Richard Bolitho – Midshipman

He bit his lip as another heavy ball passed between t the brig's two masts. It was a miracle that neither s was hit, but he saw several lengths of cut rigging t drifting in the wind like jungle creeper. r One direct hit in a vital spot was all the battery needed to render the Sandpiper helpless. At least long I enough for her to drive ashore and be taken. 5 Verling's voice was right in his ear. ' \ 'Don't keep staring at Sandpiper. Keep your eyes and mind ahead. We could be quite wrong about the ‹ entrance. Mr Starkie's memory may have played I tricks on him.' \ Bolitho darted a quick glance at Verling. Without his hat to balance it, the nose looked even beakier and larger. He saw something else on his face. Determination, anxiety, both were there. But also a kind of recklessness. Bolitho looked away. He had seen a similar expression on the face of a highwayman as he had been driven to the gibbet. Sunlight felt its way gingerly over the land and played across the fortress walls. There were several heads peering from the weathered embrasures, and then Bolitho saw what appeared to be a flagstaff poking out of the ground at the foot of the furthest wall. Verling had already seen it. 'The entrance.' He turned to Hoggett. 'That must be a mast, just inside. Another dhow most likely.' He wiped his narrow face with the back of his arm. 'Steer for it.' Tregorren hurried aft, hard put to hide his great bulk beneath the litter of spare sails and fishing gear which covered the slaver's filthy deck from side to side. 'All ready, sir.' He saw Bolitho and met his gaze without blinking. Defiance? It was difficult to see any emotion in the man. Even his colour was returning, and Bolitho wondered what would happen if he found time to take more drink before the attack. 'Sandpiper's going about, sir. She's going to try another attack.' Bolitho held his breath as two balls fell on either side of the brig's sleek hull, as with sails flapping and banging she turned across the wind's eye for another attempt to head off the dhow. He saw the first sunlight shining on weapons above the battery wall and imagined the defenders jeering at the brig's retreat. Small she might be, and recaptured from them was a hard fact to swallow. But she was still a symbol of power of the world's greatest navy. And now, against their massive cannon, she was as helpless as a sick horse. 'There are men on the jetty, sir! ' Pearce was in the bows, kneeling beside one of the swivels. 'They're watching us.' Bolitho saw Hoggett's weatherbeaten face harden. The next minutes were vital. If the pirates suspected what was happening, the guns would soon be firing down on them. At this range there was no escape. And in a few more moments the island would lie between them and safety. He felt his stomach rumbling noisily and glanced quickly at Dancer. His friend was breathing very quickly, and jumped as Bolitho gripped his shoulder and pulled him down to the deck. s Bolitho tried to smile. 'If they see your fair hair, they'll know we are not likely to be friendly! ' l He turned as Verling snapped, 'Well said. I should have thought of that myself.' He turned away, already thinking far ahead of the slow-moving dhow.; The guns were firing again, but the sound was. muffled, for the brig was hidden now by the fortress. Nearer, and nearer. Bolitho tried to lick his lips as the top of the main fortress showed itself above the [bulwark where he lay. Did the enemy recognize the L dhow? Had she been here before?; He glanced up at Verling, who was standing with his arms folded beside the helmsmen. One of the latter was a Negro, of whom there were several in Gorgon's company. It would make the little group seem genuine, he thought, and Verling certainly looked every inch a slaver. 'Take in the mains'l.' Sunlight flooded into the deck as the mass of patched canvas and leather lashings came tumbling into the hull. There were a dozen or more figures at the end of the jetty. Motionless, with only their long white robes lifting to the wind as the dhow edged round the crumbling stonework. Beyond the jetty there was a high, cavelike entrance, directly below the main wall. Several small vessels were moored there, and the largest one, a dhow, very like their prize, was tied up at the outer end, unable to dip her masts beneath the curved archway.