The Only Victor by Alexander Kent

Author:Alexander Kent [Kent, Alexander]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: C429, Kat, Extratorrents
ISBN: 9780099497691
Publisher: Random House UK
Published: 2006-12-18T13:30:00+00:00

He heard Allday cough, then stifle it with his hand. His coxswain was probably as glad as he was to have arrived in one piece. Thank God the Dover Road had been deserted, because the coachman had driven like a soul possessed. Bolitho had the feeling he was well used to this kind of work.

"Halt.' Who goes there?"

Bolitho tossed his boat-cloak back from one epaulette and walked into a circle of lantern-light. He heard Jenour's familiar voice, saw his pale breeches as he hurried out to greet him.

"Bravo, Sir Richard! You must have been blessed with wings!"

Bolitho shook his hand. It was cold, like his own, and he was reminded of Catherine's words about the coming winter.

Allday muttered, "That bugger nearly did what the Dons an' the Frogs has failed to do many times!"

The Officer-of-the-Guard joined them and doffed his hat. "Welcome to Dover, Sir Richard."

Bolitho could feel the lieutenant's scrutiny even in the dark. Recognition again, curiosity too.

Bolitho had never really liked Dover. He found it difficult to forget the months before the outbreak of war—what was it? Thirteen years ago? It did not seem possible. He had been unemployed, still weakened by the fever which had struck him down so cruelly in the Great South Sea, and which had all but killed him.

Too many captains, too few ships. In peacetime the fleet had been cut to the bone, sound vessels laid up to neglect and rot, sailors thrown on the beach unwanted with no jobs to go to.

Bolitho was still very bitter about it. Like the shantyman's song which had ended on that same note, Now we have naught to eat and drink, For you have naught to fear . . . Would it be the same when this war was finally won, and a part of history?

More than anything he had wanted a ship then. To forget his experiences in the Great South Sea, to begin all over again with another fine frigate like his Tempest had been. Instead he had been offered the thankless task of recruiting men at the Nore and the Medway towns, and at the same time seeking out deserters who had fled the navy for the more lucrative and brutal trade of smuggling.

His work had sometimes brought him to Dover. To see a smuggler kick out his life on the gallows, or to pit his wits against the authorities, the men of power who were hand-in-glove with the Brotherhood, as it was called. But the guillotine's blade which had fallen on the neck of France's king had changed all that overnight. Not a frigate; they had given him the old Hyperion. It was as if she had been destined for him.

Now like so many faces, she too had gone to the bottom.

He realised the others were waiting and said, "What ship?"

The lieutenant swallowed apologetically. "My orders are—"

Bolitho snapped, "Don't waste my time, man!"

"She lies out at anchor, Sir Richard. The Truculent, Captain Poland." He sounded crushed.

Bolitho sighed. Like a family. You either lost touch completely, or faces and ships reappeared again and again.

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.