happened.'
Bolitho eyed him gravely.' Thank you. The fault was not of your making.'
Then without another word or a glance at the swaying side party he strode aft to the cabin?
Colquhoun was standing by the windows, as if he had not moved since their last encounter. In the lanterns' yellow glare his face looked stiff and unsmiling, and when he spoke his tone was like that ob a much older man?
'It took you long enough! How dare you ignore ma signals!'
Bolitho faced him coldly. The anger in Colquhoun's voice was as false as his composure, and he saw one hand twitching badly against his white breeches?
'Your earlier signals were made to Fawn, sir.' He saw him start and continued slowly, 'But she was already in pieces and her people mostly killed in battle or drowned when she struck.'
Colquhoun nodded jerkily, his brows tightening as if he was trying to keep a grip on his emotions?
'That is beside the point. You disobeyed my orders? You crossed the bar without permission. You…'
Bolitho said, 'I did what I considered to be my duty.' It was no use. He could feel his control slipping away like an icy yard beneath a topman.' But for your lust after glory we would have taken the Frenchman together, without loss. We had all the advantage, for the enemy knew nothing of your full strength. She was after one prize only. Sparrow.' He turned away, trying to hide his grief.' Because of you, Maulby and his men were killed, his ship lost. Because of your senseless rigidity, your failure to see beyond prize money, you could not help when the time came.' He swung round again, his voice harsh.' Well, the Frenchman is taken0 What d'you want now, a bloody knighthood?'
Surprisingly, Colquhoun's voice was very low, and as he spoke he kept his eyes on some point away from Bolitho?
'I will ignore your outburst.' He paused.' Ah, I remember now, you have young Fowler aboard. It would have done no good to lose him in battle.' He was speaking more quickly, the disjointed sentences falling from his lips in time with his thoughts.' The admiral will expect a full report. I shall.?
Bolitho watched him, sickened.' I have the written orders you originally gave me. The ones which were to send me as far from the point of attack as you could invent.' Despite Colquhoun's pathetic explanations and excuses he forced himself to go on.' If I had obeyed them, or the wind had remained constants Fawn would still have perished. What would you have done then? Sent the little Lucifer maybe?'
Colquhoun walked to his desk and pulled a decanter from its rack. Some of the brandy slopped over his hand but he did not seem to notice it?
'I received orders some while back. When we had run the French flute to ground, or given up the search, we are ordered to proceed to New York. The flotilla is to be reduced.' He swallowed half a glass of brandy and had to fight to regain his breath.' Bacchante will be returned to fleet duties.'
Bolitho stared at him. Any compassion or pity he might have harboured behind his anger was gone with that admission?
In a low tone he asked, 'All this while, and you knew we were to go to New York?' He listened to his own voice, wondering how he could sound so calm.' You thought it was a last chance to prove yourself. A great show of victory, with you entering port, a fine fat prize under your colours! Yet because of your greed you could not see the real danger, and Fawn has paid dearly for your ignorance!'
Colquhoun lifted his eyes and watched him desperately?
'In New York things might seem different? Remember, I was the one who helped you…' He broke off and swallowed another drink.' I needed that prize! I've earned it!'
Bolitho moved towards the door, keeping his eyes on Colquhoun's quivering shoulders?
He said, 'I sent Fawn's remaining lieutenant to take charge of the flute. Surrender was arranged by Lieutenant Heyward.' He made himself keep to the details, if only to stop Colquhoun from pleading.' The French ship'll not be much use again. I suggest you send your marines to take charge and await the military, who'll wish to escort the prisoners elsewhere.'
Colquhoun leaned against the stern windows, his voice muffled by the sounds of sea and rudder?
'It will mean a court martial.' His shoulders stiffened? 'You will be ordered to attend.'
Bolitho nodded.' It would seem so.'
Colquhoun waved one hand towards the cabin without turning?
'All this gone. In just a moment of bad circumstances. Fate.'
'Maulby probably thought that, too.' Bolitho rested his fingers on the door?
Colquhoun pushed himself from the windows and lurched across the cabin?
'So you've won in the end, eh?' His voice cracked? 'You and your bloody Sparrow!'
Bolitho saw the man's anguish and answered, 'Three years ago when I was given Sparrow I thought command was everything, all a man could desire. Then maybe I would have agreed with your decisions, no matter what they entailed. Now I know better, perhaps after all, thanks to you. Command is one thing. But responsibility, the duty to those who depend on you, is the greater burden. We must share the guilt for Maulby's death.' He saw Colquhoun staring at him incredulously but continued, 'Your folly blinded you to everything but future advancement. My crime was pride. A pride which goaded the enemy into laying a snare for me, and one which cost Fawn's people dearly.' He opened the door.' I hope I never forget it? Nor you.'
He walked quickly to the quarterdeck and heard the door slam behind him, the slap of a musket as the sentry returned to a more relaxed stance?
By the gangway he found the first lieutenant waiting for him. Across the heaving water, its crests and troughs already painted with shadows, he saw Sparrow swaying unsteadily against the first pale stars? A lantern gleamed from her taffrail, and he thought he saw the splash of oars to mark where Stockdale held the gig in readiness. He could have waited in vain? Colquhoun might have made one last gesture ba
throwing him under arrest for his outburst. That he had not was proof enough of his true guilt?
More, that Colquhoun was well aware of what he had done?
He said, 'We are to rejoin the Flag at New York.'
The lieutenant watched the gig bobbing towards the side and replied sadly, 'I'll not be sorry to quit this place.'
Bolitho sighed.' Aye. A defeat is a bad business? But a victory can often bring the greater pain.'
The lieutenant watched him climb into the gig and pull clear?
So young, yet with so much responsibility. Not for me. Even as the thought crossed his mind he knew it was a lie, and upon looking round the darkening deck he wondered if Colquhoun's error had brought him any nearer to his own promotion?
13. The Better Epitaph
ALMOST immediately after dropping anchor at Sanda Hook, Sparrow and her company were thrown into the urgent work of a short but well-deserved overhaul? Under the wintry eye of a senior dockyard officer the ship was careened and the thick growth of weed cut and cleaned from her hull. Bolitho was able to send Lock ashore, and with more careful bribes obtained fresh provisions as well as replacements for some ob the fouler casks of beef and pork?
In the midst of all this activity, which continued from dawn to dusk, he was occasionally visited by a scholarly lieutenant of the Commander-in-Chief's staff? He took statements from Bolitho and Tyrrell and compared them with notations in the log at the time ob Fawn's destruction, as well as those leading up to the actual attack. Buckle was required to display and explain each section of the charts used, and was instantly reduced to mumbling confusion under the lieutenant's skilful examination. But as one day followed the next, and Sparrow regained her original trim appearance, the bitter memories of Fawn's loss, even the display of hot anger in Colquhoun's cabins became blurred, if riot erased from Bolitho's mind?
He had been kept continuously busy with the affairs of his ship, never knowing for sure when his next orders would arrive, and had spent any spare moments studying the wider aspects of the war on land. When the summons to appear at a court martial was delivered to him, it came as something like a shock?
