by Dudley Pope
There were more letters about provisions - mostly saying that various things were not available - and, at last, an urgent warning to Velasquez that an English "corsair" had been sighted and was probably bound for Santa Cruz to attempt to recapture the frigate. From the date of the letter Ramage saw that it referred to Captain Eames's arrival on the Main.
Several letters had mentioned dates by which Velasquez should have the ship ready, and then came the first to mention Havana. This was an order telling Velasquez that because of instructions just received from the Ministry of Marine in Madrid - "from the hand of the Secretary of State for the Navy, His Excellency Don Juan de Langara" - La Perla was to proceed to Spain by way of Havana, and Velasquez was to prepare for the voyage accordingly "and report at once if the ship has any needs".
A letter dated twelve days later and referring to one from Velasquez seemed to show that La Perla's captain had suddenly found a dozen excellent reasons why the frigate could not sail for Spain, but the Captain-General, obviously mindful of the order from Madrid, dismissed them all: the ship would sail as soon as one or two ships bound for Havana were assembled so that La Perla could escort them and "protect them from English corsairs".
Ramage saw from successive letters that as the days passed the idea of a convoy to Havana grew in the minds of the junta: obviously the businessmen in the province of Caracas were thankful for this rare opportunity to send goods from La Guaira to Cuba and Spain under the protection of a frigate. Then came more specific information for Velasquez: ships from Vera Cruz, Cartagena and La Guaira would assemble in Havana, ready to sail as a convoy for Spain, escorted by a 74-gun ship and four frigates, of which La Perla would be one. Ramage sighed as he struggled with the handwriting. The letters were full of abbreviations, and the clerks obviously cared little if blots of ink obscured words providing the big wax seals were perfect. He was tired of phrases like "very magnificent, sir" used by almost anyone when writing to a superior; he was bored with the decisions of the "Real Audiencia y Chancilleria".
The convoy for Spain was due to sail from Havana "any time after the first day of August" in one letter; another put the date back at least two weeks. Velasquez was to sail from Santa Cruz to arrive at La Guaira by the beginning of July - except that the next letter from the Captain-General delayed it two weeks. Then came a definite order: La Perla was to be ready to sail from La Guaira on 26 June, escorting one ship.
One ship? Ramage read the paragraph again. From the previous references he had understood there would be at least four or five ships. The next paragraph told Velasquez that the junta was awaiting orders from His Excellency the Viceroy of the Indies, in Panama, concerning this particular ship, but the Captain-General trusted that in any case La Perla was ready to sail.
Why on earth would the Viceroy - the man who ruled the whole of the Spanish Main and Central America in the name of His Most Catholic Majesty - be concerning himself with one ship? Was she going to carry important passengers? Was he travelling in her himself?
Ramage had been conscious of a lot of bustle on deck, and the sentry's call warned him that Southwick was coming to see him.
"We're all ready to begin sending the prisoners over, sir, " the Master reported. "Wagstaffe had the sense to send Marines over with his two boats to help guard them. I'm using two of our boats as well. Two trips for each boat."
"Very well. Tell Wagstaffe to come over and bring his sea bag with him. And Captain Velasquez will go over to the Santa Barbara in the last boat. I want to see him first."
"Aye, aye, sir. I'll be glad to see the back of 'em and get the lower deck scrubbed out and aired. You wouldn't credit the mess they've made."
Ramage went back to the letters. His eyes ached, his head buzzed with weariness. Only two more letters remained of the bundle from the Captain-General, and he cursed the time he had wasted. It was, he admitted, sheer curiosity: it mattered not a damn when the Captain-General of Caracas or the Mayor of Santa Cruz ordered Velasquez to sail for La Guaira and Havana: the ship was back in the Royal Navy and half a ton of Spanish correspondence and a ton of His Most Catholic Majesty's sealing wax could not affect that.
Wearily he wriggled in his chair: the candle in the lantern was burning low and he turned the letter to catch more light. The junta had received a communication from His Excellency the Viceroy, and as a result it had been decided to entrust "a particular cargo" to the ship which La Perla would escort. His Excellency the Viceroy had further ordered that another "particular cargo" from the province of Columbia should also be dispatched to Spain in the same ship. This valuable cargo had already been sent round from Cartagena in smaller vessels and was now safely on board the ship at La Guaira, and the ship would be ready to sail when La Perla arrived on 23 June.
The 23rd of June: that was the day before yesterday, Ramage realized, but La Perla had been delayed by the wait for her troops to come back from the mountains. They had returned to Santa Cruz yesterday; they were due to board today. The Captain-General would know all that, and would expect La Perla to sail for La Guaira by noon.
Suddenly he awoke with a start, realizing that he had been half asleep while reading. Slowly he repeated to himself what the letter was telling him: a merchant ship loaded with "a particular cargo" important enough to involve the Viceroy and described by the Captain-General as "valuable" was at anchor at La Guaira waiting for La Perla to arrive to escort her to Havana.
He reached up to the rack of charts overhead, selected the one showing the coast from Santa Cruz to west of La Guaira, and unrolled it on the desk, hurriedly weighting it down with an inkwell at one end and his hat at the other.
His hand was trembling slightly as he reached for the dividers and measured off the distance between Santa Cruz and La Guaira. Just over two hundred miles in a direct line, but the road ran like a snake over mountain ridges and across valleys, skirting round a great gulf ... A messenger on horseback would have to cover a good three hundred miles, and much of the way must be simply mule tracks climbing over the great saddle of mountains to Caracas, some peaks of which were 9000 feet high. The chart showed few villages and only two small towns on the way, so changing horses would be difficult. No messenger from Santa Cruz with the warning that La Perla had been captured could reach La Guaira or Caracas by land in less than thirty hours - probably more like forty-eight. La Perla herself - the Jocasta, he corrected himself - might make it in twenty-four.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Ramage rolled up the chart and told the three men standing round the desk to sit down. All of them were physically weary, worn out by the mental strain of the past few hours and the lack of sleep, but the news that Ramage had just given them had brought a gleam to their eyes.
"I wonder what 'a particular cargo' means, " Southwick said. "It could be anything."
"The Captain-General refers to it later as 'valuable', " Ramage commented. "And I can't believe the Viceroy of the Indies would concern himself personally with something unimportant."
"Ah, you know what these Spaniards are like, sir. It's probably some gift to a minister; a bribe to get something. Or a present for the King."
Aitken looked up: "It's valuable enough for the Viceroy to want a frigate to escort it."
"Bulky, though, " Southwick said. "The letter says 'coasting vessels' were bringing it round from Cartagena. Not one vessel, but several."
"He might have wanted to spread the risk, " Aitken pointed out. "A small amount in several vessels."
Ramage laughed dryly. "The three of you are dreaming of gold bars and pieces of eight! "
"Why not, sir?" Wagstaffe asked. "The Dons mine enough gold and silver! "
"Not along the Main. That comes from Peru and they send it up to Panama. And from Mexico, of course, and that is sent out through Vera Cruz."
Wagstaffe looked puzzled. "The Spanish Main, sir - I thought this was where Sir Harry Morgan and the buccaneers were always raiding. Along this coast and beyond Cartagena."
"They ra
ided it, true enough, but as far as I know they usually made their money by ransoming a town's leading citizens. The only time Morgan found a lot of gold was when he marched across the Isthmus to Panama."
"If the Viceroy is so worried about this cargo, sir, " Aitken said cautiously, "why didn't he send it direct to Havana from Cartagena? Sending it round to La Guaira means an extra six or seven hundred miles . . ."
"That puzzled me, " Ramage admitted, "but the obvious explanation is probably correct: they just don't have the ships. Probably there was one merchant ship in La Guaira and none in Cartagena. There were coasting vessels in Cartagena capable of the voyage round to La Guaira, but none that could be relied upon - or spared - to get to Havana. It was easier to have the 'one particular cargo' from La Guaira loaded on board in La Guaira itself, with the other one from Cartagena being sent round.
"The Jocasta's arrival a couple of years ago must have seemed like a miracle: she's the only frigate on the whole coast. Apart from her, the Santa Barbara is probably the only ship o' war they have along the Main."
"I can believe that, " Southwick said. "We certainly never hear of anything being sighted, or captured."
"That was why Their Lordships were anxious to get the Jocasta back, " Ramage pointed out. "They didn't want the Dons to have her."
"But the Dons never used her, " Southwick protested.
"Blame that on the quill-pushers in Caracas. The Captain-General has been arguing with the man who holds the purse-strings, and they have no money anyway. But make no mistake, they want her desperately."
"What was she going to do, sir?" Wagstaffe asked. "I mean, before she was ordered to Spain."
"They were going to send her to sea as a privateer - I think the Captain-General hoped she'd pay for herself with prize money. They couldn't afford to pay enough seamen; that's why they were using soldiers: they are paid by Madrid."
"So just as she's ready to sail as a privateer, they get orders to send her to Spain, " Southwick commented. "They must be hard up for ships over there; I'd have thought she'd have done more good out here."
Ramage nodded; he had given that a lot of thought while reading the letters. "I think Madrid has always regarded the Indies simply as a gold mine. As soon as there's enough bullion ready, they send a small fleet to escort it to Cadiz. In between times the Indies have to look after themselves."
"Pity we don't have gold mines, " Aitken said. "When you want to build another dozen ships of the line you just send to the Indies for some more gold."
"Hasn't done 'em much good in the past, " Southwick said contemptuously. "They've been digging out gold for nearly 250 years, and neither their fleet nor their army is worth a tinker's cuss."
There was a knock on the door and Ramage's clerk came in holding several sheets of paper: "The orders, sir, for your signature."
Ramage took them and sat at the desk. He glanced through the top page, signed it and gave it to Wagstaffe.
"There you are. Now you are in command of the Calypso, and you send fifty men back to the Jocasta. You're sure you can handle her with the rest?"
"Quite sure, sir. Sixty men are more than enough."
"Very well. The rendezvous is given: wait three days and if we don't meet you before then, make your way to English Harbour and give the report to Admiral Davis."
Ramage signed the report addressed to the Admiral, and gave it to the clerk to take away and seal.
"I'm sorry to bring you back from the Calypso" Ramage told Aitken.
The young Scot grinned cheerfully. "I'm glad to be back in the Jocasta, sir. It's not often we get a chance of cutting out ships. I'm getting a taste for it! "
Ramage turned back to Wagstaffe. "You are satisfied with Baker and Kenton? It looks as though it's going to be watch-and-watch-about for you for a week or two."
"We'll be all right, sir, although I think they were looking forward to taking the Santa Barbara back to English Harbour."
"I'm sorry to disappoint them, but if you take a prize on the way back they can toss up for the honour of commanding her."
The clerk brought back the report for Admiral Davis, and Ramage, after inspecting the seal, gave it to Wagstaffe. He listened to the movement on deck for a few moments. "I think the last of the prisoners are ready to be taken over to the Santa Barbara. Southwick, you'd better send Velasquez to see me."
With that the three men left. Ramage rubbed his face with a towel and was thankful it was not a humid night. He tugged his stock straight, ran a comb through his hair, and put the rolled-up chart back in the rack. He glanced round the cabin - it looked exactly as Velasquez had left it when the Calypso came alongside.
A stamping of feet down the companionway warned him that Velasquez was being brought down with an escort of at least two Marines.
"Spanish officer, h'under h'escort, sir, " the sentry announced.
"Send him in, but the escort can stay outside."
Velasquez came into the cabin warily, as though expecting a wild animal to leap at him out of the shadows.
"Good morning, " Ramage said in Spanish.
Velasquez had not seen him sitting at the desk and he took a step back.
"Come in, " Ramage said. "Sit on the settee."
"You speak Spanish! " Velasquez exclaimed. "Why - you are the leader of the mutineers! But that uniform! Why do you wear it?"
"It fits me rather well, doesn't it?" Ramage remarked conversationally.
"Yes, but -"
"It should, of course; it was made for me by one of the best tailors in London."
"But you are a mutineer! "
"No, " Ramage said quietly, "you just thought I was."
"The rest of the men, " Velasquez said lamely. "I just saw some of them in Army uniform . . ."
"Marine uniform, " Ramage corrected him.
Velasquez flopped down on the settee. "I do not understand. They sent me a warning from El Pilar that the Santa Barbara was bringing in another English frigate with a mutinous crew. I assumed all the details had been arranged by that fool Lopez, and that she was just to berth alongside me."
"Lopez was a prisoner; the Santa Barbara was an English prize by then."
"Yes, I realize that now. But you, Senor?"
"Nicholas Ramage, at your service; a captain in the Royal Navy."
Velasquez was about to rise and bow, but Ramage gestured for him to remain seated: time was getting short, with all the prisoners out of the Jocasta.
"Captain Velasquez, all your men will soon be on board the Santa Barbara, along with the brig's original crew and Captain Lopez - oh yes, and the nephew of the Captain-General. There are forty-one of your men, wounded in the fighting. And here -" he took a piece of folded paper from his pocket "- are the names of the twenty-three killed. One of the wounded identified them. The garrisons of the two forts are also on board."
"You mean Castillo San Antonio and El Pilar?" Velasquez asked incredulously.
"Yes. You heard two explosions?"
"My God, yes! "
"You'll see what caused them when you sail back."
"Sail back?" Velasquez asked suspiciously.
"Back into Santa Cruz. You will be taken over to the Santa Barbara in a few minutes and you will allow the remaining English Marines on board to depart in the boat that takes you over. Then you will sail the Santa Barbara back into port."
"You mean I will be free?"
"Yes - you and all the prisoners I have taken, providing you give your word that you will not prevent my Marines leaving. I should warn you that the Calypso - she was the frigate that came alongside you in Santa Cruz - is close by, so that between us we can sink the Santa Barbara in a matter of moments."
"You have my word, " Velasquez said, and Ramage knew he meant it. "You have my word, " he repeated bitterly, "although God knows that from now on my own people will place little value on it."
Ramage looked puzzled, and Velasquez held his hands out, palms upwards. "As soon as the Captain-General hears of this, I
shall be put under arrest. There was not even a pistol loaded when you boarded us."
"At least you are still alive! " Ramage exclaimed, surprised and vaguely irritated by the sympathy he was beginning to feel for the Spaniard.
"I may live to regret that, " Velasquez said bitterly. Then he glanced up at Ramage. "Have you captured any of the English mutineers who originally brought in this ship? Many have sailed in neutral ships."
"Some. In time we'll capture most of them."
"There was one man, one of their leaders. He could handle the ship well. He brought her round from La Guaira - with a Spanish guard, of course. I remember him well. His name - for the moment I cannot remember it."
"Summers?"
"Ah, that was it. You know him?"
"He was captured a few weeks ago and court-martialled."
"And?"
"And he was hanged."
"He deserved it, " Velasquez said quietly. "He brought us a frigate, but he was evil. He boasted that he planned the entire mutiny and was responsible for killing all the officers. I think he was the most evil man I ever met. It was wrong for Spain to benefit from the activities of such men. We needed the ship, but mutiny knows no frontiers."
Ramage suddenly felt a kinship with Velasquez; the kinship of men who faced the responsibilities of command. He stood up and held out his hand.
"I have your word about my Marines?"
"You have." Velasquez shook hands. "And thank you for freeing us. I am in your debt. Now you return to report to your Admiral?"
"Yes, " Ramage said, thinking of the letters in the drawer.
"What about the other English frigate, the one which came a month ago?"
"Her captain was making a reconnaissance, " Ramage said. "We needed to know if we could cut out La Perla."
"And he reported that you could?" Velasquez asked incredulously. "Caramba! He must be a brave man! And you, Captain Ramage, you have done the impossible."