wards the exit."The soles of his feet are like leather," she said. "Disgusting."But from the hint of indulg<strong>en</strong>ce in her face I gatheredthat Chanter's cause wasn't <strong>en</strong>tirely lost.She said she was thirsty again and could do with a Coke,and since she seemed to want me still to tag along, Itagged. This time, without Chanter, we w<strong>en</strong>t to the members'bar in the Club <strong>en</strong>closure, the small downstairs onethat was op<strong>en</strong> to the main <strong>en</strong>trance hall.The man in the plaster cast was there again. Differ<strong>en</strong>taudi<strong>en</strong>ce. Same story. His big cheerful booming voicefilled the little bar and echoed round the whole hall outside."You can't hear yourself think," Nancy said.In a huddle in a far comer were Major Tyderman and EricGold<strong>en</strong>berg, sitting at a small table with what looked liketreble whiskies in front of them. Their heads were b<strong>en</strong>ttowards each other, dose, almost touching, so that theycould each hear what the other was saying amid the din,yet not be overheard. Relations betwe<strong>en</strong> them didn't seemto be at their most cordial. There was a great deal of rigidityin their down-b<strong>en</strong>t faces, and no fri<strong>en</strong>dliness in thesmall flicking glances they occasionally gave each other."The Sporting Life man," Nancy said, following my gaze."Yes. The big one is a pass<strong>en</strong>ger too.""They don't look madly happy.""They wer<strong>en</strong>'t madly happy coming up here, either.""Owners of chronic losers?""No - well, I don't think so. They came up because ofthat horse Rudim<strong>en</strong>ts which K<strong>en</strong>ny Bayst rode for AnnieVillars, but they ar<strong>en</strong>'t down in the racecard as its owners."She flicked back through her card. "Rudim<strong>en</strong>ts. Duke ofWessex. Well, neither of those two is him, poor oldbooby.""Who, the Duke?""Yes," she said, "Actually I suppose he isn't all that old,but he's dreadfully dim. Big important looking man with abig important looking rank, and as sweet as they come,really, but there's nothing but cotton wool upstairs.""You know him well?""I've met him oft<strong>en</strong>.""Subtle differ<strong>en</strong>ce.""Yes."The two m<strong>en</strong> scraped back their chairs and began tomake their way out of the bar. The man in the plaster castcaught sight of them and his big smile grew ev<strong>en</strong> bigger."Say, if it isn't Eric Gold<strong>en</strong>berg, of all people. Come overhere, me old sport, come and have a drink."Gold<strong>en</strong>berg looked less than <strong>en</strong>thusiastic at the invitationand the Major sidled away quickly to avoid being included,giving the Australian a glance full of the dislike of the militaryfor the flamboyant.The man in the cast put one arm clumsily round Gold<strong>en</strong>berg'sshoulder, the crutch swinging out widely andknocking against Nancy."Say," he said. "Sorry, lady. I hav<strong>en</strong>'t got the hang ofthese things yet.""That's all right," she said, and Gold<strong>en</strong>berg said somethingto him that I couldn't hear, and before we knewwhere we were we had be<strong>en</strong> <strong>en</strong>compassed into the Australian'scircle and he was busy ordering drinks all round.Close to, he was a strange-looking man because his faceand hair were almost colourless. The skin was whitish, thescalp, half bald, was fringed by silky hair that had be<strong>en</strong>fair and was turning white, the eyelashes and eyebrowsmade no contrast, and the lips of the smiling mouth werecreamy pale. He looked like a man made up to take thepart of a large cheerful ghost. His name, it appeared, was"Má kůži na chodidlech jako vydělanou, je to odporné."Řekla to však s nádechem shovívavosti a já usoudil, žeChanterova věc n<strong>en</strong>í zcela ztrac<strong>en</strong>á.Nancy prohlásila, že má žízeň a že má chuť na coca-colu.Chtěla zřejmě, abych se jí ještě držel, tak jsem se jí držel.T<strong>en</strong>tokrát, když s námi nebyl Chanter, jsme šli dodostihového klubu. Čl<strong>en</strong>ský bar byl v suterénu a vcházelose do něj z hlavní dvorany.Byl tam zase t<strong>en</strong> člověk s nohou v sádře. Novémupubliku vyprávěl starou historku. Jeho hlaholivý hlasnaplňoval malou místnost a rozléhal se i do dvorany."Tady člověk ani neslyší, co si sám mysli," postěžovala siNancy.V rohu místnosti u malého stolku seděli, hlavy u sebe,major Tyderman a Eric Gold<strong>en</strong>berg. Před sebou měli plnéskl<strong>en</strong>ice něčeho, co vypadalo jako whisky. Nakláněli setěsně k sobě, aby se v tom rámusu slyšeli a aby přitomnikdo nezaslechl, co si povídají. Rozhovor zřejmě nebylpříliš přátelský. Dívali se zarytě na stůl a j<strong>en</strong> občas posobě vrhali nevraživé pohledy."To je t<strong>en</strong> člověk, co si šel do letadla pro noviny,"poznam<strong>en</strong>ala Nancy, když zjistila, na koho se dívám."Ano. T<strong>en</strong> druhý taky přiletěl se mnou.""Nevypadají moc spokoj<strong>en</strong>ě.""Cestou sem taky nevypadali spokoj<strong>en</strong>ě.""Patří jim snad neúspěšní koně?""Ani bych neřekl. Přiletěli kvůli koni, kterého jel K<strong>en</strong>nyBayst pro Annii Villarsovou, ale podle programu jim t<strong>en</strong>kůň nepatří."Podívala se do svého programu. "Rudim<strong>en</strong>ts. Majitelvévoda z Wessexu. Chudák stará. No z tamtěch dvou ton<strong>en</strong>í ani jed<strong>en</strong>.""Kdo, vévoda z Wesseou?""Ano. Vlastně on ani n<strong>en</strong>í tak starý, ale je strašný vrták.Je to takový veliký, důstojný pán se vzneš<strong>en</strong>ým titulem,strašně hodný a milý, opravdu, ale v hlavě nemá vůbecnic.""Vy se s ním znáte dobře?""Často ho vídám.""To n<strong>en</strong>í totéž.""Jistě."Oba muži v rohu odstrčili židle a chystali se vyjít z baru.Vtom je ale zahlédl t<strong>en</strong> člověk se sádrou a rozzářil se."No páni, jestli tohle n<strong>en</strong>í Eric Gold<strong>en</strong>berg! Pojď sem,kamaráde, pojď se se mnou napít!"Gold<strong>en</strong>berg se netvářil příliš nadš<strong>en</strong>ě a major se radějiztratil, aby se vyhnul pozvání. Obdařil Australanapohledem plným odporu, správný voják nemá rádnastroj<strong>en</strong>é, hlučné frajery.Člověk se sádrou nešikovně objal Gold<strong>en</strong>berga kolemram<strong>en</strong>, zamával berlí a vrazil do Nancy."Jéje, promiňte, madam, já s těma klackama ještěneumím pořádně zacházet.""Nic se nestalo," chlácholila ho Nancy. Gold<strong>en</strong>berg muněco řekl, neslyšel jsem co, ale než jsme se nadáli, bylijsme s Nancy vtaž<strong>en</strong>i do Australanova kroužku. Začal námvšem rychle objednávat pití.Zblízka vypadal podivně, protože měl obličej a vlasyskoro bezbarvé jako albín. Pleť měl bledou a olysaloulebku mu lemovalo plavé, šedivějící chmýří. Řasy a obočíměl světlé, nevýrazná a usmívající se ústa bylasmetanově bledá. Vypadal, jako by byl namaskován proroli dobrosrdečného ducha. Jm<strong>en</strong>oval se Acey Jones.20
Acey Jones."Aw, come on," he said to me in disgust. "Coke is formilksops, not m<strong>en</strong>."Ev<strong>en</strong> his eyes were pale a light indeterminate blue-grey."Just lay off him, Ace," Gold<strong>en</strong>berg said. "He's flying mehome. A drunk<strong>en</strong> pilot I can do without.""A pilot, eh?" The big voice broadcast the information toabout fifty people who wer<strong>en</strong>'t in the least interested."One of the fly boys? Most pilots I know are a bunch ofproper tearaways. Live hard, love hard, drink hard. Realcharacters, those guys.""No tak, člověče," hartusil na mě, "coca-colu pijou srábci,to n<strong>en</strong>í pro chlapa."I oči měl skoro bezbarvé, světlounce modré."Nechte ho na pokoji, Acey," bránil mě Gold<strong>en</strong>berg,"letím s ním domů a chci mít střízlivého pilota.""Tak on je pilot, jo?" burácel na celou místnost aoznamoval mou profesi asi padesáti zcela lhostejnýmlidem. "Hrdina vzduchu, že jo. Většina pilotů, který znám,jsou pořádný kumpáni. Vostře pijou, vostře žijou a vostřemilujou. Jsou to štráfci."He said it with an expansive smile which hid the implied Skrytou urážku zakrýval zářivým úsměvem.slight."C'mon now, sport, live dangerously. Don't disillusion all "No tak, kamaráde, dejte si říct, život je risk. Přece násthese people."nezklamete.""Beer, th<strong>en</strong>, please," I said."Tak mi tedy dejte pivo, prosím."Nancy was equally scornful, but for opposite reasons. Nancy se taky tvářila zhnus<strong>en</strong>ě, ale z opačného důvodu."Why did you climb down?""Prosím vás, proč jste ustoupil?""Antagonizing people wh<strong>en</strong> you don't have to is like castingyour garbage on the waters. One day it may come stejný nesmysl, jako házet odpadky do moře, které je za"Hádat se s lidmi, když to n<strong>en</strong>í bezpodmínečně nutné, jefloating back, smelling worse."čas zase vyvrhne na břeh o něco smrdutější."She laughed. "Chanter would say that was immoral. "Chanter by řekl, že nemáte páteř. Názory musí člověkStands must be made on principles."stavět na pevných zásadách.""I won't drink more than half of the beer. Will that do?" "Když toho piva upiju j<strong>en</strong> polovic, budete spokoj<strong>en</strong>á?""You're impossible.""Jste nemožný."Acey Jones handed me the glass and watched me take a Acey Jones mi podal skl<strong>en</strong>ici, díval se, jak začínám upíjetmouthful and w<strong>en</strong>t on a bit about hell-raising and beating a pak zahájil proslov o pilotech, kteří se rvou s oblohou aup the skies and g<strong>en</strong>erally living the life of a high-powered tančí životem jako divocí Cikáni. Jeho posluchači segypsy. He made it sound very attractive and his audi<strong>en</strong>ce zájmem poslouchali a přikyvovali hlavami. Nikoho z nichsmiled and nodded theft heads and none of them seemed n<strong>en</strong>apadlo, že tohle snad mohlo být pravda před padesátito know that the picture was fifty years out of date, and lety. Dnes musí být pilot především opatrný: musí býtthat the best thing a pilot can be is careful: sober, meticulous,receptive, and careful. There are old pilots and fool-i bláhoví piloti, staří bláhoví piloti však nežijí. Já jsem bylpečlivý, přesný, pozorný a hlavně rozvážný. Žijí staří pilotiish pilots, but no old foolish pilots. Me, I was old, young, v třiceti pěti letech mladý i starý, moudrý i bláhový. Takywise, foolish, thirty-four. Also depressed, divorced and jsem byl v depresi, rozved<strong>en</strong>ý a bez p<strong>en</strong>ěz.broke.After aviation, Acey Jones switched back to insurance andtold Gold<strong>en</strong>berg and Nancy and me and the fifty otherpeople about getting a thousand pounds for breaking hisankle, and we had to list<strong>en</strong> to it all again, reacting withthe best we could do in surprised appreciation."No, look, no kidding, sport," he said to Gold<strong>en</strong>berg withhis first sign of seriousness. "You want to get yourselfsigned up with this outfit. Best fiver I've ever sp<strong>en</strong>t…"Several of the fifty onlookers edged nearer to list<strong>en</strong>, andNancy and I filtered towards the outside of the group. Iput down the tasted beer on an inconspicuous table out inthe hall while Nancy dispatched the bottom half of herCoke, and from there we drifted out into the air.The sun was still shining, but the small round whiteclouds were expanding into bigger round clouds with darkgreyc<strong>en</strong>tres. I looked at my watch. Four-tw<strong>en</strong>ty. Stillnearly an hour until the time the Major wanted to leave.The longer we stayed the bumpier the ride was likely tobe, because the afternoon forecast for scattered thunderstormslooked accurate."Cu-nims forming," Nancy said, watching them. "Nasty."We w<strong>en</strong>t and watched her brother get up on his mountfor the last race and them we w<strong>en</strong>t up on the Owners andTrainers and watched him win it, and that was about that.She said goodbye to me near the bottom of the steps,outside the weighing room…She had smooth gilded skin and greyish-brown eyes.Straight dark eyebrows. Not much lipstick. No sc<strong>en</strong>t. Verymuch the opposite of my blonde, painted, and departedwife. "I expect," she said, "that we'll meet again, becauseI sometimes fly with Colin, if there's a spare seat.""Do you ever take him yourself?""Good Lord no." She laughed. "He wouldn't trust me toPo přednášce o letcích se Acey Jones pustil do výkladu opojištění a vysvětlil Gold<strong>en</strong>bergovi, Nancy, mně a ještě asipadesáti lidem, jak získal tisíc liber za to, že si zlomilkotník. Museli jsme celou historii vyslechnout znovu análežitě předstírat zájem a překvap<strong>en</strong>í."Ne, vážně, teď bez legrace," obrátil se keGold<strong>en</strong>bergovi, "ta pojistka se skutečně vyplatí. Líp jsemtěch pět liber investovat určitě nemohl."Někteří z padesáti posluchačů přistoupili bliž, aby lépeslyšeli. My s Nancy jsme naopak n<strong>en</strong>ápadně vycouvali.Odložil jsem nedopité pivo na stolek v hale, Nancy rychledopila svou coca-colu a vyšli jsme v<strong>en</strong>.Slunce ještě zářilo, ale malé bílé kulaté obláčky na nebise začaly rozrůstat a tmavnout. Podíval jsem se nahodinky. Bylo půl páté. Do hodiny odletu, kterou stanovilmajor, bylo ještě daleko.Čím později odstartujeme, tím víc to s námi bude vevzduchu házet. Meteorologická předpověď na odpoledne,která věštila místní bouřky, byla zřejmě správná.Nancy se podívala na oblohu. "Kupovitá oblačnost,vypadá to ošklivě."Šli jsme se dívat, jak Colina vyhazují do sedla předposledním dostihem, a pak jsme z tribuny pro rozhodčí amajitele koní přihlíželi, jak dostih vyhrává. Tím toskončilo. Rozloučila se se mnou dole u schodů předvážnicí."Děkuji vám za mužnou ochranu…""Potěš<strong>en</strong>í bylo na mé straně…"Měla hladkou zlatavou pleť, šedohnědé oči a rovné obočí.Nalíč<strong>en</strong>á byla málo a voňavky nepoužívala vůbec. Velmi selišila od mé plavovlasé, namalované nebožky."Předpokládám, že se zase setkáme, lítám občas sColinem, když je dost místa.""Už jste ho někdy vezla sama?""Ale co vás napadá!" rozesmála se. "Měl by strach, že21
- Page 3: Rat RaceDick Francis3
- Page 6 and 7: "Your aeroplane is here, Major," I
- Page 8 and 9: coming across the grass. Goldenberg
- Page 10 and 11: under the Amber One airway, navigat
- Page 12 and 13: job since I'd gone to learn flying
- Page 14: "Put that way," I agreed, "it's a l
- Page 17 and 18: a lot of tickets. Nancy looked as t
- Page 19: The horses were led away and the gr
- Page 23 and 24: Tyderman and Goldenberg returned to
- Page 25 and 26: "The pilot wants to land here and m
- Page 27 and 28: Yes."And no bomb?"No.Did I know tha
- Page 29 and 30: gross negligence, but they kept you
- Page 31 and 32: The tall investigator and his silen
- Page 33 and 34: The next day I took five jockeys an
- Page 35 and 36: it a pat as it swung into its usual
- Page 37 and 38: with Colin these days.""You don't a
- Page 39 and 40: and that deadly insult did nothing
- Page 41 and 42: CHAPTER SIX 6The pilot of the Polyp
- Page 43 and 44: "that two men just had a go at beat
- Page 45 and 46: and told myself to get on with it.
- Page 47 and 48: oard before he decided not to come.
- Page 49 and 50: "If Harley says so.""Harley will sa
- Page 51 and 52: you any money?"prachy?""Enough not
- Page 53 and 54: "What is it?""The remains," he said
- Page 55 and 56: his career." He let half a minute s
- Page 57 and 58: "All right," I said. "Thanks.""Than
- Page 59 and 60: me fine.""Will you be all fight?""N
- Page 61 and 62: dragonfly aeroplanes dart and go. T
- Page 63 and 64: "I've been thinking" I said, "about
- Page 65 and 66: with her and helped her all I could
- Page 67 and 68: things in fragments.""Huh?" Chanter
- Page 69 and 70: the nerve to let anyone see it.ruky
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etween the clouds and the hills she
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craft travelling from west to east
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north-east of Cambridge, was crisp,
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"Could I have the regional pressure
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seats, looking up under the control
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glia and leaving himself with too s
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jeans and brought out a folded wad
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to keep us up to date."Secretarial
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plane pilot was strolling about, sm
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aces?"nemá Rudiments jet který do
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whole, felt worse. Scrambled myself
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made the indicated journey. Stood u
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eally went into it we broadened it'
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trains are absolutely splendid…"H
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He seemed to think you were almost
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"Hello," said young Matthew, swingi
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"Were Kitch and the stable lads ins
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Claims pending' was fatter. There w
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Opened the cupboard door. It squeak
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accident. If he dumped me somewhere
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Nancy and Midge and the Duke and yo
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He said, "Nancy said you were hurt.