Chapter 16 - The magical Indian Ocean
Aided by the libeccio wind, the three convicts thought they would reach the island of Ceylon without too much difficulty. The only danger was to be surprised by some storm, which is unleashed during the change of monsoons.
When the sun appeared on the horizon, the boat was gone and there was nothing but water and water around them. Only a few seabirds plied the sky in the company of some sea swifts.
«We're already far away» said Blake, after scanning the entire horizon.
«They made me tremble all night, Mr. Blake» Jody specified «Then we can take the opportunity to have breakfast now!»
«Fear always whets your appetite, whenever it seems» laughed Kaj.
«It's this sea breeze.»
«Let's save supplies Jody.» Blake warned «We won't find any land on our route until we reach Ceylon»
«Will it take a long time?»
«Two or maybe three weeks, if all goes well. Some hurricane could break out and drive us south and there are no islands there too».
What did you board Kaj? I see a lot of vases here, «Jody asked, worried about the food».
«One half contain fruit paste from the bread. They assured me that it is good even when preserved».
«And what do these packages contain?»
«Fish and dried fruit, and there under the bow we have a large supply of coconut. That's all I've been able to board. Ah! There is also a jar full of oil».
«To purge us? »
«It could become very useful and save us in the midst of the storm.»
«I admire your foresight, Kaj. » said Blake. «That vase can do us some very precious services».
«I can't figure out which ones» Jody said.
«Wait for a storm to break out and you will bless that jar. » saidd the pearl fisherman.
«Make breakfast, Jody! »
«She'll be thinner than the penitentiary's ration.»
«Are you getting demanding Jody?»
«I was too used to the queen's table"
«Hey, Jody», said Blake «you have something to tell us that may be of keen interest to Kaj and that you have not been able to complete. I didn't forget that story».
«What do you mean, Mr. Blak? »
«You promised to tell us something about One-eye.»
"It's true.»
«So tell how much you know about that rascal» said Kaj «Who knows if we will be able to find out how he met my girlfriend».
«I don't know much, but the drunk Irish overseer said something to me one evening as we were fishing for sea crabs. It seems that he was sentenced to twenty years in prison for killing a priest and wounding an English policeman».
«A priest!» the others exclaimed.
«Yes, a Buddhist.»
«And where did you kill him?" Kaj asked.
«He didn't say that.»
«What do you think, Mr. Blake?» Kaj asked apprehensively.
«I'm sure that One-eye met your fiancée in that monastery» Blake said. «The story of that man seems to me to resemble yours».
«Did he try to snatch Liling from the monks too? » Jody speculated.
«I'd bet, Jody, that the Irishman didn't tell you what job he did, did he?»
«The fisherman.» replied the engineer.
«Fish or pearls?» Kaj asked.
«This he didn't say».
«Now it is I who ask you Kaj, what do you think?» said the former Golden Hind officer.
«That he was a pearl diver, how can we know?» Kaj said.
«All the fishermen of Manaar know each other and if One-eye was, we will know. It is necessary, Mr. Blake, to clear up this mystery.»
«Have patience and we'll know about that man.»
«Without the red pearl, our efforts to free Liling will be futile. The monks are too powerful to fight with them, and then they enjoy the protection of the rajahs».
«But do you think we can find that famous pearl?»
«I told you I know a fisherman who knows where the thief went down.»
«What if they had found it in the meantime or the man was dead?»
«Then, Mr. Blake, I'm going to kill all the monks!» Kaj shouted.
As they chatted, the dugout continued its run towards Ceylon. The ocean continued to remain calm, with long, heavy waves.
Numerous fish, with each wave, appeared afloat, wrapping themselves in the foam. They were Golden, very large fish that are caught with the harpoon, which hunt flying fish.
They are covered in striking blue and gold flakes and rich in reflections, but they lose all color when they are about to die in the hands of fishermen, turning grayish.
Numerous giant Albatros birds, measuring up to four meters, while they do not weigh more than ten kilos being all feathers, they fiercely followed the Golden, not having any fear of men even if armed with rifles.
In the large troughs of the waves appeared the Diodons, strange fish that love to sail with their belly up, and that have the habit of swallowing the air to float, becoming almost perfectly round. With their long, white, black spotted spines, they looked like huge curls.
Jody and Kaj were watching those fish, thinking how to catch them, but then they couldn't cook them, when the first one threw back so violently that it hit Blake who was at the helm.
«Well, what have you got, Jody?» he asked «Are you afraid that Diodons will sting you?»
«A moment late and I lost a hand, Mr. Blake» replied him.
«Who?»
«Two huge sharks! They must have been hungry to get that close» the pearl fisherman pointed out.
Blake turned and saw them, no less than seven meters long, following the dugout closely, staring at them with their ugly little eyes. They were two ugly monsters, with slightly elongated necks, ash-brown backs covered with thick and small tubercles, flattened heads, rounded snouts, with an enormous mouth armed with triangular, very white teeth, which moved as they pleased.
«What a bad company» Blake observed, frowning. «With a rush they can swoop into it. Jaj give me the rifle».
The two sharks, as if they had guessed the unfriendly intentions of the man of the sea, at that same moment dived to reappear further back, leaving only the dorsal fins to emerge.
«They're smarter than the devil» Jody said, «they won't let themselves be shot, Mr. Blake».
«They will tire of following us and will end up leaving. »
«You are deceiving yourself, my dear Jody. When those hungry eternals meet in the open ocean or a lifeboat with men, they never leave it. They also follow it for weeks or months».
«Yet they must not lack fish. Even a little while ago we saw some Dorate and Diodons».
«They prefer man's flesh. » Kaj said.
«It is true, for the sharks, there is no better prey than man.»
«Have you ever come across any, Kaj, while looking for pearl shells?» Jody asked.
«I've killed at least a dozen. One day I found myself between two such huge sharks, that I had a hard time getting rid of them. He was preparing to cut me in two».
«Brr!» Jody said «And how did you manage?».
«I thought for a moment that my last hour had come, especially since I hadn't had time to get rid of the stone that had helped me reach that considerable depth and my air supply was nearly exhausted.
The hammerhead fish, too greedy and too eager to devour me, had taken the momentum badly, and in turning its tail it had moved the bottom, muddying the water so strongly that it could not, for a moment, see me anymore. "
«And you took advantage of it» said Blake who was interested.
«Immediately, Mr. Blake» said Kaj. «I had my knife passed through my belt, a solid weapon, a foot and a half long and very sharp. I clung desperately to one of the monster's pectoral fins and ripped open its belly, a good meter in length.
I thought I had escaped that danger forever, when I saw the companion of the one I had gutted coming up behind me».
«I would have died of fright.» Jody said.
«The first had lost his intestines and a lake of blood from the enormous wound, but he was not yet dead, indeed he was struggling furiously with formidable blows of the tail; the other seemed unwilling to let me finish it or to leave without at least one of my legs».
«So, what did you do?»
«It was over, because it was impossible for me to cope with both of them alone and then the water had turned so red that I couldn't see the two monsters.
Fortunately, when my companions, anxious about my delay, saw all that blood rising to the surface, they imagined what was happening on the seabed and three of them came to my aid.
«Under the waters there was a real battle, which ended with the death of the two voracious fish. When they brought me back to the surface I was passed out and bleeding from my ears».
«Do sharks devour many fishermen?» Blake asked.
«Three or four hundred each year are missing from the final roll call.» Bad job, Jody confirmed.
«Ah! Mr. Blake!»
«What's up?» the former officer asked, turning a restless look around.
«Time threatens to fail. Look over there, to the west. It is a cloud that will bring wind and rain. I'm sure of it and it will happen soon!»
«And that will make the big pot boil» said Blake, frowning «Yes, we will have a wind shift and probably a storm» this was not really needed.