She had left the door open. Joshua saw Partridge peering around the edge of it. "Partridge," he snapped. "Fill me a pipe. And bring me that bottle."
PART THREE
Chapter 21
IT WAS TEN MINUTES BEFORE SIX A.M. MR. SCULL, first lieutenant of the "Athena," stood on the lee side of the quarterdeck, hands clasped behind his back. On the weather side, men were holystoning the deck; the quartermaster, both brown hands on the wheel, was within a yard of him, and Mr. Jerrell, just turned twenty and a junior lieutenant, was at his side. This much was usual; the rest wasn't. With misgiving Mr. Scull heard Barney's voice come singing down from his position atop the fore topgallant masthead.
"Three points to starboard, Mr. Scull!"
The wheel swung. Jerrell and Scull both turned their heads to look at the shoreline. Scull muttered, "Jesus God, we're running right under those goddamn guns."
Jerrell shoved his cap back on his head. "If we don't get away with it, we'll be sunk, sir."
A soft Scottish brogue answered him as Mr. Macgregor came up from behind. "Ye never said a truer word, laddie." He thrust his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels to survey the rocky shore that rose from its white line of breaking surf. §lowly his eyes lifted from the rolling waves up to the walls of the white fort that overlooked the entrance to the roadway. "You can take it from me," he said softly, "that we're within range." He patted Jerrell on the shoulder. "Watch for the puff of smoke from those big babies." He went on down the gangway, coming to a stop before two runout guns. He looked down at the heads of the crouching gunners.
"You're not nairvous, are ye?" he jibed. He stood there, watching, not hearing Barney's soft tread. Barney came to a stop beside him, looking out over the blue water at the ship that was trying so desperately to escape them. Barney gave a brief glance to the shoreline himself. They were running between this quarry and the high-
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perched fort, cutting off the English ship from the sanctuary of the harbor to which she was running.
Macgregor said, "This man is Limey, sir. He's usually better dressed since he had mutiny on his mind."
Barney looked down at Limey's hunched shoulders and the badly scarred back. He was one of thirty English seamen who had volunteered, out of prison, to serve aboard the "Athena." Two days out. Limey had been betrayed by a fellow Englishman, who reported that Limey was plotting to retake the "Athena."
"Limey don't talk much," Macgregor went on. "It takes the cat to make him talk. Then he speaks quick enough,"
Barney knew that this was not true. It had taken severe pain and a long time to make Limey tell the names of the men who agreed to throw in with him to try to recapture the "Athena." He had stood the flogging long and without a sound until finally Barney had had to stop it. Barney still felt traces of his own perturbation as he had approached left quarterdeck and the man tied to the grating, as he had taken the bloody whip from the seaman who had wielded it,
"Limey," he had said low and crisply, hoping the man could hear him, "I don't like to see a man flogged to death. I'm going to give you plenty of chance to die at your post behind your guns. I want the names of the men who conspired with you; they'll get twenty lashes apiece. Otherwise I shall be forced to use this treatment on all your fellow Englishmen. Are you ready to talk, Limey?"
It was with terrible relief he had heard a muttered, "Aye, aye, sir."
Barney addressed him now, via Macgregor, "Mr. Macgregor, I want a shot across her bows, near, very near."
Limey glanced up at Barney, who stood right alongside of him. He sighted down the gun, he elevated her a little, the muscles rippling across his naked back. The gun roared.
It was a perfectly aimed shot. It arched up very slightly, clearing the bow of the trapped merchantman as a good tennis shot clears the net.
"Excellent," said Barney warmly. Limey straightened up, sat back on his heels; he gave another look at Barney's face, saw the smile, and smiled too.
"Thank you, sir," he murmured.
"You scared the hell out of her," said Barney.
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It had. She was coming about obediently, in the face of the "Athena's" eighteen-pounders. Her flag came down. And the guns of the fort remained silent.
"Very satisfactory morning's action, Mr. Macgregor," commented Barney. He went aft slowly, to take his place on the quarterdeck. He noted that Scull and Jerrell were still glancing around at the fort.
The distance between the two ships was fast narrowing; the "Athena" was looming up alongside her prey, her guns bristling as she bore down.
"She's the 'Falcon,' sir," Scull said, squinting through the glass. "She's hoisting out a boat, sir!"
She was lowering a boat. It pulled rapidly to the "Athena" as the "Falcon" itself hove to and rested quietly beside her captor. Barney said, "I'll lay you a guinea the word her captain says is: 'This is piracy!' "
Scull grinned. The boat was alongside. The English captain's head appeared next and then all of him. He strode toward the quarterdeck and up to Barney.
"This is piracy," he announced grimly.
Scull could not suppress a smile. Barney bowed. "Indeed?"
The Englishman gestured to the fort. "Under the guns of Fort Oranje," he said. "In neutral waters, sir!"
"If we had been within range, the guns would have fired, sir," Barney said, lazily.
"That is a lie!''
Barney sighed. "Sir, it could also be a difference of opinion."
Jerrell tried not to smile. There was nothing he liked better than to hear his captain's conversations with prisoners of war.
"We shall put it to the test," Barney went on. "The Governor will decide."
"The Governor?" asked the Englishman with sudden passion.
"Yes," said Barney. "We shall lay the matter before Governor de Graaf. I believe he may decide we were without the jurisdiction of a neutral port."
"You damned Yankee pirate," the Englishman growled. Now cold, he said, "I am Captain Johns, sir."
Barney bowed. "Captain Barney, and my officers, sir." He introduced them quickly, while Johns endeavored to control himself. When finally Johns felt he could speak without passion, he said:
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"This was a flagrant violation of the law. We were in neutral waters."
"We shall lay the matter before the Governor, sir," Barney repeated curtly. "Mr. Scull, you may take possession of the 'Falcon.' "
"Aye aye, sir," said Scull, looking alert.
Johns clenched his hands. "I am ready to give my parole, sir!"
Barney swung around to look at him. "It shall be accepted at six o'clock this evening."
The other flushed a deep red.
"Until then," said Barney easily, "I shall be forced to regard you and your officers as prisoners of war."
Johns laid his hand on his sword at this Yankee impudence. "You have the gall to let the matter go unreported all day? And to hold me aboard?"
"Escort the gentleman below, Mr. Jerrell," Barney said. "And to relieve your mind, sir, I'll report it." He bowed and turned his back. He was damned hungry; he had had no breakfast. He would see to that now.
Jerrell came out on deck again and went over to the rail. He had never seen Stasia. The great cofferdams stretched their arms on both sides to protect the blue roadway in which at least a hundred and fifty ships of all nations rode quietly at anchor. Even from here he could see that the beaches themselves were jammed with crates; he knew that less perishable goods were stored on the beaches temporarily, as they were in process of being moved from one ship's bottom to another. Mr. Jerrell reflected that here warring nations traded, so their mercantile houses did business they kept on making money and paying taxes for the upkeep of their wars. It was very complicated. He turned blue eyes on Macgregor.