Mariah Mundi and the Ship of Fools Read Online Free

burnt as bright as the sun and it shuddered the ice. The Bureau received a telegram from one of our agents. It said that there was death on the ice . Five days ago the agent was found dead. He had been badly burnt. It looked as though he had spontaneously combusted.’
    ‘Hexagenamite?’ Mariah asked. ‘Just like at the Prince Regent?’
    ‘As if it were the same,’ Charity replied. ‘There have been reports in the press that the ice cap is moving. A catastrophe has occurred and a vast land of ice is in motion.’
    ‘And what has that to do with the Triton and the Ketos ?’ Mariah asked.
    ‘The Bureau of Antiquities looks at all these things with interest. It is our experience that whenever something of this magnitude happens, then a human element follows close by.’
    ‘Then who could it be?’ Mariah asked.
    ‘Stew … I can smell beef stew,’ Charity replied as he sniffed the air, picked up his bags and walked into the ship. ‘I think they are serving beef stew for supper.’
    Mariah took a final glimpse at the procession as the gold bars were loaded from the funeral cart to the ship. The crowd was still silent as they counted the ingots. Turning quickly, Mariah followed Charity through the small doorway and into the Tri ton . He nodded to the guard and showed him the ticket in the leather wallet. The guard grunted for him to follow on, muttering that it was highly irregular that guests should enter the ship by the crew hatch. Already, Charity was far ahead. He strode up the steel stairway two treads at a time with a bag in each hand.
    ‘Quickly, Mariah,’ he bellowed loudly. ‘We shouldn’t be here – crew only, didn’t you read the sign?’
    By the second landing, Mariah had caught up with Charity. It was as if he knew the ship as he walked on, coat flapping and cases clattering against the freshly painted white walls. They went up several decks and on and on through steel hatches with brass wheels to make them watertight. Then up a final flight of stairs.
    ‘I wish we could have gone through the guests’ entrance,’ Charity said quite breathlessly as he stopped outside a closed hatch. ‘All I will say, is that what is on the other side of this doorway is quite breathtaking.’ Charity spun the wheel on the door and pulled slowly. The aroma of beef stew, red wine and cigars floated through the opening and into the stairwell. ‘Delicious,’ he said as the noise of excited conversation flooded in. ‘I think you should go first.’
    Mariah stared and stared. He could not believe what he saw. Opening before him was a sumptuous sight, a grand hallway with two golden stairways circling down from high above. Hanging from the ornate ceiling was a vast chandelier bedecked with tiny and yet dazzling white lights. Beneath his feet was a soft carpet embedded with golden unicorns woven into the fabric. In the centre of the room, below the circular balcony, was a grand piano, and next to that was a large catafalque. Two Royal Marines in uniforms of blue and gold neatly stacked the bars of Charity’s bullion on a sheet of black velvet. The crowd of passengers now seemed to give it little attention. Its value paled against the vast majesty of the ship and the wonder and awe of all that was around them. It was as if the Triton were a city of the seas. There were avenues of small shops selling goods from around the world. Cafés and restaurants lined the upper deck, and thousands of people from every nation milled about in their finery.
    ‘Did you know it would be like this?’ Mariah asked.
    ‘Never,’ Charity replied, as if lost for words. ‘Magnificent …’
    A man tapped Charity on the shoulder. ‘Captain Jack Charity and your young guest,’ he said.
    ‘Tharakan. It is years since we last met,’ Charity said warmly. ‘This is my godson, Mariah Mundi.’
    ‘I heard much of you from your parents – I took them to Africa. Tell me, how are they keeping?’ Tharakan asked.
    ‘They are dead. Lost in