beak head and jib, but there was no room for doubt. He saw the glint of steel, and the tiny flash of a pistol or musket.
Perhaps the trader named Jacob was trying to get away, detach himself from any blame or retaliation.
He saw Stirling by the massive trunk of the mainmast, arms folded as he watched the guns, and the spread of pale canvas towering overhead. Two midshipmen waited with him, ready to pass a message or carry an order without losing a second. One of them could have been David.
A sharp glance aft and he saw Bethune standing by some nettings, Troubridge beside him.
Adam watched the land again, a small, rounded hill with an isolated clump of trees straying down one side, like scattered fugitives.
He cupped one hand to his mouth. There was no point in reporting to Bethune what he must already know. He who will not risk. He shut his mind to it.
'Open the ports to starboard! ' He made himself count the seconds as the port lids squeaked open from bow to stern along both gun decks.
Where he had walked with Jago, and had spoken with these same men, and the one who came from Helston, from 'God's county'. And they had cheered him.
Only hours ago. This very day.
The ports on the lee side would remain closed until it was time to bring the other broadside to bear.
He looked up and into the bay. If they ever reached that far.
Midshipman Manners shouted, 'Listen! Listen, sir! ' His youthful face was filled with disbelief. He took off his hat and waved it with wild excitement. 'Huzza! Huzza! '
Vincent snapped, 'Silence on deck there! ' But even he seemed at a loss.
Adam heard it. Faint at first, then carried on the offshore breeze it blended into a wave of cheering.
Dugald Fraser said, 'Cheerin' MS! And I thought I'd seen all there was to see! '
Adam swallowed hard and saw some of the small figures in the water twisting round to watch Athena's slow approach. Maybe the first time any of them had found time to look for her.
He said, 'Run out, Mr. Stirling! '
The decks quivered as every gun squeaked up to its open port, men throwing all their strength and weight on the tackles to haul their massive charges into the sunlight.
Adam leaned on the quarterdeck rail, although he did not recall having moved. He did not need a glass. Here was the headland, the white buildings he had seen through the signals telescope, drifting smoke in blotches against the sky, insects no longer. A brief glance at the tilting compass card, seeing the helmsman's fist opening and closing around a spoke, as if beating time to something.
He heard a shot, perhaps two, and looked up as a ball punched a hole through the main topgallant sail.
He saw Stirling 's arm shoot out, like a man controlling an excited horse. 'Steady, lads! ' His eyes must have moved along every gun, while down in the semi-darkness of the lower gun deck they would all be listening, waiting for the signal from aft.
Adam stared at the land again and felt the silence like something physical.
'On the uprolir There was no sense in calling a target. At this range they could not miss.
He felt the deck tilt as the wind refilled the sails and pictured Athena'?, double line of teeth lifting to maximum elevation.
'Fire! '
The effect was devastating as every gun along the ship's starboard side roared out as one, each hurling itself inboard on its tackles, the crews yelling and gasping as smoke funnelled through the open ports. Dazed by the tremendous broadside, men were already sponging out and preparing to reload even before the combined thunder had died, and still the echo thrown from the land lingered above and around them. Adam held his hand across his mouth, his mind blurred by the power of the guns. It was as if Athena lay side by side with an enemy in some invisible line of battle, while below decks in the gloom and whirling smoke it must have felt as if the ship had run aground.
He peered up at the sails and to the masthead pendant, still whipping out toward the larboard bow, when all else was partly hidden by smoke.
He saw gun captains standing by their crews, one fist and then another raised and ready. It was as if everything else was moving, while Athena remained as before.
The big barque which had been the first one to make sail lay across the larboard bow, on a converging tack, desperate now to clear the headland and reach open water.
He held up his arm and saw Stirling acknowledge him. Men, their bodies shining with sweat, were running across to await the next command.
'Open the ports! '
Stirling swung round as the forgotten leadsman shouted, 'By th' mark five! ' Just thirty feet under the keel. Adam found a second to wonder how the seaman could think and concentrate on the line snaking through his fingers while the ship, his world, reeled about him.
'Run out! ' Easier for the depleted crews as the deck heeled in their favour to another flurry of wind.
Adam took a telescope from a master's mate and trained it abeam. One of the long buildings and a crude- looking pier had taken most of the broadside, and one entire wall had collapsed in the old fortifications, leaving a gap like missing teeth.
He saw Fitzroy, the fourth lieutenant, walking unhurriedly along the eighteen pounders under his charge. He might have been alone in a country lane.
'As you bear! Lay for the foremast! On the up roll
Just seconds. To some an eternity; then, 'Fire! '
The water was hidden by smoke, the air cringing to the irregular crash of shot as each gun captain gauged the moment before jerking his firing lanyard.
The barque had been badly hit, and her fore and main topmasts seemed to bow to each other as the double- shot ted broadside smashed through them.
Some one yelled out, 'Not just slaves this time, you bastard! '
As if he saw only a single enemy. Perhaps he was right.
Adam gripped the rail as he felt the deck jerk under his feet.
And then another, deep in the lower hull. Heated shot or not; they would soon know.
He tried to keep his mind clear of everything but the shifting panorama across and beyond Athena's beak head with Bethune's flag casting a shadow above the taut jib.
The pumps were going, and there was water in every kind of cask if the worst happened.
A flurry of shots, from the barque or one of the drifting boats nearby. A seaman running to join the boatswain's men at the braces seemed to falter, and look around as if something had caught his attention. Then he fell, his face shot away.
Another figure ran toward him but stopped when a petty officer shouted to him.
Clough, Athena's carpenter, was hurrying forward with his own crew, his face intent, the true professional. Few ever considered that when a King's ship left port, her carpenter had to be ready for anything from repairing, even building some kind of boat, to dealing with every seam and plank above or below deck.
A hand seized his arm, and for an instant Adam believed he had been hit by some invisible marksman.
But it was Bethune, staring through the drifting smoke, his eyes reddened by strain and something more. Desperation.
'Yonder, Adam is that the schooner?'
Adam heard some one cry out, and saw two marines dragging a limp figure clear of the starboard gangway.
He saw the little schooner, some boats apparently trying to grapple alongside. Two other boats were moving toward her, the oars rising and falling like wings, the best Jago could get at such short notice. Adam licked his lips, recalling his curt order.
Boat action. All Jago would need. And for what?
'Aye, sir. She's out of command.' He stared at the land again, measuring it. Watching the changing colours in the bay, very aware of Fraser and his mates, and Stirling 's motionless figure by the guns.
And all the others he could not see, who obeyed because they had no choice. Because there was none.
