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

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I had gone for my usual walk that day. When I returned, at five o’clock, Mr. Erskine had not yet come in, but Clegg, his butler, met me in the hallway.

“There’s a gentleman waiting to see you, sir. He’s in the library.”

I took the stairs three at a time. I knew that my letter would bring him at the earliest possible moment. I flung open the door. There was Tinkler, standing with his back to the sea-coal fire.

Mr. Erskine was engaged that evening. At least, he sent word by Clegg to that effect; but my belief is that, upon coming home and learning that Tinkler was there, he had retired to his own room for no other reason than that we might have the evening together, alone. We had dinner in the library, in front of the fire. There was so much to be said that we scarcely knew how or where to begin. Tinkler had not yet recovered from his astonishment at the manner in which he had been pounced upon and kidnapped by Sir Joseph Banks.

“Remember, Byam, that I still thought of you as being somewhere on the other side of the world. When I had returned from my first voyage to the West Indies, I had heard that a ship, the Pandora, had been sent out to search for the Bounty. That was the extent of my information about you, and months had passed since that time. I had heard nothing of Edwards’s return, and not a word of the court-martial. I had come ashore the previous evening, in clothing borrowed from men on the Sapphire, the ship that had rescued us. Another time I’ll tell you the story of the Carib Maid and how she was lost. Only ten of us survived,—the other boats were lost,—and there we were at an inn about a stone’s throw from the dock where the Sapphire was berthed. I’d had a glorious breakfast of eggs and bacon, and was just on the point of setting out for my brother-in-law’s house when a fine carriage and pair drove up, and before I could say How-do-you-do or God bless me I found myself inside, sitting opposite Sir Joseph Banks.