It was just as Sam had predicted. Bayliss became mulish.
"How do I know that? This the only boat I got I don't want to lose her. No, Mr. Mangan, better wait for sunrise."
1 argued a bit but it was useless; the more I argued the more Bayliss dug in his heels.
"All right," I said in the end.
"We wait for sunrise."
"Jesus!" said Sam suddenly.
"The knife I left it on the chart table." He turned and looked below.
"Watch it!" he yelled.
"He's coming through the fore hatch
I looked forward and saw a dark shape moving in the bows, then there was a flash and a flat report and a spaaaang as a bullet ricocheted off metal. Sam straightened and cannoned into me.
"Over the side!"
There was no time to think but it made immediate sense. You could not fight a man with a gun on a deck he knew like the back of his own hand. I stepped on to the cockpit seat and jumped, tripping on something as I did so and because of that I made a hell of a splash.
There was another splash as Sam followed, and then I ducked under water because a light flashed from the sloop and the beam searched the surface of the water and there was another muzzle flash as Kayles shot again.
It was then I thanked Pete Albury for his swimming lessons on the reefs around Abaco. Scuba gear had just been introduced in those days and its use was not general; anyway, Pete had a hearty contempt for it. He had taught me deep diving and the breath control necessary so that I could go down among the coral. Now I made good use of his training.
I dribbled air from my mouth, zealously conserving it, while conscious of the hunting light flickering over the surface above. I managed to kick off my shoes, being thankful that I was not wearing lace-ups, and the swimming became easier. I was swimming in circles and, just before I came up for more air, I heard the unmistakeable vibrations of something heavy entering the water and I wondered what it was.
I. came to the surface on my back so that just my nose and mouth were above water. Filling my lungs I paddled myself under again, trying not to splash. I reckoned I could stay underwater for two minutes on every lungful of air, and I came up three times about six minutes.
The last time I came up I put my head right out and shook the water from my ears.
Then I heard the regular throb of the engine of Bayhss's boat apparently running at top speed. Ready to duck again if it came my way I listened intently, but the noise died away in the distance and presently there^ vas nothing to be heard. The sound of a voice floated softly over the water.
"Tom!"
"That you, Sam?"
"I think he's gone."
I swam in what I thought was Sam's direction.
"Gone where?"
"I don't know. He took Bayliss's boat."
"Where's Bayliss?" I saw the ripples Sam was making and came up next to him.
"I don't know," said Sam.
"I think he went overboard, too. He may still be in the boat, though."
"Let's not jump to conclusions," I said.
"That might have been Bayliss running away, and Kayles might still be around."
Sam said, "I was bobbing under the bows and Kayles was swearing fit to bust a gut. First, he tried to start the engine and it seized up.
Then he tried to hoist sail and found he couldn't. I think it's fairly certain he took Bayliss's boat. "
"Well, if we're going to find out, let's do it carefully," I said We made a plan, simple enough, which was to come up simultaneously on both sides of the sloop, hoping to catch Kayles in a pincer if he was still there. On execution we found the sloop deserted. Sam said, "Where's Bayliss?"
We shouted for a long time and flashed the light over the water but saw and heard nothing. Sam said, "It's my fault, Tom. I botched it. I forgot the knife."
"Forget it," I said.
"Which way do you think Kayles went?"
"I don't know, but in his place I'd head north. He has fifty miles of fuel and maybe more, and there are plenty of cays up there to get lost in. He might even have enough fuel to get to Exuma." He took a deep breath.
"What do we do now?"
I had been thinking about that.
"We wait until sunrise, do the repairs, find Bayliss if we can, go back to Duncan Town and report to the Government Commissioner, and have Bill Pinder make an air search for that son of a bitch."
It was an uneasy night and a worse morning because, while Sam was repairing the halliards, I went under the stern to cut the fish net from around the propeller and found Bayliss jammed in there. He had been shot through the head and was very dead.
That broke up Sam Ford more than anything else and it did not do me much good.
Deputy-Commissioner Perigord was thunderous and gave the definite impression that invisible lightning was flashing around his head.
"You had Kayles and you let him go!" he said unbelievingly.
"Not deliberately," I said.
"There wasn't much we could do about it he had the gun."
"But you did go off half-cocked. I warned you about that. Why, in God's name, didn't you tell me you knew where Kayles was?"
