Journey to the River Sea - 10th Anniversary Edition (14 page)

‘There’s a new kind of wallpaper which stops insects from landing on it for twenty years,’ said Mrs Carter wistfully. ‘I read about it at the dentist.’

For a moment all the Carters stood with narrowed eyes, thinking of what they would do with so much money.

And on the following day, the crows arrived at the bungalow.

They had chartered a boat belonging to a wealthy merchant, and landed at the Carter’s jetty while the children were doing their lessons.

Mr Carter was out bullying his workers somewhere, but when he saw the boat he came in quickly. Mrs Carter brought Mr Low and Mr Trapwood into the dining room where Miss Minton was giving the twins dictation.

‘Fetch Maia,’ she ordered the governess. ‘These gentlemen want to question everybody.’

The crows sat down twitching their black trousers up at the knee so as to keep the creases in. They liked the Carters’ dining room: the smell of Lysol, the shrouded windows. A decent British household at last. Maia was brought in. She recognized them at once, and the twins saw that she had turned pale.

Mr Trapwood did not waste any time. ‘Some of you know already what I am going to say. We have come from England to find a missing boy – the son of Bernard Taverner. It is now very important that he is found and brought back before the
Bishop
sails. The reward for news of him has been doubled. Now I want you to think very, very carefully whether you have any idea of where such a boy might be hiding.’

Maia looked up. ‘
Why
is he hiding? Why doesn’t he come forward? Why doesn’t he want to go back to England?’

The crows frowned. ‘Whether he wants to go back or not has nothing to do with it. The boy must go back, and at once. It is a matter of life and death.’

‘If we tell you something useful, will we get the reward?’ asked Beatrice.

‘Certainly.’

The twins looked at each other. ‘We think Maia is hiding him,’ said Beatrice. ‘I had toothache last night and I woke up and I saw her sneak out to that end hut where the rubber workers used to live. The one that was empty.’

‘We don’t know for certain but that’s what we think,’ said Gwendolyn.

‘She goes outside sometimes when she’s supposed to be in bed.’

‘No. Honestly. That’s nothing to do with—’ Maia had jumped up from her chair. ‘I don’t know anything about the boy you’re looking for.’

‘All the same, I think I might ask these young ladies to take us to the hut they describe. Have I your permission, Mrs Carter?’

‘Certainly. But if Maia has been deceiving us she will be most seriously punished.’

Miss Minton had come to stand beside Maia. ‘If Maia has really been hiding someone she will certainly be punished. But I find this hard to believe.’

‘It isn’t Bernard Taverner’s son. Honestly—’

But it was too late. The crows had risen, and now everybody moved out of the bungalow, down the side path and towards the huts of the Indians. Furo and Tapi and old Lila were standing outside their door, looking on in silence.

Miss Minton had taken Maia by the arm, as if she expected her to run away. Her nutcracker face was closed and angry.

Mrs Carter moved past the huts as if she were walking through an open drain, and the twins held their noses as they passed the pot-bellied pig.

‘Please,’ began Maia, and stopped as Miss Minton’s steely fingers dug painfully into her arm.

‘Be quiet, Maia,’ she said.

The hut was locked, but that didn’t help them. Mrs Carter shouted to Tapi to bring the key, and Tapi disappeared into her hut. She was away a long time but eventually, sulkily, she brought the key.

‘Empty,’ she said to the crows. ‘Not inside.
Nada
. All gone away.’

‘We shall soon see,’ said Mrs Carter and took the key.

Maia bit her lip and stared at the ground.

The lock was stiff. ‘Give it to me,’ said Mr Carter, taking the key from his wife. He fumbled for a while, then managed to turn it. The door swung open.

There was a loud screech, a flutter of black wings – and a trapped bird flew out, sending Mrs Carter reeling backwards.

Then silence. On the floor of the hut was an old blanket, a candlestick with a spent candle, and nothing else.

The hut was empty.

Nobody in the Carters’ bungalow slept well that night.

The twins lay in bed thinking about the money that had escaped them.

‘I was going to get that blue silk cloak in Fleurette’s window,’ sighed Beatrice.

‘It wouldn’t suit you. The neck’s too low.’

They began to argue, but then remembered that neither of them could buy the cloak.

‘All the same, I think Maia knows something. Did you see how worried she looked when they were opening the hut?’

‘She’s just the sort of person who would be on the side of a runaway. Look how she tried to shelter Clovis.’

‘But the Taverner boy isn’t just a runaway. He’s a criminal. He must be or they wouldn’t be so keen to catch him.’

‘Well I’m going to watch Maia. I don’t trust her at all.’

In their bedroom down the corridor, Mr and Mrs Carter too were thinking of all that could be done with the reward for the capture of Taverner’s son.

‘We could go back to England for a visit. I’m sure Lady Parsons would be pleased to have us to stay.’

Mr Carter did not answer. For one thing he never spoke to his wife if he could help it, and for another the last thing he wanted was to go back to England. He had left his job in the bank there in a hurry. Quite a big hurry. If he had stayed even a few days longer the police would have come for him because he had borrowed money that did not belong to him. And out here he was getting behind-hand again with certain payments. The forty thousand
milreis
would have helped to clear his debts. They wouldn’t have cleared them, but they would have helped.

Mrs Carter was frowning, thinking of Maia. ‘I don’t really trust that girl – and the governess favours her.’

‘Well, if you send her away we’re done for,’ said Mr Carter. ‘I owe that rogue Gonzales three batches of rubber and I haven’t got one.’

‘How can that be?’

‘You wouldn’t understand,’ said Mr Carter wearily.

He sighed and reached for the lamp, but Mrs Carter got up once more and took her flit gun from under the bed. She was almost sure that she had heard something buzzing by the window.

Maia had put on her dressing gown and crept down the corridor to Miss Minton’s room. She had brought her hairbrush, but the hundred strokes were just an excuse. She was perfectly capable of brushing her own hair.

‘But where can he have gone, Minty? The actors aren’t here any more and he doesn’t know anyone else in Manaus. I’m so worried about him.’

‘He won’t come to any harm,’ said Miss Minton, brushing steadily. ‘He’s quite a sensible boy really.’

But Maia could not see it like that.

When Miss Minton had taken Clovis to the empty hut, it was with the idea of keeping him safe until she could make other arrangements for him. She was sure now that Mr Carter had never sent the cable to Mr Murray and she had hoped to ask Sergei’s family to take Clovis in for a while. The Keminskys were well known for their hospitality, and in the end surely the British Consul would do something for the boy? But the Keminskys had gone to visit one of their farms in the north, and they had been forced to hide Clovis for a second night.

And now the boy had vanished.

The next day was a Sunday. On one Sunday in the month an English vicar came out to conduct a service in the next village upriver from the Carters’ house. Mrs Carter liked church. The twins in their pretty dresses were always admired, she heard other English voices... In England they had sometimes been allowed to join Lady Parsons in her pew. She had expected Maia to accompany them, but the girl looked peaked and wretched and had been sick in the night.

Mrs Carter did not like people being sick. ‘I hope it’s not infectious,’ she said to Miss Minton, who shook her head. She knew exactly why Maia had been sick. She was worried about Clovis. She had been sick after she came across an Indian being flogged on Mr Carter’s orders.

‘I think she needs a quiet morning by herself,’ said Miss Minton, and was told that it was her duty to accompany the twins.

‘We don’t want people saying we can’t afford a governess,’ said Mrs Carter to her husband.

So the family disappeared upriver in the launch. Maia noticed that it was not Furo who was steering the boat, but it was not till Furo came himself and beckoned to her that she allowed herself to hope.

‘Come,’ he said, as he had done the first time and Maia got up quickly and followed him. Her sickness had gone. She felt hopeful and excited. If this was a summons from Finn, perhaps he would know what to do.

This time she was not asked to put on a blindfold and at this sign of trust her spirits rose still further. When they came to the green wall, she could make out the opening, now that she knew it was there. It wasn’t much more than a change in the colour of the green as the rushes took over from the undergrowth. She closed her eyes to protect them against the branches, and then they were through and she was in the lagoon again.

Even before she saw Finn, she felt as though she was coming home.

The dog wagged his tail; properly this time; nothing too gushing – he was not that kind of dog – but he remembered her.

She jumped out onto the jetty. Finn’s hair was coal-black, as it had been the first time she saw him, and he wore his headband; he was in his Indian guise again. But he looked relaxed and untroubled, and when she thought of the crows she found herself shivering.

‘They’ve been at the Carters,’ she said. ‘The crows.’

‘I know.’

Of course, he would know. He knew everything.

‘And you’ve lost your little actor friend,’ he said, grinning.

Furo had paddled back to the entrance and Maia followed Finn into the hut. He had a bowl of fruit on the table – avocados, prickly pears, nuts, a melon. Her mouth watered but she turned her head away, angry with Finn for speaking so carelessly of Clovis.

‘Yes, I’m so worried about him. He came and the twins jeered at him and Mrs Carter said he had to go back. But the actors had gone so we hid him in the store hut.’

‘We?’

‘Well, Miss Minton really, but I was so upset that she told me what she’d done. I thought I’d get Mr Murray to pay his fare but he hasn’t. Then the crows came and they made us open the door – they thought it was you we were hiding – and he’d gone. Vanished.’

‘He’ll be all right,’ said Finn.

His casual tone annoyed Maia. ‘That’s what Miss Minton says, but
why
will he be all right? He’s got nowhere to sleep and no money.’

Thinking about Clovis and how she had let him down had brought tears to her eyes, and she brushed them away angrily. Clovis was her responsibility, not Finn’s. Finn had troubles enough of his own.

But Finn had seen her distress. ‘Come and see the
Arabella
,’ he said. ‘I’ve cleaned the funnel. Walk carefully; there’s some wet paint.’

She followed him onto the little launch.

‘Have a look under the awning,’ said Finn. ‘But don’t make a noise.’

She moved quietly forward. What strange animal had Finn brought aboard and tamed?

Someone lay sprawled out on the deck. He lay on his back, his limbs were thrown out loosely; he was so still that he might have been dead.

But he wasn’t. He was deeply asleep. So asleep that even when Maia bent over him he did not stir.

‘He’ll sleep for a bit,’ said Finn. ‘I gave him something. He’s a nice boy but you’re right; he does cry a lot.’

‘You mean you’ve drugged him?’ Maia was shocked.

‘It’s only mashohara leaves,’ said Finn. ‘Old Lila used to give them to me in a drink. It’s quite harmless.’

But Maia was not altogether pleased. ‘You seem to know a lot about herbs and medicines – and dyes,’ she added, looking at Finn’s hair.

‘The Indians taught my father, and he taught me. It’s how we lived partly, finding new medicines.’

They went back and sat on the jetty, and he explained what he had done. ‘Furo told me that the crows were on their way, and he told me about Clovis being in the hut. He thought you’d get into awful trouble from the Carters. So I fetched him away in the night.’

The dog lay quietly between them; two swallowtail butterflies chased each other over the lotus leaves.

‘Actually,’ Finn went on, ‘I’ve got an idea – I told you. I’ll explain when I’ve woken Clovis.’ He looked up at the sun. ‘He’ll be awake in half an hour. Better make some tea and serve it nicely. Clovis likes things properly done. Teacups with saucers and no bugs on the bread and butter.’

Finn was right. Clovis woke up in exactly half an hour looking refreshed and well. He too liked the hut.

‘I wouldn’t mind living in a place like this,’ he said, helping himself to a biscuit.

‘Well that’s a good thing,’ said Finn. ‘Because you’re going to. For a few days. Till just before the
Bishop
sails.’