Pride and the Anguish by Douglas Reeman Read Free Book Online Page A

sticks!”
    Tweedie clambered on the bridge and said harshly, “Duty watch is swaying out stores, sir. Sub-Lieutenant Hammond is O.O.D.”
    Trewin picked up his cap. “Is he? I thought he was duty in Singapore, too?”
    Mallory nudged him. “He was a naughty boy. Let the awnings get slack. So Father got angry with him.” He grinned unfeelingly. “Still, it’ll do him good. He’s only a kid!”
    Trewin looked quickly at Tweedie. “You can carry on here then, Guns. I’ll go and stretch my legs for an hour. I’ll stand you a drink when I get back.”
    Tweedie’s red face remained unsmiling. “I never drink on passage, sir.” He saluted and clumped back to the main deck.
    Mallory sighed. “Lying bastard!” He followed Trewin down the ladder. “Has it in his bloody bunk just in case he has to buy someone else one!”
    The two officers stepped on to the pier and pushed through the cheerful crowd of onlookers. Trewin remarked, “Quite an event it seems.” Then he asked, “Where did the captain say he was going?”
    â€œThe hospital.” Mallory gestured to the road. “It’s up there. Built for a big rubber plantation some years ago. But the place went bust and the jungle moved in again. The hospital has been kept on because of,” he tapped his nose, “the
International Situation
!” He quickened his pace and pointed towards the tall, ramshackle house which was indeed built on stilts. “The club!”
    It was a dreary place, filled with small cane tables andbattered chairs to match. The walls were open to the river and covered with mosquito netting, and the fan which churned the humid air back and forth across the threadbare carpet was hand-worked by a wizened Malay who sat on an upended beer crate as if he had been there since the place was built.
    Mallory banged the zinc-topped bar. “Two beers!”
    An unsmiling Malay brought the beer which looked better than it tasted.
    Mallory slumped in a chair and said, “Dead as a doornail! It livens up a bit at nights though.”
    â€œWho comes here, for God’s sake?” Trewin sipped the beer and watched two flies crawling on his knee.
    Mallory shrugged. “Engineers mostly. They’re adding to a big fuel dump about a mile up the road. The Army are a bit cut off up here and will need a lot of stores if the balloon does go up.” He groaned and banged down the glass. “The Japs’d be nuts to come this way! The insects would eat ’em alive!” He saw Trewin was interested and added, “Ten miles to the north of where we’re sitting there’s a whole brigade dug in.” He grinned. “Aussies, of course! They always stick our chaps out in the bloody bush!”
    Trewin considered the remark. Penned in by jungle away from the smell of the sea it was hard to picture the overall strategy which went to the defence of Malaya.
    Mallory said soberly, “It’s a good spot,
militarily
speaking, of course. They’ve got the Pahang River to the north of them, which is better than any Maginot Line. And this little river down here to protect the flank. Next time we come this way I’ll take you up there. They’re a good lot of boys. One or two of ’em from Queensland, too.”
    Two more beers were placed on the table and Mallory said gloomily, “We had the admiral aboard on the last visit. Hell, he nearly blew his top. He wanted to do a sort of grand tour, and old Corbett insisted on visiting the flaming hospital just when he was about to go inland.” He shook his head. “God, there’s no love lost between those two jokers!”
    Trewin recalled Kane’s words. He said, “The captain knew the admiral before, I gather?”
    â€œS’right. I don’t know what happened.” He shook his head. “But whatever it was has made Corbett very edgy indeed. He’s like a