Chapter 8 Chapter VII

It was already dark when Dr. Sanders wandered into Cheng Jin's shop again.Nichols and Blake were sitting there, drinking beer.The doctor led them to the guest house where they lived.Nichols had been gossiping about family matters, he was a natural laugher, and Fred remained sullen and silent.The doctor knew he didn't want to be here.When he entered the living room of the house, he glanced around quickly and mistrustfully, as if he knew there was something hidden in the house that he didn't.At this moment, the scorpion tiger in the room suddenly let out a piercing cry, and Fred was startled suddenly.

"It's just a lizard," said the doctor. "Scared me a lot." The doctor called Akai and asked him to bring whiskey and glasses.Akai was the boy who accompanied him to serve him. "I can't drink it," said the captain, "it's like poison to me. I can't eat anything that gives me a stomachache." "I'll get you some medicine," said the doctor. He went to his medicine chest, took a few things, mixed them in a glass, and made the captain swallow them. "After taking this medicine, you will probably be able to eat this meal more safely."

The doctor poured himself and Fred Blake each a glass of whiskey, and turned on the gramophone.Blake listened to the record, and his face became a little more alert.At the end of a song, he changed a record himself.The music played, and he swayed gently to the melody, staring at the gramophone intently.He stole a few glances at Dr. Saunders, but the doctor pretended not to see it.Captain Nichols continued to chat with the doctor, his sly eyes were always rolling around, and he couldn't stop for a moment.They talked mainly about Nichols, his stories in Fuzhou, Shanghai and Hong Kong, and the drunken parties he attended there.At this time, Akai served dinner, so everyone sat down.

"I like what I eat," said the captain, "no lie, I like good, simple food. I've never been a big eater. A piece of roast meat, a little vegetable, and a little cheese at the end, I It's enough. No one can eat more simply than me, right? And then twenty minutes later - every time, it's like clockwork - my stomach shows me the color Yes. I tell you, if a man suffers as I do, he's better off dead. Do you know old George Vaughn? He's the best sailor. He's on Jardin's boat, and they used to go Amoy. His indigestion was killing him, and he hanged himself. I know exactly what it's like to be a damned day when you're sick."

Akai's craftsmanship is very good, and Fred Black gave a fair evaluation: "Compared with the food on the small sailboat, this is definitely a feast." "Actually, most of them are canned food, but the kid added seasoning and remade it. Chinese people are naturally good cooks." "This is the best meal I've had in five weeks." The doctor remembered that they said it was from Thursday Island, and that if the weather was as good as they said it would be enough to get here a week at most from there. "What kind of place is Thursday Island?" asked the doctor.

"Absolutely a ghost place. There's nothing but goats. It's windy all year round. It blows this way for the first six months and blows that way for the next six months, making people upset." It was Nick who answered the doctor's question. Captain Ernes, his eyes twinkling with triumph, as if he saw through the doctor's intentions behind the simple question, and was glad he had come up with such an easy response. "Do you live there?" the doctor asked Blake.There was a frank smile on his mouth. "No, I live in Brisbane," he replied abruptly. "Blake's got some money," said Captain Nichols, "and he wants to visit the country, look for business opportunities, see what can be invested in. It's my idea. You know, I'm quite fond of the country." Familiar, and I must say, it's rare to see a young man with any money these days. If I had money, I'd buy a big farm on some island."

"A little more pearl fishing," said Blake. "As for labor, you can pick whatever you want, as long as it's local. You just sit and let others work for you. What a life. What a wonderful thing for young people to live like this." The captain's sneaky eyes that always turned back and forth rested on the doctor's gentle face. It was not difficult to see that he was observing the doctor's reaction after hearing his words.The doctor believed that the two of them improvised the story in the afternoon.When the captain saw that the doctor was not being deceived, he smiled happily, as if he had had so much fun just by making up a lie that if the doctor took his lie seriously, it would destroy the original meaning of the lie itself. Come for the fun.

"So we came here." He continued, "There is nothing on this island that Cheng Jin doesn't know, so I thought, why not do business with Cheng Jin, so I asked the boy in the store to bring a message to Cheng Jin said I wanted to see him." "I know, he told me." "Have you met him? Did he say anything about me?" "Yes. He told you to get out of here quickly." "Why, why does he not like me?" "He didn't say." "We were at odds before, and I know it, but that happened many years ago. It's really meaningless to hold on to one thing for so many years. If I want to say it, I should have forgiven and forgotten it long ago. "

Captain Nichols had such a peculiar knack for playing mean tricks on a man and yet at the same time having a way of keeping him from feeling disgusted afterward that he couldn't understand how the victim could always be hostile to him.Dr. Saunders saw through this characteristic of the captain, which pleased him, who had always looked at the world with a cold eye and entertained humanity. "It seems that Cheng Jin has a good memory," he said. They chatted about other odds and ends. "Do you know?" asked the captain suddenly, "I don't think my indigestion will be a problem tonight. To be honest, what kind of elixir did you give me?"

"It's just a little medicine, which I found in my practice is very effective for chronic diseases like yours." "Give me some more." "It might not work next time. You have to treat it well." "Can you cure me?" The doctor felt that his chance had come. "It's hard to say. But if I can observe you for a few days and try a drug or two, maybe I can find a way." "I'd be happy to stay here for a few days for you to have a look. We're not in a hurry." "Don't care about Cheng Jin?" "Can he do it?"

"Shut up," said Fred Black, "I don't want to get in trouble here. We're leaving in the morning." "Standing and talking doesn't hurt your back, and you don't have my disease. Listen, I'm going to meet that dead old man tomorrow and see what he's going to do to me." "We set sail tomorrow," Blake insisted. "It's up to me to decide, and I will leave only if I say so." The two looked at each other for a while, and then the captain smiled, showing the usual friendliness on the fox's face.Fred Black, on the other hand, frowned, sullenly.Dr. Sanders broke the silent quarrel and said: "Captain, you probably don't understand the Chinese as well as I do, but you have to understand that if they already resent you, don't expect them to beg for you. If you say a few words to them, you will be let off." The captain raised his fist and slammed it hard on the table. "Isn't it just a matter of a few hundred pounds? Cheng Jin is so rich, does it make a difference if he takes a few hundred pounds less? Anyway, he is just an old liar." "Don't you know what a liar hates most?—there's nothing worse than being put on by another liar." Captain Nichols, who had been scowling sullenly, cast his greenish eyes closer as he cast an angry glance into the air, as if merging into a point, and looked like a A naughty customer.However, after hearing what the doctor said, he looked away and laughed. "Well said! I like you, doctor. You don't have any scruples about what you say. I'm right. There are all kinds of people in this world. Open your eyes wide and let go Be savvy and let the foolish ones who are left last suffer, that's what I'm trying to say. You say fools don't do it if they have a chance to earn a vote. Of course everyone makes mistakes, but you can't predict the future. What will happen, won't it?" "Let the doctor give you some more of that medicine and teach you how to take it, wouldn't that be all right?" Black said. He has calmed down. "I won't do that," said the doctor. "I'll tell you, I've had enough of this shitty island. I want to get out. If you'll let me take your sailboat to Timor, Makassar Sishi or Surabaya, I can give you any treatment you want." "That's all right," said Captain Nichols. "Terrible," Blake said loudly. "why?" "We don't take passengers." "We could sign him up." "We don't have decent board and lodging." "I guess doctors aren't particularly picky." "Not at all. I bring my own food. I can get a lot of canned food from Cheng Jin, and he has a lot of beer." "Still not," Blake said. "Listen, boy, do you think who's in charge of this boat, you or me?" "If it's fundamental, it's me." "Forget about it at once, boy, I'm the captain, and I've got the final say." "Whose ship is this?" "You know very well whose ship it is." Dr. Saunders watched them with interest, not missing a detail with his bright, responsive eyes.The captain's good temper was gone, and his face was flushed red with rage.And the young man also looked angry, clenched his fists, and poked his head forward stiffly. "I'll take him aboard, that's all," he said aloud. "Okay," said the doctor, "you won't lose a piece of meat, it's only five or six days. Let's talk about friendship. If you don't take me away, God knows how long I will stay here." "That's your problem." "Why do you always have trouble with me?" "That's my business." Dr. Saunders shot him a questioning look.Blake wasn't just angry, he was nervous.His handsome and sullen face was pale.Why was he so against the doctor getting on their little schooner?This is really a strange thing, because in this sea area, people should not hesitate to agree to take people halfway, and Cheng Jin also said that they did not carry cargo.But maybe it's something that doesn't take up much space and is easy to hide, neither morphine nor cocaine takes up much space and can be a lot of money in the right places. "If you agree, it will really help me a lot," said the doctor gently. "I'm sorry, and I don't want to look so disrespectful, but Nichols and I are here to do business. We have our own route, so it's impossible to send a passenger to a place we don't want to go." "I've known the doctor for twenty years," Nichols said, "and he's all right." "You just met him this morning." "I know all about him," said the captain, laughing, showing his small, decayed and discolored teeth.He should have pulled those teeth, the doctor thought. "And if what I've heard is true, he won't give us any trouble." He glanced shrewdly at the doctor, who amused him by capturing the sternness behind his friendly smile.The doctor accepted the captain's glance without fear, which made it impossible to judge whether the captain didn't mean what he said, or the doctor didn't understand what the captain meant. "I don't like being nosy," he said with a smile. "Peaceful coexistence, if you want me to say it." The captain said, his tone was very tolerant and kind, but he still looked like a rascal. "When I said no, I didn't just say it casually." The young man said stubbornly. "Well, I'm tired of talking to you," Nichols said. "There's nothing to be afraid of." "Who said I was scared?" "I." "I have nothing to fear." The two of them confront each other sentence by sentence.The doctor found it amusing to see them annoyed.What secret is hidden between them?Apparently, it was Fred Black, not Nichols, who had to do with the secret.This gangster has no conscience. In the eyes of Dr. Sanders, Nichols is not the kind of person who would make the other party feel better if he knew the other's secret.Although he couldn't tell the exact reason, the doctor always felt that no matter what kind of secret it was, Nichols didn't know about it and only had suspicions. At any rate, the doctor was impatient to get aboard the schooner and leave this remote island, and as he did not intend to pass up the opportunity, he prepared to employ some cunning artifice of retreat to achieve his purpose.It made him feel very happy. "Look, I don't want you guys fighting over me. If Blake doesn't want me on the boat, then we'll never talk about it." "But I need you," retorted the captain. "It's a one-in-a-million chance for me. If there is anyone in the world who can cure my indigestion, it's you. You think I will be in vain." Are you letting go of such an opportunity? Absolutely not." "You've got indigestion on your mind!" said Blake. "As I say, if you only eat what you can eat and don't get mad, it's all right." "Oh, really? Seems like you know my stomach better than I do, and don't you know that when I swallow a piece of unbuttered toast, it's like a ton of lead in my stomach ? Next time, do you want to say that I am imagining this all from psychological hints?" "As far as I'm concerned, it's not that serious if you don't fucking think about it." "You son of a bitch." "Who are you calling a son-of-a-bitch?" "Calling you." "Stop arguing," said the doctor. Captain Nichols let out a loud belch. "Thanks to this beast, now I have a stomach bug again. Only today in three months can I sit comfortably after dinner. Now it's fine, the old problem is back. Getting angry like this is a death sentence for me , my stomach will give me a color immediately. I am a very nervous person, always have. I thought I would have a good night today, but now he ruined it. My indigestion It's really torturous." "I'm sorry," said the doctor. "That's what everybody says, they say, Captain, you're a nervous wreck. Vulnerable, you say? You're weaker than a child." Dr. Saunders is deeply sympathetic. "If I'm not mistaken, you really need to be observed, and your stomach needs to be taken care of. If I can get on the boat with you, I can make your digestive juices more obedient. I can't say that six or seven days of treatment is enough. It can work, but at least it can give you a head start. But it probably won't work now." "Who said you won't be allowed on board?" "Blake, I guess he's the boss." "Really? Then you are very wrong. I am the captain, and I have the final say. Pack your luggage and go to the ship tomorrow morning. I will sign the crew contract with you." "You have no right to do that," said Blake, standing up at once. "My words carry as much weight as yours. I don't want him to come aboard. I don't want anyone aboard our little schooner, that's all." "Oh, is it? What if I take the boat straight to the BNB? That's British territory, boy." "Then you may wish for a safe journey." "Do you think I'm afraid of you? I've been wandering around the world before you were born, and you think I don't know how to take care of myself? Stabbed me in the back, would you do that? Don't you think about it Who's sailing the boat, you or those four niggers? You make me laugh at how naive you are. Why? Because you don't know anything about boats." Blake clenched his fists again.The two glared at each other, but there was a mocking sneer in the captain's eyes.He knew that in the final showdown, he would have the upper hand.Blake sighed softly. "Where do you want to go?" he asked the doctor. "Any Dutch island will do, as long as it gives me a ride on another ship." "Well, then you come together. Anyway, it's better to have someone with you than to be shut up in the cabin alone." As he spoke, he gave the captain a helpless and hateful look.Captain Nichols smiled kindly. "That's right, I can keep you company, boy. We'll start at about ten o'clock tomorrow morning. Can you do it at this time?" "I'm fine," said the doctor.