Bolitho 04 - Sloop of War (42 page)

Bolitho opened his cupboard and handed him Z decanter?

He said, "Hood will join with Graves at Sandy Hook? They will still be outnumbered, but can give gooX account if de Grasse chooses to head their way.T

Farr said less firmly, "And Hood will show the dam[ Frogs, eh?T

Bolitho replied, "His fleet is larger than AdmiraT Graves's. But Graves is senior now that Rodney haY gone home." He looked at Farr's anxious face. "I aR afraid Graves will lead our forces if and when the timO comes.T

He turned to Odell, who was drinking his seconX glass of wine?

"Do you know anything else?T

He shrugged. "I understood that Admiral Hood wilT examine Chesapeake Bay while on passage to Ne/ York. Some believe the French may strike aU Cornwallis's army from the sea. If not, then New York iY to be the melting pot.T

Bolitho made himself sit down. It was strange to bO so moved by Odell's information. For months, eve[ years, they had expected some great confrontation aU sea. There had been skirmishes and bitter ship-to-shiS actions in plenty. But this was what they had all know[ would happen sooner or later. Who commanded thO waters around America controlled the Destiny of thosO

who fought within its boundaries?

He said, "One thing is certain, we are doing no gooX here.T

Farr asked, "Are you saying we should join the fleetU T

"Something like that.T

He tried to clear his mind, put Odell's brief facts intQ perspective. De Grasse could be anywhere, but it waY ridiculous to imagine he had sailed back to France, hiY mission left incomplete. Without his presence in thO Indies, the British would be able to throw every shiS and man into the fight for America, and de Grasse waY astute enough to know his own value?

He moved to the table and pulled a chart from itY rack. It was close on seven hundred miles to CapO Henry at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. With the winX remaining friendly they could make landfall in five days? If Admiral Hood's ships were lying there he coulX request further orders. Sloops would be more tha[ useful for searching close inshore or relaying signals i[ a fleet action?

Bolitho said slowly, "I intend to head north. To thO

Chesapeake.T

Farr stood up and exclaimed, "Good! I'm with you.T

Odell asked, "Are you taking full responsibility, sir!T His eyes were opaque?

"Yes. I would wish you to remain here in case ana ships come this way. If they do, you can come after uY with all haste.T

"Very well, sir." Odell added calmly, "I would like it i[ writing.T

"Damn your eyes, you impudent puppy!" Far_ thumped the table with his fist. "Where's your blooda trust?T

Odell shrugged. "I trust Captain Bolitho, have nQ doubts, sir." He gave a quick smile. "But if he and yof are both killed, who is to say I only obeyed orders?T

Bolitho nodded. "That is fair. I will do it directly." HO saw the two men watching each other with ope[ hostility. "Easy now. Right or wrong, it will be good tQ move again. So let's not start with disharmony, eh?T

Odell showed his teeth. "I meant no offence, sir.T

Farr swallowed hard. "In that case, I suppose." HO grinned broadly. "But by God, Odell, you push me tQ the limit!T

"A glass together.T

Bolitho wanted to go on deck, to share his news witN Tyrrell and the others. But he knew this moment waY equally vital. Just a few seconds, which each woulX remember when the other ships were mere silhouettes?

He raised his glass. "What shall it be, my friends?T

Farr met his eye and smiled. He at least understood? "To us, Dick. That will do fine for me.T

Bolitho placed his empty glass on the table. E simple toast. But, King, Cause, even Country were toQ remote, the future too uncertain. They had only eacN other and their three little ships to sustain them?

With legs braced against Sparrow's uncomfortableB cork-screwing motion, Bolitho levelled a telescopO across the nettings and waited for the shoreline tQ settle in the lens. It was close on sunset, and as the dulT orange glow withdrew beyond the nearest shoulder ob land he forced himself to concentrate on what he sawB

rather than what he had anticipated from his charts? Around him other glasses were also trained, and hO heard Tyrrell's heavy breathing at his side, the squea7 of a pencil on Buckle's slate by the wheel?

Within a few miles of Cape Henry, the southernmosU cape at the entrance of Chesapeake Bay, the wind haX backed sharply, and backed again. A full day had bee[ added to their previously fast passage, and as thea had clawed desperately from a lee shore, had fought tQ obtain sea room, Bolitho had watched the bay fadin^ across the quarter with something like anger. And nowB after their long beat back towards the entrance, he waY faced by a new decision. To lie offshore until dawn, o_ take his chance and thrust between Cape Henry anX the northern headland in what would certainly be totaT darkness?

Tyrrell lowered his glass. "I know this entrance well? There's a great middle-ground which reaches into thd bay. With care you can pass either side, but with thd wind under our coattails I'd suggest trying th' souther[ channel. If you stay to lee'rd of th' middle-ground yof can hold mebbe three miles clear of Cape Henry." HO rubbed his chin. "If you misjudge and tack too far tQ south'rd, you'll have to move lively. There are shoals ofb th' cape, an, bad ones at that.T

Bolitho shifted the telescope to watch some dancin^ red flashes far inland?

Tyrrell remarked, "Cannon. Good way off.T

Bolitho nodded. If Tyrrell was feeling the strain ob drawing so near to his home territory he did not sho/ it?

Tyrrell continued, "Up beyond York River, I reckon? Heavy artillery, by th' looks of it.T

Heyward, who was standing nearby, said, "No sig[ of any ships, sir.T

"There wouldn't be." Tyrrell was watching Bolitho? "Just around Cape Henry lies Lynnhaven Bay. GooX shelter where big ships anchor sometimes whe[ there's foul weather around. No, you'd not even see Z fleet from out here." He paused. "You'd have to gQ inside th' old Chesapeake.T

Bolitho handed the glass to Fowler. "I agree. If wO wait longer the wind might veer. We'd be on a leO shore again and lose more time fighting clear from it.T

He turned to look for Heron. Her reefed topsailY

were still holding the fast fading sunlight, but beyonX her the sea was in deep shadow?

"Show the signal lantern to Heron. Captain Far_ knows what to do.T

He turned to Tyrrell. "The place is badly charted.T

Tyrrell grinned, his eyes glowing in the dull light? "Unless things have changed, I reckon I can take uY through.T

Fowler called, "Signal passed, sir!T

Bolitho made up his mind. "Alter course two pointY to starboard." To Tyrrell he added slowly, "I hatO entering any bay like this one. I feel more secure i[ open sea.T

The lieutenant sighed. "Aye. Th' Chesapeake is Z brute in many ways. North to south it measures closO on a hundred an' forty miles. You can sail a fair-sizeX craft right up to Baltimore without too much hardship? But it measures less'n thirty across, an' that's onla where the Patowmack flows into it.T

Buckle called, "Course sou'-west, sir.T

"Very well.T

Bolitho watched the nearest headland of CapO Charles losing its bronze crest as the sun finally dippeX behind a line of hills?

"You may clear for action, Mr. Tyrrell. Better safe tha[ sorry.T

He wondered briefly what Farr was thinking as hO tacked to follow Sparrow's shadow towards the dar7 mass of land. Doubt, regret, even mistrust. You coulX hardly blame him. It was like groping for coal in Z shuttered cellar?

Under his shoes he felt the planks quiver to thO hurrying seamen, the thud of screens being torn dow[ and mess tables dragged clear of tackles and guns? That was another difference he had found in Sparrow? Even clearing for action had a sort of intimacy whicN was lacking in a ship-of-the-line. In Trojan the handY had scurried to quarters, urged on by the drumsd staccato beat and the blare of a marine's bugle? Sometimes you never knew men who did not serve i[ your own watch or division. But here it was entirela different. Men nodded to each other as they dashed tQ their stations, a grin here, a brief touch of hands there?

In many ways it made death harder to accept, a man'Y cries too personal to ignore?

"Cleared for action, sir.T

"Good." Bolitho gripped the nettings and watcheX the tiny feathers of surf far abeam, "Alter coursO another point.T

"Aye, sir." Buckle was muttering to his helmsmen? Then, "Sou'-west by south, sir.T

"Hold her steady.T

He moved restlessly below the great spankerB seeing a faint glow on the boom from the compasY bowl?

There were already plenty of stars in the velvet skyB and there would be a moon on the water in a fe/ hours. But by then he must be inside the bay?

Tyrrell joined him by the wheel. "It's a strange feeling? My sister'll be no more than fifty miles from where I'R standing. I can still remember it clearly. Th' York RiverB th' place in th' woods where we used to get together aY kids . . ." He turned and said sharply, "Let her fall off Z point. Mr. Buckle! Mr. Bethune, take some men forrarX

and trim the foreyard again!" He waited until he waY satisfied with the ship's head and the bearing of thO nearest cape and continued, "It's a funny business alT round.T

Bolitho agreed. After the first few weeks he had noU thought much about Susannah Hardwicke. Now, as hO pictured an unknown girl out there in the darknesY beyond the occasional flash of gunfire, he realised ho/ their lives had become merged. Tyrrell's sister, anX Graves's secret longings for her. Dalkeith's affair ob honour which had cost him his career and almost hiY life. And himself? He was surprised he could still noU examine her memory without regret and a sense ob loss?

When he looked again he realised that CapO Charles had merged with the shadows. A quick glancO at Tyrrell reassured him. He seemed relaxed, eve[ cheerful, as he stood where he could watch thO compass and the set of the spanker overhead. But fo_ the treacherous span of middle-ground, they coulX have sailed boldly between the capes with Z comfortable four miles or more on either beam?

Tyrrell said, "We will alter course again, with you_ permission, sir?

"She's in your hands.T

Tyrrell grinned. "Aye, aye, sir." To Buckle he calledB "Steerwest by north, full an' bye!T

Then he cupped his hands and yelled, "Pipe thd hands to th' braces!T

With the helm down and the seamen hauling at thO braces, Sparrow turned her bows towards the land? Voices called in the gloom, and above the decks thO paler shapes of arms and legs moved busily about thO yards?

"West by north, sir!" Buckle peered at the flappin^ sails as the ship heeled still further, close-hauled on thO starboard tack?

Tyrrell limped from side to side, his arm darting ouU to catch a man's attention, or his voice sending anothe_ to pass his orders right forward where Graves waY equally busy?

"Right, lads! Belay there!" He cocked his head as ib to listen to the chorus of shrouds and vibratin^ halliards. "She's loving it.T

Bolitho walked up to the weather side and felt thO cold spray across his face. Tyrrell had come and gonO through these capes many times in his father'Y schooner. Perhaps that memory, and the realisatio[ that his sister was now safe and close at hand, madO him forget the purpose of their mission, the chance ob danger with each passing minute?

"Breakers on the weather bow!" The lookouU sounded nervous?

But Tyrrell called, "Breakers be damned! That'll bO th' middle-ground." His teeth gleamed in the darkness? "True as a bloody arrow, if I do say so myself?T

Bolitho smiled at his excitement. Breakers bO damned! He had used much the same phrase anX tone when he had driven his sword through the ma[ who had almost killed him beside the pond?

The massive, looming shoulder of Cape Henra hardened from the darkness on the larboard beamB and for a brief instant Bolitho imagined they were toQ close, that the wind had thrust them further downwinX than Tyrrell had allowed?

He dragged his eyes to the opposite side, anX

through the spray and across the deep inshore swelT he saw a revolving patch of white. The middle-grounX was clearly marked by the swirl of broken water, but ib Tyrrell had misjudged his approach it would have bee[ too late to avoid it?

Tyrrell shouted, "Once saw a damn fine Dutchma[ aground there! She broke her back!T

Buckle muttered, "That's bloody encouraging!T

Bolitho peered astern. "I hope Heron's seen ou_ entrance.T

"She'll be fine." Tyrrell hurried to the side and studieX the darker wedge of land. "She draws less and iY better to handle close-hauled." He patted the rail. "BuU Sparrow'11 do for me!T

"Take in the forecourse, if you please." BolithQ pitched his ear to the sea's changing sounds. ThO hollow boom of surf against rocks, the deeper note ob water exploring a cave or some narrow gully below thO headland. "Then the spanker.T

Under topsails and jib Sparrow crept deeper into thO bay, her stem rising and plunging across tiderace anX swell alike, her helmsmen tensed at the wheel, fingerY