"Sean McMullen - Rule of the People" - читать интересную книгу автора (McMullen Sean)

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 The new steam ferry Minotaur was tied up at the river piers, not far from the Sandridge Railway
bridge. Smoke was pouring out of the funnel and the Ferryman was alternately welcoming passengers
aboard and dashing amidships to check with Metalsmith about the engine.
"Welcome-- Oh Miss Branchester, welcome thrice over!" The Ferryman cried as Julia and Thetis
came aboard. "Metalsmith is aboard, and Demellene has brought some of her, ah, gentlemen. They once
crewed a steamship, did you know?"
A woman in her mid-forties swayed across the deck, a glass of white wine in her hand.
"Whoo, this swaying, I can hardly keep my legs beneath me!" exclaimed Miss Wilsham.
Julia glanced from the glass in her hand to the calm surface of the river. "Shouldn't we be taking the
refreshments to the Confederate sailors instead of consuming them?" she asked.
"Oh, they want flash company as well as wine and cakes," Miss Wilsham retorted with a gesture that
sent wine spilling onto the deck and into the river.
A quick tour of the ferry revealed that Julia and Miss Wilsham were the only two mortals on board. A
little uneasy, Julia asked the Ferryman if her old enemy Proteus was in the party, but he assured her that
the hunchback had no place aboard the Minotaur.
The crew cast off from the pier and the paddlewheels were engaged. The Minotaur navigated
cautiously down the river, past the swampy lowlands, through the gaggle of ships in Hobson's Bay, and
out to the open waters of Port Phillip Bay. There was a slight swell, but not so heavy as to upset the
passengers. A good number of ships were at anchor at Sandridge, but everyone was straining to catch
sight of the three masts and single funnel of the Confederate raider Shenandoah.
Melbourne's welcome for Captain James Waddell and the Shenandoah had been decidedly mixed. On
the one hand he was showered with adulation by those who championed rebellion against heavy handed
authority, while others condemned him as nothing short of a pirate.
Unknown to the Ferryman and his party, Waddell had decided to court the favour of the citizens of
Melbourne. When they arrived at the raider they found that visitors were not only allowed aboard, they
were positively welcomed. The party from the Minotaur boarded the Shenandoah with their baskets and
gifts, and almost at once the Metalsmith went down to the engine room to view the machinery. The
Ferryman got into a conversation with Captain Waddell about the damage to the bearing of the propeller
shaft that had virtually stranded them in Melbourne, and the others went about talking to the crewmen,
viewing the guns and handing out their presents.
An officer named Hunt explained to Julia, Thetis and Miss Wilsham that there were six cannons in all,
but that not a single life had been lost to them so far.
"There's four 8-inch shell cannons for real fighting and two 32-pounder Whitworths," he explained.
"They're rifled for accuracy. They can land a round right beside a ship, so close as to scare the whiskers
off anyone aboard yet not rip so much as a splinter from the hull."
"But is this not meant to be a warship?" asked Julia.
"Miss, we want ships to surrender so we can take the crews off then scuttle them. We fight the Union
by costing it dearly, not by slaughtering brave seamen."
Julia nodded, and Miss Wilsham cooed and batted her eyelashes at him. The Metalsmith emerged
from below, his eyes shining with excitement. He went straight to the Ferryman.
"She has a 250 horsepower engine by Stephens and Sons of Glascow," he began.
"Steel beams and frame, she has, with rock-elm below the waterline and teak above," the Ferryman
babbled back.
"There's a lifting screw that can be hoisted from the water for faster sailing, I swear I could build one
myself."
"She's rigged as a clipper, with cross-jacks, royal studding sails, jib-topsail-- why she can make 17
knots!"
"Her funnel's the telescope type-- "
"-- built in the Clyde."