The Gathering Storm (17 page)

'No, sir. He is in the forecastle, where the last shot struck.
He took a splinter to his breast ...'

'Christ Jesu.' Quietly.

'Dr Wing wished me to inform you, sir.'

'Very well, thank you, Mr Ab—'

Flashes ahead, making a mirror of the sea, and almost
simultaneously to the south.

THUD THUD THUD THUD-THUD THUD THUD

The spanker boom convulsed over their heads with a harsh
crack, sending splinters and fragments of rope and metal
spraying across the quarterdeck. Blocks fell. The boom
sagged and tumbled to the planking, the sail torn loose from
its lacing at the foot. The canvas bellied and floated a moment
with the force of the shock wave, then hung useless on the
thimbles. Farther forrard the tangled crashing of other
rigging, yards and sails, and the cries of men in pain.

'Mr Tangible! Mr Tangible!' Rennie, rising from a crouch,
his hat and coat covered in debris.

The boatswain did not respond.

'Mr Abey!' Rennie shook his hat free of fragments.

'I am here, sir.'

'Find Mr Dangerfield, and—'

'Mr Dangerfield is below, sir, wounded.'

'Badly wounded?'

'It is his leg, sir, I believe it is broke. His left leg.'

'Then he cannot come on deck ... How old are you, Mr
Abey?'

'Fifteen, sir.'

'Well, you are very young, but we are in dire difficulty. I
hereby appoint you master's mate, and raise your rank immediate
to acting lieutenant. You are now my third, Mr Abey.'

'Oh, thank you, sir.' Astonished.

'Do not thank me, Mr Abey. Your responsibilities are grave,
and your work arduous. Are ye ready and willing to do it?'

'Oh, yes, sir!'

'Very well. You will assume command of the gundeck.
Which means that whichever battery is employed – or both
– you will give the order to fire. You will double-shot your
guns, at reload. And full allowance, you mind me?'

'Aye, sir.' Lifting his chin.

'We must make a reply to that blackguard south of us,
and deter him a little. I cannot see him, but we will fire at
the flashes of his guns. Stand by to fire as soon as you see
them again.'

'Yes, sir.'

'Jump, then, Mr Abey – forgive me. I must not ask an
officer to jump. Carry on, if y'please.'

'Aye, sir, very good.' His recovered hat off and on, absurdly
formal in the confusion and destruction all about them, and
he dashed forrard and down the ladder into the waist.

Rennie suppressed a sigh, and muttered: 'God go with
you, lad.' He then strode forrard himself, and pointed at a
powder boy extricating himself from a tangled fall.

'You there! Find the carpenter, Mr Adgett, and send him
to me! And then find the boatswain!' Turning and coming
aft again, kicking aside a twisted mass of rope and a smashed
block:

'Mr Loftus! Mr Loftus! We must repair the boom, and
bend the driver loose-footed!'

'I am at your service ...' Bernard Loftus, clutching his
side, and white with pain.

'Good God, do not tell me that you are wounded.'

'It is just the wind knocked out of me, sir. I shall be all
right directly ...'

The master clapped on to a stay and clung there a moment,
his eyes tight closed.

Another series of muzzle flashes from the south, Rennie
swung round to look, and immediately after came Richard
Abey's cry from the gundeck:

'Larboard battery, point your guns! – Fire! Fire! Fire!'

The stuttering roar of guns from the southward ship was
interrupted by the tremendous shocks through her timbers
of
Expedient
's own great guns, and explosions of flame along
her side.

B-BOOM B-BOOM B-BOOM B-BOOM

Concussive, deafening, thudding, and the deck beneath
Rennie's feet trembled and shook. The captain sniffed in a
deep breath, smelling fiery smoke, and:

'That is more like it! Now we are in the fight!'

*

In the second boat, following
Expedient
's pinnace, Lieutenant
Hayter heard the thudding of guns beyond the rocky islets,
and saw the flashes against the sky. He ordered the boat
brought level with the pinnace, and brought alongside. He
jumped into the pinnace, and consulted with Lieutenant
Leigh, both crews resting on their oars. The royal party
remained huddled together, their faces hidden, protected by
their guard and apparently wishing to take no part in the
proceedings, other than to be brought to safety. James doffed
his hat briefly in their direction, purely as a formality, and
to the lieutenant:

'Evidently the boats coming inshore ahead of you in the
pinnace were a cutting-out party from a ship, Mr Leigh.
Don't y'think so?'

'A ship that now engages
Expedient
.' Grimly, a nod.

'Well, there is no purpose in proceeding without lights
any longer. We are damned lucky to have got this far among
the shoals and rocks without coming to grief.'

'Yes, very well, Hayter.' He was about to give the order,
then: 'Ought not we to keep well clear of the action, though?
With such a valuable party under our care?'

James thought a moment, took a breath, and: 'Yes, you
are right. In fact, we had perhaps better anchor here, while
we are still sheltered by the islets, and keep our lights doused.'

'Very well.'

When the anchors had been deployed, James:

'Are these swivels loaded, Mr Leigh?' Indicated the swivel
guns fore and aft, slotted into the gunwales.

'Aye, we reloaded as soon as they had been fired at the
beach.'

'Very good. We may need them should we encounter other
boats.'

'Other boats?'

'I think there may well be more than one ship attacking
Expedient
. You hear the sequence of guns? There's three
patterns of broadside, all distinct.'

'I had not noticed. I was busy with the marks, you know,
as lead boat.' Meaning the soundings they had been taking
with the lead in the bow to determine the depth of water
under them.

'And if there's other boats scattered about, sent out from
these ships, we may have to fight an action of our own.'

'Here, among the rocks? At anchor?'

'Nay, when we venture out to go aboard
Expedient
– or in
least attempt it. Dawn ain't far off, and we cannot hide here
for ever.'

A further pattern of thuds and flashes beyond.

'If
Expedient
ain't bested.' Lieutenant Leigh, subdued and
solemn. 'If she ain't.'

'Damnation to that. If I know anything about Captain
Rennie he will never be bested at sea. Ain't a finer tactician
in ship-handling and gunnery, in the navy entire. Perhaps
y'don't know that, Mr Leigh.'

'I meant only that if she is attacked on all sides, Mr
Hayter.' Stiffly, using 'mister' for the first time. 'I meant
no disloyalty to Captain Rennie, that you clearly know
better than I.'

'He will not sit and wait, you know, to be caught between
two attacking ships. He will twist and turn, and take the
wind gage, and fall upon them instead.'

'Wind gage? There is scarcely even a waft of breeze.' More
than a hint of acerbity.

'We are all tired, no doubt.' James, lowering his voice.
'We had better not bicker like a pair of middies, and
discourage our people. Hey? When we reflect on what we
are about, after all?'

'Very well, Hayter.' Unbending a little, his own voice
instinctively lowered.

'Will you tell me your given name again? I have forgot it.'

'It is Merriman. Merriman Leigh.'

'And how d'y'like to be called?'

'Oh, Leigh will do, you know.'

'Not Merriman? Or Merry?'

'Certainly not Merry, good God. It makes me sound like
ten kinds of damned fool.'

James smiled in the darkness. 'Very well. Not Merry.'

'At my school I was called Mabel, of all things.'

'Mabel?'

'Aye, you see? Bloody foolish, altogether.'

'Why Mabel?'

'My middle name is Able. Merriman Able. Mabel.'

'Ahh. Yes. Then I had best not call'ee that, hey?'

'I should be obliged if ye didn't.'

'Plain Leigh?'

'Plain Leigh suits me very well.' A moment, and: 'Will
you tell me ... who was the other passenger you looked for
on the beach, but did not find?'

'A lady.'

'Ah. Was she—'

From beyond, interrupting this exchange, a further series
of bright, flickering flashes against the sky, followed by many
thudding, booming concussions, echoing and reverberating
through the rocky islets.

'If I am not mistook, they have reached the decisive
moments of the action.' James, half to himself, hunched
beside Lieutenant Leigh in the stern sheets.

'I have changed my mind, Hayter. Could not we proceed
a little further? And find a safe place to watch?'

'Without great risk to our cargo?'

'Aye.'

'Even if there's other boats?'

'They will not see us if we are careful, and stay hid behind
rocks.'

James glanced toward the huddled royal party. 'I do not
think we may take that risk, however small.'

'Good heaven, Hayter, ain't the whole business an enormous
risk, anyway? What difference can it make to proceed
a little way and see how the action goes? Don't it benefit us,
in fact, to have a look?'

'Benefit?'

'Indeed, if Captain Rennie is gaining the upper hand, will
not we all the sooner be able to get aboard
Expedient
– if we
know that he is?'

A nod, a quick breath. 'Yes, all right. Let us weigh and
proceed to the last rocky islet and wait there to observe the
outcome. Pray God it is the right one.'

'Come, Hayter, I thought ye had absolute confidence in
Captain Rennie?'

'I am not God, though.'

'Amen.'

*

The first faint glimmer of dawn, and now Rennie was
assailed by a conflicting combination of emotions. He could
see his enemy, two ships, one a corvette to the south, the
other a frigate to the north, both of them nearly a mile
distant, licking their wounds and waiting to move in for
the kill. He could see the damage to his own ship, and the
drying, crusting rivulets of blood on the decking, half
absorbed by strewn sand and fallen canvas. He could see
to the sou'-west a gathering of the glassy surface of the sea
into ruffles of movements – the wind was rising. He could
see how he might best these two vessels, if his luck held,
and the repairs to his rigging. He could see the expressions
on the faces of his people. They were exhausted, and hungry,
and thirsty too, in spite of the boys he had kept running
in relays from gun to gun with cans of water during the
hours of repeated firing, the guns bouncing in their tackles,
burning hot and dangerous to the naked hand. These men
had lost shipmates, had seen them fall and been unable to
help them, had watched them bleed and gasp away their
lives on the gritty, powder-blasted deck in the fury and din
of action, their own duty wholly bound up in the survival
of their ship. A duty not yet done with, not yet completed,
that stared at them in the nascent light – two ships blackresolved
to smash their own and kill them where they stood,
handspikes and rammers and tackles in hand. Rennie felt
both sad and elated – the deep sadness of loss, and the
harsh elation of purpose.

'By God, I am proud of my people.' Under his breath. He
strode to the tafferel, sucked in a lungful of morning air, and
exhaled. Turned, strode forrard to the breast-rail, and went
down the ladder into the waist. Looking about him, lifting
his voice to carry along the gundeck:

'Now we have them, lads! The wind is rising, and we shall
have the advantage! We will smash that bloody little corvette,
and then we will have at that damned frigate, and riddle her
arse until she begs for mercy! We shall prevail! So let me
hear you now, lads! What are we called?'

A ragged, exhausted cry: 'Expedients ...'

'All the gunnery has made me a little deaf this morning!
I cannot quite hear you! What are we called!'

'Expedients!'

'Aye, Expedients all! And today, here and now, as dawn
breaks over us – we are the Royal Navy, just as sure as if we
was an entire fleet at sea! And by God we will teach those
who fire upon an English man-of-war to rue the day their
mothers gave them life!' He lifted his hat high over his head.
'Three cheers for England, and King George!'

'Huzzay! Huzzay! Huzzay!' Ragged, but heartfelt.

'Mr Loftus!'

Bernard Loftus limped to the breast-rail above. 'Sir?'

'A double ration of grog for every man!' Further cheers.

'Aye, sir.' The master's hat off and on. Rennie returned
to his quarterdeck, up the ladder.

'The rum unwatered if they wish it, Mr Loftus.' Lowering
his voice a little.

'Unwatered, sir? Half a pint of rum unwatered?'

'You heard me right, Mr Loftus. Unwatered. I want them
fierce lifted up when we come to fight for our lives. Make
it so, if y'please.'

'Very good, sir.'

'Mr Abey!' His hand on the breast-rail, above a sand
bucket.

Richard Abey appeared below him, his face, hat and coat
covered in powder grime. The left sleeve of his coat had
been partly torn off the first fire, and now he looked very
bedraggled.

'Sir?'

'Are you all right, Mr Abey?'

'Oh, yes, sir.' Climbing the ladder.

'I am going to attack those two ships by beating west into
the wind.' Nodding at each ship, then pointing west. 'They
will think – both French commanders – that I am running
away fearful in the dawn, which is just what, I want them to
believe. When we have tacked west half a glass I will come
about and run sou'-east straight at the corvette, which is
marginally closer to us, and will thus be our first design.
When we are within pistol shot I will swing east, and we
will then rake her with our starboard battery at point blank.
You apprehend me?'