Страница 85 из 118
Hornby paused, then stood and turned his back to the fire, warming himself.
"And there the battle turned, Mr. Tolliver. 'I'll take no more orders from you, Monsieur Blood,' the Frenchman Bo
"Begging your pardon, Mr. Hornby," I said, "but there were children held captive below, were they not? What was to become of-?"
Hornby eyed me then and I lowered my head, most sorry for my interruption.
"'Mutiny, is it then?' Billy said, and he threw back his head and laughed. 'I'll slit your mutinous French throats 'afore I'm done, but I'll begin with this English swine!' He swung his gaze round on Hawke, then lunged forward, his blade tip aimed at Hawke's heart. Rapt, I was, and barely aware of young Nick climbing to his feet beside me.
"'Lord Hawke! Up here!' Nick shouted, and everyone turned to see him standing atop the pilothouse. He pulled the cutlass he'd borrowed from his belt and threw it down to the empty-handed Hawke. Nick's toss was short and the sword fell to the deck at Hawke's feet. I saw my new hero bend to retrieve it, but Bill was using the moment's distraction to circle in toward Hawke, his sword poised for a murderous blow.
"Hawke and his blade were coming up as Blood's blade was coming down. The flat of Billy's sword caught Hawke hard across the shoulder blades, driving him back down to the deck. His head thudded hard and I could see he was stu
"It was only about ten feet from our perch down to the quarterdeck, and Nick timed that jump perfectly. He came down squarely on the shoulders of Captain Blood, straddling his head and clamping both hands over the enraged pirate's eyes. Blinded and snorting, Bill whirled about, staggering over the bodies of the dead. He shook that tenacious boy clinging to him, tormenting him, but Nick held on.
"Nick saw me then, peering down from the rooftop, and cried out, 'Down to the brig with you, Martyn Hornby! See if you can find Lord Hawke's boy and the children! His lordship and I have this well in hand.' Nick had somehow snatched the prized spyglass from Bill's waist.and then I saw Nick flying through the air as Billy had finally ripped him from his shoulders and flung him like a rag doll hard upon the deck.
"Well in hand, I thought, disbelieving. But I did as Nick said, and slid backward down off the roof, much as it pained me to leave that grave drama and then-"
"Wait!" I said, leaping to my feet and banging my shin on the hearthstone. "For all love, Mr. Hornby, you didn't leave your ringside seat at that very moment?"
"Mr. Tolliver, I was gone only a short while, and what I missed was filled in enough so's I feel I've seen what happened with my very own eyes, sir," Hornby said, seeming startled by my outburst.
"Well, then, please don't stop the tale there, sir," I said, returning to my seat. My pen hovered above the page, quivering to inscribe the conclusion of the adventure.
"'I'll have that glass back!" Blood roared, planting one of his gleaming Hessian boots squarely in the middle of Nick's chest. Bill poked the tip of his razor-sharp blade at him, prodding Nick's jacket. Then he slashed the boy's thin blue coat right through and the gleaming spyglass spilled out onto the deck, rolling away as Nick tried desperately to grab for it. In a flash, Blood's hand shot out like some inhuman claw and clutched it, raising it aloft where it shone in the sun.
"'No!' Nick shouted. 'That's Nelson's glass!' He was clawing at Blood's leg, trying to rise from the deck, but Billy still had him pi
"'The boy said the glass belongs to Nelson,' Hawke said, the point of his cutlass in Billy's back. 'I'll thank you to return it to him. Now.'
"'Your tongue has wagged its last,' Bill said, whirling to face Lord Hawke. They eyed each other. Bill lunged first, his blade going for Hawke's exposed gut, but this time it was Hawke who spun on his heel in lightning fashion, whirling his body with his flashing cutlass outstretched. And then an awful sound, the sound of steel slicing through flesh and bone. The sound of steel through flesh and bone!
"There was an enormous howl of pain, and Billy held up a bloody stump of his right arm.
"On the deck lay Blood's still-twitching hand, bloody fingers clenched round the shining golden spyglass."
I stood again and looked down at old Hornby, who was staring into the fire with gleaming eyes.
"Ho! Hawke had Nelson's glass?"
"Aye, we had it, for all love. The longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates of the ambush, scratched into the gold in code. But the Portugee spy, he'd given up that code long ago. Hawke read off the numbers plain as could be and a marine wrote 'em down."
"And that's the end of it?"
"Not quite, sir. A bit remains to be told."
"What, then?" I asked, almost pleading, for surely I could already see his story appearing under my byline in the Globe. "Please continue, Mr. Hornby, I beg you."
"Ah, well, I suppose I should finish it, shouldn't I? Because, you see, I myself reappear in the story." He chuckled, threw back a swig, and got on with it.
"On the quarterdeck, the French captain Bo
"'Captain Bo
"The French struck their colors and every English heart lifted as the Union Jack rose against the blue sky at Mystere's topmast.
Hawke stepped to the bi
"'My brave shipmates and comrades,' Hawke began, 'I hardly know how to express my gratitude for your gallant-'
"'Father! Father!' came a tiny voice that pierced the silence in a way that made Hawke's heart leap up into this throat so quickly he could scarce get another word out.
"And then Hawke saw the sailors part and a small ragged boy racing across the deck toward him, followed by a gri
"'Oh, Father, it's really you!' the small boy cried, and Hawke leaped down from the bi
A silence fell then, only a patter of rain on the roof could be heard.
"A marvelous tale," I finally said, looking over at Hornby. He seemed a bit overcome.