Beyond the Reef
Page 35
His head still echoed to the crash and thunder of battle: men dying, others pleading for death rather than the surgeon’s knife. But all he could think of was Herrick.
Rathcullen sensed his disappointment. He said in a dispassionate voice, ‘I reminded Rear-Admiral Herrick that I came under your command, sir. I suggested he should hoist his flag over my ship later – it gave me the notion for my ruse.’
‘What did he say?’
Rathcullen glanced grimly at Keen. ‘He said, “I’ll not be blamed twice”, Sir Richard.’
‘I see.’
Keen said, ‘I’d be obliged if you would pass a tow to my ship, Captain, until I can have the steering re-rigged.’
He looked back only once, and Bolitho half-raised a hand to him.
‘Thank you, Val.’
Ozzard had reappeared with a heavy goblet. Allday took it and held it out to Bolitho. In his fist it looked like a thimble.
‘Not all wounds bleed, Sir Richard.’ He watched him put it to his lips. He hesitated. ‘Lady Catherine would tell you. Some people change. It’s not always their fault …’
Bolitho emptied the glass, and wondered if it had come from the shop in St James’s.
‘I thank God you do not, old friend.’
Jenour saw them walking together, and pausing to talk with some of the seamen. Their world. It had been his; it was his no more. He looked across at the captured frigate, and seemed to hear Bolitho’s voice again. The most coveted gift.
But Lieutenant, now Acting-Commander, Stephen Jenour, once of Southampton, England, felt that he had just lost everything.
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