‘If I know James, he has brought her through.’ To himself, as he came below to shift out of his wet clothes. ‘I would wager my warrant of commission upon it.’
‘Sir?’
A thin young man stood before him in the great cabin, with a can of steaming tea.
‘Who the devil are you?’ Rennie stared at him.
‘I am Eamon Duffey, sir, gunroom steward. The first lieutenant has sent me to you, aware as he was that you was deprived of your own man, this morning.’
‘You are the gunroom steward, you say?’
‘I am, sir.’
‘Then how will they fare, this morning?’
‘The first lieutenant has called on one of the boys, sir, one of the nippers, like,
to take my place. That has some experience of post inns ashore, sir.’
‘Ah. Very well. Hm. Is that my tea?’
‘It is, sir.’
‘And has the did the lieutenant indicate ’
‘I am to cook your eggs, sir, and make toast, and bring it to you when you has shaved yourself. Yes, sir.’
‘Ah. Hm. Just so. In usual I shave in the--’
‘In the quarter gallery, yes, sir. I have took the liberty of placing your shaving water in there ready, sir.’
‘Ah. Very good. Then I will just drink my tea while it is hot. And shave after.’
‘Will you wish me to help you shift your coat, sir? It looks awful wet, now.’
‘It is indeed, very wet. Thankee, Duff.’
‘Duffey, sir.’ Placing the tea on the table, and helping Rennie shrug out of the sodden coat.
In the event there were no eggs, the poor hens in their coop in the manger having been wholly discommoded by the storm, and their eggs lost. Rennie had to make do with more tea, and toast and marmalade. When he had finished:
‘Very fair, Duff, thankee. In the circumstances, very fair.’
‘Duffey, sir.’
‘Hm. You are Irish are y’not?’
‘I am sir, yes.’
‘Hm. Just so.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Each ship sailing as she did after the storm had passed, heading now toward the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean rather than making for La Rochelle to the east, Expedient and Foxhound converged on the open sea at 44 degrees 35 minutes north by 8 degrees 6 minutes west, shortly after noon the next day. Rennie had just presided over the noon fix and declaration on Expedient’s deck when the lookout posted in the mainmast crosstrees bawled:
‘De-e-e-e-ck! Sail of ship three points off our starboard bow!’
‘What colours does she wear? Is she French?’ Lieutenant Considine, cupping his hand to his mouth and shouting aloft.
‘No, sir! She is British! A small frigate, by her lines!’
‘James ’ Rennie, half to himself, and he went forrard into the bow and peered through his long glass. And found the ship, low on the horizon.
‘Aye, it is Foxhound.’ With relief. ‘Thank God, thank God.’
Foxhound in her turn had sighted Expedient, and now changed course to meet her.
When the two ships hove to within a cable of each other James came in his gig to Expedient, and was piped aboard. Rennie received him warmly, and at his urgent request they went below to the day cabin to confer. James sat down as Rennie poured wine.
‘I know this ain’t the designated rendezvous, William, but in view of what has--’
‘Was it your steward?’ Rennie, over him.
‘That attacked me, and threatened me, d’y’mean?’
‘Indeed, as my steward Bassett attacked and threatened me.’
‘Nay, it was an idler named Hemming. He held a knife to my throat, and I was obliged to run him through.’
‘You killed him ?’ Handing James a glass.
‘At once.’ A nod.
‘Then you did not believe his threats?’
‘Not for a moment, else I should now be at La Rochelle. His threats were idle,
and I will tell you for why. Catherine is highly proficient with pocket pistols, since I instructed her in their use, and she always has a pair at hand. She would never allow herself, nor my mother, to be overcome never.’ A breath, and: ‘What did Bassett say would happen to Sylvia?’
‘His description of what would be done to her if I did not obey him was very shocking ..’ A deep sniff, and: ‘Well well, I was prepared to do as he asked exact, and make for La Rochelle at least in the immediate. Then the storm struck, and he was well, he ain’t a sailor, thank God.’ A grim chuckle. ‘I had time to re-consider what he had said, and to reject it. Sylvia was delayed at Norwich on her way to Portsmouth. At Norwich she always stops with her cousin, that is a magistrate with two sturdy sons. She could not have been took from that house, I am certain.’
‘You have put your steward in irons?’
‘Nay, I have not. He was prostrated with seasickness puking like an infant and is now under the care of the surgeon, that has given him liberal quantities of tincture. He is deep asleep.’
‘And when he wakes?’
‘Well well, then I shall clap him in irons, the miserable wretch.’ Rennie raised his glass, and they proposed each other’s health, and drank. Then:
‘You mentioned the rendezvous, James. D’y’mean Naples?’
‘No, I meant the bearing in the Tyrrhenian Sea.’
‘I was not given that bearing.’
‘It was not in your sealed instructions?’ In surprise.
‘It was not.’ A frown. ‘It must have been removed, now that I think on it. The seal was irregular in shape, and I wondered as I broke it ..Was your bearing wrote on a separate sheet?’
‘Aye, it was.’
‘Then that villain Bassett removed it, I am entirely certain. Or whatever his name is. I do not care. He will hang, and I will see it done.’
‘Do you think he has confederates in your ship?’
‘That thought had certainly occurred to me, but I rejected it. I am satisfied he was placed aboard Expedient by associates ashore he is not a fellow considerable enough to have acted alone but that none of those men is here at sea.’
‘Then we are in accord. Just as your steward is alone aboard Expedient, I believe Hemming was alone aboard Foxhound, both of them issuing threats wrote out for them by others.’
‘Others that could not, in truth, pose a credible threat to our families.’ A wry nod.
‘Exact. However, their purpose is clear. They wish to abduct the man we are commissioned to bring away from Naples.’ A sip of wine. ‘By the by, are you quite certain it was your steward removed the bearing from your sealed instructions?’
‘Well, I am nearly certain ’
‘The packet could not have been tampered with before we sailed? Before it was delivered to the ship?’
‘If that was so .would not they have returned the bearing to the packet, so that I would suspect nothing when I broke the seal at sea?’
‘Perhaps there was a delay .and they had no time to return it to your steward before we sailed. Our sailing orders came very swift and sudden, at the end.’
‘Hm. Hm.’ A sniff, and he shook his head. ‘Does it not strike you more than ever, James, the more we learn of it, that this whole affair the commission entire has been ill managed from its conception? The absurd obfuscation and complication, with layer upon layer of secrecy and contradicting intelligence it defies all sense, don’t it?’
A sigh. ‘Yes, I expect that perhaps after all--’
‘And now these monstrous bloody threats, in the bargain. There is no perhaps about it, James. The thing has been altogether ill managed. And, you know, we was tremendous damned fools to allow ourselves be bamboozled into it.’
‘I don’t know that the--’
‘Who is this fellow Milson? What is his fanciful damned notion? The conducting of ships by locomotive force? What bloody nonsense is that, good God? And why has he hid himself far away at Naples, if he wishes to aid us in England?’
‘Us, William? D’y’mean the navy?’
‘So far as I am able to judge, it is an wholly preposterous notion, but ’ he held up a finger ‘ but concocted cleverly elaborate enough to impress high official men men that should have known better, but was took in, and---’
‘De-e-e-e-ck!’ The lookout’s bawl, echoing down into the cabin. ‘Two sail of ships!’
‘Where away?’ From the quarterdeck.
‘Three leagues on our starboard quarter!’
James and Rennie looked at each other, snatched up their hats and swords, and went on deck.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
‘Should we fight?’ James, his glass to his eye.
‘Are they French?’ Rennie, bringing up his own glass.
‘I cannot tell. Two square rigged ships, at three leagues ’
‘Well well, our commission is to go to Naples, ain’t it?’
‘Aye, it is. However that don’t prevent us going into action. Not if we are attacked.’
‘Are we attacked, Captain Hayter?’
‘If we go right at them, and are fired upon. Then we are attacked, hey?’
‘Indeed, indeed. You think we should alter course, and sail toward them?’
‘Then there could be no mistake, one way or t’other.’
‘No no, there could be no mistake ..one way or t’other.’
Rennie looked long and hard through his glass, and saw the steady progress of those two ships directly toward Expedient and Foxhound. A little chill trickled down his spine and into his bowels. He was past forty, and sea action was not what he had envisaged this cruise. Not what he had bargained for. Not at all.
‘I will like a quiet word, Captain Hayter ’ Rennie trod aft to the tafferel, and waited for James to join him. When they were side by side:
‘Talking hearty and bellicose is all very well, James, but if they are French frigates, they will likely be Sane-designed forty-gun ships. Eighteen pounders, or perhaps even twenty-fours. In which circumstance they will outgun us. Foxhound I’ll wager is fleet of foot, and Expedient can tack away divergent. I think we should run, and meet at Naples.’
‘Run? Run from the enemy, in time of war?’
‘Hush, James, for Christ’s sake!’ A furious whisper, glancing forrard. ‘I am no puny coward, as I think you know. But this ain’t a fight we can afford to lose. We have our instructions, and they will never be carried through if we are smashed and destroyed on the open sea. Surely you must see the truth of that?’
‘I never meant to suggest you were a coward, William. Never that.’
‘Thankee, James.’
‘However, if we part company, we are thus weakened as a force.’
‘I do not think--’
‘You are the senior post.’ James, with a little jerk of the head. ‘You must decide for us both.’
A nod. ‘I say we run.’
‘Very well, I will return to Foxhound immediate, and make sail.’
‘If you will head sou-sou-west, I will sail due west, and then make due south after nightfall. Give me the bearing, will ye?’
‘Eh? The bearing?’
‘Aye, the bearing of rendezvous off Naples.’
‘Oh, in course, the Tyrrhenian Sea.’ He gave Rennie the bearing, then ran down the side ladder into his gig and was rowed across to Foxhound. Even before James was back aboard his ship, Rennie had given orders for Expedient to get under way, and had begun to beat close hauled into the westerly wind.
As he stood with his hands clasped behind his back on his quarterdeck, his glass under his arm, Rennie reflected again that he did not yet know his officers and people, and that neither he nor they would have felt full confidence in each other if Expedient had been obliged to engage in a sea action. He had had no time to host dinners for his officers. He did not know even half of the foremast hands by name. Certainly the ship was handled and sailed competently enough they had survived the storm but prosecuting an action at sea, fighting in earnest battery by battery, broadside after broadside, with splinters flying, guns knocked off their carriages, men horribly broken, men killed this was a test he wished to avoid.
‘Not at all cost.’ To himself. ‘By no means at all cost. But nearly all, by God.’
He went forrard to the binnacle, knees flexing against the roll, and:
‘Mr. Considine.’
‘Sir?’
‘What is the speed of the ship?’
‘I am not certain, sir .I was waiting until the next glass to deploy the logship.’
‘We will deploy it now, if y’please.’
When the reading had been taken the knots in the line counted off the reel as the logship was trailed astern in the ship’s wake the lieutenant informed his captain:
‘Five knots, sir, close hauled.’
‘I want six, Mr. Considine. We must crack on.’
‘Aye-aye, sir.’
‘Bring her as close as y’dare without losing your luff, and let us crack on.’
Rennie strode aft from the binnacle, and brought up his glass. Found the two ships to the east, and saw that they had both altered course to pursue Foxhound. And appeared to be gaining on her. He was now more certain than ever that the two ships were French frigates.
He could not see their colours, but everything about them the line of the head rails, the design of the quarter galleries and stern, their speed, their change of course said they were French, and intent on either taking Foxhound a prize, or smashing her to matchwood.
‘Hell’s flames and bloody damnation!’ Again to himself. ‘I cannot abandon him on the open sea. I cannot.’
A great sniff, filling his lungs with fresh saline air. He turned, and:
‘Mr. Considine!’
‘Sir?’ Coming aft and attending.
‘You see the two sail of ship, there?’ Pointing.
‘Yes, sir.’
‘We will come about, and run straight at them.’
‘Sir ?’
‘Did y’not hear me, Mr. Considine?’ Sharply.
Presently the boatswain’s call sounded along the deck, orders were bellowed, men hurried, and Expedient came about, falls hauling and yards bracing, sails flapping and filling, her bowsprit dipping under the sea as she turned. Waves slapped and lifted and ran, rinsing aft along her hull.
When she was flying east on her new heading, the wind on her larboard quarter,
Rennie again summoned his lieutenant.
‘We will beat to quarters, and clear the decks for action!’
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
The shouts of midshipmen along the gun deck:
‘Number one division ready!’
‘Number two ready!’
Gun crews clustered. Port lids open, tompions out, and each heavy black gun run out ready on its carriage. Gun captains at the crouch. Lieutenant Considine turned and:
‘Starboard battery ready, sir!’
‘Very good, Mr. Considine.’
Rennie trod from the binnacle to the rail, and focused his long glass. Expedient was now barely a league from the two French ships, and would close with them, given her present rate of eleven knots, in less than one further glass perhaps as little as twenty minutes.
‘Mr. Considine.’
‘Sir?’
‘We will attack the leading ship with our chaser nines, as soon as we are in range.’
He meant the two long brass great guns at the chase ports in the bow of the ship, capable of sending nine-pound round shot a thousand yards, over which one of the older midshipmen Mr. Canfield presided. Lieutenant Considine now went forrard to join him.
Again Rennie focused his long glass, and to his satisfaction saw that the leading ship had now broken out her colours. French colours. Both ships, in fact. Both heavy, fast, forty-gun ships of war.
He saw also that the leading frigate was altering course yet again. That she was swinging into the wind toward Expedient on the starboard tack.
Sudden terrible fear froze Rennie’s spine to ice. T
o himself:
‘Christ’s blood ’
The two frigates British and French were now converging at a combined rate in excess of fifteen knots. Within minutes each would be within range of the other. And Expedient was outgunned.
‘Chasers stand by!’ Mr. Considine, standing hand raised in the bow.
The hiss and wash of the sea along the wales. The creaking of cable-laid rope, the creaking of timbers. The long swirl of the pennant trailing from the mainmast trucktop. The shadow of the ship’s sails as she ran, heeling tall. The red and blue of her colours at the mizzen, and the humming of wind in the vangs.
‘Hold her so .’ Rennie to the helmsman as he came past him to resume his place by the binnacle, deliberately keeping his voice calm. ‘Just so.’
The helmsman echoed the command, more to reassure himself than simply to convey obedience. It was as if the two men sensed each other’s fear.
All sound seemed to sigh away to nothing.
Silence and tension the length of the deck.
Then, on the uplift of the bow:
‘Chasers!........Fire! Fire!’
BANG BANG
The whistle of round shot flying away from the ship. Ballooning smoke.
Rennie’s long glass already up and focused.
A white spurt on the sea, short of the French frigate, as one of the round shot struck. He saw no second spurt. Had the other shot gone home?
The sulphur stink of powder drifted over the deck with the forward motion of the ship. As he sniffed it in the reek of great guns, the reek of battle joined Rennie felt the ice of fear melt away.
He kept his glass focused on the French ship as he heard Mr. Considine forrard:
‘Re-e-e-lo-o-o-o-oad!’
Twin flashes in the bows of the frigate, as she came over on the opposite tack, boarding short. A moment, then a fountain of spray just ahead of Expedient. Another fountain to larboard, sending spray in a glittering rattle over the deck. Rennie ducked his head, lowering his glass. These returned shots were a surprise to him, since most French frigates did not carry long nines in the bow.
The Following Wind Page 15
