A Time of Giants by Mike Wardle

Author:Mike Wardle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2019-11-17T16:00:00+00:00

Thirty

Simon Blake stared in disbelief as he stood on the roof of the Stevenson Transport building. He often went up there to look through his telescope to view the ships that were sailing in and out of the Port of Rio from far and wide.

He had gone up to the roof to farewell the Luchen on its way back to London and had witnessed the battle take place from a position of helplessness. There was no British Navy vessel in port to call on and no other ship that could have made it to the Luchen’s aid in time. He stood there and watched in shock and horror as the great merchant flagship had been blown out of the water by the two smaller ships.

It was an hour later when he saw a third ship move up behind and engage them.

‘Simon,’ Thomas’s voice was gravely quiet. He was standing next to him and had seen the battle unfold. ‘Simon, what are we to do?’

Simon did not reply. His grief was too fresh to think of the next move. He thought of his friend, Andrews, the first mate, Benson, and the two young boys, Caleb and Bobby, who had now perished. The crew of the Luchen counted over one hundred men, all company staff who had now been killed in the battle.

To take the great merchant ship down had been the one intention of the two flanking ships. They had succeeded but, whilst gloating over victory, they had allowed a third ship to approach close enough for an attack.

‘We wait to see who the attackers are.’ He had to know. The two ships had separated and one was making its way to the port under full sail. The other ship had not had enough time and had been engaged by the third vessel.

‘It was a calculated attack, Simon,’ Thomas continued. ‘They were hunting the Luchen and gave her no quarter.’

‘We wait until we know,’ Simon ordered.

It took only twenty minutes before the approaching ship was recognisable. The colours of the flag were undeniable. It was the Grey Cloud and it was heading into port with one target in mind. Him.

‘Bell,’ Thomas whispered. ‘He is coming for you, Simon. He knows, he knows about the waterfall. He knows about the–’

‘He knows nothing!’ Simon interrupted. ‘Calm yourself, Thomas. The coordinates were sent in pieces on different voyages. Even if he was made to tell Bell what he knew, Andrews did not have all the information. He did not have the first message and would have no idea where to look for the second.’

‘So, what do we do, sir?’

The Grey Cloud was approaching the harbour. It would dock within the hour and Simon knew that its crew and captain were heading for one place – the building in which he was standing. He raised his telescope to the horizon. The second ship that had attacked the Luchen had been sunk and the Man O’ War was now in pursuit of the Grey Cloud.

Would Bell stay and fight the Man O’ War? It was too much of a risk.

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