Angel's Ransom Read Online Free Page B

a man to Sûreté Publique , a ten-minute walk by way of the Quai du Commerce to inquire further about the nature of the permis , or to send the entire crew at once and make certain of minimum delay if, as Jules and the rabbit-faced man agreed, individual clearance for each man was necessary.
    Deciding, he called Michaud from the engine-room and sent Cesar to round up the cook and the two deck-hands. When the steward would have argued further, Blake dismissed him with a firm, ‘Get along!’ Cesar was a good steward, but argumentative.
    It was not until the crew had left the yacht and were beyond shouting distance on the quay that he remembered the handbag on the chart t able. He swore at his forgetful ness, which meant still another delay, and hurried to the pilot-house to call the men back with a blast on the airhorn . Michaud, as always, had put off starting the compressor until the last possible moment. The horn was lifeless.
    Never put to sea on a Friday, Blake thought wearily.
    Michaud ’s absence at least gave him an opportunity to speed up the preparations for casting off when the crew returned. He went below to start the compressor and generator and open the valves of the heat exchanger, operations that would take the old engineer a good quarter of an hour. In ,his preoccupation with those matters, the fact that Jules and the rabbit-faced man had taken up positions conveniently near the lines that tied the cruiser ’s stem to the jetty made no impression on him.

    Marian did not note the significance of the departure of the Angel ’s crew until the little group of men had passed below the point where she and Holtz watched from the parapet of the Chemin des Pê cheurs . Holtz made a sound of satisfaction as he saw them go by.
    ‘Did you arrange for that?’ Marian asked.
    ‘Of course.’ He was tensely impatient of her question.
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Because they would not have let me aboard, even in your company, without Blake ’s permission, and I do not intend to ask his permission.’
    ‘Then why did you need my performance last night? If you are going aboard without his permission, and without the crew ’s knowledge -’
    ‘I never needed your performance, dear Miss Ellis. I found it a convenience.’ Holtz was watching the Angel closely. Blake had just left the pilot-house to go below. ‘The good captain is as susceptible as are most mariners to a pretty girl. I manipulate you in front of his eyes to keep him from observing certain other actions.’
    ‘And suppose I were to refuse to let you manipulate me in front of his eyes any further?’
    ‘Don’t be ridiculous. I am paying you well to perform a certain function. You need the money, and in a matter of minutes you will have earned it. You will not back out now.’
    It was a calm statement of fact with which she could not argue. She said, ‘You’re right. I can’t back out. But the sooner it ’s over and done with, the sooner I’ll be able to deprive myself of the pleasure of your company. Can we go now?’
    ‘You were not so eager to deprive yourself of the pleasure of my company before you met the handsome captain.’ Holtz threw the taunt over his shoulder as he led the way down the steps to the jetty. ‘What has happened t o change you, dear Miss Ellis? C an it be that you have a conscience? Does the deception of a compatriot weigh so heavily on you? Or has the good captain won your heart?’
    ‘Please don’t talk to me.’
    His barking laugh was another jeer.
    She found it difficult to keep up with him on the jetty. Her heels made walking precarious on the irregular cobbles, and it was no time for a genuinely sprained ankle. Impatient at her slower progress, he took her arm and tried to hustle her along. He was tense with nerves, and muttered, ‘Quick! Quick!’ while he tugged at her arm, unable because of his small size and weight to make her move faster but keeping her awkwardly off balance on the cobbles. Her resentment toward him