We’ll lose the dinghy and Bill both if we start shifting.” I heard the
anchor cable rattle out of the hawse pipe almost as he spoke,
tethering
Esmerelda to the shallow bottom. I could guess how reluctant Geordie
would be to sacrifice his precious mobility at that moment, but it was
of course essential to keep station. The dinghy rocked heavily and I
saw a line being thrown to her, presumably to keep her in contact with
us.
Campbell’s body lurched into mine as we swung round the anchor cable,
and Geordie called, “Not enough – she’ll swing into the dinghy!
We’ll have to get Bill up fast!” But he had gone down free-style,
without a line, and there didn’t seem to be any way to do it. I saw
that some of the crew were swinging out the motor launch, and guessed
that Geordie would use it to take up the dinghy crew into a more
seaworthy craft, leaving the smaller boat in tow.
“How long will he stay down?”I asked, staring over the side.
The whole surface of the water was rippling and beginning to chop.
“Not long at all,” Geordie said tensely. “The moment he breaks surface
we’ll have him up out of there. With any luck there’ll be enough
disturbance down below to get him UP quickly. Thank God it’s shallow
at least he won’t have a decompression problem.” “What’s happening?”
Campbell’s voice sounded as if he’d asked that question several times
already.
I said, “Wait a moment – I’ll explain later.” I was staring at the
column rising from the sea as if mesmerized. There was hardly any
noise but the column blackened steadily, with a white nimbus around it,
almost like the smoke of an oily fire, and I knew without a doubt that
if there was no underwater disturbance to bring Bill to the surface,
there was another phenomenon that would work as well – the sea would be
rising in temperature, not to boiling point, at least not here, but
several degrees above its normal state. I knew that I was looking at
the beginning of an underwater volcanic eruption, and my heart was
thudding as if my chest would burst open.
Geordie guessed it too, and a ripple of awareness ran through the
crew.
Campbell’s mouth hung open and his hand fell away from my arm.
Eyes were scanning the water near us, looking anxiously for our diver’s
reappearance, and glances over our shoulders kept us in touch with the
increasing activity away on the horizon. Esmerelda was still rocking a
little roughly but there was no feeling of instability about her.
Something broke surface not far from the dinghy.
“There he is!” called Danny, pointing.
We saw the two men still in the dinghy pulling Bill in over the
thwarts, the motor launch waiting off to take I tow back to the ship,
when there was a totally unexpected interruption.
Taffy Morgan shouted, “Ship on the starboard beam!” I spun round
incredulously and pounded across the deck, colliding with someone on
the way. Out of the smoke and steam that drifted across the sea ahead
of us, half shielding her until the last possible moment, the bulk of
Sirena came bearing down upon us.
Her yards were bare and she was pounding towards us full tilt under
power. I could see figures on deck, many of them, and the lift of her
bow wave as she approached.
“Goddam it! We’re trussed up here for the slaughter,” Campbell said in
vicious unbelief.
Geordie ran up the deck. “Slip that flaming cable!” he bawled.
But there wasn’t enough time. Sirena was on us, slewing and with her
speed falling off at the last possible moment to lay alongside us with
a minimum of seamanship, relying totally on surprise to aid her
terrible attack. She didn’t quite make the turn and her bowsprit
stabbed at us like a monstrous rapier.
There was an almighty crash and Esmerelda shuddered violently and moved
bodily sideways in the water.
I was thrown against Geordie and we both went down in a tangle of arms
and legs. I . scrambled to my feet, all the breath knocked out of my
body, and saw hazily that Esmerelda’s yardarm was locked in Sirena’s
shrouds.
Ramirez had rammed us. The chaos was indescribable.
There was a roar of angry voices and a flood of men poured across the
deck from Sirena, and I saw the flash of knives in the enveloping glow
of that fantastic yellow light.
Chapter Eight
It was a short fight and a bitter one.
In the fraction of a second before they were on to us I saw Campbell’s
incredulous face, his mouth open in surprise.
Then Geordie roared, “Stand together, lads!” and I was grappling with
a hefty brute who wielded a long and wickedly gleaming knife.
If he had come at me from underneath I might have been disembowelled ‘
but he used the basically unsound overarm stab. I saw the knife coming
down, grasped his wrist and pulled. This unexpected assistance sent
him off balance. I did a neat sidestep, more suited to the dancefloor
than the battlefield, twisted his arm and pushed. He reeled into the
scuppers and his knife clattered on the deck.
I looked around and all was confusion. I scarcely had time to
distinguish friend from enemy before I was attacked again.
I felt a cold burn sear along my ribs as the knife struck, and in
desperation I hit out slantwise with the edge of my hand at the bluffed
figure before me. There was a choked gurgle and the blur vanished – I
hoped I’d smashed his larynx.
I staggered up, clutching at a stay for support, and as I wavered about
the deck I saw Campbell go down under a vicious smashing blow from a
belaying pin – and then I saw the unmistakable bulk of Jim Hadley.
He had got hold of Clare and was twisting her arm behind her back and
she was screaming in pain. I couldn’t hear her because of the tumult
around me but I saw her wi mouth and the glaze of terror in her eyes.
I was about to plunge across the deck when there was a staccato rattle
of shots and everything seemed to pause momentarily.
I took the opportunity to yell, “Stop fighting!
For God’s sake, stop fighting!” The roar began again only to be halted
by another fusillade of shots . . A voice called, “Very wise, Mr
Trevelyan.” Then came a rapid spate of Spanish, which I was too dazed
to follow.
I called out, “Hold it, lads! They have Clare!” We had been defeated
in less than three minutes.
Everything stopped as suddenly as it had begun. I felt the burning
ache along my rib-case as only the most minor of distractions as I
looked hastily around the deck. There seemed to be Spaniards
everywhere, far more of them than of us, and three men lay on the deck
without moving.
Ramirez stepped delicately across the deck with two armed men at his
back. I had time to wonder where he’d got a fresh load of weapons
from, and then he faced me. “We meet under different circumstances, Mr
Trevelyan,” he observed with a mocking smile.
I ignored him. “Everyone all right?” There was a low murmur and then
Taffy looked up from one of the prone figures, white-faced under his
tan. “They’ve killed Danny,” he said in a level tone.
Over a rising growl I yelled, “Cut it out – look at Hadley!” There was
a dead silence. Hadley had forced Clare to her knees; he had her right
arm up behind her back and in his other hand he held a heavy pistol
trained on the nape of her neck. Ramirez stood in front of me, nodding
appreciatively.
“You have sense, Mr Trevelyan. You’ve lost and you know “Tell him to
let her go.” “In a moment.” He passed along the deck and came to
Geordie, who stare ‘ d at him impassively. “Ah, the brave Mr
Wilkins.
I told you that you would regret what you did, one day.” He lifted his
hand and struck Geordie across the face with a back-handed blow. A
ring cut deep and blood started to drip from Geordie’s mouth. He spat
on the deck in silence.
Campbell moaned and tried to lift himself from the deck, and Ramirez
strolled over to look down at him with an odd expression on his face.
It was almost as if he contemplated the defeat of an old adversary with
less than satisfaction. “Come on, old one. Get up,” he said
brusquely.
Campbell got halfway up, then collapsed again.
Ramirez made an impatient noise. He pointed to Taffy, still crouched
over Danny’s body. “You carry the old man into the saloon.”
Taffy and Ian, between them got Campbell up. There seemed to be
something wrong with his side, as if his leg was paralysed. As he