Free Battle Fleet (2007) by Paul Dowswell

Lieutenant for the fight they had had that dark night. When the boat had sailed past hailing distance, he sat down in the sand. We looked at him expectantly for orders.
    Eventually I spoke. ‘Shall we all go together, sir, to look for fruit, or in several parties?’
    He looked bewildered. To our surprise he began complaining about what we had been asked to do. ‘Bloody waste of time,’ he said sourly. ‘Fruit for scurvy. What stuff and nonsense. It’s
work
that keeps the scurvy from men’s bones, not fruit.’
    Then he turned to me and said, ‘Yes, off you go, Witchall. Take whoever will come with you. I shall stay here and summon you when the boat returns.’
    It seemed an unnecessarily dangerous thing Evison had asked us to do. But maybe he did it to take our minds off our predicament. Off we went, Bel, Thomas Bagley and me. Bagley carried a pistol so we had some defence against any man-eating animal, but we had only powder for one shot, and I feared that would be best used to defend ourselves from the natives. We found mangoes and figs close by and I took off my shirt to make a cradle to carry them.
    When we’d gathered all we could we returned to the edge of the beach. Hossack was there, crouching where the jungle ended and the sand began. A small party ofnatives remained at the opposite end of the crescent beach. ‘They’ve not taken their eyes off me the whole time you’ve been gone,’ said the Lieutenant. I could hear the fear in his voice.
    ‘We shall wait here until the boat returns. Then we shall run to it as quickly as we can. I dare say that will be the cue for the natives to attack us.’
    ‘Why are they waiting?’ I asked. ‘Why don’t they just kill us?’
    Hossack shook his head. ‘I don’t know. Maybe they think they’ll surprise us all at once. Maybe they hope to seize our boat. Maybe they’re waiting for reinforcements. Maybe they’re afraid of our guns.’
    So we waited. The sun rose to its zenith and I was grateful for the cover of the trees. We slaked our thirst on the fruit we had found. Fear gnawed at my gut. Bel was frightened too. As she sat in the sand, she clutched her arms tight across her stomach and rocked to and fro.
    We were sat slightly away from the others and I asked her if she was disappointed about having to leave New South Wales. I thought it would take her mind off the waiting. She was surprisingly forthright.
    ‘I liked the place but I never liked the people Miss Lizzie mixed with. Lieutenant Gray was the worst and there were plenty similar. Hossack’s a bit like Gray too. I keep waiting for her to see through him. That awful God-given arrogance. I never liked Gray. The first rowLizzie had with him was about me. “You’re far too familiar with that servant,” he said. After that she’d be snooty with me when he was there. Like it was expected of her. After they got engaged he started to drink more heavily.
    ‘I made up my mind that if she married him I was going to go. I wasn’t going to spend the rest of my life being kicked up the backside by an oaf like that. Then one day she came home with a black eye and told me she was going to call off the engagement.
    ‘Gray got steaming drunk and told her, right in front of me, that he knew people who would kill her for five guineas. I wasn’t having that. I said “I know people who would kill you for nothing.” That shut him up.’
    The
Orion
was a good half mile out at sea, and we could see they were still hauling the mast on board. Meanwhile, Hossack was plotting our best defence. ‘We must stay on guard for an attack at any quarter. The natives may decide to capture or kill us before our men return. They could come round under cover of the jungle and surprise us from behind.’
    I looked over to the far side of the beach. They were still there, and I could swear there were a few more of them. A quick count numbered twelve. With ourselves and the men in the boat we would still just about outnumber