She sent him a smile that froze as the ship gave a sudden lurch, sending the wine glasses sliding. Alistair saw Daniel’s head snap round to met his brother’s eyes and exchange a silent message. He put down his own wineglass and watched the captain.
Archibald was frowning. ‘What the—?’
He was on his feet even as a sailor appeared in the doorway. ‘Mr Henshaw’s compliments, Captain, but the wind’s got up and she’s dragging the anchor and will you come at once?’
Several woman gave little shrieks, but not, Alistair noted as he got to his feet, Dita. She had gone a trifle pale, but she was calm.
‘What should we do?’ a man asked from further along the table, his voice rising in barely controlled alarm.
‘Nothing,’ Alistair said, thinking furiously. Through storms and wild seas the ship had never felt so strange under his feet as it did now. Something was very wrong, but panic would only make it worse. ‘I expect it will be a trifle unsettled while th
ey put out another anchor or shift position to find a better hold on the sea bed. Better not to retire to our bunks just yet, in case it becomes rough for a while.’
He exchanged a swift glance with the Chatterton twins. The three of them were the youngest, fittest men amongst the civilian passengers in the cuddy. If there was any danger, they would help the officers get the women to the boats.
‘Should we go on deck?’ Mr Crabtree, a middle-aged merchant, asked.
‘Why, no,’ Alistair said easily. ‘Think how underfoot we would be. There are all the sailors rushing about doing whatever they do with yards and sheets and anchors. We should just settle down for a while until the captain comes back.’
He strolled across to where Callum was stooping to look out of the window. ‘What can you see?’ he murmured against the babble of conversation. Across the cabin Daniel was teasing the ladies about their plans for London shopping, but he had stayed on his feet and Alistair could sense his tense alertness.
‘It is as black as the devil’s waistcoat, except for that light over there.’ Callum nodded at a spot on the port bow. ‘And that’s moving.’
‘Wreckers?’
‘No, it’s us. We’re going before the wind and closer to the light and the land. I don’t like the feel of this.’
‘Neither do I. We’re all up here, aren’t we?’
‘Yes.’ Callum cocked his head towards the door to the Great Cabin from where a babble of voices and the sound of a crying child could be heard. One of the lieutenants walked briskly through the cuddy and they heard his feet clattering down the companionway.
‘He’ll sort them out down there,’ Alistair said. ‘There are enough able-bodied men to help. Up here there’s seventeen if you don’t count the three of us.’ He jerked his head towards Daniel. ‘Just in case, we’ll divide them up, five or six each. You have a word with your brother and we’ll start to cut them out and get them into groups without them noticing, with any luck.’
Callum nodded and strolled over to speak to his twin under cover of a lively discussion about London hotels. Most of the other men knew what the danger was, Alistair was pretty certain, but they were staying outwardly calm. They were tough, experienced characters, all of them, even those who were older and fatter. Certainly he received slight nods of acknowledgment as the three younger men edged the ladies into little groups and the motion of the ship became stronger.
Dita made her way to his side and whispered, ‘You think we are in danger, don’t you?’
‘Best to be careful,’ he murmured back, ‘and not to panic.’
‘Of course,’ she said. She had gone even paler, but she kept her chin up and a smile on her face as though they were discussing a trivial matter, and he felt a flash of pride in her courage. ‘I’m sure there is nothing to be—’
The Bengal Queen shuddered to a stop as though she had run into a wall, sending Dita stumbling into his arms. For a moment there was silence, then one of the older women began to scream and was shushed by her husband.
‘Up on deck now,’ Alistair ordered, setting Dita on her feet. ‘You all with me. That group there—Mrs Bastable!—with Daniel Chatterton. You five with Callum. Hold tight as you go. We’ll get the ladies into the boats first.’
The cabin shifted, throwing them all into a heap, half on the deck, half sprawled across table and chairs. A lamp crashed down, burning oil spilled out, and Dita yanked the shawl from Mrs Bastable’s shoulders and smothered the fire. Without a word the men began to get the fallen to their feet. Beside him Alistair was aware of Averil helping an older woman, her voice calm as she took her arm.
Dita had blood trickling from her forehead. ‘Dita? Are you—?’
‘It is nothing.’ She brushed off his hand and went to get Dr Melchett upright.
‘Hurry.’ Daniel was at the door, braced against the worsening tilt of the deck, his hand stretched out to pull the others towards him until he had his little group of six, then he gave way for Alistair to get his charges on deck. At his side Callum hauled and pushed until everyone was huddled around the main mast.
It was dark, lit only by the moving light from the lanterns, and the wind that had come up so fast was cold and gusting. Hair and shawls flapped wildly, men’s faces came in and out of focus as the sailors fought with the ropes to lower the boats. Passengers from the Great Cabin began to pour out, milling around, adding to the confusion.
While Alistair fought to keep people together and sort the women and children and the frail from the more able-bodied, the twins helped load the first boat, with four of the sailors to row and some of the older men to help the women down the ladder and into the wave-tossed boat. It pushed off from the side and vanished into the darkness.
‘Now you.’ Alistair pulled Dita towards the side as the second and third boats were lowered. Their feet slid on the tilting deck; water was coming over the side as waves hit the ship broadside. Then the moon came out from the clouds and he saw the rocks as its light lit the breaking surf.