She came round the bed and handed me my jacket. “I think, Dick, you have something for my father.” It was still torn and dirty, just as it had been—and the pockets bulged. I put my hand into one of the pockets and the first thing I touched was Zina’s automatic. I put it down softly on the table beside me and then I got out the two packages that had been hidden so long in the shaft of my leg. I handed them to Tuček.
He took them and stood staring at them for a long time. Then he put the oilskin package in his pocket and tossed the chamois leather bag on to the bed. “That one I think we will split fifty-fifty, Dick.”
I stared at him and saw he meant it. “No,” I said. “I can’t—” And then I stopped and glanced at Hilda. “Allright,” I said. “I’ll accept your offer—provided you let me trade back my half in exchange for your daughter.”
“For that,” Hilda said, two spots of colour showing on her cheeks, “you get another injection, my boy.” And for the second time within a few minutes I saw Jan Tuček laugh. “I think it is a bad bargain you make,” he said. “But all right.”
Hilda took hold of my arm and jabbed the needle into it. And then she bent and kissed me. “I’ll see he gives me some of it for a dowry,” she whispered. “I still want that thatched cottage near to the sea.”
THE END
A Note on the Author
Ralph Hammond Innes was born in Horsham, Sussex in 1914. He was educated at Cranbrook School in Kent, which he left in 1931 to work as a journalist, initially with the Financial Times. He went on to become a prolific author, penning over thirty novels as well as children’s and travel books – his first novel, The Doppelganger, was published in 1937.
Innes served in the Royal Artillery during WWII, eventually rising to the rank of Major. During the war a number of his books were also published. After being demobbed in 1946 he worked full-time as a writer, achieving a number of early successes. He produced books in a regular pattern: six months travel and research and then six months of writing. With this quick turnover, he had sixteen further novels published before 1960, many of which featured the sea. From the 1960s his rate of work was reduced but was still substantial, and he became more interested in ecological themes. Innes continued writing up until his death in 1998.
Discover books by Hammond Innes published by Bloomsbury Reader at
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For copyright reasons, any images not belonging to the original author have been
removed from this book. The text has not been changed, and may still contain
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This electronic edition published in 2013 by Bloomsbury Reader
London WC1B 3DP
First published in Great Britain 1950 by William Collins Son & Co.
Copyright © 1950 Hammond Innes
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eISBN: 9781448211661
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