Free Round the Bend by Nevil Shute

could learn to fly it without much difficulty. I was very pleased, although I did my best not to show it.
    We went back to the office to talk turkey. Harry Ford got the secretary to come along to his office, a lean Scotsman called Taverner. He had been through my figures and gave the papers back to me, and then we talked about a hire purchase deal.
    “How much could you pay in the way of a deposit, Mr. Cutter?” the secretary asked.
    “A thousand pounds,” I said.
    “That’s only twenty per cent of the cost of the aircraft. From the profits you show, you should be able to do better than that.”
    “I’ve got to keep some liquid capital in the business,” I said. “The cost of flying out the Airtruck to Bahrein is one thing. I don’t think I can do more than that.”
    “Mm. I think that leaves too much for your business to carry. Ye can’t pay off four thousand pounds in a year.”
    “Why not? You see what I can make with just a Fox-Moth.”
    “Aye,” Mr. Taverner said. “Ye’ve done very well, but you won’t go on like that. You’re paying no insurance for a start. Maybe that’s wise with just the Fox-Moth, and in any case, you’ve got away with it. But if we give you credit terms upon this Airtruck, you’ll have to insure it with a policy that we approve. That’s a bit off your profits.”
    He paused. “But the big difference is going to be that from now on you’ve got to employ pilots and ground engineers. Up till now you’ve been doing everything yourself, and you’ve made close on two-thousand-five-hundred-pounds’ profit in six months. But you’ve taken no pay yourself. I’ll guess that you’ve been working like a horse and you’ve been making money at the rate of five thousand a year, and maybe you’re worth it. But it’s going to be different from now on.”
    He turned to Ford. “What will he have to pay a pilot, working from Bahrein?”
    “A thousand to twelve hundred.”
    “And a ground engineer?”
    “About eight hundred.”
    The secretary turned to me. “Ye’ve got to have staff now, Mr. Cutter, with two aeroplanes, and that’s going to alter the whole picture. Put in the wages of yourself at fifteen hundred, and a pilot at twelve hundred, and a ground engineer at eight hundred, and there’s three thousand five hundred pounds added to your overhead expenses right away. I’m not saying that there’ll be no profit left, but I doubt, I doubt very much, if you can pay off four thousand pounds on an Airtruck within a year on the work you’ll do with it. It does not seem possible to me, or in two years either.” He paused. “Ye’ll not get the utilization with the larger aeroplane that you get with your Fox-Moth.”
    “I agree,” said Ford. “All operators find the same thing. When you’re operating just one aeroplane, a charter service can look very promising. Directly you have to start in and employ a staff, the whole thing alters and the costs go leaping up. I’ve seen it happen over and over again.”
    There was a pause.
    “That may be,” I said. “This thing of mine is different.”
    They smiled. “In what way?” Ford asked.
    “If other operators go on the way you say, they must all be bloody well daft,” I said. “I can’t afford to go paying pilots twelve hundred a year. I’ve got a pilot flying the Fox-Moth for me now while I’m away, a darned good pilot, running the business side as well. Do you know what I’m paying him?”
    “What?”
    “Two hundred and fifty rupees a month,” I said. “That’s two hundred and twenty pounds a year.”
    They stared at me. “With flying pay?”
    I laughed shortly. “No. Two hundred and twenty pounds a year, flat.” I paused. “I’ve got a boy of sixteen cleaning down the aircraft. He’ll work up and be a ground engineer one day. Do you know what he gets? Thirty bob a month.” I snorted. “I’m not surprised that charter operators go broke right and left if they pay the wages that you say.”
    They sat