“They do. And they are not afraid to learn from history. Their own history.”
The valley was no longer a possible entrance through enemy lines. It was filled with rubbish, boulders, dirt, entire trees ripped up by their roots and toppled down onto the valley floor. More and more heaped until the valley was filled — and impassable.
“There was a great British general,” Calles said, “who fought against Napoleon in France and Portugal. He built the lines at Torres Vedras that stopped the French general and sent him back in defeat. He did it like this. Someone has studied General Wellington and applied that knowledge of history to build his defenses here.”
“We will go on,” the guide said. “There will be a way through.”
“I hope so — but I doubt it. Like Napoleon, I am afraid that we are stopped.”
The USS Avenger found the sea empty of ships when she reached the navigational location that they had been given, the rendezvous of the British squadron. This was the right place and the right date. The only things missing were the ships. Nor did they find any sign of the invading force in the West Indies. They stayed for a day at this position but the horizon remained clear. In the morning they sailed to Jamaica and found only American or neutral vessels there. The warship poked about the nearest islands before returning to the rendezvous. Commodore Goldsborough himself checked the noontime sight. The navigator was correct. This was the exact latitude and longitude that the spies in England had provided. Goldsborough had the uneasy sensation that something was very, very wrong indeed. He turned to his first mate.
“I do not like this, do not like it at all. We are in the right place at the right time, aren’t we?”
“We are indeed, sir.”
“Well do you see any vast invasion fleet? I’ll be damned if I do.”
“None, sir.”
“Would you hazard a guess as to what has happened?”
“It seems, well, obvious now, sir. Our intelligence service has been duped, for reasons I do not know. We have been sent on a wild goose chase.”
“I am in compete agreement. Set a course for Florida. Washington must know what we have found.”
At top speed Avenger turned and headed for Florida and the nearest telegraph station.
“You have, then, been presented to the Queen before?” Lord Palmerston asked, then muttered with pain as the carriage lurched over a rough patch of cobbles. His gout had improved greatly, but his foot was still tender.
“I have had that pleasure,” Brigadier Somerville said. Which was not quite the truth. He had no liking of the court and the hangers-on there. He would far rather face shot and shell in battle than go through with this afternoon’s business.
“You’re a brainy fellow,” Palmerston said, with more than a little condescension. “You can explain all the technical bits to her.”
“Will not the Duke of Cambridge be there? Surely as Commander-in-Chief of the army he is in a far better position to clarify matters than I am.”
“I assume so. But that’s neither here nor there. The Duke and I discussed this matter in the club last night. We’re in perfect agreement, dear boy.”
I’ll wager they are, Somerville thought to himself, but did not voice his suspicions aloud. He hoped that this would not be the simple matter of shooting the messenger who brings the news of ill tidings.
All too soon they were rattling across the courtyard of Buckingham Palace, the footman opening the door as soon as they had stopped. When they went inside they found that the Duke of Cambridge was already there, enjoying a pipe in the anteroom.
“Ah, there you are,” he said, climbing to his feet. “Ready to reveal to Her Majesty the interesting details of our great victory.”
“As you say, sir, though I seek no notoriety. If you wish to speak…”
“Nonsense, Somerville. One’s doesn’t want to hide one’s light under a bushel. After all this entire matter was all your idea. Credit where credit is due, old boy, and all that.”
Somerville bowed to the inevitable and entered the reception chamber. Head high and shoulders back, as though bound for the headsman’s axe.
Victoria was peevish this day. “Now what is all this of events in Mexico? We were informed that a fleet had been dispatched to the West Indies. Yet still we hear strange reports—”
“One should not listen to the fiddle-faddle of people who gossip just for gossip’s sake, dear cuz. Let us go to the font of knowledge of the victorious planner himself. Here is Brigadier Somerville to enlighten us all.”
She blinked suspiciously at the officer who bowed stiffly.
“Ma’am. It is my great pleasure to tell you of a great and victorious British feat of arms in Mexico …”
“What of the West Indies, hey?”