Lieutenant Hugh Bolitho sat wedged into a corner of the Avenger's low cabin, one foot against a frame to hold himself steady. The cutter was alive with creaks and rattles as she drifted sluggishly downwind through a curtain of sleet and snow.
The midshipmen, Gloag, the acting-master, and Pyke, the cutter's sly-faced boatswain, completed the gathering, and the confined space was heavy with damp and the richer tang of brandy.
Bolitho felt as if he had never worn a shred of dry clothing in his life. For over two days, while the Avenger had tacked or beaten her way down the Cornish coastline, he had barely slept for more than minutes at a time. Hugh never seemed to rest. He was always calling for extra vigilance, although who but a madman would be abroad in this weather was hard to fathom. Now, around the dreaded Lizard and its great sprawl of reefs, they lay to under the lee of the shore. And although it was pitch-dark and no land in view, they sensed it, felt it not as a friend but as a treacherous enemy waiting to rip out their keel if they made just one mistake.
Bolitho was impressed by his brother's outward calm, the way he outlined his ideas without any sign of uncertainty. He could tell that Gloag trusted his judgement, although he was old enough to be his
father.
He was saying, `I had intended to put a party ashore, or go myself to meet this informant. However, the weather has other ideas. Any boat might lose her way, and the advantage of surprise would also be lost.'
Bolitho glanced at Dancer, wondering if he was as mystified as himself. Informants, stealthy rendezvous in the dark, it was a different sort of Navy.
Pyke said abruptly, `I knows the place well, sir. It would be where Morgan, the revenue man, was done in. A real likely spot for runnin' a cargo ashore.'
Hugh's eyes settled on him curiously. 'D'you think you could meet this fellow? After all, if he says the birds have flown there's no damn point in my hanging about here.'
Pyke spread his hands. `I can try, sir.'
`Try, dammit, that's not good enough!'
Bolitho watched. Again, Hugh's latent temper was getting the better of him. He saw the almost physical effort as reason took over.
The lieutenant added, `You do see what I mean?'
`Aye, sir. If we gets ashore without stovin' the boat's bottom in, we could reach 'is cottage as you wanted in the first place.'
Hugh nodded briskly. `Very well. I want you to land the party as soon as you can. Find out what the man knows, but pay him nothing. We've got to be sure.' He looked at his brother. `You, Richard, will go with Mr Pyke. The presence of my, er, secondin-command will add something, eh?'
Gloag rubbed his bald pate. `I'll go an' check the set o' the tide, sir. We don't want to lose your brother on 'is first affray, does we?' He went out chuckling to himself.
His chuckling stopped as a voice called, `Breakers on the lee bow, sir!' That was Truscott, the gunner, standing a watch alone while his betters pondered on matters of strategy.
Hugh Bolitho said, `Too many reefs about here. Take yourself on deck, Mr Dancer. Have the jolly boat swayed out and muster the landing party. See that they are armed, but ensure that nobody steps into the boat with a loaded piece. I want no eager hands loosing off a pistol by mistake.' His eyes flashed. `You'll be answerable to me.'
He relaxed slightly. `It is all we can do. They say that a cargo of smuggled goods has been dropped in the next cove to the nor'-west of where I am putting you ashore. They say it will stay there until everyone believes the Avenger elsewhere.' He banged the table. `They say a lot of things, but tell me nothing of value!'
Pyke grinned. `It sounds right, sir. I'll take the centipedes, just in case.'
Another voice called, `Boat ready, zur! Mr Gloag's respects, an' could the young gentleman make haste?'
Hugh nodded. `Immediately.' He led the way on deck.
Bolitho felt the damp biting into his bones. Easy living for a few days at home had had its effects, he thought ruefully. Now, tired and weary from the sea and wind, he was feeling very low indeed.
He peered at the tossing boat alongside. It was so dark he could barely make out its outline, just a pitching shape in a welter of white spray.
Dancer hurried to his side. `I wish I was going with you.'
Bolitho gripped his arm. `Me too. I feel a complete novice amongst these people.'
His brother lurched across the slippery planking.
`Be off with you. Carry on, Bosun.' He waited for Pyke to vanish over the side and added quietly, `Keep your eyes wide open. I will lie to when I can, but in any case will be nearby at first light. If there is any truth in my information we may stand a chance.'
Bolitho threw his leg over the bulwark and waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. One false step and he would be swept away like a wood chip on a mill-race.
The boat cast off and veered away from the Avenger almost before he had regained his breath, while Pyke swung the tiller-bar and peered above the oarsmen's heads as if to seek a way through the nearest line of leaping breakers.
To calm his nerves Bolitho asked, `What are the centipedes, Mr Pyke?'
The stroke oarsman grinned, his teeth very white in the darkness. 'Ere, sir!' He kicked out with his foot as he leaned aft for another pull at his oar.
Bolitho reached down and felt two enormous grapnels. They were unlike any he had seen, with several sets of flukes like legs.
Pyke did not take his eyes from the shore as he said, `The smugglers usually sink their booty to wait until the coast is clear. Then they lifts it when they'm good and ready. My little centipedes can drag the stuff off the bottom.' He laughed quietly, a humourless sound. `I've done a few in me time.'
The bowman called, `Land ahead, sir!'
The boat was planing forward, the spray hissing between the oar blades to beat across the already dripping inmates.
`Easy, all!'
A tall, slab-sided rock rushed down the starboard side, muffling the sound of breakers like a huge door.
With a lurch and a violent shudder the boat grounded on hard sand, and as men fell cursing in the water and tried to steady the impact, others leapt on to the beach to guide the bows clear of fallen rocks.
Bolitho tried to stop his teeth chattering. He had to assume Gloag and Pyke knew what they were doing, that his brother's plan made sense. This was the cove, but to Bolitho it could have been anywhere.
Pyke regarded him through the gloom. `Well, sir?'
`You know this business better than me.'
Bolitho knew some of the men were listening, but this was no time to stand on dignity at the expense of safety. He was Avenger's second-in-command. But he was a lowly midshipman for all that.
Pyke grunted, satisfied or contemptuous it was impossible to say.
No Choice
He said, `Two men stand by the boat. Load your weapons now.' He gestured upwards into the darkness. 'Ashmore, you stand guard. Watch out for any nosey bugger hanging around.'
The invisible Ashmore asked, `An' if I does, sir?'
`Crack 'is 'ead, for Gawd's sake!'
Pyke adjusted his belt. `The rest of you, come with us.' To Bolitho he added, `Night like this, should be all right.'.
The snow swirled around them as they fumbled their way up a winding, treacherous pathway. Once, Bolitho paused to give a seaman his hand on a slippery piece of the track and saw the sea reaching out far below him. Impenetrable black lined with broken crests of incoming rollers.
He thought of his mother. It was unreal to know that she was only twelve miles or so away from where he was standing. But there was a world of difference between a straight bird's flight and the Avenger's meandering track to this particular point.
Pyke was tireless, and his long, thin legs were taking him up the path as if they did it every single day.
Bolitho tried to ignore the cold and the blinding. sleet. It was like walking into oblivion.
He collided with Pyke's back as the boatswain hissed, `Still! Th' cottage is up 'ere, somewhere.'
