Page 13 (1/2)

III

Chapter 13

PRAY AM I disturbing you?" Riley said aardly; he could not knock, because there was no door There were a great er coone, and a little ragged sailcloth was all which presently divided Laurence&039;s berth from Chenery&039;s, on one side, and from Berkley&039;s on the other "May I ask you to take a turn with ondeck?"

They had already spoken, of course, from necessity, in those first distracted hours, all the officers united in the effort tochildren, wounded ers, and all the confusion which ht be expected on a ship three times the size of a first-rate, launched with no preparation directly into a brutal headwind, with a lee-shore ready to receive her at any tie metal-shod stones which had served the enemy for missiles

In theanxiously over the newly arrived coht of Harcourt calling orders to her crew But another few chances of observation altered his looks of relief to puzzlement, and then to suspicion Riley had at last coons to shift their places to bring the ship a little more by the stern, and so obtained a better view of Catherine&039;s condition It was just as well that Laurence had understood what he meant to achieve, for the request as Riley conveyed it to the Maximus at the head of the deck, with Lily apparently on his back, and Te the port rail, which would likely have ended with half the dragons in the water, and the ship turning in stately circles

"Very willing," Laurence now pronounced himself, and they went above in silence: necessary silence, to soh the narrow lanes that were all that was left of navigable space inside, and up the ladders The craiven the liberty of the quarterdeck, for light and exercise, the dragondeck afforded more privacy than was to be had anywhere else on the ship; so long as one did not ons

These were in any case for the moment mostly inani and desperate flight as well as the excite the forestay hum with the resonance of his deep, sonorous snores It was just as well they were tired enough to sleep without eating, as there was little to be had, nor would be again until the ship could put in at some port for resupply; when they woke they would have to fish for their supper

"I a their silence as they walked along the railing, "that we ret it verywhether we ought not to try for St Helena instead"

St Helena was not a slave port, and out of their way Laurence was deeply sensible of the degree of apology embodied in this offer, and immediately said, "I do not think it can be recommended We could easily find ourselves blown to Rio on the easterlies, and even though both the cure and word of the loss of the Cape ently back in England"

Riley as gratefully received this gesture in return, and they walked several passes up and down the deck ether "Of course we cannot lose a h to wish us hoht I did, until I realized she ive rateful for a headwind all the way, if it meant we should not arrive before she has un referring, in uncharitable terms, to what they viewed as Riley&039;s quixotic behavior, Chenery going so far as to say, "If he will not leave off harassing poor Harcourt, one will have to do so; but how is he to be worked on?"

Laurence had rather ht; he was a little shocked by Catherine&039;s refusal to marry rather than burn, when the plain choice was put before her, and he was forcibly reret Reverend Erasentlee Mr Britten, Riley&039;s official chaplain, assigned by the Aduh to do so

"But at least he is ordained," Riley said, "so there would be no difficulty about the thing whatsoever; everything would be quite legal But she will not hear of it And she cannot say, in fairness," he added half-defiantly, "that it is because I am some sort of scoundrel, because I did not try to speak before; it was not as though - I was not the one who - " then cutting hi, "and, I did not kno to begin Laurence, has she no faht prevail on her?"

"No; quite alone in the world," Laurence said "And, Tom, you must know that she cannot leave the service: Lily cannot be spared"

"Well," Riley said reluctantly, "if no one else can be found to take the beast on," a notion of which Laurence did not bother to try and disabuse hieous scrub as to abandon her And the governor was kind enough to tell enerous beyond what anyoneeasy for her in England; they have a large acquaintance, in the best circles; but of course not until we are married, and she will not listen to reason"

"Perhaps she fears the disapproval of your family," Laurence said, more from a motive of consolation than conviction; he was sure Catherine had not given a thought to the feelings of Riley&039;s fae

"I have already promised her that they would do all that is proper, and so they would," Riley said "I do not mean to say it is the sort of match they would have looked out for me; but I have my capital, and can marry to please myself without any accusation of imprudence, at least I dare say that my father at least will not care two pins, if only it is a boy; irls, the last four years ago, and everything entailed," he finished, very nearly flinging up his hands

"But it is all nonsense, Laurence," Catherine said, equally exasperated, when he approached her "He expects n the service"

"I believe," Laurence said, "that I have conveyed to hi, and he is reconciled to the necessity, if not pleased by it; and you must see," he added, "the very material importance of the circumstance of the entailment"

"I do not see, at all," she said "It is so to do with his father&039;s estate? What has it to do with me, or the child? He has an older brother, has he not, with children?"

Laurence, who had not so al structures of inheritance and entailh the skin, stared; and then he hastily made her understand that the estate would descend in the male line, and her child, if a boy, stood to inherit after his uncle "If you refuse, you deny him his patrimony," Laurence said, "which I believe likely to be substantial, and entailed in default on a distant relation ould care nothing for the interest of Riley&039;s nieces"

"It is a stupid way of going on," she said, "but I do see; and I suppose it would be hard luck on the poor creature, if he grew up knohatfor is not a boy at all, but a girl; and then what use is she to hihed, and rubbed the back of her hand across her brow, and finally said, "Oh, bother; I suppose he can always divorce irl, she will be a Harcourt," she added with decision

Thesuitable to ed some resupply Already extremity had driven them to shore on several occasions: there was no safe harbor on their charts, along the southern coastline, where the Allegiance ht have safely put in; so instead the eons, who daily flew in the twenty miles of open water which Riley&039;s caution left between them and the coast, and tried to find so near Benguela, they passed a pair of tattered ships on the fifteenth of June, with blackened sides and makeshift slovenly sails a pirate would have been ashaees froiance did not offer to heave-to; they had no water or food to spare of their own, and in any case the s to be pressed either for supplies or ood deal for ten able seao hull-up over the horizon; he did not speak of what he would give for a proper dole of clean water The dragons were already licking the sails in thebeen put on half-rations

They saw the soing smoulder of damp wood piled into massive bonfires, which as they drew nearer the harbor resolved themselves into the overturned hulks of ships, which had been dragged from the ocean onto the beach Little more than the stout keels and futtocks re themselves onto the sands to die The fortifications of the Dutch factory had been reduced to rubble

There was no sign of life With all the gunports open, and the dragons roused and alive to the least warning of danger, the ship&039;s boats went to the shore full of e more quickly despite their heavier load; in Riley&039;s cabin, Lieutenant Wells reported uneasily "More than a week, sir, I should say," he said "There was food rotting, in some of the houses, and all that is left of the fort is perfectly cold We found a large grave dug in the field behind the port; there must have been at least a hundred dead"

"It cannot have been the same band who came on us in Capetown," Riley said, when he had done "It cannot; could dragons have flown here, so quickly?"

"Fourteen hundred miles, in less than a week&039;s tiht at the end of it, and very likely not at all," Catherine said, ers; she had the chair, as Riley had e stern-cabin for the journey hoons enough at the falls toparty of the same size, or another ten, for that matter"

"Well, and I a crow," Chenery said, "but I don&039;t see a blessed reason why they shouldn&039;t have gone for Louanda, while they were at it"

Another day&039;s sailing brought thee of the second port; Dulcia and Nitidus set off, beating urgently before the wind, and soiance in the dark by the beacons lit in the tops

"Burnt to the ground, the whole place," Chenery said, tipping back the cup of grog which had been given him, thirstily "Not a soul to be seen, and all the wells full of dragonshit; beg your pardon"

The radually to dawn upon theest ports in Africa besides If the enemy&039;s purpose had been to seize control of the ports, all the intervening territory must have first been conquered; but if si, drawn-out labor was required Without aerial forces to oppose theons could overfly with ease any defenses ortheir light infantry with they upon the hapless tohich had incurred their wrath

"The guns were all gone," Warren said quietly "And the shot; we found the eine they took the powder also; certainly we did not see any left behind"

All the long ho the coast was attended by the clouds of sers the scorched and tattered ships, full of survivors, iance did not atteons&039; short flights to the coast to bring theht them to Cape Coast: Riley felt it their duty to at leastof the dead, at the British port, and they hoped that the fortifications, older and ht have preserved some survivors

The castle which served as headquarters for the port, built in stone, re and scorched roof; the guns, which had been useless to defend her, fixed as they were outward to sea, were all gone, as were the heaped piles of round-shot fro subject to the vicissitudes of the wind and current, could not keep the regular pace of dragons, and had moved more slowly than the wave of attacks; three weeks at least had passed since the assault

While Riley organized the ship&039;s crew in the sad work of exhurave, Laurence and his fellow captains divided ast the the wreckage of the town, in hopes of ensuring enough game for them all: fresh rowing rapidly thin, and the dragons always hungry Te them was really satisfied with fish, and even he had wistfully expressed the desire for "a few tender antelope, for variety&039;s sake; or an elephant would be beyond anything: they are so very rich"

In the event, he was able to satisfy his own hunger with a couple of smallish, red-furred buffalo, while the riflemen shot another half-a-dozen, as many as he could conveniently carry back to the ship in his foreclaws "A little ga one with a little dried fruit," Te the horns in his mouth in a horrible fashion to pick his teeth, before he fastidiously deposited theround Then he pricked up his ruff "So, I think"

"For God&039;s sake are you white men?" the cry came a little faintly, from the forest, and shortly a handful of dirty, exhausted , and received withand brandy "We scarcely dared to hope, e heard your rifles," said their chief, a Mr George Case of Liverpool, ith his partner David Miles, and their handful of assistants, had not been able to escape the disaster in ti in the forest ever since the monsters descended," Miles said "They took up all the ships that had not fled quick enough, and broke or burnt theain; and us out here with scarcely any bullets left We have been ready to despair: I suppose they would all have starved, in another week"