I said, 'Yes. It suggests he was scared to use the more normal postal methods.'
'I find it very hard to believe that a man who had made a vital mineral discovery should communicate his information by this means.' His voice betrayed his curiosity. 'Did he give any reason? How was he to know where his message would finish up?'
'I know only this, Mr Jorgensen,' I said. 'He was scared to use any normal method. And,' I added, speaking deliberately, 'he had a premonition he was going to die.'
His hand was on the heavy brass chart ruler. He began to roll it slowly back and forth across the table. His face was, as always, expressionless. But his eyes avoided mine and I sensed his agitation. In some way the information he had acquired was 'And you have it?' He laughed. 'No, Mr Gansert. If you had you wouldn't be chasing the ghost of dead Farnell. You'd be up in the mountains with metallurgical instruments, and the whole weight of the British Foreign Office would be supporting applications for concessions. But I do not wish to be regarded as discourteous to the representative of a big British industrial organisation. You may count on me to give you every assistance in your search, Mr Gansert. May I use your transmitter at eight this evening?'
'Why?' I asked.
'As Dahler may have told you I took over his interests after the war. One of them was Bovaagen Hval. I own a controlling interest in the company. At eight o'clock the catchers report back to the whaling station. I can contact the manager then and arrange for water and fuel for your ship and for him to make a preliminary investigation into who smuggled that message into the consignment of whale meat. That is what you want to know, isn't it?'
There was no point in refusing. I'd have Jill in the chartroom at the same time so that I'd know what he was saying. 'All right,' I said. And then I remembered the cripple lying in his bunk down below. 'What about Dahler?' I asked.
'What about him?' he inquired.
'You threatened to have him arrested,' I reminded him.
He was fiddling with the ruler again. 'I don't think there is much point,' he said slowly. 'The man is not quite right there, you know.' He tapped his forehead. 'Provided he causes no trouble, I shall do nothing. I suggest you try and persuade him to stay on board at Bovaagen Hval. His word was law there before the war. There is no knowing how it will affect him, seeing the place again now when he is — nothing.'