Free The Man who Missed the War by Dennis Wheatley Page B

up, flashed his white teeth again, shook hands with Philip and pressed a buzzer for him to be shown out.
    Philip’s expectations regarding numerous other inquiries were not fulfilled. To his surprise and disappointment not even the suggestion of another inquiry reached him between his visit to Mr. Eiderman and the morning of their luncheon appointment, but by then Philip had persuaded himself that, to begin with at least, there might be considerable advantages in dealing with one firm only.
    At the office Eiderman introduced him to a fat man with thick spectacles and hair cut
en brosse
, named Thorssen, and the three of them repaired to the Norwegian Club, where they ate an excellent lunch.
    Unlike Eiderman, who had hardly a trace of foreign accent, Thorssen spoke in a thick, guttural voice, and it soon transpired that he was still a Norwegian citizen, whereas Eiderman had lived nearly all his life in the States and had become a naturalised American many years ago. The pair proved good hosts, and by the time the party had finished with the innumerable tempting
hors d’œuvres
offered on the huge
smörgasbord
, Philip was already on excellent terms with them both.
    After lunch, over coffee in the smoking-room, Eiderman produced a list of possible cargoes which would not carry a high insurance rate, and a draft contract between his firm and Raft Convoys Ltd. They haggled a little about terms but Philip did so only as a matter of form, since he felt that if the venture were successful the proposed concessions were not a very serious matter. His one anxiety now was to clinch the deal and prove to the British Admiralty that cargoes could be brought safely by raft from the United States to Great Britain.
    Philip did not know a lawyer in New York, so he secured an introduction from Mrs. Foorde-Bilson to her attorney, a kindly, bespectacled old fellow named Irving Ducross. He said at once that he knew little about shipping law but would get the contract vetted by a firm that specialised in such matters, which he did.It was returned to Philip by the week-end as a perfectly fair and straightforward document, and was signed by both parties in Eiderman’s office on June the 18th.
    The only thing which now remained was to secure a suitable crew of five to man the launch. As she would be able to do no more than correct the general direction of the string of rafts in mild weather, an expert navigator was not required, and Philip had learnt sufficient navigation from his father to take an observation of the sun and work out his position from it. He already knew the engine backwards and enough about radio to send, receive, and do minor repairs to the set if necessary; so he did not need any very highly skilled help. An assistant engineer, a radio operator, and three able seamen to service the rafts, one of whom must be able to cook, were the crew he had in mind; but if he met with difficulty over securing the first two he was willing to take five seamen of average intelligence, as he knew that he might have trouble in finding men willing to sign on for such an unusual trip.
    It was this which caused him to consult Eiderman, who was now taking a great interest in the whole venture, and the blond, lean-cheeked shipping agent responded at once.
    ‘The answer to that one lies in what you’re prepared to pay. Maybe it’ll need double, or treble, the normal wage to tempt five shell-backs into standing for six to ten weeks in what’s hardly more than an open boat. But as you need only five of them what are such wages but a bagatelle compared with your outlay on building and insurance?’
    ‘That’s true,’ Philip concurred, ‘and I’d naturally anticipated having to offer high wages. The thing is how’s the best way to set about finding takers?’
    ‘I’ll have a word with Thorssen. He’ll find you five squareheads from one of our lines. They’ll be tough guys but I think you should not mind that. It’s better so for such an