Success to the Brave

Success to the Brave Read Free

Book: Success to the Brave Read Free
Author: Alexander Kent
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himself for giving her hope.
    Admiral Sheaffe had left him in doubt that the mission was important. To sail for Boston, “neutral ground,” as he had called it, and there meet French and American officials to formalize the handing over of an island as part of the agreement made under the Peace of Amiens.
    It all seemed wrong to Bolitho. To hand back an island to the old enemy which had been won with British blood. He had blurted out as much to Admiral Sheaffe. “We gained a peace, Sir Hayward, we did not lose the war!”
    Perhaps in that cool Admiralty room it had sounded childish.
    Sheaffe had replied calmly, “And we do not wish you to provoke a war either, sir!”
    As if to finalize the moment of departure, one of the horses stamped its hoof on the cobbles.
    Bolitho kissed her hard on the mouth and tasted the salt of her tears.
    â€œI shall return, Belinda.”
    Very gently they prised themselves apart and Bolitho walked down the worn steps to the waiting carriage.
    Allday was standing with a groom, but Bolitho gestured to the open door.
    â€œRide with me, Allday.”
    He turned and glanced back at her. Against the grey stone she looked strangely vulnerable and he wanted to hold her just once more.
    The next instant he was in the carriage and the wheels were clattering over the cobbles and through the gates.
    It was done.
    Allday sat with his fingers clasped and watched Bolitho’s grave features and tried to measure the depth of his mood.
    Seven months ashore seemed a lifetime to Allday, although he knew better than to suggest as much to Bolitho. It was probably the longest he had been away from a King’s ship since that first time when he had made his living here in Cornwall as a shepherd, when a man-of-war, one commanded by Bolitho, had dropped anchor and landed her press-gang to scavenge for hands. There had been several local men caught that day. Allday had been one, the steward Ferguson another. Poor Ferguson had lost an arm at the Saintes but, like Allday, had stayed with Bolitho ever since.
    The warm air, the heavy scent of the countryside were making him drowsy, and he knew that although Bolitho wanted companionship for the long haul to the Beaulieu River in Hampshire where their next ship was lying, he did not want to gossip. There would be time enough for that in the weeks and months ahead.
    Another ship. What would she be like? Allday was surprised that he could still be curious. In his strong position as the vice-admiral’s personal coxswain he had nothing to fear from anyone. But he was too much of a seaman not to be interested.
    Not a great first rate of a hundred guns or more, not even a new seventy-four like Benbow, Bolitho’s last flagship, but the smallest ship of the line still in commission.
    His Britannic Majesty’s Ship Achates of sixty-four guns was one of a dying breed. More like an oversized frigate than a massive line-of-battle ship which could withstand the pounding and destruction of close action.
    She was twenty-one years old, a true veteran, and had seen every kind of combat in her time. She had spent most of her recent years in the Caribbean and had sailed countless leagues from her base in Antigua to the far south along the Spanish Main.
    Allday wondered uneasily why she had been allotted to Bolitho as his flagship. To his simple reasoning it seemed like one more slur. He should have been given a knighthood for what he had done and endured for England. But always there seemed to be someone in authority who nursed some dislike or hatred of the man for whom Allday would willingly die if need be.
    He thought of the parting he had just witnessed. What a fine pair they made. The lovely lady with the long chestnut hair and the youthful vice-admiral whose hair was as jet-black as the day Allday had joined his ship as a pressed hand.
    From the opposite seat Bolitho saw Allday’s head loll into a doze and felt the strength of the man, was grateful

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