The Balkan Trilogy (128 page)

No one had come into the café except the English party and Alan asked the proprietor why he troubled to stay open.
He replied that during the day the café was used by longshoremen and dock workers, and sometimes a few came in after dark. Apart from them, the district was deserted.

‘Where has everyone gone?’

The man made an expressive gesture. Many were dead, that went without saying; so many that no one yet knew the number. Others were camping in the woods round Athens.

‘God save us,’ muttered Tandy. ‘We’ve had war and famine; the next thing’ll be plague. We’ve all got dysentery, and if we don’t get typhoid, it’ll be a miracle.’

Sobered, they went out in the cold night air and made their way to the bus stop by the light of the waning moon.

There were English soldiers again in the cafés but they had lost their old sociability. They knew they would not be in Greece much longer and, conscious of the havoc they had brought, were inclined to avoid those who had most to lose by it.

One of Guy’s students shouted at him in the street: ‘Why did they come here? We didn’t want them,’ but there were few complaints. The men were also victims of defeat. Seeing them arriving back in torn and dirty battle-dress, jaded by the long retreat under fire, the girls again threw them flowers; the flowers of consolation.

On Wednesday evening Guy went to the School and found it deserted. Harriet had walked there with him and on the way back they looked into several bars, hoping to see someone who could give them news. In one they saw a British corporal sprawled alone against the counter and singing to a dismal hymn tune:

‘When this flippin’ war is over,

Oh, how happy I shall be!

Once I get m’civvy clothes on

No more soldiering for me.

No more asking for a favour;

No more pleading for a pass …’

He broke off at the sight of the Pringles and when Guy invited him to a drink he straightened himself up, and assumed the manners of normal life.

‘English are you?’ he said and, too polite to express his bewilderment at their presence in this beleaguered place, eyed them cautiously from head to foot.

They began at once to ask him about events. He shook his head and said: ‘Funny do. They say there were millions of them.’

‘Really? Millions of what?’

‘Jerries on flippin’ motor-bikes. The Aussies picked them off so fast, there was this pile-up and they had to dynamite a road through them. And all the time Stukas and things buzzing round like flippin’ hornets. Never saw anything like it. Didn’t stand a chance. Right from the start; not a chance.’

‘Where are the Germans now?’ Harriet asked.

‘Up the road somewhere.’

‘Not far, you think?’

‘Not unless someone’s stopped them.’

Guy said: ‘They say the New Zealanders are still holding at the Aliakmon.’

‘When did y’hear that, then?’

‘Yesterday.’

‘Ho, yesterday!’ the Corporal grunted: yesterday was not today. When Guy ordered him another drink, he looked the Pringles over again and felt forced to speak: ‘What are you two doing here, then? You’re not hanging on, are you?’

‘We’re hoping something will happen. The situation could be reversed?’

‘Don’t know about that. Can’t say.’

‘And you? What are going to do?’

‘We’re told to make for the bridge.’

‘Which bridge?’

‘Souf,’ said the Corporal. ‘Our lot’s going souf,’ then as it occurred to him that he was saying too much, he downed his drink at a gulp, picked up his cap and said: ‘Be seeing you,’ and went.

From this information, such as it was, the Pringles surmised that the British forces intended to hold the Morea. They set off to take their news to Tandy’s table; but Ben Phipps was there before them and his agitated indignation put the Corporal right out of mind.

‘What do you think?’ Phipps demanded of them. ‘You’d never believe it. I’ve just come from the Legation. There’s nothing laid on. Not a thing. Not a ghost of a plan. Not a smell of a boat. We’re done for. Do you realize it? We’re done for.’

‘Who told you this?’ Tandy asked.

‘They told me themselves. I said: “What are the arrangements for evacuating the English refugees?” and they just said, they just
calmly
said: “There aren’t any arrangements.” The excuse is they didn’t know what was going to happen. “Well, you know now,” I said. “And people are getting anxious. No one’s making a fuss, but they want to know what’s being done for them. They can’t just sit here waiting for the Germans to come. What’s laid on?” I asked. Nothing they said: just nothing. There aren’t any ships.’

Yakimov said, shocked: ‘Dear boy, there must be ships.’

‘No,’ Ben Phipps shook his head in violent denial. ‘There are no ships.’

‘The Yugoslavs say they’re going,’ Tandy said.

‘Oh, yes. The Yugoslavs are being looked after. The Poles, too. Someone’s fixed them up – don’t ask me who – but there’s nothing for the poor bloody British. I said: “Can’t you pack us in with the Jugs and Poles?” And they said: “Their boats are already overcrowded”.’

Tandy stared at the street with a reflective blankness. Only Ben Phipps had anything to say: ‘The usual good old British cock-up, eh? Isn’t it? I said: “Don’t you realize the Germans could be here in twenty-four hours?” and what d’you think they said? They said: “It all happened so suddenly.”
Suddenly!
Yes, it did happen suddenly, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t obvious from the start. We ought to have kept out of this shindig. It’s not only that we’ve done no good. If we hadn’t stuck in our two-pennyworth, they might have got away with
it. We send a handful of men up with a few worn-out tanks, then say: “We didn’t know.” I ask you! What did they think?’

‘They thought we’d get through to Berlin,’ Harriet said.

Phipps gave a snort of bitter laughter: ‘No foresight. No preparations. No plans. And now no ships.’ Biting his thumb, he muttered through his teeth with the morose rage of one who realizes that his blackest criticism of authority was never black enough.

There was a long silence at the end of which Guy mildly asked: ‘Meanwhile, what news, if any?’

‘We’ve admitted a strategic withdrawal along the Aliakmon Line.’

‘What do you think that means?’

‘Only that the Jerries are coming hell for leather down the coast road.’

Tandy grunted and pulled out his splendid wallet. He put a note on the table to pay his share of the drinks and said: ‘Not much point in saving drachma now. If things fold up here, it won’t be much use anywhere else. How about coming to my hotel for a valedictory dinner?’

‘How about it, dear boy!’ said Yakimov, joyfully taking up the invitation. He and Tandy began at once to rise, but Alan Frewen had not arrived and the others were unwilling to go without him.

Eager to be off, Yakimov persuaded them: ‘He’ll be at the office. We’ll pick him up on the way.’ They went to the side entrance of the Grande Bretagne and, finding it shut, walked on to the Corinthian, where the refugees were ordering their departure. Although the passengers for the Polish and Yugoslav ships – among them the gold-braided Yugoslav officers – were not due to embark until next morning, they were having their heavy luggage brought down and heaped ready at the hotel entrance. The English party, making a way through the hubbub, saw Alan Frewen sitting in a corner, alone except for the dog at his feet.

Ben Phipps, carrying his anger over on to Alan, said: ‘Look at him, the bastard! He’s avoiding us.’ He caught hold of Guy
to prevent him from approaching the lonely man, but Guy was already away, dodging between chairs and tables in his eagerness to rescue Alan from solitude.

Alan looked discomforted when he saw the friends to whom he could offer so little hope, but assumed a confident attitude when Ben Phipps at once accused him: ‘Don’t you realize we’re stranded? Don’t you realize that nothing’s been done?’

Alan said soothingly: ‘There’ll be something tomorrow.’

‘Nothing today, but something tomorrow! What, for instance? Where are they going to find it?’

Alan checked him, speaking with the quiet of reason: ‘You know the problem as well as I do. The explosions wrecked everything in the harbour. Thousands of tons of shipping went to the bottom, so there’s a shortage of ships. You can’t blame the Legation for that. The water-front was wiped out. Dobson tells me it’s absolute desolation down there.’

‘Is Dobson in charge of the evacuation, supposing there is evacuation?’

‘No, but he’s been down to the Piraeus to look around. He’s doing his best for you all.’

‘A last-minute effort, I must say. This situation should have been foreseen weeks ago.’

‘If it had been, we’d have chartered ships; and they’d’ve gone to the bottom with the rest.’

‘So nothing has been done, and nothing will be done? Is that it?’

‘Plenty’s being done.’ Glancing at Harriet’s pale face, then back to Phipps, Alan said: ‘For God’s sake, have some sense!’

Tandy had not stopped to listen to this discussion. As though unconcerned in it, he strolled on to the dining-room and Yakimov, who could not bear to let him out of sight, said to Alan: ‘Do come, dear boy. We’re all invited. Friend Tandy is standing treat.’

Alan nodded and Yakimov hurried ahead. Though not the bravest of men, he still had more appetite than the rest of them, and apparently felt that while he remained in the lee of Tandy’s large, sumptuous figure, he had nothing to fear.

They were served with some sort of stewed offal which tasted of nothing at all. Alan gazed at his plate, then put it down in front of the dog.

‘Dear boy!’ Yakimov murmured in protest, but the plate had already been licked clean.

The second course comprised a few squares of cheese and dry bread and Alan left his share for Yakimov.

Jovially chewing cheese, Yakimov added: ‘How is the noble lord these days?’

‘No idea,’ Alan said. ‘He hasn’t been in for a week. The office is empty except for the Twocurrys. Mabel of course, doesn’t know what’s going on, and Gladys isn’t telling her.’

‘So you’re in charge? Then how about getting your Yak back on the payroll?’

Alan’s face collapsed in its odd, pained smile: ‘I’ll see what can be done,’ he promised.

The air-raid sirens sounded and the dining-room became silent as the diners sat tense, awaiting the raid that would reduce Athens to dust. The minutes passed and all that could be heard was the distant thud of the Piraeus guns.

Alan sighed and said: ‘Just a reconnaissance buzzing around.’

‘What do they hope to find?’ Tandy asked.

‘They think we might send reinforcements. They don’t know how little we’ve got.’

‘Perhaps we will send something.’

‘We’ve nothing to send.’

They went up to the terrace and waited for the All Clear. A waning moon edged above the house tops, casting an uneasy, shaded light that accentuated the clotted darkness of the gardens. The raid had brought the city to a standstill. No one moved in the square and there was nothing to be seen but a group of civic police standing, shadowy, among the shadows.

Tandy was exercising himself. Marching with a military strut, he went from one end of the terrace to the other, and Yakimov trotted at his side. Tandy lit one of his Turkish cigarettes. Yakimov, though he hated Turkish cigarettes, felt bound
to imitate his companion. So they walked backwards and forwards, filling the air with a rich Turkish aroma.

Harriet, seated by the rail, watching them as they reached the end of the terrace, turned in unison and came towards her with their long coats sweeping out behind them, was reminded of other wars, remote if not distant, when aristocratic generals conferred on fronts that were not demolished in a day.

Both men were tall but Tandy, topped by the big fur hat that in battle would be an object of terror, looked too large for life. Harriet felt sorry for Yakimov, the fragile ghost, bowed with the effort of keeping up with his monstrous companion. When they came near her, she called him to her. He paused. She lifted the edge of his coat, admiring the lining: ‘A wonderful coat,’ she said. ‘It will last a lifetime.’

‘Two lifetimes, dear girl, if not three. M’poor old dad wore it, you know, and the Czar gave it a bit of wear before it was passed on. I wonder,
did
I tell you the Czar gave it to m’poor old dad?’

‘I think you did.’

‘Magnificent coat.’ Yakimov stroked the fur then turned to Tandy, who was stopped beside him, and happy to share this admiration, said: ‘Yours is a fine coat, too, dear boy. Where did y’get it? Budapest?’

‘Azerbaijan,’ said Tandy. ‘Azerbaijan,’ breathed Yakimov and, putting his cigarette to his lips, he caught his breath in awe.

Their voices had carried on the noiseless air and the police were looking up. As Yakimov drew on his cigarette, they shouted a command which no one but Alan Frewen understood. Yakimov drew again and the command was repeated.

Alan raised himself in his chair, saying urgently: ‘They’re telling you to put out that cigarette,’ but he spoke too late.

The police were armed. One drew his revolver and fired. Tandy ducked and Yakimov folded slowly. He said in a whisper of puzzled protest: ‘Dear boy!’ and collapsed to the ground. His face retained the expression of his words. He
seemed about to speak again but, when Harriet knelt beside him, his breathing had stopped. She pulled his coat open and put her hand on his heart: ‘I think he’s dead,’ she said.

As she spoke, Guy, who had been watching, dazed by what had happened, was suddenly possessed by rage and went to the rail and shouted down: ‘You murderous swine! Do you know what you’ve done? Do you care? You bloody-minded maniacs!’

The police stared up, blank-faced, understanding him no more than Yakimov had understood them.

The shot had brought people to the terrace, among them the hotel manager. Harassed by all the bustle inside the hotel, he had neither time nor sympathy for what had happened outside. He looked at the body and ordered those around it: ‘Take him away,’ but as no one could leave during a raid, he turned in exasperation and went in again.

Harriet pulled Yakimov’s coat about his body and a waiter covered his face with a napkin. When she stood up, she felt dizzy. Spent by the accumulation of events, she collapsed into a chair. Midnight chimed on some distant clock.