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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There were but eight of our company strong enough to sit upon the thwarts; the others were lying or sitting, propped up in the bottom of the boat.

“Let us pray, lads,” said Bligh. We bowed our heads while he returned thanks to Almighty God.

We lay within thirty or forty yards of the beach. A little distance to the right, the walls of the fort rose from their ramparts of rock. All was silent there; not so much as a gleam of light appeared anywhere in the settlement. Captain Bligh hailed the fort repeatedly, with no result.

“Try your voice on ’em, Mr. Purcell,” he said.

Purcell hailed, then the boatswain, then the two together; but there was no response.

“By God,” said Bligh, “were we at war with the Dutch, I’ll warrant we could capture the place, weak as we are, with nothing but four rusty cutlasses. They’ve not so much as a sentinel on the walls.”

“We’ve roused someone at last,” said Nelson. “Look yonder.”

A strange-looking man was just emerging from the shadows of the trees lining the road that led to the beach. He was clad only in shirt and trousers, and had what appeared to be a white nightcap on his head. He was exceedingly fat, and walked at a waddling gait.