04 The Tiger's Prey by Tom Harper Wilbur Smith

Author:Tom Harper Wilbur Smith [Wilbur Smith, Tom Harper]
Language: deu
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Tom sent the rest of the men to man the defences. They cut loopholes in the gates low and wide enough to accept the mouths of cannon. One of the men had been a carpenter, and he fitted them with lids like gun ports to disguise them from the outside. They rigged tarpaulin awnings over the guns to keep off the rain.

When that was done, he had them strip the palm thatch from the roofs of the Governor’s house and the other storehouses inside the fort. The moment they dried out, they would be tinder waiting to burn.

He went up on the walls and inspected the fort, studying the angles of fire and lines of attack. With the roofs off, the buildings were nothing more than shells; sand had started to blow into them, as if the beach had already begun to reclaim this spit of land that the East India Company had presumed to call its own.

Not for the last time, he cursed the Company for their carelessness – a symptom of their casual arrogance, the sense of entitlement that allowed them to monopolize the trade of an entire subcontinent. The godowns were too close to the fort: they would make perfect gun emplacements for the enemy besiegers. Worse, there was a cottage standing almost in the shadow of the north wall, from where marksmen could cover an assault. He would have to get the men to demolish it.

Movement at the edge of the forest caught his eye. A dozen of the Rani’s cavalrymen rode out from among the trees. They cantered along the beach, kicking spray from the surf, and reined in a little over two hundred yards away from the front of the fort. One pulled out a brass telescope and studied the fort through the lens.

‘Bring me a musket,’ Tom called, and was pleased to see how quickly the boy brought it to him, already loaded. He sighted it on the nearest rider and fired.

He knew they were out of range. He saw the ball kick up a plume of sand as it struck the beach a few paces in front of the men. The horses skittered back; one reared up, nearly throwing its rider. The others retreated.

Tom lowered the musket. He hadn’t expected to hit them, but at least now they knew they wouldn’t take the fort without a fight. He tossed the musket back to the boy who’d brought it.

‘Get that reloaded. We will need it again before long.’

Two of the horsemen galloped off, no doubt to warn the army that must be following them. The others began riding a lazy circle around the fort towards the settlement, careful to keep safely out of musket range.

‘Are all the men inside?’ Tom called.

‘Water party’s still out.’

‘Francis.’ He ran around to the landward side of the walls. Francis and his men were straggling back from the river, bent double under the weight of the casks they carried. Blocked by the godown, they had not seen the Rani’s riders approaching.

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