He kicked so violently that I had to let go of him. We both came to the surface together. I could just see his staring eyes and snarling mouth. He came at me and lifted his right hand out of the water. I saw a flash of steel. I threw myself sideways. The knife missed me by inches. I dived, came around in a tight circle, spotted the dark form of his body within reach and grabbed him around his waist, pulling him under the water. My left hand groped and found his right wrist.
He fought like a madman, and it was as much as I could do to hold him. I held him down as long as I could, then, when my own lungs were at bursting point, I let go of him and kicked my way up to the surface. He took four or five seconds longer to break surface, and when he did come up, I could see by his feeble strokes that he was on his last legs.
He had lost the knife, and as he tried desperately to get away from me, he gave a croaking shout.
I sprinted after him and, putting my hand between his shoulders, I shoved him under again. I dived after him, but now he was offering practically no resistance, and when we came to the surface once more he was done. He would have sunk if I hadn’t grabbed him by his collar and held him up. His head lolled on his shoulders and I couldn’t hear him breathe. I was only a few yards from the moored rowing-boat. I towed him over to it, and heaved him in, nearly upsetting the boat as I did so. I got in after him and knelt beside him. As he seemed in a bad way, I rolled him over on to his face so the water he had swallowed could drain out of him, then I untied the mooring line, got the oars out and began to row as hard and as fast as I could towards Sorrento.
I must have got about half-way — I had lost the lights of the villa — when Harry stirred and started to mumble. I wasn’t going to give him a chance to recover. I didn’t fancy a fight with him in this small boat. I hurriedly shipped oars, then, scrambling over the other rowing seat, I reached him as he slowly hauled himself into a sitting position.
He lifted his head and his chin made a perfect target. I hung a right on the point of his jaw that took the skin off my knuckles. He went over backwards as if he had been shot, and then, as his head cracked on the bottom of the boat, he went limp.
I scrambled back to the oars and began to row again. He didn’t begin to move until I reached Sorrento harbour.
My boatman was waiting for me, and his eyes bulged out when he saw I wasn’t in his boat He nearly dropped in his tracks as I caught hold of Harry and heaved him on to the beach. The movement brought Harry around, and he slowly hauled himself upright. I stepped up to him and brushing his feeble left lead aside, I hung another bone bender on his jaw, sending him flat on his back at the boatman’s feet.
“Get a policeman!” I said. “Never mind about your boat. Get a policeman, quick!”
A policeman, who must have been standing in the shadows of the car-park, came up. I was lucky that he didn’t argue as they usually do. He listened to what I told him. Frank Setti’s name seemed to mean something to him. He turned to the boatman and told him to hold his tongue, put handcuffs on Harry, requisitioned a car and drove Harry and I to the police station.
I was lucky too that Grandi was still on duty. He stared blankly at me as I came into his office, naked, except for a pair of swimming trunks. When I told him I had found Frank Setti and had got one of Setti’s men, he came alive.
I told him there was a consignment of dope at the villa, and if he moved fast he would have all the evidence he needed for an arrest. He got on the telephone to Rome headquarters and had a quick talk with the head of the Narcotic Squad. He got orders to go ahead and raid the villa.
As he made for the door, I said, “Watch out. There’s five men out there, and they’re tough and dangerous.”
He gave me a sour smile.
“I can be tough and dangerous too.”
He went out and I heard him shouting orders. A little later a policeman came in and showed me where I could have a hot shower. He also gave me a pair of flannel slacks and a sweater.
By the time I was dressed, Grandi had gone down to the beach where he was to await reinforcements from Naples. I decided I would have time to telephone Maxwell before the raid began.
I got Maxwell on the line. I told him that within an hour Frank Setti would be arrested, and warned him to stand by for details. I said I was going down right away to the beach where the police were embarking for Setti’s villa.
Maxwell said he would warn New York what was coming, and would wait for me to call back.
I then took a taxi down to the harbour.
Grandi with thirty carabiniere, armed to the teeth, were piling into three motor-boats. When I suggested I should go with them, Grandi waved me away.
They went roaring off into the darkness, leaving me with my boatman who, by now, was tearing his hair and yelling for his boat.
I said I would show him where I had left it if he could find a motor-boat to take us there. After some argument, he persuaded one of his friends to take us, and we set off.
By the time we had picked up the rowing-boat from the beach where I had left it, Grandi and his men had landed at Setti’s villa. I kept my ears pricked for the sound of shooting but I heard nothing.
I managed to persuade the boatman to hang around just outside Setti’s harbour. The moon had now come up, and I could see the three police boats in the harbour.
After a twenty-minute wait, I saw a bunch of men come along the harbour wall and get into the boats. There was a girl with them and I guessed it was Myra.
I told the boatman to get back to Sorrento, and was waiting on the beach when Grandi and his men and prisoners landed. He had got them all.
While they were being hustled into the waiting police van, I crossed over to where Grandi was standing.
“Did you get the consignment of drugs?”
“Yes, I got it all right.”
“No trouble?”
He shook his head.
“I didn’t give them a chance to make trouble.”
“I want to be kept out of this. I’ve got to get back to Rome right away. You won’t need me, will you?”
“No. But you will be down next Monday for the inquest?”
“I’ll be down.”
Leaving him, I got into my car and drove back to the hotel. I called Maxwell and gave him the details of Setti’s arrest. I told him to let Matthews of the Associated Press have the story too. He said he would get a cable off to New York right away and then call Matthews.
“I’m coming back to-night,” I said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
He asked if I didn’t think I should stay on in Naples and cover the case when Setti came up in court.
He was right of course, but I had Carlo on my mind. I didn’t know how Carlo was going to react when he heard Setti had been arrested and the consignment of drugs he was waiting for had been seized. I had to convince him I had nothing to do with it or he would fix me.
“He won’t come before a court for a couple of days. I’ve things to do in Rome.”
“Well, okay, please yourself. I’ll be seeing you.”
I said I would be seeing him.
II
Back in Rome around nine o’clock the following morning, and still in bed, I called Maxwell again.
He said he had had a call from New York for more details of Setti’s life in Italy, and could I do anything about it?
I said it might be an idea if he went to Naples instead of me.
“Yeah, I want to,” he said, “but Gina’s not in to-day. She’s fooling around with the stuff at Helen’s apartment. I can’t leave the office without someone to handle the telephone calls.”