Alan Evans - Thunder at Dawn

They had a great deal in common and they eyed each other warily.

Donoghue said, “I see you brought your consort safe to port.”

“ Ariadne ? Yes. But we lost a merchantman, the Elizabeth Bell . She was hit and sank in minutes. I’m glad I was able to take off some of her crew before she sank, but the others were lost.”

Donoghue thought about it. So did his Flag-Captain, Corrigan, lean and vinegar-faced, vinegar-tongued, puritan. Smith had been able to take some off before she sank? Both of them thought there was a deal left unsaid.

But that saw the end of the courtesies. Encalada asked, “What is your business here, Captain?” His face was set. He was angry, or rather still angry. Forty-eight hours before he had been outraged.

This was the attack Smith had come to meet. He met it coolly. “I escorted Ariadne to this port. As you know and can see, I have been inaction and I need to make repairs and coal —”

Encalada brushed that aside with a wave of his hand. “Your presence here is effrontery!”

“My presence here is of necessity, I assure you.”

“You have flagrantly violated the neutrality of this port!”

“This port had harboured a belligerent for —”

“That has not been proved.”

The Herr Doktor put in quickly, “I reiterate, neither my government nor myself accept responsibility for the collier, whose ever she was.”

Smith rapped at him, “Responsibility or no, the Gerda was a belligerent and that was proved by the action of her sister ship, the Maria . She ran when I approached Malaguay.” Muller smiled thinly, and shrugged. Smith said, “I caught her and sank her.” This time the Doktor’s eyes flickered, his head twitched on his neck. Small signs but enough for Smith, who went on, “And before she sank I intercepted signals between her and a German warship and two German cruisers lie outside this port now. That is a fact , Herr Doktor.” He swung on Encalada. “As was also the matter of the Leopard , a German gunboat supposed to be interned at Malaguay but allowed to slip away to fight again and she is outside now! What kind of neutrality is that ?”

“Do not lecture me !” Encalada shouted it. He swallowed, took hold of himself and said more quietly, “She was not allowed to slip away. She escaped because of gross negligence and indiscipline on the part of one junior officer and he will be dealt with. And that gunboat’s violation of neutrality does not excuse yours, which preceded theirs and I believe made theirs possible. Cruisers there are but I refuse to accept their presence as proof that Gerda was a belligerent.” He took a breath. “I tell you this, Captain. Under International Law you may claim shelter in this port for twenty-four hours to make your repairs. That you may have, but nothing else. You will not be permitted to land nor to receive supplies of any kind, coal, water — nothing !”

Smith said equably, “Very well.” He would not beg. No, that was a lie. He would have begged for his ship and his crew if it would have done any good. But they did not need water or supplies. He had coal for only twenty-four hours’ steaming but that was sufficient because he would not be allowed to steam for twenty-four hours or anything like it. The cruisers waiting out in the darkness of the Pacific would see to that.

Encalada took his watch from his pocket and clicked open the case. “The time is twenty-one-ten hours. At this time tomorrow you will get under way and quit this port.”

“That is understood. I ask for nothing, except —”

“No exceptions!”

Smith carried on as if he had not heard. “There is a boy — a man — I must bury. He was killed in today’s action.”

Encalada stared at him. Smith’s face was grey under the lights, a tired face, a hard face, closed now, seeming to give nothing away, yet the Port Captain felt the stirring of an alien sympathy. But he kept his voice hard as he replied. “I see. That will be permitted but only a small party, the minimum necessary for due honours. Officers may wear swords, but other arms will not be permitted.”

“That, too, is understood.” Smith thought there might be an element of sympathy lurking in the eyes of Donoghue and Corrigan. It was obvious in their Flag-Lieutenant but his seniors were an impassive pair. The Port Captain’s fire and fury had turned to ice. Muller looked pleased.

The idea floated, bizarre, into Smith’s mind and he acted on it before cold propriety could make it look ridiculous as it was. He said straight-faced, apologetic but patiently sincere, “I’m afraid I’ve spoiled a very pleasant evening for many of you. In normal times I would have extended the hospitality of my ship, at least to attempt to make some recompense, but these are not normal times. However. Despite the times my officers and myself will be taking tea tomorrow afternoon and we would be delighted to welcome all of you. At, say, four in the afternoon?” Then he added, “With, of course, one obvious exception.” He grinned at Muller.

Those who understood him looked suspicious, as if this was some sort of practical joke, or like Encalada suspecting a trap, but not Donoghue and Corrigan. As Smith saluted and went down into the pinnace Donoghue thought it was almost an actor’s exit. An unusual young man. Corrigan wasn’t going to drink their goddam tea, but he wanted to look at that ship and her crew.

The pinnace sheered off and headed out towards Thunder , still functioning with a jaunty efficiency despite the dents in her stumpy funnel and her woodwork down one side showing charred-black through the blistered paint. Smith took off his cap and ran his fingers through his hair. Donoghue became aware that the women were a-twitter and gazing after the pinnace and he thought with surprise: Well, now.

Smith said, “They’ve given us twenty-four hours and at the end of that we sail. That’s all they’ll give us. No coal, no supplies, no assistance — nothing. It simplifies matters, anyway.”

Garrick breathed heavily. “They know what’s waiting for us outside and they’ll send us out with barely enough coal —”

“It will be enough.”

“Damn their bloody eyes!”

Smith blinked at this explosion from the stolid First Lieutenant, and said mildly, “You can’t blame them, you know. On the facts as they see them, as they know them, they’re more than justified.”

Vincent called, “Boat coming alongside, sir.”

It was Cherry, and Smith took him to the little sleeping cabin under the bridge. There was a certain amount of peace there. The deck cabin aft and the main cabin in the stern would be ringing like great bells to the hammering.

“I didn’t see you at the party.”

“No.” Cherry shrugged. “The British are in bad odour at the moment. But I heard and saw your meeting with Encalada.”

“Oh?”

Cherry nodded. “Twenty-four hours. And the rest of it. I’ll intercede and protest, of course. As soon as I’m ashore I’ll telegraph to Santiago, but frankly, I think their government will back him up.”

“So do I.”

Cherry said helplessly, “Well, is there anything I can do?”

Smith grinned sardonically, “You couldn’t rent Kansas for a couple of days?”

Cherry refused to be cheered and muttered, “And that damn battle-cruiser. Of all the luck!”

“One or two ways you can help —”

“Yes?”

Somers. They discussed the matter in practical terms and Cherry said he would see to all the necessary arrangements. “Anything else?”

“Newspapers, as always. Any English papers you can get hold of, we’ll be delighted to see.”