"Cussler, Clive - NUMA Files 04 - White Death - with Paul Kemprecos" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cussler Clive)

men came alive as the captain's powerful voice echoed from one end of
the ship to the other. Within seconds, the deck resembled a stirred-up
anthill.

"Launch the boats!" Aguirrez pointed to the approaching warships.
"Look smart, lads, or we'll be keeping the executioners working day and
night."

They moved to their tasks with quicksilver speed. Every man on board
the caravel knew that the horrors of torture and burning at the stake
would be their fate if the galleys captured them. Within minutes, all
three of the caravel's boats were in the water, manned by the strongest
rowers. The lines attached to the ship went bowstring-taut, but the
caravel stubbornly refused to move. Aguirrez yelled at his men to row
harder. The air over his head turned blue as he appealed to their
Basque manhood with every salty curse he could muster.

"Pull together!" Aguirrez shouted, his dark eyes blazing. "You're
rowing like a bunch of Spanish whores."

The oars churned the calm water into a sudsy foam. The ship shuddered
and creaked, and finally it began to inch forward. Aguirrez roared his
encouragement and dashed back to the stern. He leaned on the rail and
put his eye to his spyglass. Through the lens, he saw a tall, thin man
in the bow platform of the lead galley looking back at him through a
telescope.

"El Brasero," Aguirrez whispered with unveiled contempt.

Ignatius Martinez saw Aguirrez looking at him and curled his thick
voluptuary's lips in a snarl of triumph. His pitiless yellow eyes
burned with fanaticism in their deep-set sockets. The long
aristocratic nose was lifted in the air as if it had encountered a bad
smell.

"Captain Blackthorne," he purred to the red-bearded man at his side,
"spread the word among the rowers. Tell them they will be free if we
catch our prey."

The captain shrugged and carried out the order, knowing that Martinez
had no intention of keeping his promise, that it was merely a cruel
deception.

El Brasero was Spanish for brazier. Martinez had earned his nickname
for his zeal in roasting heretics at the auto defe, as the public
spectacles of punishment were called. He was a familiar figure at the
quemerdo, or place of burning, where he used every means, including
bribery, to make sure that he had the honor of lighting the pyre.
Although his official title was Public Prosecutor and Advisor to the
Inquisition, he had persuaded his higher-ups to appoint him as the