by Dudley Pope
An urgent warning yell from Yorke made Ramage turn in time to see the Bosun only a couple of yards away, eyes bulging, and leaping at him with a cutlass held high in the air and already beginning a great downward chopping movement aimed at Ramage's head.
A blur of impressions: perspiration beading the man's upper lip and forehead, knuckles white as he gripped the cutlass handle, the absolute silence except for the pad of his bare feet and hoarse breathing.
The parry of quinte, Ramage thought almost irrelevantly as automatically he swung his sword blade up almost horizontally just above the level of his head, bending his left knee slightly, and thanking God the man had never been to a fencing master.
A moment later the cutlass blade hit Ramage's sword blade with an arm-jarring clang and slid sideways until it caught the guard and glanced off clear of his body.
The heavily built Bosun had put all his strength into the blow and the cutlass, deflecting off Ramage's sword like an axe blade glancing from a tree trunk, made him swing round to his left and stagger two or three paces.
It took him only a couple of seconds to recover. Ramage just had time to see Southwick and Yorke coming to his help and shout to them to keep clear before the Bosun, with a bellow of rage, was coming at him again, cutlass upraised for another chopping attack.
Again Ramage's blade flashed up almost horizontally, covering his head in the classic parry of quinte, but with the guard slightly lower than the point. Again the Bosun's cutlass clanged down, slid along the blade, hit the guard and glanced off. And yet again the Bosun spun to his left, off balance from the force of the blow.
As the man staggered Ramage put out his right foot and tripped him. The Bosun fell on his face and a moment later Ramage slapped him across the buttocks with the flat of his sword.
"Let go of that cutlass and get up," Ramage snapped. "This isn't a nursery."
With that he deliberately turned his back on the man. The packetsmen might put him down as a cool fellow; the former Tritons might think it bravado; but the fact was that slapping the fellow across the backside was so ludicrous he was afraid he would burst out laughing, and Southwick's pistols covered him.
"Very neat," Yorke said quietly. "I thought he'd got you."
"He learned swordsmanship by chopping logs," Ramage said. He looked round the ship. "The Captain and the Bosun have had their turns with cutlasses. Anyone else?"
Southwick waved a pistol in each hand. "Let 'em try," he rumbled. "I'd have winged that fellow but you were both in line from where I stood."
Ramage signalled to Jackson. "See to Captain Stevens. You'd better fetch the surgeon - oh, there you are, Farrell. Why the devil aren't you attending to Mr Stevens?"
He gestured to Jackson. "Leave the Captain: get these stern-chasers loaded and run out."
"Boarding nets?" Yorke asked.
One look at the privateer provided the answer. "No time for that now. I want you to take charge of the mails. I don't want to dump them unless I have to, but use your own judgement: don't risk leaving it too late."
By now Jackson had half a dozen Tritons casting off the lashings securing the stern-chase guns and he came up to Ramage.
"Magazine's locked up, sir."
"What?" Ramage exploded. "Are you sure?"
"Bosun's just told me the Captain still has the key."
"But Captain Wilson had powder for the muskets and pistols."
"Aye, sir," Jackson said patiently, "but the magazine was locked again. Captain's orders."
"Very well," Ramage said, and looked round for the Mate, noting the sails were now setting perfectly and Southwick had resumed his watch at the wheel. The Mate was nowhere to be seen.
"Pass the word for Mr Much," Ramage told Jackson, and walked to where Farrell was bending over Stevens, who had recovered consciousness and was sitting on the deck with his back against the carriage of a gun and clutching his black hat, whose crushed brim revealed the force with which his head had hit the bulwark.
Stevens looked up and said weakly, "It's mutiny; you've taken my ship. You'll pay for today's work, Mr Ramage."
"Give me your word you'll take the proper steps to avoid capture, Stevens, and you can have her back."
Farrell straightened his back. His eyes were hard and full of hate; words came like the sharp strokes of a scalpel.
"A King's officer, eh? A Frenchman's bullet doesn't care whether it lodges in the head of a King's officer or a cabin boy."
"Or a surgeon's," Ramage said coldly. "But attend to your bandages, Farrell. Get below to the saloon, where you belong. Take Stevens with you if he wants to go. But get below: if I see you on deck again I'll have you put in irons."
Ramage was still holding his sword in his right hand and tapping the deck with the point. Farrell held his eyes for a moment and quickly looked away. He glanced down at Stevens: "I'll be at my post in the saloon if you want me."
As soon as he left, Ramage said to Stevens, "Give me the key to the magazine."
"I don't have it."
"Where is it, than?"
"I don't know."
"It's in one of your pockets," Ramage said contemptuously. "I'll have a couple of men tear every shred of clothing off you unless you hand it over now."
Stevens knew he meant it and wriggled until he could get his hands into a coat pocket. He reached up with a heavy bronze key. Ramage took it and found Much waiting.
"You sent for me, sir?"
"Yes - I want a steady man for the magazine. Then stand by for some smart sail handling. I'm going to use the stern-chase guns until they try to range up alongside. Then we'll give them a broadside and wear round smartly. After that we'll see how things stand."
Ramage saw tension in both Much and Stevens. Oh no, he thought, don't say I've misjudged Much; don't say he is one of Stevens' creatures after all...
Much pointed at Jackson and his crew preparing the stern-chasers. "You can't use those, sir: you'll have to rely on the 4-pounders."
Ramage's eyebrows rose. "Why not, pray?"
"Well, you see the-"
"Much!" Stevens interrupted sharply, "watch your tongue! There'll be a day o' reckoning in Falmouth..."
Ramage glared down at the Captain. "You tell me, then, and be quick about it!"
"The eyebolts won't hold the breechings when they recoil," Stevens said hurriedly, his eyes on Ramage's sword. "There's a bit o' rot there. Just dig into the wood with that sword o' yours if you don't believe me."
"He's right, sir," Much said, "When the guns recoil they'll run wild and kill your fellows. Here, I'll show you."
"Don't bother," Ramage said, knowing the two men would not lie about something that could be disproved by walking a couple of paces, and suddenly remembering that Stevens had long ago mentioned trouble with the builder over some green wood. "Well, carry on, Mr Much: get every fraction of a knot out of this ship. Where were you, by the way?"
Much took two long-barrelled pistols from his belt: ornate guns which looked well cared for. "I went to fetch these. Had to load 'em."
Ramage nodded and Much went to join Southwick at the binnacle.
The privateer was half a mile away: perfect range for the stern-chasers. And, Ramage thought ruefully, apart from being a good target, she was a beautiful sight, with her black hull glistening. He could just distinguish the muzzles of her guns on the lee side: the way she was thrashing along, the starboard scuppers must be running deep with water.
So much for my idea of wearing round after firing a broadside: she'll attack from to leeward because her larboard side guns are dry: there'll be no risk of priming powder being wet in the pans...
"Secure both those guns," Ramage said to Jackson. "We can't use 'em. I want the broadside guns loaded with grape and canister, and spread the Tritons among the guns' crews. At least one per gun. Jump to it; we've only minutes left."
Captain Wilson was talking to Yorke, and when Ramage walked to the taffrail to look once again at the privateer the soldier came over t
o him.
"Owe you an apology, Ramage," he said abruptly.
"Accepted, Wilson; you weren't to know."
"Feel a fool. Yorke's been telling me about-"
"Quite!" Ramage said hastily, knowing Stevens could probably hear. "All your barkers are ready?"
"All loaded and issued to the men," he said cheerfully. "And a barrel full of extra ones" - he pointed to an up-ended cask forward of the mainmast from which the muzzles of several more muskets protruded.
"Good - you stand by them: there'll be some hot work in a few minutes."
"We'll show 'em!" Wilson declared as he marched forward.
"Sorry," Yorke said quietly, "I had to tell him some of it because he was just about to point one of his musketoons at you and force you to hand the ship back to Stevens."
The prospect was so ludicrous that Ramage burst out laughing. "Can all this get any more complicated?"
"We might end up with the French on our side," Yorke said lightly. "At least they haven't tried to kill you yet."
"They'll be a bit more skilful than the Bosun, once they get a chance!"
"It's a blow about the stern-chasers. Much was speaking the truth. I believed him anyway but checked and the wood is ripe all round the bolts."
"I saw you prodding. Just look at Johnny Frenchman," Ramage said with sudden savageness. "Perfect target - dammit, we're hardly pitching. It'd be shooting at a sitting bird, and with a bit of luck we might have fetched one of her masts down."
"I wonder why she hasn't given us a round or two from her bow-chasers - she must have 'em."
"Why bother? Her captain can see how fast he has been overtaking us. He's probably puzzled why we've suddenly come up a couple of points and done some overdue sail trimming, but he's not going to risk damaging our masts. He's certain he can catch us, and he wants to be sure his prize crew can sail the Arabella to France."
"What do you-" Yorke began and broke off, looking over Ramage's shoulder. Ramage turned to find Stevens standing there, white-faced and a hand on the taffrail for support.
"I ... I'm sorry," Stevens said, his voice low, and his tone contrite. "I'm afraid I... er, gave way to panic."
"Eventually gave way to panic," Ramage said coldly, "hence the bruise on your head. It's the previous hour that you'll have difficulty explaining away to the Post Office."
"I'm ashamed," he said in his familiar doleful voice. "I was weighed in the balance and found wanting, but I hope the good Lord in his wisdom will forgive me."
"Speaking for myself," Yorke said sourly, "I'm damned if I do. Thanks to you we all stand a good chance of marching into Verdun prison in a couple of weeks' time."
"But Mr Ramage is in command now," Stevens sneered. "It's up to him whether we escape or surrender."
Yorke took a step towards him and said, his voice hard, "Quite true, Stevens. But just you remember that with the privateer less than a mile away, the first thing Mr Ramage did on taking command was to get the sails trimmed and the ship on a proper course. The second was to stop you cutting the main brace. And the third was to send the ship's company to quarters. There are plenty of witnesses, Stevens, and that evidence alone would be more than enough to see you hanged at Tyburn for treason."
"Ah, how right you are," Stevens said contritely, but obviously not alarmed at the thought. "Mr Ramage, in the few minutes we have left please tell me what I can do to help save ourselves."
"Keep out of my way," Ramage said uncompromisingly, and turned back to Yorke. "We haven't gained much. If we'd had the ship going like this at the start we'd have kept to windward until after nightfall. As it is, we've put off the attack by a quarter of an hour."
"So what do you propose doing?"
"Not much choice. Our French friend is all ready to board us. That means dozens of men on his deck waiting with cutlasses and pistols, and many of them probably half drunk by now..."
"And all getting in each other's way!"
"Exactly! We can take advantage of that by making her tack and wear a few times. Force her on to the starboard tack, for instance, so all the larboard side guns get drenched. Do a few unexpected things so all those boarders are thoroughly confused."
"You make it sound easy," Yorke said gloomily, "but what unexpected things?"
Ramage could see that Jackson now had all the Arabella's 4-pounders loaded, and from the positions the men were standing, he had made a former Triton the captain of each gun. Much was marching up and down the deck, watching the luffs of the sails, and Southwick stood four-square at the binnacle, a pistol in each hand and, from the way the helmsmen were holding the wheel, ensuring both men steered better than they had ever believed they could.
"Just look at her," Ramage said. "She's heeling so much she can only use her weather-side guns. That means she's got to attack us from to leeward. Very well, the moment she begins to draw up alongside to starboard - just as her first gun will bear - we suddenly tack. Our turn away to larboard should take her completely by surprise so we're off on the other tack before her captain can sort out sail-trimmers from boarders."
"If we don't, he'll rake us. This transom" - Yorke gestured the width of the Arabella's stern - "will look like a torn fishnet."
"And so will you and I," Ramage said.
"Supposing we do take him by surprise," Yorke said doubtfully. "Then what? Eventually he tacks and draws alongside again. You won't catch him twice with that trick."
"After that we make it up as we go along. Dangerous to have a rigid plan in a situation like this; you have to keep your mind flexible."
"I'll be thankful to keep a flexible head on my shoulders," Yorke said, the light tone in his voice showing he agreed with Ramage's plan. "Just look at her thundering along! Her skipper knows his job, blast him."
"Let's hope he's shipped the usual bunch of murderous landlubbers who are handier at waving a cutlass than hauling on a sheet. Anyway, keep an eye on things here: I'm going to give Southwick and Much their orders."
Walking forward to join Southwick at the binnacle, Ramage saw that the Bosun was working again, his cutlass back in its scabbard, obeying Much's orders. But it was risky relying on him: Jackson had better take over his functions.
It took only three minutes to give Southwick, Much and Jackson their instructions. Both Much and Southwick assured him the helmsmen were converted to the idea of steering an exact course, so he was able to use the combination that had always worked so well in the past; he remained free to watch the enemy and exploit every tactical opportunity, simply giving Southwick the briefest orders. Southwick would remain at the conn, giving orders to the helmsmen and passing sail orders to Much. Jackson's job would be to supervise the guns, making sure the guns' crews worked fast, and shifting men around if there were casualties. Ramage gave him strict instructions to fire at the privateer's rigging in the hope of sending a mast by the board. Yorke would deal with the mailbags. That left Wilson. It took only a minute to tell the soldier he was free to open fire with his musketoons as soon as the enemy was in range, using Bowen and any men Jackson could spare temporarily from the larboard guns.
As Ramage walked aft to rejoin Yorke, Southwick said quietly: "Do you want a man to keep an eye on Stevens, sir?"
"No - I can't trust a packetsman and can't spare a Triton. I'll tell Yorke to watch him."
At the taffrail Yorke was watching the privateer, which had by now closed the gap to four or five hundred yards, sailing in the Arabella's wake as though the packet was towing her. Stevens, standing by himself on the larboard side between the taffrail and the aftermost gun, occasionally gave the privateer a disinterested glance and looked round the Arabella's deck with a curious detachment, as though aloof from all the activity.
Now, Ramage told himself, we just wait. There's Stafford acting as captain of the aftermost 4-pounder on the starboard side, and Rossi at the forward one. Maxton looked cheerful enough in command of the forward gun on the larboard side, and a young Scot named Duncan had the after one.
> Yorke saw Ramage looking at the four guns and commented, "They seem to get smaller every time I look at them!"
"As long as they don't get fewer! But," he added ruefully, lowering his voice, "I don't think I'd have taken over from Stevens if I'd known these stern-chasers were unusable. I was betting on them to chip off some of the Frenchman's paint..."
"Rubbish!" Yorke said. "You're like a wild Irishman: you couldn't stay out of a fight whatever the odds!"
"We haven't much choice, anyway. About five minutes to go."
"If that."
"I think you'd better send those bags of mail to Father Neptune. Use this larboard after gun's crew. Duncan!" he called, "You and your men are under Mr Yorke's orders for a few minutes."
Stevens began walking forward, unhurried but obviously recovered, and carrying his battered hat. He had picked up his cutlass and it hung from the wide leather belt slung over his right shoulder.
Now Ramage could see a crowd of men perched on the privateer's bowsprit. Something glinted in the sun - a cutlass being waved, and he imagined the stream of threats and insults its owner was hurling at the Arabella.
Yet there's something odd about all this, he told himself. No privateer captain in his right mind would sail along the wake of a potential prize which he knew had two 9-pounder stern-chase guns. The Arabella's pair may be useless, because of rotten wood round some ring bolts, but the captain of the privateer doesn't know that. All he knows is that his bowsprit is pointing down their barrels and they haven't fired at him. It's as though he knows they will not. Is that the reputation the Post Office packets have among the privateers? It seems the only possible explanation. But not every damned packet captured up to now could have had rot round the ring bolts of the breechings!
Having so much to think about has at least stopped me from getting frightened ... Not frightened of being killed, anyway, but this weird ship of fools leaves me feeling as though I've spent a long and chilly night in a haunted church.
The Arabella's jogging along nicely: plenty of way on her to carry her round when I give the word to tack. If anyone makes a mistake and we get caught in stays...