To Risks Unknown Read Online Free

but this time his face was working with excitement and alarm.
    â€˜C-Captain, sir! The first lieutenant’s respects, an’ there’s an
admiral
comin’ aboard!’
    If the Holy Ghost had appeared on the quarterdeck he could not have looked more confused.
    Crespin picked up his cap. That is all I need. Aloud he snapped, ‘Next time wait until I tell you before you barge in!’
    He brushed the seaman aside and stepped into the passageway. It was already too late. On the steel ladder he could see a pair of black-stockinged legs which were soon, if clumsily, followed by their owner, a very plain-looking Wren officer. Then came Wemyss, muttering excuses and apologies for the mess and the gaping workmen. And finally the admiral.
    For a moment they all stood chest to chest in the narrow passageway, then the admiral cocked his head on one side and said cheerfully, ‘Rear-Admiral Oldenshaw. Glad to meet you, Crespin.’ He pushed between them and strode energetically into the wardroom, his gaze swinging from side to side as if searching for intruders.
    Wemyss ushered the Wren to one of the chairs and then stood by the door. The admiral’s pale eyes regarded him unwinkingly and then he snapped, ‘You can carry on, Number One. I know all about you, what!’ Wemyss withdrew with unseemly haste.
    Crespin stared at the little man with surprise and growing anger. He looked as old as time. God, when would they stop giving jobs to these ancient warriors just because of the unwritten old pals act?
    He said curtly, ‘I am sorry I was not on deck to receive you, sir.’
    The admiral squatted on the edge of the wardroom table and smiled. ‘My fault. Quite deliberate I’m afraid, Crespin. Dislike ceremonial, except in its right place. I came to see you, not some bloody wooden-faced guard of honour!’
    The Wren coughed quietly and the admiral nodded. ‘Quite. Mustn’t get carried away, eh?’ He looked round the untidy wardroom. ‘Small ships. Salt of the earth.’
    Crespin replied, ‘The refit seems up to date, sir. The main intake of new men will come aboard as soon as we’ve got our own power connected up again. At the moment they’re in the barracks.’
    â€˜Know all that, Crespin. Made all the arrangements myself, as a matter of fact.’
    Crespin clenched his fingers until the pain steadied him a little. ‘And I have read my orders, sir. If the refit is completed I will sail for Gibraltar on Tuesday.’
    â€˜It had better be completed!’ The admiral eyed him thoughtfully. ‘When you were last in the Mediterranean you commanded the 71st M.T.B. Flotilla. Before that you were in destroyers. You’ve seen a lot of combat, and you’ve a damn good record. So you’re probably feeling sorry for yourself because you’ve been given command of this battered little warrior, eh?’ He held up a wrinkled hand. ‘Don’t bother to argue, your face is full of resentment!’ He chuckled. ‘Fact is, I arranged that, too. I needed a captain for his brains, not his rank.’
    The Wren officer, who had been touching a ladder on one of her stockings with a forefinger, said suddenly, ‘The admiral means that you were chosen for your experience. Not because you happened to be available.’
    Crespin felt the cabin swaying, and it was all he could do to stifle his anger.
    â€˜Thank you, sir.’
    The admiral did not smile. ‘You really are resentful, Crespin!’ He folded his arms and regarded the other man with a fixed stare. ‘Very soon now the Allies will be landing on enemy soil. Italy will be an obvious starter, but the war cannot be won until our men are in France and then Germany itself. Therefore, whatever we succeed in doing when we invade Italy will be watched and calculated by the enemy. We will be at grips with the real foe. North Africa was too remote for ordinary people’s minds to