Southtrap

The realization hit me as I pieced together his story from what I already knew.

'So you were Pinguin's radio operator, Wegger!'

'Of course. I homed her in on the whaling fleet — we took the lot, eleven catchers and two factory ships, without a shot.'

'You led one of the boarding parties — the one which boarded Prestrud's group,' I continued.

He seemed to be reliving the past so intensely that he was almost oblivious of the present.

'I was too confident,' he said. 'I thought the show was over. But Prestrud was a very brave man. I went ahead of the German boarders — I called to Prestrud in Norwegian. They said afterwards I was a quisling. It wasn't so. My mother was German. I was on the Germans' side because it was in my blood.'

'And then?' I asked.

The three of them grabbed me. They knocked me out. They must have had a pre-arranged escape plan. They must have cast off from the factory ship right under Kruder's nose. When I came round, we were miles away. I don't know how long I was out. They were safe, because they hove to. The other two skippers came aboard Prestrud's ship. Torgersen and Jacobsen were for killing me out of hand, but Prestrud said no. Maybe he wanted to turn me in as a prisoner-of-war. They accused him of having a soft heart.' Wegger's voiced cracked. 'Soft heart? Does a man with a soft heart maroon a fellow human on the most god-forsaken island on the face of the earth and leave him there to rot to death? That's what they did, those three, instead of shooting me. They went to Prince Edward. They put me ashore — there, right by the big cave. Eight months! Eight months of living hell! Only the birds and seals and the cold! I didn't believe it when the British cruiser came. She lay off and fired her guns. The sound echoed in the big cave — I thought at first the dead volcano was coming alive again. I went outside and I saw the ship…'

'What was her name, Wegger?'

'Neptune — HMS Neptune, one of the big cruisers from the Cape,' he babbled. 'I can see her still. I just stood and looked and… and…'

He looked as if he would break down any moment. Then he resumed.

'She fired her guns a second time and I lit some kelp I'd dried at the mouth of the cave. She saw my signal. She sent a boat. They were searching the remote islands for U-boat bases, they told me later. When I waded out waist-deep to the boat, the officer said, "What a zombie!" I wasn't human any more. Then he asked, "Any kit, chum: " Kit! Kit — on Prince Edward Island! I just said, "Get me out of here, get me out!" I don't remember much after that. I even forgot my name.'

'You were Rolf Solberg in those days,' I reminded him.

His eyes hardened and he said flatly, 'I changed my name after I came out of prison. They gave me a lifer for killing Torgersen. Twenty-three years behind bars. But it was better than eight months on Prince Edward.'

So I had been right about my first impression of Wegger. There had been a prison-like subservience in his manner which had puzzled me at the time, but which I now understood.

Calculations machine-gunned through my brain. The skippers' first anniversary gathering had been thirty years ago to the day. The actual escape had been in 1941. For Torgersen's murder Wegger had served a term of twenty-three years: that left seven still unaccounted for. If his revenge lust had been as violent as it appeared, why hadn't he gone after Prestrud and Jacobsen immediately on his release from gaol? Why wait until the Quest was ready to sail to Prince Edward? Why…? I looked at Wegger's face. It wasn't the question to ask of a madman with a gun in his hand and two of his strong-arm boys at call with machine-pistols in their paws.

'Is this really happening?' cried Linn. 'Aren't we all in a nightmare?'

Wegger got hold of himself. 'I was in a nightmare, I was being tortured! I sat on a rock at the cave entrance where the killer whales came close in. That's where I carved a handle for the knife. The knife I was going to use on them for what they'd done to me. It was an elephant seal's fang I used. The killer whales gave me the idea for the picture.' He indicated Jacobsen's body. 'I used it, as I said I would.'

'You bastard, Wegger!' I burst out. 'You vicious, murdering bastard!'

That seemed to bring him right back to the present. 'No more of that, Shotton! I'm the captain now!'

'What do you think you're going to do with a ship and a load of passengers into the bargain — kill us all?' I went on. 'How far do you think you'll get when the radio black-out's over? You won't be coming out of prison next time, Wegger.'

That's my problem, isn't it?' he sneered.

Our exchange was interrupted by Persson pushing open the door through which Wegger had burst. When he saw Wegger's Luger on him he stopped dead as if he'd been hit by a bullet.

Then he looked at me and exclaimed, 'Sir!' as if he could not believe what he had seen.

'Watch out, Persson! Don't do anything silly. The ship's been hijacked. These men are killers.'

'Hijacked!'

'You'll report to me from now on,' Wegger said tersely. 'I've taken over. No signals are to be sent without my express permission. Try any funny business and you know what to expect.' He gestured with the pistol.

Persson, however, still addressed me. 'Botany Bay came through on the hour, sir. I could just hear. She's still afloat. Seems the danger…'

'Persson!' snapped Wegger. 'Anything you've got to say, say it tome.'

Persson looked uncomfortably from me to Wegger. I eyed Wegger's face and knew that Botany Bay's crew was doomed. He'd never burden himself with another shipful of potential dangers. He'd simply leave them to die.

'Wegger!' I said. 'She's a windjammer — she's damaged. Quest is her only hope!'

He didn't answer me but said to Persson, 'Get back to the radio shack — direct. No blabbing to any of the crew about this…' he indicated the saloon. 'Understood?'

Persson replied uncertainly. 'Understood — sir. But do I keep touch with the windjammer?'

'Stick to the arrangement — for the present,' replied Wegger. 'Now — get out!'

He went.

'I want you in the day cabin,' Wegger said to me. 'I have something more to say to you.'

'No!' exclaimed Linn. 'I have something to say to you! You killed my father…'

'Keep back!' he ordered as Linn moved towards him. 'Don't tempt me to finish off all the Prestruds!'

I restrained her. 'Linn! Don't!'

I'm not having you shot in secret by this maniac!' she burst out. 'I am the owner of this ship. I've more right than anyone to know what is going on…'

'Ullmann!' ordered Wegger. 'Keep this woman here — by force, if necessary. You, Shotton, march!'

In a flash, Linn sprinted past him through the door which Persson had left open. Ullmann swung the Scorpion but Wegger was blocking his aim.

Then Linn was through. The door crashed shut.

'Move, you!' Wegger jammed the Luger into the small of my back. 'After her! Okay, Ullmann, I'll attend to this. Keep the others here. Move, damn you!'

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

I obeyed — fast. I took a minute to reach the day cabin, which was situated a deck lower.

Wegger jostled me in.

Linn stood defiantly at her father's desk. Her head was thrown back. She hadn't had the time to use the desk phone, if that had been her intention.

Wegger kicked the door shut and waved me to join her.

That was a very stupid thing to do, Miss Prestrud,' he remarked. 'Next time you might not be so lucky.'

'I'm not afraid of cheap threats,' she retorted.

'Shotton — get on that phone to the bridge,' Wegger said brusquely. 'Full speed ahead.'

I feared again for Botany Bay when I asked, 'Course?'

'Same course.'

Petersen answered my call. There was nothing about his reaction to indicate that he knew anything of what had taken place in the saloon.