To Risks Unknown (36 page)

‘Stop engine!' He felt the vibrations idle into stillness and heard the shouts and cheers intensified in the sudden silence.

The ship's company seemed too dazed to understand what was happening. Dirty and smoke-stained, they just stood at their stations staring at the upturned faces, conscious vaguely of their new importance, but still too shocked from battle to accept it.

Crespin said sharply, ‘Number One, break out the canvas canopies and get 'em rigged before our people fall asleep on their feet!'

At the far end of the inlet he had already seen the two M.L.s and Scarlett's armed yacht snugged down at improvised moorings, their shapes almost hidden beneath grey-painted canopies and camouflaged netting. From the air, moored as they were so close beneath the cliffs, they might stay invisible even to the most vigilant pilot.

Wemyss hurried away and Crespin heard him shouting his orders with something of his old vigour.

Shannon cupped his hands and yelled up at the bridge, ‘Sir! These people are coming aboard. Shall I stop them?' He sounded vaguely upset that the Yugoslavs should be allowed to swarm up the ship's side unchecked.

Crespin smiled wearily. ‘Let 'em come!' He swung round as Soskic, followed by a grinning Coutts, clambered on to the bridge.

Soskic took both of Crespin's hands and studied him with something like affection. ‘You came back! Everyone is speaking of what you did!'

Crespin felt dazed. It was impossible to accept that they were moored within twelve miles of the nearest mainland. Yet here they were, and Soskic already knew what they had achieved. The
Thistle
had come from the slaughter at her maximum speed, and still the news had preceded her. How, or by what means, he could never know.

Soskic said, ‘And tomorrow the coastline of my country will be ringed by floating corpses. It will give my people fresh heart to see them.'

He seemed to sense Crespin's sick tiredness and added in a more controlled tone, ‘Perhaps I shock you? But you must understand that to an oppressed and tortured people these are the only signs which matter any more. It is our war.' He held Crespin's arm tightly. ‘Maybe you see
your
war through a gunsight or a telescope. Perhaps the damage you must do is even invisible beyond an horizon or under the water. It is the same in the end. But close to, it
feels
dirtier!'

Crespin nodded. ‘I understand.'

Coutts watched as the first mass of canvas and netting jerked its way up and over the forecastle. ‘They take to it in a manner born,' he said slowly.

Crespin looked down at the side deck where five still forms lay in a neat, canvas-sewn row awaiting burial. ‘They did well,' was all he could find as an answer.

Coutts followed his glance and said, ‘You never get used to it.'

Crespin looked across at the bare hills beyond the cliffs. They would have to be buried there. There was no time for honours at sea.

He said, ‘I wonder if anyone from England will ever visit Gradz in years to come and see their graves?' He watched the motor boat pushing back between the bobbing dinghies, the seamen grinning like schoolboys. ‘If they do, they'll probably wonder why anyone had to die for a place like this.'

Coutts smiled sadly. ‘Well,
we
know, don't we?'

Porteous climbed on to the bridge and saluted. He looked worn out and drooping with fatigue. ‘Camouflage secured, sir.'

Crespin nodded. ‘Very good.' He added, ‘I understand that your Leading Seaman Haig was killed?'

Porteous stared at the deck. ‘Yes, sir. We had just fired the charges. He was actually smiling at me. He said, “This time you did it on your own, sir” or something like that.' He shuddered. ‘Then a tracer-shell came from somewhere and he was dead. Just like that.'

Magot appeared at the top of the ladder and glared for a few seconds at Soskic. Then he said, ‘Will you pass the word for these foreign buggers to keep out of my engine room, sir?'

Crespin felt his face twisting into a smile. ‘Very well, Chief.' He added, ‘Have you hurt your mouth?'

Magot looked from Coutts to Soskic and then opened his mouth wide. ‘When we done that quick turn I slipped an' fell, sir. I dropped me bleedin' teeth an' Gawd knows where they are now!'

Leading Signalman Griffin clapped his shoulder as he hurried down the ladder. ‘Never mind, Chief. When they break the old ship up for scrap they'll likely find your mashers still down there. Probably send 'em to the bloody Maritime Museum!' He was laughing as he followed the fuming engineer from the bridge.

Soskic shook his head. ‘Remarkable men!'

Then he became serious. ‘I have met your Captain Scarlett. I am impressed with his energy. Most impressed.'

Coutts said dryly, ‘He came ashore with me last night when we arrived. He's been a ball of fire ever since.'

‘I can imagine.' Crespin thought of the job they had come to do, the enormity of the problems still to be faced.

He asked, ‘Any news of Lemke's
Nashorn
?'

Coutts replied, ‘They say the ship is at Trieste as reported. That is all we know at present.'

Soskic waved his arm towards the village. ‘I have three more schooners since you were last here. Also we have gathered nearly three hundred men from the surrounding islands to help us. We are armed and ready. Your Captain Scarlett says we are to attack Lemke's base. What do you think of that?'

Crespin saw Coutts look away. ‘It depends. It will not be an easy task.'

Soskic plucked his beard and grinned hugely. ‘That is what you said before, my friend! When you took your schooner and drove the pigs from that village!'

Crespin saw some of his men giving food to the partisans and replied, ‘There's more to lose this time.' What was the point of trying to explain to Soskic? To him the war was too personal, too close. But Coutts would be thinking about it. He of all people must realize that Scarlett was only interested in the raid as a single, glowing episode. He would never see it as what it really represented to Soskic and his people.

Or was
he
the one who was unrealistic? Had he allowed his mistrust, even dislike of Scarlett to get the upper hand? Like that business over Trotter. After all that had happened, did it really matter how he had died? To know that he had been driven out of his mind for causing the death of a German prisoner should be enough.

Soskic sighed deeply, ‘I will leave you now. I must go and see Captain Scarlett again. There is much to plan and prepare.'

They watched him return to his boat, his beautiful boots shining in the sunlight.

Then Coutts said, ‘I saw her at the airfield.' He fumbled inside his coat. ‘She gave me a letter for you.'

Crespin took the envelope and looked at it. ‘Did she get off all right?'

‘It was raining.' Coutts was watching him. ‘Yes, she was all right. She's a damn fine girl.' He shrugged and glanced at his watch. ‘Better get back to Scarlett's H.Q. Don't want young Preston doing a wrong translation for him.'

Crespin followed him to the deck and stared unseeingly at the covered corpses.

‘Thanks for the message.'

Coutts saluted casually. ‘My pleasure, old son.'

In his cabin Crespin sat down and turned the letter over in his hands for several minutes. Around him he could hear the usual shipboard noises, yet the cabin retained the stench of smoke and cordite. He slit open the envelope and read the unfamiliar handwriting very slowly.

It was a short letter. At the top of the second page it continued: ‘… and I expect Captain Scarlett let you believe he had ordered my return to England? The truth is that I
asked
for the transfer myself. I knew Admiral Oldenshaw was on another tour and I made my request to him. You see, my darling, I think I am pregnant, and I could not tell you, knowing you as I do. If you still want me, it must be because of us and not because of what has happened. When you get home again, I, or maybe we, will be waiting. Think about me sometimes. I love you. Penny.'

Crespin laid the letter on his table. It was almost as if he had heard her own voice, and he looked around the cabin like a man emerging from a dream.

Wemyss peered into the doorway, his cap beneath his arm. ‘Excuse me, sir, but there's a messenger from the village. Captain Scarlett requests your presence at the bunker for a briefing.'

Crespin stood up, his movements heavy and barely controlled. ‘Thank you, Number One. Call away the motor boat.'

Wemyss said slowly, ‘Shall I attend to the burial party, sir?'

Crespin nodded. ‘If you would.' He was only half aware of what Wemyss was saying. She had gone. Afraid that he would marry her because he had to. In his tired mind the distance between them seemed to build up until it was limitless, like black space.

‘Is there anything I can do, sir?' Wemyss was watching him anxiously. ‘Anything at all?'

Crespin walked past him. ‘Nothing.'

Wemyss followed him to the gangway and saw him into the boat. He watched the little motor boat curving away towards the village and wondered about the letter.

Sub-Lieutenant Defries appeared by his side. ‘Was that the captain, Number One?'

Wemyss nodded. ‘Why do you ask?'

‘Signal, sir. Just been decoded.' Defries moved the pad into the sunlight between the draped netting. ‘I think he should know about it, although it's addressed to Scarlett.'

Wemyss looked at Defries's pale face. ‘What does it say?'

‘From Admiralty, Number One. The aircraft carrying Rear-Admiral Oldenshaw is overdue and presumed missing. Captain Scarlett will return to U.K. and assume control of Special Operations until further orders. Ends.'

He looked up at Wemyss' lined face. ‘What does it mean, d'you think?'

Wemyss turned and stared after the motor boat. The letter on the desk and Crespin's face. That was what it meant.

He said harshly, ‘When the boat comes back I'll go ashore. Tell Shannon to take charge of the burial party. He ought to be good at it!' Without another word he walked aft and leaned heavily against the depth-charges.

Porteous saw Defries and asked, ‘Another flap on?'

‘Oldenshaw's been killed.' Defries was still staring towards Wemyss' slouched figure. ‘Still, I suppose he would have died anyway pretty soon.'

Porteous looked at the dead seamen being lowered into the waiting boat, the small firing party, embarrassed in their best uniforms. He thought of Haig, the competent leading hand who had died at his side. Now he was going ashore for the last time. He wondered vaguely how they would manage to scrape out the graves in that rocky hillside.

He said quietly, ‘That's a comfort, I suppose. But not much.'

It was very cold in Soskic's bunker, and the silent figures around Scarlett's improvised map table huddled together for mutual comfort. As Crespin stepped through the rough sacking curtains Scarlett looked up, his face gleaming in the glare of several oil lamps.

‘Good.' He gave Crespin a ready smile. ‘You made a bloody potmess of that troopship to all accounts!'

Crespin saw Coutts translating Scarlett's remarks to the partisans and there were several nods and grunts of approval. He noticed that there were many more partisan leaders than on his other visit, leather-faced, tough-looking men in thick jerkins, their bodies festooned with weapons and ammunition of a dozen makes and sizes. Almost without exception the partisan commanders wore German jackboots, their late owners having no further use for them.

He said, ‘We lost five killed and three wounded, sir.'

Scarlett regarded him searchingly. ‘Hard luck. Still, it could have been worse.' He took a bayonet from one of the partisans and used it like a pointer across the map. ‘We must get on with it if we're to make use of our advantage.'

Crespin rested his palms on the table. He must push the other thoughts from his mind. He had to concentrate. The tiredness was dragging at his brain like a drug. It was hard even to see straight.

Scarlett said crisply, ‘Up here we have the Peljesac Peninsula, beyond which is the main channel to the coast and Tekla Point. We will keep fairly close to Korcula Island and thereby avoid the other island of Hvar. There are still German forces on the latter and we don't want an alarm to be raised before we get within reach of our objective.' He paused and tapped the map with obvious impatience as Coutts translated for the benefit of the partisans. ‘Surprise and quick action are the mainsprings to this attack. The Germans obviously imagine that the troopship was sunk by forces from Italy. Otherwise we'd have seen more activity around here by now. So much the better. I have decided,' he paused and shot Soskic a warm smile,
‘we
have decided that the attack should be in two parts. The schooners under Captain Coutts' command will land the main body of partisans three miles from Tekla Point to approach overland.
Thistle
in company with the two M.L.s will enter the base from seaward for a frontal attack and destroy all installations and any local shipping which cannot be taken for our own use.'

Crespin watched the tip of the bayonet as it stabbed at each objective. It was a daring plan, but simple enough to work, if only the Germans had no surface forces in the area.

Scarlett said abruptly, ‘And if anyone is worrying about the so-called
Rhinoceros
, he had better forget it.' He looked calmly at Crespin. ‘If we smash the base, the Germans will be forced to withdraw from this section of the coast. The island of Vis is already in partisan hands, and the other local ones will follow as soon as we complete this raid. After that,' he paused to allow Coutts to finish translating, ‘we will have more offensive craft based on Vis, M.T.B.s to be precise, and they will soon take care of this German monstrosity which has been tying everyone down here.'