Uncharted Seas Read online

  ‘I—I killed him. I didn’t mean to but the one stab was enough. When I realised what I’d done I was horrified—horrified. I tried to pull my wits together to save myself. I snatched up the child and fled to my sister’s room and I told her what I’d done. She’s only two years older than I am and looks very like me. She agreed to take the child and go back to Johannesburg in the hope that when the police circulated my description they’d believe her to be me—and I think that’s what they did. I flung a few things into my dressing-case, locked the door of the bedroom, and fled to Cape Town. No ship was leaving the harbour before the following morning. I spent a ghastly night and joined the Gafelborg just a few moments before she sailed. In the meantime the murder had been discovered. It was in the morning paper and that’s where Vicente came in. He’d seen me with my husband at Muizenburg the previous afternoon and he saw the paper before sailing, next day. That night, when we were already at sea, he recognised me and threatened to have me arrested at the first port we touched unless … Oh, good-bye, Juhani! good-bye! I’m desperately sorry I’ve brought so much trouble on you.’

  Juhani heaved a deep sigh, and through the tears that filled her eyes she suddenly saw that he was smiling.

  ‘Ortello had that coming to him,’ he said firmly. ‘If you hadn’t done it I’d have given that devil the works myself for all he did to you. You’re right about the island—we’ll make a new start there.’ Her tears came freely then, until he kissed them from her eyes.

  An hour and a half later the moon was up. It was a sad blow to Thomas that he was losing Luvia as an engineer, but De Brissac had a considerable knowledge of machinery so between him and the Scot, who had helped Juhani with the repairs, they felt confident they would be able to manage. With many expressions of goodwill Deveril and his men, Yonita, Synolda, and Juhani piled into the boat and were rowed ashore.

  It was only when they reached the cliff-top where they were to camp for the night they realised that the devoted Li Foo was still with them. Nothing, he declared, would induce him to leave the beautiful Missie Synolda.

  The little Sally Ann blew a long blast on her siren as the anchor was weighed. Her bow turned slowly towards the oily channel where the moonlight silvered the still surface. In the stern of the ship Unity leaned over the rail with Basil’s arm round her. The debonair De Brissac stood on her other side, already half-consoled for his loss of the adorable Yonita by the thought of returning to his beloved France and the possibility of fresh adventures.

  The sound of turning turbines sounded strangely over that grim, silent sea while the party on the cliff-top watched the people on the Sally Ann’s decks gradually merge into the shadows. At last the little ship was lost to sight and only the dimming light at her masthead showed that she was well on her way towards the open ocean.

  A Note on the Author

  DENNIS WHEATLEY

  Dennis Wheatley (1897 – 1977) was an English author whose prolific output of stylish thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world’s best-selling writers from the 1930s through the 1960s.

  Wheatley was the eldest of three children, and his parents were the owners of Wheatley & Son of Mayfair, a wine business. He admitted to little aptitude for schooling, and was expelled from Dulwich College, London. In 1919 he assumed management of the family wine business but in 1931, after a decline in business due to the depression, he began writing.

  His first book, The Forbidden Territory, became a bestseller overnight, and since then his books have sold over 50 million copies worldwide. During the 1960s, his publishers sold one million copies of Wheatley titles per year, and his Gregory Sallust series was one of the main inspirations for Ian Fleming’s James Bond stories.

  During the Second World War, Wheatley was a member of the London Controlling Section, which secretly coordinated strategic military deception and cover plans. His literary talents gained him employment with planning staffs for the War Office. He wrote numerous papers for the War Office, including suggestions for dealing with a German invasion of Britain.

  Dennis Wheatley died on 11th November 1977. During his life he wrote over 70 books and sold over 50 million copies.

  Discover books by Dennis Wheatleypublished by Bloomsbury Reader at

  www.bloomsbury.com/DennisWheatley

  Duke de Richleau

  The Forbidden Territory

  The Devil Rides Out

  The Golden Spaniard

  Three Inquisitive People

  Strange Conflict

  CodewordGolden Fleece

  The Second Seal

  The Prisoner in the Mask

  Vendetta in Spain

  Dangerous Inheritance

  Gateway to Hell

  Gregory Sallust

  Black August

  Contraband

  The Scarlet Impostor

  Faked Passports

  The Black Baroness

  V for Vengeance

  Come into My Parlour

  The Island Where Time Stands Still

  Traitors’ Gate

  They Used Dark Forces

  The White Witch of the South Seas

  Julian Day

  The Quest of Julian Day

  The Sword of Fate

  Bill for the Use of a Body

  Roger Brook

  The Launching of Roger Brook

  The Shadow of Tyburn Tree

  The Rising Storm

  The Man Who Killed the King

  The Dark Secret of Josephine

  The Rape of Venice

  The Sultan’s Daughter

  The Wanton Princess

  Evil in a Mask

  The Ravishing of Lady Mary Ware

  The Irish Witch

  Desperate Measures

  Molly Fountain

  To the Devil a Daughter

  The Satanist

  Lost World

  They Found Atlantis

  Uncharted Seas

  The Man Who Missed the War

  Espionage

  Mayhem in Greece

  The Eunuch of Stamboul

  The Fabulous Valley

  The Strange Story of Linda Lee

  Such Power is Dangerous

  The Secret War

  Science Fiction

  Sixty Days to Live

  Star of Ill-Omen

  Black Magic

  The Haunting of Toby Jugg

  The KA of Gifford Hillary

  Unholy Crusade

  Short Stories

  Mediterranean Nights

  Gunmen, Gallants and Ghosts

  This electronic edition published in 2013 by Bloomsbury Reader

  Bloomsbury Reader is a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square,

  London WC1B 3DP

  First published in 1938, by Hutchinson & Co

  Copyright © 1938 Dennis Wheatley

  All rights reserved

  You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise

  make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means

  (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying,

  printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the

  publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication

  may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

  The moral right of the author is asserted.

  eISBN: 9781448212842

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