05 Whale Adventure (18 page)

Grindle only grunted. His contemptuous gaze swept over Captain Ramsay and his visitors, and as he stamped his way off the bridge he could be heard mumbling: ‘Good as hanged already!’

When the catcher pulled up to the Honolulu docks two days later a row of police-vans were there to meet it.

The mutineers were loaded into the vans and trundled away to enjoy the dubious comforts of the Honolulu jail.

Only two men did not go behind bars - the one who had most to do with the trouble and the one who had least to do with it - Captain Grindle, and his passenger, Mr Scott. Scott took advantage of his freedom to see the British Consul and give him his own honest account of what had happened on the Killer.

Also he cabled John Hunt at his wild animal farm on Long Island, New York:

‘Your boys are in Honolulu jail.’

John Hunt lost no time in winging his way to Honolulu.

At the hearing Grindle told his side of the story and his men told theirs; The result was severely disappointing to Captain Grindle. The Consul in his report to Mr Kane recommended clemency towards the mutineers.

The owner cabled back that he would prefer no charges against them.

They were set free.

As for Grindle, who had expected to see his crew hanged, he himself barely escaped the same fate. With all his brutalities exposed to view, he was condemned by press and public all the way from Honolulu to St Helena and back. He was never to command another ship.

John Hunt, famous explorer, collector of wild beasts for zoos and circuses, sat in the garden of the Royal Hawaiian with his two sons and Mr Scott.

They looked out upon the glittering semicircle of Waikiki Beach and the sparkling bay dotted with surf-riders, canoes and catamarans. Behind it all rose the grim bulk of Diamond Head.

People strolling by looked at the four curiously. Most of the hotel guests had come from sunless offices on the mainland for a two weeks vacation and looked as pale as if they had lived under stones; but these four were as golden brown as ripe coconuts.

Perhaps some of the passers-by recognized the two boys, for pictures of all the mutineers had appeared in the papers.

Hal said to his father: ‘Hope you don’t mind being seen with a couple of jailbirds.’ John Hunt smiled.

‘No, indeed. Quite the opposite. I’m proud to be seen with you.’

‘You have reason to be,’ said Scott warmly. ‘Your boys had some tough breaks. When I think of the night Roger put in on that whale fighting off sharks and killers - and the way he prevented Grindle’s escape by pulling the plug of the boat - and the way Hal gave Grindle a blubber-bath and later saved him from going down with the ship - I think the boys did you a lot of credit.’

‘Anyhow,’ said Mr Hunt, ‘you certainly packed a lot of experience and adventure into three weeks. It may have been tough, but it’s been good education. Perhaps you’ve had enough of that sort of education for a while and would like to go home and rest.’

The suggestion was not received with enthusiasm. In fact the boys looked as glum as if there had just been a death in the family.

‘Who wants to rest?’ said Roger. ‘We’ll have plenty of time to rest when we get to be your age.’

John Hunt laughed. ‘And I’m afraid you won’t rest then, either. No, the Hunts aren’t very good resters. Well, if you don’t want to rest, I have another proposition for you.’

The boys perked up immediately. New excitement came into their eyes.

‘Whatever it is, we accept,’ said Hal.

‘Now, don’t be in too big a hurry. You may not like it. Africa is quite different from the Pacific’

‘Africa!’ exclaimed Roger. His eyes shone like saucers.

‘Yes, Africa. Land of the malaria mosquito, the tsetse fly, the crocodile, man-eating lions and leopards, and all sorts of uncomfortable things.’

He was trying to scare the boys, but he could see that he was not succeeding.

‘Go on,’ said Hal. ‘What do you want us to do in Africa?’

‘Well, we’re getting orders for more African animals than we can supply. Some of the zoos want hippos and rhinos and giraffes. A big circus wants elephants and lions. Of course, they all have to be taken alive - and that’s a lot harder than taking them dead. I’ll go with you and get you started. We can fly from here by way of Hong Kong and Calcutta to Nairobi. We’ll engage a good white hunter and he’ll take us on safari. Think about it until tomorrow morning.’

The boys did not need to think about it - they had already decided. And yet they thought of little else all night. Their dreams were full of roaring lions and rampaging hippos and charging elephants. But they never gave a thought to the most dangerous monsters of the African jangle, the mosquito and the fly.

And how they fared with the creatures of Africa, great and small, will have to be told in another book, African Adventure.