Read Online Baltic Mission by Richard Woodman - Free Book Online

field?’
    â€˜In so far as I am permitted to discuss my orders, Colonel, I can only shake my head to that question,’ Drinkwater said cautiously.
    â€˜Some damnable back-sliding between the Horse-Guards and the Admiralty I don’t doubt. A confounded clerk that’s forgotten to copy a memorandum, or lost a note he was supposed to deliver.’ Wilson smote his thigh with a relatively good-natured and contemptuous acceptance. ‘Still, that’s as may be. Then your orders, after you’ve turned your convoy and your specie over, are those usual to a cruiser, eh?’
    Drinkwater nodded. ‘Watch and prey is the formula off Brest, but here ’tis tread the decks of neutrals without upsetting anyone. A difficult task at the best of times.’
    â€˜Then you had better know more, Captain, in case we want you . . .’
    We?’
    â€˜Yes. Doubtless Lord Leveson-Gower will have something to say to you, but there are men in the field whom I will advise of your presence on the coast. Should they want swift communication with London they will be looking out for you. Often a frigate is the best and safest way. Chief among them is Colin Mackenzie. Whatever names he uses in his work he is not ashamed to own Rosshire ancestry on his father’s side, though what his mother was only his father knows. I would advise you offer him whatever assistance he might require. There is also another man, a Captain Ostroff, in the Russian service. Both these fellows use a cryptogramic code for their dispatches – I am sureyou are familiar with the type of thing – and all are sent to Joseph Devlieghere, Merchant of Antwerpen . . .’
    â€˜The clearing house . . .’
    â€˜Yes. And for all I know, where Bonaparte’s people open ’em up before popping them into a Harwich shrimp-tub together with a keg or two of Hollands gin. The way Paris seems to know what’s going on is astounding. That man Fouché is diabolical . . . You smile, Captain . . .’
    â€˜Only because he outwits us, Colonel,’ said Drinkwater drily. ‘If he was one of our fellows he would be considered brilliant.’
    â€˜True,’ said Wilson smiling.
    â€˜I understand. I shall, of course, do what I can, but I assure you I have had no direct orders from Lord Dungarth, nor have I executed any commission for him since April last year.’ Drinkwater refilled the glasses, then went on, ‘But tell me, if you are confident about Russian prospects, why all this anxiety about agents? Indeed you did not fully answer my question about the military situation.’
    â€˜No more I did.’ Wilson sipped his wine, considered a moment, then said, ‘It is not entirely true to say the situation is static. With Napoleon in the field any thoughts of immobility can be discounted. Colberg and Dantzig have been invested and may fall to the French any day; that much we must expect. Marshall Mortier is occupying our supposed allies, the Swedes, before Stralsund, in Pomerania . . .’ Wilson shrugged, ‘Who knows what might happen. As to the main theatre here, well . . . I will give Boney one last throw. He is a damned long way from Paris. He’s been absent for a year and when the cat’s away we all know what the mice get up to. Bennigsen gave him a drubbing. He can’t afford to retreat, either politically or militarily. But then he can’t risk a defeat which the Russkies are quite capable of giving him. My guess is a battle of his own choosing and a big stake on a single hand.’
    Drinkwater digested this. ‘I should not care to bear such a responsibility,’ he said slowly.
    â€˜No more would I,’ said Wilson tossing off his glass and making to stand. ‘The Russians are a rum lot, to be sure. Touchy, secretive and suspicious, but brave as lions when it comes to a fight.’ He rose and