So Near So Far Read Free

was refitted quite recently.”
    â€œHalf the money will go to you, Dick, and you will really deserve the whole of it.”
    â€Half is enough, Sam, and it will come to me as the gift of a friend, having its origin in your generosity alone. To be open with you, I confess that I shall need it. Heaven knows when I shall receive my share of the
Bonaparte
and I have ordered the furniture for my house at Anneville. It is amazing what joiners expect to be paid these days.”
    The two friends parted in complete agreement but Delancey had an uneasy feeling that it had all been too easy. He had been presented with a simple problem, an addition sum in which two was to be added to two. He had come up with the expected answer of four but could not suppose that it was really as simple as that. There must be some aspect of the situation he had overlooked. Where was the trap into which he was to fall? To make matters worse, his opponent was mad. The plan he was to thwart must be a lunatic plan, one which Charbonnier had concealed from both his owners and his men. While pondering the problem, Delancey made a rash decision of his own. He resolved to sail in the
Bonaparte.
In doing so, he would break the sacred rule which tied a naval captain to his ship. He would be going against his conscience and his common sense, following only an instinct that he must make some move which his opponent would not expect. He admitted to himself that he was being too much influenced by his own financial needs. As against that, with the war ended, he would have no further chance of making money. He had been too ambitious, perhaps, in buying the manorial rights in Fief Anneville but he had really no alternative. With one more useful capture, the half-share in
Daphné,
he would have enough to live on. But was the tale he had been told the story he was intended to believe? And what, in that event, was the real story? It would be a clever move, surely, to sidestep at the outset, like thecastle move in chess. But that would not be enough in itself and might even have been foreseen. He felt at a disadvantage, Charbonnier being able to anticipate his sensible moves while he himself could not foresee what form mere lunacy would take.
    On board the
Bonaparte,
to which Delancey had shifted his gear after dark, Mather received his final orders:
    â€œI have taken many of our best men but have left you with seamen enough to handle the
Merlin.
You will sail tomorrow forenoon, setting a course for Plymouth. By evening you will double back under easy sail and place
Merlin
to windward of the course I shall follow towards Portsmouth. I have marked on the chart the position I expect to have reached before the
Daphné
stages her attack. All this is guesswork but I do not suppose that the marked position is wildly wrong. I cannot believe that
Daphné
will be well manned but Charbonnier has the advantage of knowing the
Bonaparte
extremely well. If all goes as I expect, there will be no cannon fired on either side. What fighting we do will be with boarding pike and cutlass, with pistols as necessary, and a belaying pin to finish the argument. Should we fail in our efforts, which seems unlikely, you must rescue us. Whatever the event, leave the
Daphné
alone. Let her escape. Is that clear?”
    â€œAye, aye, sir. Should I make it seem that you are on board the
Merlin?
If Langford were to wear your uniform when we sail? He is about your height …”
    â€œUse every deception possible. For my part, I shall keep out of sight until we put to sea and Stirling will keep most of his men below hatches. His visible crew will number twelve as seen from the quayside.”
    â€œI shall do my part, sir. Let’s hope we make an end of Charbonnier this time.”
    â€I don’t mean to take him alive; nor do I want many other prisoners. As someone said—Cromwell, perhaps—’Stone dead hath no fellow.’ We must put an end to this nonsense.