Ричард Вудмен - Beneath the aurora

'Help yourself to a glass, Mr Frey, you look quite done in.'

'He still has a fever,' put in Kennedy.

'I'm fine, Kennedy, just a little tired.'

'Who isn't... ?'

'I didn't know you had been hit, sir,' Frey said quickly, re-stoppering the decanter.

'It's nothing. A scratch. A Yankee galled me as I swam away from the General Wayne . My exertions yesterday reopened it ...'

'It needed debriding', said Kennedy severely, 'before it became gangrenous. Your face is a mess, too; you'll likely have a scar.'

'Stop clucking, Mr Kennedy. Thanks to your superlative skill, I will mend,' said Drinkwater, silencing the surgeon. 'Now, Frey, tell me about your expedition, what of the two Americans?'

'The General Wayne burned to the waterline and settled where she lay. The other, the Hyacinthe — a French-built corvette — drifted ashore after her cable burnt through and then blew up. Her remains continued to burn until there was little left of her, or her contents. As for the matter of the truce, I had no trouble in landing my party. The commandant of the fort, a Captain Nilsen, or some such, is making ready to receive the wounded from the Odin . He was especially solicitous for Captain Dahlgaard. I understand they are related in some way.'

Drinkwater recalled Dahlgaard's dead nephew and dismissed the morbid thought. 'And you mentioned the Kestrel ?'

'Yes. They seemed relieved not to have been entirely deprived of a means of communication with Bergen, or Copenhagen for that matter. I formed the impression that the Americans are an acute embarrassment to them.'

'I am truly sorry for the Danes,' Drinkwater said. 'Captain Dahlgaard was a most gallant officer ...'

Kennedy sniffed disparagingly at this assertion. Drinkwater ignored the man's infuriating importunity.

'And what arrangements have you concluded?'

'That all the Danes are to be landed and that we hand over the Kestrel immediately prior to our departure. A truce is to obtain until we are seaward of the narrows, thereafter they may communicate with Bergen.'

'Very well. In the circumstances we must count that as satisfactory. Captain Dahlgaard may be sent ashore as soon as is possible.'

'I took the liberty of permitting the one launch left to the Americans to pull out immediately and take off the worst of the wounded.'

Drinkwater nodded. 'That was well done. Birkbeck has completed his survey of Kestrel and has condemned her as totally unfit for further service. Properly we should destroy her, but I do not think their Lordships will judge us too harshly for leaving this place with a measure of magnanimity towards our beaten foe.'

Kennedy sniffed again as he completed his work.

'Physician, I suggest you heal yourself, said Drinkwater, 'instead of making that ridiculous noise.' Kennedy scowled as he added, 'Thank you for your solicitude.'

Frey watched the surgeon leave and turned to Drinkwater.

'Sir, there is a matter of considerable importance I have to discuss with you ...'

'If it is to do with a prize-crew ...'

'No, no! Though I should like to know what arrangements you are intending.'

'You will take the Odin home. We will stay in company and make for Rattray Head, thereafter I will signal Leith, or London, depending upon the circumstances. But come, what is this matter of such importance?'

'Gold specie, sir.'

Frey breathed the words with a quiet satisfaction, as though not daring to frighten them away. Comprehension dawned slowly on Drinkwater.

'Aboard the Odin ?'

Frey nodded conspiratorially. 'I was in a lather of apprehension whilst I was away, but it is quite safe. Captain Dahlgaard had made especial provision for it and I do not think many of his people knew. It was in a small lazarette below his cabin ...'

'And had, I think, come out of a similar lazarette in the General Wayne ,' said Drinkwater, remembering the empty space into which he had rolled the little barrels with their lethal filling of fine-milled black powder. 'But how did you come by it?'

'When we boarded and you attacked aft,' Frey explained, 'my party went for the wheel and then the gun deck. I had hoped to take the gunners in the rear, but too few of our fellows followed me. Most of the Danes on the upper deck fell back on their quarterdeck and we got below without encountering much resistance. The gun deck was reeking with smoke and we got the hatches down amidships and aft before, I think, anyone was aware of our presence. When I secured the after hatch to prevent anyone coming up from below, we were seen and set on by the aftermost gun crews. There were about a dozen men with me at that time including Fisher and we had a hard few moments of it, being hopelessly outnumbered and totally unsupported.' Drinkwater could imagine the scene: the noise and confusion; the Danish gunners blazing away, half-deafened, the gun deck full of smoke and then someone spotting the strange intruders.

'Go on,' he said.

'It was curious, but the Danes had left the after bulkhead down. Fisher got the cabin door open and we retreated into Dahlgaard's quarters, leaving four of our number outside. None of the after guns in there were manned ...'

'Well I'm damned! I never noticed, but forgive me; do go on.'

'Dahlgaard had emptied the cabin space of furniture, though, and it struck me that there was a reason why he had not completely cleared the after part of the ship for action. At the time I gave it no further thought, beyond welcoming the respite, expecting the Danes to burst through the flimsy door at any moment. In fact the fire beyond the bulkhead slackened and then ceased. A few minutes later, things having fallen silent, we ventured out to find the ship had struck her colours. I think those men who were not still at the guns had been called away to defend the upper deck just at the point when you gained the upper hand.'

'Go on.'

'After you left me prize-master I posted guards and went back into the cabin to seize the ship's papers. Dahlgaard had left a bunch of keys, a pair of pistols, a telescope and a number of other articles one would have supposed he ought to have had disposed about his person. I found them on the stern settee. I tried the keys and found they fitted the usual lockers and also a lazarette hatch. I think Dahlgaard underestimated us, sir, thought he could dispense with the aftermost guns in order to preserve intact what lay below his cabin.'

'The specie?'

Yes. A dozen chests of it. Gold ingots ... I have no idea how many.'

'And you placed a guard on it?'

'Mr Fisher. I locked the poor fellow in. I have just been aboard, before reporting to you. He is all right; he stuck to his post after I impressed the importance of it upon him, though he is very hungry.'

'Does he know what he is guarding?'

Frey shook his head. 'No, not exactly; only that it is important.'

'Twelve-year-old boys take much for granted, including the presumed wisdom of their elders, I'm glad to say. And the Danes made no attempt to regain it, not even during your negotiations?' Frey shook his head. 'No. I thought better than to draw their attention to it.'

'Quite.' Drinkwater frowned, then said, 'Perhaps Dahlgaard and his lieutenants were the only ones to know of it, and I suppose the Americans themselves may well have physically shifted the stuff. The fact that it was concealed in wooden boxes would have prevented all but a few officers from knowing its true nature. It would also explain the protracted length of time taken to tranship that cargo. I imagine Dahlgaard insisted the Americans surrender the gold before he released the arms. There was certainly much toing and froing between the ships, and the Odin would have been stuffed with the arms shipment. Her crew must have been heartily sick of having their freedom impeded by so much cargo.'