Alexander Kent - Midshipman Bolitho and the Avenger

Through another set of double doors she could hear the rumble of voices, blurred and indistinct. They had been in the old library for over an hour. Sir Henry Vyvyan, Colonel de Crespigny of the dragoons, and of course. Hugh.

As was often the case, the news of the ambush and the capture of a suspected smuggler had reached Falmouth overland long before the Avenger and her prize had anchored in the Roads.

She had been expecting something to happen, to go wrong. Hugh had always been headstrong, unwilling to take advice. His command, no matter how junior, had been the worst thing which could have happened. He needed a firm hand, like Richard's captain.

She straightened her back and crossed the room, smiling for him. They needed their father here and now more than anyone.

Richard looked up at her, his face lined with strain. `How long will they be?'

She shrugged. `The colonel has tried to explain why his men were not on the road. They were ordered to Bodmin at the last moment. Something to do with bullion being moved across the country. De Crespigny is making a full inquiry, and our squire has been sent for too.'

Bolitho looked at his hands. He was only feet from the fire but was still cold. His brother's hornets' nest was here, amongst them.

Like the dazed and bewildered survivors of the ambush, he had found himself hating the dragoons for not riding to their aid. But he had had time to think about it, and could see the colonel's dilemma. An unlikely scheme to catch some smugglers set against his rigid orders for escorting a fortune in gold was barely worth considering. He would also have assumed that Hugh would call off the attempt once he had been told about the change of circumstances.

He blurted out, `But what will they do about Martyn?'

She stood behind him and touched his hair.

`All they can, Richard. Poor boy, I keep thinking of him too.'

The library doors opened and the three men entered the room.

What an ill-assorted trio, Bolitho thought. His brother, tight-lipped, and shabby in his sea-going uniform. Vyvyan, massive and grim, his terrible scar adding to his appearance of strength, and the dragoons' colonel, as neat and as elegant as a King's guard. It was hard to believe he had ridden many miles without dismounting.

Harriet Bolitho's chin lifted. `Well, Sir Henry? What do you think about it?'

Vyvyan rubbed his chin. `I believe, ma'am, that these devils have taken young Dancer as hostage, so to speak. What for, I can't guess, but it looks bad, and we must face up to it.'

De Crespigny said, `Had I more men, another two troops of horses at least, I might do more, but…' He did not finish.

Bolitho watched them wearily. Each was protecting himself. Getting ready to lay the blame elsewhere _ when the real authorities heard what had happened. He looked at his brother. There was no doubt whose head would be on the block this time.

Nancy whispered, `I shall pray for him, Dick.'

He looked at her and smiled. She was holding Martyn's hat, drying it by the fire. Keeping it like a talisman.

Vyvyan continued, `It's no use acceptin' defeat. We'll have to put our ideas together.'

Voices murmured in the hallway, and moments later Mrs Tremayne peered into the room. Behind her Bolitho could see Pendrith, the gamekeeper, hovering with obvious impatience.

His mother asked, `What is it, Pendrith?'

Pendrith came into the room, smelling of damp and earth. He knuckled his forehead to the standing figures and nodded to Nancy.

He said in his harsh voice, `One of the colonel's men is outside with a message, ma'am.' As the colonel made his excuses and bustled outside, Pendrith added quickly, `An' I've got this, sir.' He thrust out his fist with a small roll of paper for Vyvyan to read.

Vyvyan's solitary eye scanned the crude handwriting and he exclaimed, `To whom it may concern… what the hell?' The eye moved more quickly and he said suddenly, `It's a demand. As I thought. They've taken young Dancer as hostage.'

Bolitho asked, `For what?' His heart was beating painfully and he could barely breathe.

Vyvyan handed the letter to Mrs Bolitho and said heavily, `The one wrecker that my men were able to capture. They want to exchange Dancer for him. Otherwise…' He looked away.

Hugh Bolitho stared at him. `Even. if we were allowed to bargain…' He got no further.

Vyvyan swung round, his shadow filling the room. `Allowed? What are you sayin', man? This is a life at stake. If we hang that rascal in chains at some crossroads gibbet they will kill young Dancer, and we all know it. They may do so anyway, but I think they will keep their word. A revenue man is one thing, a King's officer another.'

Hugh Bolitho met his gaze, his face stiff with resentment.

`He was doing his duty.'

Vyvyan took a few paces from the fire. He sounded impatient, exasperated.

`See it this way. We know the wrecker's identity. We may well catch him again, when there'll be no escape from the hangman. But Dancer's life is valuable, to his family and to his country.' He hardened his tone. `Besides which, it will look better.'

`I don't see that, sir.'

Hugh Bolitho was pale with tiredness but showed no sign of weakening.

`You don't, eh? Then let me explain it for you. How will it sound at a court of enquiry later on? A midshipman's loss is bad enough, the deaths of all those sailors and revenue officers hard to explain, let alone those damned muskets which are now in the wrong hands. But who got clean away without hurt? The Avenger's two officers, both of this family!'

For the first time Hugh Bolitho looked shocked.

`That was not how it was, sir. But for the schooner, we would have been well placed to assist, dragoons or no dragoons.'

The colonel entered at that moment and said quietly, `I have just had word that the schooner's crew are ashore and under close guard. They will be taken to Truro.'

Vyvyan handed him the crumpled letter and watched his face.

The colonel said savagely, `I guessed it would not end there, damn them V

Hugh Bolitho persisted stubbornly, `That schooner was carrying gold coin by the box-load. The crew are all American Colonists. I have no doubt they intended to use the money to buy muskets, here in Cornwall. Then they would likely transfer them to a larger vessel at some safe rendezvous elsewhere.'

The colonel eyed him coldly. `The schooner's master insists he is innocent. That he was lost, and that you fired on him without warning. He took you for a pirate.' He raised one hand wearily. `I know, Mr Bolitho, but it is what everyone will believe who wants to. You lost your muskets, failed to capture any of the smugglers, and several men have died for no good reason. I know there is talk of unrest in the American Colony, but it is only talk at present. What you have done is very real.'

Vyvyan said gruffly, `Be easy on him. We were all youngsters once. I told him we should agree to exchange our prisoners. After all, we have a good prize in the harbour, if the magistrates can prove she was after the guns. And when we get Dancer back safe and sound he might tell us more.' He gave a crooked smile. `What say you, Colonel?'

De Crespigny sighed. `It is no matter for a landowner or a young lieutenant to dabble with. Even I will need to be directed in this case.' He looked round to make certain that the gamekeeper had gone. `However, if your captured felon should escape, I see no reason to report it just yet, eh?'

Vyvyan grinned. `Spoken like a true soldier! Well done. I'll have my men deal with it.' His eye moved across the Bolitho family. `But if I am wrong, and they harm young Dancer, they will eventually be very sorry for what they have done.'

Hugh Bolitho nodded. `Very well. I accept the plan, sir. But after this I will stand no chance of success in these waters. My command and all in her will be laughed into oblivion.'

Bolitho looked at his brother and felt sorry for him. But there was no other way.,

The others eventually left the house and Hugh said vehemently, `If I could have laid hands on just one of them. I'd have finished this damned affair once and for all!'

The next two days were filled with suspense and anxiety at the Bolitho house. There was silence from Dancer's captors, although no further proof was needed as to the value of the letter. Some gilt buttons, cut from a midshipman's coat,. and a neckcloth which Bolitho recognized as Dancer's were found outside the gates as a blunt warning.

On the second night the two brothers were alone by the fire, each unwilling to break the silence.

Then Hugh said suddenly, `I shall go down to the Avenger. You had better remain here until we hear something. One way or the other.'

Bolitho asked, `After this, what will you do•?T

'Do?' He laughed. `Go back to some damned ship as a junior lieutenant, I expect. Promotion went through the window when I failed to finish what I came to do.'

Bolitho stood up as horses clattered in the yard. A door banged open and he saw Mrs Tremayne staring at him, her eyes filling her face.

`They've got him, Master Richard! They've found him!'

In the next instant the room seemed to be full.

Servants, some troopers and Pendrith, the gamekeeper, who -said, `The soldiers discovered 'im walkin' along the road, sir. 'Is 'ands were tied behind 'is back and 'e was blindfolded. Wonder 'e didn't go 'ead-first off the cliff!'

They all fell silent as Dancer, covered from head to foot in a long cloak, came into the room, supported on either side by two of de Crespigny's dragoons.

Bolitho strode forward and gripped his shoulders. He could barely speak, and they looked at each other for several more seconds until Dancer said simply, `Near thing that time, Dick.'

Harriet Bolitho pushed through the watching figures and lifted the cloak from Dancer's shoulders. Then she took him in her arms, pulling his head to her shoulder, tears running unheeded down her cheeks.

`Oh, you poor boy!'

Dancer's captors had stripped him of all but his breeches. Blindfolded and stumbling barefoot along a road unknown to him, had he fallen, he would certainly have died of the bitter cold. Someone had beaten him too, and Bolitho saw weals on his back like rope burns.

Mrs Bolitho said huskily, `Mrs Tremayne, take these good men to the kitchen. Give them anything they want, money too.'

The soldiers beamed and shuffled their boots.

'Thankee, ma'am. It was a real pleasure to be sure.'

Dancer lowered himself in front of the fire and said quietly, `I was carried to a small village. I heard

someone say it was supposed to be a witches' place.

That nobody would dare come looking for me there. They laughed about it. Told me how they were going to kill me if you didn't release their man.'

He looked up at Hugh Bolitho. `I am sorry I failed you, sir. But our attackers looked like real soldiers, and acted without mercy.' He shuddered and touched his arm as if to hide his nakedness.

Hugh replied, `What's done is done, Mr Dancer. But I'm glad you are safe. I mean it.'

Mrs Bolitho brought a cup of hot soup. `Drink this, Martyn. Then bed.' She sounded composed again.

,Dancer looked at Bolitho. `I was blindfolded all the time. When I tried to get it off I felt them holding a hot iron close to my face. One of them said that if I did it again I would not need a blindfold. The iron would take care of my sight.'

He shivered as Nancy covered his shoulders with a woollen shawl.

Hugh Bolitho banged his fist against the wall. `They were clever. They knew you'd not recognize their faces, but thought you might recall where you were being held!'

Dancer got painfully to his feet and grimaced. He had cut them badly along the way before the troopers had found him.

`I know one of them.'

They all stared at him, thinking he was about to break down.

Dancer looked at Mrs Bolitho and held out his hands until she took them in hers.

`It was the first day. I was lying in the darkness, waiting to die, when I heard him. I don't think they'd told him I was there.' He tightened his grip on her hands. `It was the man I saw here, ma'am. The one called Vyvyan.'

She nodded slowly, her face full of sympathy.

`You've suffered enough, Martyn, and we have been very worried for you.' She kissed him gently on the lips. `Now to bed with you. You'll find everything you need.'

Hugh Bolitho was still staring at him as if he had misheard.

`Sir Henry? Are you certain?'

She exclaimed, `Leave it, Hugh! There's been harm enough done to this boy!'

Bolitho watched his brother's strength returning, like a sudden squall approaching a becalmed ship.

`A boy to you, Mother. But he is still one of my officers.' Hugh could barely conceal his excitement. `Right here under our noses. No wonder Vyvyan's men were always nearby and we never caught anyone. He had to rid himself of his so-called prisoner before an examining judge arrived. The man would have informed on him to save his own life.'

Bolitho felt his mouth go dry. Vyvyan had even had some of his own men shot down to make it look perfect. He was a monster, not a man at all. And it had nearly worked, might still work if Dancer's story was not believed.

Wrecker, smuggler and an important part of some planned uprising in America, it was like a growing nightmare.

Vyvyan had planned all of it, outwitted the

authorities from the very beginning. He had even put the idea of exchanging hostages in their minds.

To his brother Bolitho said, `What will you do?'

He gave him a bitter smile. `I am inclined to send word to the admiral. But now we will try to determine where this village is. It cannot be far from the sea.' His eyes shone like fires. `Next time, Richard, next time he will be less fortunate P

Bolitho followed Dancer up the stairs, past the watching portraits and into his room.

`In future, Martyn, I will never complain about serving in a ship of the line.'

Dancer sat on the edge of the bed and cocked his head to listen to the wind against a window.

`Nor I. ' He rolled over, worn out with exhaustion.

As his head lay in the glow of some candles, Bolitho thought of that other one, dead in the wet grass, and was suddenly grateful.

9. The Devil's Hand

Colonel de Crespigny sat stiffly in the Avenger's stern cabin looking around with a mixture of curiosity and distaste.

He said, `As I have just explained to your, er, captain, I cannot take a risk on such meagre evidence.'

As both the midshipmen made to protest he added hastily, `I am not saying I disbelieve what you heard, or what you thought you heard. But in a court of law, and make no mistake, a man in Sir Henry's position and authority would go to the highest advocates, it would sound less than convincing.'

He leaned towards Dancer, his polished boots creaking on the deck.

`Think ofit yourself. A good advocate from London,,an experienced assize judge and a biased jury, your word would be the only voice of protest. The schooner's crew, can be held upon suspicion, although there is nothing so far to connect them with Sir Henry or any evil purpose. I am certain that fresh

evidence will come to hand, but against them, and not the man we are after.'

Hugh Bolitho lay with his shoulders against the cutter's side, his eyes half closed as he said, `It seems we are in irons.'