Late afternoon had turned into early evening. A pair of war ships was sailing en route towards east. On the deck, Hemley was taking a little stroll enjoying cool winter breeze after spending whole afternoon cramped inside his cabin. In last few minutes, a cluster of volcanic islands had appeared on the horizon towards east. Adorned with lush green tropical vegetation, these islands were poking out of turquoise blue sea like crystal needles. It was one of the most beautiful sceneries Hemley had ever experienced.
The ships were making good progress towards east with the help of evening head winds flowing from behind and soon that chain of tiny islands started appearing really big from up close.
Behind him, Admiral Cook stepped on to the deck along with his deputy Captain Cooper. Admiral Cook was returning back home after finishing his inspection of naval outposts in Arabian seas. Based out of Ceylon, he was in-charge of maintaining safety of Asian trading routes between Arabian Gulf and Malay. It was a very strategic trading route for all the European trading companies who were at war to monopolize the spice and cotton trade from this region.
Hemley joined Cook in Cairo after spending last Christmas with his family back in Landon. Though away from his home once again, Hemley was glad to escape the frigid winters of England to start his new career and perhaps new phase of his life.
Loaded with arms and ammunition, these ships were taking Hemley and his company of Egyptian soldiers to Kadamba Fort located on Malabar cost of India.
After finishing status report with his deputy, Admiral Cook approached Hemley who was standing at the bow of the ship. From what he had heard about Hemley and then what he had seen of him for past few days after meeting him for the first time in Cairo, Cook had developed great admiration for this young and brave Military Colonel. The decisiveness in his thoughts, command in his voice and experience under his belt at such young age impressed him the most about this young man. By his true opinion, Hemley would be the rising star of British East India Company and eventually he would reach to very high rank in India later in his career.
Sensing the presence of Cook behind him, Hemley turned around and asks him, “Sir, Is that the Indian coast? Aren’t we supposed to reach India by tomorrow morning?”
Cook replied offering some explanation, “No! No! We are nowhere close to the mainland. It is still a night away. I had briefly mentioned you about these islands before in previous conversations. These are the Maaladweep Island, chain of volcanic islands stretching from north to south almost running parallel to west cost of India.”
Cook continued, “These are very beautiful as you can see. We used to have our outposts on larger islands further down south. These islands were abandoned after we got secure foot hole in Kadamba. These islands lack good supply of drinking water and hence these were never colonized by anyone throughout modern history. But these days, these islands are infested with pirates.”
“Pirates! Oh really” Hemley replied in a shock, “Then you must look at this! Can you see that haze of smoke in the sky?” Hemley said pointing towards islands on North East.
“If my suspicions are correct, it has to be a really big fire to produce this kind of smoke. It can simply be a wild fire. But now since you have mentioned, it can be work of pirates too.” Hemley explained.
“Oh, my god!” Cook exclaimed in real shock. “Our merchant convoy is in route to Kadamba and we should have spotted them a while back. Cooper told me that crew has not seen those ships at all. Let’s hope that our ships did not land in trouble.”
Coo
k pulled out his telescope immediately and inspected sky in the direction Hemley had pointed. “I wished you were wrong, Hemley. Unfortunately, I can also see the smoke. Let’s turn our ships a little north to get a clear view of the fire at the earliest.” In few minutes their fear was confirmed. Once their ships cleared the cliffs edge, they saw a merchant ship engulfed in fire in the middle of the bay.
Cook burst into anger. “Oh, these pirates! How dare they touch my ships? I will crush them at once.”
Frustration creped on his face but he could not do anything. In end, he thrashed his fist on railing in the state of helplessness.
Hemley, still optimistic about fighting back asked impatiently, “How long it will take us to reach there?”
Jack Cooper added, “Unfortunately, It will be at least half an hour from where we are right now.”
“It will be too late by then. Pirates would have already disappeared by the time we reach there.” Cook continued to explode in frustration, “Get all our men ready now.” Cook said to Cooper. “If we spot the pirates, I want to challenge them and finish them at once.”
“I will get to the bottom of this issue once we reach to Kadamba.” muttered Cook as he left for his cabin to get ready for the chase. Cooper orders his sailors to be in combat position as their ships sailed with full mast towards north.
