The Rattle-Rat (17 page)

"The old chest, you know. Should be in bed, but it's a bit boring at home. Better to be here."

Sudema looked for an ashtray. "Knock it outside," the skipper said. "Portside."

"Where?"

"Left. That side. Where the wind isn't coming from."

De Gier observed the sea that stretched away beyond the merry bow wave, deep blue to the horizon. The flag behind him snapped in the breeze. Seagulls planed effortlessly above the thumping ship as it began to ease itself into the waves.
"Lots of thieves in Ameland?" de Gier asked.

"All residents of islands are thieves," the skipper said.
"I'm from an island myself. The sea brings gifts and you pick them up, and before you know it you're picking up everything in sight. A good habit, in a way, as long as you can keep mum about it. The people of Ameland like to talk too much. They even show their thievery in their flag. You know the Ameland flag? Three beams on a blue field, and the moon in it too. Because they like to steal at night. They put in a crown as well, to make things all right again."

"What did they want with the three beams?"

"Sell them to a builder," the skipper said. "On the mainland. All landlubbers are fences. They leave the adventurous part to us."

Sudema came back to the bridge. "Can I smoke down there?"

"As long as you keep portside," the skipper said. "That's left."

De Gier followed Private Sudema.

"Your uncle mentioned copper," de Gier said. "Would the deserter have been lifting copper? There must be a connection to Scherjoen. Did Scherjoen like copper?"

"Uncle Sjurd was really drunk?" Sudema asked.

"Sorry," de Gier said. "I shouldn't have said I got the tip from a drunk."

"Uncle Sjurd can be as drunk as he likes," Sudema said.
"But he helps to run the church, and I've always seen him slam the cork after he's had two drinks."

"Not this time," de Gier said. "Let him be drunk for once, and tell me about the copper."

Sudema watched the sea. De Gier watched the sea too.

"Aunt Gyske," Sudema said dreamily. "You met her, did you?"

"Yes."

"If I ever get married," Private Sudema said, "she'll have to look like Aunt Gyske."

"She came out better," de Gier said, "because of your pure Frisian soil. Tell me about this copper."

Sudema sighed. "The copper was used to manufacture cartridge casing for the guns of the Air Force. The jets drop them above the islands, when they exercise on their range.
Copper is expensive and the Air Force wants it back, so the Air Force soldiers pick them up, in their own time, at a quarter a casing. Because we patrol around here, we take the soldiers along, or they can hitch a ride with the Water Police or the Navy. Water Inspection will take them too. The Air Force lets us ride their planes at times, if we can think of an excuse. It helps to relieve stress."

"Do the pickers-up of Air Force cartridge casings make a lot of dough?"

"It all adds up," Private Sudema said. "But it takes a while before they get it, because we're all military and nothing ever comes at once. The casings are stored in shacks, and the shacks are emptied only once in so many months.
Then they get their pay. The Air Force sends a vessel for the casings."

"An Air Force vessel?" de Gier asked.

"No, Marines. They ride their armored vehicles on the islands' beaches, and one of their ferries will be lent to the Air Force, but the ferry is really Army."

"The Wet Engineers?"

"The Dry Engineers," Private Sudema said. "The ferries are built to transport tanks, and tanks are dry, but the Dry Engineers don't have boats, so they borrow them from the Wet Engineers and run them temporarily—but that can take forever—for the Air Force."

'The ferry picks up the cartridge casings?"

"If things go right. Last time things went wrong." Private Sudema made his pipe gurgle. "All the shacks were empty."

The vessel cut through mirror-images of clouds. The sign reading ROYAL MILITARY POLICE reflected a thick ray of bright sunlight and became a blue and white symbol of joyful energy above the gray engine room's powerful hum. Fishing vessels heading for the mainland greeted authority by blowing their horns briefly. Sudema saluted stiffly to acknowledge their respect. The ship followed the channel indicated by buoys and by branches, most of them still with their leaves, stuck into the water at the edge of mudbanks. "A service tendered by Water Inspection," Sudema said, "or rather by Forestry.
They have their own boat too, but registered in the name of Water Inspection." Sudema's pipe erupted in sparks. "No, let's see now, maybe the Pilot Service plants those branches, in a boat that belongs to the Port."

De Gier's cigarette smoke went down the wrong way. He coughed and frantically waved his arms. "You should change to a pipe," Private Sudema said. "Pipe tobacco calms the mind." He blew a smoke ring that was torn up by the wind.

A seal appeared and watched de Gier curiously from innocent round eyes, sunk in his round head. "Morning," de Gier said. The seal looked away shyly. The round head changed into a pointed snout as it sank backwards into the waves.

"That deserter," Sudema said. "He sails a nice boat. Made it himself, I believe, a copy of an antique flat-bottomed sloop.
Must have nosed past the islands one dark night and darted in and out before disappearing with the loot."

A patrol boat of the Water Police came by, sinister and
low in the water, with a sharp prow like a warship and painted light gray, with large white numbers.

"Well armed, I suppose?" de Gier asked.

"Not as far as I know," Sudema said. "A carbine, maybe.
We own a few too, but they stay in the barracks."

A larger vessel came by, of the same gray color, again with square white numbers.

"Navy," Sudema said. A cannon without a barrel stood on the foredeck of the boat.

"Does that work?" de Gier asked.

"Used to," Sudema said. "But they lost the barrel years ago. I sometimes ask the sailors about it, but they prefer not to discuss the matter. The barrel cracked during an exercise.
They're trying to replace it, but so far nothing seems to fit very well."

The warship crossed the wakes of Water Police and Military Police vessels.

"Quite a show of strength," de Gier said. 'To what purpose, do you think? Any smuggling here?"

"Only on weekends," Sudema said, "but we aren't around
then. The harbormaster of Ameland reported a suspicious boat some weekends ago, when he was out here fishing. He phoned, and one of us happened to be in the barracks and he might have wanted to go out, but he couldn't raise the skipper. Wouldn't have been any good anyway. Smugglers use flat-bottomed craft so that they can operate outside the channel."

"So you did nothing?"

"We did something," Sudema said. "Our man phoned the alarm stations and an Air Force helicopter went out to take a look. Couldn't see anything. By then the fog had come in.

De Gier rubbed bis eyes. "Yes," Sudema said, "I noticed it just now. You have a nervous tremor in both eyelids.
Should watch that, you know. When I had that, it was diagnosed as stress; a week's leave and it got much better."

"Stress?" de Gier asked. "You were working too hard?"

"That too," Sudema said. "Long hours, but I think it was my engagement. Aunt Gyske had her birthday, and Jymke and I were invited to the party. Uncle Sjurd kept going to his tomatoes in the greenhouse, and Aunt Gyske kept dancing with me. She had this record, slow blues, and the stereo was switched to automatic so the tune kept coming back at us. Jymke got bored and went home, but I didn't notice."

"End of the engagement?"

"I did take her some tulips," Sudema said, "from Aunt Gyske's garden, but she didn't want them, it seemed.
Wouldn't come to the door."

Ameland showed as a thin yellow line, dotted with green.
De Gier practiced deep breathing on the after deck. A soldier came to fetch him to have coffee in the skipper's cabin. The other soldier was in charge of the bridge. The skipper and Sudema were waiting at the table.

"An exciting life," the skipper said. "I'm due to retire next year, but they won't get me to stay at home. I'm building my own boat on weekends. I'll just keep going."

"Here?" de Gier asked.

"Where else?" The skipper pounded the table. "This is where I belong. I'll be here until doomsday."

The harbormaster welcomed the ship, telling the skipper that he came in too fast again.

"Can't go any slower," the skipper said. "If I did, I'd be in reverse."

"That bow wave of yours is mining my dock."

"Next time I'll come straight through it."

"I'll report you to your boss."

"Why don't you?" the skipper asked. "You'd do me a favor. I don't think I have a boss, but if I have, I would like to meet him."

"We brought some very nice fresh tomatoes," Private Sudema said kindly.

The soldiers carried two cases of tomatoes ashore and walked back lugging a crate filled with sole.

"Your own catch?" de Gier asked.

"No time for that," the harbormaster said. "You have no
idea how busy they keep me here. The fishermen bring in the sole. Undersized, but each fishing boat can bring in two crates, by permission of the Fishing Inspection."

"Are they around here too?"

"Not in their own boat," Sudema said. "They're using a NATO vessel now, temporarily registered with our Navy."

Two State Police officers drove down the jetty and parked their Land Rover near the harbormaster's office. The harbormaster invited them in for coffee. There was time for conversation, on the subject of tennis. The State Police officers played a lot of tennis on weekdays, they said, for they were off duty over the weekends.

"Do you close down your station during weekends?" de Gier asked.

"Yes," said the officer in charge, "but we could still be reached by phone through headquarters ashore. Headquarters could then call us at our homes, and if there was some urgency, let's say, we would probably be able to go see what might be going on."

"As long as it doesn't happen too often," the subordinate
officer said. "Listen, we've got some forty square miles here, and there are only seven of us. There's a lot of overtime already. All sorts of things to do."

"I hear you allow nudism on the beaches," de Gier said.

"Yes," said the officer in charge. "We used to look at them a lot when nudism was still new—some nice ladies around—but you get used to what they have on show. I prefer birdwatching now. More variety. I check them in my birdbook, and as soon as I identify them I cross them off."

The harbormaster excused himself. A boat approached the jetty.

"Shall we go?" the officer in charge asked.

The trip didn't take long, although there were two interruptions. A cyclist had strayed from the path reserved for cyclists and had to be spoken to, and a man who was cleaning his ashtray above a garbage can provided by the authorities, but who had dropped two butts on the way, was criticized politely. Both lawbreakers apologized profusely.

"Got to pay attention to everything here," the subordinate officer said, once they had reached their station. "Coffee, Sergeant?"

"No thanks," de Gier said. "I'm suffering from a little
stress. Coffee makes it worse."

"Should try some fishing," the officer in charge said. "We have been told to fish in lieu of expensive therapy. Fishing for eel is most recommended. We put out our trap and pull it in after six hours. Meanwhile we wait." De Gier was shown the eel traps that were drying on lines in the yard. A motorcycle leaned against a wall. "Dirt bike," the subordinate officer said. "I enjoyed it for a while, but it's for sale now. Good rough tires. Will take you across any dune, but the movement is too hectic, gives you a pain in the kidneys."

"The sergeant used to serve with die Amsterdam motorcycle brigade," Private Sudema said.

"Be my guest," the officer said. "Take her out, once you've made your arrest. The deserter is home, I caught a glimpse of him this morning."

"Couldn't you have grabbed him?" de Gier asked.

"I?" the officer asked. "A State Police official? Bother a military subject?"

Private Sudema coughed behind his hand.

"I'm sorry," de Gier said.

"We do try to help our colleagues at times," the officer said, "but we don't mind their business, that's something else again."

The house that Sudema pointed out was surrounded by rosebushes. "I'll ring the bell," Sudema said. "He might not want to come out, in which case he'll probably leave by the door in the rear."

"Should I hang around in the back?" de Gier asked.

"Why not?" Sudema said. "Wish him the time of day.
He's supposed to be a pleasant fellow. Easy to talk to, I'm told."

De Gier squatted behind the fence and peered through the roses. In the garden, a cat had stretched itself out to enjoy the sun. Crows conversed slowly on the roof. A peewit tumbled about in the sky. Ducks flapped their wings on their way to the sea. A young man came out of the kitchen door and picked up a rake. He raked the path to the barn, left the rake against a doorpost, and went inside. In the barn a motorcycle started up. De Gier jumped up and waved. "Hello?"

The young man on the motorcycle raced through the open gate.

Sudema strolled around the house. "That was our friend."

"Too fast for me," de Gier said.

"Gone now," Sudema said. "Pity, in a way. Well, there's always another time."