The Sea and the Sand

by Christopher Nicole

  ‘Just show us the bastards, sir,’ one of the seamen called.

  ‘Are you all here?’ Toby asked, looking over the emaciated scarecrows in front of him, illuminated by the glare of the torches his men held above him.

  ‘Jimmy Round died,’ one sailor said.

  ‘And Harry Belcher,’ said another.

  ‘We have lost five in all, Toby,’ Bainbridge said. ‘And I doubt the rest of us could pass a medical at this moment. But we can fight, man, we can fight.’

  ‘Then let’s go.’ He took Felicity’s hand once more. ‘Our guide,’ he explained to the bewildered Bainbridge, as he led them up into the light of the palace, listening to a loud noise, but strangely to no shots.

  ‘Toby! Toby!’ Eaton was waiting for them on the roof.

  ‘I’d have you meet Captain Philip Bain-bridge, Mr Eaton,’ Toby said formally. ‘Late captain of the USS Philadelphia.’

  ‘Captain Bainbridge!’ Eaton clasped Bain-bridge’s hand.

  ‘You have saved our lives, sir. Be sure that we are grateful, and will remain so. What you have accomplished here today will go down in history.’

  ‘Well, as to that,’ Eaton said, ‘I do not know what I have accomplished, exactly.’

  Toby frowned at him, and then past him at the still silent ships. And at the boats now entering the harbour, flying the Stars and Stripes from the stem and white flags of truce from the bows.

  ‘Has Idris surrendered?’ He looked left and right; the green flag had been hauled down from the citadel by one of their own men, but other green flags still flew from the forts on the breakwaters. On the other hand, although a large crowd had gathered on the waterfront, shouting and gesticulating, no effort was being made to prevent the American sailors from landing, and no shots were being fired.

  ‘There is some kind of a parley going on,’ Eaton said. ‘But I have interrogated some of our prisoners, and they claim the parley had begun several days before our assault.’

  Toby stared at him in consternation, then ran to the battlements. Beneath them, the crew of the first American boat had disembarked, and were clearly being greeted by a party of Moorish dignitaries, for whom the crowd had parted. His heart lurched as he made out the figure of Mohammed ben Idris, expostulating and gesturing at the citadel.

  And then realised that commanding the sailors was Stephen Decatur. There at least was cause for relief. ‘Stephen!’ he shouted. ‘Stephen! We have gained the day.’

  Decatur looked up, and some of Toby’s elation dwindled. Even at a distance he could tell his friend was not looking at all pleased. But now, after another discussion with Mohammed ben Idris, Decatur advanced on the citadel itself, the crowd continuing to part before him.

  ‘You’ll let me in, Toby,’ he called. ‘There are matters to be discussed.’

  Toby himself went down to open the gate, and Decatur stepped through. ‘God, but I am glad to see you,’ Toby said. ‘Even if I have no idea of what is happening.’

  ‘Happening?’ Decatur shook hands. And then at last grinned. ‘You are to be congratulated on your coup,’ he said. ‘A brilliant assault. Unfortunately, it was also an act of international brigandage.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You were not to know, but only a week before you arrived, Congress signed an agreement with the Dey,’ Decatur told him. ‘To our everlasting shame, our government has paid the sixty thousand dollars demanded as ransom for Captain Bainbridge and his crew. The details of handing them over were in the process of being worked out when your force appeared. But there was no way we could signal you, although we tried. Believe me, no blame can be attached to you, Toby, or to Eaton; rather the fault is Mohammed ben Idris’s for immediately deploying his army to confront you, rather than sending an envoy to acquaint you with the situation. On the other hand, now that you do know the situation, well … you no longer have the right to hold the citadel.’

  ‘My God!’ Toby led Decatur up to the battlements, where Eaton and Bainbridge waited. ‘You’d best explain it.’

  Decatur did so, while the other two officers and the assembled men listened with incredulity.

  ‘Preble agreed to this?’ Bainbridge demanded. ‘I cannot believe that.’

  Decatur sighed. ‘Captain Preble no longer commands, sir. It seems that Captain Barron presented too good a case for himself when he returned to Washington, and in addition … well, matters were complicated by the loss of the Philadelphia. Captain Barron had never lost a ship, at the least. So …’ He shrugged.

  ‘You’ll not pretend James Barron has been returned as commodore?’ Eaton demanded.

  Decatur shook his head. ‘But Preble has been recalled.’

  Toby gasped. He could not imagine the feelings of the squadron when that had happened. As for what poor Preble must have felt …

  ‘Captain Rodgers now commands,’ Decatur said. ‘But he was left with no choice other than obey orders. The war is terminated.’

  ‘What happens when Mohammed ben Idris decides to take another American vessel?’ Bain-bridge asked bitterly.

  ‘The peace treaty provides American ships with safe passes for all Tripolitanian waters.’

  ‘And you believe these pirates will honour such safe passes?’

  Decatur sighed. ‘Congress believes it, Captain Bainbridge. My opinion was not called for.’

  ‘And what of my people?’ Eaton inquired.

  ‘I believe it will be possible to do a deal with Idris,’ Decatur said. ‘Your feat of arms has mortally frightened him. He will have his ransom paid, and he needs the money.’ His smile was sad. ‘If only to repair the damage you have done, and attempt to raise a new army. It is also obvious to all that you acted in good faith, and there is the additional point that you have in your company the rightful Dey. However, I must stress that the United States Congress is apparently determined to end this war now, and thus it intends to give no support to Kara-manli either, nor will it allow any American serving-men to take part in what is essentially a Tripolitanian civil war. As I have said, if you will agree to withdraw, Mr Eaton, I believe that Idris will allow your Arab people to march out of here under a flag of truce, and make their way back to Egypt.’

  ‘Unrewarded?’ Eaton was aghast. ‘They will turn into brigands. And I will have broken my word to them.’

  Decatur gave another sigh. ‘Believe me, Mr Eaton, I would have ordered it differently. But as things stand now, your alternative is to lose all hope of further employment by your country. If, indeed, you are not named as a traitor.’

  ‘I will not desert my men,’ Eaton said. ‘At least until I have led them back to safety. As for employment, sir, I shall seek none from such a government. You may be certain of that.’

  Decatur gazed at him for several seconds, then saluted, and turned to Toby. ‘You are commanded to rejoin your ship, Toby, together with your volunteers. And you are welcomed back on board, Captain Bainbridge, with your people. Do not look so crestfallen, Toby; you have played an honourable and innocent part in these unfortunate proceedings. It will look good on your record.’

  ‘And Mohammed ben Idris?’

  Decatur shrugged. ‘He is no longer our enemy. Congress says so.’

  ‘He is certainly still mine,’ Bainbridge growled.

  ‘And mine,’ Toby agreed. ‘I had promised myself to hang him.’

  ‘You will have to postpone that pleasure, at the least. Now come, we must make haste. I will leave it to you to do as you think best, Mr Eaton. These sailors are my responsibility.’

  ‘Toby …’ Felicity whispered.

  ‘Miss Crown will accompany us,’ Toby said.

  Decatur appeared to notice her for the first time. He raised his hat. ‘Miss Crown? So Toby found you after all. Alas, I am afraid our negotiations were for the release of American nationals only.’

  ‘Stephen,’ Toby said, speaking quietly, but leaving no doubt as to his determination. ‘Either Miss Crown comes with me, or I ride off into the desert with her, and bec
ome a brigand myself.’

  ‘Spoken like a man,’ Eaton said; he was clearly very angry. ‘I’ll accompany you.’

  Decatur hesitated. Then he grinned. ‘You will accompany us, Miss Crown, and you may take up the matter of your future with Captain Rodgers. Find Miss Crown a man’s robe to wear, Toby, and wrap her up well, so that no one can tell she is a woman. I can offer nothing more than that. Now let us make haste, and get away from this hateful place.’

  CHAPTER 7

  The Mediterranean — 1805

  ‘Sit down, Toby,’ John Rodgers invited. ‘I think this chat should be off the record, as it were.’

  Toby removed his hat, and cautiously lowered himself into the chair in front of the commodore’s desk in the after cabin of the USS Constitution. He was back in a proper uniform, and the squadron was back in its base port of Syracuse. The long march across the desert need never have been, in these so familiar surroundings. And Rodgers was being as charming as he always was. Well, he was an old friend. But now he was the commodore, with a duty to perform, however distasteful. And Toby was determined to resist to his last drop of blood anything that might be injurious to Felicity, or indeed again separate them — even if it meant quarrelling with an old friend.

  He did not doubt that Rodgers himself felt in an equivocal position. He had carried out his allotted task, and his ships were preparing to go home. Tripoli was only three days behind them, but already it was merely a bad nightmare of recriminations and fury, of betrayal and disgust. Eaton had taken himself off, determined to maintain his honour to the last, to escort the shattered Hemet Karamanli and his four pages and the remnants of his army back to the safety of Cairo, resolved that he would never again work for the United States Government. Toby wondered if he would ever even reach Egypt again. In that, too, he was aware of a sense of betrayal: perhaps he should also have gone with the men he had led across the desert, turning his back on his career … but not on his honour.

  But that would have meant turning his back on Felicity Crown as well, and that he would not do. Now or ever. And he had no doubt that a crisis was at hand; he had seen the Tripolitanian felucca enter the harbour earlier that morning. He had seen nothing of Felicity since she had been hurried on board in her masculine disguise, as she had promptly been confined in the commodore’s own cabin, Rodgers gallantly moving next door to the captain’s cabin: poor Stephen Decatur, promoted captain in reward for his feat in burning Philadelphia, had had to move into the wardroom with his officers. Felicity had been kept in rigorous seclusion during the short voyage to Sicily, and had there been taken ashore, once again heavily wrapped up so that no one could possibly identify her, to the house of Signor Pucchini, the squadron’s victualler. Toby had not even been allowed to say goodbye to her, and had, on the advice of Decatur, to practise a frustrating patience. But for all their efforts at concealment, Mohammed ben Idris had had no doubts what had happened to his favourite concubine, and now he had come to reclaim her.

  Toby girded his mind for battle.

  T want you to be sure of one thing, Toby,’ Rodgers said. ‘That I, and the entire fleet, are overcome with admiration at the remarkable exploit of Eaton and yourself. I have no doubt that the nation itself will thrill to learn of your march and glorious victory. We all wish circumstances had turned out to enable you to enjoy the fruits of that victory. Unfortunately, the decision to treat with the Tripolitanians had been taken by Congress before you actually set out on your march from Cairo — on the recommendation of James Barron, needless to say. It was sheer ill fortune that the ship bringing that decision across the Atlantic was delayed by bad weather, and that your own march was equally delayed. I was in a quandary when I assumed command of the squadron, quite apart from being thoroughly disgusted with the treatment of poor Preble. Had your people been in position outside Tripoli on 1 April I am not sure what I would have done. However, they were not, we had no further word of you other than the assault upon Derna, and I felt compelled to act as instructed and open negotiations with Mohammed ben Idris, negotiations which he was happy to conclude as rapidly as possible.’

  ‘Because he knew he would emerge the victor in every sense,’ Toby remarked.

  ‘Of course you’re right. But that doesn’t alter the facts of the situation, which are that our negotiations were conducted on the basis of freeing Captain Bainbridge and his people, and any other American national held by the Moors. They did not include nationals of any other country, which would have entailed an enormous ransom, and which Congress holds, correctly in my estimation, to be the responsibility of the mother country involved. You exceeded my authority, inadvertently, I am sure, in bringing away Miss Crown. Were you aware that she was a member of the harem of Mohammed ben Idris?’

  ‘I realised it when I rescued her. Mohammed was actually present.’ Toby shook his head. ‘And I let him go, over Felicity’s protests. What a fool I was.’

  ‘Yes,’ Rodgers agreed drily. ‘Well, I think we can legitimately claim that you were confused in the heat of battle.’ He preferred not to specify as to whether he considered the confusion to have caused the escape of Mohammed ben Idris or the rescue of Felicity.

  ‘However,’ he continued, ‘it appears that Miss Crown was Mohammed ben Idris’s favourite concubine, and has been so for the past four years.’ He stared very hard at Toby, willing him to understand just what that must have meant. ‘And now the Vizier is demanding the return of his property.’

  ‘Which is obviously out of the question,’ Toby declared.

  ‘I agree it presents us with a most difficult situation. The point is, Miss Crown is not an American citizen.’

  ‘There is a simple remedy for that, John,’ Toby said. ‘I will marry her, and make her one.’

  Rodgers frowned at him. ‘You have approached her already about marriage?’

  Toby flushed. ‘Well … no. I haven’t been allowed the opportunity, have I?’

  ‘I think you had better tell me just how well you know this young lady, Toby.’

  Toby’s flush deepened. ‘I met her once, five years ago. You remember, John, the day after the battle with La Vengeance.’ He snapped his fingers. ‘Of course, you stayed with the Constellation.’

  ‘I remember you being fairly moonstruck when you returned from that breakfast,’ Rodgers remarked. ‘I put it down to the rum punch. But Toby, five years ago …’

  ‘It’s not as simple as that,’ Toby explained. ‘I thought a lot of her, yes. Then she was taken off that ship following the gale outside Gibraltar, remember? Somehow that made her more important to me. And then, seeing her again, last week … John, I love her. I think I fell in love with her the moment I saw her, and since then …’

  ‘Toby …’ Rodgers flushed, and was clearly most embarrassed. ‘You do realise, well, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to claim to be in love with a girl you have met only twice, five years apart. Of course her circumstances were unusual, and as she is a most lovely woman, I can understand the impression she made on you, but the fact is that she has been the mistress of another man for four years. And more than the mistress. As used by the Arabs, the word concubine virtually means wife.’ He held up his finger as Toby would have spoken. ‘Hear me out. And I’m afraid I am going to have to say some unpleasant things. It may well be that you are acting from sheer gallantry, in which case I salute you. But there is the matter of your career to be considered. Up till now, you have acted not only gallantly, but in good faith. No man can argue against that. Eaton was good enough, before taking himself off into the desert, to set out your achievements under his command, and I do believe you may have a great future in front of you. However, now that you are fully cognisant of the true situation, to persist in this mad course would not only be to disobey the orders of Congress, but quite possibly to re-embroil us in the conflict with Tripoli. Over a woman who … my God, what can I say? Do you know anything of the Moorish way of love?’

  Toby stared at him, and Rodgers grew even more emba
rrassed. ‘Well, I can tell you, it is very rarely conducted in what we might call a Christian manner. Worse, the women are forced to take an active part in the proceedings. They are quite wanton. I really cannot attempt to put it into words, but I can assure you that any Christian lady would rather die than submit to such mistreatment, and as for, well, reciprocating, the very thought is impossible.’

  Toby had no idea of what he was speaking; since entering the Mediterranean he had kept himself aloof from all women, of whatever race or colour. Even in Cairo he had not succumbed to the dusky charmers that Eaton had been anxious to supply, and whom the consul had certainly enjoyed himself. But he could not be angry with Rodgers, who he knew was only trying to help.

  ‘If you mean, John, that Miss Crown should have committed suicide, rather than surrender to a man like Idris, I am sure it is a step she contemplated. However, I am utterly happy that she chose to survive, and await her rescue. I do not concede that she is another man’s wife, but even if she were, it would make no difference. She was forced, and therefore there can be no true bond between them, and even less if she has indeed been mistreated as a woman. And I love her. And shall love her, no matter whose orders I have to disobey.’

  Rodgers stared at him for several seconds. ‘I think you want to be terribly certain of that, Toby. It could involve your commission.’

  ‘If the choice is between my commission and sending Felicity back to that scoundrel Idris, then my decision is already taken.’

  Rodgers sighed. ‘Had you made any other decision, Toby McGann, then you were not the man I knew you to be. Well, I must help you so far as I can.’

  ‘Will you?’ Toby cried, unable to believe his good fortune.

  ‘In so far as I can,’ Rodgers repeated carefully. ‘But nothing we do must in any way exacerbate an already dangerous situation. Now, Enterprise is leaving Syracuse this evening. As she is the fastest ship I possess, I am sending her ahead of the main squadron to relay to Congress the news that our quarrel with Tripoli has been brought to a successful conclusion. Hull will command, but I will detach you to accompany him as supernumary, so that you can give to Congress a first-hand account of the land operation in which you played so conspicuous a part.’