Tears of the Moon - Di Morrissey [121]
Gunther, dazed for a moment, didn’t register what Tyndall had asked him.
‘How did you find us here? Who told you to come here?’
‘No one! This is a happy accident, Gunther! Now, where is Niah?’
Comprehension dawned on the hawk-like features of the swarthy German. ‘She’s gone. I did nothing. She dived from my boat. Kaput. Sharks get her.’
Tyndall went limp, suspecting that Gunther was telling the truth. ‘And why would she leap overboard … to get away from you.’ His anger resurged and he made another lunge but was held back by Yoshi and Ahmed on either side. Ahmed held Tyndall’s arm with one hand and his kris with the other.
Gunther took a step forward. ‘You can’t leave here. We’d better visit Anders.’
‘Don’t be mad, Gunther. No matter what you do to us, our crew will sail straight to the authorities. Better you let us go.’
‘Why should I do that—’ Before he could finish the sentence, a pistol cracked and a bullet sprayed sand beside his feet, causing him to leap backwards. The shot came from the trees and two more rang out in quick succession, sending up tufts of sand between the two men. Gunther and his three men turned and fled into the trees, dragging the Malay with them.
Taki and Olivia emerged from the trees and ran across the sand. Olivia was carrying the pistol.
‘John, are you all right?’ she called in a frightened voice.
They fell into each other’s arms. ‘Yes, no harm done, but it looked nasty for a minute. Good Lord, you could have shot any of us,’ he exclaimed.
‘I aimed low,’ she said, grinning. ‘Well, say thanks.’
Tyndall laughed, hugged her quickly and led everyone back to the dinghies on the beach.
‘Whatever made you come ashore, and with a pistol?’ he asked as he rowed back to the two boats.
‘You seemed to be gone so long, and it was getting dark, and something told me to do it.’ She shrugged her shoulders. ‘Don’t ask me what or why. Just one of those things. We had no sooner reached the trees when Gunther and his mob turned up, so we waited and watched.’
The last of the fading breeze got them safely out to sea and, in the distance, they could see the flame torches on the beach, and heard the reverberation of a shot, probably fired in frustration.
As they drifted into the night, Tyndall told Olivia of the encounter with Gunther and of Niah’s fate.
Olivia took his hand as he choked up. ‘I’m so sorry for you, John. It’s a terrible thing. Can the police do anything? We’ll have to tell them.’
‘No, there’s no point, there’s no evidence that will stand up and there’ll certainly be no evidence here within a few days, you can be sure of that.’
Minnie was quiet and said little when Olivia relayed the news of Niah’s death at sea.
‘I worry about little Maya, out there. She hasn’t lead that sort of life. Will she be all right?’ Olivia asked.
‘She learn quick. They look after her.’
‘Will they bring her back, Minnie? Tyndall is her father after all.’
‘She know her story when she bigger. Maya decide that.’
‘It doesn’t seem fair. But at least she is with family. I imagine the poor little thing is missing her mother though.’
‘Niah my family too.’
Seeing Minnie’s sad face, Olivia spoke gently, ‘Don’t blame yourself, Minnie. You did what you thought best for them both.’ Then it dawned on her that Maya must be remotely related to Minnie too. The complex family connections of Aborigines were confusing, but maybe it meant that there would be some hope that Maya would be returned to Tyndall one day.
Eventually a steamer arrived with mail that included a letter from Monsieur Barat. It elaborated on a cryptic cable which had arrived months earlier, indicating that a satisfactory sale had been achieved.
The ‘Star of the Sea’ pearl cluster had been sold for a record price to an Indian prince. The flamboyant prince, well known in London society, had no objection to publicity and the purchase had been written up in the London newspapers. Accompanying photographs showed the lavishly dressed prince, music hall chanteuse and actress on either arm; the pearls still on the shell which the prince was sending