The Widow & Her Hero Read Online Free PDF

laugh.
Mortmain merely shifted that ridiculous monocle around by
the muscular force of his cheek and eyebrow as if he was
laughing inside. The Australian captain of the Warradgerry spoke up and said he was sure this event was merely intended
to be news amongst us.
    And Doucette answered, It was a stunt unworthy of public
attention, sir, but useful to those who have ears to listen.
    The captain seemed quite jolly given that fake limpet mines
had been put all over his ship. He assumed that Doucette had
authorisation for this exercise? The Boss undid the top button
of his khaki shirt and brought forth some documents which
were wrapped in cellophane. He placed them on the table, not
being too definite about who would pick them up first. The
naval captain did. When the cellophane was unwrapped, two
separate typed letters were visible. The captain read the first
one and passed it to the harbourmaster. Then read the second
and did the same. Then the letters made their way around the
Dutch, the three French and the Australian merchant captains
and were absorbed one at a time. At the end of the line they
were passed to the American colonel. They did not seem to
make a huge impression on him, but his face remained neutral
throughout the whole thing. He excused himself, stepped
through the line of merchant captains and returned the letters
to the Australian navy man in charge of the port without
comment or thanks. Then he resumed his place in the far
corner of the room.
    The Australian port commander declared it seemed both
General Wavell and General Blamey had given Doucette
open slather or carte blanche , and some of the captains
might be angry and embarrassed, but a greater good had
probably been achieved. He himself didn't seem angry and
embarrassed.
    As we all emerged, the merchant captains walking down
the docks to their sundry ships, the captain of the
Warradgerry stopped to talk to us. He invited us to attend
drinks in the wardroom that evening. Doucette said we
would be honoured to. The captain explained why he and the
local naval commander were so friendly to us. He'd been
telling the Scot for a long time that a complete boom needed
to be laid inside the harbour. But the old harbourmaster,
who'd held the job since the 1920s, argued some of the native
captains coming in from the islands would get themselves
caught up in it. The captain said the harbourmaster thought
it was still 1935. He saluted and so we saluted back like real
gents.
    For the sun was shining on their faces, and rewarding
them, or making promises they could imagine were castiron.
Leo's account continues exultant, and shows that
even a mock-martial triumph can endow the heroes with
the better lines, and a sense of divine assurance; exactly
what I would have wanted him to have.
    There was no time to go back to the officers' club before drinks
hour aboard the Warradgerry. We decided we would fill in the
time by going to the Townsville Hotel and having tea on their
verandah, and begging a piece of their stationery so that the
Boss could write a list of the ships we had marked. He was
doing this while Mortmain and I drank our black tea, exactly
right for a warm place like Townsville, bringing out a sort of
cleansing sweat. Then we saw the high-ranked American who
had been in the harbourmaster's office was standing over us,
very thin and tall. His shadow fell over the Boss's page, and he
looked up. The American asked us if it would be an intrusion
if he joined us.
    Certainly not, said the Boss, but in that icy British way
which actually means I'd prefer you went away. Doucette did
not rise to salute this more senior soldier, and so neither did
we. Strange, since the Brits were so crazy on rituals, but then
we'd all got out of the habit of it during our training.
    So the American took a seat. I looked at his uniform –
it was great tailoring. The Boss introduced us. This was
Lieutenant-Colonel Jesse Creed, he told us. Creed wore the
insignia of the American