A third shell struck and exploded in the bows in almost the same position as the previous one – the already uplifted section of the fo’c’s’le had heaved up almost another foot.
‘That’s where the paint and carpenter’s shops are,’ Naseby said absently.
‘That’s what I’ve been thinking.’
‘Were Ferguson and Curran in the mess-deck when you left?’
‘That’s why I’ve been thinking. Can’t remember seeing them, although that’s not to say they weren’t there. They’re such an idle couple they might well have passed up lunch for an hour’s kip. I should have warned them.’
‘There wasn’t time for you to warn anyone.’
‘I could have sent someone. I did think they’d concentrate their fire on the bridge but I should still have sent someone. My fault. Slipping, as I told Jamieson.’ He paused, narrowed his eyes in concentration and said: ‘I think they’re turning away, George.’
Naseby had the glasses to his eyes. ‘They are. And there’s someone on the bridge, captain or whoever, using a loud-hailer. Ah! The gun crew are working on their gun and -yes – they’re aligning it fore and-aft. This mean what I think it means, Archie?’
‘Well, the conning-tower’s empty and the gun crew are going down the hatch so it must mean what you think. See any bubbles coming up?’
‘No. Wait a minute. Yes. Yes, lots.’
‘Blowing main ballast.’
‘But we’re still a mile away from them.’
‘Captain’s taking no chances and I don’t blame him. He’s not a clown like Klaussen.’
They watched for some moments in silence. The U-boat was now at a 45º angle, the decks barely awash and vanishing quickly.
‘Take the wheel, George. Give the Chief Engineer a ring, will you, tell him what’s happened and ask him to drop down to normal speed. Then back on the course we were on. I’m going to check on any flooding for’ard.’
Naseby watched him go and knew that flooding was secondary in the Bo’sun’s mind. He was going to find out whether, indeed, Curran and Ferguson had elected to miss lunch.
McKinnon was back in about ten minutes. He had a bottle of Scotch in his hand and two glasses and no smile on his face.
Naseby said: ‘Their luck run out?’
‘Abandoned by fortune, George. Abandoned by McKinnon.’
‘Archie, you must stop it. Please stop blaming yourself. What’s done is done.’ Janet had intercepted him as he had entered the mess-deck – he had come down with Naseby and left Trent on the wheel with Jones and McGuigan as look-outs – and pulled him into a corner. ‘Oh, I know that’s trite, meaningless, if you want. And if you want another trite and meaningless remark, you can’t bring back the dead.’
‘True, true.’ The Bo’sun smiled without humour. ‘And speaking of the dead – and one should speak no ill of the dead – they were a couple of moderately useless characters. But both were married, both had two daughters. What would they think if they knew that the gallant bo’sun, in his anxiety to get at a U-boat, completely forgot them?’
‘The best thing would be if^ow forgot them. Sounds cruel, I know, but let the dead bury their dead. We are alive: when I say “we” I’m not talking about you, I’m talking about every other person aboard, including myself. Your duty is to the living. Don’t you know that every single person this ship, from the Captain and Mr Patterson down, depends on you? We’re depending on you to take us home.’
‘Do be quiet, woman.’
‘You’ll take me home, Archie?’
‘Scalloway? Hop, skip and jump. Of course I will.’
She stood back at arm’s length, hands on his shoulders, searched his eyes, then smiled.
‘You know, Archie, I really believe you will.’
He smiled in return. ‘I’m glad of that.’ He didn’t for a moment believe it himself but there was no point in spreading undue gloom and despondency.
They joined Patterson, Jamieson and Ulbricht at the table. Patterson pushed a glass in front of him. T would say that you have earned that, Bo’sun. A splendid job.’
‘Not so splendid, sir. I had no option but to do what I did. Can’t say I feel sorry for a U-boat captain but he’s really up against a nearly impossible problem, faced with a hiding to nothing. He’s under orders not to sink us so the best he can do is to try to incapacitate us as much as possible. We run at him and he hides. Simple as that.’
‘The way you put it, yes. I hear you had a very narrow escape on the bridge.’
‘If the shell had passed through metal and exploded in the bridge, that would have been it. But it passed through the glass instead. Luck.’
‘And up front?’
‘Three holes. All above the waterline. What with those and the damage that the U-boat did to us – rather, the damage we inflicted on ourselves – there’s going to be a fair old job for the ship repairers when we get into dry dock. The watertight bulkheads seem sound enough. That’s the good part. The bad part – and I’m afraid this is all my fault – is that – ‘
‘Archie!’ Janet’s voice was sharp.
‘Oh, all right. You’ll have heard – Ferguson and Curran are dead.’
‘I know and I’m sorry. Damnable. That makes twenty now.’ Patterson thought for a few moments. ‘You reckon this situation will continue for some time?’
‘What situation, sir?’
‘That they keep on trying to stop us instead of sinking us.’
McKinnon shrugged. ‘It is much more important to the Germans that they discredit the Russians with our Government than that they get the gold. As things stand at the moment they want both to have their cake and eat it. Factor of greed, really.’
‘So as long as they remain greedy we’re relatively safe?’
‘Safe from sinking, yes. But not safe from being taken over.’
‘But you just said – ‘
‘All they have to do is to bring up another U-boat and they’ll have us cold. With two U-boats we have no chance. If we go after one the other will parallel our course and pump shells into us at their leisure. Not the engine-room, of course, they want to take us under our own steam to Norway. The hospital area. First shell in there and the white flag flies – if we’ve any sense we’d fly it before the first shot. Next time I go up to the bridge I’ll take a nice big bedsheet with me.’
‘There are times, Bo’sun,’ Jamieson said, ‘when I wish you’d keep your thoughts to yourself.’
‘Merely answering a question, sir. And I have another thought, another question, if you like. Only a tiny handful of people would have known of this operation, the plan to use the San Andreas as a bullion carrier. A cabinet minister or two, an admiral or two. No more. I wonder who the traitor is who sold us down the river, //we get back and if some famous and prominent person unaccountably commits suicide, then we’ll know.’ He rose. ‘If you’ll excuse me, I have some work to do.’
‘What work, Archie?’ It was Janet. ‘Haven’t you done enough for one day?’
‘A bo’sun’s work is never done. Routine, Janet, just routine.’ He left the mess-deck.
‘Routine,’ Janet said. ‘What routine?’
‘Curran’s dead.’
She looked puzzled. ‘I know that.’
‘Curran was the sailmaker. It’s the sailmaker’s job to sew up the dead.’
Janet rose hastily and left the table. Patterson gave Jamie-son a sour look.
‘There are times, Second, when I wish you would keep your thoughts to yourself. You do have half an eye, I take it.’
True, true. Delicacy? A water buffalo could have done it better.’
THIRTEEN
Patterson finished speaking – by this time he was getting quite professional at reading burial services – planks tilted and the shrouded forms of Curran and Ferguson slid down into the icy wastes of the Norwegian Sea. It was then that the engine-room noise faded away and the San Andreas began to slow.
Nearly all the crew were on deck – the dead men had been an amiable enough couple and well liked. The cooks and stewards were below, as were the nursing staff and three stokers. Trent and Jones were on the bridge.
Jamieson was the first to move. ‘It looks,’ he said, ‘as if we have made a mistake.’ He walked away, not quickly, with the air of a man who knew that this was not a moment that called for any particular urgency.
Patterson and McKinnon followed more slowly. Patterson said: ‘What did he mean by that? That we’ve made a mistake, I mean?’
‘He was being kind, sir. What he meant was that the all-wise bo’sun has made another blunder. Who was on watch down below?’
‘Just young Stephen. You know, the Polish boy.’
‘Let’s hope he’s not the next to go over the side.’