Strange Cargo Page #7

- Give it here.

What's your hurry?

Can't wait to feel it running down, huh?

Maybe it'll be nice and cool,

and maybe, if it's salty,

it'll sting and burn,

and then you'll sit there staring,

waiting for the old man

with the long whiskers.

You know about the old man

with the long whiskers, don't you, Verne?

He's been right here on this boat with us

all the time.

He got Flaubert and he took the kid.

Maybe he could have waited a little while

about the kid, though,

but I guess it's all right.

He didn't mean much to anybody,

except to me.

He didn't have what a man needs

in this world, what you've got, Verne.

He wasn't strong like you.

He didn't have your insides.

He didn't have much of anything.

He was just a nice kid, that's all.

And maybe he would have missed me

if I went first,

like the girl there will miss you

when you go.

So why should we let her in for that?

You won't be needing that anymore.

Cambreau, I don't want

something for nothing,

but suppose I've been wrong all me life.

Would it do any good,

do you think, to admit it now?

If a man came to you and admitted

he was wrong and you felt he was sorry,

what would you do?

That's good enough for me.

I've been the world's biggest

sucker, ain't I, up to now?

How are you coming, Julie?

Nothing like an ocean trip

to put the old kink in your hair.

I'll bet it looks awful.

Cambreau, tell me.

What makes you guess right all the time?

It's like you got an old crystal ball

or something that you look into,

and you know about things like

the wind and the water and the men.

And you got to every one of them,

too, before they went.

I didn't get to them, Julie,

they got to themselves.

And now maybe I'm going to die

and you're waiting for me to buy in, too,

is that it?

I don't think you're going to die

for a long time.

Then why buzz around me

if I'm not going to die?

Well, you asked me to come over.

And you jumped at the chance.

You thought maybe my black heart

had turned white overnight,

and I wanted forgiveness.

Maybe I'd start telling you

about the years I spent

kicking myself around

till I got good and lost,

and then say, "Cambreau, come find me

"and start me off

with a clean sheet of paper. "

But I'm no sucker.

Can you see me with a job, maybe,

and a hall room somewhere,

a room of my own?

Can you picture a man tipping his hat

to me because I look like he should?

I've lived my way, let me die my way.

Maybe if you'd told me all this, Julie,

you'd have told me where Verne fits in.

That crystal doesn't miss a thing, does it?

So maybe I ought to lie to you and say,

"Who cares what happens to Verne?"

But you'd know the truth.

You'd know I could want a lot of things

if Verne were around.

But he'd have to want them, too.

I can't speak for him.

Nobody can do anything for that guy

except pray,

and I don't know how to pray.

Strange you should say that, Julie.

You've been doing nothing else

all this time.

Cambreau, why are you doing that?

Verne. Verne, he's dropping the sails.

Cambreau, put them sails up.

What are you trying to do?

We're off the mainland.

They're probably waiting for us.

We'd better heave to and slip in tonight.

What?

We're off the mainland?

Hey, hey, baby. Baby, we made it.

We beat them.

The dogs, we beat them.

All right, turn her adrift.

What about Moll?

We can't leave him here.

Why not?

They'll pick up the boat and find him there.

Which is exactly what Verne

wants them to do.

- Right, Verne?

- Right.

- Who is it?

A friend. Open the door.

I want some of that.

Here. Now, easy, kid.

Don't drink it all at once.

There. There, that's enough for right now.

Hey, where do you think you're going?

- Why? I, I thought a...

- Yeah, well, think again.

Get some food on the table.

Did you hear that, babe?

All the food your little basket can hold.

We got through and we're here alive.

We're here all right,

and then it's Marseille, Paris,

anywhere you say, babe.

Because I got it all figured out for us.

You cook up a pretty fancy stew.

What else can you do?

Can you navigate a boat?

Yes, monsieur,

but then I have no boat of my own.

No?

Hessler. Where did you put that razor?

Right over there.

But my boat is a small one, only 60 feet.

This wouldn't be Christmas, would it?

Food, clothes, a boat and a skipper.

What more could you want?

We'll pay for the use of your boat

and your services.

Nothing like keeping it clean,

huh, Cambreau?

What sort of men are you, monsieur?

If you are in trouble, I...

Like the lilies of the field, my friend.

We toil not, neither do we spin.

And this, gentlemen, seems to be as good

a time as any for me to be on my way.

Even in this benighted town

there must be a lady who awaits me,

a lonely lady with money.

Right back to your old tricks, huh, pal?

"Love the little trade which thou

has learned, and be content therewith. "

That's Marcus Aurelius, Verne,

and a wise man, too.

Well, Cambreau, I hope you have better

luck with Verne than you had with me.

You know, of course, that your chances to

herd me into your little flock were limited,

because I'm not exactly sheep-like.

And you deal mostly in sheep,

don't you, Cambreau?

Well, perhaps you and I will meet again.

No, Hessler.

I'm afraid we two will never meet again.

Be grateful, Cambreau.

Without an occasional defeat,

your victories would be empty things.

Gentlemen.

No.

Better get that boat ready, gimpy.

We'll be sailing pretty soon.

As you say, monsieur, but you

should know there is a storm coming up.

What storm?

I call it a wind and a good one.

- And we're sailing with it. Now beat it.

- Yes, monsieur.

- What's the name of your crate?

- The Dolphin.

She rides at anchor in the lower cove.

How do we know he won't turn us in?

- Suppose I follow him.

- And who'll follow you?

I'll be back, Verne.

- Come out here baby, I want to talk to you.

- I'm busy.

I said, come out here.

Looks like here's where we make up

our mind about things, huh, baby?

Hey, makes a difference, don't it?

- It's divine.

- Come here.

- Who's a rat, baby?

- You are.

But I'll do just the same, huh? Right here.

A woman would be a chump

to go on with a guy like me, wouldn't she?

What could she win?

It's what you call making it the hard way.

You can't travel that way, can you, baby?

Maybe that's it.

But you'd do me a favor and drag me

along with you anyway, wouldn't you?

- From sewer to sewer.

- But on plush cushions.

If there's anything I want all I have to

do is ask for it, and you'd steal it for me.

Well, there's nothing I want

you could steal.

So that's it?

Suppose I said, "Listen, honey,

as soon as we get to Cuba,

"we're getting married and from there on

we're playing it according to the book?"

Maybe you could use a little of that, huh?

Not if it came from you, Verne,

because you couldn't say it.

But suppose I did? Suppose I promoted

that little home by the side of the road,

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