Read Online Badge of Glory (1982) by Douglas Reeman - Free Book Online

now.’
    He saw Smithett carrying his personal pack and weapons, supervising the lowering of his captain’s kit into a boat alongside.
    Smithett marched over to him and snapped, ‘All done, sir. Put a couple of bottles in the bag too, might be a long job.’
    Blackwood felt his attendant clipping his belt around his waist and adjusting his sword so that it hung directly in line with his hip. If he ordered Smithett to take on the king of the Zulus single-handed, he had no doubt he would be smartly turned-out for it.
    His half-brother was pounding after him as he strode over to watch the first section of marines clambering down into the boats.
    ‘Look, sir, can’t I come too?’ He was actually pleading.
    ‘No.’ Blackwood turned and looked at him. ‘You are
in charge
here. Sergeant Quintin has years of service behind him, but he expects an officer to give him his orders. So do it.’ He gripped his wrist impetuously. ‘You asked what it was like. This is all part of it. They expect you to lead them, though God knows most of them could manage well enough if all their officers fell dead.’ He shook him gently. ‘I shall ask Sergeant Quintin how you managed when we meet up again.’
    The lieutenant nodded, his face lost in the darkness. ‘Take care, sir. Philip.’
    ‘Ready in the boat, sir!’
    It was time to go.
    Blackwood glanced up at the tapering masts, the creepers of shrouds and rigging which seemed to climb to the stars. He might never see
Audacious
again.
    He added, ‘And keep out of the admiral’s way.’
    Then he was scrambling into the boat, while others, loaded down with marines and equipment, shoved away from the chains and began to pull towards the inner anchorage.
    Colour-Sergeant M’Crystal sat very upright in the stern-sheets, the oilskin cover of his flag standing between his knees like an umbrella.
    He said hoarsely, ‘More like it, sir. Bit o’ soldiering for a change!’ He twisted round and sniffed the air. ‘What’s that, sir?’
    Blackwood felt a shiver of excitement again. Coal and oil, smoke and damp iron.
    ‘
That
, Colour-Sergeant, is a steam-frigate.’
    M’Crystal considered it. ‘Och, sir, the sooner we get there, the quicker we can stretch our legs.’
    Blackwood watched the bowsprit of the anchored frigate rising like a lance above the boat. Like the warrior’s club in the nightmare. He blinked. That had been just two hours ago.
    He saw sparks drifting above where the funnel must be, the unfamiliar swish and creak of machinery, voices calling and the clatter of a chain cable. It was another world. He felt a complete amateur, like a sailor trying to ride bareback.
    The bowman hooked on, and faces peered and bobbed along the
Satyr
’s black bulwark. Smithett stood ready to steady him if he lost his step, and then he was up and over the rail on to the frigate’s deck. Strange shadows and shapes stood around him, and he had little sense of being in a ship at all.
    A figure detached itself from the side-party and a voice said, ‘Lieutenant Lascelles, sir!’
    Blackwood took his hand. Lascelles was supposed to be the Royal Marines officer aboard, but he was dressed in blue like a member of the RMA.
    He sensed Blackwood’s curiosity and said apologetically, ‘Sorry about my rig, sir. But the red coat doesn’t take too kindly to the smut and sparks here!’
    Blackwood smiled. ‘I’ll remember that.’
    He heard Slade’s voice in the distance, probably speaking with
Satyr
’s captain. It was all so different, so new.
    Lascelles saw M’Crystal. ‘My sergeant has arranged berths for your men in the barracks and on the orlop. Bit cramped, I’m afraid. But in this ship the engines come first.’ He jumped as a siren shrieked wildly overhead, the echoes banging around the bay like an insane chorus.
    ‘Captain Blackwood?’
    A broad-shouldered, sturdy officer in a watch-coat came out of the darkness.
    ‘Yes, sir.’
    ‘I’m Tobin. I command here.’ The handshake was firm