He turned again, and looked out at the cheering seamen until in groups they went back to their stations and the guns.
Lieutenant Urquhart, his eyes blazing with excitement, said, "They'll follow you now, Sir Richard! "
Bolitho said nothing. Urquhart did not understand. None of them did. He had betrayed these same men as he had Jenour when he had forced him to take a command.
When he spoke once more he was surprised at the normality of his own voice.
"Very well, Captain, you may load, but do not run out." Trevenen touched his hat, his eyes red-rimmed with strain and despair. "And have other flags bent on, Mr. Avery. The Colours must be kept flying, no matter what! " Then he spoke again, although whether to himself or to Avery the flag lieutenant was never certain.
"To think that Captain Beere once knew my brother. I sometimes think I never knew him at all."
Bolitho stood loosely near the wheel and looked around at the lieutenants and senior warrant officers he had sent for. Young faces, tense expressions, and pathetic determination. The warrant officers, the professionals, had all seen action in one ship or another, but apart from Urquhart and of course Avery, the lieutenants had not.
He recalled all the wild, reckless times he had sailed into battle: sometimes with the drums and fifes playing a lively jig to ease the strain of waiting. But not so on this morning.
The breeze had freshened very slightly, enough to harden each sail, but not so that it could break the great undulating expanse of ocean. A few gulls and other seabirds circled the top-gallant masts, undisturbed by the sullen purpose of the ship below them.
If he turned his gaze very slightly Bolitho could see the other ships, brigs and brigantines for the most part, with the Unity sailing amongst them like a fortress.
He said, "We will remain on this converging tack. Unity's captain will believe we intend to pass through his charges ahead of him. If we can get close enough without taking a few of Unity's broadsides I intend that we should alter course at the last moment and pass astern of her. It will be a hard thing to do. It is the only course of action open to us if we are not to leave our ships unaided. All officers will ensure that top men and all spare hands are ready to make more sail immediately. We have the wind across the quarter when we turn we will have it astern of us." He smiled. "A soldier's wind! "
He glanced along the crowded deck where men crouched by the guns or waited by each mast with their midshipmen and petty officers.
Every gun was loaded, but he had not ordered any of them to be double-shot ted Some of the new hands might lose their nerve, and there was every chance of a gun exploding and killing all the men around it if improperly handled. Worse, it could start a fire right inside the ship.
When he had explained to Trevenen what he intended, to keep all gun ports closed and then engage with the weapons which now faced only an empty sea, he had exclaimed, "They will see we are cleared for action, Sir Richard! They will guess your plan of action! "
"If we run out a single gun, Captain Beer will feel justified in firing into us at extreme range. Valkyrie could be dismasted before a single gun could bear. Beer's neutrality is one-sided. To gather this rabble of American vessels under the pretence of escorting them through the scene of a possible battle tells me everything. It is typical of Baratte. He must win this fight."
Urquhart asked, "Is this in breach of our rights, Sir Richard?"
"That will be for others to decide."
He wanted to rub his eye to clear it but controlled the impulse. "Good luck, gentlemen. Keep the gun crews out of sight until ordered. When you run out it will be an all-time record! "
Surprisingly, some of them grinned. Bolitho turned to Trevenen. "Do you wish to add anything, Captain? They will be looking to you today."
But Trevenen did not answer, or maybe he had not even heard. He was staring at the advancing, uneven line of vessels. To a seabird it might resemble a giant arrowhead.
To Avery Bolitho said, "Two more good lookouts aloft. I must see when, or if, our ships are about to engage."
He turned as Allday commented grimly, "Now there's an ugly sight if ever I saw one! "
Unity's gun ports had opened as one. They had been well-drilled: it looked as if a single hand had done it.
Then the guns, squealing up to show themselves in the frail sunshine like jagged teeth. It would need a lot of men to move them up the deck, which was sloping slightly away from the wind.
In his heart Beer probably wanted to avoid a fight, no matter how one-sided it might now appear. Such an incident as this would have serious repercussions, no matter which flag flew at the end of the day.
It would surprise the American captain to see all of Valkyrie's ports tightly sealed. It would merely appear that they intended to pass through the ships, to defy the accepted rights of neutral vessels but nothing more.
Bolitho heard Urquhart say quietly, "How long, d'you reckon?" And Avery's calm response.
"Half an hour if it works, almost immediately if it doesn't."
It was strange how the wardroom had shunned him because of rumour and the cruel half-truths told about Jolie's surrender and capture. That, too, had all changed.
Bolitho tore his eyes from the ships and the threatening sight and size of the big American frigate, and watched Bob Fasken the gunner as he strolled along the deck, pausing to speak to each crew with no more fuss than a countryman walking with his dog.
Bolitho took a telescope. "Over here, Mr. Harris! " He rested the glass on the midshipman's shoulder and thought he could feel him trembling. A mere boy. As we all were once.
He held his breath as the glass dragged the frigate into full perspective, the huge ensigns curling from gaff and masthead, the red stripes and circle of bright stars very clearly visible.
He saw the towering figure on the quarterdeck near one of the smaller guns there. Probably nine-pounders, he thought. He saw the man take a telescope and train it towards Valkyrie, moving it slowly until he could almost feel the American staring directly at him.
Captain Nathan Beer raised his cocked hat in a mock salute, and held it in the air until Bolitho acknowledged it with his own.
He smiled and looked at Urquhart. "Re-set the courses and t'gallants, Mr. Urquhart! "
It was what they would do if they intended to overreach the Unity before altering course to cross ahead of her.
There was a sharp bang, and a second later a waterspout shot from the sea before the ball richochetted across the surface like a flying fish.
A seaman said derisively, "I could do better'n that! "
Bolitho said, "As before. Steer due north! "
"Due north she be, sir! "
There was a puff of smoke from the most forward gun, followed by the whine of a massive ball tearing overhead.
Urquhart called, "Stand fast, lads! The next one is ours! "
Men crouched at the guns or behind anything they believed might protect them.
Bolitho could see Unity'?" tapering jib-boom reaching out as if to impale Valkyrie's figurehead. It was a delusion: there were still seven or eight cables between them.
The second gun fired and this time it smashed into the lower hull with the force of a rock. Several men cried out; others stared at the masts as if they expected to see them fall.
Trevenen seemed to come out of his trance. "Get all spare men on the pumps! The prisoners too they'll soon see that they are in the most danger! "
Bolitho called sharply, "Alter course, Captain! "
But Trevenen was staring at the other ship, his eyes wild.
Only two things could happen. Unity would have to fall off down wind to avoid collision if she maintained her present course and speed. Beer would not allow that, as it would expose his stern to attack. If he shortened sail, it would still be too late.
It was now or never.
"Alter course, now, three points to starboard! "
The breaking of the suspense seemed to make the waiting seamen fly to their stations even as the big double wheel went over.