ALEXANDER KENT - TO GLORY WE STEER Страница 24

Bryan Ferguson took another cutlass from the deep chest and handed it to old Ben Strachan. The latter peered quickly along the heavy blade and then bent over the grindstone and began to run the cutlass back and forth across the spinning stone, his eyes gleaming brightly in the flying sparks.

Ferguson looked at the berth deck and at the leaping shadows cast by the madly swinging lanterns as the ship rolled and staggered beneath his feet. It was strange how he was now able to retain his balance, and even his stomach seemed able to resist the lurking agony of seasickness.

The low-beamed berth deck was strangely deserted by comparison with its usual appearance of crowded humanity, he thought. Apart from the men selected for the boarding parties, all other available hands were on deck preparing the ship for action. As he watched Strachan concentrating on his sharpening he could hear the menacing rumble of gun trucks as the main armament was carefully loaded and then lashed once more behind 'sealed ports. The decks were already sanded, and he could hear Mr. Brock, the gunner, yelling some last-minute instructions to, his magazine party.

There was a strong smell of neat rum pervading the berth deck, and he turned to stare at the huddled groups of seamen who remained below efijoying a small moment of rest before taking to the boats.

He said quietly to Strachan, `What will happen, do you think?'

Strachan tested the blade and laid it carefully on the pile beside him. `Hard to tell, mate. I've been on a few cuttin' out raids meself. Sometimes it was all over with a few prayers and a few `'Oh my Gods" an' afore you knew what 'ad 'appened you was back aboard none the worse! An' other times you was shocked to be still alive!'

Ferguson nodded, unable to picture the nerve-wrenching horror of a raid in total darkness. His new duties as clerk kept him away from that sort of danger and had somehow thrown him further apart from his companions.

It was all he could do to stay clear of trouble with the first lieutenant. Vibart read every order and account at least twice, and he never failed to follow up a complaint with a threat of punishment.

Ferguson thought back to the floggings and the last one in particular. He had wanted to hide his face, yet was stricken and mesmerised by the relentless punishment so that he had watched it to the end. Kirk had died in the sickbay, but his sobbing cries still seemed to hover in the space which had once been his home.

Strachan remarked, `It's gettin' pretty rough up top. I wouldn't like to be takin' part!' He shook his grey head. `It was as black as a pig's belly when I last took a look!'

Onslow, the big seaman from the Cassius, sauntered across and stared thoughtfully at Ferguson for several seconds. In his checked shirt and tight canvas trousers he looked even taller and more formidable than usual, and his thick hair was tied to the nape of his neck with a piece of red ribbon.

He said. `You'll be staying aboard then?' He smiled. `And quite right, too.' He rested his hand on Ferguson 's thin shoulder. `You save your energy, my lad. I'll want to be knowing what is happening down aft in the cabin.'

Ferguson stared at him. `I-I don't understand?'

Onslow yawned and spread his arms. `It's always just as well to know what the officers are planning next, y'see. That's what stops men like us staying rabble. With knowledge,' he tapped his forehead meaningly, `we are equal to them, and ready!'

Lugg, a gunner's mate, ran down a ladder and squinted through the gloom. `Right, you lot! On deck and lively about it! Each man takes a cutlass and muster aft!'

Onslow eyed him calmly. `What, no pistols?'

Lugg replied coldly, `I'll pistol you if you don't learn some manners!'

There was a rasp of steel as each hurrying figure took a cutlass, and once or twice Ferguson spoke to a passing familiar face, but each time he received no answer.

Strachan wiped his hands and muttered, `Save yer breath, mate. They're thinkin' of what lies ahead. There'll be talk – enough later, I shouldn't wonder!'

John Allday hung back to the last. Then he picked up a cutlass and swung it slowly in the lamplight. Quietly he said, `Be careful of Onslow, Bryan. He is a born troublemaker. I don't trust him an inch!'

Ferguson studied his friend with surprise and something like guilt. Since his unexpected change of jobs to captain's clerk he had seemingly drifted away from Allday's quiet protection, and whenever he had returned to the berth deck it had always been Onslow or his friend Pook who had dragged him into a tight circle of chatter and speculation.

Allday saw the uncertainty on Ferguson 's face and added, `You saw the flogging, Bryan. Be warned!'

`But Onslow is on our side, surely?' Ferguson wanted to understand. `You heard him talking today. He was as sickened as the rest of us!'

`I heard him.' Allday's mouth twisted in a grim smile. `But he only talks. He is never the one who goes to the gratings!'

Old Strachan mumbled, `I seen a lad like 'im in the old Gorgon. Stirred up the men till they never knew which way ter jump. They'anged'im in the end!'

`And they'll hang all of us if he keeps up this mutinous talk!' Aliday's eyes flashed. `We are here, and we must make the best of it!'

Lugg peered down the ladder and bellowed, `Come up on deck, you idle bugger! You're the last as usual!' But there was no real anger in his voice. He was as tense and jumpy as everyone else aboard.

Ferguson called, `Good luck!' but Allday was already running on deck, his eyes momentarily blinded in the darkness which enclosed the pitching hull like a cloak.

Overhead there were few stars, and then only occasionally visible between the low scudding clouds.

Petty officers were bawling names, and slipping and cursing the seamen pushed into separate parties near the boats which were already clear of their chocks and ready to be swayed outboard.

Allday saw the white lapels of Lieutenant Derrick's coat gleaming faintly against the dark sky and eras strangely glad he was going with his boat. Midshipman Maynard seemed a likeable enough youngster, but he lacked both experience and confidence. He could see him now whispering furtively to his small friend Neale below the quarterdeck.

Herrick said sharply, 'Now listen to me, lads! I will lead in the launch. The cutter will follow close astern and then the pinnace. Mr. Parker will stay last in the jolly boat.' He had to shout above the moaning wind, and Allday glanced uneasily at the creaming water alongside and the rising spectres of blown spray. It would be a hard pull, he thought, and automatically spat on his hands.

He pricked up his ears as Parker, the master's mate, reported, `All present, Mr. Herrick. Sixty-six men all told!'

`Very good. I will inform the…: He faltered and added harshly, `I will tell Mr. Vibart!'

Allday bit his lip. There was no love lost between Herrick and the new captain, he thought.

He saw Onslow leaning negligently against a pike rack and remembered Ferguson 's uneasiness. It was odd how eager Onslow had been to see Ferguson appointed as clerk, he decided. And how convenient it had been that Mathias, Bolitho's original clerk, had died in the hold.

"Sway out the cutter!' Mr. Quintal groped his way towards the tackle. `Hoist away there!'

Allday faltered, his mind suddenly filled with one, stark picture. He had been masthead lookout the morning Mathias had fallen to his death. It was strange how he had not thought of the connection before. He had seen the clerk climbing through the small inspection hatch shortly before he had been found unconscious and dying. But there had already been someone else in the hold before that! He looked quickly at Onslow, remembering the exact moment and the fact that it had been Onslow who had reported the clerk's fall.

He felt Quintal's hard hand on his shoulder and threw his weight against the tackle with the others. All at once the sea seemed to become rougher and the Phalarope seemed to shrink by comparison.

Through his racing thoughts he heard Onslow say casually, `We'll give the buggers a taste of steel!'

But who did he mean? Allday wondered.

11. FORTUNE OF WAR

The Phalarope's heavy launch, packed as she was with additional men of the cutting-out raid, began to whip water within minutes- of leaving the security of the frigate's side.

Herrick wedged himself in one comer of the stern and peered over the heads of the straining oarsmen, his vision hampered by both darkness and a continuous stream of bursting spray. He tried to concentrate on the set plan of attack, but as time dragged by and the boat's swooping motion became more pronounced he found that half of his mind dwelt on the realisation that things were already moving against him. The wind had gained in force, and he didn't need to consult his small compass to know that it had also veered more to the east, so that what cover there might have been from the island was lost in an angry welter of tossing whitecaps and great swirling patterns of backwash from partially hidden rocks.

Every so often he looked astern and was thankful to see the cutter riding in his wake, her banks of oars slashing one moment at wave crests and then buried to the rowlocks as the boat dropped into another sickening trough.

Ryan, a,seasoned quartermaster, swung the tiller bar and yelled, 'She'm takin' it poorly, sirl The lads are all but wore out!'

Herrick nodded but did not reply. It was obvious from the slow, laboured stroke that the men were already exhausted and in no shape for carrying out any sort of attack. More and more Herrick was nagged by the thought that Vibart had dropped the boats too soon. Nevis Island was still only a darker patch in the night's angry backcloth, and there was no sign at all of the chosen landmarks.

He felt a surge of anger when he remembered Vibart's brusqueness when he had last seen him. All he had wanted was to get the boats away. No second plan, no arrangements for possible discovery had even been discussed.

The Andiron was supposed to be ancknred below Dogwood Point, but even allowing for better shelter inshore, it was still likely that her captain had called extra hands to watch for possible dangers in the rising wind. Herrick had a sudden picture of his exhausted boats' crews arriving at the ship's side to be met with a murderous fire from the awakened and eager gunners.

Ryan was shouting again. `There's a strong drift, y'see! It'll carry us clear of the 'eadland, sir!' He sounded bitter. `It'll be a long pull to clear the point at this rate.'

As if to, back his words there was ann anonymous rumble of voices from the darkened boat. Someone muttered, `We should turn back. There's no chance now!'

Herrick glared down the boat. `Silence! Do you want the whole island to hear us?'

Ryan whispered, `Could we not lie beneath the point, sir?' He sounded slightly ashamed. `We could rest the men a bit an' then try again.'

Herrick nodded, another plan forming in his brain. `Good idea. Signal the cutter, Ryan.' He took the tiller as the quartermaster opened the shutter of his lantern and blinked it twice astern. To the oarsmen he snapped, `Keep the stroke! Together, now!' There was no muttering, but he could sense them all watching him in the darkness. He added, `The rest of you keep baling, and watch the oars. I want 'em muffled at every pull!'

Ryan said, `Cutter's turnip', sir. I can see the pinnace back there, too.'

`Well, thank God for that!' Herrick forgot the grumbling seamen as the skyline hardened into a jagged overhanging cliff. It was Dogwood Point well enough, but they had drifted further than he had feared. They were not below it, but on the wrong side altogether. As he stared wretchedly at the land's hostile outline he felt the boat's motion begin to ease and heard the oars pick up a steadier time as the launch thrust into more sheltered water.

He said quietly, `Oars! Easy with those blades now! You sound like a lot of damn cattle!'

The boat rode uneasily in the inshore swell while the weary sailors fell across their oars and sucked gratefully at the damp air. The pinnace moved out of the gloom and lay close by, and then the cutter crossed to the other side and paddled nearer so that Midshipman Maynard could make himself heard.

`What shall we do, Mr. Herrick?'

`Lie here for a bit!' Herrick spoke slowly to give himself time to sort out his hazy ideas. He wished Maynard would not sound so lost and bewildered in front of his men. Things were already bad enough. He added, `Where is Mr. Parker and the jolly boat?'

Maynard shrugged, and Packwood, the boatswain's mate, called quickly from the pinnace, `We've lost sight of him long since, Mr. Herrick!'

Herrick controlled his reply with an effort. `Maybe he turned back!'

A seaman murmured, `Sunk more likely!'

Herrick made up his mind. `Come alongside! But get some fenders out!'

He waited, holding his breath as- the two boats sidled against the launch. At each creak and thud he expected to hear shouts from ashore, or the ominous rattle of musket fire. But only the wind and the hissing spray interrupted his words as Maynard and Packwood craned to hear him.

`If we pull around the point we shall be too late to make an attack.'

Maynard muttered petulantly, `We were given too far to row in my opinion. It was impossible from the start!'

Herrick snarled, `No one is asking for your opinion, so just listen to me will you?' Herrick was surprised at the savagery in his own voice but hurried on, There should be a bit of foreshore below the point, so we'll head for it now. Mr. Packwood will wait with half a crew per boat and lie as close as possible to the rocks.' He waited, feeling the tension dragging at his patience. `Understand?'

They nodded doubtfully and he continued, `Mr. Maynard will accompany me ashore with thirty men. If we scale the point we should be able to see down the other side. If the Andiron is still there we might try an attack even now, especially if she looks peaceful enough and is close to the headland. Otherwise we will head back to the picking-up area.' He had a brief picture of Vibart's scorn and rage when he returned to announce the failure of the attack. He again felt the same unreasonable anger at the mission. The admiral should have sent a heavier force. Even the Cassius would have helped just by adding her strength and availability for the final withdrawal.

Perhaps it was his own fault after all. If he had not trusted Vibart's complacency and had checked the distance from the shore more carefully. If only he had allowed for the change of wind and the savage offshore drift. He shook himself angrily. It was too late now. The present was all that counted.

But he still found time to imagine Bolitho in these circumstances. The mental picture of that impassive face helped to steady him and he said in a level voice, 'Bear off and head for the rocks. But not a sound, any of you!'

.One by one the boats moved inshore, and when almost hemmed in by dark-fanged rocks the first men leapt slipping and cursing into shallow water.

There was no point in trying to split the party into groups now, Herrick decided. It would take too long, and they had taken enough chances already. He watched the three boats move clear and then snapped, `Mr. Maynard, come with me. McIntosh will take charge down here.' He groped through his mind to remember the carefully listed names. 'Allday and Martin follow me!'