I have done nothing to make me afraid, he said.
No, no, of course not, said the Governor hastily and out of countenance, like a parent denying to a child that a prospective dose of medicine would be unpleasant.
He looked round for some way of changing the subject, and fortunate chance brought one. From far below in the bowels of the fortress came a muffled sound of cheeringEnglish cheers, not Italian screeches.
That must be those men of yours, Captain, said the General, smiling again. I fancy the new prisoner must have told them by now the story of last nights affair.
The new prisoner? demanded Hornblower.
Yes, indeed. A man who fell overboard from the admirals shipthe Pluto, is it not?and had to swim ashore. Ah, I suspected you would be interested, Captain. Yes, off you go and talk to him. Here, Dupont, take charge of the captain and escort him to the prison.
Hornblower could hardly spare the time in which to thank his captor, so eager was he to interview the new arrival and hear what he had to say. Two weeks as a prisoner had already had their effect in giving him a thirst for news. He ran down the ramp, Dupont puffing beside him, across the cobbled court, in through the door which a sentry opened for him at a gesture from his escort, down the dark stairway to the iron-studded door where stood two sentries on duty. With a great clattering of keys the doors were opened for him and he walked into the room.
It was a wide low rooma disused storeroom, in factlit and ventilated only by a few heavily barred apertures opening into the fortress ditch. It stank of closely confined humanity and it was at present filled with a babel of sound as what was left of the crew of the Sutherland plied questions at someone hidden in the middle of the crowd. At Hornblowers entrance the crowd fell apart and the new prisoner came forward; he was naked save for his duck trousers and a long pigtail hung down his back.
Who are you? demanded Hornblower.
Phillips, sir. Maintopman in the Pluto .
His honest blue eyes met Hornblowers gaze without a sign of flinching. Hornblower could guess that he was neither a deserter nor a spyhe had borne both possibilities in mind.
How did you come here?
We was settin sail, sir, to beat out o the bay. Wed just seen the old Sutherland take fire, an Capn Elliott he says to us, he says, sir, Nows the time, my lads. Topsls and togarns. So up we went aloft, sir, an Id just taken the earring o the main togarn when down came the mast, sir, an I was pitched off into the water. So was a lot o my mates, sir, but just then the Frenchy which was burnin blew up, an I think the wreckage killed a lot of em, sir, cos I found I was alone, an Pluto was gone away, an so I swum for the shore, an there was a lot of Frenchies what I think had swum from the burning Frenchy an they took me to some sojers an the sojers brought me here, sir. There was a orficer what arst me questionsitd a made you laugh, sir, to hear him trying to speak Englishbut I wasnt sayin nothin, sir. An when they see that they puts me in here along with the others, sir. I was just telling em about the fight, sir. There was the old Pluto, an Caligula, sir, an
Yes, I saw it, said Hornblower, shortly. I saw that Pluto had lost her main topmast. Was she knocked about much?
Lor bless you, sir, no, sir. We hadnt had half a dozen shot come aboard, an they didnt do no damage, barrin the one that wounded the Admiral.
The Admiral! Hornblower reeled a little as he stood, as though he had been struck. Admiral Leighton, dyou mean?
Admiral Leighton, sir.
Waswas he badly hurt?
I dunno, sir. I didnt see it meself, o course, sir, seein as how I was on the main deck at the time. Sailmakers mate, he told me, sir, that the Admiral had been hit by a splinter. Coopers mate told him, sir, what helped to carry him below.
Hornblower
could say no more for the present. He could only stare at the kindly stupid face of the sailor before him. Yet even in that moment he could take note of the fact that the sailor was not in the least moved by the wounding of his Admiral. Nelsons death had put the whole fleet into mourning, and he knew of half a dozen other flag officers whose death or whose wounding would have brought tears into the eyes of the men serving under him. If it had been one of those, the man would have told of the accident to him before mentioning his own misadventures. Hornblower had known before that Leighton was not beloved by his officers, and here was a clear proof that he was not beloved by his men either.
But perhaps Barbara had loved him. She had at least married him. Hornblower forced himself to speak, to bear himself naturally.
That will do, he said, curtly, and then looked round to catch his coxswains eye. Anything to report, Brown?
No, sir. All well, sir.
Hornblower rapped on the door behind him to be let out of prison, to be conducted by his guard back to his room again, where he could walk up and down, three steps each way, his brain seething like a pot on a fire. He only knew enough to unsettle him, to make him anxious. Leighton had been wounded, but that did not mean that he would die. A splinter woundthat might mean much or little. Yet he had been carried below. No admiral would have allowed that, if he had been able to resistnot in the heat of a fight, at any rate. His face might be lacerated or his belly torn openHornblower, shuddering, shook his mind free from the memories of all the horrible wounds he had seen received on ship board during twenty years service. But, coldbloodedly, it was an even chance that Leighton would dieHornblower had signed too many casualty lists to be unaware of the chances of a wounded mans recovery.