CHAPTER 111 HOMEWARD BOUND
Earlier that afternoon, the vice-consul had sent word to Erika that his
carriage would come around to take them to the harbor at two o'clock. Erika had
spent the latter part of her last morning at the embassy making a final round of
farewells to members of the staff, and after another hour of listless waiting,
the carriage pulled up to the front of the embassy at the appointed hour. And
within minutes, the steamer trunk had been sent on ahead, and Erika and the
Baron, as the interim vice-consul preferred to be addressed, were safely
ensconced in the back seat of the well-appointed carriage.
The baron was a handsome, blonde Prussian with slightly thinning hair who
Erika guessed was just on the far side of forty, with a military bearing natural
to his upbringing. For this auspicious occasion, he had dressed in full
military regalia, his woolen uniform a striking shade of Prussian blue, his
black calf-length boots shining as they had on the day his bootmaker had
finished them. At his belt, a golden-trimmed scabbard held a dress sword , and
row upon row of medals and decorations adorned his manly chest.
Erika had seen the busy official only briefly on two or three occasions
during her stay at the embassy, because the demands of his office called on him
to travel quite a bit. But she distinctly remembered that he had looked in on
her on the day that she had woken from her coma to see the kindly eyes of Daniel
Kauffmann and the roving eyes of Klaus Schumacher looking inquiringly down at
her. Later that afternoon, the consul had dropped by her room to greet her and
pay his respects, and asked her to let him know if there was anything he could
do for her. But aside from one or two other perfunctory encounters, that had
been the extent of her contact with the head of the German legation in Shanghai.
But the baron seemed to have been briefed on her strange history,
addressing her as 'Lorelei' just as his underlings at the embassy had done, and
on their brief journey to the harbor area, they exchanged pleasantries about the
weather and her stay at the embassy, with Erika taking that opportunity to
praise both Doctor Kauffmann and Ju in the most glowing of terms, while the
baron listened with polite but noncommittal attention.
The bustling harbor area was soon in sight, and the carriage, slowed by
pedestrians of every description, proceeded as near to the wharf as was
possible. When it reached the end of the uneven roadway, the blue-clad baron
hopped out of the coach and helped Erika to step down onto the narrow planked
walkway that described an arc around the great harbor. Erika was struck by his
faultless manners as he allowed her to walk on the clean planks while he strode
along beside her, cradling her elbow courteously even as his gleaming boots soon
grew soiled by the dust and grit of the secondary walkway. When she offered to
change places he waved her off with a noblesse oblige that would have been
becoming to an archduke.
The sun was blindingly bright in the afternoon sky and the day was warm and
humid, and as they walked Erika was grateful that Ju had chosen a thin summery
dress for the day of her departure. Even so, the stickiness of the day seemed to
increase with each stride she took, and Erika was conscious of the way her
perspiration caused the light fabric to cling to the contours of her body.
As they approached the inner perimeter of the harbor, they came to a 'Y'
in the planked walkway, and Erika recognized the magnificent modern British
steamer she had seen from a distance yesterday off to her left. She took a few
steps in that direction, but stopped short when she realized that the Baron had
released her elbow. "No, my dear," he said with a slight bow. "Dr Kauffmann
has asked me to make his apologies, but unfortunately that vessel was ...
already fully booked. Your ship is this way, to our right."
"Oh ... I just thought ...well, it did look like a lovely ship, your
Excellency. But it doesn't matter." Erika was a bit disappointed, but then,
she reasoned, passage on such a ship was bound to have been very expensive, and
she was glad in a way that Daniel Kauffman had been able to find a more
modestly-priced alternative.
Erika and the Baron strolled along the dock, feeling conspicuously European
among the hordes of Chinese workmen and sailors who toiled away at their various
jobs. They passed all manner of vessels, from fishing boats to freight
carriers, until at last the Baron paused in front of an old, grimy-looking
vessel whose exterior was riddled with flaking paint and the tell-tale
reddish-brown residue of rust. The ship flew the Imperial Chinese ensign, a
triangular flag featuring the outline of a gray dragon glaring at a tiny reddish
sun superimposed on a golden field. "Yes, here we are, I think! The Yang-tze
Dragon," the Baron proclaimed in a satisfied voice as he stared at the large red
characters emblazoned on the side of the ship, beneath the image of a crimson
dragon. "This should be our vessel."
Erika glanced at the tramp steamer doubtfully; it looked to be far older
than she, and hardly seaworthy enough to survive a ten-thousand mile journey.
Dark smoke, fed no doubt by an ample supply of coal, poured out of a sooty
smokestack, while Chinese deckhands scurried around, making their final
preparations for departure.
"Don't worry, Lorelei," the interim vice-consul said, interrupting her
musings, "this ship will only be taking you as far as Hong Kong. There, you'll
be making a connection with a larger and more comfortable vessel."
He extended his arm again, and a relieved Erika Weiss took his elbow, and
began to climb up the gangplank. Blinking a little in the bright sunlight,
Erika was a little disconcerted by the frank stares of some of the sailors who
nudged each other, covertly calling one another's attention to the exotic
golden-haired passenger in the clinging sun-dress. One muscular, pig-tailed
rigger with a livid scar on his neck and gleaming golden earrings hanging from
his ears, eyed the ripeness of her shapely figure with unabashed interest from
his vantage point behind a stack of cotton bales as she passed by him. But all
of the sailors were deferential to the baron, stepping out of the way of the
be-medaled Prussian officer and dutifully directing him toward the stern of the
ship.
At first Erika, coming to terms with the fact that she would be on board
this vessel for a few days, smiled at some of the crewmen, and greeted them in
Chinese, but only one or two of the men returned her courtesy. Most, in the
manner of men everywhere when confronted with an usually attractive woman,
reacted with their eyes and not their mouths, pretending not to look at her
until she looked away, and then appraising her shapely feminine figure with
masculine thoroughness, once they felt that they were unobserved.
Erika had just come to the conclusion that it might be best to pass most of
the hours of the first leg of her journey in the safe confines of her cabin,
when she heard the Baron say, "Here we are then, my dear. Would you like to
meet the commanding officer of the ship, Erika? I have sent word to him to make
sure that you shall ... want for nothing during your voyage."
Hearing that name, Erika suddenly became disconcerted, and glanced upward
at the Baron with a puzzled expression . He was still smiling the same
enigmatic smile he had worn since he had first set foot in the carriage. "Why
did you call me 'Erika,' Herr Baron?" she asked, feeling somewhat confused.
The heat of the day seemed to have caused the occasional dizziness she had
experienced in recent days to return. She closed her eyes and turned her back
on the bright sun and leaned against the rail of the ship trying to steady
herself.
"Forgive me, fraulein. 'Lorelei', of course. How stupid of me." The baron
shook his head in self-reproach, and looked on with concern as Erika held her
hand to her brow as if she were trying to summon the truth from the untold
fathoms of water on which the Yangtze Dragon gently rocked. At length Erika
lowered her hand from her eyes and turned, still a bit unsteadily, toward her
escort.
"Better now?" he asked solicitously. "Are you up to paying our respects at
the captain's cabin?"
"Of course, Herr Baron," Erika replied, having regained her equilibrium.
"I would be pleased to thank him in advance for any courtesies he may show me."
"Excellent. I am sure he will be very happy to greet you as well. I
believe this is his cabin," the Baron said, when they had proceeded a few steps
further toward the stern. "I have not seen him in some time myself. After
you," he added politely, as he tapped lightly on the heavy door, and then pushed
it open.
As the door to the captain's cabin swung open, Erika was greeted once again
by the almost blinding sunlight that streamed through a window on the far side
of the room. Holding a hand to her eyes to partially shield them from the
glare, Erika glanced around the room, pleased to note that, while small, the
cabin was well-appointed, giving rise to the hope that perhaps her own quarters
would be more comfortable than the run-down appearance of the ship had at first
indicated.
A simple wooden chair sat facing a desk which was covered with nautical
charts and instruments and whose far side butted up against the opposite wall.
To her right, a narrow but comfortable-looking bed, covered with a bedspread
emblazoned with the familiar tri-color design of the British union jack,
extended out into the room. On her left, a well-upholstered armchair faced the
desk and a door leading to what appeared to be a closet took up much of the wall
space. On a nightstand on the far side of the bed, a fully-laden pipe-rack that
had been carved from a piece of driftwood hinted at one of the captain's
pleasures. Just to the right of the door by which she had entered, stood a
small bookcase; Erika's inquisitive eye raced the titles on the dusty tomes:
"The Voyage of the Beagle," "Moby Dick," and "The Explorations of Captain James
Cook in the Pacific" were but three that caught her eye. Of the many books,
only one, a relatively slender volume by an unfamiliar author named Stevenson,
had a glossy leather binding whose condition suggested that it had been bought
in her own lifetime.
Standing with his back turned obliquely away from Erika and the baron, a
burly, grizzled, red-bearded man wearing the distinctive navy blue jacket of a
British mariner, looked intently out the window at something in the southern
sky. A few feet to his right, standing in a shadowy corner of the cabin, a
solidly-built man in a spotless brown officer's uniform stood stiffly, looking
in the direction the mariner had indicated.
The sea-captain had just pointed toward a cloud formation, when the
brown-clad officer, sensing the presence of others in the room, spun slowly
around toward Erika and the Baron.
Erika, still squinting against the bright sunlight, turned her eyes toward
the figure lurking in the shadows. The mysterious officer met her gaze and
bowed in the Chinese manner, before taking two steps forward, thus blocking out
the rays of the afternoon sun. At the same moment he seized the visor of his
hat in his right hand and swept it from his head, revealing a clean-shaven skull
whose sickly color resembled that of teeth yellowed by age and neglect. It was
only when the bald head slowly lifted, revealing a pair of menacing black eyes
and a hideous grin that shook her to the depths of her soul, did Erika Weiss
realize that she was once again face to face with the infamous General Wang.
{Chapters 18-22}
