Then you had better capture her, captain. I expect, from the information I have received, she will be sailing into the bay here at any moment.
Then I must go back to my ship immediately, said Hornblower, all agitation. The possibility that his frigate might be attacked in his absence by a fiftygun ship threw him into a seething panic. What would the Lords of the Admiralty say if the Lydia were lost while her captain was on shore?
There is food being brought in. Behold, said el Supremo.
The door at the end of the hall was flung open as he spoke. A crowd of attendants began to walk slowly in, carrying a large table covered with silver dishes, and bearing four large silver candelabra each supporting five lighted candles.
Your pardon, but I cannot wait for food. I must not, said Hornblower.
As you will, said el Supremo indifferently. Alfonso!
The negroid majordomo came forward, bowing.
See that Captain Hornblower goes back to his ship.
El Supremo had no sooner spoken the words than he relapsed into an attitude of contemplation. The bustle attendant upon the bringing in of the banquet he allowed to pass unheeded. He did not bestow another glance on Hornblower, who stood before him, regretting already his precipitation in deciding to rejoin his ship, anxious to cause no offense by a breach of good manners, worried by the need to revictual the Lydia , and acutely conscious that his present attitude of uncertainty before a man who was paying him no attention whatever was quite undignified.
This way, señor, said Alfonso, at his elbow, while el Supremo still gazed blankly over his head. Hornblower yielded, and followed the majordomo out to the patio.
Two men and three horses awaited him there, in the half light. Without a word, bewildered by this sudden turn of events, Hornblower set his foot in the linked hands of a half naked slave who knelt at his horses side and swung himself up into the saddle. The escort clattered before him out through the gates, and he followed them; night was falling fast.
At the corner of the path the wide bay opened before them. A young moon was fast fading down the sky. A shadowy shape in the centre of the silver water showed where the Lydia swung to her anchorshe, at least, was something solid and matteroffact in this mad world. Eastward a mountain top suddenly glowed red, illuminating the clouds above it, and then died away into darkness. They rode at a sharp trot down the steep path, past the moaning men tied to the stakes, past the stinking corpses, and into the little town. Here there was neither light nor movement; Hornblower had to leave his horse to the task of following the escort round the corners. The sound of the horses hoofs ceased as they reached the soft sand of the beach; and simultaneously he heard the pitiful moaning of the first man he had seen tied to a stake and saw the faint phosphorescence of the edge of the sea.
He felt his way in the darkness into the waiting boat, and sat on a thwart while to the accompaniment of an explosion of orders the unseen crew pushed off. There was not a breath of windthe sea breeze had died with the sunset and the land breeze had not yet sprung
up. The unseen crew tugged at six oars, and the water sprang into view, the foam faintly visible as each stroke waked the phosphorescence. Slowly they made their way out into the bay to the rhythmical sound of the oars. Far out across the water he could see the faint loom of the Lydia , and a minute later he heard the welcome sound of Bushs voice as he hailed.
Boat ahoy!
Hornblower made a speaking trumpet of his hands and hailed back Lydia!
The captain of a Kings ship calls himself by the name of that ship when he is on board a small boat.
Hornblower could hear all the expected noises now, could see all the expected sights; the bustle and clatter as boatswains mate and sideboys ran to the gangway, the measured tramp of the marines, the flickering of lanterns. The boat ran alongside and he sprang to the ladder. It was good to feel solid oak under his feet again. The pipes of the boatswains mates twittered in chorus; the marines brought their muskets to the present, and Bush was at the gangway to receive him, with all the pomp and ceremony due to a Captain arriving on board.
Hornblower saw, by the lantern light, the relief in Bushs honest face. He glanced round the decks; one watch, wrapped in blankets, was lying on the bare boards of the deck, while the other squatted by the guns ready for action. Bush had very properly maintained all precautions while thus at anchor in a presumably hostile port.
Very good, Mr. Bush, said Hornblower. Then he became conscious that his white breeches were stained by the dirty saddle, and that his best silk stockings were in threads about his calves. He felt discontented with his appearance; he was ashamed of the fact that he had come back to his ship in this undignified fashion, and without, as far as be knew, having settled anything for the future. He was angry with himself; he feared lest Bush should have a worse opinion of him should he come to know the facts. He felt his cheeks go hot with self-consciousness, and he took refuge, as ever, in uncommunicativeness.