Black August gs-10

by Dennis Wheatley

  As Fanshawe turned away Gregory gave a swift glance along the jetty. No sign of the Captain yet Broughton was busy with the stores and troops the quarter deck free of officers for the moment. He caught the eye of Rudd, who was standing near, and strolled casually up to the starboard ladder to the bridge. Rudd followed.

  For two very fully occupied minutes Gregory was in the wireless room, while Rudd lolled close to its entrance. By the time the Lieutenant Commander returned from below, the General was standing once more by the rail on the quarter deck watching the approaches to the lock.

  'Look here,' he addressed the sailor anxiously 'how soon can we move off?'

  'I've got to wait for my Captain, sir.'

  'Yes, yes, I know, but you don't seem to appreciate the urgency of the situation. This ship should have been ready and waiting to take me and my men to sea at once. If you've had no instructions someone's made a bloomer at the Admiralty and they will get it in the neck.'

  Fanshawe smiled: That's hardly my fault, sir.'

  'Of course not, but I must carry out my instructions can’t you get her ready to move off directly the Captain does turn up?'

  'Yes, there's no reason we shouldn't do that.' He turned to his petty officer: 'Quartermaster, call the hands, stations for getting under way ask the engine room to tell me how soon they will be ready it's urgent, so skip!'

  Broughton, who was standing near them hurried forward. Gregory kept an anxious eye on the jetty while preparations were being made but there was still no sign of the Captain, when, some twenty minutes later, the Lieutenant reported to the Lieutenant Commander that the ship was ready to proceed.

  Gregory, who was standing near shook his head with a worried frown: 'If that Captain of yours doesn't turn up soon,' he observed quietly, 'we shall have to leave without him.'

  'But we can't possibly do that, sir,' said the Lieutenant Commander in a shocked voice.

  'Why?' asked Gregory, 'surely you can navigate the ship yourself?'

  'Oh, yes, Broughton and my other lieutenant and I can do that between us, it's not that.'

  'I see, but of course your Engineer Officer is ashore as well, isn't he? Is that the trouble?'

  'No, not exactly, but '

  'Well, what is it then?' Sallust cut him short impatiently. 'I understand you to say that you had a complete crew.'

  'Yes, nearly eighteen of them are in irons at the moment, we had rather a bother with them last night demonstration in sympathy with those bad eggs in the Battle Squadron; normally they would be in prison on shore, but instructions were to keep them here for the time being. We had a bit of bad luck with our Gunner this morning too the front wheel of his push bike got in a tramline and he went over the handlebars they've detained him in hospital on shore, but of course I could manage easily with the rest.'

  'Then for goodness' sake let me get on with my job.'

  'I'm sorry, but I've already told you, sir I can't sail until my Captain turns up. I have no official order unless you've got one you can show me from a Naval Authority?'

  'Of course I haven't.' Sallust spoke with unusual heat. 'I received my orders verbally from Eastern Command when they handed me the packet I showed you, but you should have had your instructions from the Naval people here in the early hours of the morning.'

  'Quite, sir, but you do see my position, don't you?'

  'Now look here, Commander,' Gregory had suddenly become very amiable again, 'I quite appreciate that it is an awkward situation for you, but there's a war on you know or its equivalent at all events. The Government seems to have got the country into a ghastly mess and now it's looking to the Services to pull it out. It's my job to get my troops wherever they're ordered at the earliest possible moment you must understand the urgency of the matter. I appeal to you as a brother officer to get this ship under way without any further delay.'

  The Lieutenant Commander smiled, obviously sympathetic towards the Generals anxiety to be off. 'I'm sorry, sir, it's quite impossible I can't put to sea without my Captain. I tell you what though! I'll slip over to the signal station and try and get him on the telephone; it's not a long job, and if I can't get in touch with him I'll ring up the Secretary's office at Admiralty House and ask if any instructions have come through.'

  'Splendid!' Gregory grinned suddenly. 'That's awfully good of you I wish you would.'

  'Righto! I won't be five minutes.' With a friendly wave of his hand Fanshawe disappeared over the side.

  Gregory paced slowly up and down the quarter deck. His lean, rather wolfish face showed a nervy satisfaction, but his sharp eyes were never off the jetty for more than a moment, and when the Lieutenant Commander reappeared he walked quickly over to the gangway to meet him.

  'It's all right, sir,' came the cheerful hail, 'I haven't found my Captain but I can explain why those orders never came through!'

  'Can you? That's good,' Gregory nodded.

  Yes, all the wires are down and the private line's been cut, so they are sending dispatches by road and one of the cars was wrecked outside Strood round about two o'clock this morning. The Secretary at Admiralty House seemed to think instructions about your party must have been among that bunch.'

  'I see, but he agreed to our sailing at once.'

  'Well, he could hardly do that himself, and when he went in to see the Admiral the old man was so up to his eyes in it that he couldn't get anything very definite, but he says General Instructions are that where communications have broken down officers will be expected to act on their own initiative, rather than remain idle, and that every opportunity should be taken to act in conjunction with the sister services so in an emergency like this, I think that lets me' out.'

  'Good for you. Then I'll slip down to the wardroom for a moment if you don't mind.'

  A pleasant smile spread over Fanshawe's face. 'Rather, sir, and I think we'd better make you an honorary member of the Mess.'

  'Thanks,' Gregory tapped his pocket. 'When we're clear of the lock I'll come up again and we'll open these orders.' Then he went below.

  The orders when opened caused Fanshawe considerable surprise. They were not destined for London after all but ordered to proceed to a point some miles east of the Goodwin’s, and there to lie to until nine o'clock the following morning, at which hour a second set of sealed orders, enclosed in the first, were to be opened.

  The naval man thought it devilish queer so apparently did Gregory, but he suggested that possibly they had been detailed to act as escort to some personage of importance who was leaving the country in a yacht, and who intended to rendezvous with them there.

  However, the orders were definite, so His Majesty's destroyer Shark proceeded down the Medway, and making her pendants to the signal station at Garrison Point put out under these somewhat strange conditions to sea.

  It was now obvious that the troops would have to spend at least one night on board, so arrangements were made by which that portion of the crew quartered on the lower mess deck handed it over to the soldiers, and mucked in temporarily with their shipmates on the upper. Ann and Veronica v ere allowed to occupy the absent Captain's cabin, and Gregory that of the Engineer Officer; Kenyon and Silas Harker that of the Gunner.

  The weather clearing they were able to spend most of the afternoon on deck, and the Tommies seemed already on the friendliest terms with the men of the sister Service.

  Fanshawe excused himself from dining that evening by saying that he had an urgent matter to attend to on deck, and Broughton was again officer of the watch, so Mr. Cousens a tall, freckle faced lieutenant with a pleasant smile, played host in the wardroom.

  They discussed the many rumours and catastrophic events until, the port having gone round the table, Cousens stood up and bowed to the girls. 'I hope you'll forgive me, but I go on at midnight, so I must snatch an hour or two's sleep.' He smiled round in the others; 'Please ask the steward for anything you want.'

  When he had left them Gregory signed to Rudd, who had been helping to wait on them, t
o shut the wardroom trap hatch which communicated with the pantry, then he lay back in his chair at the bottom of the table.

  'Filthy port, isn't it?' he remarked casually, 'still, that's no fault of the Navy; just hard luck on the poor devils that they can't take vintage wine to sea, the constant rocking breaks the crust and turns it into mud.'

  Kenyon shrugged, 'It's not too bad, I like a wood port for a change; but I was wondering where we shall be this time tomorrow.'

  'This time tomorrow!' the General echoed. 'Well, I can give you a very good idea. If the weather is reasonably favourable we shall be heading westward a hundred miles or more south of the Isle of Wight.'

  'My hat!' exclaimed Veronica, 'we're not going out into the Atlantic in this cockleshell, are we? '

  'We are, my dear; so you'd better make up your mind to it.'

  'Ye Gods! But I shall die.'

  'I trust not.'

  'Tell us, General,' Harker leaned forward across the narrow table, 'just how do you happen to know what's in that second set of secret orders?'

  'I ought to,' Sallust replenished his glass with a second ration of the despised port, 'since I was responsible for planning this expedition.'

  They all regarded him with quickened interest as he went on slowly: 'I realised that these Naval birds would never swallow the whole draught at one gulp, that's why I allowed for a twenty four hour interval before opening the second lot. Fortunately, as it turns out now, that gives me a chance to put you wise concerning my intentions.'

  'Your intentions?' inquired Kenyon with peculiar emphasis.

  'Yes, my intentions; which are with due respect to oil consumption and the hazard of picking up fresh supplies to run this hooker down to the West Indies just as soon as ever I can.'

  'The West Indies!' Kenyon frowned. "The War Office must be crazy to send troops out of the country at a time like this.'

  'Oh, the War Office had nothing to do with it,' said Gregory mildly. 'I'm acting entirely on my own initiative.'

  'What! You had no orders about proceeding somewhere in this ship!'

  ’No none at all.'

  ’But damn it, man, you boarded her and ordered the ship to sea; do you mean you had no authority to do that?'

  'None, my dear boy. None whatever, I assure you.'

  'Good God, Sallust! You can't be serious!'

  'I was never more serious in my life.'

  The eyes of the whole party were riveted on Gregory's face in amazement, anger and alarm, then Kenyon suddenly burst out: 'But you can't do this sort of thing, you simply can't. Using your own initiative is one thing, but this is nothing less than running away. You're a soldier, and if you've no right here you ought to be on duty somewhere else.'

  The General sipped his port, then the furrows round his mouth deepened a little as he smiled: 'Dear me, no. When I got out of the Army last time I determined that nothing should ever induce me to enter it again. This outfit ' he patted his buttoned tunic 'and Rudd's were supplied by my old friend the theatrical costumier Willie Clarkson.'

  12

  Piracy

  For a moment there was absolute silence while they all stared a little stupidly at Gregory, dumbfounded by this staggering revelation, and endeavouring to assess what effect his criminal proceedings might have upon themselves. Kenyon was the first to recover. 'This is piracy,' he announced abruptly, getting to his feet.

  'Is it? Yes, I suppose it is.' Gregory calmly lit another cigarette.

  'And you can be hanged for it; do you realise that?' 'Perhaps; but they've got to catch me first.' 'That won't take long directly Fanshawe learns the truth.' 'Oh! You seem to have forgotten the presence of my troops.'

  'Yes, I've been wondering about that,' said Ann softly. 'How did you get hold of them, Gregory?'

  'Would it amuse you to hear?' Sallust grinned openly with a certain pride in his achievement.

  'I think it's more important that we should get this situation cleared up without delay.' Kenyon spoke sharply.

  'Why worry?' the American cut in lazily. 'The ship's only cruising round has been for hours, so we're not going further away, and this sounds like a great story to me. 'Let's have it er General.'

  'All right.'

  Kenyon sat down again reluctantly.

  'Well, if Fane can bottle up his desire to have me hanged for five minutes, I'll tell you.' Gregory puffed at his cigarette and smiled round at them. 'You see I made up my mind years ago that in the event of a real break up, the only road to safety lay in assuming the outward trappings of authority. Of course there was the sporting chance that the mob might single me out for an immediate hanging but if I could once get going the world was mine or at all events everything which happened to be left of it.'

  Harker grinned appreciatively, as Sallust went on: 'Having planned the whole show so far in advance it wasn't difficult really. Rudd and I knew of a small garage in Elvaston Place that housed several lorries. We knew too that the owner lived down at Brighton, and he couldn't get up to London. We snaffled three of them in the afternoon and made a few alterations with a couple of pots of paint. Some of you saw one of them I think loaded up outside Gloucester Road. After that we changed into our uniforms, took one of the empties up to some barracks that I had in mind and parked it a little way down the street. We had to wait there for nearly three hours, but at last some troops marched out a company, as luck would have it, although I only needed a platoon. I tackled the Captain. Told him I had to have a certain number of his men immediately. Naturally he was a bit doubtful what to do at first, just like our friend who is taking his exercise up on the bridge, but you know what it was like in London last night everybody a bit excited and pulling too quick a stroke. I utilised the name of his own Colonel which I made it my business to find out and of course he imagined that I was a full blown Brigadier, so after a very short discussion he gave way and I went off with the boys crammed like sardines in the lorry. At Elvaston Place we distributed them among the other two vans, then we proceeded in accordance with plan to advance on Chatham.'

  'Good God!' Kenyon sat back suddenly. 'But wasn't there an officer with the platoon? What happened to him?'

  'Oh, certainly.' Gregory gave a chuckle of enjoyment. 'I kept him with me for half an hour, and then packed him off with an urgent message to the War Office he's still there, for all I know.'

  Silas nodded. 'It was a great performance, but I wonder at you being able to pull the same bluff twice.'

  'What, Chatham you mean? Yes, that was the crucial point of the whole campaign, but as a journalist I got myself taken round the Dockyard some time ago, and the visit gave me a knowledge of the regulations which are observed before a ship is allowed to put to sea, so I had half a dozen different lines of bluff ready to meet the most probable emergencies. I banked very largely upon their being in a state of chaotic muddle, the appearance of troops giving weight to my request which it could never have had from a single man and the staff at Admiralty House being dead tired after such a night. That's one reason why I delayed my arrival until this morning.'

  'I wonder we haven't been recalled by wireless by this time though,' Kenyon remarked.

  Gregory laughed suddenly. 'No, it's not working. That was a really masterly touch. I managed to remove some of the essential parts within ten minutes of coming on board.'

  'Fanshawe must have thought that pretty queer when it was reported.'

  'He did, but I persuaded him that it must have been one of the mutineers last night, or a sympathiser early this morning.'

  Two bright spots of colour had appeared in Veronica's usually pale cheeks. After a moment's silence she said suddenly: 'And you have the face to sit there and tell us quite calmly that you have taken all these men away from their duty when the country's on the verge of revolution?'

  'I have, dear lady. These troops and this destroyer are at the present time engaged solely upon the very important duty of securing the safety of Brigadier General Gregory Sallust ' he paused for a moment with
his chin stuck out as he looked challengingly round the table ' and that of those friends whom he delights to honour.',

  'My hat, what a party!' Veronica flung her hands above her head and did an excellent imitation of a faint.

  'I wish to God you'd told me this before,' said Kenyon seriously.

  'Why?'

  'Well, naturally I should never have dreamt of lending myself to such a scheme. It's not only criminal it's treason. Nothing less than stabbing the Government in 'the back when they need every man they've got to keep order.'

  'Stop talking hot air and be honest with yourself, Fane. The Government has ceased to exist already. How could they hope to survive with the machinery of supply and control cracking up in every direction? Surely you don't suggest that a few thousand troops could keep a population of fifty million starving people permanently in subjection, do you? And as a matter of fact, the troops themselves are starting to give trouble. There was a mutiny at Aldershot yesterday. That was the last piece of authentic news I had from old Jolliat, the editor, before I left the office of my paper. Actually this particular platoon should thank their stars that I've got them out of it along with myself.'

  'Perhaps but even if you're right there is such a thing as principle.'

  I see, and so, my noble squire of dames, you think I should have taken my chances of starvation or death with the rest of the fools, and have left these poor devils of soldiers to turn into a gang of bandits roaming the countryside and adding to the general misery, eh? I wonder where you would be now if I had.'

  'Dead,' Kenyon admitted, I haven't a doubt about that, but all the same I don't see how we can go on wrongfully detaining Government troops and a ship.'

  'Well, what do you propose to do about it?'

  Kenyon looked' wretchedly uncomfortable. 'I don't know,' he confessed. 'I hate ingratitude and since you saved us all it would be a pretty bad show to get you put under arrest, especially in view of what's likely to happen to you; but unless you are prepared to order the ship back to port I feel that it is up to me to let Fanshawe know where he stands.'

  Gregory smiled amiably. 'Before you actually send the balloon up I think it would be interesting to hear a few other views. What does Lady Veronica feel about it?'