hardly be what the governor would be expecting. But, as in leaving the family sword aboard, he was taking no chances. If things went badly wrong, Keen would need every experienced officer and sailor he could lay hands on.
As the barge dipped into the inshore swell Bolitho heard a clink of metal and realized that cutlasses and pistols were stacked beneath each thwart within easy reach.
He looked up at Allday's impassive features and for a moment their eyes met.
It did not need words, he thought. Allday had made plans all of his own.
The lieutenant said nervously, 'There is the other island, sir.'
Bolitho shaded his eyes and studied the humpbacked islet. It was treeless but with plenty of vegetation around the stone-built mission and outhouses. There was a strip of white beach, and he saw some boats pulled up clear of the surf. Monks, priests or whatever they were, they had to fish and cultivate their land as well as pray, he thought.
He turned his attention to the boom. Lighters and old hulks had been moored in the middle of the entrance, the channel which Achates and any ship of her size would have to use. He looked up at the fortress. Bigger than he had expected, with a sheer drop on the seaward side, impossible to scale, and impervious to twenty-four- pounders.
He could see pale houses on the far side of the harbour. He smiled wryly. Georgetown, Rivers' little kingdom. There were several craft at anchor, mostly traders and fishing boats.
Allday said between his teeth, 'Armed men on the boom, sir.'
Bolitho nodded. 'Steer for the starboard side of the entrance.'
He turned briefly to look for the ship but she had been shut off by the spur of headland. Only Achates' mastheads and topgallant yards showed above the land as if they had been planted there.
Beside him Evans shifted on his thwart and his fingers locked suddenly around his dirk. Like taking a needle to stop a charging bull, Bolitho thought.
He said, 'I brought you with me in case you should remember something.'
The boy looked at him and replied quietly, 'I know, sir.' His gaze shifted beyond the makeshift boom to the centre of the harbour but he said nothing further.
Bolitho guessed that Evans was seeing his ship Sparrowhawk lying there under the guns of the fortress. A King's ship, his home, the start of a career, friends like the other midshipman who had been shot down. But something, anything, might jar his memory. They did not have much else to go on.
Allday tensed at the sharp bang of a musket, and Bolitho saw a ball skip across the water like a fish before dropping abeam.
He said, 'Hold the stroke. Keep pulling.'
His calm tone steadied the bargemen who, with their backs towards the boom, must be expecting the next shot to hit them.
Bolitho squared his shoulders. His cocked hat and bright epaulettes would make a fine marker for any sharpshooter, he thought.
But there were no more shots, and as the barge thrust past the end of the boom he saw groups of men peering at them. All were armed, and one shook his musket threateningly at the grim-faced sailors.
There was no turning back now. No escape.
Bolitho watched a cluster of figures on a jetty below the fortress. It suddenly seemed a long, long way from Sir Hayward Sheaffe's quiet office in the Admiralty where this precise moment had been predicted.
Bolitho was not sure what he had been expecting in San Felipe's governor, but Sir Humphrey Rivers was not it. He was tall, heavily built to a point of grossness, his face very red from both climate and drink, Bolitho thought. But he greeted Bolitho with a jovial, expansive grin and ushered him straight into the cool shadows of the fortress.
As he led the way through a studded door and into a corridor which had been transformed by rugs and several paintings, Rivers said over his shoulder, 'Later I hope you will visit my house. But I guessed you would be eager to settle matters, eh?'
Bolitho saw another door open, a bewigged negro footman giving a bow as they passed him.
Rivers mopped his face with a silk handkerchief and eyed Lieutenant Trevenen and the small midshipman with some amusement.
'By God, Bolitho, do you have a company of boys to do the Admiralty's bidding?'
He snapped his fingers and another footman stepped noiselessly forward with a tray of goblets.
Rivers gave a dry smile. 'Maybe your young companions would care to withdraw?'
'I agree.' There was no point in involving the others.
Then Bolitho said, 'You know why I am here, Sir Humphrey?'
Rivers settled his bulk on a chair and examined his goblet critically.
'Of course. Everyone does. Equally, you know what I think about it?' He chuckled and drank deeply. 'I apologize for the inconvenience of the boom but it is necessary.' He seemed to remember that Masters had not returned with Bolitho and asked abruptly, 'Where's my captain of militia?'
'On board Achates, Sir Humphrey.'
'I see.' He lowered the goblet to be refilled. 'The signs are that the wind is getting up. You will know from your own experience in these waters that it can be savage even at this time of year. It would not do to let your, er, flagship remain so close inshore under such circumstances.'
Bolitho sipped the wine. It was strange he could feel so calm. Rivers had thought of everything. Where a ship would have to stand off if the harbour remained closed.
Rivers was watching him intently. 'Let's face facts. Your ship cannot stay there indefinitely. Soon you will have to weigh. You can ration water until the people are ripe for mutiny, you can even wait for assistance which may never arrive. Or you can draw up a fresh agreement here and now. I will remain as governor with total responsibility for the island's betterment and defence.'
And profit, Bolitho thought.
Rivers stood up with some difficulty and walked to a window.
'This place is impregnable. You must know that. The Americans will help me if need be. I'll not have the Frogs hoisting their colours here. I told your impertinent frigate captain as much.'
'The Sparrowhauk was sunk soon after she left here.'
He watched Rivers' florid face and knew it was a complete surprise to him.
Sunk? What are you saying?'
'She was attacked by a larger man-of-war, blown to hell without a challenge or chance to defend herself. So you see, Sir Humphrey, there are those other than the French who are interested in the island's future.'
Rivers tossed back the wine and turned away to hide his confusion.
'I don't believe it. Probably a pirate, the waters are full of them. With the King's Navy cut to the bone, it's hardly surprising.'
'I want to show you something.' Rivers almost threw down the empty goblet and strode panting to another door at the far end of the chamber. A footman darted ahead of him like a pilot-fish to open it.
Beyond the door the rugs and comfortable chairs were gone. A long embrasured stone wall and a line of heavy artillery looked across the water. Rivers' authority.
Rivers strode to the end cannon and laid one hand on its rounded cascabel with something like affection.
'Here, take a look, Bolitho.'
He stood aside and Bolitho could feel his sense of power. He was filled suddenly with loathing for this man who cared nothing for Duncan or anyone else.
He stooped and peered along the black barrel and saw that the gun was laid on a line of mooring buoys. Tied to one of them was his barge. He could even see Allday standing to shade his eyes and peer at the fortress.
Rivers added smoothly, 'Sparrowhawk was there. I could have sunk her just as easily as I can that boat of yours.'
Bolitho stood up and eyed him calmly. 'You were a flag-officer yourself, Sir Humphrey. You know the Navy would never rest -
Rivers snorted. 'There would be no choice. To suffer great losses to aid the French? Even Parliament would not be that stupid!'
Bolitho glanced across the anchorage again. The water was ruffled like beaten pewter. The wind was rising
