Free Mutiny by Julian Stockwin Page B

He glanced up at the red-white-red of their ensign — that of a unit
of the Austrian navy, their disguise for this part of the voyage. 'Wind fair
f'r Malta, five days north t' Venice, another three—'
    'Master says the wind's
dead foul this time of the year up the Adriatic'
    'So that lets us get
away fast, after,' said Kydd, with a chuckle.
    Renzi gave a
half-smile. 'We have a Venetian gentleman with us in the gunroom who will be
our agent. He warns that we're in some measure of danger: the advance of the
French into Italy is fast and unpredictable, and he cannot guarantee the
loyalties of any.'
    But in his present mood
Kydd could not be repressed. It should be straightforward enough: a fast
passage, send the boats in to bring off the fleeing notable, and a rapid exit,
to admiration and acclaim in Gibraltar. They were not looking for trouble - it
would go ill for the captain were he to rescue the fugitive, then hazard him in
a battle.
    Renzi swung round as the captain
appeared at the main-hatch. He wore a frown of worry, and searched the horizon
minutely. They were deep into a hostile sea where every man's hand was turned
against them, every sail an enemy. 'How does the ship, Mr Griffith?' he asked
at length.
    'Well enough, sir—we shifted three
leaguers aft, seems to have cured the griping.' Kydd and his party down in the
hold had heaved aft three massive water casks to raise the vessel's bow,
altering her trim such that her stem did not bite so deeply to bring her head
to the wind.
    'Very well. Do you spare no pains
to impress their duty upon the lookouts!' 'Aye aye, sir.'
     
    A broad vista of royal blue water,
tinting darker as the evening drew on, was broken at the bows by a school of
the small dolphins peculiar to this enclosed sea. They played around the bows
of Bacchante, more like darting fish than the disciplined phalanx of the
oceanic dolphin.
    Renzi had his clay pipe
going to his satisfaction and stared out into the blue, letting the peace of
the evening calm his senses, the ceaseless wash and slop of the slight waves
soothing to the soul.
    'Y’r battle, it was a
close enough thing, you say,' Kydd said.
    'Elias
Petit is no more. A round-shot destroyed him.' The gentle, simple mariner, who
had shared their mess in the Artemis, had been slammed across the deck by the
impact of the ball, his innards strung out grotesquely.
    Kydd
murmured a commiseration.
    'And Joe Farthing lost
a leg.' One of the few original Seaflowers, a careful, sober seaman of the best
kind, he had been with them in the topsail cutter through all their adventures
in the Caribbean. The last Renzi had seen of him was his contorted body carried
down to the surgeon's knife with the ugly obscenity of a long splinter
transfixing his limb.
    'But
it was a noble victory, Nicholas.'
    'Of course it was, my
friend, one that will be talked about for all of time.'
    'Especially your Nelson
- boards a ship, takes it, then uses it to board another.'
    'They are calling it
"Nelson's Patent Bridge for Boarding First-Rates".'
    'Aye, and in Gibraltar
the toast is "To Nelson fill bumbo/For taking Del Mundo". Wish ye joy
of y'r prize money.'
    Renzi took another puff
on his pipe — he had been able to find the tobacco in Lisbon, the light but
fragrant Virginia he now favoured. 'Um, your lady, would it be indelicate of me
to ask her particulars?'
    'Ah, yes.' Emily's
image had slipped from Kydd's mind in the contentment of being at sea once
more, but Renzi's question brought a pang. 'She's very partial to m' company,
Nicholas. We've had some rare times vision' and sketchin' all over the Rock.'
    Renzi's
eyebrows rose.
    Kydd's features took on
a bashful cast. 'In a cave she kissed me — she wants me, I know it.'
    'And
her husband, what is his view of this?'
    Kydd threw him an indignant look. 'He's
not t' be troubled until Emily has settled her mind.'
    'You've
discussed this?'
    'Not as who should say,' Kydd admitted.
'Ladies don't come to it as fast as we men - they need