Free West from Singapore (Ss) (1987) by Louis L'amour Page A

the case. Jim walked aft to the sternpost and stood watching the wake, his back to the after deckhouse. Then he turned and started forward.
    Sharp, fierce snarling and then a shrill, angry yapping shattered the still air.
    Puzzled, he hesitated. Something was bothering the orangutan. He went down the ladder to the storeroom beneath the after wheelhouse.
    In the small space was the cage of the orangutan, a huge beast, almost as big as a gorilla. Foaming at the mouth, the big ape was screaming with fury and trying to get through the bars at Braunig, who was crouching before the cage. His wide, ugly face was contorted with sadistic frenzy as he stabbed at the ape with a pointed stick.
    As Ponga Jim reached the foot of the ladder, the ape grabbed the stick and with a terrific jerk, ripped it from Braunig's hands. The stick broke and the ape hurled the pieces at Braunig. The burly German roared with laughter, until one of the sticks hit him on the shoulder. Then, with a snarl of rage, Braunig jerked up a boathook and stabbed at the ape with the sharp end.
    "I'll show you!" Braunig snarled. "You slobbering beast!"
    Jim crossed the intervening space in a leap, ripping the boathook from Braunig's hands. "I'll be damned if you will!" he snapped. "Get back to your cabin before I lose my temper."
    "You! Why, you-!" Braunig's face purpled with fury. Smack!
    Jim's right smashed into the big German's mouth and knocked him skidding along the deck. The German sprang to his feet, crouched, and then lunged. Jim sidestepped.
    "Better get on deck before I get peeved," he said again. "I don't want to hurt you."
    Braunig was powerful. He wheeled and rushed at Ponga Jim. But Mayo stepped back quickly.
    The German plowed ahead. Jim crossed a right, hooked both hands to the body, and jerked up a hard right uppercut. Braunig staggered, and Jim knocked him down with a hard left hook. He got up, and Jim floored him again. The big man lay there, groggy, but still conscious. "All right," Jim said coolly, "now go on deck."
    Slowly, heavily, the man climbed to his feet and staggered drunkenly up the ladder.
    Jim crossed to the cage where the big ape clung to the bars, staring.
    "What's the matter, old fellow?" he asked softly. "Been treated pretty mean, haven't you?"
    The orangutan stared back at him, its eyes bloodshot, ugly. Staring at the ape, Jim could see that the beast's mind had been warped into a seething caldron of hatred where nothing lived now but the lust to kill. Through the red hair on its body he could see countless scars. Why, Jim wondered? Just cruelty? But why cart the ape around and suffer the expense of keeping it for only cruelty? He shrugged and went up the ladder to the deck.
    Brophy was standing in the wing of the bridge when Jim came on watch. "This kind of gets a guy," Brophy said softly. "Something's in the wind, and you don't know what or where it'll come from."
    Mayo nodded. "Better get below and turn in," he said. They won't wait much longer.
    They've got to strike between here and Banggai, because there's a destroyer there now."
    He watched Brophy down to the main deck and then turned back. The visibility was good, for the night was clear and the stars were bright. Tupa, the Alfura seaman taken aboard in Bonthain, was at the wheel, Selim on watch in the bow.
    His thoughts reverted to Romberg. There was more in the wind than a plan to eliminate him. That, he was certain, was only incidental to greater plans, and they must be plans with some bearing on the cargo below. Drilling machinery it might be, and some of it obviously was; but there were other supplies, also.
    The sea was calm, just a light wind blowing. He took his glasses and scanned the sea thoughtfully. A sub? There hadn't been a sub sighted since the affair off the New Guinea coast. True, there were German agents in the East Indies; there had been efforts at sabotage, but most of it ineffectual.
    Aside from the attempts to create revolt among native tribes in Papua