Four Frightened People

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1

Mr. Corder, what was

that they threw overboard?

Another body.

Look, we made our getaway just in time.

Tell him to get us ashore.

Ashore? Ashore.

Corder! Corder!

All right to take my hand away?

Promise not to scream anymore?

Okay.

Oh, you knocked my glasses off.

Sorry.

Well, you bit my hand.

Is this boatman all

right? He'd better be.

May I talk now? If you don't scream it.

We're not out of the woods

yet. Why did you kidnap me?

Tonight, I saw a rat keel

over like a drunken man...

and die outside my stateroom door.

Then, when Ainger, Mrs. Mardick and I...

stumbled on them sewing

those bodies up...

I knew, bubonic plague.

Plague?

Those coolies on board were

beginning to die like rats.

It'd be only a question of time...

before it hit us passengers...

and then we'd be dumped

overboard for sharks.

When the boat stopped off...

this village to load copra tonight...

we decided to get down in

one of these copra boats...

and make the boatman put us ashore.

Yes, but me, Mr. Corder,

I... That's your fault.

You don't imagine we

wanted to take you, I hope.

If you were at dinner

like everyone else...

I was just out watching the stars.

You were watching us when

you screamed, weren't you?

Well, I was afraid you'd miss the boat.

We had to grab you to keep you quiet.

If news of a plague had

leaked out on board...

there'd have been panic

among those coolies...

maybe even mutiny, massacre.

That'd have been a whale of

a story for me to write...

for the world's

breakfast table, at that.

But is it right to leave all those

people on board, perhaps to die?

What earthly good would it do them...

for us to stay and die with them?

Well, then isn't it piracy to

just seize a boat like this?

You know who I am, don't you?

Of course, silly.

I read your articles in

the paper every morning.

Everybody knows who Stewart Corder is.

Then I wouldn't worry about

that piracy angle hitting us.

Yes, but don't...

Don't worry, child.

We'll take care of you.

How do you say

"condensed milk" in Malay?

Oh, no. Of course you wouldn't

know English, would you?

I've arranged everything.

It doesn't seem so terrifying...

once the first excitement

has worn off, does it?

I daresay it is a bit unconventional...

from that poor girl's

point of view, I mean.

I'll just tell her that she

can look on me as a chaperone.

Girls like her chaperone themselves...

smack into the old maid's home.

Is that... Well, isn't that splendid?

Only he wants more money.

Tell him to go to...

You give him some of

your money, Mr. Ainger.

Of course.

What for? That's a surprise.

He says there's an Englishman in

this village he can hire to guide us.

That is good. Not all of it, Ainger.

You haven't traveled the

Far East much, have you?

No. I'm in the laboratory end at home.

Chemist. Rubber, you know.

How interesting.

No, it isn't, really.

You just smell. Your clothes, I

mean, of chemicals all the time.

Say!

Look.

He's gone to get the

Englishman and everything.

Well, let's go. Yes.

Oh.

Rather pretty.

Probably some religious ceremony...

burning those houses.

Come on, we'll have a look. Yes.

Coming ashore like this

reminds me of the time...

I was torpedoed on

my way to the war. Oh.

I scooped the world

on that little party.

What is it, dear?

She must have stepped on something.

Something's there. I saw it move.

There! You see? Keep quiet.

It's a witch doctor.

Keep back of me. I got my gun ready.

No, no, Corder. Do

you think you ought to?

They're probably only fishermen.

Tell them we're not going to hurt

them, if they can behave themselves.

What did you say?

It's the cholera. What?

They're burning the bodies

in the houses of the dead.

Why didn't that boatman tell us this?

Come on, let's get clear.

Mr. Montague. That is I, Tuan.

The most white man of this place.

Best English make.

Best English make.

You see? How do you do?

Only I.

What I can do to assist my white

brothers and my lady brothers?

We want a ride down the coast to

Kintaling and catch a freighter there.

I am sorry to give Tuan astonishment,

but impossible to go down coast.

Swamp of mangrove tree all the way.

Must go through jungle.

What? What?

How long will it take?

Three, four days.

'Tis a matter of how excellently...

the lady brothers can walk.

Walk? Walk?

Yes, but with our machines, Corder...

these natives will make things so

cheaply, we won't be able to compete.

You cynics never see

the donut for the hole.

Well, still, that saves

a lot of indigestion.

And then after my third marriage...

My husband was a

government official here.

His name was Alfred, too.

It was really most

embarrassing at times...

if you know what I mean.

Calling one Alfred at moments...

and then realizing that it

wasn't Alfred, but Alfred.

I was engaged once in high

school, but nothing happened.

Well, one is really too young then.

Want a breather?

It's not the heat,

really, it's the humidity.

Mr. Corder?

What's the matter?

Mr. Corder, please pick that

orchid for me. Do you mind?

I suppose it's all right to pick it.

Thank you.

I've never had an orchid

before. They cost so much.

I hope I'm not being too much trouble.

Oh, nice.

Just like the botanical gardens

and the zoo at the same time.

Anything wrong?

No, no.

Just a little snake.

Here, you better put this on. This sun

knifes you whether you can see it or not.

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