The two ships hove-to not fifty yards apart, and Archer and Barthe were carried across the small divide by cutter. The day had dawned clear and bright, the translucent blue sea rolling by. To the south-west lay the island of Guadeloupe, so vibrantly green it appeared almost to glow.
Archer and Barthe clambered up the side of the ship and were ushered quickly down to the captain, Sir William Jones, who sat at his table without a jacket, poring over some papers. He did not look the least distressed by the events of the previous night.
“Ah. Mr Archer. Mr Barthe, I believe? Would you take a glass of wine with me?”
Neither was the least inclined to, but they could hardly refuse. Wine was duly poured.
“Captain Jones,” Archer said then, “what in the world happened last night that we lost our captain and shipmates?”
“It was the damndest thing, Archer,” Jones told him, as they all took seats. “We made our way into the bay, silent as snakes, and there at anchor we discovered a large convoy and their escorts—several ships of war. As you can imagine, it made finding our brig a bit of a problem, but we did find her, finally, anchored at the very head of the bay. We boarded and took her, but as we were sailing her out, we had the most beastly luck and ran aground. I took my boats to row out a kedge when a dozen boats of screaming Frenchmen came upon us. It was a miracle that we managed to slip off into the darkness. Hayden and his men were yet aboard the brig and attempted to fight them off, but they were terribly outnumbered.” He shrugged.
“You do not know, then, how many survived?”
“We were rowing for our lives, Archer. All we heard was the French attacking the ship and your captain and crew valiantly trying to beat them off. Unfortunately, their numbers had already been reduced by the fight to take the brig, so they did not have much of a chance against a hundred and fifty Frenchmen.”
“I should say not.” Archer felt as though a bucket of the cold North Atlantic had been dashed in his face.
“You are the acting captain now, Mr Archer, and I have complete faith that you will perform your duties to my greatest satisfaction. Hayden spoke highly of you.” He smiled at the acting captain in an avuncular sort of way.
“But what of Captain Hayden? What of our shipmates?”
“They will be exchanged. Perhaps not here, but they will be carried back to France and exchanged there. It will all turn out well in the end, I have no doubt.”