Marty just smiled and asked how Cox John Batrick and Ise were. The Captain accepted the change in subject as confirmation of his suspicions and told him that the Cox was in Wareham with the crew of the barge. They were staying at the Row Barge Pub near the wharf. Ise was well and complaining as usual. He had found another cabin boy to help him but Ise maintained he wasn’t a patch on ‘young Marty’.
Miss Kate had meantime been chatting to Caroline and a peal of delighted laughter brought the men’s attention back to the women.
“Were you really so small when you were here?” giggled Caroline.
Marty puffed up a bit in embarrassment and said he was just “a late developer”.
Captain Taylor chipped in with a quip that he grew around three inches in the first six months on board and could eat enough to fuel two full grown topmen and still complain he was hungry.
Marty turned the conversation to the De Marchets telling that they were well and settled in London. Captain Taylor replied that he had the occasional letter from the Count and that in fact he had one just recently.
“Oh?” said Marty a little concerned about what was to come, “did he have any news?”
“He mentioned you had been in a duel and accounted for yourself well and with honour if not a little unconventionally” replied Captain Turner
“A duel?” cried Miss Kate “You fought a duel?”
“Ooops” said Turner looking abashed at mentioning that in front of his sister who had very particular ideas about duelling and a number of other activities that young men partake in.
Fortunately there was a knock at the front door and Emily rushed to answer it. A moment later a Navy courier stepped into the Drawing Room.
Turner looked up expectantly but the young man looked to Marty and said
“Midshipman Stockley?”
Marty was surprised but said “Yes?”
“I have orders for you” said the courier and handed him a packet with the fouled anchor seal of the Admiralty. “The landlord of the Red Lion said you would be here”
Marty signed the proffered receipt and then cracked the seal and opened the letter inside. He read it carefully and then said to the courier.
“Please convey my best wishes to Admiral Lord Hood and Mr Wickham and tell them I will leave immediately and expect to sail by the 29th weather permitting.”
He looked at Caroline and said
“I am sorry but I must leave immediately for Deal. A situation has arisen and I am required to sail in the Lark as soon as possible”
Turner looked at him quizzically and said
“A rum order for a ‘training base’ don’t ya think?”.
Marty smiled and said
“It seems Armand is injured and can’t command her himself. The orders don’t say why we need to sail”
Captain Turner just nodded and said thoughtfully
“Hood and Wickham. Be careful Martin you are in dangerous company”.
“Aye aye Sir” said Marty with a smile “but it’s more fun than blockade duty”
Turner laughed and replied
“True but don’t forget to keep up your studies for your Lieutenants board. You will be able to sit it in a little over a year”
“I haven’t forgotten Sir” Marty replied and shook Turner’s hand. He kissed Miss Kate and asked her to tell his mother that he had been recalled and to give her his love.
Chapter 13 Puppy Love
When they got back to the hotel Caroline started to pack her bags as well. When he looked at her quizzically she said,
“You don’t expect me to just let you swan off on your own do you? I will come to Deal and see you off when you leave.”
The trip took 3 days and Marty had sent a message ahead by fast messenger for them to prepare the ship for sail so when he arrived they could set off immediately.
Armand had broken his leg when he had slipped while getting out of a fishing boat and his leg dropped between the boat and the dock. They visited him at The Farm and found him propped in a comfortable chair with his leg stuck out in front of him, splinted and bound tightly with a strip of cloth.
Marty introduced Caroline, then excused himself as he had to get into uniform and get his sea chest packed. When he returned he found the two of them laughing at a story that Armand was telling about Marty learning to ride. He entered the room with a grin and was about to say something witty when Caroline looked at him in shocked surprise. He stopped and said, “What?”
She recovered herself and said “Oh it’s just I’ve never seen you with all your weapons before. You look so ………. Intimidating.”
Marty looked down and realised that without thinking he had donned his full weapons harness with pistols, sword and knife.
“Oh this little number” he joked “all the fashion in these parts y’know.”
“Is that the infamous Bowden Knife?” she asked
“Bowie Knife” he corrected as he drew it.
She shuddered
“It’s monstrous” she said
“It’s effective” he replied and re-sheathed it.
Armand then passed him another set of sealed orders that had ‘Not to be opened until at sea’ written under the seal.
There was nothing to delay him going to the ship now, although he was loath to leave Caroline, so he led the way to the dock. He stopped at the bottom of the gangway. She came into his arms and kissed him.
“Please be careful” she said “I want to see you again”
“I will” he said.
She punched him on the arm and said, “Liar, don’t make promises you won’t keep. You will do what you have to as you always do. I will go to the London house. Let me know when you get back.”
He grinned, kissed her on the nose, turned and walked up the gangway to see the whole crew and marines watching with big grins on their faces.
“What you smiling at, you lubbers” he shouted “Get this ship underway” and with that yelled the orders to cast off and get the ship out under sweeps into the channel.
He looked back just once and saw her still stood on the dock with a hand raised in farewell. He waved his hat and then concentrated on getting them down the estuary to the sea.
An hour later they were well out to sea and he went to his cabin to open the orders. They were signed by Wickham and not couched in the formal terms that the usual Navy orders were. They were explicit and to the point. So its Holland then he said to himself and went immediately up on deck and gave the master his orders.
Holland had become the Batavian Republic in 1795 when the French took over so was enemy territory and he was to make landfall south of the village of Noordwijk, that was between Amsterdam and The Hague, where there was a long beach backed by dunes
The weather was freezing cold and there was a good wind but it wasn’t snowing so Marty thought they were lucky. They made good progress . According to his charts they had to sail around one hundred and sixty miles northwest to get to Noordwijk, then he had to cruise south along the shore until he saw a signal light flashed four times short then three times long. The reply was two long and three short. Then he was to put ashore with a landing team and render whatever assistance the contact required.
“Detailed as usual” he muttered with deep irony.
He reasoned if they were to render assistance then they must be prepared for a trip inshore. So he would need fit men who were fast with a blade and a variety of ‘other skills’ to cover most situations. That was simple, he would take the Basques and Tom with Wilson and John Smith as back up in the boat party in case he needed them. The range of skills they had would cover most circumstances and their fighting ability was second to none. They would arrive on the coast on New Year’s Eve.
They were on their second trip along the coast an hour or so after dusk when they saw the signal. Marty made the reply, ordered the ship heave to and the boat alongside.
The oars were manned and the shore team ready to board. He inspected t
hem one last time and made sure that they all had a pair of pistols that were loaded but not primed. Each man also carried the blade of his choice and a small pack containing food, a wooden flask of water and spare ammunition. He had made sure they all wore sturdy shoes or boots with socks in anticipation of having to walk some distance ashore. He wore a pair of sturdy, calf length, lace up boots normally worn by farmers. They were good for walking and he had hidden the blade of a cutthroat razor in the upper between the layers of leather.
Satisfied all was as ready as he could make it he ordered the men to board. Last in, he got them under way and steered for the light. There was a slight swell and he noticed that there was a patch of breakers about halfway in and suspected that there was a sand bar under the surface there. He steered the boat around it just in case and then concentrated on keeping the boat straight, as it came onto the surf up to the shore. The boat grounded on the gently shelving beach and the bow men jumped out and held it straight.
Marty was the first to jump from the bow to the sand and made his way to the figure standing with the now shielded lamp in his hand.
“Midshipman Martin Stockley” he said in introduction
“Jeroen van Helden” replied the contact. “you have men to help?”
“Yes but which ones depend on what you need help with” replied Marty
“They haven’t told you?” Jeroen said in surprise “We must go to Scheveningen. There in the harbour is a boat, the Zeeland, on it are hidden the Stadholder’s jewels. I guess in England you would call them the crown jewels. We need to board the ship and sail her out of the harbour to England. On our way there we also need to rescue two former government ministers who are under house arrest on the outskirts of Den Haag”
“Oh” said Marty sarcastically “I was afraid it would be something really difficult. What type of boat are we to steal.”
“Not steal” Jeroen replied “its owned by one of the ministers. You just have to sail it. It’s a yacht that was used for racing”
Marty turned to Tom and said “We will need all of you boys. Send the boat back and tell them we will rendezvous off of the port of Scheveningen south of here tomorrow night. If we don’t show they are to sail back to The Farm and we will see them there. It’s too dangerous for them to hang around off this coast for too long.”
Ten minutes later they were following Jeroen along the beach heading south. Jeroen explained that there were five hundred meters of dunes behind the beach and it was easier just to walk along the firm shoreline. It was a clear night and very cold but the stars shone brightly and gave ample light to walk by.
“Your English is very good, where did you learn it?” Marty asked Jeroen.
“I was a trader and I would trade cheese and hemp mainly with England. I spent several weeks a year in Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth”
“Do we go all the way to Schevening on the beach?” asked Marty
“Scheveningen” Jeroen corrected “No, we need to go to Den Haag first and that is inland a little”.
“Tell me about the house the Ministers are being held in” said Marty
The rest of the men closed in behind to listen in to the explanation.
“They are held in a lange boerderij. That is a long farmhouse where the people live in one end and the animals in the other. It is a very traditional Dutch building. The house is set a little back from the road with a vegetable garden in front. There are fields either side and behind. In this one, there are fruit trees in the field to the right and they keep geese in the garden at the front. There is a dog and she had a nest of pups two months ago. They are Hollandse Herders, a dog used to protect the farm animals and to keep the sheep on the dikes away from the crops. She will protect the farm and make noise if she sees you.”
Marty wasn’t pleased to hear that. He liked dogs and he didn’t like the idea of having to silence one by killing it, especially if she had pups. He tried to think of another way.
They continued to walk along the beach in the starlight until the saw the outline of houses which Jeroen identified as the outskirts of Scheveningen. They turned off the beach on a track through the dunes and headed inland for around 3 miles.
Jeroen stopped them in a wooded area and whispered,
“the house is about one hundred meters ahead on the right.”
They sent Antton ahead and he was only gone for a few minutes when he returned.
“There are no guards visible but there are four horses with what look like military saddles tied up outside and from the look of them they haven’t been there long. The house is dark except for a light at the far left hand end. I saw nothing of the dog but there are two geese roosting in a small hut in the garden. There is smoke coming from the chimney so they have a fire going” he reported.
Marty thought for a minute and then gave the men their orders.
Pablo, John and Matai made their way through the trees to get around behind the house where Jeroen said there would be a large stack of wood up against the back wall. The rest made their way up the track to the front.
Marty got the men spread out along the low wall that separated the property from the road and then they waited. It got even colder and he was sure there was a frost setting in. Then he saw a movement on the roof. He was hoping the thatch would muffle the sound as someone climbed up from the back of the house to the chimney.
The figure got to the chimney and then stuffed something in it blocking off the smoke. He then sat down on the ridge and waited.
A few minutes later and there was a shout from inside the house followed by a lot of coughing. The front door burst open and people started to come out in a cloud of smoke. Marty’s men moved in during the confusion and, while the former occupants were still suffering from streaming eyes and coughing, quickly subdued them and tied them up.
Around the same time as the door burst open a fierce barking from the other end of the building started accompanied by shrill yips and high pitched barks that could only come from the puppies that Jeroen had mentioned. Marty had anticipated that and got Antton to make sure the door to the stable was barred. The dog could bark all it wanted now.
Once they were sure they had everyone secured, Marty signalled the man on the roof, who turned out to be Pablo, to unblock the chimney. Jeroen went to each person in turn and untied two with some rapid fire Dutch obviously intended to placate them.
The three came through the house from the back with a large, formidable woman in tow. John Smith was holding his eye and the two Basques were laughing so hard they were having a hard time walking. Marty scowled at them and Pablo explained in French that the woman had come out of the house and John had moved into restrain her only to be met with one of the best right hooks that Pablo had ever seen, which put John on his backside on the floor. The two Basques had then taken steps to calm the woman and assure her they meant her no harm.
The dog was still barking and sounded like it was getting angrier. Marty grabbed Jeroen’s arm and said,
“we need to shut that dog up before it rouses the whole district.”
Jeroen turned to the old lady and spoke to her. She nodded and took Marty by the arm and led him to the door to the stable. She looked him in the eyes and made a shush for him to be quiet. Then she opened the door and out flew a brindled tornado! It was definitely wolf shaped and around the size of a large collie. It greeted the old lady by running around her and then going up on its back legs, placing its paws on her chest and licking her chin vigorously. It was followed by 11 miniature versions of itself. Some stood back from Marty and yipped at him with high pitched barks, others sniffed his boots and one got up on its back legs and put its paws on his leg.
On impulse he reached down and picked it up and cradled it in his arms. The pup, a boy he could clearly see, stretched out its neck and managed to lick him under the chin. He raised it up a little so it could reach him and it snuggled into his neck and licked him some more.
The old lady looked at him then the pup
and then put her hand on the pup and looking directly into Marty’s eyes and nodded.
What does that mean? thought Marty and looked around to see Jeroen watching with a smile on his face.
The old woman said something to Jeroen and gestured at Marty. “She says the pup has chosen you. You must take it with you”
“What?” said Marty “How can I ….” Then he felt another lick and he looked down into a pair of deep brown eyes and he was lost.
He dragged himself back to the now. The soldiers who were supposed to be guarding the Ministers were trussed up and propped by the door. The old lady was talking to the two Ministers who were now dressed in coats and hats and had bags with their necessaries ready to travel.
“Get those men inside and make sure their bonds are secure” he ordered in French. He then addressed the two elderly men.
“Do either of you speak English or French?”
The younger of the two replied in English
“I speak a little English, my colleague only speaks Dutch”
“We need to get to Scheveningen before first light so we need to leave now. Are you ready?”
“We are, but it would be better if my friend could ride on one of those horses. He has arthrosis and Scheveningen is too far for him to walk.”
Marty ordered the horses to be brought over, got the men mounted and told Tom and Jack to take the second two. He then realised he was still holding the pup and decided the best way to carry it was inside his coat. Jeroen was watching and grinned at him. The old lady came to him and stroked the puppies head then gave Marty a bag and said something to Jeroen.
“She says that you must make the pup your friend and he will protect you with his life. There is food for him in the bag.” Jeroen translated
The Special Operations Flotilla Page 12