CHAPTER TEN 



PAINTED BRIGHTLY 



THEY didn't get back to Aberdeen that trip, not directly at any 

 rate. By the time they had passed Buchan Ness the wind had 

 shifted to the south east and was pitched beyond a full gale. 

 Through the radio telephone the skipper gathered that the port of 

 Aberdeen was closed. The authorities there judged it too danger- 

 ous for a ship to try to cross the bar. So the Leslie James was forced 

 to turn into the pool behind the breakwater at Peterhead and to 

 drop its anchor in the hard ground of the south west corner and 

 lie at rest in the shade of the prison. Even that was not comfort- 

 able. Although the work of generations of convicts had made 

 Peterhead safe from every other type of wind it could not keep 

 out the sea that ran before a south easterly gale. The whole para- 

 pet of the breakwater was fluffy with white foam and an occasional 

 green wave would be heaved bodily over the thirty foot wall. So 

 the crew spent a nasty night, dragging their anchor in the hard 

 ground. Jan could not sleep for the groan of the rusted anchor 

 chain against the stem of the ship. It was directly above his bunk. 

 In the morning there was no sign of improvement. Aberdeen 

 was still closed and the sea outside the breakwater was one of the 

 worst the North Sea can offer. So the skipper whistled for a pilot 

 and, when the tide was right, a tiny black boat cartwheeled out 

 of the port toward the Leslie James. It lay very low in the water 

 and, when a wave lifted it into view, Jan was impressed by the 

 drapery of disused motor car tyres that formed its sides. Some- 

 how it reached the trawler and the pilot leapt aboard. He was 



1^3 



