Free The Devil to Pay by David Donachie Page A

tell those who came after the depth of water they could expect under their keel, often made by officers and warrants for pleasure as much as duty. In examination of the options Pearce, in discussion with Dorling, had alighted on two possibilities; slightly to the southward laythe ancient harbour of Scalea, little used now. The other alterative lay to the north-east, the small fishing port of Sapri at the apex of the Gulf of Policastro, the great bight into which they were being forced.
    The former, Scalea, was the better option, given it might have some kind of defence. Sapri lay in a deep horseshoe bay and by all accounts possessed a mole but seemed too much of a backwater to justify any cannon, even less a garrison able to use it. Both suffered from the same drawback; once in their harbour
Larcher
would be trapped and any help would have to be sent for, that is if the enemy made no attempt to cut them out.
    ‘Our friends have the same charts as us, your honour.’
    ‘And may well have more local knowledge, Mr Dorling, given their predecessors have been raiding on these shores for centuries.’
    ‘I take leave to doubt they are as diligent as the King’s Navy.’
    Said with pride it seemed to Pearce that it would be churlish to point out that at one time this had been a Saracen sea and one in which, even when evicted from the island of Sicily, they had plundered at will. When it came to the despoliation, Italy, with over 600 sandy bays on two elongated coasts, was indefensible.
    ‘We are not yet forced to a decision, let us see what happens.’
    Back on deck he joined Emily in looking over the stern – she had, as usual, vacated the cabin so they could examine the charts – and to him it was immediately obvious that what he had just said to Dorling had some resonance; the Barbary brigantine to the south was making a fractionmore speed than his consort, which in time and if nothing was done would remove the option of Scalea. In short, they knew the possibilities as well as he did.
    ‘Is it permitted to ask how we fare, John?’
    He looked aloft at the pennants, which if they were not stiff on the breeze had more life in them now than at any time since they had left Palermo. ‘I would say our enemies have a plan while we are on the wing, which is not where I would like to be. But nothing is decided.’
    ‘Are we worth the effort?’
    It did not seem a good idea to mention that such people made a profit from selling slaves as well as captured cargoes. But Emily had raised a telling point: HMS
Larcher
, for those bent on piracy, was no great prize; indeed he had hoped that seeing the chase as lengthy and one of little return they would desist, but they had not. This led him to the unwelcome conclusion that they could be in search of retribution, a thought he had suppressed, it being not far off the superstition of the on-board Jeremiahs.
    Could it just be for pride? Had that been so dented by their previous defeat that redress was essential? And what about Captain Fleming and
Sandown Castle?
Pearce had to assume the merchantman had got away but maybe he too had found these two waiting for him in a situation in which he could not avoid being taken?
    ‘They think so, which is all that matters.’
    ‘Land ho!’
    The cry from aloft and a pointed hand told him, before the words were spoken, that their landfall lay right over the makeshift bowsprit. It was gratifying not to have to issue any orders to Dorling; he was already on his way asPearce ordered the helmsman to alter course slightly north, which would take them close into the headland of the gulf. The way that southerly brigantine was behaving made any notion of Scalea too risky.
    Walking forwards he laid a hand on the lower part of the mainmast, original and well seated in the keel that would hold. It was what sat above it that caused worry, for the only thing holding two bits of timber together were the thick laths lashed tightly with cables and it was now