Dennis Wheatley - Black August

'No, not exactly, but '

'Well, what is it then?' Sallust cut him short impatiently. 'I understand you to say that you had a complete crew.'

'Yes, nearly eighteen of them are in irons at the moment, we had rather a bother with them last night demonstration in sympathy with those bad eggs in the Battle Squadron; normally they would be in prison on shore, but instructions were to keep them here for the time being. We had a bit of bad luck with our Gunner this morning too the front wheel of his push bike got in a tramline and he went over the handlebars they've detained him in hospital on shore, but of course I could manage easily with the rest.'

'Then for goodness' sake let me get on with my job.'

'I'm sorry, but I've already told you, sir I can't sail until my Captain turns up. I have no official order unless you've got one you can show me from a Naval Authority?'

'Of course I haven't.' Sallust spoke with unusual heat. 'I received my orders verbally from Eastern Command when they handed me the packet I showed you, but you should have had your instructions from the Naval people here in the early hours of the morning.'

'Quite, sir, but you do see my position, don't you?'

'Now look here, Commander,' Gregory had suddenly become very amiable again, 'I quite appreciate that it is an awkward situation for you, but there's a war on you know or its equivalent at all events. The Government seems to have got the country into a ghastly mess and now it's looking to the Services to pull it out. It's my job to get my troops wherever they're ordered at the earliest possible moment you must understand the urgency of the matter. I appeal to you as a brother officer to get this ship under way without any further delay.'

The Lieutenant Commander smiled, obviously sympathetic towards the Generals anxiety to be off. 'I'm sorry, sir, it's quite impossible I can't put to sea without my Captain. I tell you what though! I'll slip over to the signal station and try and get him on the telephone; it's not a long job, and if I can't get in touch with him I'll ring up the Secretary's office at Admiralty House and ask if any instructions have come through.'

'Splendid!' Gregory grinned suddenly. 'That's awfully good of you I wish you would.'

'Righto! I won't be five minutes.' With a friendly wave of his hand Fanshawe disappeared over the side.

Gregory paced slowly up and down the quarter deck. His lean, rather wolfish face showed a nervy satisfaction, but his sharp eyes were never off the jetty for more than a moment, and when the Lieutenant Commander reappeared he walked quickly over to the gangway to meet him.

'It's all right, sir,' came the cheerful hail, 'I haven't found my Captain but I can explain why those orders never came through!'

'Can you? That's good,' Gregory nodded.

Yes, all the wires are down and the private line's been cut, so they are sending dispatches by road and one of the cars was wrecked outside Strood round about two o'clock this morning. The Secretary at Admiralty House seemed to think instructions about your party must have been among that bunch.'

'I see, but he agreed to our sailing at once.'

'Well, he could hardly do that himself, and when he went in to see the Admiral the old man was so up to his eyes in it that he couldn't get anything very definite, but he says General Instructions are that where communications have broken down officers will be expected to act on their own initiative, rather than remain idle, and that every opportunity should be taken to act in conjunction with the sister services so in an emergency like this, I think that lets me' out.'

'Good for you. Then I'll slip down to the wardroom for a moment if you don't mind.'

A pleasant smile spread over Fanshawe's face. 'Rather, sir, and I think we'd better make you an honorary member of the Mess.'

'Thanks,' Gregory tapped his pocket. 'When we're clear of the lock I'll come up again and we'll open these orders.' Then he went below.

The orders when opened caused Fanshawe considerable surprise. They were not destined for London after all but ordered to proceed to a point some miles east of the Goodwin’s, and there to lie to until nine o'clock the following morning, at which hour a second set of sealed orders, enclosed in the first, were to be opened.

The naval man thought it devilish queer so apparently did Gregory, but he suggested that possibly they had been detailed to act as escort to some personage of importance who was leaving the country in a yacht, and who intended to rendezvous with them there.

However, the orders were definite, so His Majesty's destroyer Shark proceeded down the Medway, and making her pendants to the signal station at Garrison Point put out under these somewhat strange conditions to sea.

It was now obvious that the troops would have to spend at least one night on board, so arrangements were made by which that portion of the crew quartered on the lower mess deck handed it over to the soldiers, and mucked in temporarily with their shipmates on the upper. Ann and Veronica v ere allowed to occupy the absent Captain's cabin, and Gregory that of the Engineer Officer; Kenyon and Silas Harker that of the Gunner.

The weather clearing they were able to spend most of the afternoon on deck, and the Tommies seemed already on the friendliest terms with the men of the sister Service.

Fanshawe excused himself from dining that evening by saying that he had an urgent matter to attend to on deck, and Broughton was again officer of the watch, so Mr. Cousens a tall, freckle faced lieutenant with a pleasant smile, played host in the wardroom.

They discussed the many rumours and catastrophic events until, the port having gone round the table, Cousens stood up and bowed to the girls. 'I hope you'll forgive me, but I go on at midnight, so I must snatch an hour or two's sleep.' He smiled round in the others; 'Please ask the steward for anything you want.'

When he had left them Gregory signed to Rudd, who had been helping to wait on them, to shut the wardroom trap hatch which communicated with the pantry, then he lay back in his chair at the bottom of the table.

'Filthy port, isn't it?' he remarked casually, 'still, that's no fault of the Navy; just hard luck on the poor devils that they can't take vintage wine to sea, the constant rocking breaks the crust and turns it into mud.'

Kenyon shrugged, 'It's not too bad, I like a wood port for a change; but I was wondering where we shall be this time tomorrow.'

'This time tomorrow!' the General echoed. 'Well, I can give you a very good idea. If the weather is reasonably favourable we shall be heading westward a hundred miles or more south of the Isle of Wight.'

'My hat!' exclaimed Veronica, 'we're not going out into the Atlantic in this cockleshell, are we? '

'We are, my dear; so you'd better make up your mind to it.'

'Ye Gods! But I shall die.'

'I trust not.'

'Tell us, General,' Harker leaned forward across the narrow table, 'just how do you happen to know what's in that second set of secret orders?'

'I ought to,' Sallust replenished his glass with a second ration of the despised port, 'since I was responsible for planning this expedition.'

They all regarded him with quickened interest as he went on slowly: 'I realised that these Naval birds would never swallow the whole draught at one gulp, that's why I allowed for a twenty four hour interval before opening the second lot. Fortunately, as it turns out now, that gives me a chance to put you wise concerning my intentions.'

'Your intentions?' inquired Kenyon with peculiar emphasis.

'Yes, my intentions; which are with due respect to oil consumption and the hazard of picking up fresh supplies to run this hooker down to the West Indies just as soon as ever I can.'

'The West Indies!' Kenyon frowned. "The War Office must be crazy to send troops out of the country at a time like this.'