The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway - Ernest Hemingway [214]
“What boat is that?” asked one of the men in the fishing chairs.
“That boat?”
“Yes, that boat.”
“Oh that’s a Key West boat.”
“What I said was, whose boat is it?”
“I wouldn’t know that, Cap.”
“Is the owner a fisherman?”
“Well, some say he is.”
“What do you mean?”
“He does a little of everything.”
“You don’t know his name?”
“No sir.”
“You called him Harry.”
“Not me.”
“I heard you call him Harry.”
Captain Willie Adams took a good look at the man who was speaking to him. He saw a high-cheekboned, thin-lipped, slightly pudgy face with deep set grey eyes and a contemptuous mouth looking at him from under a canvas hat. There was no way that Captain Willie Adams could know that this man was regarded as irresistibly handsome by a great many women in Washington.
“I must have called him that by mistake,” Captain Willie said.
“You can see that the man is wounded, Doctor,” the other man said, handing the glasses to his companion.
“I can see that without glasses,” the man addressed as Doctor said. “Who is that man?”
“I wouldn’t know,” said Captain Willie.
“Well, you will know,” the man with the contemptuous mouth said. “Write down the numbers on the bow.”
“I have them. Doctor.”
“We’ll go over and have a look,” the Doctor said.
“Are you a doctor?” Captain Willie asked.
“Not of medicine,” the grey-eyed man told him.
“If you’re not a medical doctor I wouldn’t go over there.”
“Why not?”
“If he wanted us he would have signaled us. If fie don’t want us it’s none of our business. Down here everybody aims to mind their own business.”
“All right. Suppose you mind yours then. Take us over to that boat.”
Captain Willie continued on his way up the channel, the two-cylinder Palmer coughing steadily.
“Didn’t you hear me?”
“Yes sir.”
“Why don’t you obey my order?”
“Who the hell you think you are?” asked Captain Willie.
“That’s not the question. Do as I tell you.”
“Who do you think you are?” Captain Willie asked again.
“All right. For your information I’m one of the three most important men in the United States today.”
“What the hell you doing in Key West then?”
The other man leaned forward. “He’s —”—, he said impressively.
“I never heard of him,” said Captain Willie.
“Well, you will,” said the man called Doctor. “And so will everyone in this stinking jerkwater little town if I have to grub it out by the roots.”
“You’re a nice fellow,” said Captain Willie. “How did you get so important?”
“He’s the most intimate friend and closest adviser of ———, said the other man.
“Nuts,” said Captain Willie. “If he’s all that what’s he doing in Key West?”
“He’s just here for a rest,” the secretary explained. “He’s going to be———.
“That’s enough, Harris,” the man called Doctor said. “Now will you take us over to that boat,” he said smiling. He had a smile which was reserved for such occasions.
“No sir.”
“Listen you half-witted fisherman. I’ll make life so miserable for you—”
“Yes,” said Captain Willie.
“You don’t know who I am.”
“None of it don’t mean anything to me,” said Captain Willie. “And you don’t know where you are.”
“That man is a bootlegger, isn’t he?”
“What do you think?”
“There’s probably a reward for him.”
“I doubt that.”
“He’s a lawbreaker.”
“He’s got a family and he’s got to eat and feed them. Who the hell do you eat off of with people working here in Key West for the Government for six dollars and a half a week?”
“He’s wounded. That means he’s been in trouble.”
“Unless he shot hisself for fun.”
“You can save that sarcasm. You’re going over to that boat and we’re going to take that man and that boat into custody.”
“Into where?”
“Into Key West.”
“Are you an officer?”
“I’ve told you who he is,” the secretary said.
“All right,” said Captain Willie. He pushed the tiller hard over and turned the boat, coming so close to the edge of the channel