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

479 страница из 953

“Could you complete it in a month?”

“I think so.”

“Then a clear month you shall have. I have enough influence at the Admiralty to be able to promise you that.”

“I shall make the most of it, sir.”

“Do you prefer not to talk of the events of the ... of the past week?” he asked, after a brief silence.

“It doesn’t matter, sir. If there is something you wish to say. ...”

“Only this, Byam. It is needless to tell you what my feelings are. There has never been a more tragic miscarriage of justice in the history of His Majesty’s Navy. I know how embittered you must be. You understand why you have been condemned?”

“I believe I do, sir.”

“There was no alternative, Byam. None. All the palliating circumstances—the fact that no man had seen you under arms, the testimony as to the excellent character you bore, and all the rest—were not sufficient to offset Bligh’s damning statement as to your complicity with Christian in planning the mutiny. That statement stood unchallenged, except by yourself, throughout the court-martial. Only your friend Tinkler could have challenged and disproved it. Lacking his evidence....”