Tenacious: A Kydd Sea Adventure, #6 by Julian Stockwin

Author:Julian Stockwin [Stockwin, Julian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Herculaneum turned out to be a dusty expanse of crumbling ruins, picked over by paid labourers and dilettantes. Kydd was glad they had taken the precaution of shifting to shore clothing and stout shoes.

Renzi was in his element, happily exchanging observations on the House of Argus, Pliny the Elder and other unpronounceable names. Kydd was glad for him, but it seemed an age before they resumed their carriage and made for the colossal, glowering presence of the volcano.

"Has it been, er, angry at all since ..."

Hamilton smiled. "We had a brisk entertainment in 'seventy-nine, certainly, and have had some alarums since. But had you confided your unease to me before we left I could have provided you with a phial of the blood of San Gennaro, which infallibly protects those who venture on the slopes of Vesuvius."

"That won't be necessary," said Kydd, and stared out at the scrubby countryside. It grew thin and bare and, with a sudden thrill, he caught sight of the first brown-black hardened lava flows. A little further on the carriage stopped at a small gathering of waiting retainers and horses.

"We shall ride to the end of the track, gentlemen. Then we will be obliged to walk the rest of the way." Hamilton swung astride a pony and led the party in single file up a steep path that wound round the massive flanks of the volcano. They rode in silence, the uneasy quiet and garish rocks speaking to Kydd of a devilish underworld that lay beneath him ready to explode at any moment.

The soil lost the last of its vegetation, its colour now an inflamed dull red. Then the track petered out and the horses were slipping on the grey-black cinder that covered everything in sight. "Now we walk," Hamilton said, and dismounted.

They trudged up an incline, the cinders crunching underfoot. The acrid pungency of the volcano hung on the air. Renzi glanced at Kydd's set face and grinned. "You are in the best of hands, brother. Sir William's writings on the character of volcanoes are applauded throughout the civilised world."

Kydd muttered, in a low voice, "Y' know well that I can't abide fire—and now y' asks me to look on the fires o' hell itself."

Hamilton affected not to hear. "I'd give half my fortune to be in England when they receive news of your famous victory."

Renzi chuckled. "There'll be a scramble on 'Change, I'd wager," he said. "Pitt will see his chance to turn the credit to hard coin—it will quite put the opposition to the blush."

"No doubt," said Hamilton, regarding Renzi curiously. "But you must appreciate that the greater effect will be here. Conceive of it—not just a victory over the French but their annihilation! They now have no means to support their claim to the Mediterranean. In short, the careful building of colonies and garrisons since you were driven from the Mediterranean is as nothing now. All are isolated and ripe for our seizing, one by one and at our convenience.

"You will be aware that Turkey has declared against France and is opening the Dardanelles to our ships.

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