Stand Into Danger by Alexander Kent Read Free Book Online Page A

wits!” He hurried on, snapping orders, pushing men to their proper stations, the small midshipman already forgotten.
    Merrett sniffed. “Well, I do feel sick!”
    Bolitho said, “Stand over there.”
    He peered towards the speaking-trumpet and then aloft at his men strung out along the yards, the great billowing mass of the main-topsail already catching pockets of wind and trying to wrench itself free.
    â€œMan the braces! Stand by . . .”
    â€œAnchor’s aweigh, sir!”
    Like a released animal the Destiny paid off into the wind, her sails thundering out from her yards, banging and puffing in a frenzy until with the men straining at the braces to haul the yards round and the helm hard over she came under command.
    Bolitho swallowed bile as a man slipped on the mainyard but was hauled to safety by one of his mates.
    Round and further still, so that the land seemed to be whirling past the bows and the graceful figurehead in a wild dance.
    â€œMore hands to the weather forebrace! Take that man’s name! Mr Slade! See to the anchor and lively now!”
    Palliser’s voice was never still. As the anchor rose dripping to the cathead and was swiftly made fast to prevent it battering at the ship’s hull, more men were rushed elsewhere by his demanding trumpet.
    â€œGet the fore and main-courses set!”
    The biggest sails boomed out from their yards and hardened like iron in the driving wind. Bolitho paused to straighten his hat and draw breath. The land where he had searched for volunteers was safely on the opposite beam now, and with her masts lining up to the wind and rudder Destiny was already pointing towards the narrows, beyond which the open sea waited like a field of grey.
    Men fought with snaking lines, while overhead blocks screamed as braces and halliards took on the strain of muscle against the wind and a growing pyramid of canvas.
    Dumaresq had not apparently moved. He was watching the land sliding abeam, his chin tightly jammed into his neckcloth.
    Bolitho dashed some rain or spray from his eyes, feeling his own excitement, suddenly grateful he had not lost it. Through the narrows and into the Sound, where Drake had waited to match the Armada, where a hundred admirals had pondered and considered their immediate futures. And where after that?
    â€œLeadsman in the chains, Mr Slade!”
    Bolitho knew he was in a frigate now. No careful, portly manoeuvre here. Dumaresq knew there would be many eyes watching from the land even at this early hour. He would cut past the headland as close as he dared, with just a fathom between the keel and disaster. He had the wind, he had the ship to do it.
    Behind him he heard Merrett retching helplessly and hoped Palliser would not see him.
    Stockdale was bending a line round his palm and elbow in a manner born. On his thick arm it looked like a thread. He and the captain made a good pair.
    Stockdale said huskily, “Free, that’s what I am.”
    Bolitho made to reply but realized the battered fighter was speaking for his own benefit.
    Palliser’s tone stung like a lash. “Mr Bolitho! I shall tell you first, as I need the t’gan’sls set as soon as we are through the narrows! It may give you time to complete your dream and attend to your duties, sir!”
    Bolitho touched his hat and beckoned to his petty officers. Palliser was all right in the wardroom. On deck he was a tyrant.
    He saw Merrett bending over a gun and vomiting into the scuppers.
    â€œDamn your eyes, Mr Merrett! Clean up that mess before you dismiss! And control yourself!”
    He turned away, confused and embarrassed. Palliser was not the only one, it seemed.

2 S UDDEN DEATH
    THE WEEK which followed Destiny ’s departure from Plymouth was the busiest and the most demanding in Richard Bolitho’s young life.
    Once free of the land’s protection, Dumaresq endeavoured to set as much canvas as his ship could safely carry in a rising