Читать книгу Men Against the Sea – Book Set. The Greatest Maritime Adventure Novels: The Bounty Trilogy, Lost Island, The Hurricane, Botany Bay, The Far Lands, Tales of the South Seas… онлайн

402 страница из 953

The court-martial was held in the great cabin of the Duke, which extended the width of the vessel, from the forward limit of the poop to the stern gallery. The quarter-deck was thronged with people, chiefly officers in full-dress uniform who had assembled from the many ships of war in the harbour to attend the proceedings. There were also a number of civilians, Sir Joseph Banks among them. Dr. Hamilton, whom I had last seen at the Cape of Good Hope, was standing with the other officers of the Pandora by the bulwarks on the larboard side of the deck. Edwards was there, of course, with his satellite, Parkin, beside him. He glanced us over with his habitual air of cold hostility, and he appeared to be thinking: “These scoundrels freed from their irons? What gross neglect of duty!”

On the other side of the deck were gathered the officers of the Bounty, looking self-conscious and ill at ease in that company of ships’ captains and admirals and rear admirals. It was a strange meeting for old shipmates, and many were the silent messages that passed back and forth as we looked eagerly at each other. Mr. Fryer, the master, was there, and Cole, the boatswain, and Purcell, the carpenter, and Peckover, the gunner. A clear picture flashed into mind of the last view we had had of them as they looked up at us from the launch across the widening space of blue water. Little any of us thought then that we should ever meet again.