The Halfhyde Line by Philip McCutchan

Author:Philip McCutchan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McBooks Press
Published: 2018-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

HALFHYDE’S SPEAKING-TUBE whined at him. He woke at once and took up the tube. It was Foster. A steamship was coming up from astern.

“Bend on the flag hoist,” Halfhyde said. He pulled on shirt and trousers and climbed to the bridge. There was an altercation in progress, and Foster was looking flushed.

“What’s the trouble?” Halfhyde asked.

Higgins answered. “There will be no flag signal, Halfhyde.”

“I say there will—”

“No.” Higgins brought out his revolver and aimed it at Halfhyde. The man at the wheel, one of Higgins’ men, as Halfhyde knew only too well, stood ready to assist if there was trouble. Higgins said, “You already have the signal showing the ship not under control. The other ship will close us, and you will call across. If you say any more than the bare facts of the breakdown in the engine – without details of how it happened, just that the engine is out of action – then you’ll regret it.” He grinned. “Gaboon is below with the girl. He has his orders.”

“You’ll not sacrifice your hostage at this stage, Higgins.”

“Don’t put that fragile hope to the test,” Higgins said.

Halfhyde clenched his fists in fury. Higgins had all the answers and always seemed to keep one jump ahead; but there was nothing to be done about that now. The ship was coming up fast, and it was clear that Higgins would be proved right in his assumption: the NUC balls were magnet enough for any shipmaster. When the two vessels were within hailing distance, the master of the overtaking ship used his megaphone.

“What ship?”

“Taronga Park out of Sydney for Queenstown,” Halfhyde called back. “And you?”

“Barry Island of Cardiff, out of Valparaiso for Barry Roads, Captain Evan Thomas.”

The voice was very Welsh. Halfhyde called back, “Can you assist me? My engine’s broken down, a job for a dockyard.”

“I have a good engineer, man.”

“No,” Higgins said, his voice hard. “I’m having no-one come aboard. Tell him that, Halfhyde.”

Halfhyde swallowed his anger and took up his megaphone again. “It’s beyond an engineer’s capacity. What I’m asking for is a tow, Captain.”

“A tow is it? Where to?”

“Porto Grande.”

“Porto Grande, I see, yes.” There was a pause. “There will be a question of salvage money, of course.” There was another silence while Captain Thomas consulted with his First Mate. “I suggest a thousand pounds, Captain,” he shouted at last.

“Five hundred,” Halfhyde called back.

“It is a long way, a very long way, to Porto Grande,” Captain Thomas shouted across. “A tow will cause me delay, and my owners, Smith’s of Cardiff, will not like that, you know, man.”

Higgins said angrily, “Offer him what he asks.”

Halfhyde scowled and turned back towards the Barry Island. In all truth, the price made little odds unless he lived to meet the bills, and currently, the most pressing problem was to win through. But he haggled a little more, and eventually the price was agreed at eight hundred pounds to be settled in Porto Grande by a bond to be drawn up before the British Consul.

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