'WIND'S backed again, sir! ' The boatswain's hoarse voice made Bolitho nudge Dancer with his elbow and rouse him. He saw Verling and Tregorren consulting the compass, and when he looked up at the ragged mainmast pendant he saw it was lifting and whipping to a new thrust of wind. The sky was paler, and as he struggled to his feet he felt every muscle throbbing with cramp. Verling commented flatly, 'We will beat clear of the headland nevertheless.' His arm shot out, black against the sky. 'There! I can see surf below the point! ' The arm darted round. 'You midshipmen, get below and rouse the people. My compliments to Major Dewar, and tell him we will pass very close inshore. I want no marine or seaman on deck who has not been so ordered.' A block squeaked, and Bolitho saw a large flag jerking up to the foremost lateen sail. In daylight it would be seen as a black one, similar to that worn by the Pegaso. He shivered, despite his excitement. l 'Come on, Martyn, we'd better hurry.' s He retched and covered his mouth with his sleeve t as he plunged down into the fat-bellied hold. In the r glitter of a solitary lantern the crowded seamen and marines could have been another slave cargo. The realization came like an ice- cold shock. If this attack failed, the survivors would end as no better I than the poor wretches released by Captain Conway. Although the corsair, Rais Haddam, recruited many! white mercenaries to man his ships and expand his grip across the trade routes, he had little love or respect for them. If half of what was said of him was true, it was more than likely he would keep captured British seamen to replace those very same slaves. Dewar listened to his message and grunted. ' 'Bout time. I'm aching like a sick cow.' Dancer coughed and gasped, 'I am glad we were on deck, sir.' The marines exchanged glances and Dewar said, 'Spoiled young devils! It is the discomfort I object to. The smell is no worse than any field of battle.' He grinned at Dancer's nausea. 'Especially after a few days, when the crows have been at work, eh?' He stood up, ducking under the beams. 'Marines, stand-to! Sar'nt Halse, inspect the weapons! ' Bolitho returned to the poop, and found to his surprise that it was already bright enough to see the land drifting abeam, the dancing spray amongst some angry-looking rocks. Dancer murmured, 'A lee shore. If the first lieutenant had taken an hour longer we'd have been hard put to beat clear.' 'Sir! I can see someone on the point! ' Verling raised a telescope. 'Yes. He's gone from view now. Probably a lookout of some kind. He won't get across to the island, but the cosair may have a sort of signalling arrangement.' He was thinking aloud. The wind made the great sails bang noisily, and the poorly-made rigging looked as if it might tear apart at any second. But it must be stronger than it appeared, Bolitho decided. He watched Hoggett supervising the helmsmen, the easy way the dhow turned to starboard to let the nearest rocks slip past the quarter with a bare twenty feet to spare. The dhow handled well. He smiled tightly. So it should. Arab sailors were using them long before ships like Gorgon were even dreamed of. Pearce said, 'There's the fortress.' He grimaced. 'God, it looks a mite larger from this side! ' It was still shrouded in gloom, with only the upper tower and battery catching the first feeble light. There was a sharp bang, and for an instant Bolitho imagined the fortress had seen through Captain Conway's ruse and could not restrain the gunners from firing. He ducked as a ball whipped high overhead and threw a fanlike waterspout amongst the rocks. 'Sandpiper, sir! ' A seaman almost prodded Verling in his excitement to point across the larboard beam. 'She fired! ' Verling lowered his glass and studied him coldly. 'Thank you. I did not imagine it was an act of t God! ' s Another shot banged out, and this time the ball ^ smashed down across the bows in direct line with r their approach. Verling gave a thin smile. 'Let her fall off, Mr; Hoggett. I know Mr Dallas has an excellent gun; captain with him in Sandpiper, but we'll not take too [many chances.' The dhow tilted steeply as the helmsmen brought t her further round towards the island. I 'Fire the er, stern-chaser.' L Verling stood aside as some seamen who had been working on one of the old bronze cannons plunged a slow-match into the pitted touch-hole and jumped clear. The ancient bronze barrel was almost worn out, but the resonant bang was far louder than anyone had expected. Verling said, 'That should do it. If we fire it again, I fear it will explode in our midst.' Bolitho saw the brig for the first time. Closehauled on a converging tack, she was heeling well over to the wind, her sails merged into one pale pyramid in the dawn light. He saw the flash of another gun, and winced as the ball pounded close to the waterline, dousing seamen and crouching marines in falling spray. Verling remarked angrily, 'Mr Dallas is too good an actor. A few more like that and I will have to take him to task.' He smiled at the boatswain. 'Later, of course.' He's worried.' Dancer peered through the bulwark.
'I've never heard him make jokes before.' 'Listen! ' Verling held up his hand. 'A trumpet! We've roused them at last! ' He became serious. 'Divide up the people, Mr Tregorren. You know what to do. There is some kind of jetty on the eastern side, right beneath the fortress. I am told it is where the traders bring the slaves, and from whence they ferry them to seagoing vessels.' He placed his hat on the deck and glanced quickly at the others around him. 'Remove any items of uniform which might be recognized, and keep out of sight as much as possible. Pass the word to the marines to stand fast and wait for the order. JVo matter what.' The brig was closing fast, several of her snappy six-pounders loosing-off shot, some of which fell dangerously near to the dhow. A great boom shattered the air, and seconds later Bolitho saw a waterspout shoot skywards just beyond Sandpiper's bowsprit. Her sails were in disarray as Lieutenant Dallas brought her even closer, running up his ensign to the gaff as if to further infuriate the enemy. Several more flashes lit the battery wall, and the splashes, although as big as the first, were haphazard and nowhere near the brig. Bolitho supposed that the gun crews were still half-asleep, or could not believe that a vessel so frail, one which had already been seized below these same cannon, would dare press any nearer. 148
He bit his lip as another heavy ball passed between t the brig's two masts. It was a miracle that neither s was hit, but he saw several lengths of cut rigging t drifting in the wind like jungle creeper. r One direct hit in a vital spot was all the battery needed to render the Sandpiper helpless. At least long I enough for her to drive ashore and be taken. 5 Verling's voice was right in his ear. ' 'Don't keep staring at Sandpiper. Keep your eyes and mind ahead. We could be quite wrong about the ‹ entrance. Mr Starkie's memory may have played I tricks on him.' Bolitho darted a quick glance at Verling. Without his hat to balance it, the nose looked even beakier and larger. He saw something else on his face. Determination, anxiety, both were there. But also a kind of recklessness. Bolitho looked away. He had seen a similar expression on the face of a highwayman as he had been driven to the gibbet. Sunlight felt its way gingerly over the land and played across the fortress walls. There were several heads peering from the weathered embrasures, and then Bolitho saw what appeared to be a flagstaff poking out of the ground at the foot of the furthest wall. Verling had already seen it. 'The entrance.' He turned to Hoggett. 'That must be a mast, just inside. Another dhow most likely.' He wiped his narrow face with the back of his arm. 'Steer for it.' Tregorren hurried aft, hard put to hide his great bulk beneath the litter of spare sails and fishing gear which covered the slaver's filthy deck from side to side. 'All ready, sir.' He saw Bolitho and met his gaze without blinking. Defiance? It was difficult to see any emotion in the man. Even his colour was returning, and Bolitho wondered what would happen if he found time to take more drink before the attack. 'Sandpiper's going about, sir. She's going to try another attack.' Bolitho held his breath as two balls fell on either side of the brig's sleek hull, as with sails flapping and banging she turned across the wind's eye for another attempt to head off the dhow. He saw the first sunlight shining on weapons above the battery wall and imagined the defenders jeering at the brig's retreat. Small she might be, and recaptured from them was a hard fact to swallow. But she was still a symbol of power of the world's greatest navy. And now, against their massive cannon, she was as helpless as a sick horse. 'There are men on the jetty, sir! ' Pearce was in the bows, kneeling beside one of the swivels. 'They're watching us.' Bolitho saw Hoggett's weatherbeaten face harden. The next minutes were vital. If the pirates suspected what was happening, the guns would soon be firing down on them. At this range there was no escape. And in a few more moments the island would lie between them and safety. He felt his stomach rumbling noisily and glanced quickly at Dancer. His friend was breathing very quickly, and jumped as Bolitho gripped his shoulder and pulled him down to the deck. s Bolitho tried to smile. 'If they see your fair hair, they'll know we are not likely to be friendly! ' l He turned as Verling snapped, 'Well said. I should have thought of that myself.' He turned away, already thinking far ahead of the slow- moving dhow.; The guns were firing again, but the sound was. muffled, for the brig was hidden now by the fortress. Nearer, and nearer. Bolitho tried to lick his lips as the top of the main fortress showed itself above the [bulwark where he lay. Did the enemy recognize the L dhow? Had she been here before?; He glanced up at Verling, who was standing with his arms folded beside the helmsmen. One of the latter was a Negro, of whom there were several in Gorgon's company. It would make the little group seem genuine, he thought, and Verling certainly looked every inch a slaver. 'Take in the mains'l.' Sunlight flooded into the deck as the mass of patched canvas and leather lashings came tumbling into the hull. There were a dozen or more figures at the end of the jetty. Motionless, with only their long white robes lifting to the wind as the dhow edged round the crumbling stonework. Beyond the jetty there was a high, cavelike entrance, directly below the main wall. Several small vessels were moored there, and the largest one, a dhow, very like their prize, was tied up at the outer end, unable to dip her masts beneath the curved archway.
Thirty feet. Twenty. Then a man yelled something and a figure ran to the steps to peer down at the dhow with sudden alarm. Verling called tightly, Tut her alongside! They're on to us! ' Then he tore his sword from its scabbard
