Under The Net - Iris Murdoch [51]
and pushed it into my pocket. 'And now,' he said to me, 'perhaps you'll tell me what it was you were doing in these parts?' This question moved me, partly because it was the first direct indication I had had that Lefty was human, and partly because it reminded me of Hugo, who had been unaccountably absent from my mind during the last few hours. I dragged myself to a sitting position. My head felt as if it were on a spring and someone were trying to pull it off. I clutched it violently with both hands. 'I was looking for Belfounder,' I told him. 'Hugo Belfounder?' said Lefty, and there was a note of interest in his voice. Yes, do you know him?' I asked. 'I know who you mean,' said Lefty. I looked towards him, but his enormous eyes showed only as two black patches in the pallor of his face. 'Did you see him this evening?' I asked. 'He didn't come into the Skinners',' said Lefty. I wanted to ask Lefty more questions; I wondered how he saw Hugo. As a capitalist? But my head claimed all my attention for the moment. It was a bit later again, it must have been some time after two, when Finn expressed a desire to go swimming. Lefty had been talking to Dave, and I was just getting my second wind. The night was faultlessly warm and still. As soon as Finn suggested this idea it seemed to all of us except Dave an irresistible one. We discussed where to go. The Serpentine was too far away and so was Regent's Park, and the St James's Park area is always stiff with police. The obvious thing was to swim in the Thames. 'You'll get swept away by the tide,' said Dave. 'Not if we swim when it's on the turn,' said Finn. This was brilliant. But when was it on the turn? 'My diary will tell us,' said Lefty. We crowded round while he struck a match. High tide at London Bridge was at two fifty-eight. It was perfect. A moment later we were climbing the wall. 'Watch out for police,' said Lefty. 'They'll think we're going to rob a warehouse. If you see one, pretend to be drunk.' This was rather superfluous advice. Across a moonswept open space we followed what used to be Fyefoot Lane, where many a melancholy notice board tells in the ruins of the City where churches and where public houses once stood. Beside the solitary tower of St Nicholas we passed into Upper Thames Street. There was no sound; not a bell, not a footstep. We trod softly. We turned out of the moonlight into a dark labyrinth of alleys and gutted warehouses where indistinguishable objects loomed in piles. Scraps of newspaper blotted the streets, immobilized in the motionless night. The rare street lamps revealed pitted brick walls and cast the shadow of an occasional cat. A street as deep and dark as a well ended at last in a stone breakwater, and on the other side, at the foot of a few steps, was the moon again, scattered in pieces upon the river. We climbed over on to the steps and stood in silence for a while with the water lapping our feet. On either side the walls of warehouses jutted out, cutting our view and sheltering the inlet where the river came to us thick with scum and floating spars of wood, full to overflowing in the bosom of London. There was a smell as of rotten vegetables. Finn was taking off his shoes. No man who has faced the Liffey can be appalled by the dirt of another river. 'Careful,' said Lefty. 'Keep well down on the steps, then no one can see us from the street. Don't talk aloud, and don't dive in. There may be river police around.' He pulled his shirt off. I looked at Dave 'Are you coming in?' I asked him. 'Of course not!' he said. 'I think you are all mad.' And he sat down with his back to the breakwater. My heart was beating violently. I began to undress too. Already Finn was standing pale and naked with his feet in the water. He was thrusting aside the flotsam with his foot and walking slowly down the steps. The water reached to his knees, to his buttocks, and then with a soft splash he was away and the wood was knocking upon the stone as the ripples came back. 'What an infernal row he's making!' said Lefty. My stomach was chill and I was shivering. I pulled