The shadow of the eagle

friendship and duty seem incompatible in the circumstances prevailing in a man-o'-war.'

'Dear me, I hope not,' replied Drinkwater, ruefully.

'Oh, I beg pardon, sir, I didn't mean ...' The tone of Frey's voice conveyed an embarrassment the darkness hid.

'Think nothing of it,' Drinkwater chuckled, adding more seriously, 'though I have to confess, Marlowe's change of heart seems almost miraculous.'

'That is what they are saying below decks.'

'I don't follow you.'

'That he was raised from the dead. They call him 'Lazarus' Marlowe.'

'Lazarus Marlowe ...?' Drinkwater tested the name and found himself grinning in the gloom.

'I'm afraid you are cast in a more divine role, sir.'

'You mean ... ? Well, 'pon my soul!'

'Seafaring folk have the oddest notions, don't they?'

'Aye, they most certainly do.'

'If I might change the subject, sir ...'

'Please do, Mr Frey. I am hard-pressed to find anything I can add in support of the Almighty'

'I'm sure He would be pleased to know that, sir,' Frey added drily, and Drinkwater could just see the smile on his face as the dawn light crept into the eastern sky. 'What I was going to ask, sir, if I might be presumptuous, is what you intend to do? I mean we have no idea of the whereabouts of Napoleon, do we?'

'No, I appreciate that, nor are we likely to learn. My principal, no my only concern, is to intercept and if necessary engage the two ships which have been sent from Antwerp to convey Boney and his staff to America. Anything more would be a gross presumption on my part, not something likely to endear me to Lord Castlereagh or any of his cronies.'

'D'you think we shall engage them?'

A horrible thought crossed Drinkwater's mind; was poor Frey a broken man after the terrible encounter with the enemy in the Vikkenfiord? 'Does it worry you, if it should come to that?'

'Not at all,' Frey answered without hesitation, 'in fact, I should welcome the event.'

'Not, I hope, because you entertain any foolish notions of covering yourself with ...'

'Death or glory,' broke in Frey with a short, dismissive laugh. 'No, no, nothing like that. To tell the truth, sir, I should think my active service career the more fulfilled if I had one more crack at the French; that damned affair in Norway was somehow unfinished business.'

'I understand. That is one of the reasons I will not send you out of the ship in any boat expedition, Frey. I want you aboard. All the time; at least until this business is concluded.'

'Thank you, sir.'

'If and when we do encounter the French ships I anticipate they will keep close company and try and overwhelm us. They may be full of soldiers, men willing to fight hand to hand, against which our people would prove inadequate.'

'You would want to hold off and manoeuvre to cripple them, and thereby induce a surrender?'

'Exactly. And while the sea conditions will be lively in these latitudes, and we may have trouble pointing the guns to good effect, the steady breeze should enable us to be nimble.'

'Providing their two against our single ship don't corner us like a dog'

'We shall have to see ...'

'Yes.'

It was getting rapidly lighter and already the details of the deck about them were emerging from the shadows of the night. Drinkwater began to feel the pangs of hunger stirring in his belly. He would welcome coffee and some hot, buttered toast. His teeth no longer pained him and the swollen gum had subsided so that the idea of masticating on a slice made his mouth water.

'Might I ask your advice about something?'

'Yes, of course.' Drinkwater thrust his self-indulgent day-dream aside. 'What is it?'

'I have given the matter much thought, sir, but I accept the fact that on our return we will be paid off and I am likely to be compelled to exist on half-pay'

'I shall do my best for you, Mr Frey' Drinkwater said. The consideration of another dependant loomed in his imagination, accompanied by the added thought that while some perverse chivalry prompted him to offer support to Hortense Santhonax, he felt a reprehensible resentment at the thought of doing the same for poor, loyal Frey.

'Oh, I know you will, sir, and please do not think I am asking for charity. On the contrary, I have some hopes of supporting myself if I must. No, I have been thinking of James Quilhampton's widow'

'Catriona ... ?' Drinkwater suppressed his surprise.

'I, er, think she might not be averse to accepting a proposal from me.'

'Pardon the question, Mr Frey, but are you attached to the lady?'

'I think she is fond of me, sir, and she has little means of support. She also has the child ...'

'Ah yes.'

'I felt ...'

'Of course. I understand, but a marriage based upon pity may not be for the best, Mr Frey. The lady is a little older than yourself,' Drinkwater said tactfully. 'That may make a difference in time, and while there may be no other person to claim your affections at the moment, should you be cast ashore upon your own resources, then you may meet someone other than Mistress Quilhampton for whom, without being ungallant, you may come to feel a greater attachment.'

'That is true, sir ...'

But Frey got no further, for the cry came down from the foretop that land was in sight.

An hour later two steep-sided islands were visible from the deck as the low sun struck their basalt cliffs, conferring upon them a warm, pink colour. To the north-west and perhaps two or three leagues nearer, lay the smaller island of Corvo, while farther off, fine on the port bow, rose Flores.

Drinkwater scrutinized the summit of the island, from which a stream of orographic cloud trailed downwind. Patiently he waited for Andromeda to draw near enough for them to see the shoreline, as yet still hidden below the horizon.

'A most appropriate place to cage an eagle,' Drinkwater remarked and Frey, catching the observation, aired a recondite fact: 'The archipelago is named Azores from the Portuguese agar, meaning a hawk.'

Among the watch on deck, an air of excitement and expectation animated the men. Word of an impending landfall and a proposed boat expedition had percolated through the ship and the sight of the island, even for those who would approach little closer, nor see more than could be discerned from the frigate's waist, was nevertheless sufficient to break the monotony of their arduous yet dull lives.

'You may close Flores, Mr Frey. We will bring-to off Santa Cruz. I shall want the launch ready then,' Drinkwater ordered, closing his glass with an emphatic snap. 'I am going below for an hour.'

'Aye, aye, sir.'

By the time the watch changed the entire island had risen above the rim of the world and the white breakers of the restless Atlantic could be seen fringing the scree-littered foreshore. Larval cliffs predominated, formed by prehistoric volcanic eruptions, no longer rose-red from the dawn, but grey and forbidding with fresh-water streams cascading into the sea in silver streaks. As they drew closer to Flores they could see clouds of wheeling sea-birds, gulls, petrels and auks, though the officers' glasses were focused not on these aerial denizens, but the few white buildings that formed the port of Santa Cruz. It was something of a disappointment.

'Stap me, but it don't amount to much,' remarked Hyde, voicing the opinion of them all.

Below, Drinkwater completed his preparations. Having washed, shaved and dressed his hair, he eased himself into his undress uniform coat and sat at his desk. Drawing a sheet of paper from his folio, he took up his steel pen, opened the inkwell, inscribed the date and began to write.

To the Governor of Flores,