San Andreas Part 14

'I couldn't sleep. I didn't sleep a wink last night. It's all your fault.'

'Of course. It's always my fault. Cardinal rule number one - when anything goes wrong blame the Bo'sun. What am I supposed to have done this time?'

'You said the submarine, the U-boat, would attack if the moon broke through.'

'I said it could, not would.'

'Same thing. I spent most of the night looking out through the porthole - no, Mr McKinnon, I did not have my cabin light switched on - and when the moon came out at about two o'clock I was sure the attack must come any time. And when the moon went I was sure it would come again. Moon. U-boat. Your fault.'

'A certain logic, I must admit. Twisted logic, of course, but not more than one would expect of the feminine mind. Still, I'm sorry.'

'But you're looking fine. Fresh. Relaxed. And you're very late on the road this morning. Our trusty guardian sleeping on the job.'

'Your trusty guardian lost a little sleep himself, last night,' McKinnon said. 'Back shortly. Must see the Captain.'

It was Sister Maria, not Sister Morrison, who was in charge in A Ward. McKinnon spoke briefly with both the Captain and First Officer, then said to Bowen: 'Still sure, sir?'

'More sure than ever, Archie. When's dawn?' When's dawn?'

'Fifteen minutes.'

'I wish you well.'

'I think you better wish us all well.'

He returned to Ward B and said to Janet: 'Where's your pal?'

'Visiting the sick. She's with Lieutenant Ulbricht."

'She shouldn't have gone alone.'

'She didn't. You were asleep so your friend George Naseby came for her.'

McKinnon looked at her with suspicion. 'You find something amusing.'

'That's her second time up there this morning.'

'Is he dying or something?'

'I hardly think she would smile so much if a patient was slipping away.'

'Ah! Mending fences, you would say?'

'She called him "Karl" twice.' She smiled. 'I'd call that mending fences, wouldn't you?'

'Good lord! Karl. That well-known filthy n.a.z.i murderer.'

'Well, she said you asked her to make it right. No, you told her. So now you'll be taking all the credit, I suppose.'

'Credit where credit is due,' McKinnon said absently. 'But she must come below at once. It's too exposed up there.'

'Dawn.' Her voice had gone very quiet. 'This time you're sure, Archie?'

'This time I'm sure. The U-boat will come at dawn.'

The U-boat came at dawn.

SEVEN.

It was little more than half-light when the U-boat, in broken camouflage paint of various shades of grey and at a distance of less than half a mile, suddenly appeared from behind a pa.s.sing snow-squall. It was running fully on the surface with three figures clearly distinguishable on the conning-tower and another three manning the deck gun just for'ard of that. The submarine was on a course exactly paralleling that of the San Andreas and could well have been for many hours. The U-boat was on their starboard hand so that the San Andreas lay between it and the gradually lightening sky to the south. Both bridge wing doors were latched back in the fully open position. McKinnon reached for the phone, called the engine-room for full power, nudged the wheel to starboard and began to edge imperceptibly closer to the U-boat.

He and Naseby were alone on the bridge. They were, in fact, the only two people left in the superstructure because McKinnon had ordered everyone, including a bitterly protesting Lieutenant Ulbricht, to go below to the hospital only ten minutes previously. Naseby he required and for two reasons. Naseby, unlike himself, was an adept Morse signaller and had a signalling lamp ready at hand: more importantly, McKinnon was more than reasonably certain that the bridge would be coming under attack in a very short s.p.a.ce of time indeed and he wanted a competent helmsman to hand in case he himself were incapacitated.

'Keep out of sight, George,' McKinnon said. 'But try to keep an eye on them. They're bound to start sending any minute now.'

'They can see you,' Naseby said.

'Maybe they can see my head and shoulders over the wing of the bridge. Maybe not. It doesn't matter. The point is that they will believe I can't see them. Don't forget that, they're in the dark quadrant of the sea and have no reason to think that we're expecting trouble. Besides, a helmsman's job is to keep an eye on the compa.s.s and look ahead - no reason on earth why I should be scanning the seas around.' He felt the superstructure begin to shudder as Patterson increased the engine revolutions, gave the wheel another nudge to starboard, picked up a tin mug from the shattered binnacle and pretended to drink from it. 'It's like a law of nature, George. Nothing more rea.s.suring than the sight of an unsuspecting innocent enjoying a morning cup of tea.'

For a full minute, which seemed like a large number of full minutes, nothing happened. The superstructure was beginning to vibrate quite strongly now and McKinnon knew that the San Andreas was under maximum power. They were now at least a hundred yards closer to the U-boat than they had been when it had first been sighted but the U-boat captain gave no indication that he was aware of this. Had McKinnon maintained his earlier speed his acute angling in towards the U-boat would have caused him to drop slightly astern of the submarine, but the increase in speed had enabled him to maintain his relative position. The U-boat captain had no cause to be suspicious - and no one in his right mind was going to harbour suspicions about a harmless and defenceless hospital ship.

'He's sending, George,' McKinnon said.

'I see him. "Stop," he says. "Stop engines or I will sink you." What do I send, Archie?'

'Nothing.' McKinnon edged the San Andreas another three degrees to starboard, reached again for his tin mug and pretended to drink from it. 'Ignore him.'

'Ignore him!' Naseby sounded aggrieved. 'You heard what the man said. He's going to sink us.'

'He's lying. He hasn't stalked us all this way just to send us to the bottom. He wants us alive. Not only is he not going to torpedo us, he can't, not unless they've invented torpedoes that can turn corners. So how else is he going to stop us? With that little itsy-bitsy gun he's got on the foredeck? It's not all that much bigger than a pom-pom.'

'I have to warn you, Archie, the man's going to get very annoyed.'

'He's got nothing to be annoyed about. We haven't seen his signal.'

Naseby lowered his binoculars. 'I also have to warn you that he's about to use that little itsy-bitsy gun.'

'Sure he is. The cla.s.sic warning shot over the bows to attract our attention. If he really wants to attract our attention, it may be into the bows for all I know.'

The two sh.e.l.ls, when they came, entered the sea just yards ahead of the San Andreas, one disappearing silently below the waves, the other exploding on impact. The sound of the explosion and the sharp flat crack of the U-boat's gun made it impossible any longer to ignore the submarine's existence.

'Show yourself, George,' McKinnon said. 'Tell him to stop firing and ask him what he wants.'

Naseby moved out on the starboard wing and transmitted the message: the reply came immediately.

'He has a one-track mind,' Naseby said. 'Message reads: "Stop or be sunk".'

'One of those laconic characters. Tell him we're a hospital ship.'

'You think he's blind, perhaps?'

'It's still only half-light and the starboard side is our dark side. Maybe he'll think that we think he can't see. Tell him we're a neutral, mention the Geneva Convention. Maybe he's got a better side to his nature.'

Naseby clacked out his message, waited for the reply, then turned gloomily to McKinnon. 'He hasn't got a better side to his nature.'

'Not many U-boat captains have. What does he say?'

'Geneva Conventions do not apply in the Norwegian Sea.'

'There's little decency left on the high seas these days. Let's try for his sense of patriotism. Tell him we have German survivors aboard.'

While Naseby sent the message McKinnon rang down for slow ahead. Naseby turned in the doorway and shook his head sadly.

'His patriotism is on a par with his decency. He says: "Will check nationals when we board. We commence firing in twenty seconds".'

'Send: "No need to fire. We are stopping. Check wake".'

Naseby sent the message, then said: 'Well, he got that all right. He's already got his gla.s.ses trained on our stern. You know, I do believe he's angling in towards us. Very little, mind you, but it's there.'

'I do believe you're right.' McKinnon gave the wheel another slight nudge to starboard. 'If he notices anything he'll probably think it's because he's closing in on us and not vice versa. Is he still examining our wake?'

'Yes.'

'Turbulence aft must have died away quite a lot by this time. That should make him happy.'

'He's lowered his gla.s.ses,' Naseby said. 'Message coming.'

The message didn't say whether the U-boat captain was happy or not but it did hold a certain degree of satisfaction. 'Man says we are very wise,' Naseby said. 'Also orders us to lower our gangway immediately.'

'Acknowledge. Tell Ferguson to start lowering the gangway immediately but to stop it about, say, eight feet above the water. Then tell Curran and Trent to swing out the lifeboat and lower it to the same height.'

Naseby relayed both messages, then said: 'You think we're going to need the lifeboat?'

'I quite honestly have no idea. But if we do, we're going to need it in a hurry.' He called the engine-room and asked for Patterson.

'Chief? Bo'sun here. We're slowing a bit, as you know, but that's only for the moment. The U-boat is closing in on us. We're lowering both the gangway and the lifeboat, the gangway on the U-boat's instructions, the lifeboat on mine . . . No, they can't see the lifeboat - it's on our port side, their blind side. As soon as they are in position I'm going to ask for full power. A request, sir. If I do have to use the boat I'd appreciate it if you'd permit Mr Jamieson to come with me. With your gun.' He listened for a few moments while the receiver crackled in his ear, then said: 'Two things, sir. I want Mr Jamieson because apart from yourself and Naseby he's the only member of the crew I can trust. Show him where the safety-catch is. And no, sir, you know d.a.m.n well you can't come along instead of Mr Jamieson. You're the officer commanding and you can't leave the San Andreas.'' McKinnon replaced the receiver and Naseby said, plaintive reproach in his voice: 'You might have asked me.'

McKinnon looked at him coldly. 'And who's going to steer this d.a.m.ned ship when I'm gone?'

Naseby sighed. There's that, of course, there's that. They seem to be preparing some kind of boarding party across there, Archie. Three more men on the conning-tower now. They're armed with sub-machine-guns or machine-pistols or whatever you call those things. Something nasty, anyway.' Three more men on the conning-tower now. They're armed with sub-machine-guns or machine-pistols or whatever you call those things. Something nasty, anyway.'

'We didn't expect roses. How's Ferguson coming along? If that gangway doesn't start moving soon the U-boat captain is going to start getting suspicious. Worse, he's going to start getting impatient.'

'I don't think so. At least, not yet awhile. I can see Ferguson so I'm certain the U-boat captain can too. Ferguson's having difficulty of some kind, he's banging away at the lowering drum with a hammer. Icing trouble for a certainty.'

'See how the boat's getting on, will you?'

Naseby crossed the bridge, moved out on to the port wing and was back in seconds. 'It's down. About eight feet above the water, as you asked.' He crossed to the starboard wing, examining the U-boat through his binoculars, lowered them and turned back to McKinnon.

That's b.l.o.o.d.y funny. All those characters seem to be wearing some kind of gas-masks.'

'Gas-masks? Are you all right?'

'Certainly I'm all right. They're all wearing a horseshoe-shaped kind of life-jacket around their necks with a corrugated hose attached to the top. They're not wearing it at the moment, it's dangling down in front, but there's a mouthpiece and goggles attached to the end of the tube. When did German submariners start using gas?'

'They don't. What good on earth would gas be to a U-boat?' He took Naseby's binoculars, examined the U-boat briefly and handed the gla.s.ses back. Tauchretter, George, Tauchretter. Otherwise known as the Drager Lung. It's fitted with an oxygen cylinder and a carbon dioxide canister and its sole purpose is to help people escape from a sunken submarine.'

'No gas?' Naseby sounded vaguely disappointed.

'No gas.'

That doesn't look like a sunken submarine to me.'

'Some U-boat commanders make their crews wear them all the time they're submerged. Bit pointless in these waters, I would have thought. At least six hundred feet deep here, maybe a thousand. There's no way you can escape from those depths, Drager set or not. How's Ferguson coming along?'

'As far as I can tell, he's not. Still hammering away. No, wait a minute, wait a minute. He's put the hammer down and is trying the release lever. It's moving, Archie. It's coming down.' It's coming down.'

'Ah!' McKinnon rang for full power.

Some seconds pa.s.sed, then Naseby said: 'Half way.' A similar length of time elapsed, then Naseby said in the same matter-of-fact voice: 'It's down, Archie Eight feet, give or take. Ferguson's secured it.'

McKinnon nodded and spun the wheel to starboard until he had maximum rudder on. Slowly, ponderously at first, then with increasing speed, the San Andreas began to come round.

'Do you want to get your head blown off, George?'

'Well, no.' Naseby stepped inside, closed the wing door behind him and peered out through the little window in the door. The San Andreas, no longer riding with the sea, was beginning to corkscrew, although only gently so: but the entire superstructure was beginning to vibrate in a rather alarming fashion as the engines built up to maximum power.

'And don't you think you ought to lie down?'

'In a minute, Archie, in a minute. Do you think they've gone to sleep aboard that U-boat?'

'Some trouble with their eyes, that's for sure. I think they're rubbing them and not believing what they're seeing.'

Except that there was no actual eye-rubbing going on aboard the U-boat, McKinnon's guess was very close to the mark. The reactions of both the submarine commander and his crew were extraordinarily slow. Extraordinarily, but in the circ.u.mstances, understandably. The U-boat's crew had made both the forgivable and unforgivable mistake of relaxing, of lowering their guard at the precise moment when their alertness and sense of danger should have been honed to its keenest edge. But the sight of the gangway being lowered in strict compliance with their orders must have convinced them that there was no thought or possibility of any resistance being offered and that the taking over of the San Andreas was no more than a token formality. Besides, no one in the history of warfare had ever heard of a hospital ship being used as an offensive weapon. It was unthinkable. It takes time to rethink the unthinkable.

The Saw Andreas was so far round now that the U-boat was no more than 45 off the starboard bow. Naseby moved from the starboard wing door to the nearest small window let into the front of the bridge.

'They're lining up what it pleases you t& call that little itsy-bitsy gun, Archie.'

'Then maybe we'd both better be getting down.'

'No. They're not lining up on the bridge, they're lining up on the hull aft. I don't know what they intend to - ' He broke off and shouted: 'No! No! Get down, get down!' and flung himself at McKinnon, bringing both men crashing heavily to the deck of the bridge. Even as they landed, hundreds of bullets, to the accompaniment of the staccato chattering of several machine-guns, smashed into the fore end and starboard side of the bridge. None of the bullets succeeded in penetrating the metal but all four windows were smashed. The fusillade lasted no more than three seconds and had no sooner ceased when the U-boat's deck gun fired three times in rapid succession, on each occasion causing the San Andreas to shudder as the sh.e.l.ls exploded somewhere in the after hull.