Hell's Fire - By Brian Freemantle Page 0,43

like, he accepted.

‘You mean he occasionally shouted and cursed?’ smiled Snape Hammond, attempting sarcasm and looking among his fellow officers for smirks of appreciation.

‘No, sir,’ said Fryer, positively. ‘I mean he always shouted and cursed … without a moment’s pause …’

‘Mr Fryer,’ reminded Snape Hammond, annoyed his joke had soured. ‘We are talking of the King’s navy, not a finishing school for English gentlewomen. Are you seriously asking this court to accept that men were driven to the point of mutiny and murder because their captain shouted and swore at them?’

It did sound ridiculous, realised Fryer. No one would ever know unless they had sailed with the damned man. He hoped they wouldn’t probe into the open boat business, thought Fryer. They must know of the enquiry in Timor.

‘I mean, sir,’ replied the master, ‘that the captain’s criticism of everything and everyone was like water pouring constantly upon a stone, until it destroyed the strongest resistance. No one was ever right, except Captain Bligh.’

Hood sighed, better pleased. They were getting there, he thought. It was a laborious process, but gradually the evidence was coming out. The President decided upon an experiment. The prisoner Morrison, who had decided to defend himself, had actually remained on the Bounty and might know more than most. Not only that, he would not have the apparent reluctance of Fryer to speak about it. And the lawyer Bunyan, entrusted with saving young Heywood, was sitting flushed at his table, as if bursting with questions to ask. He would allow the defence to interrogate Fryer, Hood decided. The court could always re-examine upon fresh evidence obtained.

He muttered briefly to the officers alongside him, then nodded to Bunyan. The young lawyer started up immediately, grating the chair over the decking in his eagerness. Fryer faced him warily, conscious the man would be better briefed than the court martial officers had been.

‘Mr Fryer,’ lured Bunyan, gently. ‘Will you tell the court if, at any time, you saw my client, midshipman Peter Heywood, actively participating in the uprising upon the Bounty?’

‘No, sir,’ replied Fryer, relieved at the first question, ‘I did not.’

‘Did you at any time sec him under arms?’

‘No, sir.’

‘Do you recall seeing him at all?’

Fryer considered the question.

‘No,’ he admitted, at last. ‘I do not remember seeing him.’

‘Why would that be, do you suppose?’

Fryer shrugged. This was an easier examination, he decided, relaxing again. The man’s only concern was to prove the innocence of his client and about that Fryer had little doubt. He had never understood why Heywood had been arraigned.

‘I would imagine because he was detained below.’

‘Against his will?’ pressed the lawyer.

‘That would be my assumption.’

‘That was possible, was it?’ asked Bunyan.

‘Sir?’ said Fryer.

‘It was possible for the mutineers to detain those unwilling to participate in the insurrection?’

Fryer smiled at the stupidity of the question.

‘Of course, sir,’ he said. ‘They were armed, after all.’

‘Yes, Mr Fryer,’ seized Bunyan. ‘They were armed. And how could that have been, when according to regulations the keys to the arms chests should have been in your possession?’

Fryer felt the attention of the officers to his left and bit at the inside of his cheek. He’d been trapped, he thought, annoyed.

‘The keys were not in my possession, sir,’ he admitted.

‘Oh, Mr Fryer?’ said Bunyan, apparently surprised. ‘Why not?’

‘I had entrusted them to the armourer, Mr Coleman.’

‘Why?’

‘The habit had arisen, early in the voyage, for the men to shoot at birds and fish. It got so bad I couldn’t get a fair night’s sleep … so I gave Coleman the keys, so he could deal with the constant demands.’

What sort of man had Bligh been, wondered Hood, slumped back in his chair and happy at his decision to turn the questioning over to the defence, who could rant constantly about discipline until his men mutinied and yet be careless of how weapons were controlled on a ship unguarded by marines?

‘Is it usual for seamen to shoot fish and birds?’ probed Bunyan.

Fryer was cautious now, considering every question before replying.

‘Not uncommon,’ he said.

‘To the point where it becomes impossible for the custodian of the keys to sleep properly?’

The lawyer was very clever, decided Fryer. And very determined. Yet he seemed to have taken his questioning beyond that necessary to protect his client, Peter Heywood. Fryer wondered why. The same thought was occurring to Hood. So Bunyan was the unannounced representative of the Christian family, guessed the admiral. It meant the young man had been instructed by one of the best legal brains in