The Blue Ice

Jorgensen said nothing. He was watching the other with a strange intentness. The man's nerves were plucking at a little muscle in his jaw.

'I told her to tell you nothing,' Dahler added.

'Since when have you become her guardian?' Jorgensen asked with a sneer.

'I was a friend of her father,' the other answered. 'Fortunately you got nothing out of her — or Major Wright.' He smiled. 'Yes you didn't know my cabin door was not properly shut, did you?' He turned to me. 'Before you discuss specific proposals, Mr Gansert, I suggest you find out what he knows about George Farnell.'

Jorgensen's knuckles were white as his grip on the wheel tightened. 'Why are you so interested in Farnell?' he asked Dahler.

The cripple leaned on the chartroom roof to steady himself against the pitch of the ship. 'Bernt Olsen smuggled us out of Finse.' He thrust his head suddenly forward. 'Also he told me who had instructed the Germans to raid my house that night. You didn't know I knew about that, did you?'

'Your house was raided because you talked too much about what you pretended you were doing.'

'Mueller, your Bergen representative, had nothing to do with it. I suppose?'

'If he did, then he's paying for it with a six-year sentence for aiding the Germans.'

'For doing what you ordered him to do.'

'Det er logn.' In his excitement Jorgensen dropped into Norwegian. His face was flushed with anger.

'It is not a lie,' Dahler answered.

'Prove it then.'

'Prove it?' Dahler smiled. 'That is why I am here, Knut. I am going to prove it. I am going to prove that you ought to be doing the sentence that Mueller is serving now. When I've found Farnell-'

'Farnell is dead,' Jorgensen cut in, his voice sharp and controlled again.

Dahler didn't say anything after that. The curt reminder that Farnell was dead seemed to bring him up with a jolt. He turned and started to move back towards the companion way. But he stopped and looked round. 'Before you discuss his proposals, Mr Gansert,' he said quietly, 'remember that he worked for the Germans till the tide turned, just as hard as he worked for the British later.' And with that he disappeared down the companionway.

There was a sudden shout from Dick — 'Watch your course.' The boat's head was right up into the wind and canvas everywhere was slatting madly. Jorgensen paid her off on to course.

Then he sighed. 'That is what happens, Mr Gansert,' he said quietly, 'in a country that has been occupied.'

I made no comment and after a moment, he went on: 'Before the war Jan Dahler and I did business together. His tankers supplied my metal plant. Now-' He shrugged his shoulders. 'He was foolish. He helped some British agents and then went and talked too freely about it. And because Mueller was pro-German and informed against him, he blames me. And his escape from Finse.' He looked up at me. 'A German officer has admitted that the price of his escape was certain information they wanted. The information concerned new types of marine engines planned by my engineers. The plans were 'lost' when Norway was occupied. But Dahler knew about them because I'd promised to fit his tankers before accepting any other orders. And — well, there was a leakage and the plans were extracted from us.'

'And Dahler was responsible?' I asked.

'There's no proof — apart from the German officer who broke down under cross-examination by our Intelligence. But the demand for the plans was made just after Dahler's escape from Finse. That is why the authorities do not want him back in Norway.'

'What was he doing up at Finse?' I asked.

'Forced labour,' he answered. 'The Germans had some fantastic scheme for an ice dome on the Jokulen.' He pulled out a cigarette and lit it. 'You see how it is, Mr Gansert. To cover himself, he must make counter-allegations. And' — he hesitated — 'the trouble is that a man in my position is awkwardly placed under an occupation. I had to carry on, publicly showing friendship for the Germans, in order to work for the liberation of my country. If they did not trust me, then I should have ceased to be useful. Many people who do not know what I did secretly are prepared to believe that I was pro-German. That is why it makes me angry to hear a man like Dahler make wild accusations. I know how vulnerable my work has made me.' He smiled a trifle sadly. 'I thought it better that you know,' he said. And then he added, 'Now, what about running straight into Bergen and arranging things?'

I hesitated. Two things were occupying my mind. One was the information that at some period of the war Farnell had been up at Finse. The other was that Jorgensen was no longer dictating terms to B.M. & I., but seeking them. I glanced for'ard for an excuse to break off the conversation. Dick was hoisting the tops'l again and it was jammed. 'Hold it,' I called out to him. 'You haven't cleared the topping lift. We'll talk about this later,' I said to Jorgensen and hurried for'ard to give them a hand.

As soon as the tops'l had been set and everything made fast I took my watch below for food. I needed time to think over Jorgensen's change of attitude. Dahler was seated in the saloon when we came down. Jill poked her head in from the galley. 'Four is it?' she asked.

I nodded. I was looking at Dahler. He was rocking gently backwards and forwards with the movement of the ship. 'Bit hard on Jorgensen, weren't you?' I said.

'Hard?' He gave a mirthless laugh. 'Knut Jorgensen is-' he hesitated and then said, 'He's a business man.' He leaned towards me across the rocking table. 'I tell you, Mr Gansert, the only dangerous Norwegian is a Norwegian business man. I'm a Norwegian and a business man. I know. We're an open-air, easy-going, comfortable people — until it comes to business.'

'And then?' I asked.

He fastened on to my sleeve with his sound hand. 'And then — anything is possible,' he replied. The way he said it made me feel cold inside. Jill came in then and immediately everything seemed normal. But after the meal, when I had gone to my cabin to sleep, the scene between Dahler and Jorgensen came back to me. I lay with my eyes open, listening to the movement of the ship, sensing the violent antagonism of the two Norwegians, and wondering what the hell to do about it. To keep them apart was out of the question on a small ship. To let them come together… They'd have to be watched, that was all. I swung myself out of my bunk and went up on deck to find Jorgensen at the wheel and Dahler seated in the cockpit watching him. Jorgensen looked paler than usual under his rather leathery skin. His gaze alternated between the binnacle and the burgee at the mast-head — anywhere but in the direction of Dahler. The tension between them was noticeable, even up there on deck, with the wind blowing and Diviner lifting and surging with each wave.

'Mr Dahler,' I said. 'Now you're recovered, you'll join my watch, please.'

'Good,' he said.

'We're the watch below now,' I added pointedly.

He smiled. 'I like it very well up here,' he answered. 'My stomach is happier.'

So I, too, stayed up on deck. But I knew it was useless. If Dahler wanted to sit and watch Jorgensen he could do it any time the starboard watch was on duty. If only I'd arranged it so that they were both in my own watch. I could have kept my eye on them then. As it was I had to sleep sometime.

That night my watch came off duty at midnight. The forecasts were of gale warnings on practically all coasts of the British Isles. The wind had already veered to the sou'-west. We had gybed in the course of our watch and for the first time since we left the Thames estuary we were leaning our starboard scuppers under. I had stowed the mizzen to avoid it blanketing the mainsail. 'Watch it,' I told Dick. 'I don't think the wind will back, but if it does suddenly, you'll have to gybe. And keep an eye on the wind force. If it blows much harder that yankee will have to come off.'

I left him then and went below. Dahler had already gone to his cabin. I could see the light on under the door. Jill and Wilson were drinking tea laced with rum. She filled a mug for me. 'Rum?' she asked, and poured it without waiting for my reply. Her face was very pale and her eyes looked bright, almost feverish. She handed me the mug. 'Cheers!' I said, watching her over the rim of it.