Walker shook his head. No, theres only Coertze and me. The others were killed. His lips twisted. It seemed to be unhealthy to stick close to Coertze. I got scared in the end and beat it.
I looked hard at him. Do you mean to say that Coertze murdered them?
Dont put words in my mouth, said Walker sharply. I didnt say that. All I know is that four men were killed when they were close to Coertze. He ticked them off on his fingers. Harrison was the first that happened only three days after we buried the loot.
He tapped a second finger. Next came Alberto I saw that happen. It was as near an accident as anyone could arrange. Then Parker. He was killed in action just like Harrison, and, just like Harrison, the only person who was anywhere near him was Coertze.
He held up three fingers and slowly straightened the fourth. Last was Donato. He was found near the camp with his head bashed in. They said hed been rock-climbing, so the verdict was accidental death but not in my book. That was enough for me, so I quit and went south.
I thought about this for a while, then said, What did you mean when you said you saw Alberto killed?
Wed been on a raid, said Walker. It went O.K. but the Germans moved fast and got us boxed in. We had to get out by the back door, and the back door was a cliff. Coertze was good on a mountain and he and Alberto went first, Coertze leading. He said he wanted to find the easiest way down, which was all right he usually did that.
He went along a ledge and out of sight, then he came back and gave Alberto the O.K. sign. Then he came back to tell us it was all right to start down, so Parker and I went next. We followed Alberto and when we got round the corner we saw that he was stuck.
There were no hand holds ahead of him and hed got himself into a position where he couldnt get back, either. Just as we got there he lost his nerve we could see him quivering and shaking. There he was, like a fly on the side of that cliff with a hell of a long drop under him and a pack of Germans ready to drop on top of him, and he was shaking like a jelly.
Parker shouted to Coertze and he came down. There was just room enough for him to pass us, so he said hed go to help Alberto. He got as far as Alberto and Alberto fell off. I swear that Coertze pushed him.
Did you see Coertze push him? I asked.
No, Walker admitted. I couldnt see Alberto at all once Coertze had passed us. Coertzes a big bloke and he isnt made of glass. But why did he give Alberto the O.K. sign to go along that ledge?
It could have been an honest mistake.
Walker nodded. Thats what I thought at the time. Coertze said afterwards that he didnt mean that Alberto should go as far as that. There was an easier way down just short of where Alberto got stuck. Coertze took us down there.
He lit a cigarette. But when Parker was shot up the following week I started to think again.
How did it happen?
Walker shrugged. The usual thing you know how it is in a fight. When it was all over we found Parker had a hole in his head. Nobody saw it happen, but Coertze was nearest. He paused. The hole was in the back of the head.
A German bullet?
Walker snorted. Brother, we didnt have time for an autopsy; but it wouldnt have made any difference. We were using German weapons and ammo captured stuff; and Coertze always used German guns; he said they were better than the British. He brooded. That started me thinking seriously. It was all too pat all these blokes being knocked off so suddenly. When Donato got his, I quit. The Foreign Legion was just about busted anyway. I waited until the Count had sent Coertze off somewhere, then I collected my gear, said goodbye and headed south to the Allied lines. I was lucky I got through.
What about Coertze?
He stayed with the Count until the Yanks came up. I saw him in Joburg a couple of years ago. I was crossing the road to go into a pub when I saw Coertze going through the door. I changed my mind; I had a drink, but not in that pub.
He shivered suddenly. I want to stay as far from Coertze as I can. Theres a thousand miles between Cape Town and Johannesburg that ought to be enough. He stood up suddenly. Lets go and have a drink, for Gods sake.
So we went and had a drink several drinks.
V
During the next few weeks I could see that Walker was on the verge of making me a proposition. He said he had some money due to him and that he would need a good friend. At last he came out with it.
Look, he said. My old man died last year and Ive got two thousand pounds coming when I can get it out of the lawyers hands. I could go to Italy on two thousand pounds.
So you could, I said.
He bit his lip. Hal, I want you to come with me.
For the gold?
Thats right; for the gold. Share and share alike.
What about Coertze?
To hell with Coertze, said Walker violently. I dont want to have anything to do with him.
I thought about it. I was young and full of vinegar in those days, and this sounded just the ticket if Walker was telling the truth. And if he wasnt telling the truth, why would he finance me to a trip to Italy? It seemed a pleasantly adventurous thing to do, but I hesitated. Why me? I asked.
I cant do it myself, he said. I wouldnt trust Coertze, and youre the only other chap who knows anything about it. And I trust you, Hal, I really do.
I made up my mind. All right, its a deal. But there are conditions.
Trot them out.
This drinking of yours has to stop, I said. Youre all right when youre sober, but when youve got a load on youre bloody awful. Besides, you know you spill things when youre cut.
He rearranged his eager face into a firm expression. Ill do it, Hal; I wont touch a drop, he promised.
All right, I said. When do we start?
I can see now that we were a couple of naïve young fools. We expected to be able to lift several tons of gold from a hole in the ground without too much trouble. We had no conception of the brains and organization that would be needed and were needed in the end.
Walker said, The lawyer tells me that the estate will be settled finally in about six weeks. We can leave any time after that.
We discussed the trip often. Walker was not too much concerned with the practical difficulties of getting the gold, nor with what we were going to do with it once we had it. He was mesmerized by the millions involved.
He said once, Coertze estimated that there were four tons of gold. At the present price thats well over a million pounds. Then theres the lire packing cases full of the stuff. You can get a hell of a lot of lire into a big packing case.
You can forget the paper money, I said. Just pass one of those notes and youll have the Italian police jumping all over you.
We can pass them outside Italy, he said sulkily.
Then youll have to cope with Interpol.
All right, he said impatiently. Well forget the lire. But theres still the jewellery rings and necklaces, diamonds and emeralds. His eyes glowed. Ill bet the jewels are worth more than the gold.
All right, he said impatiently. Well forget the lire. But theres still the jewellery rings and necklaces, diamonds and emeralds. His eyes glowed. Ill bet the jewels are worth more than the gold.
But not as easily disposed of, I said.
I was getting more and more worried about the sheer physical factors involved. To make it worse, Walker wouldnt tell me the position of the lead mine, so I couldnt do any active planning at all.
He was behaving like a child at the approach of Christmas, eager to open his Christmas stocking. I couldnt get him to face facts and I seriously contemplated pulling out of this mad scheme. I could see nothing ahead but a botched job with a probably lengthy spell in an Italian jail.
The night before he was to go to the lawyers office to sign the final papers and receive his inheritance I went to see him at his hotel. He was half-drunk, lying on his bed with a bottle conveniently near.
You promised you wouldnt drink, I said coldly.
Aw, Hal, this isnt drinking; not what Im doing. Its just a little taste to celebrate.
I said, Youd better cut your celebration until youve read the paper.
What paper?
This one, I said, and took it from my pocket. That little bit at the bottom of the page.
He took the paper and looked at it stupidly. What must I read?
That paragraph headed: Italians Sentenced.
It was only a small item, a filler for the bottom of the page.
Walker was suddenly sober. But they were innocent, he whispered.
That didnt prevent them from getting it in the neck, I said brutally.
God! he said. Theyre still looking for it.
Of course they are, I said impatiently. Theyll keep looking until they find it. I wondered if the Italians were more concerned about the gold or the documents.
I could see that Walker had been shocked out of his euphoric dreams of sudden wealth. He now had to face the fact that pulling gold out of an Italian hole had its dangers. This makes a difference, he said slowly. We cant go now. Well have to wait until this dies down.
Will it die down ever? I asked.
He looked up at me. Im not going now, he said with the firmness of fear. The things off its off for a long time.
In a way I was relieved. There was a weakness in Walker that was disturbing and which had been troubling me. I had been uneasy for a long time and had been very uncertain of the wisdom of going to Italy with him. Now it was decided.
I left him abruptly in the middle of a typical action pouring another drink.
As I walked home one thought occurred to me. The newspaper report confirmed Walkers story pretty thoroughly. That was something.
VI
It was long past lunch-time when. I finished the story. My throat was dry with talking and Jeans eyes had grown big and round.
Its like something from the Spanish Main, she said. Or a Hammond Innes thriller. Is the gold still there?
I shrugged. I dont know. I havent read anything about it in the papers. For all I know its still there if Walker or Coertze havent recovered it.
What happened to Walker?
He got his two thousand quid, I said. Then embarked on a career of trying to drink the distilleries dry. It wasnt long before he lost his job and then he dropped from sight. Someone told me hed gone to Durban. Anyway, I havent seen him since.
Jean was fascinated by the story and after that we made a game of it, figuring ways and means of removing four tons of gold from Italy as unobtrusively as possible. Just as an academic exercise, of course. Jean had a fertile imagination and some of her ideas were very good.
In 1959 we got clear of our indebtedness to the bank by dint of strict economy. The yard was ours now with no strings attached and we celebrated by laying the keel of a 15-tonner I had designed for Jean and myself. My old faithful King Penguin, one of the first of her class, was all right for coastal pottering, but we had the idea that one day we would do some ocean voyaging, and we wanted a bigger boat.
A 15-tonner is just the right size for two people to handle and big enough to live in indefinitely. This boat was to be forty feet overall, thirty feet on the waterline with eleven feet beam. She would be moderately canvased for ocean voyaging and would have a big auxiliary diesel engine. We were going to call her Sanford in memory of old Tom.
When she was built we would take a years leave, sail north to spend some time in the Mediterranean, and come back by the east coast, thus making a complete circumnavigation of Africa. Jean had a mischievous glint in her eye. Perhaps well bring that gold back with us, she said.
But two months later the blow fell.
I had designed a boat for Bill Meadows and had sent him the drawings for approval. By mishap the accommodation plans had been left out of the packet, so Jean volunteered to take them to Fish Hoek where Bill lives.
Its a nice drive to Fish Hoek along the Chapmans Peak road with views of sea and mountain, far better than anything I have since seen on the Riviera. Jean delivered the drawings and on the way back in the twilight a drunken oaf in a high-powered American car forced her off the road and she fell three hundred feet into the sea.
The bottom dropped out of my life.
It meant nothing to me that the driver of the other car got five years for manslaughter that wouldnt bring Jean back. I let things slide at the yard and if it hadnt been for Harry Marshall the business would have gone to pot.
It was then that I tallied up my life and made a sort of mental balance sheet. I was thirty-six years old; I had a good business which I had liked but which now I didnt seem to like so much; I had my health and strength boat-building and sailing tend to keep one physically fit and I had no debts. I even had money in the bank with more rolling in all the time.
On the other side of the balance sheet was the dreadful absence of Jean, which more than counter-balanced all the advantages.
I felt I couldnt stay at the yard or even in Cape Town, where memories of Jean would haunt me at every corner. I wanted to get away. I was waiting for something to happen.
I was ripe for mischief.
VII
A couple of weeks later I was in a bar on Adderley Street having a drink or three. It wasnt that Id taken to drink, but I was certainly drinking more than I had been accustomed to. I had just started on my third brandy when I felt a touch at my elbow and a voice said, Hallo, I havent seen you for a long time.
I turned and found Walker standing next to me.
The years hadnt dealt kindly with Walker. He was thinner, his dark, good looks had gone to be replaced by a sharpness of feature, and his hairline had receded. His clothes were unpressed and frayed at the edges, and there was an air of seediness about him which was depressing.
Hallo, I said. Where did you spring from? He was looking at my full glass of brandy, so I said, Have a drink.
Thanks, he said quickly. Ill have a double.