The Love Beach (36 page)

'See the Queen?' said Conway incredulously.

Abe looked as though it were a personal affront. 'Sure,' he jabbed his finger at Conway. 'He's entitled to see the Queen as much as anybody.'

'And he wrecked the engine trying to get here.' Conway muttered the words out, sat on his suitcase staring hatefully at
The Baffin Bay.
MacAndrews, Mrs MacAndrews, the engineer Rice, could be seen arguing on deck. Rice had his hands spread out.

'Rice said it was the final insult to the machinery,' said Abe.

Davies said carefully: 'Can't they mend it?'

Abe snorted: 'Anywhere else it would be a big job,' he said. 'Here it's bloody nigh an impossibility. It will take six weeks ‑ and that's the minimum.'

'No other boats coming?' asked Davies.

'There's the copra collection ship,' said Abe. 'But she's still around the Solomons somewhere. She's not due till July. She may not come at all when she finds that a third of the collection is all burned up and sunk.' He looked spitefully at Conway. 'Anyway, she'll only go to Noumea from here, so you might as well wait until this old thing is repaired.'

'The warship!' exclaimed Davies, spinning around, 'Where's she gone?' The Sexagesima harbour was empty of anything beyond a motor launch.

'Sailed,' affirmed Abe. 'Last night. Back to Nounica. The best thing you two can do is fly a shirt as a distress signal.' He laughed at his own jest and carried his outflung belly down the steps towards his boat. 'I'll have to wait for my claim now, won't 1?' he said, looking back and then pointing to the place where the cabin had been demolished.

'I've
got to wait,' said Conway morosely.

Davies still felt stunned. 'Was there any mail?' he asked Abe.

'Sure, there's always mail. Even a place like this gets somebody writing to it once every couple of months. None for you though.'

'None? How do you know?'

'Because I'm the postal agent,' said Abe logically. 'The mail came ashore last night and I took the letters to the hotel myself. Nothing for you.'

'Did Bird get anything?' asked Davies, not knowing why he asked.

'Yes, a letter from her mother. It's still in the office.'

Davies sat heavily on his suitcase beside Conway. 'Dahlia's pregnant,' said Conway miserably. 'Those pills were dud.'

'Pregnant! And you were clearing out?' said Davies. Nothing about Conway surprised him now.

'Well, I'm not clearing out now, am 1?'

"What was dud about the pills?

'The bastard in Hawaii twisted her,' said Conway. 'He gave her three hundred baby aspirins. Pollet analysed them for me.'

Davies, surprising himself, hooted with outrageous laughter: 'Baby aspirin! Ha! Oh, that's bloody marvellous! Ho! Baby aspirin!'

Conway turned to face him as they sat on their cases. He pushed his big serious head on his big shoulders forward towards Davies. 'She gave Bird half the supply,' he said. 'Laugh that off.'

The sun was clear of the world now, flinging its burning flamboyance all over the town, the lagoon, and the green islands of the archipelago. 'I'll need a job,' said Davies. 'I'm broke now and promissory notes are no good.'

'Maybe we could help Abe,' suggested Conway. 'I'm broke too. We'd better move in with the girls.'

Mr Hassey came along the quay and stopped by them,

looking down at them on their luggage, and across at
The

Baffin Bay. 'Never heard of the boat breaking down before,' he said. 'Not in all my thirty‑eight years in the islands.' He grinned at them: 'And what will you young men be doing now?' he asked.

It was Conway who replied. 'Ascertaining the fucking natives,' he said sullenly.

The end