The Unlit Heart E-Book

Vivian Stuart

• Herausgeber: Jentas Ehf
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: Historical Romance
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 315

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

INTRIGUE. TENSION. LOVE AFFAIRS: In The Historical Romance series, a set of stand-alone novels, Vivian Stuart builds her compelling narratives around the dramatic lives of sea captains, nurses, surgeons, and members of the aristocracy. Stuart takes us back to the societies of the 20th century, drawing on her own experience of places across Australia, India, East Asia, and the Middle East.    Anton Kramer, a man of fierce devotion where his work as a surgeon was concerned, could never surrender to an uncompromising love like Deborah's. Had Deborah's experience of men been wider she must have known this, but guilelessly she consented to the suggestion that she should join him as his bride in Indonesia when her three years' training as a nurse was completed. But Deborah came to learn that much can happen in three years. In three years a man could build a new world for himself, can make a new circle off riends and can learn to exchange confidences with a beautiful Oriental more intimate than ever he had shared with the woman he had promised to marry. When Deborah arrived to join Anton all these things were clear to her. Anton still loved her - of that she was certain…

Leseprobe

The Unlit Heart

The Unlit Heart

© Vivian Stuart, 1954

© eBook in English: Jentas ehf. 2022

ISBN: 978-9979-64-490-3

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchase.

All contracts and agreements regarding the work, editing, and layout are owned by Jentas ehf.

–––

To my daughter Jenny,

as this is her favourite of my books.

CHAPTER ONE

Deborah Fane came out of the cool, shadowed waiting room into the blazing heat of the noon sunshine. It beat down relentlessly on the concrete of the airfield, and struck a thousand rainbow hued reflections from the bright metal of the tiny aircraft.

Beside it, Hank Curtis, the pilot, leaned nonchalantly, his shabby leather windbreaker open, to display an expanse of deeply tanned skin and a faded check shirt that had once been gaudy.

Seeing Deborah, he displayed his very white teeth in a friendly grin.

“Hi, there! Your baggage is all in, Miss Fane. I guess we can take off any time.”

Deborah’s heart beat faster and her mouth felt dry.

Up till now, her journey had been made by Comet and flying had begun to lose its terrors for her, even to interest her, as she became accustomed to the sensation and to the incredibly rapid changes of place and scenery. The noiseless comfort of the pressurized cabin, the efficiency of the service and the crew’s pride in their vast, well-equipped aircraft had combined, in some strange way, to set her mind at ease. But, looking at the little plane in which she was to travel the rest of the way to Tarapang, Deborah’s misgivings returned.

Hank Curtis seemed confident enough, though he had warned her that she could not expect Comet comfort in a freight plane, yet somehow Deborah had expected his machine to be larger, more solid looking than this frail, rakishly streamlined monoplane.

And she really knew so little about its pilot. She recalled with a sudden sinking of the heart, their first and only previous meeting, when she had sought him out at his Singapore hotel.

A booking clerk, at the airport, had given her the address.

“Mr. Curtis is an American and he runs a small charter air service about the Islands. They say he’s a good pilot but beyond that I don’t know anything about him. He got in this morning from Sarawak and I think you’d find him at the Shimin, if you’d care to ’phone . . .”

But Deb hadn’t ’phoned, she had taken a taxi, from the airport and been whisked, at breath-taking speed, through crowded and unfamiliar streets, to what was unmistakably a Chinese owned and not very luxurious apartment house, dignified by the name of hotel. The Shimin Hotel . . .

She had thought, at the time, that her taxi-driver had looked at her oddly when she gave him the address and had spent her time, during the swift, roundabout drive, wondering whether or not it was the sort of place to which an unescorted European woman might go in safety.

Still, she hadn’t come all the way from England in order to let doubts of the respectability of a Chinese hotel defeat her. She had gone in and, hiding her trepidation under a mask of deceptive calm, had asked to see Hank Curtis, on business.

And now, three days later, she was committed to flying with him, as his sole passenger, to a tiny, far off island which had hitherto only been a name to her.

Some of her doubts must have been written on her small, piquante face, for she saw that Hank Curtis’ smile had widened, as he put out a lean hand to relieve her of her bag.

“Not scared, are you?”

He had a deep, pleasant voice, with a suggestion of a Southern drawl. Deb looked up into his blue, frankly questioning eyes and, remembering how he had tried to dissuade her from making the journey, she shook her head.

“No. I—of course I’m not.” It wasn’t a very convincing denial and the American said consolingly: “I guess you’ve let those Comet boys talk you into believing that you need four engines—and jets at that—to get you any place. I operate on small airstrips, where anything bigger than this baby wouldn’t be feasible. You don’t have to worry, not about the airplane, anyways. I’ll get you there. Curtis Airline Incorporated guarantee delivery!”

“I’m not worried, really, Mr. Curtis,” Deb assured him, unhappily aware that her voice shook a little, giving the lie to her words, He took her arm.

“Care for a drink before we take off? Make you feel better, maybe. We’ve got time.”

She hesitated and the pilot made up her mind for her. Still with a hand on her elbow, he guided her to the airport bar, held a chair for her, forestalling the smiling Malay boy, and took his place opposite.

“Brandy?” he suggested. “It’s the best thing.”

“I don’t know. I mean, I don’t usually drink anything. I—” she felt foolish but the pilot only smiled.

“Then take my advice, Miss Fane. Brandy.” He turned to give his order to the boy, then back to Deb to offer her a freshly opened packet of Chesterfields. “Care to smoke? You won’t get a chance, in the airplane.”

“Thank you.” She accepted a cigarette. Hank Curtis flicked his lighter and held it out. His hands, Deb saw, were very slim and brown. Capable hands—hands whose skill was going to matter to her. She looked up to meet his quizzical gaze and flushed.

“You don’t want to change your mind about this trip, do you?” The American spoke gently. “Because if you want to back out, I shan’t hold it against you. In fact—”

She interrupted him fiercely. “No! Oh, no, of course I don’t.” Her vehemence surprised him, she saw, and she added quickly: “It’s terribly important that I should get to Tarapang. I—my fiancé’s out there, as I told you. He—he’s waiting for me.”

“Yeah, I remember you told me that.” His expression puzzled Deb but the boy came with the drinks at that moment and the pilot’s attention was distracted. When he leaned towards her again, to give her the squat, round glass, his face was blank, his blue eyes no more than politely interested.

“Just you drink that, now. It’ll make all the difference, I promise you.”

She obeyed him, sipping the brandy slowly, feeling a warm, heartening glow spread over her.

The pilot smoked in silence, atching her. Finally he said:

“Miss Fane, I reckon you know what you’re going into, in Tarapang?”

“Yes, I . . . know.” The hint of disapproval in his tone vexed her, for some reason, and she set down her half empty glass and rose. “Isn’t it time we—took off?”

“Yeah, I guess it is.”

He got lazily to his feet and stood looking down at her, his tanned, good natured face suddenly grave. Deb remembered, with a hint of irritation, his reluctance to accept her charter.

“You’re sure you don’t want to change your mind?”

“Quite sure, thank you.” She was impatient now to be on her way. He had, of course, misunderstood her. She was afraid, admittedly, but of his small aircraft, of the long flight in the company of a complete stranger.

Not of Tarapang, though. Tarapang was journey’s end, the realization of a dream . . .

Hank Curtis shrugged his broad shoulders. “Okay,” he drawled, “just so long as you’re sure, Miss Fane. I don’t aim to question the folk who hire me.” But he was still looking at her intently and Deb challenged:

“Do you know Tarapang? I mean, do you go there often?”

The blue eyes held a steely glint. He answered, after an appreciable hesitation: “Sure I know it. But I haven’t been back there in quite a while.”

“Then,” Deb put in triumphantly, “I’m probably better informed about the conditions there than you are.”

“Yeah.” His tone was dry. “Maybe you are at that. Nobody seems to know much but there are—rumors. We’ll check up at Sourabaya. Well, let’s go, shall we?” He held the door for her.

They walked to the plane and the pilot leaned into the cabin to place Deb’s bag beside the seat he had rigged for her. He nodded to the mechanic who stood in front of the aircraft and got in, holding out both hands to Deb.

“I guess you might as well give me your papers, Miss Fane,” he said, as she climbed gingerly in after him. “The Indonesians are kind of fussy about permits these days, but they know me and I speak the language after a fashion so it’d maybe best if I handled them.”

Deb readily took the paper backed folder from her case and gave it to him.

“Everything’s in here, including a list of the stores I’m bringing and a permit for them. The Consul saw to it all for me. He said my papers were in order.”

“Well, he should know.” The pilot stuffed her folder into a worn leather briefcase without troubling to examine its contents. “I’ll just fix your seat belt for you.”

He did so and went forward to his cockpit. Deb saw him wave to the waiting mechanic and, a moment later, the single engine sprang sweetly to life and they taxied slowly down to the end of the long runway. Deb heard him talking into his radio to the Control Tower and then his voice became inaudible as he tested his engine. His cockpit check was thorough.

Then the roar rose to a shattering crescendo, the little cabin throbbed and trembled and Deb clung to the arm rests of her seat with shaking hands. At last the aircraft began to move, gathering speed at a startling rate, until the airfield buildings merged into a single blurred outline and then they were airborne and the sound of the racing engine faded to a quiet, steady purr.

They climbed swiftly, circling the field to gain height, and, as Deb peered nervously out of the cabin window, the Control Tower dwindled to a tiny doll’s house and a big, four engined Dutch air liner, which had just come in to land, seemed only a toy.

They droned steadily on, Singapore spread out below them, getting smaller and smaller. Deb’s heart ceased its wild pounding and settled down to its normal beat.

Hank Curtis seemed to be a good pilot. And the aircraft, now that she was in it, felt much larger than it had appeared when seen on the ground. They were heading out to sea now and Deb peered down with interest at the calm blue water far below her, dazzling in the sun’s reflected rays, glimpsing the long lines of ships, at anchor in the Roads, and the sleek, grey shape of a naval escort vessel, wearing the White Ensign, nosing her way out to sea.

It all looked very peaceful, despite the guns of the naval craft and Deb sighed. Where she was going, it might not be so peaceful. Tarapang had been rent by strife and terrorists had burned and ravaged and killed in the name of Freedom, tearing down the civilization which the white men had brought, for no other reason than because the white man had brought it.

It was from Anton’s letters that she knew this, for she had never left England until a fortnight ago. But Anton had assured her that the trouble would not last and, Deb reflected, she had deliberately minimized the situation to Hank Curtis. Because she had to get to Tarapang, no matter what the risk. From Anton’s letters, she already had a picture of the island in her mind and her eagerness to tend and serve its primitive and misguided people was second only to her longing to tend and serve Anton himself.

At the thought of Anton Kramer, Deb’s mouth curved into an indulgent smile.

They had met in London, three years before, when Deb was a student nurse and Anton a post-graduate resident surgeon at the same hospital, studying for a senior surgical degree.

He was thirty-three when they met, a refugee from his own country since boyhood, quiet, serious minded, already dedicated. He cared little for financial reward, wanted only to use his skill to alleviate suffering. When Deb first knew him, he was filling in time until he could raise sufficient funds to return to Indonesia and establish a clinic at Tarapang, where he had spent the war years, first as a Japanese prisoner and later as leader of the guerrilla force which had opposed the conquerors.

Falling in love, for both of them, had been something of a shock. Anton had not thought to marry. The life he had been leading, and to which he intended to return, was hard and difficult. Not at all the sort of life he had ever visualized asking a woman to share with him. And Deb herself, one of a large, devoted family, had never imagined that she would want to leave England.

A post at the County Hospital, when she had finished her training, had been the height of her ambitions with, perhaps, later on, marriage to one or other of the pleasant ordinary young men she knew and with whom, hitherto, she had been content to spend her time. But meeting Anton had changed all that.

They had fallen in love at first sight—wildly, deliriously in love, so that all their careful plans had been swept aside, forgotten for a time, paling into insignificance beside the heady demands of their newly awakened emotions.

For the four months that their engagement had lasted, they had both been ideally happy.

Deb’s family had taken Anton to their hearts, approving of him unreservedly.

His talk of the East Indies and Tarapang they had thought interesting but it had never occurred to any one of them that he would dream of returning, now that he was going to marry Deb.

Just as it had never occurred to Anton, Deb told herself wryly, to do anything else.

His announcement that he was going back had been like a bombshell, when eventually he had made it. At first, they had not taken it seriously and then they had sought to dissuade him. Deb’s father had reasoned with him and her mother pleaded, but to no avail.

Anton’s face, so thin and pale and serious, danced before Deborah’s eyes, blotting out the cabin of the aircraft and the pilot’s broad, leather-clad back. It had all seemed so logical to Anton, of course. Whilst he had not sufficient money for his clinic, he stayed in England and studied. When he had it, he kept his promise and went back.

Argument merely left him bewildered.

“You do not understand,” he had told them, gently, a hundred times. “I gave my word.”

“You gave your word to Deb,” Deb’s mother had reminded him. “Surely you aren’t going to break your promise to her for the sake of a few natives?”

“But of course I am not!” As if it had been yesterday, Deb remembered the warmth of his tone, the adoration in his soft brown eyes. “Deb is coming with me!”

And that had united the family in protest. Under no circumstances could they permit Deb to go too. If Anton chose to go, then he must go alone. Deb was under age and had not yet completed her training . . .

The argument had gone back and forth and as it continued, Deb had seen her bright dreams shattered, one by one. Even her faith in Anton, her belief in his love for her, had been rudely shaken by his obstinate refusal to compromise.

In the end, he had gone by himself. When Deb passed her finals, if she still loved him enough to make the sacrifice, she could join him in Tarapang. Anton seemed satisfied with this decision, never doubting that she would come to him.

“Less than three years, my darling—not much, out of a whole lifetime, is it? It will give me time to establish the clinic, to prepare a suitable home for you, to train servants and get furniture made. Beautiful things for my beautiful bride! You will see, the time will pass. I shall write to you—every day I shall write to you.”

He had kept his word, writing a little to her each day, mailing the letters every month, when the mail steamer called, telling her of his love for her, of his plans for their future, of his work and of his adopted people.

Every day, for over two years . . . and then, suddenly, abruptly the letters had stopped coming. Tarapang was a remote and unimportant island, a tiny dot on the atlas. From a report in an Australian newspaper, from enquiries of Indonesian Governments’ representatives and at the Netherlands Embassy, Deb was able to find out a little about what was happening there, to learn how, without warning, terror had struck. A tiny Dutch settlement had been put to the sword, and a garrison of Indonesian Government troops massacred, somewhere in the interior of the island.

This had been followed by other outbreaks of lawlessness, sporadic and equally unexpected. Retribution had followed but slowly, for Tarapang was not important and its people were known to be happy and peace-loving. The Indonesian Government had its hands full in Java and the Celebes and negotiations had been protracted. News filtered through only at long intervals. It was thought that agitators from the larger islands, dangerous and ruthless extremists, had sought to involve Tarapang in their battle for separation and that the revolt would die down in time. Deb was urged not to worry: she would hear from Dr. Kramer in due course. Finally, after months of anxiety and bitter self-reproach, she had heard again. A very short letter which told her little.

Anton was alive and working night and day to care for casualties, as well as for the sick and suffering the clinic usually tended. He made no mention of Deb’s joining him, in that or in any of his subsequent letters. In one, he actually advised against it but Deb had reached her decision weeks before, in the Embassy waiting room.

She took her finals and then set about making her plans, grimly determined to let nothing stand in her way. It took all her resolution to combat the well-meaning attempts on the part of her family and, later, of the various officials she approached for visas and permits, to place obstacles in her way.

As Hank Curtis had remarked, little was known of the present situation on the island and Deb had taken care to say nothing of the rumors she had heard to her anxious parents. Even so, it had been with the greatest reluctance that they had, eventually, let her go. Had they realized, Deb thought guiltily, that her passage was arranged only as far as Singapore, they would almost certainly have stopped her.

She had written to Anton, saying that she was coming but, in the end, had left before receiving his reply.

A seat on the Comet to Singapore had fallen unexpectedly vacant and Deb had accepted the offer of it at twenty-four hours’ notice, facing her mother’s tears and her father’s reproachful arguments with tears in her own eyes but the ticket in her hand. Only her anxiety for Anton had given her the courage to defy them and leaving home had been, when it came to the point, a heartbreaking wrench, saying goodbye to her parents almost unbearably painful.

In Singapore, she had been held up, having missed the steamer to Sourabaya by a few hours. The prospect of waiting for the next appalled her. Singapore, she discovered after a day there, was an expensive place and what money she had she had wanted to spend on medical stores for Anton’s clinic. She knew, from his letters, that he was short of many things.

Consequently, the booking clerk’s suggestion of a charter plane had seemed the answer to prayer, Hank Curtis’ reluctance no more than she had come, by this time, to expect, whenever she mentioned her desire to go to Tarapang. He had agreed, after some hesitation, to fly her to Sourabaya at least—the continuation of the journey to depend on what the local Government officials were able to tell them of the state of affairs in Tarapang. The fee he had asked had been surprisingly small, greatly to Deb’s relief. She possessed exactly twenty pounds in travellers’ cheques, after this and the bill for the medical stores had been settled. All her savings and the wedding present cheque from her father had gone, but she tried not to think of this, since it seemed the least of her problems.

The steady hum of the plane’s engine had a soothing effect and Deb found her head nodding.

When she woke, they had left the sea behind and were flying over jagged, volcanic peaks which knifed wickedly skywards, bare and inhospitable.

Hank Curtis passed her a flask of strong, sweet coffee and a package of sandwiches, jerking a thumb downwards to say:

“Sumatra! Like to have a closer look at a volcano?”

Deb shook her head and he grinned at her lazily.

“These ones aren’t active. But if you like ’em better from this distance, then that’s okay with me.”

When she had finished the coffee, he invited her to join him in the cockpit and whiled away the time by explaining the various instruments and controls which surrounded him, even letting her fly the plane for a little and smiling approvingly at her efforts.

CHAPTER TWO

At Batavia, Hank landed to refuel.

“Be a half hour here, Miss Fane, if you’d like to get something to eat.” He gestured towards the restaurant.

“What about you?” Deb asked.

“Don’t worry your head about me. I’ll send a man to fetch me some sandwiches and get the flasks refilled.” He sketched a salute and turned his back on her.

Deb, stiff and tired, walked slowly across the airfield to the restaurant. It was not so hot as it had been in Singapore and her impression was pleasant. Batavia, perhaps because there were fewer concrete runways, seemed greener and fresher.

She was directed to a spotless washroom and, feeling much better after washing her face and hands and repairing her make-up, she sat down to an excellent meal, quickly and appetizingly served by a pair of natives in starched white jackets. Like the other Javanese she had seen, they were slim and lithe, with jet black hair and skins of a brown that was so light as to be almost golden.

They were alert and attentive to her needs, very ready to smile, showing dazzling white teeth, and very proud of the English they both spoke.

Hank Curtis came, just as she was drinking her coffee and, seeing she had not quite finished, he strolled over to join her. A waiter brought him fresh coffee and the pilot asked, smiling: “They look after you okay?”

“Oh, yes, they’ve been very good. And the food was excellent. I feel ready for anything now.”

“Fine.” He passed her his packet of Chesterfields. “Just time for a smoke and then we’ll be on our way.”

“And we’re to spend the night in Sourabaya?” Deb questioned.

He nodded. “Yeah. That’s the idea. Take it in easy stages, so as not to tire you too much. I’ll get my ear to the ground in Sourabaya, see what I can find out about what’s happening in Doctor Kramer’s island paradise.”

“But—” his tone worried her. Deb caught at his arm. “You will go on to Tarapang?”

“Sure I will. If it’s safe. I don’t aim to go on any suicide missions, Miss Fane—even for the sake of obliging Doctor Kramer.”

Deb met his blue eyes squarely. Again there was a hint of sarcasm in his tone which puzzled and annoyed her. She asked abruptly: “Have you met my fiancé, Mr. Curtis?”

He hesitated, the blue eyes narrowed and wary, searching her face. Then he said: “Sure, I’ve met him. Miss Fane.” He drained his coffee cup and rose. “Don’t hurry yourself. I’ve some cargo to load. Take me maybe ten minutes or so. I’ll be in the airplane when you’re ready.”

“Oh but—” It was as if he were deliberately avoiding the subject of Anton and the color rose hotly to Deb’s cheeks as she watched him leave the restaurant and pause outside to speak to an airfield official, apparently in no hurry. She paid her bill and followed him to the little silver monoplane.

They took off smoothly and flew along the coast, low enough for Deb to be able to make out details of the fishing villages huddled close to the shore—strange, squat, fragile looking clusters of huts, with the long hulled fishing canoes drawn up close to them, their owners working on their nets, lifting their heads to watch the aircraft, the sun on their upturned faces. They made a vivid splash of color against the golden sand.

Just before dark, Hank was busy with his radio and, after an unintelligible conversation, he turned to her and pointed to a distant fairyland of twinkling lights.

“Sourabaya,” he told her. “Won’t be long now.”

The lights came rapidly nearer and, as they lost height, Deb saw that it was a big town, circling a busy harbor.

“There’s a fighter squadron down,” Hank volunteered. Deb followed his pointing finger and saw the fighter planes drawn up Very precisely on the airfield, wing tips almost touching.

“Pretty aren’t they?” the pilot added. Something in his tone made Deb glance at him sharply but his expression, beyond a slight tightening of the lips, gave nothing away.

She said: “Were you a fighter pilot once?”

He was coming in to land and, when he did not reply, Deb thought that he had not heard her, but as the landing wheels touched down, he said shortly: “Sure. Once — a long, long time ago.”

They sped along the runway, the airfield buildings a blurr of lights which gradually sorted themselves out as the plane slackened speed. Hank turned her and taxied towards the buildings. Then he switched off his engine and spun round to face his passenger.

“Just a few formalities here,” he said. “They’ll want to check your passport and whatever baggage you’re taking for the night. Maybe you’d better let me handle it. Which bag d’you want?”

Deb showed him and he picked it up, pausing to release her seat belt. He offered her his hand and assisted her to alight.

They walked side by side into the brightly lit administration building, the pilot slowing his long stride to match Deb’s.

A native official greeted Hank warmly and examined the papers from the Consulate folder. His examination was perfunctory and he was about to return the papers to the folder when one of them caught his eye and his thin brows came together in a frown.

“The lady is going to Tarapang?” He turned to stare at Deb.

“Sure.” Hank’s drawl was elaborately casual. “She’s got a permit, hasn’t she?”

“Indeed, yes, Mr. Curtis. The lady’s papers are all in order. But—” he hesitated, looking distressed.

“Well?” Hank prompted. His hand touched Deb’s arm warningly.

“The situation at Tarapang, Mr. Curtis, it is not very good. We have no very precise information but you have seen the fighter squadron, I expect?”

“Sure, I’ve seen them. What of it?”

“Well, Mr. Curtis, they are standing by to go to Tarapang. It is not certain that they will go but—” he shrugged helplessly. “I shall have to obtain instructions from higher authority. I do not think you will be allowed to leave here for Tarapang.”

Fear clutched at Deb’s heart. She opened her mouth to question the little official but Hank’s hand closed about her arm.

“Leave me handle this,” he warned in a low voice. Then, to the official: “I see. That’s too bad. Well, I guess the lady’s in no hurry to get there in that case. Find out what you can for me, will you? Maybe we’ll just go on to Bali and wait there till things improve.”

“That would be wise. The lady will like Bali.” The little man’s face cleared at this suggestion. “In any case, you will be remaining here for tonight? Good. Then I will find out all I can for you, Mr. Curtis.” He returned papers and passports and Hank again stuffed them into his brief-case. Still retaining his firm grasp of Deb’s arm, he led her out of the building.

When they were out of earshot of the little Javanese official, Hank said: “Well, now! I guess it looks like we aren’t going to be able to get much farther, Miss Fane.”

“Oh but we must go on! Now more than ever. Don’t you see—” Deb bit her lip in an attempt to hide its quivering. Her eyes pleaded with him. “Anton—my fiancé will need me. I’m a trained nurse and I’ve got medical supplies for his hospital. If there’s going to be more trouble, the hospital will be crowded and Anton overworked and short of drugs. He—Anton runs the hospital, you know.”

“Yeah, so I heard.” Hank’s tone was dry. “But it won’t help Kramer any if you go and get yourself killed, will it? And I was aiming to stay alive a while longer, myself.”

His mild sarcasm was wasted on Deb. Her anxiety for Anton, sharpened by the months of uncertainty she had endured, blinded her to all personal hazards which might stand in the way of her reaching him now. She had come so far, had overcome so many obstacles, that she was not going to be cheated of her goal at this stage—and by an American she had hired to get her there. Besides, if the Indonesian Government were planning reprisals, Anton must be warned—he must be given the chance of escape which Hank’s aircraft offered. The Tarapang revolt was not of his making—he must be persuaded to leave . . .

She said as much, her chin held high, and Hank Curtis heard her in enigmatic silence, refusing to be drawn, even when, driven to desperation by his lack of response, Deb all but accused him of cowardice.

Finally, his tone quite mild, he told her: “Look, Miss Fane, I’ll get to Tarapang if it’s humanly possible. I’ll take a message for you—but I won’t take you, unless I’m certain I can get you there and back in one piece. You—”

“I don’t mind about the risk,” Deb interrupted, “if you go, I’m going with you. I—I must. I’ve come all this way, I—oh, Mr. Curtis, please try to understand! Anton won’t want to leave but I could persuade him. He—he can be very obstinate, you know.”

“Sure. You’ve got something there. Well, listen. I won’t let you down. If you’re prepared to take the risk—well, I carry plenty of life insurance! I’ll fly over the island, see what’s going on and maybe drop a message, if we can’t land. But before we make any plans, I guess it might be an idea to find out just what the risk is, huh? I was going to take you into Sourabaya, to an hotel, but I guess I’ll pick up more information if I stick around here, in the airport bar with the fighter boys. So if you go along to the restaurant and have dinner, I’ll come and collect you when I’ve found out what I want to know. Okay?”

Deb did not feel like eating but there seemed nothing she could do but agree to his suggestion.

She sat in the restaurant, making a brave attempt to do justice to an excellent meal, a prey to the most frightening anxiety she had ever experienced.

Up till now she had allowed herself to believe that the trouble in Tarapang had died down, because she had wanted to believe it. But suppose it weren’t true? Why was the fighter squadron standing by to go there, unless the fighting had flared up? And if it had, then Anton might be in danger.

Suppose a mob of vengeful natives attacked the clinic? Suppose she were held up and reached Tarapang only to find the hospital a burnt-out ruin. Suppose . . . but her imagination balked at the terrifying possibilities and miserably, she pushed away her plate untouched and, when the boy came to remove it, she asked for coffee.

Her head throbbed and her eyes, tired and strained from the glare, hurt her unbearably. Her whole body ached with fatigue and the longing to sleep became, despite her nagging fears, almost overpowering. But she had to keep awake, to think things over, make plans. She had to get to Anton and somehow, no matter how, she had to persuade Hank Curtis to take her to him. Even if Anton refused to leave his island and his hospital, at least Deb would be with him, sharing his danger. She had waited so long, made such efforts to get to him, it was unthinkable that she should fail now.

From the bar close by, the sound of laughter floated to her and a man started to sing a plaintive song, which others took up and roared in full throated chorus, the words quite unintelligible to her but sounding, in contrast to her own wretchedness, carefree and irritatingly cheerful.

An hour passed and then another. In a corner of the restaurant, the boys yawned, only rousing themselves to bring her fresh coffee. Once an aircraft landed and the pilot came in for a meal, but most of the time, Deb was alone in the big, airless room, a customer who had all too obviously outstayed her welcome.

When, at last, Hank Curtis came strolling in, his hair tousled and his lean, tanned face damp with sweat and twisted into an amiable grin, Deb greeted him coldly. His gait was by no means steady and his words a little slurred. Whilst she had waited in an agony of impatience, he had been enjoying himself! Oh, why, why had she trusted him? His behaviour showed her the sort of man he was.

She said icily: “I hope you had a good party. It sounded like it.”

Hank regarded her in some bewilderment. “Did it? Well, well!” He signed to the boy to bring the bill and paid it, waving aside Deb’s protests. “The treat’s on me. You ready?”

“Yes, of course I am. I’ve been waiting for you, Mr. Curtis. Are we going to an hotel?”

He shook his head. “No time. We’ll have to doss down in the airplane. I’ve got blankets. You won’t be too uncomfortable.”

Deb’s cheeks were scarlet. “I wouldn’t dream of dossing down, as you call it, in the airplane, with you in the—in the state you are. Please take me to an hotel.”

Hank’s blue eyes held a mocking, amused gleam.

“In what state?” he wanted to know.

“You—you’ve been drinking!” Deb accused indignatly.

“I have? Well, for crying out loud! Miss Fane, you don’t just walk up to a guy and ask him to betray military secrets, you know. You have a few drinks with him and then he tells you, see? Like—” he lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “like those fighter boys have just been telling me. Get it? I now have a picture of the situation and it’s not quite as bad as I thought. I reckon we may be able to make it to Tarapang after all—if we play it the right way.”

Deb’s indignation faded but her mistrust of him remained.

“Do I have to sleep in the plane?” she asked resentfully. “Because—”

“Listen, Miss Fane.” He grinned at her good naturedly. “You’re quite safe with me. I take care of my cargo and I get it where it’s going, no matter what. And I don’t aim to take advantage of you or your situation. How badly do you want to get to Tarapang?”

“I—I must get there, I—”

“Okay, you will. But you’ve got to do as I say. There isn’t time for you to go to an hotel because I’m aiming to take off at first light—whilst the fighter boys are still sleeping it off. If we let them get ahead of us, then we aren’t going to make it, see? They’d be justified in shooting us down if they found us there. But we can beat them to it—long enough, anyways, to pick up Kramer. If he’ll come! And to drop those medical stores, which he’s going to need. Understand?”

“I—think so.”

“Swell.” He led the way across the apron towards his plane. “I shan’t disturb you any, because part of the time I’ll be working on my engine and the rest of it, I reckon to sleep. Even an airplane driver has to sleep, you know. You don’t have to worry.”

Shamefacedly, Deb stammered an apology but he cut her short, a brown hand raised.

“That’s okay. Just so long as we understand each other. Now then—” they had reached the aircraft and Hank mockingly bowed her in.

The arrangements he made for her comfort were, of necessity, somewhat limited but Deb was so exhausted that, within a few minutes of settling down, she was asleep, quite contrary to her own expectations, and she slept soundly until he woke her, gently shaking her shoulder.

She stared at him dazedly, taking in the fact that it was not yet light.