by Dudley Pope
"Are they still under way or dropping back?"
"Under way, sir: the seventh one is in position."
"No lights showing from the seventh ship? No sign of distress?"
"Nothing, sir. Everything looks normal - except they're alongside each other!"
"Very well; get aloft again and give a hail when you sight anything more. Particularly if they drop astern."
Again Jackson disappeared quickly and quietly.
"Mightn't have actually been in collision, sir," Southwick said doubtfully. "Their yards would lock ... At that distance and from this angle ... might just look as though one's aboard the other."
"That's why I sent Jackson up again with the glass," Ramage said pointedly.
"I know, sir." Southwick was reproachful. "I was just trying to understand why two ships running aboard each other don't do something about it. Flash lanterns, fire a gun, light a false fire ... Not reasonable for them to carry on on the same course with sails set, as though nothing had happened."
"Never trust mules..."
"Quite, sir," Southwick said. "And never assume any of the other escorts will spot something."
Southwick was right: the Greyhound or the Lark, both of which were much closer, should have spotted something amiss. Still, both were used to convoy work and wearily resigned to half the convoy dropping astern in the darkness...
"Deck there!"
"Captain here."
"Last ship's dropped back now, sir. Both of 'em in their rightful positions again, and both under reefed topsails."
"Very well, down from aloft."
"Just mules," Southwick said sourly. "The Peacock's mate dozed off, I expect. I'll bet he's getting a brisk rub from her captain."
Ramage paced back and forth along the starboard side of the quarterdeck for ten minutes, trying to decide why such a tiny episode seemed important. Was he getting things out of proportion? He would have asked Southwick if he could only think of a way of phrasing the question.
"I'm going below: you have the night orders."
"Aye aye, sir."
Down in his cabin Ramage bent over his desk, trying to write up his journal by the dim light of the lanthorn. Little of the guttering candle's light penetrated the horn shield, but anything stronger would show through the skylight. He began writing a three-line record of the day's events, occasionally referring to the Master's rough log.
He had relieved Southwick, stood an uneventful night watch and slept again before he was woken with hot coffee before dawn next morning. As the steward began methodically setting out washing and shaving gear round the washbasin, Ramage discovered that by some magic process he had reached a decision while he slept. He would report the Peacock episode to the Admiral in writing, and risk being sneered at as an alarmist. It was just a tiny episode and probably either or both captains had a perfectly satisfactory explanation. But the Triton could not go back and find out without orders from the Admiral, and no such orders could be given until the Admiral received a report.
As soon as he'd drunk his coffee, washed and shaved and dressed, Ramage picked up his hat and telescope and went up on deck for the dawn ritual of general quarters. In time of war every one of the King's ships at sea met the new day with her men at the guns ready for action. No one knew what daylight would bring - a clear horizon, or an enemy ship, or even a squadron - lurking a mile or so to windward. Even as he reached the top of the companionway the bosun's mates were running through the ship, calling men to quarters.
Southwick was on watch, having just relieved Appleby, the young master's mate, and greeted Ramage cheerfully. For Southwick every dawn had the attraction of a bottle of rum for an alcoholic. Ramage almost shuddered; he needed at least an hour after quitting his cot before he felt cheerful.
"No more nonsense over there," Southwick said, gesturing towards the tail of the convoy. "Have you decided whether... ?"
"Yes," Ramage said shortly, "I shall."
"I'm glad, sir, but it's going to be hard to put in writing what's really just a - a sort of feeling, like a twinge in your back when you know it's going to rain."
Men were gliding to the guns. Thanks to many hours of training and constant exercises there was no shouting and no fuss; .a landsman would have no idea that the movement of those shadowy figures now meant the Triton could open fire within a few seconds.
It was chilly on deck now but within an hour or two of the sun rising the wooden planks would be uncomfortably hot to stand on and the air warm to breathe. Now there was a delicious chill and more than a hint of dampness which brought out the smell of things, whether stinking or mildewy clothes, the sickly-sweet of the bilges or the clean tang of fresh, hot coffee.
As the black of night turned to grey, Ramage could distinguish the binnacle box, quite apart from the faint light inside illuminating the compass. In a few minutes, he'd be able to identify the two men at the wheel and the quartermaster standing near them. He could see the outline of the capstan just forward of the companionway and the gilding on the top of it would be noticeable soon. The mainmast seemed curiously big in the half light.
It would soon be time to order the lookouts aloft. It was a thankless job - yet one Ramage had always enjoyed in his midshipman days. In the Tropics it was hot up the mast and in a cold climate there was precious little shelter, but you were alone and you could see all that went on: the ships on the horizon and everything that happened on deck. And it was exciting, after days and weeks at sea, to spot another sail, or land, and to be the first to hail the deck and report it.
Suddenly Southwick was bellowing, "Lookouts away aloft!" and Ramage realized that he had been staring into space, oblivious of where he was. By the time he pulled himself back to the present, the lookouts were reporting.
"Deck there - horizon clear except for the convoy."
"Search to the north-east again," Southwick shouted.
"Horizon to the nor'east clear, sir."
That covered the arc for which the Triton was responsible. Ramage thought for a moment and remembered that Jackson would be on watch now: it was easier to send him than give instructions to the lookouts.
"Send Jackson aloft with a glass, Mr Southwick. See what he makes of those two mules now."
Two minutes later Jackson hailed the deck.
"Both ships look normal. No damage showing. The whole tail of the convoy has straggled. Several ships on the horizon from the middle of the convoy. The Lark's out there chasing 'em up."
Southwick looked questioningly at Ramage, who shook his head: there was nothing more for Jackson to do so Southwick ordered him down and, at a further word from Ramage, gave the orders that set the men securing the carronades. Dawn had not revealed any enemies, and down below the cook was rattling his coppers and lighting the galley fire - a new day had begun.
Sitting at his tiny desk as soon as it was light enough to see, Ramage drafted his report to the Admiral. His pen spattered ink as he crossed out words and phrases and wrote in new ones. Finally, with the page looking like a schoolboy's exercise book, he took a fresh sheet of paper and wrote the corrected draft so that he could read it through without pausing to decipher his own handwriting.
It still read oddly, but he decided that this was because the subject was odd rather than because of his wording. He folded the paper, took the stub of candle from the lanthorn, heated some wax, then pressed his seal into the red blob. He blew out the candle, pushed it back into the holder in the lanthorn and called on his steward to serve him breakfast.
Late that afternoon Ramage sat in his cabin with Southwick and the ship's surgeon, Bowen. All three were drinking the fresh lemonade which Ramage's steward made from a stock of lemons and limes which he kept to himself.
Southwick sipped his drink and said amiably to the doctor: "How long is it now?"
The doctor frowned as he thought. "Five months or more."
"Do you ever feel you want a glass of rum?" Ramage asked.
Bowen shook his head. "Not
spirits, nor wine. It's curious - I never even think about them now. It's not that the idea nauseates me, or that I'm fighting myself not to have them: I'm just not interested."
"You're lucky," Southwick said bluntly. "When I think of all those games of chess..."
He sounded so mournful that both Ramage and Bowen burst out laughing.
"It improved your game, anyway!" Bowen said. "You're a passable player, now."
"Southwick regarded the chess as the hardest part of your cure," Ramage said.
"It was - for him," Bowen said. "And a miracle for me. My wife will know by now," he said with obvious pride. "I wrote, to her from Barbados."
Ramage nodded because there was nothing to say. When he had first joined the ship, Bowen, who had once been one of the finest surgeons in London, was a besotted wreck, unfit to practise medicine and unable to open his eyes in the morning without a stiff drink. Ramage could hardly believe that the cure had worked. It had been hard for him and Southwick - and in the later stages had involved playing interminable games of chess with Bowen to take his mind off drink - but it had been unbelievably hard for Bowen. Ramage could still remember watching him in the grip of delirium tremens, screaming as imaginary monsters swooped down to attack him.
"You'll soon be reopening your surgery in Wimpole Street," Ramage said. "Do you look forward to London again?"
Bowen shook his head. "No. I want to see my wife again, ofcourse, but I'd like to serve with you for as long as..."
"But in London you were ..." Ramage broke off, unsure if he understood the look in Bowen's eyes.
"In London, sir," Bowen said softly, "I spent most of my time treating imaginary ailments with useless nostrums. My patients were rich and I presented them with large bills. They judged the success of the cure by the size of the bill. There's more to the practice of medicine than that."
"But you could be a rich man," protested Southwick.
"I could, I was and I probably still am. My wife is not without means, anyway."
"Well then!" Southwick said lamely.
"Well then yourself," Bowen said affably. "Tell me, Southwick, does it give you any satisfaction navigating this ship safely from one side of the Atlantic to the other?"
"Well, the Captain..." Southwick said, embarrassed at the question.
"Don't be so modest," Ramage said. "Answer the doctor's question!"
"Well, yes, it's bound to."
"Why are you such a special man, then?" Bowen asked, still grinning.
When Southwick shook his head, puzzled at the question, Bowen said: "You get satisfaction when the Triton arrives safely in port. I get satisfaction when the Triton arrives with all her crew fit. Not one name on the sick-list!"
Ramage stared at Bowen.
"Surely you can't be interested in all the costive problems, venereal disease, cuts, blisters and abrasions of more than fifty seamen?"
Bowen shook his head but said simply: "Not as such. But atrue answer to your question would be that I find the most worthwhile thing I've ever done in my life is to make sure that more than fifty shipmates on board the Triton, from the captain to the boy drummer, remain fit. I believe in preventing disease: that's the best way of curing it. My pleasure comes in writing in my journal, day after day, 'No cases reported.'"
Southwick nodded appreciatively, and Ramage said simply, "Thank you."
"It's nothing," Bowen said with a wry grin. "The two of you have saved me from a fate worse than Wimpole Street."
"We'll probably end up the chess champions of the Navy," Ramage said. "We must start a tournament."
"We're a set of pawns at the moment," Southwick said with sudden bitterness.
Bowen glanced at Ramage. "Might we ask how things went on board the flagship, sir... ?"
"A certain amount of cynical indifference."
"I can imagine," Bowen said sympathetically.
Ramage doubted if he could. After being given permission to pass within hail, Ramage had taken the Triton over to aposition just to windward of the Lion. Very grudgingly Captain Croucher had agreed to heave-to long enough for a boat fromthe Triton to get alongside and Appleby, the Master's mate, had delivered the letter and returned to the Triton.
Half an hour later when the Triton was back on station, the flagship had signalled for the Greyhound to see if the Peacock or her next ahead required assistance.
It seemed a stupid order, but for the life of him Ramage could not be quite sure why he thought so or why he was so angry. If either ship had wanted assistance she would have made the signal long since, so Goddard was simply covering himself. Lieutenant Ramage reported possible trouble, the captains of both ships reported that they were quite all right. If he had been the convoy commander he would have sent an officer on board each ship to find out what had happened. But, to be fair to Croucher and Goddard, their only information about the incident came from an officer they distrusted.
"We don't have to fret about it," Bowen said in an even voice, tactfully offering advice to someone who was half his age but still his captain. "Tell me, sir, do we call in at Antigua?"
Ramage shook his head. "I doubt it; probably won't even sight it. I expect the Admiral will detach the Antigua ships and order one of the frigates to see them in the last forty or fifty miles."
"Pity," Bowen said, "I was looking forward to seeing the island."
"You're not missing anything," Southwick said. "It's dull and dry and English Harbour is airless - and bad holding ground."
"And Jamaica?"
Southwick shrugged his shoulders. "They can't be compared. Jamaica's a big island and Kingston a big city. Many parts of Jamaica are very beautiful - the Blue Mountains, for instance. But all these islands keep you doctors and the undertakers busy."
Ramage took out his watch. This was the accepted signal that their afternoon's relaxation was over. The cabin was growing dark as Bowen stood up and asked: "The swell is increasing, I notice. Is this a bad sign?"
Ramage nodded. "I'm afraid so, at this time of year."
"Does it definitely mean we'll get a hurricane?"
"No, by no means! It might mean that there's one out there in the Atlantic, but there's no telling if it'll come our way. They're like thunderstorms - impossible to guess which direction they'll take."
"Well, it'll be an interesting experience," Bowen said.
"I'll remind you of that remark if we run into it," Southwick growled. "It blows so hard you won't know whether you're a pawn or a bishop."
"Heaven forbid a bishop," Bowen said.
Chapter Seven
By nightfall the convoy, having gone through the chain of islands, was some twenty miles west of Dominica and steering north-north-west to pass the butterfly-shaped island of Guadeloupe, the only land in the area still held by the French. By passing far enough to the westward to be out of sight from the mountains, Ramage guessed, Goddard was hoping the convoy would not be spotted.
Ramage shrugged: whatever the French might do he was now more concerned about the swell. He had just noted in the log that the waves were about five feet high. The wind was still light - too light.
"Something's killed the Trade winds," Southwick commented.
"Stunned them, anyway," Ramage said wryly.
"Still, I suppose we shouldn't complain; the mules have behaved themselves today."
Ramage nodded. "They haven't had much choice, with the Lark chasing them up."
"I think the word's been passed along about the way we chase up, too."
"Yes - I was thinking about that merchantman when we went alongside the Lion this morning. Must have been like having a ship of the line coming up astern of us."
"I hope so," Southwick said fervently, "I'm in favour of anything that keeps these mules in position." He glanced round at the gathering darkness. "General quarters, sir?"
Ramage nodded, and glanced to the eastward where a thin layer of cloud on the horizon showed Dominica. "We'll leave the guns loaded and run out tonight."
He wasn't quite sure why he had decided that, but he picked up the telescope and looked round the convoy as Southwick bellowed the order that sent the Triton's crew running to their stations for battle. As he focused on the Greyhound he saw her guns run out and nodded approvingly: it was well done; the guns might all have been on one huge carriage. The same orders were being given in all the ships of the escort and he imagined that, as the world turned and dusk moved across the oceans, all the King's ships at sea sent their men to quarters and, as the world continued turning and brought the dawn, the men were roused out again to greet it.
He held the glass steady as he looked at the Peacock. A couple of men were at the wheel with another figure near them - probably the captain or a mate. Two men on the fo'c'sle, perhaps having a quiet smoke, since merchantmen did not have the strict rules laid down in warships. The ship ahead of the Peacock had the same number of men on deck. Everything looked normal on board both ships. He still wanted to know what the devil had been going on last night, but thanks to the Admiral's absurd signal to the Greyhound no one had yet asked either ship a direct question.
Yorke was at the taffrail of the Topaz: by now Ramage could recognize his stance. St Brieuc was with him and for a moment Ramage was envious of the young shipowner: he would have interesting company all the way to Jamaica. Southwick and Bowen and Appleby were good men, but their conversational range was limited. Yorke had Maxine's company too. As Ramage watched the men running out the guns and reporting as they did so, he tried to console himself with the thought that Yorke did not have a Gianna waiting for him in England ... He went below.
It was dark when he got back on deck and the lookouts had been brought down from aloft. There were now six of them stationed round the ship: one on either bow, at the main chains both sides, and on each quarter.
The sky was clear and starlit except for a big bank of cloud to the south-west. It was hard for Ramage to pick out the ships on the far side of the convoy since they were against the cloud bank, instead of against the stars. The Lion stood out clearly, quite apart from her lights, and so did the Topaz. The Greyhound, too, and what was probably the Lark. Ramage moved the night glass slightly, hoping to make sure, and saw a movement.