Bolitho 20 - The Darkening Sea by Alexander Kent

Author:Alexander Kent
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780099484455
Publisher: Arrow
Published: 1993-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

The Cutlass

The house now employed as army headquarters for the growing military strength at Cape Town had once been the property of a wealthy Dutch trader. It nestled below the uncompromising barrier of Table Mountain and drew what breeze it could from the bay where the ships, like the soldiers, waited for orders.

Fans swung back and forth in the biggest room, which overlooked the sea, moved by hidden servants so that they should not disturb anyone. There were blinds at the long windows, but even so the reflected light from the sea was blinding, the sky salmon-pink like an early sunset. In fact it was noon, and Bolitho shifted in a cane chair while the general finished reading the report an orderly had just presented to him.

Major-General Sir Patrick Drummond was tall and solidly built, with a face almost as red as his coat. A successful officer in the early part of the Peninsular War and in many lesser campaigns, he had the reputation of being a ‘soldier’s soldier’: prepared to listen, equally ready to discipline anyone who failed to meet his standards.

Bolitho had already seen some of the military Drummond was expected to mould into a team capable enough to land on enemy islands and take them, no matter what it cost. It was not an enviable task.

Drummond himself was in a half-lying position with his feet on a small table. Bolitho noted that his boots were like black glass, and the splendid spurs that adorned them could have been the work of a famous silversmith.

Drummond looked up as a servant padded into the room and began to pour wine for the general and his visitor.

Bolitho said, “As you know, I have all my ships at sea, and I am expecting the arrival of two brigs.”

The general waited for the servant to move the goblet so that he could reach it without any effort, and said, “I am only afraid that we may be in danger of over-reacting.” He scratched one of his long grey sideburns and added, “You are a famous and successful sea-officer, Sir Richard. It is something to get such praise from a soldier, eh? But one so notable surprises me. I would have thought a senior captain, a commodore even, could perform this work. It is like hiring ten porters to carry a musket!”

Bolitho sipped the wine. It was perfect, and seemed to spark off another memory: the cellars in St. James’s Street, and Catherine seeking assurances that the wine she was buying for him was as good as the shop claimed.

He said, “I do not think this campaign will proceed easily if we cannot dispose of the enemy’s sea forces. They have to be based in Mauritius, and we must be prepared for other bases in the smaller islands. We could have failed at Martinique had the enemy been able to grapple with our military transports.”

Drummond gave a wry smile. “Thanks to you, I gather, the enemy got a bloody nose instead!”

“We were ready, Sir Patrick.

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