Now, will you help me?"
The Doctor nodded. "I"ll tell you all I know."
Thurloe smiled and sighed with relief. "Excellent! I shall see to the arrangements at once. You shan"t regret this, I promise you."
He turned and marched to the door. A sharp rap brought the jailer inside and then Thurloe disappeared in a swirl of black cloak.
Jamie jumped off the bed, shaking his head. "But Doctor we don"t know anything!"
The Doctor gave a mischievous smile. "Exactly. And that"s what I"ve agreed to tell them."
A full gale was blowing now and the sky was as black as an old coffin as the Demeter Demeter and the and the Teazer Teazer struggled through the foaming sea. struggled through the foaming sea.
Winter"s ship just had the edge, rounding the coast at a brisk pace, with the damaged and bulky enemy lurching behind.
Ben stood on the fo"c"sle, soaked to the skin as he peered through the spray towards the Demeter Demeter. He gripped the sodden rigging with both hands to stop himself from falling as the ship lurched and groaned in the storm.
Winter was at the wheel. Illuminated occasionally by a stab of brilliant lightning, she looked like a child"s nightmare come to life. Her ham like hands were fast on the wheel, feeling her ship rock beneath her like a twisting dragon.
"She"s gaining!" shouted Ben above the roar of the wind.
Winter did not respond but kept her eye on the approaching coastline. Ben could see a vista of black mud stretching from the water"s edge to the glorious safety of the land. If they continued on their present course, they were bound to run aground.
"You"ll kill us all, you mad woman. We"re heading for the marshes!"
Winter pushed Ben away. "I know our course, sir, and I know that we will shortly strike the marshes. But so will the Teazer Teazer and then the Pole will have to face me!" and then the Pole will have to face me!"
Ben shook his head. "There"s more to this than your ruddy vendetta, you know. I thought we were trying to trap them in the marshes, not us!"
"So we are!" cackled Winter. "So we are! I shall see the whole of Stanislaus"s miserable crew marooned on those flats."
Ben looked about desperately. The channel they were sailing up was growing narrower and narrower and the sails of the Teazer Teazer loomed so close behind that they appeared to be reaching over Ben"s head. loomed so close behind that they appeared to be reaching over Ben"s head.
There was a loud crack and a musket ball whistled past Ben"s car, He turned back to Winter but was astonished to see that the captain had vanished.
She had lashed the wheel on to the ship"s course with rope.
Cursing to himself, Ben scrambled up the rigging and threw himself down on to the wheel platform. Sleety rain and sea spray coursed down his face as he tried to untie the bulky knots that the captain had tied into the rope.
His hands slid over the saturated surface and he dug his nails desperately into the wet twine.
Then he felt the great weight of Winter"s hands descend on to his.
"Nay, belay there, Ben!" screamed the sailor, her black eye flashing.
Ben threw up his hands. "AlI right! You get on with it, Sal.
Just let me get off this ship and back to London."
Winter looked wounded. "I shall not abandon you, friend."
"I know that," shouted Ben, glancing feverishly about, convinced that another bullet would shortly find its way into his skull.
"I"m not trying to force a confrontation," cried Winter, gazing ahead at the encroaching mud.
"Looks very like it to me."
Winter shook her ma.s.sive head. "Nay, Ben. We could never outrun the Teazer Teazer, damaged as she is. The Pole would keelhaul us and sail straight up Old Father Thames with that Dutch package of his."
Ben"s strained face betrayed his exasperation. "But he"ll do that anyway if we finish up in the mud!"
Winter looked Ben in the eye but seemed to be staring right through him. ""Tis your task now, Ben. Alone. The Pole will get no further. This is where our conflict ends."
As though for dramatic emphasis, the Demeter Demeter suddenly lurched and there was a deep, percussive boom as she slammed into the mud banks. suddenly lurched and there was a deep, percussive boom as she slammed into the mud banks.
Ben and Winter were thrown down and the captain slid across the wet deck like a coin across a wooden board.
The prow of the ship rose up in the air and Ben found himself tumbling towards the rail.
Just as suddenly, the ship seemed to settle and there was a moment of strange calm with only the lashing of the elements audible.
Then the Teazer Teazer"s cannon roared out, hitting the Demeter Demeter at point-blank range. The fo"c"sle erupted in flame, deadly shards of ancient wood streaking through the air like fiery darts. at point-blank range. The fo"c"sle erupted in flame, deadly shards of ancient wood streaking through the air like fiery darts.
Ben threw himself down and covered his head. "Sal?" he bellowed.
But the captain had disappeared again.
The cannons spoke again, missing this time, and a ball slapped into the black mud that now embraced the ship, sending a choking, filthy plume high into the air.
Ben struggled to his feet and tottered across the deck, then he fell to his knees again as the vessel was struck amidships by the Teazer Teazer, which had now run aground herself.
There was a tremendous splintering groan as the prow of Stanislaus"s ship ripped through the heart of her, sc.r.a.ping through the woodwork like a chisel.
What remained of the Demeter Demeter"s crew were swarming all over the grounded vessel. Ben watched as they took on Stanislaus"s men in yet more fierce hand-to-hand fighting.
Determined to find Winter, Ben clattered through the debris until he found himself peering over on to the deck of the Teazer Teazer.
He swallowed nervously at the sight that met his eyes.
Young Hugh the cabin boy stood at Stanislaus"s side, his eyes wide open in desperate appeal. They stood near the shattered remains of Stanislaus" cabin which looked like a ma.s.sive, blackened flower, charred beyond recognition by Winter"s bomb. There were signs of the explosion all over the ship. Shards had streaked into her fine woodwork and powder had darkened the deck for yards around. The bomb had done its job, thought Ben with a sigh, but its intended victims had obviously been well clear.
Some of Stanislaus"s crew were grouped around them with G.o.dley and the Dutchman close by.
Stanislaus held his cutla.s.s to Hugh"s throat.
"Captain Winter," he called. "Sal? Are you there?
Surrender yourself."
He looked around, the gale blowing his long black hair off his face.
"Surrender yourself or this boy will gain a new mouth. Just here."
He jerked the cutla.s.s and nicked the side of Hugh"s throat.
The boy gasped and a little bead of blood glistened down his skin.
There was movement close to Ben and he looked up as Winter appeared, her arms above her head, still brandishing her cutla.s.s.
Stanislaus smiled delightedly. "Tell your men to surrender their arms." Winter scowled at him. "Tell them!" hissed Stanislaus.
With a heavy sigh, Winter bellowed orders for her men to cease fighting.
Reluctantly, the men dropped their swords and were instantly rounded up by Stanislaus"s cackling crew.
"Now," cried the Pole. "Down here, Sal. Come along. I"m a busy man."
Reluctantly, Winter made her way across on to the deck of the Teazer Teazer, where she was instantly grabbed and tied up, then placed back to back against Hugh.
Stanislaus began to strut up and down like a peac.o.c.k.
Winter spat with contempt. "Would you use a boy to win your battles, Pole?"
The crew laughed but were silenced at once by Stanislaus"s reptilian sneer.
He strode up to her, his face only inches from hers.
"By Christ, I have tolerated you all these long years, d.o.g.g.i.ng my every b.l.o.o.d.y step. But no longer. This is too big for such fry as you." He drew his cutla.s.s.
Winter laughed scornfully. "And now would you end it like this? After all these years? You took my comeliest feature, remember. And now you would end our a.s.sociation by stabbing me through the gullet in cold blood."
Stanislaus shook his head. "Nay. Nothing to do with you has ever been in cold blood."
He raised his cutla.s.s high above his head and prepared to bring it down into Winter"s throat.
Without thinking of the consequences, Ben jumped like a spring-heeled gazelle from one ship to the other.
"Sal!" he cried, hurling his own sword, which the captain neatly caught. She jumped clear of Stanislaus"s blade and looked swiftly in Ben"s direction.
"Away now, Ben! And thank "ee!"
As the crew surged towards him, Ben threw himself over the side of the Demeter Demeter, landing with a soft splash in the shallow, muddy water.
"After him!" roared Stanislaus, turning with surprising agility as Winter"s sword crashed against his own.
Ben knew that his only chance was to hide for a while. He would present too easy a target struggling over the mud flats.
Silently, he waded through the water, his breath coming in great whooping draughts. He pulled himself close to the beached hull of the Demeter Demeter and crouched down in its shadow, curling himself into a ball. and crouched down in its shadow, curling himself into a ball.
He could hear shouts above him and the clash of sword on sword as Winter and Stanislaus settled their conflict once and for all.
But he was currently more concerned with the sound of the approaching crewmen, splashing through the water in search of him. He was bound to be discovered sooner or later and he uncurled himself, looking about desperately in the black night for some means of escape.
The wind was howling over the marshes and he felt his face numbing as sleet slapped against his skin.
Dimly, he could see torches blazing in the darkness and he reached out to pull himself out of the water. Instead of the expected hull, his fingers found an empty s.p.a.ce and he realised, with a thrill, that he was close to one of the ship"s ruined cannon ports. She had crashed into the mud at such an angle that he could easily clamber back inside.
Swiftly, he scrambled up the sodden planks, his hands and feet slipping over the weed-covered surface until he was able to swing himself through into the dark interior of the ship.
"Any sign?" he heard someone call through the gale. There was no answer for a while and Ben sat in silence, hugging his knees to his chin, ears p.r.i.c.ked.
"He"ll be away across the flats," came another voice at last.
Scarcely daring to believe his luck, Ben stayed as he was, listening to the sound of his own breathing.
"G.o.d help him then," came a third voice. "The mud will have him soon enough."
He heard them splashing back through the shallows.
Around him, the old ship creaked and groaned like a discontented grandmother. Ben got to his feet as quietly as he could and stood in the darkness, his mind racing. What could he do?
If he abandoned Sal and Hugh they would be at Stanislaus"s mercy, yet his imperative was to get back to London as soon as possible and warn them that some danger loomed.
He would wait until he was certain the crew had called off their search and then make his way across the marshes to safety. How he would make the journey to London was a bridge he would cross when he came to it.
Ben poked his head out of the cannon port and looked out on to the mud flats that stretched before him. It was so dark and stormy now that he could see virtually nothing, but there were lights blazing what appeared to be a short distance away and that could only be the sh.o.r.e.
He could still hear the steely rattles of the two captains"
swords and the roar of the crew as they cheered the fighters on.
Seizing his chance, Ben vaulted out of the safety of the Demeter Demeter and landed with a satisfyingly quiet splash in the murky water. and landed with a satisfyingly quiet splash in the murky water.
He rose to his feet at once and tried to get his bearings.
The two grounded ships were right behind him, the sh.o.r.e some five hundred yards away across the black mud.
The water seemed to sluice around his legs like treacle as he waded forward, keeping his head low, aware that he might be spotted as soon as he left the shadow of the wrecked ships.
Gritting his teeth, Ben sloshed out of the shallows and suddenly found himself on the mud. He looked back over his shoulder and got a vague impression of the action on the Teazer Teazer. Then, seizing the opportunity, he began to pelt across the mud, his feet sinking inches into the glutinous stuff.