 We present Nigel Antony in The Hornblower Story, adapted from four of the C.S. Forrester novels by Val Gilgood, with Terence Skelton as William Bush. Part three from Lieutenant Hornblower, The Landing. I've known bad moments at sea, carms when you wonder if the ship will ever move again, hurricanes, a cannon going adrift with the realization that you're up against heavier metal than you can tackle, a half-mutinous crew, a captain you couldn't trust. Baird all of them. Yet I think I'd take any of them rather than land at night on a beach, I don't know, to tackle the storming of a fort with a party of men, every one of them depending on his offices to know what to do, and to give him a lead. That was how it was when we went ashore, Lieutenant Bush and I, on the Semana Peninsula that night, with 180 seamen and marines from Renion, knowing that the fort on the hills above us must be carried by dawn, or we should all be dead or prisoners. Party all ashore, I'm ready to move, Mr. Bush. Very good, Mr. Hornblower, thank you. Shall I start up the gully with the advance guard, sir? Do so. Star Bowlings! Follow me closely. Every man is to keep in touch with the man ahead of him. Now, remember, your muskets aren't loaded, so it's no use snapping them. Cold steel to be run into the enemy. If anyone of you is full enough to load and fire, I promise you will get four dozen at the gangway tomorrow. Walton, bring up the rear. Follow me, starting on the right of the line. Your marines, Captain Whiting. All present at correct time, ready to move off. Thank you. Then we may as well start. Mr. Abbott, I shall go with the marine detachment, follow us, and be sure to keep in touch. Aye, aye, sir. The climb them isn't going to be easy. Absolute silence, do you understand? Aye, aye, sir. Yes, who's there? This is Wellard, Mr. Bush. Mr. Hornblow sent me back to Actors' Guide, and there's grassland beginning about here. I'm neither deaf nor blind, Mr. Wellard. Captain Whiting? Sir? We'll go forward. You're in touch with Mr. Abbott. Yes, sir. Very well, Canyon. Sir. Friend, Mr. Hornblow, Mr. Bush is with me. Ah, glad to see you, sir. My party has formed up just ahead. I've sent on two reliable men to act as scouts. Very good, Mr. Hornblow. Captain Whiting. Sir? All the men in hand. All but one, says his brain is ankle. I've left him back there. Then let your men rest, Captain Whiting. Sir. They're hardly trained for climbing cliffs and the tropics. Your report, Mr. Hornblow. We're on the crest, sir. You can see into the bay from over there. How many miles from the fort, do you think? Well, three or so. Less than four miles, anyway. Dawn in four hours from now and the moon rises in half an hour. There's some sort of track along the crest, sir. As I judge, it should lead to the fort. That's reasonable. If you'll permit me, sir, I'll push on ahead and see how the land lies. Very good, Mr. Hornblow. It's a definite trail, sir. Crosses a gully just ahead. Not a serious obstacle. Then go forward with your party, if you please. Aye, aye, sir. Mr. Bush, sir. Here. Well, Lord, again, sir. Mr. Hornblow says there's another gully ahead crossing the path. And there's cattle, sir. We'll disturb them and they're warming a bar. I understand, Mr. Wellett. I'll warn the men. Tell Mr. Hornblow if I'm going to hop the advance for 15 minutes. Aye, aye, sir. Halt, there. Halt! Yes, Captain Whiting? Trouble. With one of your seamen. Drunk. Must have had spirits in his canteen. What have you done with him? Well, he started to make a noise while my marines knocked him out. He's quiet now. I'll do a steady man to look after him when we go on. Right. But you, Mr. Hornblow... It is, sir. I've sighted the fort. A mile ahead or thereabouts. There's another gully. The fort's beyond that. You can see it against the moon, maybe half a mile, maybe less. I've left orders with my party to stand fast at the gully while I report it back to you. Half a mile from the gully to the fort, you say? I'd estimate less than that, sir. Very well. I shall remain here and await daylight. Yes, Mr. Bush. May I go on and rejoin my party? You may. Shall I give permission to my mental load, sir? No, Captain Whiting. Cold steel. Justice, you say, sir? Now, listen. I want you to warn your men individually. Sir. They may run into stray cattle. I don't want any silly mistakes. Meanwhile, they can rest, sleep, if they like. Bernat's not to be fixed till you get my word to advance. And when we do, I want us to reach the fort in one wave, not in scattered twos and threes. Is that clear? Quite so. Very good. Carry on. The sky is beginning to fail, but there's still some time. As things turned out, the waiting had been the worst part of the business. The Spanish sentries were careless or sleepy. Bush brought up his men in fine style, using my grappinals to heist them up to the ramparts and axmen to hew their way through a wooden sallyport into one of the bastions. In a few minutes from earliest dawn to tropical sunrise, the fort had been carried. Most of the garrison had bolted down the hillside from the reeking bayonets of the marines. Remained the business of calling men drunk with fighting back to discipline, to decide with Bush and Captain Whiting on our next move. To the left, the peninsula dropped sharply in a series of jagged headlands to the deep blue of the ocean. Further round still was the sapphire surface of Scotsman's Bay, and there, with her backed mizzen topsoil catching the rising sun, lay renowned, looking at that distance like some lovely toy. Good morning, Mr. Hombler. Congratulations, sir. Thank you. We've got possession, sir. I've posted a petty officer and some men in charge of the guns. A few have got away. The marines are after them now. Not enough to travel, as I fancy. No, sir. I've 40 prisoners under guard at the main gate. Captain Whiting's collecting the rest. Very well. What's the building there at the foot of the ramp? Provision store, sir. I've put sentries on guard. There's liquor there. Double those sentries. In their present state of the men get at liquor, there'll be no controlling them. Mr. Abbott? Mr. Abbott? What the hell do you think you've been doing? I've not seen you since the attack began. Sorry, sir. Very sorry. A bit of trouble crossing the ditch, Mr. Bush. That's no excuse. Take a leaf out of young Weller's book here. He stayed beside Mr. Hombler. You should have stayed beside me. Yes, sir. Get ready to signal the ship. You should have been ready for that five minutes ago. Clear three guns and find the man who was carrying our color and bend it over the Spanish flag and jump to it. Aye, aye, sir. Mr. Hombler, try to find out who was in command of the dawn. Yes, sir. Come with me, Mr. Weller. Aye, aye, sir. Sir, it is me there. You need a party to help carry the wounded into the shade. See to it, if you please. Until someone has stopped that damn bell, it's the living I'm worried about. They can sail must for the dead at sundown. My eyes are all guns clear, sir. May I draw a pair of charges from the four magazines? How else do you imagine you can fire your guns, Mr. Rabbit? Use your common sense. Sir, sir. Yes, Mr. Weller. What now? Can't you see I'm busy? Mr. Hombler sends his respects and could you please join me up on the tower there? He said it's urgent, sir. Oh, very well. But Mr. Hombler should know that I have a good many things on my mind at the moment. Sir, might I borrow your telescope, Mr. Bush? Telescope? Is that all you wanted before? Here. I merely want to see if Renown has heard our signal guns, sir. Well, have they? Yes, sir. She's bracing a mishandtropsel. So far so good. She'll make the long beat back along the coast of the peninsula. What else? Out there, Mr. Bush. Up the bay, beyond the battery. There's the town, Savannah, I think they call it, and you can see the shipping. They'll up anchor any minute now. You'll wish to see this for yourself, sir. I see four small craft and no sails hoisted. Hard to tell what they are. Easy to guess, sir. They didn't need big men of war here. A few handy craft with a couple of long guns could lie up there, dash out and snap out prizes, then retire to the protection of the bay and the crossfire of the fort and the battery. And we know what that meant. Just so, sir, those ships all know by now that we've got this fort and they'll guess that as a result Renown will be coming in after them as soon as she can get round the headland. And they can sweep, tow and cage, and I'll be out of the bay before we can say Jack Robinson. And what's more, they'll have a fair win for Martinique. Likely enough. It'll take Renown hours to make that long beat back on the starboard tank. She must get well out to sea if she's to weather the cape. No need to teach your grandmother, Mr. Hornblower. Sorry, sir. Wouldn't it be as well to man the guns here? We won't have them under fire for long. They'll be shallow-draft and they can hug that opposite shore. But it won't take much to sink them. Particularly if we use red-hot shots, sir. I see what you mean. Repay them in their own coin for what they did to Renown. Well, that's the idea, sir. We'll try. If those privateers get away, they might be the devil to pay. Can you do it, Mr. Hornblower? You know how to heat shot. I'll still find out, sir. None of our men will know. They're seamen, and you can't heat shot at sea for fear of fire. I expect I can find out, sir. Now, there's the furnace and all the gear that Don's used down there. By the way, had any breakfast yet? I know, Mr. Bush. Have you? Other things to see to. Now, mind that you do, and that's an order. Oh, yes, sir. May I have the telescope again, sir, before I go down? Thank you. Yes, I was right by George. That two masters warping out already. Less than an hour, I reckon, before she's within range. I'll get the guns, man. Once down in the body of the fort, smoke was soon rising from the furnace in one corner, and a loud crackling from inside it. Two long handles projected from the far side of the furnace, balancing two that projected from the near side. All four were part of an iron grating, the center of which rested above the blazing fuel. Lying on that grating were rows of black shot. The seamen was plying a pair of bellows. Other men in relays brought wood from where it had been piled by the Spaniards against their ramparts. Open her up. Let's see how she goes. Getting pretty warm. Try your spittle, Mr. Wellard. Spittle, sir. You can spick Wellard on that cannonball. A sharpish lad, sharpish. Aye, aye, sir. Oh, that boiled off quick enough. Did you see, Wilton? Aye, sir. We'll fry the devil. The tongs and bearers for the shot. Ready? Aye, sir. And wrap rags round your hands, so you don't want to be skinned. Now, work the shots onto the bearers with the tongs. Carefully, and roll them into the guns. A tumble water by each gun. Now, bring the shots over to your guns. Oh, there, there, steady. Steady there, steady. Silence there. Run the guns back well clear of the embrasures. Then in with your wet wads, you rammers. Two to a gun. It's not so easy, sir. The dons could manage it to judge by the practice they made against us yesterday. We can better them surely. Oh, aye, sir. Run up your guns. They run the point, it'll be puzzled. And how long will it be, do you think, before a hot shot burns through one of those wads and explodes a gun? That I don't know. I shouldn't be surprised, sir, if we found out during the course of today. Probably. And what do you think you're doing, Wilton? Bringing up fresh charges, sir. Get back away from my order, you understand? Aye, aye, aye, sir. Swabber out. And we can't be too careful. You don't want any chance of live charges and red hot shot coming together on this platform, do you? Oh, no, sir. Ah, very well then. These cartridges are English, I'll wager, Mr. Bush. English? What makes you say that? Well, I know. West country's surge choked and stitched like that. It'll have got them out of English prizes. Well, now, we'll hope that'll teach those privateers to leave our ships alone. If we can cut off their supplies, the dons will be in a bad way against the blacks. Let's hope so, sir. That rammed those wads handsomely there. No powder in that bore, Simmons. All of you is discharged dead in the ship's books. Standing down the bay, Mr. Hornblower, if their intent are making a bolt for it, it means they're not feeling too secure. I'd have expected them to try to recapture the fort. They could land a force up the peninsula and come down to attack. I wonder why they don't try it. It'll be long range. Make sure of your aim. Yeah, Wultern. Oh. Take a ranging shot. Gun captains. Make sure of your aim. Make sure of your aim. Fire only when each gun bears. I like it. I like it, sir. Number one, sir. Fire. Gun crews. Fire only when you're sure. My telescope, Mr. Abbott. Sir. Thank you. Sting, I think. Yes, by God, I can see smoke. Fresh charges. And see that you swab out those guns properly. Damn it. She's getting away from us. Rain shortening, though. Gun captains. Get your coins in. She's swinging around, sir. What the hell? She's taken ground. A fire. And run ashore deliberately, I think. That's done it, then. The first one, anyway. Just blow now. Blow to places. Bella can't have had hands to spare to fight the fire when we hit him. Probably a shot through her deck and into the powder magazine. Poor devils. You don't sound too pleased about it. What does I think you know, Mr. Bush, sir? I have a weak stomach. Here comes the next vessel. Nearly in range. And by Jupiter, the other Spanish schooners are turning back to anchor. And bring up more shot, bearer men. Gun captains. Run up. Train. And fire. As you get the air. Fire is on. The Spanish had no stomach for more as renown, hove, incite, and a wind that was fortunately freshening. Bush had his prisoners sorted out and ordered a watch to be set. It was only next morning when we saw a boat put out from the battery across the bay that we could take stock of what we'd achieved. The boat came in under a white flag and off Samana Point, renown lay, waiting for the first puffs of sea breeze to bring her up the bay and into touch with her landing party. Bush would not let the Spanish envoy who arrived into the fort. He feared some ruse or an attempt by the enemy to gain intelligence over our actual strength. As I had a fair knowledge of Spanish, I was sent outside the ramparts to meet him with a small guard of our marines and orders to report back on the interview. Well, Mr. Ombloar? He's a colonel or tagger, Mr. Bush. His credentials are signed by the Captain General who is across the bay. What does he want? A first to know about the prisoners, the women of the garrison especially. You told him they weren't hurt? Yes, sir. I added that I would ask your permission to release the women to him. It would make matters easier here, sir. Also, I thought that if I appeared agreeable, he would speak more freely. Yes, yes, and? Don't you think he might take away the wounded as well, sir? It would free some of our hands and we can't give him proper treatment here. If we released to him all the prisoners, he would give us his promise that none of them would serve again while renown is in Spanish waters. Needs thinking about. Sounds fishy to me. No, he keep his word, sir. He's a Spanish gentleman. He is, is he? And we can't pack a hundred prisoners or more aboard renown, sir. I agree. They'd be an infernal nuisance. Is there anything else? He hinted at the possibility of arranging a capitulation, sir. To deuce? And what did he mean by that? Surrender, sir. Evacuation of all this end of the island by the dawn, sir. My God, I hope you didn't... No, of course not, sir. I tell him I couldn't bargain with him, but, uh, you could, Mr. Bush. No, Mr. Hombler, I could not. It's a matter for Mr. Buckland to deal with, if anyone... But if I might suggest something... Go on. It would take some time to make any arrangement about prisoners, Mr. Bush. There's the question of their parole, and I could argue about its wording. Yes. Then it would take more time to ferry the prisoners across the bay. Now, such a ruse would give renown time to work up. She can anchor down there like a cork in a bottle. Those schooners won't be able to get out, and Mr. Buckland can take over the negotiation should he wish to do so. Very well. You may negotiate for the return of the prisoners on parole, but nothing else, if you value your commission. I warn you, formally. I understand, sir. Suspension of hostilities during negotiations? I suppose so. And you'll send a boat to renown to make sure she doesn't open fire on a boat filled with spaniards crossing the bay. Colonel Ortega will make a boat available to us. It seems to me you're being mighty tender with these dons, Mr. Hombler. In fact, you are taking too much upon yourself. Sir. I'd be glad if you remember that I'm in command here. Yes, sir. Oh, hell and damnation. Have it your own way. Whom will you send to renown? Well, I could go myself, sir. I could tell Mr. Buckland everything necessary. Very well. You better go, I suppose. But mark my words, Mr. Hombler. You are to make it quite clear that I've not authorized negotiations. I take no responsibility for anything of the kind. Is that quite clear? Yes, sir. And kindly bring Mr. Buckland here as soon as possible. If I may say so, Mr. Buckland. I don't doubt that Colonel Ortega was sent by the Captain General to negotiate for the prisoners so that he might have a chance to put out a feeler regarding capitulation. But you cannot be sure of that, Mr. Bush. In his position, sir, would you mention a matter of such importance if not expressly authorized to do so? I would not. Then I suggest that the Captain General had capitulation in mind from the moment he knew we had taken the fort and renown good anchor in the bay in consequence. So, if he's prepared for such a negotiation, it must mean he's either a paltrune or in ready serious danger. You talk like a sea lawyer, Mr. Hombler. Sir, I meant no disrespect. Of course, it is for you to decide where your duty lies, sir. Quite. Now I'm sure you wish to tell me what's behind all this. The Spaniards have been holding this end of the island against the blacks for months now, sir. Pada, lead, flints, shoes, they're probably in need of all of them. That's true, sir. To judge from the condition of the prisoners we took. Thank you, Mr. Bush. And now renown has arrived and you've cut the Captain General off from the sea. He doesn't know how long we should be staying here. He doesn't know your order, sir. Never mind that. If we stay, sir, he'll have to surrender. He'd rather bargain with us, sir, where he has something to bargain with than wait and have to surrender without conditions to the blacks. That I can understand. Better bring in this Colonel Ortega fellow. You say he speaks English. He does, sir. Very well. Colonel Ortega, I believe. Sir, Captain Buckland. I am Lieutenant Buckland, at present commanding his Britannic Majesty's ship, Renown. Honoured Lieutenant Buckland. I understand you have terms for your Captain General's surrender in mind. That is so. He will surrender all to you intact. Military stores, the battery across the bay, everything. In return, he asks only for a free passage for the garrison. Men, ships, civilians, and passports for our ships while on passage to any Spanish possession. Cuba or Puerto Rico. And if I refuse? Then we will fight, senor. We will fight to the end, rather than submit to dishonour. Fine words, Colonel. If you compel us, they shall become deeds. What more can you do to us than you have already done? And there is another thing. You dare not stay longer in this island. There is the yellow fever, vomito negro, we call it. Yes, I have heard of it, Colonel. Our troops have lived with it all their lives. Many of them have had it already. But yours? There's something in that. Mr. Bush, will you kindly... My Captain General could ally himself with the rebel, senor. They do not look upon the English as their friends. He could bring an army against you. That is my last word, senor. Very well, Colonel. I will consider the matter. You may leave us. What do you think, Mr. Bush? He had some good arguments, sir. On the other hand, we might turn the thumb screws on him. How? Bring Renown up the bay. You saw how tricky the channel was yesterday. And we'd still be under the fire of the battery on that side. But we can run past it on this side. Yes, and nice fools, we'll look if we come in, find about a range, and we have to run out again under fire. It would only stiffen their resolve to go back on the terms that fellow offered. The second repulse. No, by God! Mr. Hornblower? It'd be risky to take Renown into the upper end of the bay. We might get at him from the peninsula here, sir. How, the devil? Now, mount a guard on the upper tip of the peninsula, and you'd have the far end of the bay under fire. No need for hot shot. We'd have all day to knock on the pieces, even if they shifted their anchorage. So we would, by Joe. Could you get a gun along there? We could use one from the ship. Not too heavy. A nine-pounder bow chaser. Send it round to where we landed yesterday with teakland cables. Big trees to attach the cables. Sway the gun up easily. After that, not more than half a mile uphill, but not too steep. Those nine-pounders weigh less than a ton. Yes. And then? We'd have those ships under fire, sir. And those ships are the dawn's only way of escape. Ortega was only bluffing when he spoke of allying with the blacks. If the rebels a chance, and they'll cut a third of every white man and woman in this island. And those ships would be our prizes, sir. It might be worth trying. Would like to say, sir, I think Mr. Hornblower deserves every credit. Of course, Mr. Bush. Then we'll start tomorrow morning, as soon as the hands have had breakfast. I'll leave the details to you to arrange, Mr. Hornblower. Bye, Joe, if it did work. In part three of Lieutenant Hornblower, you heard Nigel Antony in the title role and as the narrator, with Terence Skelton as William Bush. Mr. Bucklin was played by David Peart, Wellard, Mark Hudson, Mr. Midshipman Abbott, Keith Ladd, Walton the Gunner, Herbert Smith, Captain Whiting, Randall Hurley, and Colonel Ortego by Graham Tennant. The Hornblower story is directed in Manchester by Trevor Hill, assisted by Christopher Hayton Webb.