They had rigged a small shelter with a scrap of canvas, behind which lay their weapons, water flasks and a large brass telescope.
One knuckled his forehead and said "Orizon's clear, Cap'n!'
Bolitho tugged his hat over his eyes as he stared down the hill. The coastline was more uneven than he had imagined, water glittering between the thick layers of trees to reveal some inlet or cover not marked on any chart. Inland, and towards a distant barrier of tall hills, there was nothing but an undulating sea of trees. So close-knit, it looked possible to walk upright across the top of them.
He picked up the telescope and trained it on the ship. She was writhing and bending in a surface haze, but he saw the boats moving back and forth, very slowly, like tired water-beetles. He felt grit and dust under his fingers, and guessed the telescope had spent more time lying on the hillside than in use.
He heard Penn sucking noisily at a water flask, and could sense the lookouts willing him to leave them in peace. Theirs might be a thirsty job, but it was far easier than hauling casks through the forest. He moved the glass again. All those men, sledges and casks, yet from here he could see none of them. Even the beach was shielded. The boats, as they drew near the shore, appeared to vanish into the trees, as if swallowed whole.
Bolitho turned to his right, the movement making the men stir with alarm. In the telescope's lens the trees and slivers of trapped water grew and receded as he continued his search. Something had touched the corner of his eye, but what? The lookouts were watching him doubtfully, each caught in his own attitude as if mesmerised.
A trick of light. He blinked and rubbed his eye. Nothing.
He began another slow scrutiny. Thick, characterless forest. Or was that merely what he expected to see? And therefore… He stiffened and held his breath. When he lowered the glass the picture fell away into the distance. He waited, counting seconds, allowing his breathing to steady.
The lookouts had begun to whisper again, and Penn was drinking as before. They probably imagined he had been too long in the sun.
He lifted the glass very carefully. There, to the right, where he had already noticed a faint gleam of water, was something darker, at odds with the forest's greens and browns. He stared at it until his eye watered so painfully he could not continue.
Then he closed the glass with a snap and said, 'There is a ship yonder.' He saw Penn gaping at him, transfixed. 'To the south'rd. It must be some sort of inlet which we did not see earlier.'
He shaded his eyes, trying to estimate the distance, where it lay in relation to Undine and the beach where he had come ashore.
One of the lookouts exclaimed, 'Oi never saw nothin', sir.' He looked frightened, and worse.
Bolitho stared past him, trying to think.
'Take this glass and make sure you can see it now!'
He knew the seaman was more frightened of his captain, or what might become of him because of his negligence, than anything this discovery might mean.
Bolitho's mind recorded all these reactions as he said, 'Have you found it?'
'Aye, sir!' The man bobbed unhappily. "Tis a mast, right enough.'
'Thank you.' Bolitho added dryly, 'Keep your eye on it. I do not want it to vanish again!'
Penn dropped the flask and scuttled after him as he strode down the hill.
'Wh-what might it mean, sir?'
'Several things.' He felt the trees looming around him, a small relief from the sun's torment. 'They may have sighted us and are lying low until we weigh. Perhaps they are intent on some other mischief, I am not certain.'
He quickened his pace, ignoring creepers and fronds which plucked at his body. But for that brief flaw in the lens's picture he would have seen nothing, known nothing about the other vessel. Perhaps it would have been better that way. Maybe he was worrying to no purpose.
He found Davy as before, lounging in the shade of the hillside, his features relaxed as he watched his men filling the casks. 'Where is Mr. Fowlar?'
Davy came out of his torpor with a jerk. 'Er, on the beach, sir.'
'Damn!'
Another hard mile before he could examine Fowlar's chart and Mudge's notes. He looked up at the sky. Hours yet before sunset, but when it did come it would be quick. Shutting out the light like a curtain.
'I have discovered a ship, Mr. Davy. Well hidden, to the south'rd of us.' He saw the carpenter emerge from the under growth, a saw glinting in one fist. 'Take charge here, Mr. Pryke.' He beckoned to Davy. 'We are going to the beach.'
Pryke nodded, his fat face glowing like a ripe apple. 'Aye, sir.' He looked at Duff. 'There be only five more casks, by my reckonin'.'
'Well, speed the work. I want our people mustered as soon as the last one is filled.'
Davy hurried along at his side, his handsome face puzzled.
'Do you think this ship may be an enemy, sir?'
'I intend to find out.'
They completed the journey in silence, and Bolitho knew that Davy, like the lookouts, thought he was making too much of it.
Fowlar listened to him calmly and then examined his chart.
'If it is where I believe, then it is not marked here. So it must lie somewhere 'twixt this beach and the next bay.' He made a mark. 'About there, I would suggest, sir.'
'Could we reach it before dark? Overland?'
Fowlar's eyes widened but he answered, 'It looks close enough, sir. No more'n three mile or so. But that is four times as much in the jungle.' He dropped his eyes from Bolitho's gaze. 'You might be able to do it, sir.'
Davy asked, 'But if we wait until tomorrow, sir? We could have Undine anchored nearer this vessel you have found.'
'It would take too long. She may have weighed and gone overnight. And if they are aware of our presence and purpose, a boat attack would be useless in daylight, and in a confined inlet. You should know that, Mr. Davy.'
Davy looked at his shoes. 'Yes, sir.'
Another heavy cask lurched down the beach, the men panting like animals running from the hounds.
Soames, who had trudged up the beach to listen, said suddenly, 'She might be a slaver. In which case she will be well armed.' He rubbed his chin and nodded. 'Yours is a good plan, sir.' His thick forefinger scratched over the chart. 'We could cross the bottom of the hill where it reaches for the sea and strike south. If we travel lightly we should be at the inlet before dark.' He looked at Davy, his eyes hard. 'I'11 pick some good men. Ones who won't falter when the passage gets rough.'
Davy said nothing, he was obviously smarting because Soames had offered a course of action rather than an unthinking suggestion.
Bolitho looked towards the ship. 'Very well. We will rest the hands for half an hour. Then we will begin. Forty men should be sufficient if we are careful. It may be a complete waste of time.' He thought of the silent jungle. Watching. 'But to be anchored so dangerously inland? I doubt it.'
He beckoned to Penn. 'I will write my orders for the first lieutenant, and you will take them across directly. Undine will send her boats tomorrow morning and pick us up from seaward. By then we should know.' He glanced at Davy. 'One way or the other.'
He saw Keen coming out of the trees, a pistol hanging casually from his belt. As he turned towards the sea he halted and raised one arm to point. It was the jolly boat, darting across the water at full speed, the oars winking in the sunlight like silver.
Eventually it ground on to the beach, and without waiting for it to be made fast, Midshipman Armitage leapt over the gunwale and then fell face down on the sand.
Allday, who had been watching critically, exclaimed, 'God damn me, Captain! That young gentleman will stumble on an acorn!'
Armitage hurried up the beach, his cheeks scarlet as he dashed past the groups of grinning seamen.
He stammered, 'Mr. Herrick's respects, sir!' He paused to wipe sand from his chin. 'And we have sighted some small craft to the north of here.' He pointed haphazardly into the trees. 'A whole party of them. Mr. Herrick thinks they may come this way, although…' he stopped, screwing up his face as he usually did when passing a message, '… although they have vanished for the present.' He nodded, relieved, as he recalled the last part. 'Mr. Herrick suggests they have gone into another beach for some purpose.'