There would be absolutely no way for him to survive swimming out there. He would be instantly dashed against the rocks and killed.
He quickly swam to the side of the cavern, then scrambled up on the rocks, over the rail, and onto the catwalk. The walkway was damp with moisture, so he would leave no wet footprints for someone to discover.
He took out his stiletto and hurried along the catwalk to where it ended fifty or sixty feet from the mouth of the cavern. From there he picked his way along a well-concealed path to the outside, where he crouched down and looked around.
The sea was wild. There was no rain yet, but in the distance there was thunder and lightning as the storm developed toward Hiva Faui. It could be hours before it developed its full strength. He was going to have to beat that storm to Hiva Faui.
Outside, there were no guards at the overhang nor did he see any on the path above. They had apparently joined the patrol that had been sent out to look for him.
He quickly made his way up the path to the top of the cliffs. The wind was becoming quite strong now out of the west. It was not going to be easy to get back to the other island. If he could make it at all.
He picked his way down the steep incline to the west, then headed up the island parallel to the rocks along the shoreline.
Within an hour Carter had reached the end of the cliff area, and the rocks gave way to the wide sand beach. After a half hour's walk, he came upon the outriggers pulled well above the beach and tied to palm trees.
He ducked back into the protection of the jungle as he watched for any sign that the natives had posted guards. There were none. Somewhere inland, probably not too far, was one of the native villages.
The waves marched onto the beach at an angle from the west. If he could get the outrigger past the breakers, Carter figured he would have at least a chance to make it over to Hiva Faui.
Carter picked out one of the smaller outriggers, designed for only four or five men, cut it loose from the trees, found a couple of paddles, and dragged the boat down to the crashing waves.
The canoe was surprisingly light and flimsy, but it seemed to handle the water very well as he waded into the first breaker.
He was shoved off his feet and almost lost his grip on the canoe, but then he scrambled back up, pushing the boat ahead of him before the next wave hit, knocking him over.
By degrees he finally managed to get the canoe into chest-deep water. After the next wave he flopped into the boat, and despite his exhaustion, he paddled as fast as he possibly could.
The next gigantic wave nearly flipped him up and over, but then he was roaring down the back of the wave as the next breaker began looming above him.
The little outrigger rose to meet this wave, and Carter got to the other side of it easily, heading — as best he could figure — directly north toward Hiva Faui as the storm deepened.
Eleven
Throughout the night the wind kept shifting counterclockwise from the west and finally from the south. Nick Carter had been blown far to the east of his intended course, but as the wind shifted he was better able to make headway, finally rocketing to the north toward Hiva Faui.
Most of the time he could not see the waves, but whenever a flash of lightning would light up the sky, he would catch a glimpse of mountainous waves that towered far above him, momentarily blocking the strong wind.
The little outrigger canoe was never in any serious danger, Carter decided early in the evening. It was very uncomfortable, bouncing up and down with the waves, and it was very wet, but there never seemed to be any danger of the boat breaking apart and going down. The natives had designed their boats for these waters, and they had designed them well.
Carter did a lot of thinking about Gabrielle, and he decided that the story about her background was probably true. She was not a good enough actress to have convinced him of it if the story were not true. But he suspected that Governor Rondine had some other hold on her as well. Something that made her do whatever it was she was told.
He also did a lot of thinking about the Chinese base on Natu Faui and the U.S. satellite tracking and receiving station on Hiva Faui. Two countries were both in this part of the world for the same reasons: the U.S. because from here they could easily spy on the Chinese, and the Chinese because from these islands they commanded the entire western Pacific basin — from Japan to Australia — with their submarines.
At times Carter paddled hard, and it seemed as if he made headway. But mostly he just lay back in the canoe and let the wind and waves propel him to the north.
He actually dozed off a few times during the night, and he found that he had gone from pitch-black to a dull, dirty gray with no real awareness of the passage of time.
He sat up and shivered. He was soaked to the skin and very cold even though the air temperature had to be in the mid- to high seventies.
It was dawn, and although the rain had stopped for the moment, the sky was still heavily overcast. The wind was blowing with much more force than it had been when Carter left Natu Faui.
Dead ahead about two or three miles, the surf was breaking on the beach of a large island. Hiva Faui, Carter hoped, but he was not at all sure. It looked like any other island, except for Natu Faui with its distinctive volcano.
If it was Hiva Faui, he suspected he was somewhere mid-island. Coming up on it from the south, the satellite station would be to the west, and the town of Hiva Faui would be to the right, to the east.
He picked up one of the paddles and began angling the outrigger to the east. From time to time he looked at his watch. It was nearing seven o'clock. The Starfish was due at the public docks at any time now. He wanted to be there when the governor was summoned to the docks. He wanted to see what the man was going to do. He also wanted to see what Gabrielle's reaction would be… if she had been brought back.
There was much more to this business, Carter suspected, than met the eye. The Chinese maintained a base on Natu Faui, but he believed it was with the knowledge and cooperation of Governor Rondine. He did not think very much happened on these islands without the governor's knowledge.
Sooner or later, he knew he was going to have to deal with the governor and the man's organization. There had been plenty of muscle visible at the party. And most of the people who had arrived from the other islands in this part of the Pacific were probably just as involved in their own schemes on other islands. They would have to be dealt with eventually as well.
The canoe, headed at an angle to the very large waves, would ride up over the top of one, its outrigger in midair at times. Then the canoe would tip to the down side and race down the front of the wave, burying its nose momentarily in the trough. Then it would start up the next one.
Slowly Carter angled the canoe farther and farther down the island, finally rounding a headland that gave protection to the harbor of the town.
Even from outside the breakwater Carter could see the sail of the Starfish alongside the long public docks. It seemed as if there were a lot of people on the dock and in the square. There seemed to be a lot of cars parked along the main road.
Carter redoubled his efforts, sending the outrigger up and over the last few large waves before he shot through the breakwater and into the protection of the inner harbor.
Lightning flashed to the south and west, and moments later it began to pour, the rain coming down so hard it flattened the waves outside the breakwater and obliterated Carter's view of everything more than a few yards away.