Papillon. Анри Шарьер

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СКАЧАТЬ got out, and the smallest, who looked like a new-shaven priest, said to us, ‘I am the superintendent in charge of security for the island of Curaçao. My position obliges me to place you under arrest. Have you committed any crimes since your arrival upon the island and if so what? And which of you?’

      ‘Monsieur, we are escaped prisoners. We have come from Trinidad, and only a few hours ago we wrecked our boat on your rocks. I am the leader of this little band and I can assure you not one of us has committed the slightest crime.’

      The superintendent turned towards Dr. Naal and spoke to him in Dutch. They were both talking when a fellow hurried up on a bicycle. He talked loud and fast, as much to Dr. Naal as to the policeman.

      ‘Monsieur Naal,’ I said, ‘why did you tell this man we were thieves?’

      ‘Because before I met you this fellow told me he watched you from behind a cactus and he had seen you go into his house and then come out of it again. He’s an employee of mine – he looks after some of my asses.’

      ‘And just because we went into the house does that mean we’re thieves? What you say doesn’t make sense, Monsieur: all we did was to take some water – you don’t call that theft, do you?’

      ‘And what about the bag of florins?’

      ‘Yes, I did open that bag; and in fact I broke the string as I did so. But I most certainly didn’t do anything but look to see what kind of money it had in it, and so to find out what country we had reached. I scrupulously put the money and the bag back where they were, on the chimney-piece.’

      The policeman looked me right in the eye, and then turning he spoke to the character on the bicycle very severely. Dr. Naal made as though to speak. Harshly, in the German style, the superintendent cut him short. Then he made the newcomer get into the open car next to the chauffeur, got in himself with two policemen and drove off. Naal and the other man who had come with him walked into the house with us.

      ‘I must explain,’ he said. ‘That man had told me the bag had vanished. Before having you searched, the superintendent questioned him, because he thought he was lying. If you’re innocent, I’m very sorry about the whole thing; but it wasn’t my fault.’

      Less than a quarter of an hour later the car came back and the superintendent said to me, ‘You told the truth: that man was a disgusting liar. He will be punished for having tried to damage you like this.’ Meanwhile the fellow was being loaded aboard the black maria: the five others got in too and I was about to follow when the superintendent held me back and said, ‘Get into my car next to the driver.’ We set out ahead of the van and very quickly we lost sight of it. We took proper macadamed roads and then came to the town with its Dutch-looking houses. Everything was very clean, and most of the people were on bicycles – there were hundreds of them coming and going in every direction. We reached the police-station. We went through a big office with a good many policemen in it, all dressed in white and each at his own desk, and we came to an inner room. It had air-conditioning, and it was cool. A big fat fair-haired man of about forty was sitting there in an armchair. He got up and spoke in Dutch. When their first remarks were over the superintendent, speaking French, said, ‘This is the chief of police of Curaçao. Chief, this Frenchman is the leader of the band of six we’ve just picked up.’

      ‘Very good, Superintendent. As shipwrecked men, you are welcome to Curaçao. What’s your name?’

      ‘Henri.’

      ‘Well, Henri, you have had a very unpleasant time with this business of the bag of money, but from your point of view it’s all for the best, because it certainly proves you are an honest man. I’ll give you a sunny room with a bunk in it so you can get some rest. Your case will be put before the governor and he will take appropriate measures. The superintendent and I will speak in your favour.’ He shook hands and we left. In the courtyard Dr. Naal apologized and promised to use his influence on our behalf. Two hours later we were all shut up in a very large kind of ward with a dozen beds in it and a long table and benches down the middle. Through the open window we asked a policeman to buy us tobacco, cigarette-paper and matches, with Trinidad dollars. He did not take the money and we didn’t understand his reply.

      ‘That coal-black character seems too devoted to his duty by half,’ said Clousiot. ‘We still haven’t got that tobacco.’

      I was just about to knock on the door when it opened. A little man looking something like a coolie and wearing prison uniform with a number on the chest so that there should be no mistake, said, ‘Money, cigarettes.’ ‘No. Tobacco, matches and paper.’ A few minutes later he came back with all these things and with a big steaming pot – chocolate or cocoa. He brought bowls too, and we each of us drank one full.

      I was sent for in the afternoon, and I went to the chief of police’s office again. ‘The governor has given me orders to let you walk about in the prison courtyard. Tell your companions not to try to escape, for that would lead to very serious consequences for all of you. Since you are the leader, you may go into the town for two hours every morning, from ten until twelve, and then in the afternoon from three until five. Have you any money?’

      ‘Yes. English and French.’

      ‘A plain-clothes policeman will go with you wherever you choose during your outings.’

      ‘What are they going to do to us?’

      ‘I think we’ll try to get you aboard tankers one by one – tankers of different nationalities. Curaçao has one of the biggest oil refineries in the world: it treats oil from Venezuela, and so there are twenty or twenty-five tankers from all countries coming and going every day. That would be the ideal solution for you, because then you would reach the other countries without any sort of difficulty.’

      ‘What countries, for example? Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, Canada, Cuba, the United States or the countries which have English laws?’

      ‘Impossible. Europe’s just as impossible too. Don’t you worry: just you rely on us and let us do our best to help you make a new start in life.’

      ‘Thank you, Chief.’

      I repeated all this very exactly to my companions. Clousiot, the sharpest crook of us all, said, ‘What do you think of it, Papillon?’

      ‘I don’t know yet. I’m afraid it may be a piece of soap so we’ll keep quiet and not escape.’

      ‘I’m afraid you may be right,’ he said.

      The Breton believed in this wonderful scheme. The flat-iron guy was delighted: he said, ‘No more boats, no more adventures, and that’s for sure. We each of us land up in some country or other aboard a big tanker and then we fade right away.’ Leblond was of the same opinion.

      ‘What about you, Maturette?’

      And this kid of nineteen, this little wet-leg who had accidentally been turned into a convict, this boy with features finer than a girl, raised his gentle voice and said, ‘And do you people really think these square-headed cops are going to produce bent papers for each one of us? Or even actually forge them? I don’t. At the most they might close their eyes if we went off one by one, and illegally got aboard a tanker on its way out: but nothing more. And even then they’d only do so to get rid of us without a headache. That’s what I think. I don’t believe a word of it.’

      I went out very little: just now and then in the mornings, to buy things. We had СКАЧАТЬ