Convoy North (A John Mason Kemp Thriller) by McCutchan Philip

Author:McCutchan, Philip [McCutchan, Philip]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Endeavour Press
Published: 2014-12-14T16:00:00+00:00

TEN

I

Tension had mounted throughout the ship: Sub-Lieutenant Cutler was far from being the only one aboard who saw oblivion staring the Hardraw Falls in the face. Below in the engine-room Chief Engineer Sparrow stood grim-faced on the starting platform, wondering, amidst his thoughts about being the target for an unknown number of heavy German gun batteries, just how long his engines were going to stand the strain of being pushed to their maximum and beyond. They were not in their first flush of youth by any means, any more than he was himself, and they’d been pushed for too long already in the Commodore’s attempts to catch up with the convoy. Before long, something was likely to give. When the bridge passed down the word that there had been a surface contact, Sparrow was in no doubt what Theakston wanted: more speed.

‘Not possible,’ he said. ‘Engines are rattling to pieces as it is.’

‘Do your best, Chief,’ Theakston said.

Do your best, Sparrow thought, it’s the equivalent of the army’s ‘carry on, sergeant’. He passed the word, just for form’s sake, to the second engineer, who shook his head in disbelief that the bridge could expect miracles.

‘What’s the Old Man think we are, eh?’

Sparrow disregarded the rhetorical question. He said, ‘If this is the Jerry heavies, then I reckon they must have missed the main convoy.’

‘And found us. If so, it’s curtains.’ Weller gave the chief one of his calculating looks. The strain of war — of being about to be blown sky-high — would likely tell. Sparrow, seeing that look, knew what it meant. But it was somewhat on the late side now, he reckoned. They’d go aloft to the pearly gates still in the relationship of chief and second engineer. And if they were to make that final trip, then Sparrow wished they would get on with it. The tension engendered by waiting for the big bang and the clouds of boiling steam was acting upon him like they said about a drowning man, all his past life flashing like a cinema screen before his eyes, some good, some bad. Home and the wife and kids, ports all over the world, runs ashore to get boozed up with his friends and then find a woman, white, yellow or black; unfaithfulness had never mattered much then but it did now. He should have been more contained and it was, he thought regretfully, too late now to put in a good word for himself, a sort of apology.

Chief Steward Buckle was feeling much the same: so far in this war he had never been so close to the enemy as to fear the worst, had never been entirely alone on the waters as the Hardraw Falls now was, never been the main — the only — target for a strong force who probably believed they were about to make contact with the whole convoy and its escort and would blast away with everything they had the moment the Hardraw Falls was sighted.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.