Black August (23 page)

‘Plenty o' whisky in the pantry, sir; can I get you a peg?'

‘Yes, do; then take over from Lord Fane in the passage and ask him to come in here.'

While Rudd was getting the whisky Gregory paced slowly up and down, ignoring the two girls whose whispering by the sailor was for the moment the only sound other than the hissing of the waters, as the destroyer ran on into the night. He gulped the drink down when it arrived and drew a deep breath of satisfaction.

A moment later Kenyon appeared; his face was unusually grave and he spoke sharply. ‘Look here, Sallust, I've had about enough of this business; outing Fanshawe like that was a rotten trick.'

‘Swallow a camel and strain at a gnat! Is that the idea?' Gregory swung round on him with an angry look. ‘Don't be a fool, Fane. I haven't hurt him seriously and it was the only thing to do. Anyhow I'm not going to argue about it with you now.'

Suddenly Ann gave a quick, nervous laugh.

‘What is it?' snapped Gregory.

‘I was only thinking how funny it is to hear Kenyon lecture you after his own performance in Gloucester Road.'

‘All right,' Kenyon's mouth tightened grimly. ‘We're all in it up to the neck now, so I suppose we'd better get on with it. What's the next move?'

‘We've got to deal with the other officers before they have a chance to start in on us with the crew; knock them out or lock them up somewhere. Once they're out of the way I'll manage the men.'

‘How can you?' cried Veronica. ‘Your Napoleonic act was great fun in its way, my dear, but even Boney would have found himself up against it if he had tried to run a ship!'

Sallust raised his only movable eyebrow. ‘A poor comparison, I fear, unjust to both Bonaparte and myself. I could never have drafted the Code Napoleon, but I can certainly navigate a ship.'

‘You don't really mean that, do you?' said Ann.

‘I do; it happens that I was educated in the
Worcester,
so although my navigation is a little rusty, I shall manage well enough with the aid of common sense and the Admiralty charts.

‘Darlings! the man's a genius!' exclaimed Veronica.

‘No, only a jack of all trades; and your sincere admirer, Madam!' he countered quickly.

Veronica lowered her eyes and fumbled with the matches. She had caught him studying her with a strange look on his face twice
that day, and this quick, half-humorous compliment left her for once without an apt reply.

‘You'd have to have help,' remarked Kenyon.

Of course, I must sleep sometimes; however, I can stick it for another twenty-four hours, till I get her clear of the Channel. Then you and Harker will relieve me turn and turn about.'

‘Good Lord, man! I don't know the first thing about a ship; it would be madness to give me such responsibility.'

‘Not a bit of it. Once we are out in the open sea it will be the simplest thing in the world. I shall set the course before turning in so all you will have to do is to keep an eye on the helmsman; see that he sticks to it, and watch out for any other shipping. I will sleep in the bunk in the chart-house, so in any emergency you'll only have to bellow down the voice pipe and I shall take over again immediately.'

A groan from the settee drew their attention back to Fanshawe; he showed signs of coming round.

‘We'll have to truss him up,' said Gregory, ‘and put a light gag over his mouth so that he can't shout for help. Come on, Fane.'

They tore the table napkins into strips, and before the sailor regained conciousness he was neatly bound. Then Gregory got hold of him under the armpits. ‘Take his feet, Fane; we'll put him in the pantry, he'll be out of sight there.'

‘What are you going to do about the engine-room?' Kenyon inquired when they had deposited their victim.

‘I'll fix that somehow. They must know that if the ship ceases to be under power it is only a matter of hours before we become a wreck, and none of them want to drown!'

‘Supposing they refuse to take your orders?'

A hard note crept into Gregory's voice. ‘I think I shall be able to persuade most of the engine-room staff to join us.'

Kenyon nodded; ‘Well, I give you full marks for letting nothing daunt you, but I'd like to know what's happening on the bridge. For all we know Broughton may be dishing out cutlasses to his jack-tars while we're standing here talking, and we don't want to give any excuse for a pitched battle or find ourselves arrested before you've had a chance to get your men on deck. Hadn't we better do something about it?'

‘I believe you've got the makings of a good officer, Fane.' Gregory smiled his appreciation. ‘As a matter of fact I'm only waiting for Harker to return. Then the three of us will get the
troops together and tackle the situation.'

There was the sound of steps in the lobby and Silas poked his head in at the door.

‘Well?' inquired Gregory.

‘It's all quiet for the moment,' he reported, ‘Broughton's busy with his own caboodle. The Chief Petty Officer has just been handing out a yarn that there's a spot of bother with the men forward, so Broughton asked me to pass his compliments to Fanshawe and request that he go up to the bridge right now. Sergeant Thompson's here with me, he wants a word with you.'

‘Right, let him come in. Take over from Rudd in the passage and tell him to bring in that whisky bottle.'

Harker beckoned over his shoulder. ‘Come in, sergeant, the General will see you now.'

The red-faced sergeant saluted and stood to attention.

‘What is it, sergeant?' asked Gregory affably.

‘If you'll h'excuse me, sir, I thought you should be h'informed as to the state of things on this boat.'

‘Ship, sergeant, ship!' Gregory corrected gravely.

‘Well ship, sir, there's doings amongst the crew that I don't like, wrong talk about the h'orfficers, an' the discipline is something awful. They laugh, sir, just laugh, at the orders of their own N.C.O.s.' The sergeant's face was nearly purple with suppressed indignation.

‘I see. Of course the whole fleet is in a state of unrest but I imagined that the destroyers were comparatively unaffected.

‘H'in my opinion, sir, these sailors are ripe for any mischief, even the mess steward's just joined them, ‘an worse than that, they're connivin' with our own men now.'

‘That so?' Gregory looked up sharply. ‘We must prevent them contaminating the troops at all costs. Have you taken any action?'

‘No, sir, I held me ‘and thinking it best to report to you, though there's one or two of them I'll be bringing up before you at h'orderly room tomorrow.'

‘Where are they at the moment?'

‘With the seamen, sir. There's a sort of meeting bein' held h'on what they call the Lower Deck, and quite a number of our men's among them.'

‘Very good, sergeant, I'll deal with the matter in a moment. Care for a glass of whisky?'

‘Well, sir—' Sergeant Thompson's eyes brightened perceptibly; ‘I don't mind if I do, sir.'

‘Rudd, a glass for Sergeant Thompson.'

‘Ay, ay, sir!' Mr. Rudd in his new role of sea-going steward hurried forward. With his usual tact he produced an outsize glass. The sergeant lifted it and removed his cap.

‘My best respects, sir, and to the ladies'; swiftly the big tumbler went up to his mouth, tilted, and like a conjuring trick the golden spirit slid silently into his mouth. He smiled, coughed politely and set down the empty glass. Gregory more slowly drained his own.

‘Harker!' the General looked at Silas; ‘Get back on the bridge, will you. Tell Broughton that Fanshawe and I are going forward to tackle the trouble among the men. Take the sentries on the door with you—if anyone attempts to come aft challenge them, and failing a satisfactory reply, fire at once. Fane, Sergeant Thompson, Rudd, you will come with me, and you—' Gregory glanced swiftly at the two girls, ‘will remain here. You will be perfectly safe this end of the ship, but lock the door and don't open it except to one of us. Lead on, sergeant.'

The small party filed out and up the ladder to the deck; the night was dark and the sea rising. Away on the beam flashed the North Foreland Light, and—Fanshawe's orders still remaining unchanged—they were forging ahead at full speed. Gusts of spray came over the bows of the destroyer as she met the bigger waves, and she was already pitching slightly.

‘Looks like a dirty night, sir,' said the sergeant as they made their way forward in the dark, stumbling now and again over chains or into the torpedo tubes.

‘Yes,' Kenyon agreed, ‘I'm afraid the women don't know what they're in for yet.'

‘Silence,' said Sallust curtly.

Two dark figures were seated near the forehatch. A beam of light from the North Foreland caught the braid on Gregory's hat and they stood up.

‘Who's this?' he asked, peering at them.

‘Chief Petty Officer Wilkins, sir,' said the nearest figure, ‘and Petty Officer Sims.'

‘Oh, what are the two of you doing sitting on the deck here in the dark?'

‘Just talking, sir.'

‘I see,' the cynical note crept into Gregory's voice; ‘You think it safer to remain up here than to go to your bunks, eh?'

‘The men's not themselves tonight, sir,' Sallust caught the quick resentment in Chief Petty Officer Wilkin's voice. ‘We'll go forward, sir, if that's your order. We don't want to give any excuse for trouble, that's all.'

‘Quite right.' Gregory's tone became charming at once. ‘You have acted wisely in remaining here. What is the situation on the Lower Deck?'

‘Bad, sir! The eighteen men what was in irons 'as been released without instructions. I ‘ave already reported that to Lieutenant Broughton, but 'e told me to do nothing till 'e'd seen the Commander. There's that there Stoker Crowder amongst them—'e is the centre of the trouble, 'im and that Leading Seaman Nobes; a regular sea lawyer 'e is with more education than's good for 'im. They'd both have been put off at Chatham before the ship went to sea again if the Captain 'ad 'ad 'is way.'

‘And how is the temper of the men generally?'

‘Not good, sir! they're a bit excited tonight but they're a fine lot of lads in the ordinary way, and we'd soon get 'em quietened down if only we could keep these ringleaders out of it.'

‘Well, that's what we're going to do. I have no doubt you P.O.s understand how unsettled conditions are, but I've thrashed the matter out with your Commander and as my men seem to be involved as well, he has asked me to assist him in dealing with the situation.'

‘Ay, ay, sir.'

‘Now follow me,' Gregory moved towards the hatchway, but Sergeant Thompson, well fortified by whisky, slipped in front of him.

‘By your leave, sir?'

‘Very good, sergeant.' Sallust followed his senior N.C.O. quickly down the iron ladder.

‘Party!' yelled the sergeant with all the strength of his well-exercised lungs, as he reached the Mess Deck; ‘Party—‘Shun!'

Gregory looked round. For the moment he could hardly see through the blue haze of tobacco smoke, but after a moment he took in the long narrow compartment with scuttles on both sides—dark now except for the reflection of the deck lights on the flying spray which constantly hissed past them. Rows of wooden tables, scrubbed to an almost unbelievable degree of whiteness,
were hitched to the ship's side, supported at the midships end by thin iron rods which hooked into slots in the deck. At these tables seventy or eighty men were crowded together. Evidently the mess deck was never meant to hold such a number, but khaki figures here and there were wedged between the blue serge of the sailors. Some of the latter, stokers and engine-room ratings, were naked to the waist or covered only by a singlet; their muscular arms shone with grease and perspiration. Along the tables in front of almost every man reposed a big tin mug, and as Gregory noted it he rightly assumed that the spirit room had been broken into. At the far end a small group was gathered; the lack of space made a platform impossible, but directly Gregory's glance pierced the smoke-laden atmosphere he realised that this group, consisting of five sailors and two soldiers, comprised the ringleaders, and that it was with them that he would have to deal.

At the sergeant's order there was a quick shuffling among the tables; the soldiers came smartly to their feet, many of the sailors followed—slower to take up the word but obviously still respectful of authority. Yet at several tables there were little knots of men who remained seated, looking guiltily away from the General for the most part, but with anxious faces—half-frightened and half-sullen. The ringleaders at the far end of the Mess Deck remained seated to a man.

For a moment, only the sound of the sea, the pulsing engines and an occasional clang on the steel deck broke the stillness. In his left hand Sallust held a lighted cigarette, and he puffed at it slowly while sizing up the situation. Then in a quiet, level voice he spoke:

‘Why are you men not turned in?'

A giant of a man who sat in the centre of the far group sprang to his feet; Gregory guessed him to be Stoker Crowder.

‘What's it to do with you?' the big man thundered, ‘you're not our officer!' A mutter of approval untraceable to any individual, but clearly perceptible, ran round the deck.

‘What have you done with our Bloke?' shrilled a small, ferret-faced man who sat beside the stoker.

‘Leading Seaman Nobes,' thought Gregory, and his guess was confirmed when Chief Petty Officer Wilkins stepped out from behind him:

‘That's enough of that, Nobes,' said the P.O. heatedly. ‘We're now on a special mission an' the General 'ere 'as explained everything
to the Commander so it aint for the likes of you to start gettin' uppish!'