Caine Mutiny, The - Herman Wouk [185]
“We don’t have a lot of time-”
“Come on. I see daylight down at the other end there.” Keefer hurried along the passageway and Maryk trudged after him. Rounding a comer into a shaft of sunlight, the novelist almost ran into a marine in full-dress uniform guarding a green-curtained doorway. The marine executed a salute with his rifle, and stared ahead glassily. Over the doorway the nameplate, decorated with four silver stars, read, Admiral William F. Halsey, USN.
Maryk grabbed Keefer’s elbow. “Flag quarters! How about barging in and taking our chances? The hell with the chain of command. If he’s here he’ll listen to us-”
Keefer pulled his arm free. “Come on outside a minute.” He led the exec to the rail. They stood in the shadow of the citadel, looking out over the blue crowded lagoon. The breeze, blowing aft from the sunbaked forecastle, was hot and damp. “Steve,” said the novelist, “I’m getting cold on this deal.”
Maryk stared at him.
“You would be, too, if you had any imagination. Can’t you feel the difference between the New Jersey and the Caine? This is the Navy, here, the real Navy. Our ship is a floating booby hatch. Everybody’s Asiatic on the Caine, and you and I must be the worst of all, to think we could get away with pulling Article 184 on Queeg. Steve, they’ll ruin us. We haven’t got a chance. Let’s get out of here-”
“What the hell, Tom! I don’t understand you. What’s the New Jersey got to do with it? Is the captain nuts or isn’t he?”
“He’s nuts, of course he is, but-”
“Then what the hell is there to be afraid of? We’ve got to tell the highest available authority-”
“It won’t stick, Steve. We haven’t got enough on him. When this damn war is over I’m going to be a scribbler again, same as before. But you want to stay in the Navy, don’t you? You’ll smash yourself, Steve, against a stone wall. You’ll be finished in the Navy forever. And Queeg will go right on commanding the Caine-”
“Tom, you said yourself my log on Queeg nailed him down-”
“Sure, I thought so-on the Caine. It does, too. It would, for a competent psychiatrist. But we’ve got to tell it to the Navy, not a psychiatrist. That’s what I’m waking up to. Don’t you know the state of mind of these benighted bastards by now? Sure, they can conn ships, and fight, but their minds are back in the feudal system! What the hell does Halsey know or care about paranoia? He’ll think we’re a couple of goddamn mutinous reserves. Have you read those articles carefully? ‘Action under this article involves the most serious possibilities ...’ Mutiny, that’s what it involves-”
Maryk, squinting and scratching his head, said, “Well, I’m willing to take the chance. I can’t go on steaming around with a skipper who I think is crazy-”
“That’s by your standards. By Navy standards, for all you know, he’s still a commendable disciplinarian-”
“Oh, Jesus, Tom. Turning the ship upside down for a key that never existed-cutting off the water for days at the equator-running away from shore batteries-”
“All those things can be taken two ways. Steve, for Christ’s sake listen to me and wait. Maybe in a week or two he’ll go absolutely ga-ga. If he starts galloping around the decks naked or seeing ghosts or something we’ve really got him-and it can happen any time-”
“I think we’ve got him now-”
“I don’t. I’ve changed my mind, Steve. If you think I’m crawfishing, I’m sorry. I’m really doing you the greatest favor of your life.”
“Tom, let’s go and try to see Halsey-”
“I won’t go with you, Steve. You’ll have to do it alone.”
Maryk wet his lips, and grimaced at Keefer for a long moment. The novelist faced him, his jaw muscles trembling slightly. “Tom,” said Maryk, “you’re scared, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” answered Keefer, “I’m scared.”
The exec shrugged, and puffed out his cheeks. “You should have said so sooner. I can understand getting scared- Well, let’s call away the gig.” He started to walk forward.
“I would like you to admit,” said the novelist, hurrying to his side, “that at this point the wise and logical reaction is to get intelligently scared. Sometimes getting scared and