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I used a very colourful expression I had learned from Patsy, who, in turn, had gotten it from her father’s drunken old coach driver.
‘Language, Mr Linton!’
‘I’ll use any damn language I damn well want! We’re being shot at!’
‘I am aware of that fact, Mr Linton.’
‘Well, don’t you think we should bloody do something about that?’
‘Yes. It is time now.’
I sighed. Well, thank heavens! Finally, he had seen sense! We were going to stop and pay our taxes, and then we could go on our way like good little sailors.
‘Sahib!’ Karim came striding over to us, his beard flying like a flag in the sea breeze. ‘The Argentinians are signalling us! They want us to take in our sails and prepare to be boarded. What do you wish us to send in reply?’
Mr Ambrose took a step forward, clasping the railing with both hands. If possible, his face became even harder. Hard as bedrock.
‘A broadside.’
‘Yes, Sahib.’
For a few moments, I wasn’t sure I had heard correctly. Then, commands were being shouted across the deck, and the ship began to turn. I stared at Mr Rikkard Ambrose, wide-eyed.
‘You can’t mean to…Oh God! You’re going to attack the Navy of Argentina?’
‘No. I am not going to attack. They were the ones to fire the first shots.’
‘They were warning shots! You said so yourself! They were just threatening us!’
‘Indeed.’ For a moment, Mr Ambrose took his eyes off the sea, and met mine, sending an ice-cold shiver down my back. ‘I don’t take kindly to being threatened, Mr Linton.’
Oh dear…we were in trouble. Big trouble.
But not as big as the Argentinians were in.
The ship was nearly turned by now. Mr Ambrose marched along the deck, taking up a position at the centre of the ship, facing the Argentinians. They had slowed down. They obviously thought we were stopping to be boarded.
‘Ready?’ Mr Ambrose asked.
Karim glanced at the first mate, who nodded.
‘Ready, Sahib.’
Holy Mother of…! This can’t be happening! It simply can’t!
‘Fire!’
It can’t be happening! It can’t be happening! It ca-
BOOM!
Burning Waters
BOOM! Bo-boom! Boom!
The cacophony of explosions nearly threw me off my feet. Fire spewed from the side of the ship. Smoke billowed out, and the water below was driven away from the ship in a mighty wave. For a moment, it looked as though the jaws of the ocean had opened beneath us. Then, the jaws suddenly clamped shut again. The ship rocked back into the opposite direction, and I stumbled forward, nearly flying over the side.
A strong pair of hands gripped me around the waist and pulled me back.
