An Old Captivity by Nevil Shute Read Free Book Online Page A

risk?”
    “Not entirely. Flights of that sort are done so seldom that there’s no experience for underwriters to base a rate on.”
    “I understand.” He made another note.
    The pilot said: “We should have to have a six- or seven-seatercabin seaplane for the job. You won’t want to spend more money than you need, of course. I could pick up one that had done five or six hundred hours in Canada for about six thousand dollars. Probably less.”
    The secretary laid down his pencil, and stared at Ross. “Do you mean a second-hand aeroplane, Mr. Ross?”
    “Yes.”
    There was a long pause. Then Hanson picked up his pencil again, and made another note. “I doubt if Sir David would consider a second-hand machine for Mr. Cyril’s expedition,” he said patiently. “Still, I’ve made a note of the figure. What would a new one cost?”
    “About twenty-five thousand dollars, for a Cosmos with a Wasp engine, on floats. A good second-hand one would be quite all right, and you can pick them up very cheaply now.”
    The secretary shook his head. “I think Sir David would be very much against it.”
    “All right. I’d rather have a new machine, of course; the work of maintenance will be much less. But I wouldn’t let that kill the expedition at the start.”
    Hanson looked down his nose. “I do not think that that will be the case, Mr. Ross.”
    The pilot was silent for a minute, revising his ideas. “If you decide to have a new machine, we’ll have to cable an order to the Cosmos people right away, because our time is getting very short indeed. They’re in Detroit. Or, better still, let me have five minutes on the telephone with Johnnie Finck, their sales manager.”
    The secretary made another note. “Sir David would very much prefer to use a British aeroplane,” he said. “Isn’t that possible?”
    The pilot shook his head. “If you want the best machine for flying in the North, you must go to the States for it,” he said. “The British manufacturer hasn’t gone for that market.”
    “Sir David will be disappointed.”
    Ross shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve got to tell him whatmachine is best for the job. I only wish he’d start in building aeroplanes himself to suit Canadian conditions.”
    The secretary gave him a long look. “He may want to talk that over with you,” he said discreetly. “In the meantime, we must take it that it’s an American machine?”
    “That’s right.”
    They proceeded with the budget, and came presently to the pilot’s remuneration.
    “I should like some form of payment by results,” said Ross. “There’s about five months’ work in this thing, as I see it. You can pay me monthly at the rate of eight hundred a year, starting now, with a bonus of five hundred pounds if the job is done all right. We can define what that means with Mr. Cyril Lockwood later on. But I can tell you this—the job’s worth that amount of money.”
    Hanson made his note. “I have no doubt of it,” he said drily. “I am quite prepared to put that to Sir David. In principle, it seems a very fair proposal.”
    In half an hour they had covered all the ground; the secretary totted up the figures on his pad. “Including your estimate for photography, nine thousand seven hundred and eighty pounds,” he said. “Call it ten thousand.” He eyed Ross keenly. “Sir David very much dislikes increasing estimates. Once a figure has been given, it has to be adhered to. If we said twelve thousand pounds to cover every contingency—should we be safe at that?”
    Ross said: “Absolutely, I should think.”
    The secretary made his note.
    He looked over the pages of his notes. “I think that covers everything,” he said at last. He got up from his desk. “Now I’m going to ask you to excuse me for a minute or two.”
    He went out through a side door into the next office, and closed it softly behind him. Ross was left waiting for a time; in the next room there was a low murmur of voices. Ten minutes