Colours Aloft! by Alexander Kent Read Free Book Online

flagship for a dozen things, but some last warning made him turn.
    â€œIf you are thinking, Captain Latimer, that it is a long, long way to New South Wales, let me assure you that you will not even see Gibraltar if you abuse your authority again.”
    He climbed down into the cutter and waited to be pulled back to the ship.
    He was breathing hard and thought his hands must be shaking. He saw the cutter’s midshipman staring at him. He must have seen most of it.
    Keen said, “You are all eyes today, Mr Hext.”
    Hext, just thirteen years old, nodded and swallowed hard.
    â€œI—I’m sorry, sir. But, but—”
    â€œGo on, Mr Hext.”
    Hext flushed crimson, knowing that the oarsmen were watching as they pushed and pulled on their looms.
    â€œWhen I saw it, sir, I—I wanted to stand with you—”
    Keen smiled, moved by the boy’s sincerity. It was probably hero-worship and nothing deeper, but it did more to steady Keen’s mood than he could have believed possible.
    He had heard it said that Hext wrote many letters to his parents although there was little time to post any of them.
    He said, “Never be afraid to help the helpless, Mr Hext. Think on it.”
    The midshipman clung to the tiller bar and stared blindly at the towering masts and rigging of the flagship.
    He would write about it in his next letter.
    â€œToss your oars!” he piped.
    It was a moment he would never lose.

3 N O DEADLIER ENEMY
    B OLITHO was leaning on the sill of the great stern windows when Keen entered his cabin, his hat beneath one arm.
    Astern of Argonaute the other ships tilted over on the larboard tack, the courses and topsails braced round to hold the wind. Apart, and yet still with her escort, the Orontes was making better progress with her jury rudder, but the squadron’s speed was still severely reduced.
    The ship felt cold and damp. Bolitho thought of the Mediterranean and the warmth they would find there.
    It was a full day since the trouble aboard Orontes and Bolitho could imagine the speculation on the lower deck, wardroom too, about the girl in the sickbay.
    Keen looked at him and asked, “You wished to see me, Sir Richard?”
    It would not be lost on Keen that Ozzard and the others were absent. It was to be a private conversation.
    â€œYes. A letter has been sent to me by Orontes ’ master.”
    Keen nodded. “My cox’n collected it, sir.”
    â€œIn it he protests at your behaviour, our behaviour since you are under my command, and threatens to take the matter to higher authority.”
    Keen said softly, “I am sorry. I did not mean to involve you—”
    Bolitho said, “I would have expected no other action from you, Val. I am not troubled by that oaf ’s threat. If I were to press home a claim from his employers for salvage Captain Latimer would be on the beach before he knew it. His sort are scum, they work for blood-money, like their counterparts in slavery.”
    Keen waited, half surprised that Bolitho had not taken him to task for interfering in the first place. He should have known.
    Bolitho asked, “Have you spoken to this girl?”
    Keen shrugged. “Well, no, sir. I thought it best to leave her with the surgeon until she recovers. You should have seen the whip, the size of the man who struck her—”
    Bolitho was thinking aloud. “She will have to be cared for by another woman. I did consider Inch’s ship after your suggestion, but I’m not sure. Officers’ wives and a girl sentenced to transportation, though for what crime we cannot yet know. I will ask Latimer for details of her warrant.”
    Keen said, “It is good of you to take the trouble, sir. If I had only known—”
    Bolitho smiled gravely. “You would still have acted as you did.”
    Feet thudded overhead and blocks squealed as the officer-of-the-watch yelled for the braces to be manned.
    In a crowded