Water Spout! by Anthony Barton

Author:Anthony Barton [Barton, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bulmer Press
Published: 2019-04-18T04:00:00+00:00

SHE did not to turn her head. Whatever was upsetting the men and women of the lower deck should be dealt with by the Master at Arms or by a petty officer. It was not for her as captain to intervene or even take notice of the disruption, not unless the matter were brought formally to her attention.

The remonstrations grew louder.

She sighed.

If the matter were not dealt with soon, she would have to take notice and deal with it herself.

Her people were on edge. Naturally. The waterspout had shaken them.

‘It’s nor right,’ she heard the boatswain Townsend say. ‘We heard him at his spells. Opening up the night, he says. Prating to the Devil. We heard him. Conjuring up that wind he was.’

‘By rights we oughta toss him over the side,’ suggested another. That would be Ordinary Seaman Lyons by the sound of his voice. Never slow to speak his mind, that one.

She heard the steadying voice of her father. ‘Now listen to me, Townsend, Lyons. Not long ago I was marooned on what appeared on a desert island off the coast of Spain. But I soon discovered that I had company on that island. The place was roaming with bands of desperate men. That’s how the French had set it up. They had abandoned prisoners on the island and had not bothered to provide them with provisions. Each gang of hungry prisoners had a different name, there was The Walking Meat, the Living Dead, and so on. But they all made the same mistake. Instead of working together to save themselves, they turned on each other. Ask young Ramón. He’ll tell you how it was. He was there, and he and I barely escaped with our lives. Now it seems to me that our accidental encounter with a waterspout has left people like you and me in much the same kind of a pickle as the Walking Meat and the Living Dead. We are short of food and water. Our only hope of surviving is to work together, and make for the nearest dockyard. Luckily for us, that dockyard is days away. But our frigate is damaged. We can ill afford waste time to attacking one another, and we have no time at all to spare for throwing anyone overboard. Do I make myself clear?’

‘But’s it’s not right , sir. He’s a jinx, that one. We heard wot he said.’

‘He is an officer. We are not Frenchman Lyons. We are Englishmen. We treat our prisoners properly. We do not throw them over the side or abandon them to eat one another on remote islands. Do I make myself clear?’

‘’Anging’s too good for him.’

No mistaking that voice. That was Harbottle, Corrie’s personal servant. She was a bit surprised to hear Harbottle being so brazen and angry, but then Harbottle had been one of the men punished unjustly by Vibert during his brief ascendency.

She turned on her heel, strode down the deck, and addressed her father.

‘These men giving you trouble, lieutenant?’

‘I don’t think so, captain.

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