The Devil's Own Luck (14 page)

He reached into his desk, and pulling out the knife, he laid it on the top. Harry gasped, recognizing it immediately as his own. The knife had a long blade, but you could see how sharp it was. The handle was mother-of-pearl inlaid with gold. The initials HL were wrought in gold on the handle.

“I wondered at the initials,” said Carter. “You wish to see your brother. See him you can. If you care to stand on the poop you will see him going about his duties.”

Harry tore his eyes away from his knife and looked at Carter without comprehending.

“I cannot justify feeding a man who does not work, Ludlow. I have set your brother to work. I dare say a spell before the mast will temper his arrogance. Perhaps he will also learn some manners.”

The smile was infuriating. Harry’s fists were balled tightly.

“You may see him, Ludlow. But,” he turned to include Craddock, “and this is my express command, you may under no circumstances address and interfere with his going about his duties.”

Harry reached forward slowly and picked up his knife. The dried blood was caked around the blade near the hilt. He ran his fingers over his initials on the hilt. Carter had a wide grin on his face, enjoying the way he had discomfited his enemy.

Suddenly he pulled his hand back, raising the knife in the air. Carter, grabbing tightly at the arms of his chair, pushed himself backwards, his eyes wide with surprise. At the same time he grabbed for the drawer of his desk.

Craddock started to move to intercept, as did the marines standing to attention behind him. Harry, his knees bending, dropped down, and stuck the knife in the deck. Craddock froze, uncomprehending. Carter, sensing that the danger was past, sat forward to see what was going on.

Having pulled the knife out of the deck, Harry inspected the cut with his finger. He looked up at Carter and smiled. Craddock stepped forward sharply, signalling to the marines. He knew if this interview continued that Carter would continue to goad Harry. There was more than a chance that Harry would attack him. In the face of direct orders there was not much he could do. But at least he could prevent Harry from giving his commander grounds to lock him up as well. The marines stood either side of Harry. If Carter was curious about what had just taken place, he hid it well.

“I think this interview is at an end, don’t you?”

Craddock dismissed the marines outside Carter’s cabin. His face was set, but Harry guessed that the man probably sympathized with his plight. No one could doubt that Carter was doing everything he could to make Harry suffer. Yet within the bounds of naval convention Craddock had few options. His captain could be a raving lunatic, and after that very theatrical performance probably was. Yet there was little an acting first lieutenant, desperately hoping to be confirmed, could do.

“I have arranged for you to occupy Mr Bentley’s quarters,” he said softly.

“Then I hope you have seen fit to remove Mr Bentley.” Harry immediately regretted the remark. Taking his anger out on Craddock would get him nowhere.

“Of course.” Craddock’s gentle reply confirmed Harry’s opinion of his sympathy. The older man’s face had a kindly concerned look. “I will arrange to have your dunnage shifted.”

“Which section has my brother been put in?”

“Topmen.” Craddock looked away as he said this, seeking to hide his embarrassment.

“With your permission, I will take a walk on deck.”

Harry walked away without waiting for a reply. He made his way on to the deck and up to the poop. Leaning against the taffrail, he looked aloft at the soaring masts and the great sails they supported.

“Topman,” he said to himself. “James. You’ll be lucky to see Gibraltar.” He closed his eyes to prevent the tears that stung his eyes from showing. Turning, he looked out over the wake, a broad white line stretching back to where this had started. Started with his impetuosity.

His knife! Suddenly he remembered the look that James had given him, standing over Bentley’s body. His knife! Lingering doubts, which he had fought but had still persisted, vanished. Now he could understand James’s silence.

Harry Ludlow was a man of action. Plans and solutions did not stem from contemplation but from the changing nature of events. The first thing was to keep James alive. Only then could he contemplate the steps necessary to prove him innocent.

“Mr Craddock,” he said walking briskly into the wardroom “May I see you privately?”

Craddock, sitting at the head of the table, stood up and nodded without speaking. The other officers, still really only faces to Harry, exchanged knowing glances. Craddock made his way into his cabin, a smaller space than Bentley’s, but still blessed with daylight. The morning sun blazed through the side windows. Craddock closed the door as Harry came in behind him.

Craddock walked over to the plain deal desk and stood beside the chair. There was a sea-chest beside his cot, which, hanging from the deck-beams, swung gently as the ship rolled, and another behind the door underneath his hanging uniforms. He indicated for Harry to sit if he wished.

“I will not mince my words for the sake of politeness, Mr Craddock. For reasons I cannot fathom, your commanding officer seems bent on a strange form of revenge. You will be aware of the bad blood that exists between him and myself?”

Craddock gave an imperceptible nod. With his face set in a noncommittal way, his sparse grey hair and side whiskers made him look like a stern grandfather.

“No doubt this has preyed on his mind these past years. And while I can see that he would take great pleasure in discomfiting me, I cannot see how this extends to my brother James. Yet it does. Revenge! He is so bent on it that it has entirely warped his judgement. You may tell me that he is behaving as he always does?”

“This is none of my affair, sir,” said Craddock, stiffly.

“With respect, sir, that is pure sophistry.”

Craddock was quite taken aback. “Respect” might be stated, but it was absent in Harry’s voice.

“The captain has seen fit to place a totally inexperienced man in a position where only the most nimble can survive. My brother is many things, Mr Craddock, but he is no sailor, let alone a top-man.”

“I did seek to dissuade Captain Carter from this.”

“Yet you failed?” Craddock said nothing. “It is my opinion that your captain is mad.”

“Mr Ludlow!” Shock registered on the old man’s face. And fear.

“Whether his madness is based on just a desire for revenge, I cannot say, but I would hazard that it is of a more general nature. You would know more of this than me, and I dare say the ship’s log could go some way to support my allegations, especially in the section headed punishment.”

“I really cannot allow you to speak like this, sir.” Craddock started forward, putting his hand out to open the door.

“Are you saying that you will be a party to murder rather than contemplate the truth?” Harry spoke slowly. He wanted Craddock to fully understand him.

“Murder?”

“If my brother dies in the execution of duties that he is incapable of carrying out, I will hold you responsible.”

“I am obeying orders.” The acting premier was casting around vaguely, trying to digest the import of Harry’s attack.

“Mr Craddock. Some orders have to be ignored, or at the very least circumvented. You are the first lieutenant of the
Magnanime.
It is well within your authority to do so.”

“Disobey a direct order?” Craddock putting a hand to his head, ran his fingers through the thinning hair. “I’ll be damned if I do!”

Harry raised his voice. “I can assure you that you will be eternally damned if you don’t, sir. I cannot reach the captain. If he was capable of listening to reason, I would be the last person to extract it. You have already stated, Mr Craddock, that you have tried to reason with him and failed.”

Craddock nodded, his bright blue eyes eager, seeking to convey how hard he had tried.

“I am a man of wealth and influence, Mr Craddock. My brother stands in mortal danger. Compared to his safety, everything I own is of no account. Not wealth, not position, and certainly not pride. Do you really think that I will let anyone get away with such behaviour? If Captain Carter was to stop and think, he would see the foolishness of what he is doing. I can only surmise that he is incapable of doing so. I must therefore ask that you relieve him.”

Craddock looked as though Harry had hit him. “Relieve him?”

“On the grounds that he is unfit to command.”

“I cannot even contemplate such a course.” Craddock pulled himself up to his full height. “And I would remind you, sir, that to do such a thing would require the support of a majority of the ship’s officers.”

“Will you seek such support?”

“I will not.” Craddock was flushed with a combination of anger and embarrassment.

“Then, Mr Craddock, hear this. I hold you personally responsible for my brother’s safety. Should anything happen to him I will hound you until your dying day.”

“I do not take kindly to being threatened, sir.”

“I will also add, Mr Craddock, that should you demonstrate an ability to circumvent the captain’s orders, and thus ensure that no harm comes to James, you will earn my gratitude. I will place at your disposal all the influence that I can muster to aid your advancement. Good day to you!”

Threatening Craddock was a calculated risk. Part of the calculation lay in his obvious reluctance to carry through Carter’s order. Such instructions could not be anything but repugnant to a man like him. But the offer of assistance was the more dangerous part of the calculation. Craddock could react badly, feel slighted, at what sounded remarkably like a bribe, and ignore both Harry’s threats and promises. But he was old for his position. Like many others, it would seem to him that opportunity had passed him by. He lacked the contacts to effect any change in his circumstances. His greatest desire would be confirmation of his present post. For that he needed Carter’s help, not Harry’s.

Yet Harry’s offer might tempt him. Few officers were promoted through any action of their own. Indeed few, even in war, were given the chance to distinguish themselves. Single-ship actions of the calibre likely to catch the Admiralty’s eye and the public imagination were rare. It was even less likely that he would be caught up in a successful fleet action resounding enough in its outcome to mean promotion for anyone.

Prior to Bentley’s untimely death, Craddock would have considered himself lucky to have his previous post, and be resigned at his age to retiring from the Navy with the rank of lieutenant. Nothing was certain with Carter. The sudden prospect of someone like Harry Ludlow, acting on his behalf, pressing those in power to consider his advancement, could revive his dreams. That was Harry’s main hope. Threats, once stated, rarely carried force for very long. Inducements, once the man on the receiving end had time to calculate their value, and wonder at the benefits they would bring, tended to be of more permanent use.

Harry left Craddock and walked straight through the wardroom, the eyes of the other officers on him, trying, no doubt, to discern from his expression what had taken place. His next stop was Outhwaite.

“Mr Outhwaite, I require your assistance.” The surgeon, who had been lounging on his bed, sat bolt upright.

“If assisting you is likely to expose me to the dressing-down I had this morning, I’d rather not.”

“I do not intend to give you any choice in the matter.”

“Indeed?” The response denoted just a hint of wariness. Outh-waite already knew that he was talking to a potentially dangerous man.

“Captain Carter. What would you say his condition is? His fitness to command?”

“It would be above my duties to venture an opinion.”

“Even a private one?”

“I cannot see that it would do me any good.” He made to turn away from Harry.

“He has put my brother before the mast, and billed him as a topman.”

Outhwaite’s head shot back round. “That’s madness.”

“Is that an opinion?”

“No, no.” The surgeon shook his head. “I only mean that he can’t do that.”

“He can and he has.” Harry put his hand on Outhwaite’s shoulder, pulling him round so he could look him in the eye. “I have formally requested Mr Craddock to remove him on the grounds of his unfitness, but he has refused.”

“And quite right to, sir. He would spend the rest of his life on the beach.”

Harry continued to stare at him. “And I am formally requesting an opinion from you.”

Outhwaite jerked his head away again. “I have already said, sir, I cannot venture an opinion in that direction.”

“You will have to, my friend. In a court of law and under oath. But that presupposes that something will happen to my brother. What I require from you is assistance in the way the ship divides.”

“Divides?” Outhwaite bent down and started to search under the cot.

“I don’t have time for the luxury of making everyone’s acquaintance, of testing their feeling and evaluating their views. I want you to tell me about the people aboard the
Magnanime
and how they stand in their relations with Captain Carter.”

“You are engaging me in a conspiracy.”

“A conspiracy to prevent murder. This is an unhappy ship. A blind beggar could see that. Why? Was it Bentley? Is the captain hated, and if so, how much and by whom? Bentley treated the man like a lackey. How could that be allowed to happen? You have little regard for Carter. That was plain the first time you mentioned him.”

“I cannot be so used.” The surgeon stood up, bottle in hand. He was shaking his head slowly. “The reputation of the ship . . .”

“Amongst other things.”

“Like your livelihood,” snapped Harry, barely seeking to disguise how he felt about a man who, practising medicine, put money before people’s lives. Outhwaite didn’t reply.

“Nothing would give me greater pleasure, Mr Outhwaite, than to leave this ship with an enhanced reputation. But I will add that I have never yet met a ship’s surgeon who wouldn’t be happier, and wealthier, practising ashore.”

Harry turned on his heel and left. Outhwaite too would need time to make up his mind. To press him now would guarantee a blank refusal. He made his way back to the wardroom to see how he was progressing with his first victim. Craddock was not there.