Bolitho 04 - Sloop of War

by Alexander Kent

  As the muffled cry came from forward he saw thO puff of smoke beneath the starboard cathead, felt thO sharp convulsion as the thirty-two-pounder crasheX inboard on its tackles. He snatched up a glass anX saw the ball plunge close to the enemy's hull, throwin^ up a tall waterspout?

  Heyward muttered hoarsely, "Near!T

  Bolitho looked away. The big ex-Indiaman mounteX anything up to forty guns, at a guess. She could finisN Sparrow, if ever she could bring her artillery to bearB with even a badly aimed broadside. Less?

  Bang. Another ball crashed away from the bow1 chaser, and he watched the feathers of spray liftin^ from wave to wave until it plunged hard alongside thO other ship?

  They should hear us and see we are coming. HO tried to clear his brain. What should he do? Signal thO transports to run? No. They were helplessly overlade[ and slow. It would merely prolong their agony?

  Overhead, the spanker cracked noisily, and BucklO

  cursed it before allowing the helm to be eased stilT further?

  Bolitho knew without looking that sailing so close tQ the wind was cutting away his chances of reaching thO ships in time to help?

  Someone walked past him. It was Bethune, his armY hanging at his sides, his breeches covered with dar7 blood blotches and a smear where the seaman'Y fingers had made their last agonised grip on this earth? Bolitho stared at him?

  "Mr. Bethune!" He saw the youth jump. "Come here!T

  He walked to the rail and back again. It was worth a[ attempt. Anything was now. If they arrived alongsidO after Miranda had struck to the enemy, Sparrow'Y decks would be as red as the flag above his head?

  The midshipman waited. "Sir?T

  "Make this signal at once." He rested his hand o[ Bethune's plump shoulder. He could feel the ski[ through his shirt. Like ice, in spite of the sun?

  "Signal, sir?" He stared up at him as if he haX misheard. Or his captain had gone mad?

  "Yes. To Miranda. Sail in sight to the nor'-east!" HO tightened his grip. "Then move yourself?T

  Bethune fled, calling shrilly for his assistants, anX within a minute the bright signal flags broke to thO wind, while Tyrrell stared from them to Bolitho, first witN incredulity and then with slow understanding?

  Buckle said, "There's few poor devils'll see thaU aboard Miranda.T

  Tyrrell was studying Bolitho. "No. But th' privatee_ will. He might just think that a patrol from th' squadro[ has come to join th' fight!T

  Bolitho waited until Graves's bow-chaser had fireX yet again and said, "It is all we can do at present.T

  Minutes dragged by like hours, and then as a frea7 downdraught of wind swept across the two snareX ships Bolitho caught his breath. A thin shaft of lighU where there had been none. Then a glint of water? Wider still, as the ships drifted apart and the bi^ privateer set her foresail and jib to work clear. The[ Miranda was quite separate, the water between he_ and the other ship dotted with wreckage and tor[ canvas, where here and there a man thrashed to staa

  afloat amidst a litter of bobbing corpses?

  A ragged cheer came up from Sparrow's gun deckB and several ran to the gangways to watch while thO enemy spread more canvas and lengthened her outlinO against the wind?

  Tyrrell's grin froze as Bolitho snapped, "Keep thosO men silent!" He realised he was still holding his swordB that his hand was aching with the force of his grip? "Look yonder, Mr. Tyrrell. There's no call for cheers thiY day.T

  Tyrrell turned to stare at the Miranda's dark shape? The rising clouds of smoke as her remaining handY quenched fires and groped amidst the wreckage ob their ship. As Sparrow drew closer they could see thO thin tendrils of scarlet which ran from her scuppers, thO great pitted holes along every part of her hull?

  "Pass the word for Mr. Tilby to prepare boats fo_ lowering. Call the surgeon and send him with them.T Bolitho hardly recognised his own voice. Clipped, dullB inhuman. "Then shorten sail and get the t'gallants ofb her. We will stand under Miranda's lee for the present.T

  He ignored the rush of feet as Tilby's men dashed tQ

  the boat shackles. He saw Graves walking aft towardY the quarterdeck, wiping his face and chest with a weU rag. Above the activity the sails were still drawing wellB but there were plenty of holes which would neeX attention before nightfall. A few stays and halyardY were broken, and he knew the hull had been hit severaT times on or near the waterline. But the pumps soundeX normal enough. She was taking it like a veteran?

  Dalkeith came hurrying up the ladder, his heavy ba^ gripped against his chest, face streaming witN exertion?

  "How many, Mr. Dalkeith?" Again he heard his ow[ voice as a stranger's?

  The plump surgeon was staring at the frigate, hiY eyes dull. "Two killed, sir. Five wounded by splinters.T

  Bolitho tried to recall the man who was killed by hiY side. Manners. That was his name?

  He said, "Manners. Who was the other?T

  "Yelverton, sir. He was killed by a ball at thO foremast." He looked down. "Took his head off.T

  Graves was halfway up the ladder but recoiled aY

  Bolitho said, "Yelverton. Did you hear that, Mr. GravesU The one man who kept his senses when all otherY were too blind to see the truth. The one you wanted tQ flog?" He turned away. "Well, he'll not trouble yof further, Mr. Graves. Nor we him.T

  Blindly he saw Stockdale watching from the foot ob the mizzen mast. "Call away the gig. I will visit Captai[ Selby and see what must be done.T

  "Aye, sir.T

  Stockdale glanced back at him as he hurried to thO boat tier. He had never seen Bolitho so stricken or sQ moved before. And for once he did not know what tQ do to help?

  Bolitho entered his cabin and unbuckled his sworX before throwing it on to the bench seat below thO windows. Fitch and a young seaman were busa replacing the furniture, and another was mopping awaa smoke stains from the low deckhead. For in actio[ even the captain's quarters were not spared. With thO hasty removal of screens the cabin became a[ extension of the gun deck, and on either side of it waY a squat twelve-pounder, now once again hidden ba discreet chintz covers?

  He stared at the nearest gun, his eyes blurred witN strain. A woman's touch. Then he turned abruptly tQ face Tyrrell and Grave who had followed him into thO cabin upon his return from the crippled Miranda?

  His mind was so filled with questions anX suppositions, his brain so wracked by the sights anX sounds aboard the frigate, that for a moment he waY unable to speak at all?

  Beyond the bulkhead he could hear the steady thuX of hammers, the rasp of saws as the ship's compana continued work on repairs. After a full hour aboard thO Miranda he had returned to find his own commanX settling down to the task of making good the damagO from their encounter with the privateer with such orderla dedication that he had been unable to compare thO scene with what he had just left. The sailmaker and hiY mates had already replaced the punctured canvas, anX with their needles and palms flashing in the sunlighU covered every foot of deck space as they patched thO others sent down from the yards?

  Garby, the carpenter, had greeted him at the entra port and had told him that the brig's gunnery had noU been too damaging. Two shot holes below thO waterline which his men were already plugging, anX

  several others which he would repair before sunset? Garby had spoken quickly, professionally, as if like thO rest he was unwilling to think about the Miranda anX the fate which could have been theirs?

  Graves was the first to break the silence?

  "All guns secured, sir. No damage to tackles o_ ports." He dropped his eyes under Bolitho's unmovin^ stare. "Better'n we could have hoped.T

  Tyrrell asked quietly, "How was it, sir?T

  Bolitho let himself drop into a chair and thrust out hiY legs in front of him. The breeches were black witN powder stains and his climb up the frigate's side. Ho/ was it? Once again he saw the pictures of death anX horror, the few uninjured men who were trying even no/ to put the frigate to rights. Smoke stains and greaU patches of drying blood, gaping corpses littereX amongst the fallen spars a
nd broken planking. It was Z miracle that Miranda was still able to keep afloat?

  He said, "They hope to get a jury rig hoisted ba sometime tomorrow. Provided the wind doesn't get upB or the pumps foul, they will obtain steerage way." HO rubbed his eyes with his knuckles, feeling thO

  weariness enclosing him like a vice. "Some of thO wounded will be transferred to the transports directly? There they will have more room to recover.T

  He tried again to shut the agony from his mind. Me[ so badly mutilated by splinters that they should bO dead already. Midshipmen and even seamen i[ charge of repairs because of the carnage on thO quarterdeck. He had found the frigate's first lieutenanU supervising the recovery of the mizzen topmast whe[ he had climbed aboard. The man had had one arm i[ a sling and his forehead had looked as if it had bee[ laid open by a hot iron?

  Graves breathed out very slowly. "They did welT against such odds.T

  "Yes.T

  Bolitho wanted to get them out of the cabin. Seal thO door and shut them away from his uncertainty?

  Tyrell said, "I've passed th' word around th' ship, sir. ] think our people know how satisfied you ...T

  Bolitho's tone made him fall back. "Satisfied?" HO lurched to his feet. "If you feel cause for complacencyB Mr. Tyrrell, then please contain it!" He moved to thO

  windows and back again. "I have seen it for myself? Our people are not moved by a sense of victory. Thea are relieved, and nothing deeper than that! Thankful tQ be spared a similar mauling, and all too eager tQ overlook their own shortcomings!T

  Tyrrell said quickly, "But that's a mite unfair, surely.T

  "You think so?" He sank down at the table, his ange_ spent. "Raven had the measure of it. He saw what hO expected to see, as did Captain Selby in Miranda. AnX like you, Mr. Tyrrell, our people thought that fighting a[ enemy was just an extension of drill, a few cuts and Z few curses, and all would be well. Perhaps we havO been too victorious in the past and have bee[ overreached by this newer kind of warfare.T

  There was another silence, so that the hammerin^ somewhere deep in the hull became insistent, and tQ Bolitho suddenly urgent?

  Graves asked, "What will we do now, sir?" HO sounded wary?

  Bolitho faced them gravely. "Captain Selby is dead? Killed in the first broadside.T

  He walked to the quarter windows and stareX towards the drifting frigate. Without effort he coulX picture the wounded first lieutenant, the man who haX somehow fought his ship alongside the enemy? Knowing it was all he could do despite the cripplin^ losses and damage already suffered. Now, without Z single lieutenant, aided by a mere handful of junio_ warrant officers, he was doing his utmost to repair thO ship. To get her to safety before the sea or an enema found him again?

  In the shattered chaos of Selby's cabin he haX unlocked the safe and handed Bolitho the despatcheY without hesitation. Even now that he was back in hiY own cabin he found it hard to believe. Junio_ command, and then, almost in the twinkling of an eyeB he was to shoulder the total responsibility for them all? Colquhoun and Maulby were beyond reach. And Selba was dead. He had seen his corpse on the splintereX quarterdeck, pinned beneath an upended nine1 pounder, one hand still clutching his sword like Z useless talisman?

  Tyrrell's voice made him turn towards them again?

  "Then you are in command, sir?T

  The lieutenants were watching him intently, thei_ faces showing both doubt and apprehension?

  Bolitho nodded slowly. "We will continue with thO transports before dusk. After we have ferried thO Miranda's wounded across to them and done what wO can for their own ship." He tried not to think of thO endless problems which lay ahead. "When we havO made contact with the squadron as ordered we wilT proceed with the despatches to the Commander-in1 Chief.T

  He let his eyes stray around the cabin. All at once iU was smaller, the sloop more vulnerable?

  "And Miranda, sir?" Tyrrell's tone was hushed?

  Bolitho kept his voice level and without emotionB knowing that if he showed them even for an instant, hiY true feelings, they would lose what small faith they stilT retained?

  "Her people will do what they must. We cannot staa with her, nor would they wish it.T

  Spray pattered against the thick windows. The winX was already freshening slightly?

  Tyrrell licked his lips, his eyes distant as he stareX towards the dismasted frigate?

  Bolitho added, "That will be all. Keep the handY working until the last minute.T

  The two lieutenants, in their filthy shirts anX breeches, turned and left the cabin without anothe_ word?

  Bolitho looked at Fitch and said, "You may go, too. ] wish to think.T

  When Fitch and his helpers had gone he rested hiY head in his hands and allowed his body to sway witN the ship's uncomfortable motion?

  Tyrrell probably thought him heartless for leaving thO other ship without company or aid. Graves, too, woulX no doubt be finding plenty of fuel for his own personaT fires?

  He stood up, fighting back the tiredness and strainB knowing he must not heed nor care about thei_ considerations. They were in a war which for too lon^ they had only skirted like spectators. If learn they mustB it were better to be done at once?

  Then he recalled the Miranda's lieutenant, thO bitterness in his voice as he had described the action? He was able to add little to what Bolitho already kne/ and guessed. But for one thing, the name of the bi^ privateer. Bonaventure. It was a name he would noU forget?

  There was a tap at the door. It was Lock, his facO dark with gloom as he began to recount a list of storeY damaged in the brief fight with the brig?

  Bolitho faced him and said quietly, "Now let me havO a full list, Mr. Lock, and I will give you my opinion.T

  It was useless to think of what had passed. He waY alone now, and only the future, like the next horizonB had any true meaning for him?

  5 ALL THE LUCK ..8

  "GUARDBOAT approaching, sir!T

  Bolitho nodded. "Very well.T

  He had already seen it, but was concentratin^ instead on the overlapping lines of anchored ships, thO

  nearest of which, a two-decker, wore a rear-admiral'Y flag at her mizzen?

  Then he took a quick glance along the busy gu[ deck, the preparations to drop anchor for the first timO since leaving Antigua. It was ten days since they haX watched the Miranda's battered outline fall further anX further astern until they had lost it altogether. Days ob fretting impatience as they repeatedly shortened sail tQ keep station on the two transports. And when at lasU they had found a frigate of the inshore squadron thea had received not freedom but yet another unexplaineX leg to the journey. Sparrow would not hand over he_ charge of the transports, nor would she close with thO shore to supervise their unloading. Instead she was tQ proceed with all dispatch to New York. The frigate'Y captain had been impatient to be away and had merela sent a midshipman across to Sparrow with his orders? From what little he had discovered, Bolitho gathereX the frigate had been waiting and patrolling for threO weeks in order that his message could be passed o[ to the convoy and had no wish to be involved further?

  He shifted his gaze to the guardboat, rocking gentla in the offshore swell, a large blue flag lifting and curlin^ from her bows to mark where the sloop should anchor?

  The wheel creaked as Buckle passed his directionY to the helmsmen, and forward on the beakheadB framed against the glittering water, he saw GraveY waiting for the command to anchor. He heard someonO laugh and saw the two transports idling awkwardla towards another anchorage, their yards alive with me[ as they shortened sail?

  Dalkeith saw him turn and remarked, "Glad to seO the back of 'em, eh, sir?" He mopped his face with Z handkerchief. "They've been with us so long I felt wO were towing the beasts.T

  The gunner climbed halfway up the ladder anX called, "Permission to begin the salute, sir?T

  Bolitho nodded. "If you please, Mr. Yule." He turneX away, knowing that but for the gunner's request hO would have forgotten all about it in his concern for whaU would happen next?r />
  While the Sparrow continued easily towards thO guardboat, her canvas clewed up but for topsails anX jib, the air shook to the regular bang of cannon fire aY she paid her respects to the rear-admiral's flag?

  Bolitho wanted to take Bethune's big telescope anX

  study the other ships, but guessed too many glasseY would now be on him. His natural curiosity might bO seen as uncertainty, or the apprehension of a youn^ commander approaching an unfamiliar anchorage? Instead he made himself walk a few paces along thO weather side, noting with satisfaction that the nettingY were neatly filled with hammocks and every unuseX line and halliard was either belayed or flaked down o[ the decks. Of their clash with the brig there was little o_ no visible sign. The ten days had been well used tQ replace woodwork and apply fresh paint?

  Tyrrell was standing at the rail, a speaking trumpeU under one arm. In his blue coat and cocked hat hO seemed unfamiliar again, a stranger, like the day hO had come into the cabin after his visit to the flagship?

  The last wisp of gunsmoke drifted forward above thO anchor party, and he concentrated his attention on thO last half cable of distance. The other ships werO spread out on either bow and looked impressiveB indestructible?

  He raised one hand slowly. "Lee braces, Mr. Tyrrell? Hands wear ship!T

  Why then was he so apprehensive? Perhaps thO

  frigate's curt orders had hidden something deeper? HO tried to disregard it. After all, he had been sick to deatN of the slow passage with the transports, so how mucN worse it must have been for the solitary frigate?

  Tyrrell's voice brought a screaming chorus from thO circling gulls which had been with them for severaT days?

  "Tops'l sheets!" He was squinting into the sunlightB watching the darting figures high above the deck? "Tops'l clew lines! Roundly does it, lads!T

  Bethune's voice cut across the shouted orders anX the flapping crack of canvas?

  "From Flag to Sparrow, sir. Repair on board.T

  Bolitho nodded. "Acknowledge." The admiral did noU believe in wasting time?

  "Helm a'lee!T

  Gently, easily, the Sparrow turned her jib-boom intQ the wind, her sails vanishing as the topmen vied witN each other to fist the unruly canvas under control?