"You have old Sachsen's prejudices," Peter Gross said. "Did I tell you about the letter I got from him? I'll let you read it later, it's a shame to spoil this evening. Sachsen warns me not to trust the girl, says she's a fiend. He coupled her name with Ah Sing's." The vicious snap of the resident's teeth was distinctly audible. God, how an old man's tongue clacks to scandal. "I thought Sachsen was above it, but 'Rumor sits on the housetop,' as Virgil says...."
His voice trailed into silence and he stared across the fields toward the jungle-crowned hills silhouetted against the brilliantly starlit sky.
"Sachsen is too old a man to be caught napping," Carver observed.
"There probably is some sort of an understanding between Koyala and Ah Sing," Peter Gross admitted seriously. "But it's nothing personal. She thought he could help her free Bulungan. I think I've made her see the better way—at least induced her to give us a chance to show what we can do."
"You're sure it was Ah Sing's voice you heard?"
Peter Gross perceived from the sharp acerbity of the captain's tone, as well as from the new direction he gave their conversation, Carver's lack of sympathy with his views on Koyala's conduct. He sighed and replied mildly:
"I am positive. There is no other bass in the world like his. Hoarse and deep, a sea-lion growl. If I could have forced the bamboo aside sooner, I might have seen him before he dodged out of the runway."
"If he's here we've got the whole damn' wasp's nest around our ears," Carver growled. "I wish we had the Prins here."
"That would make things easier. But we can't tie her up in harbor, that would give the pirates free play. She's our whole navy, with nearly eight hundred miles of coastline to patrol."
"And we're here with twenty-five men," Carver said bitterly. "It would be damned farcical if it wasn't so serious."