It's Murder, On a Galapagos Cruise: An Amateur Female Sleuth Historical Cozy Mystery (Miss Riddell C by P.C. James (easy novels to read txt) 📕

“But surely we should help where we can?” Freda protested.

“Help, by all means, but their law is their law. They understand the underpinnings where we don’t,” Pauline said. “I believe in the law; it’s all any society has to keep itself stable. But laws are specific to time and place and should not be tampered with by those who don’t understand either.”

“I suspect our laws are kinder and more compassionate,” Freda said, still brooding on yesterday’s incident at the marketplace. “Wouldn’t we make things better by helping them see that? If their laws matched ours, you would be outraged by what we witnessed the other day instead of just accepting it.”

“As I said, all customs and laws work in their own context,” Pauline said. “It doesn’t follow they would be successful in a different time or place. If we implemented our customs and laws here, as we tried to do in so many other places up until recently, we would create the backlash we’ve already seen all around the world and will see more of in future. The number of people dead may be just as high thanks to our meddling as if we’d left well enough alone. We are visitors here, not conquerors and we have no business interfering.”

“But, Pauline…”

“No buts,” Pauline said. “We can’t just step off a plane in someone else’s country and start dictating to them.”

Freda sighed. They were never going to agree on this. Pauline was always so aloof and distant. She never could see that sometimes you had to guide people for their own good.

6

Santa Cruz and Giant Tortoises

As the breakfast was being served, Captain Ferguson’s voice boomed over the ship’s public address system.

“Good morning, everyone. I hope you had a good night’s sleep on your first night at sea and you’re awake and refreshed for the day ahead, which will be a little different from that outlined in our itinerary. Please listen carefully while I explain.

“As most of you will know by now, we had an unfortunate accident onboard last night. One of the crew fell to his death and we’ve put into Puerto Ayora, the capital of the Galapagos Islands, to report the incident and transfer the body ashore. The Ecuadorean police will come aboard soon and they will be here for some time investigating the incident. I hope we won’t be held up too long.

“However, they may want us to stay in port at least for today. Rather than waste a day of your vacation, we have brought forward the final day’s activities. As you know, the giant tortoises are the heart of the Galapagos, indeed they’re what give the islands their name, and they were intended to be the crowning event on the last day of the cruise. Instead, to ensure you don’t miss these magnificent creatures, we will visit the Charles Darwin Station today and see and learn more about these gentle giants.

“The tour will spend half the day there and then you will be free to spend the rest of the day in town where you can enjoy sightseeing, souvenir shopping and meeting the local people. We do apologize for this change, but it is beyond our control. I’m confident our delay will be short and we’ll sail tonight. Those of you who have purchased your excursion tickets for the tortoise breeding station, please make your way to deck three before eight-thirty am. Those of you who haven’t and wish to do so…”

“Well,” said Pauline, as the announcement went into details they had no need of, “they were the highlight of the trip for me. Everything else will seem an anti-climax now.”

“Surely not,” Freda said, aghast at such heresy. “It’s the finches and the iguanas that are key to the Galapagos story.”

Pauline smiled. “I know that’s true, and I know I should value them as you do but we have finches at home, and iguanas, however cleverly adapted, are still just lizards and not my cup of tea.”

Freda shook her head in dismay at this levity. “Then we should get our tickets and be on deck number three because you can’t afford to miss the only bit you’re interested in. This announcement has already left it very late.”

“I suspect the Captain has only just been told by the police that the ship can’t drop off a body and sail on as if nothing happened,” Pauline said. “Hence this scramble to make use of the day.”

“You didn’t find some way to tell the police it was murder, did you?” Freda said, laughing.

“I did tell them that was what I thought at first but I don’t believe police anywhere just accept ‘accident’ as an explanation when notified about a death. I think we’ll be lucky to sail tonight.”

“Are you glad now we came?” Freda said, as she took a photo of Pauline beside the largest tortoise on the hillside. The tortoise continued munching the coarse grass as if unaware people were lining up to have it star in their vacation pictures.

“I am. I’ll even properly appreciate the iguanas now,” Pauline agreed, as she exchanged places with Freda.

“They are huge, aren’t they?” Freda said, timidly touching the shell that reached as high as her waist.

“And unbelievably placid,” Pauline said. “No wonder sailors on the Pacific stopped in at the Galapagos all those centuries ago. The fresh meat here just waits to be eaten.”

“Oh don’t,” Freda said with a shudder. “How could anyone treat such harmless creatures that way?”

“You haven’t been hungry enough, Freddie, or you’d know the answer to that question.”

They gave up their spot to the next people waiting in line and meandered through the park. Other, not so ancient or so large, tortoises cropped the grass between the trees, testament to the success of the breeding program. In places, they could see what looked like fields of trees outside the breeding station.

“What do you think they are?” Freda said.

“If you’d been listening to the guide,” Pauline said, “you’d know there are coffee plantations farther