company in these hard times.'
'Another privateer, sir?'
Cairns was speaking very carefully, and Bolitho guessed he had taken much from Pears' tongue in the past few weeks.
'Possibly.'
Pears beckoned to D'Esterre, who was being pushed and jostled by the extra marines as they sought to avoid the seamen at the braces and halliards.
'Captain D'Esterre!' Pears peered aloft as the yards squeaked round and the deck heeled over to the change of course. 'How d'you propose to land your men at Jamaica if there has been a further uprising?'
D'Esterre replied, 'In boats, sir. Land by sections above the port and take the high ground before seeking the local commander.'
Pears almost smiled. 'I agree.' He pointed at the boat tier. 'We will exercise landing the contingent at dusk.' He ignored D'Esterre's astonished stare. 'On one of those islands yonder.'
Bolitho heard him say to Cairns, 'If there is some damned pirate there, we will swamp him with marines. Anyway, it will be good practice for them. If Trojan is to act as a troop transport, then she will do it well. No, better than well.'
Cairns smiled, grateful to see a return of Pears' old enthusiasm. 'Aye, sir.'
The helmsman shouted, 'Nor'-west be north, zur!'
'Steady as you go, man.' Cairns waited impatiently for Bolitho's watch to relieve Dalyell and then said, 'I wish to God we could catch one of them again. Just to show Rear-Admiral bloody Coutts a thing or two!'
Pears heard him and murmured, 'Now, now, Mr Cairns. That will do.' But that was all he said.
Bolitho watched his men settling down to their duties while the rest went below to eat. He still believed that what Coutts had tried to do had been right. But his reasons were less certain.
Why was Pears taking the trouble to land marines for so trivial a sighting? Hurt pride, or did he expect to face an eventual court martial at Coutts' instigation over the Argonaute encounter?
He heard Pears say to Bunce, 'I intend to stand off as soon as we have landed the marines. I know these waters very well. I've an idea or two of my own.'
Bunce gave a rough chuckle. That you do know 'em, Cap'n. I think it may be God's will that we be here today.'
Pears grimaced. 'Most probably, Mr Bunce. We shall have to see.' He turned away. 'And pray.'
Bolitho looked at Cairns. 'What does he mean?'
Cairns shrugged. 'He certainly knows this part of the world, as much as the Sage, I would think. I have studied the chart, but apart from reefs and currents, I see no cause for excitement.'
They both faced Pears as he strode across the quarterdeck.
He said, 'I am going aft to take lunch. This afternoon we will muster all hands and prepare the boats. Swivels in the bows of cutters and launches. Only hand-picked men will go.' He glanced at Bolitho. 'You can supervise the landing arrangements, and will take Mr Frowd as your second. Captain D'Esterre will command the land force.' He nodded and strode aft, hands behind his back.
Cairns said softly, 'I'm glad for him. But I'm not so sure he is acting wisely.'
Bunce muttered, 'My mother used to 'ave a saying, zur, about too wise'eads on too young shoulders. Not good for'em, she'd say.' He went to the chart room chuckling to himself.
Cairns shook his head. 'Didn't know the old bugger ever had a mother!'
Trojan closed to within a mile of the nearest island and then lay hove to while the business of lowering boats and filling them with marines was begun.
Most of the marines had been in Antigua for a long time and had only heard about the war in America from visiting ships. Although few of them knew why they were being sent across to the island, and those who did regarded it as something of a joke, they carried out their part willingly and in good humour.
The cheerful atmosphere made Seargeant Shears exclaim angrily, 'My Gawd, sir, you'd think it was a bloody 'oliday, an' no mistake!'
The sea was still very choppy and lively, and it took more time than calculated to get the boats fully loaded and headed for the shore. It was growing dark, and the sunset painted the wave crests amber and dull gold.
Bolitho stood in the sternsheets of the leading cutter, one hand on Stockdale's shoulder as he controlled the tiller-bar. It was difficult to see the cove where they were supposed to land, although it had looked clear enough on the chart. The grim truth was that nobody really knew the exact position of every
reef and sand-bar. Already they had seen several jagged rocks, shining in the strange light and bringing a few anxious remark.i from the crowded marines. In their heavy boots and hung about with weapons and pouches, they would go to the bottom before anything else if the boats were capsized.
D'Esterre was saying, 'Fact is, Dick, we may have been sighted already. They'll not stop to fight all hose marines, but we'll not find them either!'
Another seething rock passed down the starboard oar blades, and Bolitho signalled with a white flag to the boat astern, and so on down the line. Trojan was only a blurred shadow now, and she had been making more sail even as the boats had pulled clear. She would use the prevailing wind to ride in the island s lee for some sign of results.
'Land ahead, sir!'
That was Buller in the bows. A good hand, as he had shown, his wood splinters apparently forgotten. He was lucky to be able to forget so easily, Bolitho thought.
Like darkly hooded monks some tall rocks rose on either side of the boat, while directly across the bows and the loaded swivel gun lay a bright strip of sand.
'Easy all! Boat yer oars!'
Seamen were already leaping and splashing into the surf on either beam to steady the boat as she drove ashore.
D'Esterre was out, waist-deep in water and calling his sergeant to lead the first pickets to the higher ground.
It was a tiny island, no more than a mile long. Most of the others were even smaller. But there were rock pools for gathering fresh water and shellfish, and wood to burn for any small and self-sufficient vessel.
Bolitho waded ashore, thinking suddenly of Quinn. Ile had heard him asking, pleading with Cairns to be allowed to come with the landing party.
Cairns had been coldly formal, almost brutal. 'We want experienced, picked men, Mr Quinn.' The last part had been like a slap in the face. 'Reliable, too.'
Midshipman Couzens was arriving with the next cutter, and the Trojan's red-painted barge was following her. Bolitho smiled tightly. Frowd and the other marine captain were in her. Being held back in case the first boats had fallen under a deluge of shot and fire.
'Take your positions! Boat-handling parties stand fast!'
Stockdale strode from the shallows, his cutlass across one shoulder like a broadsword.
From tumbling confusion and whispered threats from the sergeants and corporals, the marines formed into neat little sections. At a further command the,
moved up the slope, boots
squelching on sand and then on rough, sun-hardened earth.
An hour later it was dark and the air was heavy with damp smells, of rotten vegetation and seabird droppings.
While the marine skirmishers hurried away on either side, Bolitho and D'Esterre stood on a narrow ridge- backed hill, the sea ahead and behind them, invisible but for an occasional gleam of surf.
It seemed deserted. Dead. The unknown vessel had gone to another island, or had sailed north-west towards the Bahamas. If Sambell had not seen her for himself, Bolitho might have thought the look-out mistaken by a trick of light and haze.
'This is no Fort Exeter, Dick.' D'Esterre was leaning on his sword, his head cocked to listen to the hiss of wind through fronds and bushes.
'I wish we had those Canadian scouts with us.' Bolitho saw some seamen lying on their backs, staring at the sky. They were quite content to leave it to others. They merely had to obey. To die if need be.
