Betrayal Read Online Free Page B

murderous. That left an attack after dark – but a captain so canny would have a boat out to row night guard; illuminations would follow any intrusion and the result would be the same.
    He lowered the glass and slid it shut. He couldn’t ask his men to take on such odds even with the stakes of intelligence to be won. The
Marie Galante
was perfectly safe: they could stay for as long as patience held out, for water and a supply of meat were on hand and it would need only occasional boat trips to tell them when
L’Aurore
had given up and sailed away. It was galling but it had to be accepted: the Frenchman had prevailed.
    There was now no other course than to sail back to Cape Town, bearing the tantalising news that Maréchal appeared to be at large but where or when and with what force was anybody’s guess.
    ‘Return,’ he told Poulden, and made his way back to the sternsheets with Renzi.
    His coxswain waited for a sizeable mat of vegetation to be carried past by the current before poling out, then told his crew to hoist sail. The boat curved around, carefully avoiding the relic of torn riverbank that had come down from far up the mysterious Zambezi. Kydd’s thoughts, however, were on what he could do to retrieve something from the situation. At least they didn’t have to search up the remaining three mouths and—
    A preposterous idea entered his mind that teased him with its possibilities. He twisted round to glance back whence they’d come. Yes – it could work if . . .
    ‘Poulden. Lay us alongside the floating greenery, if y’ please.’
    The coxswain gave him a puzzled glance but did as requested. Close to, it was a substantial piece of densely matted vegetation, grass of quite another kind from that growing on nearby banks, tall, thick and wreathed with tangling creepers. On one side there were even young saplings and a sprawling bush.
    ‘Seize on,’ Kydd called to the bowman, who gingerly felt with his boat-hook. The boat swung closer with the current – and Kydd stepped on to the little island, taking care to keep a hold on the boat’s gunwale. It gave a little under his weight and he dared to stand upright. Something near his foot hissed and slithered rapidly away, while a large clumsy bird with a fleshy beak burst out of the bush, cawing.
    Kydd trod further into the thick undergrowth. It felt surprisingly substantial and he called to two of the seamen to join him. One caught an ankle and fell prostrate with a frightened oath. The island swayed a little but seemed not to object. They had a chance.
    After dinner, Kydd called a council of war aboard
L’Aurore
.
    ‘Gentlemen, the corvette rightly assumes our only means of attack is by boat and he’s taking every precaution to defend against it. In the main he’s lying at the head of a straight passage of the river and knows he’s a line of sight that will warn him in plenty of time of an assault. Of a certainty he has his guns trained downriver to slaughter any in attacking boats.’ In quick, bold pencil strokes, he sketched out the situation on a sheet of paper.
    He paused and looked up. ‘We will be going in, however.’ Troubled glances were exchanged. ‘But not from the direction he expects. We’ll be coming from upstream.’
    ‘Ah,’ Curzon said instantly. ‘How are we first going to get our boats past him? Even under cover of dark we’ll be—’
    ‘We don’t!’
    ‘Sir?’
    ‘The boats will be advancing upstream – but not until we’ve boarded him.’
    ‘I – I don’t follow you, sir.’
    Kydd explained about the floating islands. ‘Six boarders concealed in one to signal down the reach when they’re in sight so we’ll know which island they’re aboard. This tells the boats to come into view and begin their attack, drawing the attention of the French entirely to what they’ve been expecting.
    ‘When abreast the bowsprit of the corvette, the island will be brought alongside and our men will swarm aboard from nowhere to