"Alistair MacLean - San Andreas" - читать интересную книгу автора (Maclean Alistair)

'Yes,' Patterson said vaguely. 'He had a young wife and two kids - babies, really.'

The Bo'sun shook his head and looked into the next cabin, that belonging to the Second Officer. 'At least Mr Rawlings is not here.'

'No. He's not here. He's up on the bridge.' The Bo'sun looked at him, then turned away and went into the Captain's cabin which was directly opposite and which, oddly enough, seemed almost undamaged. The Bo'sun went directly to a small wooden cupboard on the bulkhead, produced his knife, opened up the marlin spike and inserted its point just below the cupboard lock.

'Breaking and entering, Bo'sun?' The Chief Engineer's voice held puzzlement but no reproof: he knew McKinnon well enough to know that the Bo'sun never did anything without a sound reason.

'Breaking and entering is for locked doors and windows, sir. Just call this vandalism.' The door sprang open and the Bo'sun reached inside, bringing out two guns. 'Navy Colt Х455. You know about guns, sir?'

'I've never held a gun in my hand in my life. You know about guns - as well as rum?'

'I know about guns. This little switch here - you press it so. Then the safety-catch is off. That's really all you require to know about guns.' He looked at the broken cupboard and then the guns and shook his head again. 'I don't think Captain Bowen would have minded.'

'Won't. Not wouldn't. Won't.'

The Bo'sun carefully laid the guns on the Captain's table. 'You're telling me that the Captain is not dead?'

'He's not dead. Neither is the Chief Officer.'

The Bo'sun smiled for the first time that morning, then looked accusingly at the Chief Engineer. 'You might have told me this, sir.'

'I suppose. I might have told you a dozen things. You would agree, Bo'sun, that we both have a great deal on our minds. They're both in the sick bay, both pretty savagely burnt about the face but not in any danger, not, at least, according to Dr Singh. It was being far out on the port wing of the bridge that saved them - they were away from the direct effects of the blast."

'How come they got so badly burnt, sir?'

'I don't know. They can hardly speak, their faces are completely wrapped in bandages, they look more like Egyptian mummies than anything else. I asked the Captain and he kept mumbling something like Essex, or Wessex or something like that.'

The Bo'sun nodded. 'Wessex, sir. Rockets. Distress flares. Two lots kept on the bridge. The shock must have triggered some firing mechanism and it went off prematurely. Damnable ill luck.'

'Damnably lucky, if you ask me, Bo'sun. Compared to practically everybody else in the superstructure.'

'Does he - does he know yet?'

'It hardly seemed the time to tell him. Another thing he kept repeating, as if it was urgent. "Home signal, home signal," something like that. Over and over again. Maybe his mind was wandering, maybe I couldn't make him out. Their mouths are the only part of their faces that aren't covered with bandages but even their lips are pretty badly burnt. And, of course, they're loaded with morphine. "Home signal." Mean anything to you?'

'At the moment, no.'

A young and rather diminutive stoker appeared in the doorway. McCrimmon, in his middle twenties, was a less than lovable person, his primary and permanent characteristics being the interminable mastication of chewing gum, truculence, a fixed scowl and a filthy tongue: at that moment, the first three were in abeyance.

'Bloody awful, so it is, down there. Just like a bloody cemetery.'

'Morgue, McCrimmon, morgue,' Patterson said. 'What do you want?'

'Me. Nothing, sir. Jamieson sent me. He said something about the phones no' working and you would be wanting a runner, maybe.'

'Second Engineer to you, McCrimmon.' Patterson looked at the Bo'sun. 'Very thoughtful of the Second Engineer. Nothing we require in the engine-room - except to get that jury rudder fixed. Deck-side, Bo'sun?'

'Two look-outs, although God knows what they'll be looking out for. Two of your men, sir, the two ward orderlies below, Able Seaman Ferguson and Curran. Curran is - used to be - a sailmaker. Don't envy him his job but I'll give him a hand. Curran will know what to bring. I suggest, sir, we have the crew's mess-deck cleared.'