“You are quite right to remind me about this, doctor,” he said, with the last appearance of judicial calm that he could summon up. “I shall bear it in mind.”
Eisenbeiss looked at him a little blankly, and Hornblower put on his hard face again.
“But it makes no difference at all to my promise to you. Rest assured of that,” he continued. “My orders still stand. They — still — stand.”
It was several seconds before the reluctant answer came.
“Aye aye, sir.”
“On your way out would you please be good enough to pass the word for Mr. Turner, the new sailing master?”
“Aye aye, sir.”
That showed the subtle difference between an order and a request — but both of them had to be obeyed.
“Now, Mr. Turner,” said Hornblower when Turner arrived in the cabin, “our destination is Marmorice Bay, and we sail at dawn tomorrow. I want to know about the winds we can expect at this time of year. I want to lose no time at all in arriving there. Every hour — I may say every minute is of importance.”
Time was of importance, to make the most of a dying man’s last hours.
Chapter XI
These were the blue waters where history had been made, where the future of civilization had been decided, more than once and more than twice. Here Greek had fought against Persian, Athenian against Spartan, Crusader against Saracen, Hospitaller against Turk. The penteconters of Byzantium had furrowed the seas here, and the caracks of Pisa. Great cities had luxuriated in untold wealth. Only just over the horizon on the port beam was Rhodes, where a comparatively minor city had erected one of the seven wonders of the world, so that two thousand years later the adjective colossal was part of the vocabulary of people whose ancestors wore skins and painted themselves with woad at the time when the Rhodians were debating the nature of the Infinite. Now conditions were reversed. Here came Atropos, guided by sextant and compass, driven by the wind harnessed to her well‑planned sails, armed with her long guns and carronades — a triumph of modern invention, in short — emerging from the wealthiest corner of the world into one where misgovernment and disease, anarchy and war, had left deserts where here had been fertile fields, villages where there had been cities, and hovels where there had been palaces. But there was no time to philosophize in this profound fashion. The sands in the hour-glass beside the binnacle were running low, and the moment was approaching when course should be altered.
“Mr. Turner!”
“Sir!”
“We’ll alter course when the watch is called.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
“Doctor!”
“Sir!”
“Stand by for a change of course”
“Aye aye, sir.”
McCullum’s invalid bed was disposed athwart ships between Nos. 6 and 7 carronades on the starboard side; a simple tackle attached to the bedhead enabled the level of the bed to be adjusted with the change of course, so that the patient lay as horizontal as might be, whichever way the ship might be heeling. It was the doctor’s responsibility to attend to that.
The watch was being called.
“Very good, Mr. Turner.”
“Headsail sheets! Hands to the braces!”
Turner was an efficient seaman, despite his age. Hornblower could be sure of that by now. He stood by and watched him lay the ship close to the wind. Still came and touched his hat to Turner to take over the watch.
“We ought to raise the Seven Capes on this tack, sir,” said Turner, coming over to Hornblower.
“I fancy so,” said Hornblower.
The passage from Malta had been comfortingly rapid. They had lain becalmed for a single night to the south of Crete, but with the morning the wind had got up again from a westerly quarter. There had not been a single breath of Levanter — the equinox was still too far off for that, apparently — and every day had seen at least a hundred miles made good. And McCullum was still alive.
Hornblower walked forward to where he lay. Eisenbeiss was bending over him, his fingers on his pulse, and with the cessation of the bustle of going about the three Ceylonese divers had returned, to squat round the foot of the bed, their eyes on their master. To have those three pairs of melancholy eyes gazing at him would, Hornblower thought, have a most depressing effect, but apparently McCullum had no objection.