اپکاکوئانها

Chapter two

The Ipecacuanha

I spent the day either eating or sleeping. The next morning I felt a stronger and got out of bed. Montgomery lent me some clothes.

They were too big - Montgomery was a tall man. But since my own clothes were destroyed, I was very grateful to him.

As I dressed, he told me about the Ipecacuanha’s captain, Davis.

‘He’s drunk most of the time. But I don’t have to worry about him for much longer. I’m getting off the ship soon.’

‘Where?’ I asked, surprised. Were we not still in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?

‘At the island where I live. I don’t think it has a name.’ He gave me a hard look. ‘No more questions,’ his eyes seemed to say. Then I followed him out of the room for a walk around the ship.

On the ladder to the top part of the ship, there was a man in our way. I could only see the man’s back, but even from this view he seemed strange. He was very short and wide, with a hairy neck and a head that was in front of, not above, his shoulders. He wore dark blue work clothes and had long, thick black hair.

The man heard our steps and looked round with the speed of an animal. His face was even stranger than his body. He had black skin and dark eyes with almost no white in them. His mouth was shaped more like a bear’s or a dog’s than a man’s, with the largest teeth that you can imagine. The ugliness of this man hit me like a wave, and in my weak state I almost fell. But Montgomery held my arm and helped me towards the ladder.

‘Get out of our way, M’ling’ he shouted at the man. ‘You shouldn’t be here. Your place is at the front of the ship, with the sailors.’

‘They don’t want me with them,’ replied the man called M’ling. ‘They don’t want you with them? Don’t be so stupid. Go, I say!’ M’ling moved away slowly, and I followed Montgomery up the ladder. At the top I discovered where all the animal noises were coming from. There were lots of dogs tied up in one corner. In another corner was a puma in a cage that was too small for it. Rabbits, also in cages, filled the rest of the space. There were bits of animal food everywhere, and the smell was terrible.

Suddenly there was a cry from the front of the ship, and someone shouted angrily. The strange man with the black face, M’ling, ran towards us, followed by a man with red hair and a white hat. When the dogs saw M’ling, they became even noisier than before. He stopped near them for a second. The other man reached him and hit him hard between the shoulders. M’ling fell down next to the dogs, crying out in pain. The dogs growled angrily and jumped on him. Some sailors came to watch with interest. They did not try to help.

‘Stop that’ shouted Montgomery, hurrying towards them. M’ling finally pushed the dogs away and stood up. He held on to the side of the ship, clearly afraid of the red-haired man’s next move.

Montgomery reached them. ‘This must stop, Captain,’ he said angrily, holding on to the red-haired man’s arm.

I stood behind Montgomery. The captain turned and looked at us rudely. His body moved from side to side as he stood there. He was clearly drunk.

‘What must stop?’ he laughed.

‘M’ling is your passenger. Keep your hands off him or.’

‘Damn you, Montgomery! This is my ship, and I make the rules!’

‘M’ling works for me. Don’t hurt him again, do you hear?’

The captain looked at Montgomery sleepily for about a minute. ‘Damn scientists,’ he finally said in reply.

Montgomery was getting very angry.

‘He’s drunk, Montgomery,’ I said to him. ‘He won’t listen when lie’s like this.’

‘He’s always drunk,’ Montgomery answered. ‘Does that give him permission to hit his passengers?’

‘My ship,’ the captain said, waving his hand at the cages, ‘was a clean ship. Look at it now!’

‘You agreed to take the animals,’ shouted Montgomery.

‘And why do you want animals like these on your damn island, hey? And that man of yours! He’s not a man. He’s a monster!’

‘You leave him alone, I say,’ continued Montgomery.

‘I’ll cut out his insides if he comes to the front of the ship again. Sailors only at the front. Cut out his damn insides, I will! Damn you, and damn your crazy island.’

The captain continued to shout at Montgomery for some time. Montgomery took a step towards him. I did not want a fight on board, so I stopped him.

‘He’s drunk,’ I said. ‘Just leave him.’

The captain started shouting rudely again.

‘That’s enough’ I shouted back at him.

If was not sensible to shout at the captain, of course. I was alive only as a result of his help. And I had no money to pay for my journey on his ship.

For some time he shouted angrily about his kindness to me. But there was no fight between Montgomery and the captain, and for that I was grateful.