'Oh, these politicoes, you know, Fraser said Colonel Keating. 'It will come to nothing, however. They are very strongly entrenched on the hill; and even if McLeod comes up from the east, it will take us a good week of regular approaches to press them to their main works.'
They were studying the main works with great attention through their telescopes when an aide-de- camp said, 'I beg your pardon, sir, but Dr Maturin is approaching with a French officer and a couple of civilians.'
Colonel Keating walked forward to meet them. Stephen said, 'Colonel Keating, this is Colonel Saint- Susanne, who commands the French forces on the island. These gentlemen represent the civil administration.' The two soldiers saluted one another: the civilians bowed. Stephen went on, 'From a desire to avert the effusion of human blood, they wish to know the terms upon which you will grant a capitulation covering the whole island: and I have taken it upon myself to assure them that the terms will be honourable.'
'Certainly, sir,' said Colonel Keating, with an icy glare at Stephen. 'Gentlemen, pray step this way.'
Jack and Farquhar, prosaically eating an early elevenses and wondering vaguely, repetitively, why there was no longer any firing in the hills, were interrupted first by cheering on the shore and then by an ensign bearing a scribbled note. 'Forgive me, sir,' said Jack; and he read, 'My dear Commodore--Your friend has disappointed us-- he has done us out of our battle, as neat a battle as you could wish to see. We had driven in their piquets-- outflanked their right wing--and then quite out of order a capitulation is proposed, to avert the effusion of human blood forsooth--they accept the usual terms--honours of war, side-arms and baggage, personal effects and so on--so if you are satisfied, please come ashore to sign together with your obliged humble servant, H. Keating, Lieut.-Col.'
The Commodore laughed aloud, beat his massive thigh, held out his hand and said, 'Governor, I give you joy. They have surrendered, and your kingdom awaits you. Or this island of it, at the least.'
CHAPTER SEVEN
His Excellency the Governor of La Reunion sat at the head of his council table: he now wore a uniform as splendid as that of the gold and scarlet colonels on his left hand, more splendid by far than the weather- worn blue of the sea-officers on his right; and now there was no question of his sitting mute. Yet there was no trace of hauteur to be seen on his eager, intelligent face as he tried to guide the meeting towards a unanimous approval of the Commodore's revolutionary scheme, his plan of an instant attack upon Mauritius, with simultaneous landings from Flat Island off Port-Louis and in the neighbourhood of Port South-East at the other end of the island. Colonel Keating had been with him from the first; but a distinct inclination to enjoy the fruits of victory for a while, 'to allow the men a little rest', and, more creditably, a desire to prepare the campaign with due deliberation, so that mortars for example did not arrive without their shells, had yet to be overcome; for if so ambitious and risky an operation as this were to fall, the attempt could be justified only by a unanimous vote.
'I shall echo the Commodore's words, gentlemen,' said Mr Farquhar, 'and cry 'Lose not a moment'. This is the moment at which we have a superiority of five to three in frigates, when we possess a fleet of transports, troops in the first flush of victory, and exact intelligence of the enemy's strength and dispositions on the Mauritius, supplied by their own records here.'
'Hear him, hear him,' said Colonel Keating.
'With command of the sea we may concentrate our forces wherever we choose. Furthermore, my colleague'--bowing to Stephen at the far end of the table--'assures me that at this juncture, this very favourable juncture, our efforts at sapping the enemy's morale are more than likely to be crowned with success; and we are all aware of Dr Maturin's powers in that direction.' It was not the most fortunate stroke: some of the colonels who had toiled and sweated extremely in the hope of glory turned a sombre gaze upon Dr Maturin. Feeling this, Mr Farquhar hurried on, 'And perhaps even more important, this is the moment at which our hands are free. The Leopard has taken our despatches to the Cape: she will not return. No orders from any authority unacquainted with the exact state of local conditions can take the guidance of operations from the hands of those who are acquainted with them--no new set of staff officers can, for the moment, arrive with a plan of campaign matured in Bombay, Fort William, or Whitehall. This is a state of affairs that cannot last.'
'Hear him, hear him,' said Colonel Keating, Colonel McLeod and Colonel Fraser; and the fatter, more cautious staff-officers exchanged uneasy glances.
'Far be it from me to decry patient laborious staff-work,' said the Governor. 'We have seen its gratifying results on this island: but, gentlemen, time and tide wait for no man; and I must remind you that Fortune is bald behind.'
Walking away from the Residence through streets placarded with the Governor's proclamation, Jack said to Stephen, 'What is this that Farquhar tells us about Fortune? Is she supposed to have the mange?'
'I conceive he was referring to the old tag--his meaning was, that she must be seized by the forelock, since once she is passed there is no clapping on to her hair, at all. In the figure she ships none abaft the ears, if you follow me.'
'Oh, I see. Rather well put: though I doubt those heavy-sided lobsters will smoke the simile.' He paused, considering, and said, 'It don't sound very eligible, bald behind; but, however, it is all figurative, all figurative. . . ' He gazed with benign approval at a strikingly elegant woman accompanied by an even more willowy black slave- girl, stepped into the gutter to let them pass, they looked haughty, unconscious, a thousand miles away, and continued, 'Still, I am glad they have come to see reason. But Lord, Stephen, what an infernal waste of time these councils are! If it had dragged on another day the squadron would have been dispersed- Sirius is gone already-- and I should have had to follow my own scheme. My first duty is to the sea, and I must get at Hamelin before the Bellone and Minerve are back. But as it is, I can combine the two. Pullings!' he exclaimed.
On the other side of the street Pullings cast off the girl at his side and crossed, blushing a reddish mahogany yet beaming too. 'Did you find anything you liked, Pullings?' asked Jack. 'I mean, in the professional line?'
'Oh, yes, sir--I was only looking after her for a minute, for Mr--for another officer, sir--but I don't suppose you will let me have her, sir--far too pretty, except for a trifle of worm in her futtocks, her ground futtocks.' Pullings, had been sent to St Paul's in the Sirius when the frigate tore down immediately after the capitulation to snap up all the shipping in the road; he had been told to make his own choice of a replacement for the Groper, and he had done himself as proud as Pontius Pilate. They watched the young woman attach herself to the arm of Mr Joyce of the Kite transport, and as they walked along, Pullings, more coherent now that he was relieved of a sense of guilt--for very strangely his officers looked upon Jack Aubrey as a moral figure, in spite of all proofs to the contrary--expatiated on the merits of his prize, a privateer schooner, copper-fastened, wonderfully well- found.
At the gates of the government stable-yard they parted, and while Bonden led forth a powerful black horse, once the pride of the French garrison, Stephen said, 'This is not the moment to ask how you mean to combine the two schemes; yet I admit that I am curious to know. Bonden, I advise you, in your own best interest, not to stand behind that creature's heels.'
