One of ems Camilla s launch, sir, I can recognise her through the glass. I dont think the other is from Nonsuch, but I cant be sure.
Very good, Captain. Ill join you in a moment.
Ruin and destruction; five boats lost out of sevenand Bush lost too, seemingly. The destruction of the French siege-trainif it were destroyedwould be well worth the loss of the whole flotilla, to someone who could coldly balance profit and loss. But Bush gone! Hornblower could not bear the thought of it. He sprang from his bath and looked round for a towel. He saw none, and with exasperation tore a sheet from the bed on which to dry himself. Only when he was dry and seeking his clean shirt did he find the towels by the dressing-table where they should have been. He dressed hurriedly, and at every moment his fears and his sorrow on account of Bush increasedthe first shock had not been nearly as severe as this growing realisation of his bereavement. He came out into the ante-room.
One boats coming into the quay, sir. Ill have the officer reporting here in fifteen minutes, said Howard.
Brown was across the room at the far door. Now, if ever, Hornblower had the opportunityhis unaccountable brain recognised it at this momentto show himself a man of iron. All he had to do was to say My breakfast, Brown and sit down and eat it. But he could not pose, faced as he was by the possibility of Bushs death. It was all very well to do those things when it was merely a battle that lay before him, but this was the loss of his dearest friend. Brown must have read the expression on his face, for he withdrew without making any suggestion about breakfast. Hornblower stood undecided.
I have the court-martial verdicts here for confirmation, sir, said Howard, calling his attention to a mass of papers.
Hornblower sat down and picked one up, looked at it unseeing, and put it down again.
Ill deal with that later on, he said.
Ciders begun coming into the city from the country in great quantity, sir, now that the farmers have found its a good market, said Dobbs. Drunkenness among the mens increasing.
Can we?
Ill leave it to your judgment, said Hornblower. Now. What is it you want to do?
I would submit, sir, that
The discussion lasted a few minutes. It led naturally to the vexed question of an established rate of exchange for British and French currency. But it could not dull the gnawing anxiety about Bush.
Where the hells that officer? said Howard, petulantly pushing back his chair and going out of the room. He was back almost immediately.
Mr. Livingstone, sir, he said. Third of Camilla .
A middle-aged lieutenant, steady and reliable enough to outward appearance; Hornblower looked him over carefully as he came into the room.
Make your report, please.
We went up the river without incident, sir. Flame s boat went aground but was refloated directly. We could see the lights of Caudebec before we were challenged from the bankwe were just rounding the bend, then. Capn Bushs longboat was leading, sir.
Where was your boat?
Last in the line, sir. We went on without replying, as our orders said. I could see two barges anchored in midstream, an clusters of others against the bank. I put the tiller over and ran beside the one farthest downstream, as my orders said, sir. There was a lot of musketry fire higher up, but only a few Frenchies where we were, an we chased em away. On the bank where we were there were two twenty-four-pounders on travelling carriages. I had em spiked, and then we levered them off the bank into the river. One fell onto the barge underneath an went through it, sir. It sank alongside my launch, deck just level with the water; just before the turn of the tide, that was. Dont know what she carried, sir, but I think she was light, judging by the height she rode out of the water when I boarded her. Her hatches were open.
Yes?
Then I led my party along the bank as ordered, sir. There was a lot of shot there, just landed from the next barge. The barge was only half unloaded. So I left a party to scuttle the barge and roll the shot into the river, an went on myself with about fifteen men, sir. Flame s boats crew was there, an the party they were fighting against ran away when we came on their flank. There were guns on shore and guns still in the barges, sir. We spiked em all, threw the ones that had been landed into the river, and scuttled the barges. There was no powder, sir. My orders were to blow the trunnions off the guns if I could, but I couldnt.
I understand.
Guns spiked and pitched into the slime at the bottom of a rapid tidal river would be out of action for some time, even though it would have been better to blow off their trunnions and disable them permanently. And the shot at the bottom of the river would be difficult to recover. Horablower could picture so well in his mind the fierce and bloody little struggle in the dark on the river bank.
Just then we heard drums beating, sir, and a whole lot of soldiers came bearing down on us. A battalion of infantry, I should think it wasI think we had only been engaged up to then with the gunners an sappers. My orders were to withdraw if opposed in force, so we ran back to the boats. Wed just shoved off and the soldiers were firing at us from the banks when the explosion came.