The Hundred Days Read Online Free PDF Page B

sir, is the gentleman married?’
    ‘I believe not,’ said Kent. ‘But if it is tomorrow’s
unhappy affair that prompts your question, I can assure you he is perfectly
orthodox in those respects. For a while he resided in Algiers on our behalf, and the
reporting agent mentioned two mistresses, one white, one black. But apart from
these ladies he had many connexions in Algiers, his musical abilities
making him particularly welcome among the Europeans of the better sort: and
these connexions may prove of the utmost value if Algiers is the chosen port, which
seems...
    ‘Very true,’ said Mr Dee. ‘But I must insist that
the Adriatic harbours and dockyards come first: a great show of force, the
elimination of potential enemies and the presence of the Royal Navy will
necessarily have a great effect upon the fraternities - so great an effect that
their conspiracy may well prove abortive. All our efforts should be directed
towards that end. I am too old and infirm to take an active part: but my
cousins have a banking-house in Ancona, just across the water,
and from there I can correspond with my Turkish friends in the Ottoman
provinces and co-ordinate our operations. I can also communicate with London by the bankers’ couriers.’
    During the time of this conference, Jack had been
very much occupied with the rest of his squadron: on the way down from Madeira
he had had all the captains to dinner, he had been aboard them repeatedly, and
he had a fair notion of their abilities; but it was still not clear how he
should divide the ships for their separate duties. As far as the Adriatic was concerned, he would
certainly shift his pennant into the Surprise, with her wonderful sailing
qualities, her old, trained, thoroughly reliable
ship’s company, capable of such a deadly rate of fire: but for his consort he
could not decide between Pomone and Dover. The difference in
broadside weight of metal was very great: no less than a hundred and forty-four
pounds. But the thirty-gun Pomone was the unhappy ship whose captain was laid
up in Funchal with a badly broken leg, unlikely to recover, and whose second
lieutenant was confined to his cabin to await trial for an offence under the
twenty-ninth Article of War, which dealt with ‘unnatural and detestable sin’ -
a ship to which Lord Keith had appointed a young man, very recently made post,
the only qualified officer at hand. Whatever the outcome of tomorrow’s ugly
trial, the Pomone’s people would be very upset - new
officers, new ways ... mockery.
    ‘Larboard, sir?’ asked Bonden in an undertone.
    Jack nodded. The gig hooked on and he ran up the
frigate’s side, still lost in thought. He had seen the flagship’s barge
carrying the civilians away long before and he expected to find Stephen in the
cabin. ‘Where is the Doctor?’ he cried.
    ‘Which he is in the other doctor’s cabin,’ said
Killick, appearing as if by magic, ‘discoursing of physical matters and
drinking rare old East India sherry. Dr Glover called
for another bottle a quarter of an hour ago.’
    In fact at this moment they were discoursing of
impotence. Their conversation had begun when, having dismissed the Sick and
Hurt Board as a parcel of incompetent Ascitans, fit only to dance round an
inflated wineskin, Dr Glover asked Stephen whether he had heard of the death of
Governor Wood of Sierra Leone.
           ‘I have, alas,’ said Stephen. ‘A most
hospitable man: he and his wife entertained us nobly when we were there in
Bellona. I am about to write... the most difficult kind of letter in the world,
however highly you esteem the person to whom it is addressed, and however much
you sympathize. I grieve for her extremely.’
    Dr Glover did not reply for some time: then, having
finished his glass, he looked sideways at his old friend and said, ‘I was in Freetown the best part of a year,
and they were both my patients. I can tell you as one medico to another that in
this case formal expressions of