Dennis Wheatley - Black August

Between them they removed the Lieutenant Commander's body and cleaned up the wardroom. Rudd produced a bottle of brandy from the pantry and Ann was given a strong tot, after which her sobbing ceased and she lay with closed eyes against Veronica's shoulder.

For a seemingly interminable time the ship raced on into the darkness, while they sat, silent and disconsolate, weighed down with the horror and futility of the bloodshed which had taken place that night.

At last Crowder reappeared and told them to come on deck. They filed up the ladder for the last time, the stoker leading with his revolver drawn, and as they made their way forward the mutineers on the deck shambled aside to let them pass with sullen glances. In the bows they found Gregory propped up against the capstan.

'How is your Majesty?' Veronica inquired. She could not resist the gentle sarcasm.

He smiled up at her a little grimly in the darkness. 'Lucky to be alive, I suppose. The shell burst knocked me out, but miraculously I escaped further damage except for a twisted leg.'

Crowder's husky voice broke in behind them. 'Now if it's all the same to you I'm going to drop you here. See over there? That's the Sunk Lightship winking now an' that's the direction of 'Arwich. Nigh on fifteen mile it 'ud be, but if the men put their backs into it you should be there for breakfus'.'

'Right, carry on, Crowder,' said Gregory tonelessly.

The lurching form of the stoker disappeared in the shadows. Silence fell on the little group by the capstan while the thresh of the screws sensibly diminished and the destroyer eased down. The periodic flash from the Sunk appeared, a friendly note in the darkness, but as the ship heaved to in a gentle swell they felt a moderate breeze which had sprung up from the south eat,., and Petty Officer Sims remarked that he thought it heralded a threat of fog.

The sailors were busy turning out the whaler. The falls ran easily, and at a curt order from Crowder she was slipped with a barely perceptible splash. The party collected with their rifles at the ready, and marched aft with Harker leading. Sallust and a man who had a bullet through the calf of the leg was supported on each side, and followed the girls in the centre of the remaining troops; Kenyon brought up the rear.

Harker and Sims climbed into the boat which was gently tossing alongside. They made a rapid survey of the stores and reported all satisfactory. The girls, the wounded, the ammunition and the Lewis guns were lowered, then the rest of the party went over the side, Kenyon remaining alone for a moment with Crowder at the rails.

He pointed past the lightship and said: 'You are certain that is the direction of Harwich?'

'Sure of it I got a wife and kids in 'Arwich,' the stoker added thoughtfully.

'Have you?'

'Yes, an' I'm real anxious about them not that the old lady can't look after herself but still '

Kenyon glanced at the man curiously. A few hours before he had been prepared to murder anybody he had in fact shot his own Commander, for what Kenyon supposed he considered his rights and principles; now, he was as human as anybody else and anxious about his wife and children.

'Well, I hope they're all right,' he said. 'So long.'

'So long,' repeated the big man. 'Best o' luck,' and Kenyon slipped over the side into the waiting boat.

As the boat shoved off, the oars were got out by the soldiers and Greyshirts who were sitting amidships, and pulling slowly, they passed under the stern of the destroyer, being momentarily caught up in the wash from her powerful screws as she forged ahead again.

From the low altitude of the boat the flash of the Sunk did not show so plainly. A tenuous mist seemed to be rising from the sea and borne on the south easterly breeze, wisps of fog began to obscure their vision.

I don t like the looks of it,' muttered Sims who had the tiller.

Gregory, seated next to him in the stern, glanced back towards the ship, but with amazing swiftness it had already been swallowed up in the rapidly rising mist. The men were pulling as well as their inexperience allowed towards the flash of the Light Vessel, but it was only, visible hazily now, for the great banks of chill grey fog seemed to be closing in all round. Ten minutes later that too had disappeared.

Rudd relieved Sims at the tiller in order that the Petty Officer might get out the compass. For some minutes he fumbled with it and muttered to himself anxiously, then setting it down he said in a low voice to Gregory: 'I'm sorry, sir, but this compass has had a biff; it's out of action.'

Gregory nodded quietly: 'I see; we're out of the frying pan into the fire then adrift in the great North Sea?'

'I fear that's so, sir.'

Suddenly the hideous wail of a banshee echoed out over the desolate waste of the fogbound waters. I was Rudd who had broken into his other aria: 'A Life on the Ocean Wave.'

16

Latitude 51° 49' N. Longitude 2° 06' E.

'Oh, shut up,' moaned Gregory.

'Sorry, sir,' Rudd ceased his serenade abruptly. I forgot you were 'ors de combat.'

'This compass,' said Kenyon, 'can't you make it work, Sims?'

The P.O. had just unscrewed the top and removed the card. He shook his head. ' 'Fraid not, sir, the pivot's broken.'

'What'll we do then?' Harker asked.

'God knows. Let the men row gently but don't tire them. When daylight comes we'll get our direction from the sun. For the Lord's sake let me rest till then.' Gregory closed his eyes wearily.

Veronica made a pillow for his head with some coats and laid him out at full length on the bottom boards in the stern, while Kenyon and Silas checked up the occupants of the boat.

Besides themselves, the girls, Gregory, Rudd, and Sims, there were Sergeant Thompson with a lance corporal and six of his men, one of whom had a head wound, and another a bullet through his leg; also five Greyshirts, including Rudd's henchman, Bob, who sat in the bow of the boat with his arm in a sling. The party numbered twenty all told, therefore, of which four were disabled and two were women.

The boat was a long, five oared whaler so they were not unduly overcrowded. Sims had the tiller and Sergeant Thompson acted as look out in the bow. The pulling was jerky and uneven owing to the men's lack of experience with boats, but one or two had done a little sculling and Kenyon and Silas decided to take turns at stroke.

Counting out the wounded and the women there were just enough of them to form two complete crews; Kenyon with the Tommies, Rudd for steersman and Sergeant Thompson as look out making one watch; and Silas with his Greyshirts, Sims and the lance corporal the other. Once these arrangements had been made, Kenyon's party took first turn at working the boat.

It would have been stupid to exert themselves, since they only had a very vague idea where they were or in which direction they were going, and Kenyon did not attempt to do more than keep the whaler gently moving. Instead, by a monotonous repetition of In Out In Out' as the men dipped their oars he endeavoured to coach his crew into keeping some sort of time.

Gradually the darkness lightened but the mist lay heavy and thick about them, not even a glimmer of sun penetrated to the sea and no sound of sirens, indicating other shipping in the vicinity, reached them. With slow and wearisome regularity the oars rattled backwards and forwards in the crutches while the wavelets lapped and chuckled under the stern. The heavy seas of the night before had subsided into a gentle swell and the grey green waters seemed to rise rhythmically before them in huge low mounds, only to slip away again and mount to fresh heights in their wake.

When full daylight came they suffered the illusion that the mist was lifting, since from the stern it seemed that they could see several lengths ahead, but they soon realised that they had only discovered the genera! density of the fog, and their length of vision did not alter as they advanced into the curtain of chill greyness which shut out light and sun. A dearie feeling of loneliness and uncertainty stole over them, engendered by the silence and mystery of these seemingly impenetrable yet opaque walls of gloom. Even Barker's resilient cheerfulness was temporarily dampened and all of them were cold, hungry, and exhausted from lack of sleep.