The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More Read Online Free

I
said.

    Her large dark haunted-looking eyes rested a moment on my face, then travelled away. "I do
not think so," she said, and out she went.

    I slipped on some clothes and hurried down to the beach. On the beach itself,
two native policemen in khaki uniforms were standing with Mr Edwards, the manager. Mr Edwards was doing the
talking. The policemen were listening patiently. In the distance, at both ends
of the beach, I could see small groups of people, hotel servants as well as
hotel guests, spreading out and heading for the rocks. The morning was
beautiful. The sky was smoke blue, faintly glazed with yellow. The sun was up
and making diamonds all over the smooth sea. And Mr Edwards was talking loudly to the two native policemen, and waving his arms.

    I wanted to help. What should I do? Which way should I go? It would be
pointless simply to follow the others. So I just kept walking towards Mr Edwards.

    About then, I saw the fishing-boat. The long wooden canoe with a single mast
and a flapping brown sail was still some way out to sea, but it was heading for
the beach. The two natives aboard, one at either end, were paddling hard. They
were paddling very hard. The paddles rose and fell at such a terrific speed
they might have been in a race. I stopped and watched them. Why the great rush
to reach the shore? Quite obviously they had something to tell. I kept my eyes
on the boat. Over to my left, I could hear Mr Edwards
saying to the two policemen, "It is perfectly ridiculous. I can't have
people disappearing just like that from the hotel. You'd better find him fast,
you understand me? He's either wandered off somewhere and got lost or he's been kidnapped. Either way, it's the responsibility of the
police. . ."

    The fishing-boat skimmed over the sea and came gliding
up on to the sand at the water's edge. Both men dropped their paddles and
jumped out. They started running up the beach. I recognized the one in front as
Willy. When he caught sight of the manager and the two policemen, he made
straight for them.

    "Hey, Mr Edwards!" Willy called out. "We just seen a crazy
thing!"

    The manager stiffened and jerked back his neck. The two policemen remained
impassive. They were used to excitable people. They met them every day.

    Willy stopped in front of the group, his chest heaving in and out with heavy
breathing. The other fisherman was close behind him. They were both naked
except for a tiny loincloth, their black skins shining with sweat.

    "We been paddling full speed for a long way," Willy said, excusing
his out-of- breathness . "We thought we ought to
come back and tell it as quick as we can."

    "Tell what?" the manager said. "What did you see?"

    "It was crazy, man! Absolutely crazy!"

    "Get on with it, Willy, for heaven's sake."

    "You won't believe it," Willy said. "There ain't nobody going to believe it. Isn't that right,
Tom?"

    "That's right," the other fisherman said, nodding vigorously.
"If Willy here hadn't been with me to prove it, I wouldn't have believed
it myself!"

    "Believed what?" Mr Edwards said.
"Just tell us what you saw."

    "We'd gone off early," Willy said, "about four o'clock this
morning, and we must've been a couple of miles out before it got light enough
to see anything properly. Suddenly, as the sun comes up, we see right ahead of
us, not more'n fifty yards away, we see something we
couldn't believe not even with our eyes. . ."

    "What?" snapped Mr Edwards. "For heaven's sake get on!"

    "We sees that old monster turtle swimming away out there, the one on the
beach yesterday, and we sees the boy sitting high up on the turtle's back and
riding him over the sea like a horse!"

    "You gotta believe it!" the other fisherman
cried. "I sees it too, so you gotta believe it!"

    Mr Edwards looked at the two policemen. The two
policemen looked at the fishermen. "You wouldn't be having us on, would
you?" one of the policemen said.

    "I swear it!" cried Willy. "It's the gospel truth! There's this
little boy