Richard Bolitho – Midshipman

8. Across the Reef

'Sou'-sou'-east, sir! Full an' bye! ' Bolitho gripped the hammock nettings and watched the Sandpiper dip her lee bulwark steeply towards the sea. Spray and drifting foam dashed across the deck, and when he glanced up at the main yard he saw it was bending like a huge bow as the seamen worked to set more sail. Starkie remarked hoarsely, 'The wind's freshening a bit.' He shaded his eyes to peer at the masthead pendant. 'But it's holding steady from the nor'-east.' He added grimly, 'So far.' Bolitho hardly heard him. He was watching the brig's efforts as she lifted and smashed down on to each successive line of whitecaps. From the moment they had brought the ship about and turned her gilded figurehead towards the land again he had sensed the change around him. Even the Sandpiper's original hands, many showing festering cuts and cruel injuries from their captivity, were shouting to each other, doing all they could to set every stitch of canvas short of tearing the masts t out of her. Only when they looked aft did they falter. Perhaps, Bolitho thought, they still expected to see their young captain at the rail, as if by hoping they could hold their memories at bay. Dancer shouted above the din of canvas and wind,:'She's flying, Dick! ' He nodded, seeing the bows dip into a steep-sided roller and hurl the spray high over the beakhead in a solid white sheet. 'Aye.' He looked across the quarter. 'Can you see the frigate?' He gripped Dancer's arm. 'There she is! And she's making more sail.' As the gloom of the night retreated slowly towards the open sea he saw the topsails and topgallants of the other ship, changing shape as she too changed tack and came end-on in pursuit. He pointed to the flag above his head, making a bright patch against the washed-out sky. 'Mr Starkie was right, it seems. Our enemy is roused! ' Starkie walked up to the weather side, his body leaning against the deck's steep angle. 'I'm holding her as close to the wind as I dare.