Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 39, No. 6, June, 1994
- Автор: Bashover Albert, Crawford Dan
- Год: 1994
- Язык: английский
- Год: Dell Magazines
- ISBN: ISSN: 0002-5224
- Жанр: Другие детективы
Электронная книга - «Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 39, No. 6, June, 1994». Краткое содержание книги:
“It seems some of the villagers tried to escape into the surrounding hills. We found one body as we rode in. I suggest you check up the pathway.”
The man nodded his head slightly. “We will.”
“What makes you think the pirates will return?”
“We can only hope. Hope that they will return to allow me to die with the sweet taste of revenge on the edge of my blade.”
“You know that’s not likely.”
“Yes. That’s why we are repairing our fishing boats. They smashed most of them. Then we can go on a hunt.”
“And when you find them?”
The man put his arms around the skinny boy. “No death will be sweeter for me and my son.”
Inspector Kang bowed from the waist. “I wish you good hunting, brave fisherman. My scribe and I must leave to continue our investigation.”
“You’ve been sent by the good King Sejong?”
“Yes.”
The man pushed the boy forward roughly. “Here. Take my son. His name is Yong-sok. He will be your servant and assist you in your endeavors.”
“You’ve already lost so much, good fisherman. Certainly this last sacrifice is not necessary.”
“If you are trying to find the pirates, it is necessary.”
When we left, the barefoot boy followed in the dust. After a few li, my master looked back, patted the rump of his steed, and helped the boy hop up. The filthy urchin clung like a sack of rag and bones to the magnificence of the Inspector of the Five White Horses.
The headquarters of the Royal Commandant Protector of the Southern Coast sat on a windswept promontory overlooking the sea. The spiked tops of ironclad turtle ships bobbed in the gently rolling waters by the quay. Verdant islands overcast with mist stretched off like giant stepping-stones into the horizon.
We were greeted formally by guards at the entranceway. Captain Yi was a burly man with a long drooping mustache, resplendent in the gold embroidery of his red naval robes. He grasped the hilt of his sword as he bowed and escorted us into his chart room.
No one seemed to notice me or the raggedy boy Yong-sok, but accepted us as part of Inspector Kang’s strange entourage. Envoys of the Great King Sejong Daewang were, after all, known to have their eccentricities.
Captain Yi spread a large chart on a high table and immediately began his briefing. Servants brought barley tea and rice cakes. The boy and I pounced on them. He was a greedy little rascal, but I resisted the temptation to throw an elbow into his face. Inspector Kang and the captain paid no attention.
Captain Yi explained all the various passageways usually used by pirates.
“We’re guarding them with every available ship. Certainly there are many spots for them to slip through, but I’ve also got roving patrols and villagers on various islands and seacoasts who are commissioned to observe and report to me any strange ship movements. So far we’ve got nothing. It’s as if the marauders dropped out of the sky.”
“Maybe it’s not Japanese pirates,” said Inspector Kang. “Has there been any movement by the Chinese pirate King Koxinga?”
“None that we’ve seen. The Chinese sealords usually travel in great force. When they arrive, it’s more like an invading armada than a pirate raid. These could, of course, have been his scouts, but even then it seems I would have found some trace of their movements.”
Captain Yi stepped away from his charts and bowed.
“If the Great King commands it, I will resign my post, for no protector of the king’s subjects should have been so incompetent in this matter. And if my death will allow the navy to save face, he will have that, too.”
Inspector Kang’s face flushed, and he pointed to the charts. “Rise, Captain Yi, and return to your charts. The king commands you to keep working on this problem. He told me himself that you are the best man for the job, so no more talk about resignation or the spilling of your own blood.”
Mollified, Captain Yi rose and returned to his work. Inspector Kang spoke as if nothing had happened.
“Tell me about the pirates in these waters.”
“The Japanese pirates are good and able seamen, worthy opponents. But once they get on land, they are nothing but wastrels. All discipline breaks down, and their only thought is to pillage and rape. May the good Lord Buddha help anyone who stands in their way, for their avarice knows no bounds.”
“Don’t the villagers fight back?”
“Of course. But the pirates are not fools. They always choose villages with weak or nonexistent fortifications, and they are always sure that they outnumber their opponents and have superior weaponry. They’ve managed to accumulate large stocks of the best in pikes and swords and arrows. Simple fishermen can’t afford such things. The pirates even have a few of the exploding sticks brought by the dog-face invaders.”
“Could it be the dog-men causing these troubles?”
“No. They are unaccustomed to our waters and therefore clumsy and easy to spot. I can’t believe it could have been them.”
Inspector Kang strode around the table, gazing down at the chart and the spots marked where the pirates had struck.
“The attacks seem to erupt along the coast like a growth centered on the township of Mokpo.”
“I thought of that,” Captain Yi said. “But that could be the aimless clustering of random events. After a few more attacks the center might appear to be somewhere else.”
“So it might.” Inspector Kang stroked his clean chin, as if waiting for the whiskers that would one day sprout when he became old and wise.
“What do the pirates do, Captain Yi, with the villagers they capture alive?”
“Usually they are women — young women — or children old enough to work. Sometimes men, if they are docile enough. They are sold on the island of Tsushima or the large island of Honshu if they can manage to get them back there. Sometimes, of course, they starve or are exposed to the elements too long, or the women are handled too roughly by the crew and damaged and thrown overboard as a token of good will to the killer fish, the brothers of the pirates. It is from the slave trade that the pirates derive much of their profit.”
“Who brings in more money? A young woman or a child who can work?”
“It depends on the comeliness of the slave. Sometimes the child can work and serve the purposes of a woman.”
Inspector Kang shook his head sadly and continued to study the charts, asking a few more questions of Captain Yi. The rice cakes were gone and no servants appeared with more, so Yong-sok and I got restless. Finally the interview was over, and Captain Yi escorted us to the door. In a moment we were mounted and riding north away from the coast.
“Forgive me for saying so, master,” I said, “but this Captain Yi seems unsure of himself.”
“Not unsure of himself,” Inspector Kang said. “He is a competent man faced with an insoluble problem. Therefore, he cannot stop tormenting himself by thinking there’s something he has overlooked.”
“Is there something he’s overlooked?”
“There must be.”
The boy sat morosely throughout the long day’s ride, staring at nothing as if his mind were a clean slate. I didn’t speak to him and didn’t try any foolish attempt at lifting his spirits. As long as he seemed to be in a trance he was safe, safe from the memories of his mother and his dead sisters. I’ve never been one of those who launch into foolish prattle in the vain effort to lift the spirits of someone sunk in grief. The goal is usually to make the prattler feel better, make him feel that he has done a good deed. If the bereaved person starts to pour his heart out, the prattler retreats, thinking his job is done, becoming frightened by the emotion that he has unleashed. Better by far to leave them alone and respond if they need you.