Southtrap

He nodded and gave his knuckles a final crack and then followed Wegger and the second weatherman called Jannie who were carrying the buoy. Jannie was wearing sandals, jeans and a T-shirt emblazoned with the words: 'I ride the same waves as Bokkie'. I felt about a hundred.

Linn and I were watching the third member of the meteorological team unlash the balloon container and its inflating cylinders when a gruff voice behind me said, 'Captain!'

A short middle-aged woman in a crumpled brown tweed suit was pointing at my cap badge with a long holder containing a cigarillo. There were globules of sweat on hairs on her upper lip. Her eyes were a little bloodshot. Her voice burred like a wood sander striking a knot.

'Have you WAPP's permission to wear that?' I looked her up and down. I hoped it made her sweat more.

'Have you?' she demanded. 'Who are you?' I asked. 'And who in hell is WAPP?'

'I must protest,' she said. The way she said it, I felt she'd protested before. She addressed Linn. 'It's just this sort of abuse of creatures that can't defend themselves that led to the founding of the World Association of Polar Penguins. I am happy to say I'm a founder member.'

I wondered how long ago that was.

She went on, 'I am Judy Auchinleck, regional chairman for South Georgia and the Lesser Antarctics.'

It sounded like a caliph's title. Caliphs have harems. Judy Auchinleck's proclaimed empire was frigid.

Linn came to my rescue. I admired her placatory tone. 'Miss Auchinleck booked on our cruise because her organization feels that the penguin populations of the Antarctic are being over-exploited for publicity, especially by television teams. She wants to make sure this doesn't happen during the Quest's cruise.'

'Have you any television cameramen aboard?' demanded Judy Auchinleck.

I passed the question to Linn.

'One,' she replied. 'Only one man. Not a team.'

'Good,' she snapped. 'Then I can keep him under my eye all the time. I know all about penguins.' She took a drag at the cigarillo. She had a nicotine stain on her lower lip. 'Any circus catchers?'

'Any circus catchers?' Linn's left eyelid half-closed as I passed the ball to her again. But she answered with deadly seriousness.

'None, Miss Auchinleck. None at all. Most of the people on this cruise are here either because they have special knowledge of the Antarctic islands or are particularly interested in them.'

'Good.' She turned to go, and then pointed the holder at my cap badge. 'The penguin motif copyright is vested in WAPP under the terms of the Geneva Convention. Any infringement lays the offender open to prosecution.'

I said, 'I'll remember that in the ice, Miss Auchinleck.'

She glanced at me uncertainly, and then waddled off.

Linn was eyeing me, her lips twitching. 'Did you say you had never handled tricky passengers before, John?'

I grinned back at her. 'I think it's about time you put me in the picture about our passengers, Linn. They're as faceless to me as my own crew — anyone could come aboard and tell me he belonged and I wouldn't have a clue whether it was true or not. You've got the list?'

She tapped her bag. 'All thirty of them.'

'Then let's get back to the cabin and look it over. I've met Doctor Holdgate, the volcanologist, Smit, the buoy man, and Jannie, his mate. And seen the third weatherman. That's about all.'

'You've forgotten Miss Auchinleck.'

'She's the only WAPP aboard, I hope?'

'Yes. Actually she's been in some very remote places.'

'She'd be quite safe.'

She looked at me searchingly for a moment as if she was going to comment on my remark, but all she said was, 'Let's go.'

As we made our way for'ard, I remembered the assignment I had given McKinley. 'I've got to check something,' I said. 'We'll get up on to the flying bridge.'

We made our way past the red-painted lifeboats secured to the steel superstructure and reached the high vantage-point from where I could see the Quest's bows. We halted alongside a large brown board with the name Quest painted on it in gold. The D/F, radio and radar aerials hung over our heads like lifeless stars.

McKinley seemed to have done his job. I pointed out the searchlight to Linn.

"That's in case we run into floating ice. I want to see where I'm going.'

'But surely you'll be using radar?'

I laughed. 'Radar's a very over-rated thing when it comes to ice. It's all very fine if the sea's calm and the ice is the right shape to reflect the impulses, but if you run into trouble, give me the human eye and nose every time. Radar's no use when it's rough and the sea clutter extends beyond a mile. Even if you do get warning there's usually no time to do anything about it. A growler can knock a hole in your hull before you can get your helm hard over.'

'Is that why you're so anxious about the Quest not being ice-strengthened?'

'Yes. Every time a big wave smacks her hull in the Roaring Forties I'll be wondering if it's a growler or a bergy bit.'

'Growler. Bergy bit.' She turned the words over on her tongue. That's the way my father talks. I'd like to phone the hospital again, John, when we get back to the cabin.'

We did so and were informed that Captain Prestrud was as well as could be expected but was still unconscious. If there was any change in his condition they would let us know.

'If you feel you'd like to go to the hospital again,' I began.

'Later,' she said. 'Let's finish our business.'

She sat down at the desk in the Captain's cabin, which still felt so much more like Captain Prestrud's than like my own, and took the passenger list out of her bag.

'I've never had to shepherd passengers before,' I said. 'I don't even know the breakdown of men and women and how they're going to fit into the cabin space.'

'You don't need to worry about that,' she said. 'Quest originally had two double cabins and eight singles, but my father had three of the singles converted into doubles. We've got five married couples. I'm using one of the original singles, and the new accommodation built in number three 'tween decks is all singles.'

'How many men and women?'

'Eighteen women and twelve men.'

'Which just proves that women are the tougher sex,' I said and we smiled at each other.

Then she looked down at her list. 'We've got the three met. men who are handling the buoy and the balloon. Then there's Doctor Holdgate who's going to lecture us on the geology and geomorphology of Prince Edward and Marion Islands.'

'He gave himself a quick work-out on my taxi driver.'

I saw a new Linn then. She didn't smile, but said very seriously, 'It's not as bad as the jargon makes it sound. Prince Edward and Marion are receiving a great deal of attention from scientists these days because of their position in the broad framework of the earth's history. Both islands are very young in time from a geological point of view, and they are terribly important for an understanding of the theory of continental drift and the way the ocean floor is spreading. And because they are so young, whatever life is there has arrived comparatively recently and the way it's established itself under such tough conditions fascinates the experts. So these islands are just as interesting to scientists as the one which was born off the coast of Iceland a few years ago — Surtsey.'

'I'll view the place with new eyes when I see it next week,' I said.

'Don't be put off when I say lectures, John,' she went on. 'The experts will conduct us round the islands and talk about their subject in the field. It's not going to be a series of dry-as-dust lectures. It's a living tour, don't you see?'

'If you can get ashore in the first place. It's not as easy as all that, Linn.'