Journey to the River Sea

Mr Carter did not answer. For one thing he never spoke to his wife if he could help it, and for another the last thing he wanted was to go back to England. He had left his job in the bank there in a hurry. Quite a big hurry. If he had stayed even a few days longer the police would have come for him because he had borrowed money that did not belong to him. And out here he was getting behind-hand again with certain payments. The forty thousand milreis would have helped to clear his debts. They wouldn’t have cleared them, but they would have helped.

Mrs Carter was frowning, thinking of Maia. ‘I don’t really trust that girl – and the governess favours her.’

‘Well, if you send her away we’re done for,’ said Mr Carter. ‘I owe that rogue Gonzales three batches of rubber and I haven’t got one.’

‘How can that be?’

‘You wouldn’t understand,’ said Mr Carter wearily.

He sighed and reached for the lamp, but Mrs Carter got up once more and took her flit gun from under the bed. She was almost sure that she had heard something buzzing by the window.

Maia had put on her dressing gown and crept down the corridor to Miss Minton’s room. She had brought her hairbrush, but the hundred strokes were just an excuse. She was perfectly capable of brushing her own hair.

‘But where can he have gone, Minty? The actors aren’t here any more and he doesn’t know anyone else in Manaus. I’m so worried about him.’

‘He won’t come to any harm,’ said Miss Minton, brushing steadily. ‘He’s quite a sensible boy really.’

But Maia could not see it like that.

When Miss Minton had taken Clovis to the empty hut, it was with the idea of keeping him safe until she could make other arrangements for him. She was sure now that Mr Carter had never sent the cable to Mr Murray and she had hoped to ask Sergei’s family to take Clovis in for a while. The Keminskys were well known for their hospitality, and in the end surely the British Consul would do something for the boy? But the Keminskys had gone to visit one of their farms in the north, and they had been forced to hide Clovis for a second night.

And now the boy had vanished.

The next day was a Sunday. On one Sunday in the month an English vicar came out to conduct a service in the next village upriver from the Carters’ house. Mrs Carter liked church. The twins in their pretty dresses were always admired, she heard other English voices... In England they had sometimes been allowed to join Lady Parsons in her pew. She had expected Maia to accompany them, but the girl looked peaked and wretched and had been sick in the night.

Mrs Carter did not like people being sick. ‘I hope it’s not infectious,’ she said to Miss Minton, who shook her head. She knew exactly why Maia had been sick. She was worried about Clovis. She had been sick after she came across an Indian being flogged on Mr Carter’s orders.

‘I think she needs a quiet morning by herself,’ said Miss Minton, and was told that it was her duty to accompany the twins.

‘We don’t want people saying we can’t afford a governess,’ said Mrs Carter to her husband.

So the family disappeared upriver in the launch. Maia noticed that it was not Furo who was steering the boat, but it was not till Furo came himself and beckoned to her that she allowed herself to hope.

‘Come,’ he said, as he had done the first time and Maia got up quickly and followed him. Her sickness had gone. She felt hopeful and excited. If this was a summons from Finn, perhaps he would know what to do.

This time she was not asked to put on a blindfold and at this sign of trust her spirits rose still further. When they came to the green wall, she could make out the opening, now that she knew it was there. It wasn’t much more than a change in the colour of the green as the rushes took over from the undergrowth. She closed her eyes to protect them against the branches, and then they were through and she was in the lagoon again.

Even before she saw Finn, she felt as though she was coming home.

The dog wagged his tail; properly this time; nothing too gushing – he was not that kind of dog – but he remembered her.

She jumped out onto the jetty. Finn’s hair was coal-black, as it had been the first time she saw him, and he wore his headband; he was in his Indian guise again. But he looked relaxed and untroubled, and when she thought of the crows she found herself shivering.

‘They’ve been at the Carters,’ she said. ‘The crows.’

‘I know.’

Of course, he would know. He knew everything.

‘And you’ve lost your little actor friend,’ he said, grinning.

Furo had paddled back to the entrance and Maia followed Finn into the hut. He had a bowl of fruit on the table – avocados, prickly pears, nuts, a melon. Her mouth watered but she turned her head away, angry with Finn for speaking so carelessly of Clovis.

‘Yes, I’m so worried about him. He came and the twins jeered at him and Mrs Carter said he had to go back. But the actors had gone so we hid him in the store hut.’

‘We?’