‘Closer,’ Dalton grunted.
‘We should fire back,’ Fairley growled.
‘She’s too big for us,’ Dalton said sadly.
The two ships were on converging courses and the Calliope was still ahead, but Cromwell’s frequent course corrections were slowing her. ‘A few shots into her rigging might slow her down,’ Fairley suggested.
‘We’ll soon be showing her our stern,’ Dalton said. ‘No guns will bear.’
‘Then move a gun,’ Fairley said angrily. ‘Good God, there must be something we can do!’
The Revenant fired again and this time the ball bounced across the waves like a stone skipping across a pond and finally sank a quarter-mile short of the Calliope. ‘The gun’s getting warmer,’ Dalton said. ‘Another minute or two and she’ll be thumping us.’
Lady Grace abruptly walked across the deck to stand between Dalton and Sharpe. ‘Major’ – she spoke very loudly, so that her husband would know she talked to the respectable Dalton and not to Sharpe – ‘you think he will catch us?’
‘I pray not, ma’am,’ Dalton said, removing his cocked hat. ‘I pray not.’
‘We won’t fight?’ she asked.
‘We cannot,’ Dalton said.
She was wearing wide skirts that, because of her closeness to Sharpe, crushed up against his trousers and he felt her fingers tap his leg. He surreptitiously dropped his hand and she clutched it fiercely, unseen by anyone. ‘But the French will treat us well?’ she asked Dalton.
‘I am sure they will, my lady,’ the major said, ‘and there are a score of gentlemen aboard this ship ready to protect you.’
Grace dropped her voice to scarce above a whisper and, at the same time, gripped Sharpe’s fingers so hard that it hurt. ‘Look after me, Richard,’ she murmured, then turned and walked back to her husband.
Major Dalton followed her, evidently eager to add more reassurance, and Ebenezer Fairley offered Sharpe a crooked grin. ‘So that’s how it is, eh?’
‘What is?’ Sharpe asked, not looking at the merchant.
‘My family always had good ears. Good ears and good eyes. You and her, eh?’
‘Mister Fairley …’ Sharpe began to protest.
‘Don’t be daft, lad. I’m not going to say a word. But you’re a sly one, aren’t you? And so’s she. Good for you, lad, and good for her too. So she ain’t as bad as I thought, eh?’ He frowned suddenly as Cromwell demanded another tweak of the wheel. ‘Cromwell!’ Fairley turned angrily on the captain. ‘Stop fiddling with the rudder, man!’
‘I’ll thank you to go below, Mister Fairley,’ Cromwell said calmly. ‘This is my quarterdeck.’
‘A fair piece of the cargo is mine!’
‘If you do not go below, Fairley, I shall have the bosun escort you.’
‘Damn your insolence,’ Fairley growled, but obediently left the deck.
The Revenant fired again and this time the round shot sank within a few yards of the Calliope’s counter and close enough to spray the gilded stern with water. Cromwell had seen the fountain of water show above his taffrail and its proximity made up his mind. ‘Haul down the colours, Mister Tufnell.’
‘But, sir …’
‘Haul down the colours!’ Cromwell bellowed angrily at Tufnell. ‘Point her upwind,’ he added to the helmsman. The ensign came flapping down from the mizzen gaff and, at the same time, the Calliope turned her bows right round into the wind so that all the great sails hammered against the masts and rigging like demented wings. ‘Furl sails!’ Cromwell shouted. ‘Lively now!’
The wheel turned to and fro by itself, responding to the surges of water that beat against the rudder. Cromwell glowered at his passengers on the quarterdeck. ‘I apologize,’ he snarled, sounding anything other than apologetic.
‘My cash,’ Lord William demanded.
‘Is safe!’ Cromwell snapped. ‘And I have work to do before the Frenchies arrive.’ He stalked off the deck.
It took a few minutes for the Revenant to catch up with the Calliope, but then the French warship hove to off the starboard quarter and lowered a boat. The rail of the French ship was thick with men who stared at their rich prize. All French seamen dreamed of a fat Indiaman loaded with valuables, but Sharpe doubted that any Frenchman had ever gained a prize as easily as this. This ship had been given to the French. He could not prove it, but he was certain of it, and he turned to stare at Pohlmann who, catching his eye, offered a rueful shrug.
Bastard, Sharpe thought, bastard. But for now he had other things to worry about. He must stay near her ladyship and he must be wary of Braithwaite, but, above all, he had to survive. Because there had been treachery and Sharpe wanted revenge.
CHAPTER FIVE
Sharpe went to Cromwell’s cabin as the Revenant was lowering the first of her boats. The cabin door was ajar, but Cromwell was not inside. Sharpe tried to lift the big chest’s lid, but it was locked. He went back to the quarterdeck, but the captain was not there either and the first French longboat was already pulling towards the Calliope.
Sharpe hurried back to the captain’s cabin where he found Lord William standing irresolute. His lordship disliked speaking to Sharpe, but forced himself to sound civil. ‘Have you seen Cromwell?’
‘He’s disappeared,’ Sharpe said curtly as he stooped to the chest. The large size of the keyhole suggested the lock was Indian-made, which was good, for Indian locks were simple to pick, but he knew it could well be a European lock with an Indian faceplate which could prove trickier. He fished in his pocket and brought out a short length of bent steel that he inserted into the lock.
‘What’s that?’ Lord William asked.
‘A picklock,’ Sharpe said. ‘I’ve always carried one. Before I became respectable I used to earn my living this way.’
Lord William sniffed. ‘Hardly something to boast about, Sharpe.’ He paused, expecting Sharpe to answer, but the only sound was the small scraping of the pick against the lock’s levers. ‘Maybe we should wait for Cromwell?’ Lord William suggested.
‘He’s got valuables of mine in here,’ Sharpe said, probing with the steel to discover the levers. ‘And the bloody Frogs will be here soon. Move, you awkward bastard!’ This last was to the first lever rather than to Lord William.
‘You will find a bag of cash in there, Sharpe,’ Lord William said. ‘It was too large to conceal, so I permitted Cromwell …’ His voice tailed away as he realized he was explaining too much. He hesitated as the first lever clicked dully, then watched as Sharpe, holding that lever back with the blade of his folding knife, worked on the second. ‘You say you entrusted valuables to Cromwell?’ Lord William enquired, sounding surprised, as if he could not imagine Sharpe possessing anything worthy of such protection.
‘I did,’ Sharpe said, ‘more fool me.’ The second lever slipped back and Sharpe heaved up the chest’s heavy lid.
The stench of old unwashed clothes assailed him. He grimaced, then threw aside a filthy boat cloak and layers of dirty shirts and undergarments. Cromwell, it seemed, washed nothing aboard the Calliope, but simply let the laundry accrete in the chest until he reached shore. Sharpe tossed more and more garments aside until he had reached the chest’s bottom. There were no jewels. No diamonds, no rubies, no emeralds. No bag of cash. ‘The bastard,’ he said bitterly,