were on all the fences and telegraph poles, announcing that the local soviet of workers and soldiers had replaced all former administrative and other authorities. Finding a telephone in a bar near the docks, he tried to contact A N Kourganov’s, but the telephone system seemed to be operating only fitfully and he couldn’t get through. The snow was still falling as he left the bar, eyed all the time by the occupants, hard-faced men in fur caps and greasy coats.

The harbourmaster’s office seemed to be empty and with no sign of staff. An old woman, wearing a garment cut apparently from a worn carpet, lived in the basement.

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