Part 32 (1/2)

Now, will you help me?'

The Doctor nodded. 'I'll tell you all I know.'

Thurloe smiled and sighed with relief. 'Excellent! I shall see to the arrangements at once. You shan't regret this, I promise you.'

He turned and marched to the door. A sharp rap brought the jailer inside and then Thurloe disappeared in a swirl of black cloak.

Jamie jumped off the bed, shaking his head. 'But Doctor we don't know anything!'

The Doctor gave a mischievous smile. 'Exactly. And that's what I've agreed to tell them.'

A full gale was blowing now and the sky was as black as an old coffin as the Demeter Demeter and the and the Teazer Teazer struggled through the foaming sea. struggled through the foaming sea.

Winter's s.h.i.+p just had the edge, rounding the coast at a brisk pace, with the damaged and bulky enemy lurching behind.

Ben stood on the fo'c'sle, soaked to the skin as he peered through the spray towards the Demeter Demeter. He gripped the sodden rigging with both hands to stop himself from falling as the s.h.i.+p lurched and groaned in the storm.

Winter was at the wheel. Illuminated occasionally by a stab of brilliant lightning, she looked like a child's nightmare come to life. Her ham like hands were fast on the wheel, feeling her s.h.i.+p rock beneath her like a twisting dragon.

'She's gaining!' shouted Ben above the roar of the wind.

Winter did not respond but kept her eye on the approaching coastline. Ben could see a vista of black mud stretching from the water's edge to the glorious safety of the land. If they continued on their present course, they were bound to run aground.

'You'll kill us all, you mad woman. We're heading for the marshes!'

Winter pushed Ben away. 'I know our course, sir, and I know that we will shortly strike the marshes. But so will the Teazer Teazer and then the Pole will have to face me!' and then the Pole will have to face me!'

Ben shook his head. 'There's more to this than your ruddy vendetta, you know. I thought we were trying to trap them in the marshes, not us!'

'So we are!' cackled Winter. 'So we are! I shall see the whole of Stanislaus's miserable crew marooned on those flats.'

Ben looked about desperately. The channel they were sailing up was growing narrower and narrower and the sails of the Teazer Teazer loomed so close behind that they appeared to be reaching over Ben's head. loomed so close behind that they appeared to be reaching over Ben's head.

There was a loud crack and a musket ball whistled past Ben's car, He turned back to Winter but was astonished to see that the captain had vanished.

She had lashed the wheel on to the s.h.i.+p's course with rope.

Cursing to himself, Ben scrambled up the rigging and threw himself down on to the wheel platform. Sleety rain and sea spray coursed down his face as he tried to untie the bulky knots that the captain had tied into the rope.

His hands slid over the saturated surface and he dug his nails desperately into the wet twine.

Then he felt the great weight of Winter's hands descend on to his.

'Nay, belay there, Ben!' screamed the sailor, her black eye flas.h.i.+ng.

Ben threw up his hands. 'AlI right! You get on with it, Sal.

Just let me get off this s.h.i.+p and back to London.'

Winter looked wounded. 'I shall not abandon you, friend.'

'I know that,' shouted Ben, glancing feverishly about, convinced that another bullet would shortly find its way into his skull.

'I'm not trying to force a confrontation,' cried Winter, gazing ahead at the encroaching mud.

'Looks very like it to me.'

Winter shook her ma.s.sive head. 'Nay, Ben. We could never outrun the Teazer Teazer, damaged as she is. The Pole would keelhaul us and sail straight up Old Father Thames with that Dutch package of his.'

Ben's strained face betrayed his exasperation. 'But he'll do that anyway if we finish up in the mud!'

Winter looked Ben in the eye but seemed to be staring right through him. ''Tis your task now, Ben. Alone. The Pole will get no further. This is where our conflict ends.'

As though for dramatic emphasis, the Demeter Demeter suddenly lurched and there was a deep, percussive boom as she slammed into the mud banks. suddenly lurched and there was a deep, percussive boom as she slammed into the mud banks.

Ben and Winter were thrown down and the captain slid across the wet deck like a coin across a wooden board.

The prow of the s.h.i.+p rose up in the air and Ben found himself tumbling towards the rail.

Just as suddenly, the s.h.i.+p seemed to settle and there was a moment of strange calm with only the las.h.i.+ng of the elements audible.

Then the Teazer Teazer's cannon roared out, hitting the Demeter Demeter at point-blank range. The fo'c'sle erupted in flame, deadly shards of ancient wood streaking through the air like fiery darts. at point-blank range. The fo'c'sle erupted in flame, deadly shards of ancient wood streaking through the air like fiery darts.

Ben threw himself down and covered his head. 'Sal?' he bellowed.

But the captain had disappeared again.

The cannons spoke again, missing this time, and a ball slapped into the black mud that now embraced the s.h.i.+p, sending a choking, filthy plume high into the air.

Ben struggled to his feet and tottered across the deck, then he fell to his knees again as the vessel was struck amids.h.i.+ps by the Teazer Teazer, which had now run aground herself.

There was a tremendous splintering groan as the prow of Stanislaus's s.h.i.+p ripped through the heart of her, sc.r.a.ping through the woodwork like a chisel.

What remained of the Demeter Demeter's crew were swarming all over the grounded vessel. Ben watched as they took on Stanislaus's men in yet more fierce hand-to-hand fighting.

Determined to find Winter, Ben clattered through the debris until he found himself peering over on to the deck of the Teazer Teazer.

He swallowed nervously at the sight that met his eyes.

Young Hugh the cabin boy stood at Stanislaus's side, his eyes wide open in desperate appeal. They stood near the shattered remains of Stanislaus' cabin which looked like a ma.s.sive, blackened flower, charred beyond recognition by Winter's bomb. There were signs of the explosion all over the s.h.i.+p. Shards had streaked into her fine woodwork and powder had darkened the deck for yards around. The bomb had done its job, thought Ben with a sigh, but its intended victims had obviously been well clear.

Some of Stanislaus's crew were grouped around them with G.o.dley and the Dutchman close by.

Stanislaus held his cutla.s.s to Hugh's throat.

'Captain Winter,' he called. 'Sal? Are you there?