The Hawk Page 18

  'Then you know of my own duty in this matter, and will understand the importance Their Lordships and the government attach to the taking of the Lark.'

  'Clearly they attach high importance to it, Sir Robert.'

  'You also know that Their Lordships wished you to assist Lieutenant Hayter in the same capacity realized by Captain Marles, before his untimely death – but could not discover your whereabouts.'

  'I am aware of it, yes.' Rennie now attempted – lamely attempted, because his heart was not in it – to explain the complicated circumstances surrounding his arrival in Portsmouth, and to offer excuse for his conduct. Sir Robert cut him short.

  'We will put all of that aside, Rennie, until a later time. For now, in the immediate, we must bury all difference, and work in concert. Yes?' The penetrating black stare.

  'As you wish, Sir Robert.' A sniff, and a little sigh of relief and resignation. He would submit, and do as he was told.

  'Very good. Now then, Aidan Faulk had intelligence that you was in Portsmouth, else he could not have found you at the Marine Hotel.'

  'Sir Robert, how did you know of his visit to me? Who told you he put a pistol to my head?'

  'I was able to put questions to one of the yardmen you bribed to take Faulk away. He saw the pistol, and put two and two together to produce four.'

  'Ah. May I ask – how did you come to put your questions to the yardman? Surely he did not make himself known to you – '

  'There is no mystery nor subterfuge.' Impatiently. 'You gave those men a guinea each, Rennie, did not you? To such men a gold guinea is a week in liquor, and liquor loosens tongues.'

  A brief smile, a nod. 'My compliments to you, Sir Robert, on your many overhearing spies, at Portsmouth.'

  If Sir Robert did not quite care for that remark he did not show it. A black glance, and:

  'I wish you to make Aidan Faulk believe that you have information for him.'

  'Eh? How am I to make him believe that, good God, when he is at sea?'

  'He ain't always at sea, though. He came to you at the Marine Hotel. He comes ashore regular, is my intelligence, and he will come to you again – if you bait your hook rich.'

  'But how? I have told you, Sir Robert, I kicked the fellow's privates so damned hard he fell down in a faint. No doubt he woke up very sore, in some foul ditch where the yardmen threw him. I do not think he will likely return to me, you know, under any circumstance at all.'

  A brief, emphatic shake of the head. 'You do not know him.'

  'I am not his friend, certainly.'

  'You do not know his motive, his philosophy, his purpose. He is a very determined man. One little setback will not deflect him, and – '

  'Little setback! God damn me, I near killed the poor bugger. If I was him, by God, I would not again venture near the fellow had done that to me, not before old Nick ate snow, at any rate.'

  The hint of a smile on the grim face, 'Yes, in spite of your very colourful turn of phrase, Rennie, you are wrong.' The smile gone. 'He will come because what you have to offer will be too valuable to him to ignore.'

  Rennie raised his eyebrows, shrugged, and was prepared to listen. Sir Robert continued.

  'What I tell you now, Rennie, may be very painful to you, but please to hear me out. – You will be disgraced, and dismissed the service.'

  'Dismissed – '

  'You will be flung permanently on the beach, without halfpay, without a pension, without support of any kind – and no prospect of further employment, not even in the lowliest merchant brig. In little, you will be ruined.'

  Captain Rennie was dressed in hastily purchased and slightly ill-fitting full dress uniform, and wearing a sword obtained for him on commission by Bracewell & Hyde. He straightened his stock, took a deep, sniffing breath, and went in at the door past the marine guard. In the day cabin of HMS Zealous, seventy-four, there faced him – with unwavering gaze, at the thwartwise dining table – four senior post captains and an admiral, and the judge advocate in his robes of office. One of the posts was Captain Langton, and his usual bluff and benign expression was today absent. His face was nearly expressionless. It was his eyes that betrayed his deep, dismayed disapproval. Rennie, who knew sea officers, saw this at once. Had this been a genuine court martial, he reflected, he would now be feeling bladder-squeezing disquiet at what he read in Captain Langton's look – but today it merely reflected the success of the subterfuge. These stalwart sea officers, grim-faced and correct in their dress coats, knew nothing of the underlying deception. So far as they were concerned the officer before them was to be tried on what they believed was a cogent and serious offence, under the Articles of War.

  Rennie was to be charged, under Article Thirty-Three, with 'behaving in a scandalous, infamous, cruel, oppressive, or fraudulent manner, unbecoming the character of an officer'. A charge that, Sir Robert Greer had assured Rennie, would be wholly invented to suit their case; which would, temporarily, until it was reversed at a later hearing, result in his being dismissed the service.

  Light glinted and glanced off the riding water outside the stern gallery window, and was reflected on the deckhead. The judge-advocate, a mild, pink-cheeked little man, read out the warrant authorizing the assembling of the court, and then administered the oath. The court president, Rear- Admiral Steer, took the oath last. Rennie lifted his head, playing the part of the accused with what he hoped was a certain dignity and nobility of countenance, and waited for the charge to be read. What followed shocked him to the marrow.

  'You, Captain William Rennie RN, are hereby charged, under Article Eighteen of the said Articles of War, concerning the duty of officers and seamen of all ships appointed for convoy and guard of merchant ships, that on or about the – '

  'Article Eighteen!' blurted Rennie, ashen-faced. 'But I – I thought that I was to be charged under Article – '

  'Silence, sir!' Admiral Steer, very stern. 'You will kindly be silent whilst the charge is read out to you.'

  'But there is certainly some mistake.' Rennie leaned forward earnestly. 'I was to have been charged under Article Thirty-Three, and – '

  'You will be silent, Captain Rennie!' Admiral Steer, very harsh indeed. 'Else ye'll be removed from this court, and the charge read in your absence.'

  'But I – I must protest. I was to have been – '

  'D'y'wish me to summon the sergeant of Marines, sir? Do you? Hey!'

  'No, sir.' Rennie, utterly bewildered. 'May I be permitted to – '

  'Y'may not, sir. Make your back straight, and be quiet.'

  'Very good, sir.' And he was silent as the charge was read.

  The rest of the morning passed in a blur for Rennie. Witnesses were called – seamen and warrant officers and others, none of whom he could remember ever having met, nor served with – who swore to his cowardice and flight in the face of the enemy, when HMS Expedient, his former command, had been commissioned on convoy duty on the Barbary shore, and the convoy lost.

  The noon gun was fired, the court deliberated, the accused was brought again before them to stand and hear the verdict. He was found guilty, and immediately cashiered.

  'Captain Rennie.' Admiral Steer's blue glare was no longer quite so severe, Rennie thought. It had pity in it, now, and perhaps even regret.

  'Sir?'

  'It is my painful duty to say – be gone.'

  'Sir Robert, I demand to know why I was deceived!' Bursting into the library at Kingshill.

  'You risk coming here, Captain Rennie?' Sir Robert rose from his chair, and gripped the edge of the desk to steady himself. 'Did not I say to you that the house was watched?'

  'Damnation to that! I demand to know why you led me to understand I would face only a charge of misconduct, when what I faced amounted to a capital charge, by God!'

  'All right, Fender.' To his anxious servant at the door.

  'How will I ever get back into the service, now? The charge of cowardice in the face of enemy was proved! On spurious evidence, but proved!' Paci
ng up and down. 'They will never reverse that! Why did you do it, for the love of Christ! I meant to help you with Faulk! I swore that I would follow any scheme you devised!' Smacking his hat against his leg.

  'Captain Rennie, calm yourself.' Sir Robert lowered himself into his chair. A brief wince.

  'Calm myself, y'say! It is very fine and easy for you, damn your blood, that sit in the shadows and make puppets of us all!'

  'Take care what you say to me, sir, and be calm.'

  'I shall damned well be calm when the time is right, and that ain't now!' Flinging down his hat.

  'You must in least endeavour to be temperate. Else how may I come to explication.'

  'Do not you see that by all reason and logic I am ruined!' Rennie stopped in front of the desk, breathing furiously through his nose. 'Not in make-believe, neither. Not in letus- pretend. In plain bloody – '

  'Will you be silent one moment!' Sir Robert stood up, his voice booming down the room.

  'Ah-hah! Yes! Now it is you requiring me to be silent!' Rennie was trembling with anger. 'It ain't enough that I should be traduced in the great cabin of a ship of the line, and endure it silent! Now I must endure it silent here! I will not! I will not!'

  Sir Robert staggered, and again gripped the desk. A moment, a breath, and:

  'Pray do not raise your voice to me in my own house.'

  'Are you ill, Sir Robert?' Peering at him.

  'Nay . . . but perhaps I will sit down again, though. Will you sit down?'

  'I will remain on my legs, thankee.' Curtly.

  'As you wish.' Sir Robert lowered himself into his chair, and took a moment to compose himself. Then lifted his black gaze, and Rennie saw with a twinge of dismay that it was as pitiless and unrelenting as ever.

  'You should not have come here, Rennie. I would have come to you, in due course. Since you are here, you had better have the truth.' A moment, the black stare. 'You was traduced, as you put it, for a reason. I could not be sure of you, else.'

  'What? Not sure?'

  'You had to be made aware, by being found guilty of an unpardonable offence, that without my particular aid and intervention behind, you would never again serve in the Royal Navy. It could not be sham. It could not be pretence. It must needs be real. And now I think that you are aware. Are not you?'

  'But I had already said I would help you!' Tears of rage stood in Rennie's eyes. 'I gave you my word!'

  The black stare.

  'Captain Rennie . . . I do not trust any man that I cannot destroy, if I wish it.'

  So there it was, naked and raw. The pure malevolence of the fellow came off him like the stink of scurvy from rotted gums, and seared the air. And nothing for Rennie to do but sniff it in, and bear it.

  'For Christ's sake, then . . .' not much above a whisper '. . . what is it you really want?'

  'I will like you to provoke a quarrel with your friend Langton.'

  'Langton? Why should I quarrel with Captain Langton?'

  'He was a member of the court that found against you, and naturally you feel bitter towards him.'

  'But I do not. Had I been the member, and Langton the accused, I should have found just as he did – and the others – on the evidence.'

  'You feel bitter towards him,' continued Sir Robert, 'and angry. You will say all manner of intemperate things, as if you was in drink. You will say in particular that ye'd be better placed serving France.'

  'But that is damned nonsense!'

  'Captain Langton will know nothing of our subterfuge, and must learn nothing. He must believe you absolutely. When he objects – as he will – you will challenge him.'

  'Challenge! But good God – we shall then be obliged to fight.'

  'Exact. A duel will be arranged, seconds appointed, a place and time agreed. You will fail to appear. Langton will win by default.'

  'Fail to appear?' Shocked. 'Fail to fight?'

  'You are going to say . . . that you will be disgraced. Mmhm.' A faint, bleak smile. 'You will.'

  'Sir Robert, what you propose is very hard. To be cashiered, and then exposed as a coward, on a matter of honour . . . How can I ever show my face again?'

  'It will be a very great scandal, indeed . . . and that is everything we wish for – '

  'Everything you wish for, perhaps. I do not wish it, not at all. I am coerced.'

  'Everything we wish for,' continued Sir Robert, unmoved. 'Aidan Faulk cannot fail to hear of it, and when you make clear – in certain places that I shall list for you – that you are prepared to do anything for money, that you will do anything to injure the Crown, anything to aid France, then Faulk will make his approach, through an intermediary, I am in no doubt.'

  'I am glad that you are in no doubt, Sir Robert. I doubt the whole damned business.'

  'When he does,' patiently, 'you will give him valuable intelligence, in a letter. He will duly discover its veracity, and worth. And then, Rennie, then he will arrange a meeting with you.'

  'In little, you do not ask anything very much of me – do you, Sir Robert?' A sour little shake of his head, and Rennie turned away down the room.

  Sir Robert watched him, and his eyes narrowed. Did Rennie mean to defy him, after all? Rennie reached the far end of the room, but he did not go out of the door there, nor even touch the handle. He hesitated, turned and came back. Sir Robert relaxed.

  'I think that we will both benefit, Captain Rennie, by a glass of wine. Yes?' As Rennie approached the desk.

  'I am no longer a post captain, Sir Robert. You need not call me that, any more.'

  'I do so as a courtesy. And as a reminder that in spite of what you are disposed to believe, things will be made right for you in the end.' He rang a bell, and presently his servant Fender appeared. 'Madeira wine, Fender. – That is your preference, ain't it, Rennie?'

  'Hemlock, more like.' Staring out of the wide window.

  'Madeira, Fender.' The servant withdrew.

  Sir Robert took a breath, and: 'Come now, Captain Rennie. There is no need for dark thoughts. You are not alone in this.'

  'Not alone? How could I forget your presence, Sir Robert, lurking like a spider at the heart of its web, and I the hapless fly, caught on a thread.'

  Sir Robert's face tightened, and his mouth set in a line – but he said nothing.

  Their wine came, but neither man felt disposed to toast the success of their venture, nor each other. They drank in silence. Presently Sir Robert opened a leather fold on his desk, and took out a square of paper.

  'I have wrote out the plan, Rennie.'

  Rennie put down his glass, wordlessly held out a hand, and took the sheet.

  On the appointed day he had primed himself, not merely with the turbulent lines written out for him by Sir Robert Greer, but with drink. He reasoned that if he was to achieve the appearance of drunkenness, then he had better take some little quantity of drink, so that he was a little flushed and smelling of liquor when he confronted Captain Langton. Rennie dressed in his civilian clothes, consumed three glasses of brandy, then strode down to the coffee house as the noon gun was fired. He knew that Captain Langton would likely be there, and he marched in at the door, head high, face florid, Sir Robert's lines in his head.

  Sir Robert had said: 'Begin with the court martial. You feel that it was unjust. Say so, vehement and bitter. Then when you see that Langton is present, round on him. Do not hold back. Attack him reckless, in the most fiery fashion. You have me?'

  Rennie sat at a table by himself, banging the chair out and then thudding it in as he sat down. He decided now to depart from Sir Robert's script a little – to be inventive. Loudly he demanded:

  'Ain't a fellow able to get attended to in this place? Or is it too damned grand for that? Hey!' Jerking his head, glaring about him.

  'Sir?' A serving girl with a tray, looking concerned.

  'Ah, there y'are. Brandy, right quick!'

  'Sir, you must know that we do not serve spirits here. Only wine, if you wish it.'

  'Mus
t know! I know nothing of the kind! Brandy!'

  'We has no brandy, if you please, sir. Perhaps you will like to go to an inn . . .'

  'Oh, very well . . . wine, then. I will like wine. Bring it, bring it. What is your name?'

  'Rose, sir.'

  'Rose, Rose, I do beg your pardon.' Bowing extravagantly. 'I did not mean to bite off y'head, my dear. Damn' bad manners. My apologies.'

  The girl withdrew, and Rennie pretended to see Captain Langton for the first time. He was seated with three other sea officers at a table down the room.

  'Ah, there they are! The bloody Royal Navy!'

  Langton glanced at him, clearly embarrassed, and at once averted his gaze. One of the other officers turned and glared at Rennie, who continued:

  'Damned villainous wretches, all of you! You and your damned tribunals and courts! Justice, in the navy? Christ's blood, y'might as well expect honesty among thieves!'

  More uneasy glances, a further glare.

  'That's right, Langton, cringe! Don't think that I do not see you there, you damned fair-weather friend, you!'

  The glaring officer, a stout, square post captain, now stood up and came over to Rennie's table. 'Look here, I think that you'd better desist.' Keeping his voice low, staring at Rennie very direct.

  'Desiss! Desiss! Why should I desiss, you damned ninny!'

  'What! By God, sir!' Very red in the face.

  Rennie leaned forward, grimaced and nodded, and: 'Know what I think? Hey? I think that I should be better off serving in the French navy! Far better! D'y'know why? Because they are all honourable men!'

  The square post captain drew breath fiercely. 'Captain Rennie, I warn you, you had best leave this place at once.'

  'Who the devil are you to give me instruction, damn your blood! I do not obey the likes of you! Nor that damned poltroon Langton, sitting there on his arse!' Staring blearily and aggressively at the hapless Captain Langton.

  The serving girl brought Rennie's wine, but was followed to the table by the proprietor, who took her elbow and whispered to her to take the wine away. The proprietor, a small, amiable, rotund man with a wisp of hair combed across the shining dome of his head, smiled at Rennie and: