Admiral Hornblower

by C. S. Forester

  XIII

  The fact that he had not taken off his clothes told Brown and Dobbs and Howard at dawn that Hornblower had not been as composed and self-confident as he had tried to appear, but not one of them was foolish enough to comment on the fact. Brown merely opened the curtain and made his report.

  ‘Day just breaking, sir. Cold morning with a bit o’ fog. The last o’ the ebb, sir, and no news as yet of Captain Bush an’ the flotilla.’

  ‘Right,’ said Hornblower, getting stiffly to his feet. He yawned and felt his bristling cheeks. He wished he knew how Bush had succeeded. He wished he did not feel so unwashed and unclean. He wanted his breakfast, but he wanted news of Bush even more. He was still deadly tired despite his hours of unbroken sleep. Then he fought down his weariness in a direct personal struggle like that of Christian with Apollyon.

  ‘Get me a bath, Brown. Make it ready while I shave.’

  ‘Aye aye, sir.’

  Hornblower stripped off his clothes and proceeded to shave himself at the wash-hand-stand in the corner of the room. He kept his eyes from his naked body reflected in the mirror, from his skinny, hairy legs and slightly protuberant belly, as resolutely as he kept his mind from his fatigue and from his anxiety about Bush. Brown and a marine private came in carrying the bath and put it on the floor near him; Hornblower, shaving carefully round the corners of his lips, heard the hot water being poured into it from buckets. It took a little while to compound the mixture in the right proportion so as to get the temperature suitable; Hornblower stepped into it and sank down with a sigh of satisfaction – an immense amount of water poured over the sides, displaced by his body, but he did not care. He thought about soaping himself, but flinched from the effort and the physical contortions necessary, and instead he lay back and allowed himself to soak and relax. He closed his eyes.

  ‘Sir!’

  Howard’s voice caused him to reopen them.

  ‘Two boats are in sight coming down the estuary, sir. Only two.’

  Bush had taken seven boats with him to Caudebec. Hornblower could only wait for Howard to finish his report.

  ‘One of ’em’s Camilla’s launch, sir. I can recognise her through the glass. I don’t think the other is from Nonsuch, but I can’t be sure.’

  ‘Very good, Captain. I’ll join you in a moment.’

  Ruin and destruction; five boats lost out of seven – and Bush lost too, seemingly. The destruction of the French siege-train – if it were destroyed – would be well worth the loss of the whole flotilla, to someone who could coldly balance profit and loss. But Bush gone! Hornblower could not bear the thought of it. He sprang from his bath and looked round for a towel. He saw none, and with exasperation tore a sheet from the bed on which to dry himself. Only when he was dry and seeking his clean shirt did he find the towels by the dressing-table where they should have been. He dressed hurriedly, and at every moment his fears and his sorrow on account of Bush increased – the first shock had not been nearly as severe as this growing realisation of his bereavement. He came out into the ante-room.

  ‘One boat’s coming into the quay, sir. I’ll have the officer reporting here in fifteen minutes,’ said Howard.

  Brown was across the room at the far door. Now, if ever, Hornblower had the opportunity – his unaccountable brain recognised it at this moment – to show himself a man of iron. All he had to do was to say, ‘My breakfast, Brown,’ and sit down and eat it. But he could not pose, faced as he was by the possibility of Bush’s death. It was all very well to do those things when it was merely a battle that lay before him, but this was the loss of his dearest friend. Brown must have read the expression on his face, for he withdrew without making any suggestion about breakfast. Hornblower stood undecided.

  ‘I have the court-martial verdicts here for confirmation, sir,’ said Howard, calling his attention to a mass of papers.

  Hornblower sat down and picked one up, looked at it unseeing, and put it down again.

  ‘I’ll deal with later on,’ he said.

  ‘Cider’s begun coming into the city from the country in great quantity, sir, now that the farmers have found it’s a good market,’ said Dobbs. ‘Drunkenness among the men’s increasing. Can we—?’

  ‘I’ll leave it to your judgment,’ said Hornblower. ‘Now. What is it you want to do?’

  ‘I would submit, sir, that—’

  The discussion lasted a few minutes. It led naturally to the vexed question of an established rate of exchange for British and French currency. But it could not dull the gnawing anxiety about Bush.

  ‘Where the hell’s that officer?’ said Howard, petulantly pushing back his chair and going out of the room. He was back almost immediately.

  ‘Mr Livingstone, sir,’ he said. ‘Third of Camilla.’

  A middle-aged lieutenant, steady and reliable enough to outward appearance; Hornblower looked him over carefully as he came into the room.

  ‘Make your report, please.’

  ‘We went up the river without incident, sir. Flame’s boat went aground but was refloated directly. We could see the lights of Caudebec before we were challenged from the bank – we were just rounding the bend, then. Cap’n Bush’s longboat was leading, sir.’

  ‘Where was your boat?’

  ‘Last in the line, sir. We went on without replying, as our orders said. I could see two barges anchored in midstream, an’ clusters of others against the bank. I put the tiller over and ran beside the one farthest downstream, as my orders said, sir. There was a lot of musketry fire higher up, but only a few Frenchies where we were, an’ we chased ’em away. On the bank where we were there were two twenty-four-pounders on travelling carriages. I had ’em spiked, and then we levered them off the bank into the river. One fell on to the barge underneath an’ went through it, sir. It sank alongside my launch, deck just level with the water; just before the turn of the tide, that was. Don’t know what she carried, sir, but I think she was light, judging by the height she rode out of the water when I boarded her. Her hatches were open.’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Then I led my party along the bank as ordered, sir. There was a lot of shot there, just landed from the next barge. The barge was only half unloaded. So I left a party to scuttle the barge and roll the shot into the river, an’ went on myself with about fifteen men, sir. Flame’s boat’s crew was there, an’ the party they were fighting against ran away when we came on their flank. There were guns on shore and guns still in the barges, sir. We spiked ’em all, threw the ones that had been landed into the river, and scuttled the barges. There was no powder, sir. My orders were to blow the trunnions off the guns if I could, but I couldn’t.’

  ‘I understand.’

  Guns spiked and pitched into the slime at the bottom of a rapid tidal river would be out of action for some time, even though it would have been better to blow off their trunnions and disable them permanently. And the shot at the bottom of the river would be difficult to recover. Hornblower could picture so well in his mind the fierce and bloody little struggle in the dark on the river bank.

  ‘Just then we heard drums beating, sir, and a whole lot of soldiers came bearing down on us. A battalion of infantry, I should think it was – I think we had only been engaged up to then with the gunners an’ sappers. My orders were to withdraw if opposed in force, so we ran back to the boats. We’d just shoved off and the soldiers were firing at us from the banks when the explosion came.’

  Livingstone paused. His unshaven face was grey with fatigue, and when he mentioned the explosion his expression changed to one of helplessness.

  ‘It was the powder-barges higher up the river, sir. I don’t know who set them off. Maybe it was a shot from the shore. Maybe Cap’n Bush, sir—’

  ‘You had not been in touch with Captain Bush since the attack began?’

  ‘No, sir. He was at the other end of the line to me, and the barges were in two groups against the bank. I attacked one, an’ Cap’n Bush attacked the other.’

&nb
sp; ‘I understand. Go on about the explosion.’

  ‘It was a big one, sir. It threw us all down. A big wave came an’ swamped us, filled us to the gunnels, sir. I think we touched the bottom of the river, sir, after that wave went by. A bit of flying wreckage hit Flame’s boat. Gibbons, master’s mate, was killed an’ the boat smashed. We picked up the survivors while we bailed out. Nobody was firing at us from the bank any more, so I waited. It was just the top of the tide, sir. Presently two boats came down to us, Camilla’s second launch and the fishing-boat that the marines manned. We waited, but we could not see anything of Nonsuch’s boats. Mr Hake of the marines told me that Cap’n Bush an’ the other three boats were all alongside the powder-barges when the explosion happened. Perhaps a shot went into the cargo, sir. Then they began to open fire on us from the bank again, and as senior officer I gave the order to retire.’

  ‘Most likely you did right, Mr Livingstone. And then?’

  ‘At the next bend they opened fire on us with field-pieces, sir. Their practice was bad in the dark, sir, but they hit and sank our second launch with almost their last shot, and we lost several more men – the current was running fast by then.’

  That was clearly the end of Livingstone’s story, but Hornblower could not dismiss him without one more word.

  ‘But Captain Bush, Mr Livingstone? Can’t you tell me any more about him?’

  ‘No, sir. I’m sorry, sir. We didn’t pick up a single survivor from the Nonsuch’s boats. Not one.’

  ‘Oh, very well then, Mr Livingstone. You had better go and get some rest. I think you did very well.’

  ‘Let me have your report in writing and list of casualties before the end of the day, Mr Livingstone,’ interposed Dobbs – as Assistant-Adjutant-General he lived in an atmosphere of reports and lists of casualties.

  ‘Aye aye, sir.’

  Livingstone withdrew, and the door had hardly closed upon him before Hornblower regretted having let him go with such chary words of commendation. The operation had been brilliantly successful. Deprived of his siege-train and munitions, Quiot would not be able to besiege Le Havre, and it would probably be a long time before Bonaparte’s War Ministry in Paris could scrape together another train. But the loss of Bush coloured all Hornblower’s thoughts. He found himself wishing that he had never conceived the plan – he would rather have stood a siege here in Le Havre and have Bush alive at his side. It was hard to think of a world without Bush in it, of a future where he would never, never see Bush again. People would think the loss of a captain and a hundred and fifty men a small price to pay for robbing Quiot of all his offensive power, but people did not understand.

  Dobbs and Howard were sitting glum and silent when he glanced at them; they respected his sorrow. But the sight of their deferential gloom roused Hornblower’s contrariness. If they expected him to be upset and unable to work, he would show them how mistaken they were.

  ‘I’ll see those court-martial reports now, Captain Howard, if you please.’

  The busy day’s work began; it was possible to think clearly, to make decisions, to work as if nothing had happened, despite the feeling of of being drained dry by unhappiness. Not merely that; it was even possible to think of new plans.

  ‘Go and find Hau,’ he said to Howard. ‘Tell him I’d like to see the Duke for a moment.’

  ‘Aye aye, sir.’ Howard rose to his feet. He allowed himself a grin and a twinkle as he pompously reworded Hornblower’s language.

  ‘Sir Horatio solicits the favour of a short audience with His Royal Highness if His Royal Highness will be so kind as to condescend to receive him.’

  ‘That’s right,’ said Hornblower, smiling in spite of himself. It was even possible to smile.

  The Duke received him standing, warming the royal back before a cheerful fire.

  ‘I do not know,’ began Hornblower, ‘if Your Royal Highness is acquainted with the circumstances which first brought me to the waters on this part of the coast.’

  ‘Tell me about them,’ said the Duke. Maybe it was not etiquette for royalty to admit ignorance on any subject. The Duke’s attitude did not seem to convey a feeling of much interest in any case.

  ‘There was a mutiny in one of His Majesty’s – one of His Britannic Majesty’s – ships of war.’

  ‘Indeed?’

  ‘I was sent to deal with it, and I succeeded in capturing the vessel and most of the mutineers, Your Royal Highness.’

  ‘Excellent, excellent.’

  ‘Some twenty of them were tried, convicted, and have now been sentenced to death.’

  ‘Excellent.’

  ‘I would be glad not to carry those sentences out, Your Royal Highness.’

  ‘Indeed?’ His Royal Highness was not apparently interested – a yawn seemed to be hesitating only just inside the royal lips.

  ‘As far as my service is concerned, it is impossible for me to pardon the men without the gravest prejudice to discipline, Your Royal Highness.’

  ‘Quite so. Quite so.’

  ‘But if Your Royal Highness were to intervene on behalf of the men, I might then be able to pardon them without prejudice to discipline, being in a position where I can deny Your Royal Highness nothing.’

  ‘And why should I intervene, Sir ’Oratio?’

  Hornblower sidestepped the question for the moment.

  ‘Your Royal Highness could take the stand that it would be unfitting that the opening days of the return of the Dynasty to France should be marred by the shedding of the blood of Englishmen, however guilty. It would then be possible for me to pardon them, with a great show of reluctance. Men tempted to mutiny in the future would not have their temptation greatly increased by the hope of a similar event saving them from the consequences of their actions – the world will never again be so fortunate as to see a return of Your Royal Highness’s family to its legitimate position.’

  This last was a clumsy compliment, clumsily worded and susceptible to misunderstanding, but luckily the Duke took it in the spirit in which it was ostensibly meant. Nevertheless, he hardly seemed enthusiastic; he went back to his original point with Bourbon stubbornness.

  ‘But why should I do this, Sir ’Oratio?’

  ‘In the name of common humanity, Your Royal Highness. There are twenty lives to be saved, the lives of useful men.’

  ‘Useful men? Mutineers? Presumably Jacobins, revolutionaries, equalitarians – even Socialists!’

  ‘They are men who lie in irons today and expect to be hanged tomorrow, Your Royal Highness.’

  ‘As I have no doubt whatever, they deserve, Sir ’Oratio. It would be a fine beginning to the Regency with which His Most Christian Majesty has entrusted me if my first public act should be to solicit the lives of a parcel of revolutionaries. His Most Christian Majesty has not spent the past twenty-one years combating the spirit of revolution for that. The eyes of the world are upon me.’

  ‘I have never yet known the world offended by an act of clemency, Your Royal Highness.’

  ‘You have strange ideas of clemency, sir. It appears to me as if this remarkable suggestion of yours has some purpose other than is apparent. Perhaps you are a Liberal yourself, one of these dangerous men who consider themselves thinkers. It would be a good stroke of policy for you to induce my family to brand itself by its first act as willing to condone revolution.’

  The monstrous imputation took Hornblower completely aback.

  ‘Sir!’ he spluttered. ‘Your Royal Highness—’

  Even if he had been speaking in English words would have failed him. In French he was utterly helpless. It was not merely the insult, but it was the revelation of the Bourbon narrow-mindedness and suspicious cunning that helped to strike him dumb.

  ‘I do not see fit to accede to your request, sir,’ said the Duke, his hand on the bellrope.

  Outside the audience chamber Hornblower strode past courtiers and sentries, his cheeks burning. He was blind with fury – it was very rarely that he was as angry as this; n
early always his tendency to look at both sides of a question kept him equable and easy-going; weak, he phrased it to himself in moment of self-contempt. He stamped into his office, flung himself into his chair and sprang up from it again a second later, walked round the room and sat down again. Dobbs and Howard looked with astonishment at the thundercloud on his brow, and after their first glance bent their gaze studiously upon the papers before them. Hornblower tore open his neckcloth. He ripped open the buttons of his waistcoat, and the dangerous pressure within began to subside. His mind was in a maelstrom of activity, but over the waves of thought, like a beam of sunshine through a squall at sea, came a gleam of amusement at his own fury. With no softening of his resolution his mischievous sense of humour began to assert itself; it only took a few minutes for him to decide on his next action.

  ‘I want those French fellows brought in here who came with the Duke,’ he announced. ‘The equerry, and the chevalier d’honneur, and the almoner. Colonel Dobbs, I’ll trouble you to make ready to write from my dictation.’

  The émigré advisers of the Duke filed into the room a little puzzled and apprehensive; Hornblower received them still sitting, in fact almost lounging back in his chair.

  ‘Good morning, gentlemen,’ he said, cheerfully. ‘I have asked you to come to hear the letter I am about to dictate to the Prime Minister. I think you understand English well enough to get the gist of the letter. Are you ready, Colonel?

  “To the Right Honourable Lord Liverpoool.

  My Lord, I find I am compelled to send back to England His Royal Highness the Duc d’Angoulême”.’

  ‘Sir!’ said the astonished equerry, breaking in, but Hornblower waved him impatiently to silence.

  ‘Go on, Colonel, please.

  “I regret to have to inform Your Lordship that His Royal Highness has not displayed the helpful spirit the British nation is entitled to look for in an ally”.’