had been carrying it over his arm while they were examining the chart and comparing notes with the sailing master.
Beneath his own coat his body felt hot and clammy. He glanced down at his gold lace. A ready target for any marksman, they said. Was that what Bethune thought?
Somebody said, 'Wind's easin' off, sir.'
He heard Stirling 's blunt response. 'It's the land. Look at the pendant, man! '
Adam trained the glass once more. The others were turning now across Athena's jib boom, sails rippling in confusion as they headed toward the final approach.
There was more gunfire, a different bearing this time. The masthead lookouts would be reporting any change of play as soon as they saw anything.
He turned his head slightly and heard more shots, heavier this time. If any fell near the Villa de Bilbao they would know that the ruse had failed. He felt his jaw tighten as what seemed tiny feathers of spray floated past Audacity's stern. Close to, they would be bursting columns as tall as the frigate's counter.
He touched his coat again and saw the shop in his mind, and the boy's surprise, his pleasure.
He shifted the glass very slightly on the hammocks, and could almost feel Vincent's irritation.
He forced himself to remain quite still, moving the glass only slightly when the hull dipped over toward the brightening water.
He remembered it suddenly, as if some one had spoken of it to remind him. When he had been a child, so young he could not put a date or time to it.
He had been lying in some long grass, and his mother had been with him. There had been a line of tall trees along the edge of a nearby farm where he had sometimes done little jobs to earn some money, or be allowed to ride in one of the wagons with their huge horses.
He had seen some small clouds rising and twisting above those same trees. Up and down, never getting any closer. Somebody had laughed at his anxious questions, and then his mother had said, 'It's the time of year, Adam they are only insects. Thousands of them. You mustn't worry so much! '
He spoke over his shoulder. 'Fetch the first lieutenant, Mr. Vincent.'
He wanted to control the rasp in his voice. 'Jump to it! '
Not insects this time. He lowered the telescope and dabbed his eye with his wrist. They were tiny balls of smoke. He could imagine the urgency, the crude bellows, the fuel in the ovens changing from red to white around the shot for those hidden guns.
'Take care, David.' He had spoken aloud. 'For God's sake, be careful! '
'You called for me, sir?'
Adam clambered down to the deck and saw Stirling 's eyes move briefly to the stains on his breeches.
'They're heating shot. They must have sighted us earlier than we thought.'
Stirling almost shrugged. 'Or been warned, sir.'
Adam swung round as a seaman shouted, 'Audacity's been hit! ' He was shaking his fist in the air, as if he could see every detail.
Adam raised the heavy telescope again and watched as Audacity's fore topmast tilted toward her bows, and then, as the rigging snapped, gathered speed down and over the side like a broken wing.
At best it would slow her down. At worst… In his mind he could still see the clouds of insects above the line of trees.
He said, 'We must signal Audacity to withdraw, Sir Graham. They're heating shot at this moment.' He saw Bethune's face and knew it was pointless.
Bethune brushed something from his heavy riding coat.
'They would know at once what we are doing. The Villa de Bilbao would have no time to come about. No chance at all! '
Troubridge said something but Adam did not hear what it was, only Bethune's sharp reply. 'When I say so and not before! '
Adam shaded his eyes and watched the Audacity, shortening once more as she tacked past an out thrust shoulder of rocks. There were more shots, but no sign of another hit or near miss. But once in the wider part of the channel she would be within range of the main battery. He did not trust himself to look at Bethune. It was his decision; his word would be upheld. It was his responsibility. He looked again at the frigate, smaller now as she sailed into the span of the channel. And it was my suggestion.
Bethune said, 'You may load and run out, Captain Bolitho. Make a signal to Hostile. Prepare for battle.'
The halliards squeaked again and the signal broke from the yard. As planned.
Adam walked to the quarterdeck rail, his hands clenched beneath his coat.
He heard the sullen bang of a heavier weapon and saw the land slowly falling back to reveal the bay and the anchorage, still partly covered in mist. Or smoke.
He watched Audacity's shape lengthening again, her graceful line marred by the missing topmast. Men would be up forward, hacking the mast and cordage away, and the sodden canvas, too, before it acted like a sea anchor and dragged the hull round and across those guns.
Captain Munro would know and maybe blame himself.
The guns fired together. It was already too late.
17. The Reckoning
Vice-Admiral Sir Graham Bethune walked to the companion ladder and shaded his eyes to stare at the land. The rugged hills were touched with a bright copper glow, like the sea. He groped for one of the guns to steady himself as the deck tilted and the helm went over. The metal was no longer cold. It might have just been fired.
The lookout's voice pealed out again.
'One ship under way, sir! '
Bethune snapped, 'Find out what the fool has seen, will you?'
Adam called, 'Go aloft, Mr. Evelyn, and take a glass.'
It was hard to keep his tone level and unhurried.
Evelyn was the sixth lieutenant, Athena's most junior officer. But there was nothing wrong with his sharp intelligence or his eyesight.
A vessel big enough for the lookout to see at this distance could mean one thing only. The alarm had gone out. Any experienced slaver would rather risk a clash with the ships converging on the bay than meekly surrender. Once in open water there was always a chance of escape.
He forced himself to remain calm. In control. He had even remembered the lieutenant's name.
Evelyn must have chased up the ratlines like a monkey. His voice carried easily above the wind and sea.
Two ships making sail, sir! ' A brief pause, probably to discuss it with the lookout. One of Stirling 's best, whatever Bethune thought.
He watched a tiny hump of land far across the starboard bow. Like a basking whale. But too dangerous to ignore.
He breathed out slowly as one of the leads men in the chains began to heave his line up and over his head, as if he were oblivious to the ship at his back and everything else.
The heavy lead soared away and splashed into the water well ahead of Athena's massive bows.
Aft came the cry: 'No bottom, sir! '
Adam had taken chances in the past, and could admit it. He had seen his ship's entire shadow on the seabed once, and known he had been within a fathom of losing his command, and his life.
The leadsman was already coiling his line, his fingers automatically feeling and separating the distinguishing marks of leather, knots and bunting. An experienced leadsman could tell one from another in his sleep.
'Deck, there! ' Evelyn again, his voice shrill with effort. One of the gun's crew nearby grinned at his mate.
Adam waited, thankful that sailors could still share a private joke, danger or not.
Evelyn shouted, 'One small vessel, sir. The first one is a barque! '
Bethune dabbed his mouth with a handkerchief. 'They'll all be scattering if we let 'em! '
