‘Surely he will have worked all this out for himself?’ said Illingworth, as they entered Harry’s cabin.
Willerby, who’d seen them coming, had cooked them a light supper, with a hot rum punch to warm them after their time in the boat, and the sound of Pender and Derouac bickering about the right way to serve it emanated from the pantry. Clearly, judging by the stony atmosphere when it arrived, tempers were still as hot as the drinks.
‘If he has any brains he will,’ Harry replied, when Illingworth repeated his observation. He continued, having taken a grateful sip of the rum punch, ‘But what alternative does he have? If he stays where he is, I’ll take him at first light.’
‘Not tonight?’
‘Never. If I’m taking Bucephalas into that channel it will be very slowly, on a rising tide, and when there is something to see by, with a leadsman in the chains calling out the depth of keel.’
Illingworth divested himself of his coat, and sat down and began to eat. Derouac immediately picked it up, brushing it heartily, his face full of concern. Both captains looked at their servants so that they withdrew, leaving the older man free to respond to Harry, pacing at the head of the table, with his mouth full.
‘I fear I must remind you of the expertise with which he plied my guns on your first meeting. If he does stay put, I cannot see how you can get within range of those cannon and not suffer damage yourself.’
Harry stopped his pacing. ‘No attack is without risk, and this one is no exception. But even if he inflicts some damage, he will be forced into an artillery duel which he cannot hope to win. And if he’s thought about that as we have, he will at this very moment be thinking of the most propitious time, given the wind, tide, and darkness, to cut his cable.’
He grabbed a slice of the pie that had arrived with the drink and made for the cabin door. ‘Which is why I must get the ship under way. I want Tressoir to see us tacking to windward, opening the door for him to make good his escape.’
On deck, he called all hands. Pender emerged from below eating a slice of the same pie.
‘I’m sorry to interrupt your supper, Pender.’
‘The only thing you’re interruptin’, Capt’n, is me strangling Frog-spawn.’
‘Then why don’t you leave him to a job for which he’s well suited. You have enough to do without looking after the needs of me and a guest.’
‘You’re not suggesting that I give way to that little bugger?’
‘No, Pender,’ Harry replied with a sigh. ‘I reassure myself with the thought that he’ll be gone soon.’
‘One way or the other,’ Pender growled. Harry laughed.
It had been a rare sound these last few months, and the response told him just how much the atmosphere on deck had been restored. He even ignored Flowers rattling on his bones. With such a ship, and a willing crew, Tressoir didn’t have an earthly hope of avoiding surrender.
‘I want to beat to windward, and with plenty of noise. We’ll go south of the island so that whatever moonlight we have will silhouette any ship to the north. As soon as we’re under way, set some of the men to clear for action, and get everybody to make a racket when they rig the nettings and lay out the charges we need for the guns.’
‘What are we about to do, your honour?’
‘We’re about to draw our fox.’
‘Saving your presence, sir.’
James looked up from his writing, glad of the respite since he’d written about a dozen letters to friends, acquaintances, and potential clients to say he’d returned.
‘Are you the messenger?’
‘You knew I was coming?’
James pointed to the pile of letters. ‘I asked for you.’
‘Then you know about this,’ said the boy, holding out a piece of paper. James took it from him and opened it up. The list of figures meant nothing to him as he read it, nor did what the boy said next. ‘I had the letter, but then I met this man who offered to show me where you and your brother was residing. I didn’t know what he’d done till I went to my pocket to fetch it just now.’
‘What are you on about?’
‘The letter.’
‘What letter?’ James demanded, the discomfort in his writing hand making him more crusty than usual.
‘The one Lord Drumdryan gave me to bring to you.’
‘Lord Drumdryan sent a letter?’ Ben Harper nodded. ‘What did it say?’
‘I don’t know, your honour,’ Ben pleaded, ‘it was sealed.’
James looked hard at the boy, then seeing him cringe, he closed his eyes and leant back in his chair. ‘Tell me what happened, from the very beginning. Take your time, and leave nothing out.’
CHAPTER NINETEEN
THE BLIND spot created by the looming bulk of the Île du Tertre was Harry’s main concern, that and the paucity of light from the thin strip of the new moon. With the run of the tide reversed, it was unlikely that Tressoir would make a break now. But since the wind was still in the west it was a possibility that had to be accepted. If he tacked right round to windward there would be a gap during which Tressoir could get out into open water without being observed. Yet to stay to the south-east of the islands presented the Frenchman with too little sea room. Could the alternative offer him too much? It all came down to sailing qualities, of Bucephalas set against the merchantman. At least he had the Lothian’s captain aboard, willing, with reservations, hesitations, and numerous caveats, to tell Harry the true worth of his vessel.
‘You must hold in your mind,’ Illingworth concluded, ‘that she’s been to Calcutta and back twice without a scrape, and the Indian Ocean is no more of a friend to a hull than the Caribbean.’
‘Then that makes us even,’ Harry replied, as they lost sight of the eastern exit to the channel. ‘Pender, a party into the cutter if you please, with a couple of flares. Tell them to keep an eye on that strait and signal the moment they see a bowsprit. They’re to hold position with oars, and on no account hoist a sail.’
‘Will they not be seen from the top of the big rock regardless?’
‘We’ll lower the men to larboard on the next tack, and hope the lookout has his eyes fixed on our top hamper. There’s not much light and they will be against the black of the sea. If they do spot Tressoir coming out tell them to try and fetch his wake, so we can pick them up. If they miss us, they’re to make for the small bay between the islands. If he doesn’t emerge, and they hear gunfire, head for the same spot.’
‘Aye, aye, Captain.’
Harry gave the necessary orders as soon as Pender had the party gathered, and as the ship’s bowsprit swung round on a north-westerly course they hauled the cutter alongside and had it loaded before the manoeuvre was complete. Each tack would take them a bit further to windward, and he fully expected to see those flares aloft, alerting him to the fact that Tressoir had run, at some point when he was well to the west of the islands, at the turn of the tide.
There was nothing more he could do for at least two hours; even with the leeway to aid him progress was slow. But Harry, pacing the windward side of the quarterdeck, wasn’t lost in idle speculation. Having sailed these waters before, he knew only too well how quickly the weather could change. He kept a constant watch on the dim light around the new moon, as the clouds slipped across, measuring their speed and density for the smallest hint of an alteration. The wind speed gauge was fairly steady, the odd stronger gust making it whistle as it slowed his forward progress.
At one point, lost in thought, he conjured up the image of his brother. If James had been here on deck he would have been posing questions, with certain members of the crew always sure to be in earshot to pick up the answers and relay them to the rest of the hands so they knew exactly what was planned. Their curiosity wouldn’t be dimmed, but the channel of information was no longer present. That idea made him smile. But at the same time he realised that he missed his brother just as much as they did. In the years since he first took James to sea he had come to appreciate the fact that
talking to someone he could trust helped him to think.
The tide reached slack well before he completed his westing, and still there was no sign of a flare. He had a night glass trained on the channel when the flow turned easterly, though he could see precious little, the high rocks cutting out any hope of light penetrating the shadows. The chill night air, which he’d withstood without too much discomfort, began to pierce his thick boatcloak, seemingly in strict correlation to his falling spirits. Tressoir hadn’t moved, which meant one of two things: he’d not comprehended the nuances of Harry’s derisory offer; or he had understood them only too well, and decided that if he was going to lose anyway he would go down fighting in a spot of his own choosing.
By the time the first hint of grey touched the eastern sky Harry was frozen to the marrow. He called to Pender to breakfast the hands, with an extra tot of rum to warm them, and returned to his cabin to stand and thaw out before the stove. As arranged he woke Illingworth, who posed the obvious question as soon as he realised the time.
‘No. Tressoir has not obliged us.’
‘So we attack him in situ.’
‘Yes.’
Illingworth coughed loudly and looked at the floor as he spoke, in a determined effort to avoid contact with his host. ‘Forgive me for alluding to something strictly outside my province.’
‘Your late passengers?’
The merchant captain raised his head and nodded, his unbrushed hair sprayed out in the dim lantern light, seeming to double the size of his head. ‘He may well parade them on deck, and challenge you to fire your cannon.’
‘I doubt he’ll do that. At the very least he’ll keep them below.’
‘You have no assurance of that, Captain Ludlow. He may not be the man you think he is. I am bound to ask: if that is the case, what happens then?’
‘You and I will be obliged to carry on negotiating, and we will be back where we started. Neither further forward, nor further back.’
Illingworth knew that to be untrue, just as Harry did himself. Tressoir would have called their bluff. Once used, and acknowledged valuable, negotiation would swiftly turn to surrender. Far from Tressoir having no cards to play, he would be holding all the aces.
‘I suggest you eat something, Captain Illingworth, and don some clean linen. If I have judged my man right, we are going to have a battle.’
Harry changed his own shirt, a common precaution against infection from a bullet, then put on a plain, dark blue coat that would not stand out in the early morning light. Pender, fed, had come to fetch his weapons.
‘I want two reliable men in the chains, Pender. We’re going to drift in rather than sail, and once we get between those islands we’ll have precious little in the way of wind to get us out again. In fact, we will probably be obliged to go right through.’
‘Would it not be better to pay the man, Capt’n? After all, it ain’t our coin, nor our relatives.’
‘If we take her, Pender, she’s our prize.’
‘Something we need like rats in the breadroom.’
‘I need a party ready to drop anchor,’ Harry continued, as if Pender hadn’t spoken, ‘with a cable attached that can run to the starboard gunroom port and act as a spring. We want some holding ground so that we can swing round broadside on. Once we’ve done that he’ll have to strike. There is no way he can outgun us once the carronades come into play.’
These guns, short 32-pound smashers, had proved to be Harry Ludlow’s secret weapon on more than one occasion. Normally a cannon confined to use by the navy, few of his enemies expected to see them mounted on a privateer. They fired a huge ball over a short range, iron shot which could smash through the side oak planking of anything but a ship of the line. Not that he intended to fire them into the Lothian. But the sight of a ball that size, hitting water in between, should be enough to convince Tressoir that his situation was hopeless, a prelude to him having to haul down his flag.
‘Do I have your permission to tell the men what you intend?’ asked Pender, making little attempt to hide his continuing annoyance.
He’d expected the Frenchman to run as well, and was perfectly prepared for a fight in the open sea, where all the advantage lay with Bucephalas. But sailing into that channel wasn’t the same thing at all. Clearly, to him, this was risk to no purpose. Harry’s question in response was posed in an amused tone, but underneath his casual demeanour he was anxious. ‘Do you think they might decline to follow me?’
‘They ain’t got the sense,’ Pender snapped.
‘And you?’
‘You ain’t goin’ to start on me bein’ shy again, are you? I just thought the lads should know what’s what.’
Harry grinned, with relief as much as anything. ‘No James, and Captain Illingworth not well enough known to plug. I don’t want a fight, Pender. But I must look as though I’m bent on one to persuade that Frenchman to surrender. So we must go in there as though we mean business, everything ready, guns double shotted, and plenty of smoke from the slow match wafting about the decks.’
Pender persisted. ‘We don’t need this, Capt’n.’
‘What! A prize worth a quarter of a million pounds sterling, and the undying gratitude of one of the senior admirals in England?’
Pender just shook his head slowly, eyes on the deck. ‘Are we going back to Portsmouth when this is done?’
‘No, Pender. We will pick up our men from Buckler’s Hard, then make for the Downs and home. And when we get there the share of the money that my brother took to London will be waiting for the crew, in good English coin that they can dispose of as they wish.’
Pender looked him in the eye. ‘That’s the first time you’ve ever opened right up, Capt’n, about what you intend. And that includes to your own brother. Can I put forward the notion that you try it another time?’
That amused Harry. Pender, who was as close to him as anyone, surely knew how much he was prone to sudden improvisation, which he always sought to disguise when events unfolded as a deep-laid plan. ‘My friend, this is one of the few times I actually know what it is I’m doing.’
The sky had lightened by the time he made it back to the deck. Not adequate to see everything clearly, but enough to set a course for the St. Aubin channel. He called for the change of course, and sent the topmen aloft to take in sail. Even fighting under topsails, he’d be approaching at speed. The breeze was coming straight over the stern now, with the flow of the current increasing as it was sucked through the narrows. Raising his telescope he looked straight ahead, over the bowsprit. What he saw surprised him enough for Captain Illingworth to notice.
‘Tressoir’s paid out his cable,’ said Harry, ‘and dropped a stern anchor. The Lothian is now blocking the eastern entrance to the channel.’
‘Which means he intends to fight.’
‘It can only be a bluff,’ Harry replied. ‘He’s counting on my being overcautious and heaving to.’
‘Would that not be the best course?’
Harry dropped the telescope, and the look he gave the merchant captain had all the venom that he’d been exposed to on first acquaintance. No one questioned Harry on his own deck, friend, brother, or guest. Pender, seeing the look, hooked Illingworth’s arm and led him away towards the taffrail.
‘Best leave Captain Ludlow to con the ship, your honour. You’ll find he’s a more tolerant soul if you do. Perhaps, if you have the time to spare, you could teach that steward of yours that it’s bad manners to go interfering in another’s pantry.’
The wind increased as well as the current as it rose in velocity to speed through the gap between the towering black rocks. Tressoir had run out his guns, and had manned as many as he could. Harry suddenly swept his telescope round, to search the open western sea, but it was empty. Surely the men he’d left in the boat would have the sense to fire off their flares if they’d seen any help coming from the Normandy shore.
‘Leadsmen!’ he shouted, then an order to ease the braces to spill some of the wind.
The litany began, as each man cast forward with the lead weight, each line longer than the depth of the keel. They plucked it up as the ship passed over, to swing it forward again to land well in front of the prow. And at each completed cast they’d shout, ‘No bottom on this line!’
Harry was wondering if there was a connecting bar between the two islands, with Tressoir on the other side of it. Yet looking at the water, now picking up the low orange sunlight, he saw it flow smooth, with no change of colour or speed to indicate an underwater obstruction. The feeling he had that something was wrong had no rational basis, so he repeated to himself what he’d said to Illingworth. He’s bluffing.
‘No bottom on this line.’
‘Pender, get the anchor party standing by. If the water’s that deep we’ll have to pay it out early. Let it go as soon as we enter the narrows. I’ll steer closer to that bay. If there is sand on that, there’s likely to be sand on the bottom too.’
He could see the smoke on the Lothian’s deck now, the black wisps from the slow match drifting into the air, to be whipped away towards the orange ball of the rising sun by the breeze.
‘I take it your guns have flintlocks, Captain Illingworth?’
‘They do.’
Illingworth’s voice sounded slightly peevish. Clearly he was wounded by Harry’s attitude. The merchant captain wasn’t to know that the glare he’d received would have been the lot of anyone who’d questioned him at such a moment. Deliberately, Harry set his voice to sound friendly.
‘Then Tressoir knows his trade. He has slow match lit as a precaution against their failure.’
‘Then it is his own, sir, since I had none aboard.’
‘If you’d care to join me by the wheel, Captain, I would have no objection.’
‘I am content to remain here, sir, out of your way.’
‘So be it,’ Harry replied. But his response was drowned out by the splash of the anchor hitting the water. The familiar smell of the cable running over wet wood, smoking despite that, filled his nostrils. The time it took to reach the bottom seemed an eternity, and removed any fear he had about running aground. The party on the spring were hauling their hawser towards the stern, where it would be looped below to the capstan. Once in place, hauling on it would swing Bucephalas round, the ropes forming a triangle, with the anchor cable the point and the ship the base. And once that happened all his starboard guns, loaded and run out, would be facing the enemy.
Game of Bones Page 18
