Herrick dashed the spray from his eyes and yelled, 'Is there more misfortune in St. Clar, sir?'
Bolitho felt the deck buck beneath his straddled legs. The old ship was taking it hard. He could hear the spars and stays squealing from the imposed strain, but as more and more canvas billowed and filled above the hull he shut their protests from his mind.
'I fear so, Thomas. It seems that the enemy are tightening their hold around the port.'
He walked to the weather rail before Herrick could ask him more. There was no point in telling him that -it now looked as if much of St. Clan's agony came from within. Herrick might resent being held at a distance, but if it came to a court martial he at least would be spared from involvement.
Gossett said, 'You'll not be wantin' the royals set, Mr. Herrick?'
Bolitho swung round. 'Well, I do, Mr. Gossett! You've boasted enough in the past about what this ship can do! Well, let me see you prove it'
Gossett opened his mouth as if to protest and then saw the set of Bolitho's shoulders and decided against it.
Herrick said, 'Pipe all hands again. And have the sailmaker standing by to replace any tom canvas.' He turned to watch Bolitho's figure striding back and forth across the tilting deck. He was soaked to the skin and his wounded arm, only recently freed from sutures and dressing, brushed against the nettings as he moved, yet he did not appear to notice it.
He carries us all, he thought. Worries for us at every turn, yet will let none of us help him.
He gripped the rail as a long roller lifted beneath the ship's quarter and roared hissing along either beam like breakers around a reef. The pumps were clanking louder than ever, and when he wiped his smarting eyes he saw that the yards were bending with the pressure and the belly of each straining sail looked as hard as beaten steel. But she was answering. God knows how, he wondered, but the old ship seems to understand Bolitho's urgency, when we do not.
It took another two frustrating days to reach St. Clar, with the ship clawing her way almost into the teeth of the wind, and no rest for anyone aboard. When the hands were not turned to trimming sails or working at the pumps they were faced by a mounting list of repairs to canvas and cordage, patching, and splicing as if their lives depended on it, which well they might. For as the wind howled against the straining sails and the Hyperion swayed over at a sickening angle with her lower gunports awash, Bolitho drove the ship without respite or concession. It was a contest between ship and captain, with the angry sea and wind common enemies to both.
Officers and seamen alike stopped watching the bending yards or listening to the agonised whine of rigging. It had gone beyond that. If they had the time or the strength to wonder at all they saved it for Bolitho as he handled his ship through one crisis after another, marvelling that he could go on with neither break nor sleep.
During the forenoon watch of the second day the Hyperion rounded the northern headland and tacked gratefully into the inlet. Any hope of a breathing space was instantly dashed by the scene which greeted her tired company, and there were a few anxious moments until the anchor splashed down in deep water just inside the arms of the entrance. Sheltered from the wind's full force it was easy to hear the threatening rumble of artillery and the occasional crash of falling masonry as a wellaimed ball found a target in the town itself.
Bolitho swung his glass across the inlet, seeing the great pall of smoke beyond the huddled houses, the savage scars and holes in many of the roof-tops. He had been made to anchor in deep water because the outer harbour was filled with other vessels, driven from the sheltered reaches and jetty by the searching cannon-fire. Tenacious and the Spanish Princesa were nearest the town, and two transports swung to their anchors with hardly enough room to prevent a collision in any unexpected change of wind. He closed his glass with a snap.
Driven out. Made to lie in the last available shelter in the face of the enemy. They could not withdraw any more. There was only the sea at their backs.
He said sharply, 'My barge! I am going to the admiral's headquarters!' He had already seen that the Tenacious was without Pomfret's flag.
Herrick hurried aft. 'Shall I come with you, sir?'
He shook his head. `You will remain in command until I return. Keep a careful watch on the cable. I don't want her to drag and run ashore to join her old enemy.' He stared bleakly at the Saphir's charred remains below the beacon. 'It seems as if we have arrived only to witness the final curtain!'
Bolitho watched Allday as he guided the men at the tackles and his barge swung outboard across the lee gangway. He said,. 'I will want-Mr Inch and twelve good men. Have them armed and properly turned out. Whatever the truth may be, I don't want our people to look like a lot of rabble.'
Gossett said to nobody in particular, 'I see that the transport Vanessa 'as sailed. She's well out of it, if you ask me!'
Bolitho allowed Gimlet to help him on with his coat. The Vanessa's departure was the only break in the clouds, he thought grimly. He had left Ashby instructions to make sure the girl was put aboard the first ship for England. He had given her money and a letter for his sister at Falmouth. Whenever Cheney Seton reached there she would be well looked after.
'Barge ready, sir!' Lieutenant Rooke was watching him closely. `It looks as if it was all wasted, doesn't it, sir?'
Bolitho pulled his hat firmly over his forehead and replied, 'A calculated risk is never a waste entirely, Mr. Rooke. As a card player you should understand that!'
Then he hurried, down to the barge where Inch and his landing party were already jammed together like herrings in a cask.
As the boat pulled steadily past the other ships Bolitho could see their seamen standing at the gangways, or squatting in the tops, watching the town in silence. They probably realised that their ships were quite helpless now. All they could do was watch and wait for.the certain finality of retreat.
Another boom had been rigged further up the harbour, but not to prevent ships from entering. Here and there along its length Bolitho saw the broken remains of shattered fishing boats and other small craft, some of which were burned beyond recognition. The boom was there to stop any such wreck from drifting down upon the anchored ships. In that crowded inlet any such fireship would turn them into a tangled inferno.
The bargemen pulled in silence, their eyes moving from side to side as some fresh evidence of disaster moved to meet them. The houses along the northern side of the harbour were worst hit, and more than one was burning fiercely, apparently untended, while others gaped open to the sky, deserted and forlorn in the drifting smoke. By the jetty were the remains of some more boats, and as he reached for the steps Bolitho caught sight of a white upturned face pinned below the clear water, the eyes still staring towards the land of the living.
He snapped, 'Allday, remain here with the crew! I am going into the town.' He loosened his sword at his hip as Inch formed his seamen into a double line on the jetty. 'There may be trouble, so be prepared!'
Allday nodded and drew his cutlass. 'Aye, aye, Captain.' He sniffed at the air like a dog. 'Just call if you need us!'
Bolitho strode quickly up the sloping road, the seamen hurrying close on his heels. It was far worse than he had believed possible. He saw figures crouching like animals in the ruins, unwilling or too frightened to leave the remains of their homes, and more than one corpse in the rubble, already forgotten in the confusion. Above the crackle of flames and the grumbling cannon-fire he heard the occasional shriek of a heavy ball, followed instantly by yet another thudding crash.
Inch panted beside him, the sweat already pouring from beneath his hat. 'Sounds like heavy ordnance, sir! The Frogs must be in the hills to the sou'-west for them to reach this far!' He winced as another crash splintered against a nearby house and brought down an avalanche of broken bricks and dust.