The White Voyage by John Christopher Page A

was going out to the deck. Mouritzen hesitated, undecided as to whether he should go up for his own oilskins. But there was not enough time. He plunged after them, fending the door open as it closed on him, and was soaked immediately by a wave breaking right across the ship.
    There was a flash of torchlight from the after deck, and the Simanyis headed for it, with Mouritzen behind them. It was possible to see that there were four of five of the hands at the other side of the hatch. Josef shouted to them, bellowing against the wind. As they got nearer, one of them heard and looked round.
    Mouritzen came up with the Simanyis. ‘Please go back inside,’ he said. ‘You must not interfere with the running of the ship.’
    Herning was there, carrying the automatic.
    ‘Have you killed it?’ Mouritzen shouted at him.
    Herning shook his head. ‘It’s hard to get a proper shot, with the ship rolling as it is. And I did not want to wound the animal.’
    Someone flashed a torch. It showed Katerina huddled up beside an oil-drum in the lee of the poop-deck. She was wet and bedraggled. She was shivering and she cowered away from the light.
    Nadya, without comment, pushed the men aside and went up to the bear. She knelt down and put her arms round the furry neck, lowered her head and whispered in Katerina’s ear.
    Herning said helplessly: ‘What do we do now, sir?’
    ‘Stand by,’ Mouritzen told him. He advanced towards Nadya and the bear. ‘Nadya!’ he called.
    ‘Keep away,’ she said. ‘She is all right with me, but she is frightened and does not know what she is doing. It is not safe for you.’
    He knelt beside them. ‘Be reasonable,’ he said. ‘There’s no way of securing her again, and she can’t be allowed to go loose. You will be compensated for the loss.’
    ‘Stand away,’ Nadya said. ‘Tell those others also to stand away.’ She called to Josef: ‘Papa, bring the lead for her.’ He went, and she spoke again to Mouritzen. ‘If you get them to stand clear, no one will be hurt.’
    ‘The cage is broken,’ Mouritzen said. ‘There is no point in putting her back there.’
    ‘I know that.’
    ‘You cannot stay there, and you cannot walk her round the deck in this storm, and she cannot go in the hold because of the horses. Where do you think you will put her?’
    ‘In our cabin,’ Nadya said. ‘We can sleep in the lounge.’
    ‘But even if you could get her there,’ Mouritzen protested, ‘she would wreck it!’
    ‘She is a quiet bear.’ She smiled sardonically out of the darkness. ‘And we will compensate for the loss.’
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    Olsen said: ‘My God! I have never given you credit for outstanding intelligence, Mouritzen, but I would not have expected you to bungle things like that.’
    ‘What could I do – order the men to put her and her father in irons? They wouldn’t have been easy to cope with under ordinary circumstances, but in present conditions it was out of the question.’
    ‘They should not have been allowed to go out on deck in the first place.’
    ‘I couldn’t stop them. She’s as strong as I am, and he’s considerably stronger. Besides, they were out before I realized what was happening.’
    ‘And you should have had the sense to make sure the job had been done before you told them of it.’
    ‘I didn’t expect them to react that way.’
    ‘Damnation to your psychological expectations!’
    ‘Does it matter very much, anyway? She got the bear to the cabin all right and they’ve locked her in there. Any damage she may do will be less costly than replacing a trained circus bear would be.’
    ‘It matters that when I give an order it should be carried out. All right. There is nothing we can do now. But the report goes into the log in full, with you named as responsible for non-compliance with my instructions. Is that understood? Do you have any objections?’
    Mouritzen shook his head. ‘No objections.’ There was silence for a time, apart from the unending crescendo