and get him down here to Plymouth.
And already the cutter was going alongside the San Joseph, another of Lord St Vincent's prizes from the same battle as the Salvador del Mundo, to collect Lieutenant Hill, the 'provost marshal upon the occasion'. The day after the fellow had fled from the Calypso without his prisoner under arrest, a letter had arrived for Ramage from the commander-in-chief, written as though Hill had never been on board the Calypso and Aitken had never called for Rennick. It said that Lieutenant Hill of the San Joseph had been appointed provost marshal 'upon the occasion' and would be responsible for taking Captain Ramage into custody and delivering him 'in due time' for his trial, but in view of Captain Ramage's duties as the commanding officer of His Majesty's ship the Calypso, it had been thought fit that Captain Ramage should remain a prisoner at large on board the Calypso but should surrender himself to the provost marshal at least an hour before the time appointed for the trial.
Even as the cutter came alongside the San Joseph, Ramage could guess that petty minds were at work, and that none of them was going to miss an opportunity to try to humiliate Captain Ramage. The trouble with petty minds, Ramage had long ago decided, was that they contained only petty thoughts.
As the cutter came alongside and painter and sternfast were secured, a voice bellowed down from on deck: 'Captain Ramage come on board.'
Ramage leaned over and after a slight wink said to Southwick: 'Just react to whatever I say; we'll have some sport with these fellows. Now,' he said, raising his voice, 'I've just remembered that I've left some documents on board the Calypso that I need for the trial.'
Southwick slapped his knee. 'Well, I'm blessed, sir: we'll have to go back and fetch them.'
'We shall indeed, and we'll have to hurry or we'll be late.'
By now Hill had appeared at an open gunport and he said, with as much sternness as he dare muster: 'Captain Ramage - you're being hailed from on deck.'
'Am I? Well, whatever they want, it must wait: I'm under an arrest and the provost marshal has to deliver me -' he stopped and dug into his pocket for his watch. He flipped open the front, then closed it down again and put it back in his pocket. '- to the court on board the Salvador del Mundo in half an hour. I've forgotten some papers so I have to return to the Calypso. Boarding the San Joseph will only waste time and I've no wish to get the provost marshal into trouble.'
'But you can't go back to the Calypso' Hill yelped, 'that -'
'Then you'll have to explain to the court why you prevented Captain Ramage making any interrogatories or presenting his defence, apart from explaining that you kept the court waiting because you insisted on Captain Ramage being taken on board the San Joseph.'
'Ordering you on board is not my idea, sir,' Hill protested. 'I had -'
'Well, you'd better run along and explain your problems to whoever had the idea and owns the voice up there on the maindeck. I'd like to know the names and ranks, too, so that I can report them to the president of the court.'
Hill vanished and, in what seemed only a few seconds, was scrambling down into the boat. 'If you are ready, sir,' he said nervously, 'we can go back to the Calypso.'
Ramage turned and nodded to Jackson. 'Cast off and carry on.'
Once the cutter was clear of the San Joseph, Jackson asked conversationally, 'The Salvador, sir?'
Ramage nodded and ignored Lieutenant Hill's protest about going to the Calypso.
'Reminds you of old times, don't it, sir?' Jackson said. 'The Salvador del Mundo over there, the San Joseph over here -' he pointed to the west. 'Just needs the San Nicolas and San Ysidro and it'd be like the day we lost the Kathleen.'
'Sir,' Hill said, not realizing Ramage was unclipping his sword because his hands were hidden beneath the tarpaulin.
'Don't interrupt my thoughts,' Ramage said severely. 'What you don't know is precisely how the Salvador del Mundo and the San Joseph and the San Ysidro and San Nicolas were captured, but almost every other man in this boat can tell you exactly, because they were there.'
'Indeed, sir,' Hill said disdainfully, 'how interesting.'
'Yes, interesting because -' A sudden thought struck Ramage. 'Tell me, lieutenant, have you ever had a shot fired at you by the enemy - cannon, musket or pistol?'
'Well, not exactly, sir.'
'Have you ever been in action?'
'Well, no, sir.'
'Then don't ever sneer at those that have,' Ramage said sourly, realizing he was hardly being fair to the wretched lieutenant. 'You can see the Salvador and San Joseph. The two ships not here are the San Ysidro and San Nicolas. They were leading the enemy fleet, and both ships were captured by Commodore (as he then was) Nelson.'
'I know that, sir,' Hill said petulantly.
'But do you know how the commodore caught up with the two Dons who were trying to escape?'
'Well, no sir, I don't know all the details of the battle.'
'You ought to ask the seaman holding the tiller of this cutter.'
'Sir, I can hardly -'
'Or any of the first six men at the oars.'
'Oh, sir -'
'Or this gentleman sitting here,' Ramage said relentlessly, indicating Southwick.
Southwick sniffed and said loudly: 'You might even ask Mr Ramage, because if it hadn't been for him none of the ships would have been taken and Sir John Jervis would never have got his earldom!'
By now Hill's embarrassment and annoyance had gone: instead his curiosity was aroused. He was cautious enough to ask Southwick, rather than risk an encounter with Ramage. 'Tell me, then, what happened?'
'Mr Ramage was a lieutenant then, with about as much seniority as you've got and from the looks of it a lot younger, and he commanded the Kathleen cutter, and to stop the four Dons escaping -'
'He ran his cutter across the bows of the leading one!' Hill interrupted. 'I remember now! I'd forgotten the name of that lieutenant,' he said apologetically to Ramage. 'And I've just remembered a Gazette I read: in the West Indies you captured that frigate you command: I forget her French name but she was renamed Calypso.'
Ramage pulled his sword and scabbard out from beneath the tarpaulin. 'You'd better take this.'
The significance of an officer about to be tried handing over his sword had never been cleared up. Something to do with surrendering a badge of office, perhaps. Anyway, the sword was put on the table during the trial, and if after the court considered its verdict the accused came back into the courtroom and found the point of the sword towards him, he knew he was guilty.
Ramage could see that Hill was a very puzzled young man. He was glancing covertly at Ramage, Southwick and Jackson and - probably much to his surprise - finding that none of them had tails like the pictures of Satan. Ramage realized that the wretched youngster was finding it impossible to reconcile what he had been hearing about Captain Ramage for the past few days with what he had just learned in the last few minutes.
'Sir,' Hill whispered, 'this Captain Shirley says you are mad. It's in the charge and he talks about it to anyone who will listen -'
'Mr Hill, you are the 'provost marshal upon the occasion' and I am under arrest in your custody,' Ramage said in a low voice. 'Any discussion of the case is most improper - you must realize that.'
Hill nodded, although it was obvious that his thoughts were far away. 'Is there any chance after the trial,' he asked diffidently, 'that you'll have a vacancy for a lieutenant in the Calypso, sir?'
Ramage smiled to make sure that Hill realized his proffered olive branch had been accepted. 'Is there any chance after the trial that I'll still command the Calypso?'
Ramage was startled when Southwick and the other two began folding up their pieces of tarpaulin and glanced up to see that the great hull of the Salvador del Mundo was alongside them like a cliff face. Jackson was bringing the cutter alongside an elaborate entryport at which a sentry with a musket stood on guard. As two seamen hooked on with boathooks and held the boat alongside, Ramage climbed on board but before he had time to glance around him a voice in the gloom said sharply: 'All boats must be secured at the boat boom.' By the time the man had finished the sentence Ramage could just distinguish him: a lieutenant perfectly dressed and wearing a sword. At that moment Ramage felt a flush of temper surge through him, as though someone had opened a furnace door. Everyone, it seemed, was setting out to bait Captain Ramage, but since Captain Ramage had spent most of the last ten years serving at sea in the Mediterranean or West Indies, none of these Channel Fleet people could know him, so their malice was being led or inspired by someone else.
'Oh, I beg your pardon,' Ramage said politely, turning round and ushering Hill back into the boat and following him. To Jackson, just waiting for the last of the officers to board the Salvador del Mundo before moving out to secure the cutter from the great boom which stuck out from the ship's side and from which boats were streamed, like horses tied to a rail outside an inn while their owners were inside having a pint of ale, Ramage said: 'Carry on, Jackson, get a painter made up on the boom.'
Jackson had served with Ramage too long to hesitate: seeing his captain coming back into the cutter was enough to warn him that something unusual was happening, and he snapped an order which had the seamen pushing off the cutter.
The gap between the cutter and the ship had grown to six feet when a lieutenant appeared at the entryport shouting: 'Hey you! You have to come on board!'
'Ask him to whom he's shouting,' Ramage said to Hill.
Hill, now a different man and realizing that even if he was under arrest, Ramage was still a post-captain - and a distinguished one - knew that lieutenants bellowing like that were asking for trouble.
But the lieutenant was a friend of Hill's, and Hill knew the reason for the behaviour, and thinking quickly he stood up and shouted back angrily: 'Don't yell at me like that. There's a trial due to start in less than two hours' time. Do you expect us to swing under the boatboom like bumboatmen?'
The Salvador's lieutenant stood, jaw dropped. 'Come on, man!' Hill snapped. 'You'll have a dozen captains alongside you within the hour - as long as you remember to hoist the court-martial flag.'
'Very well then, bring your prisoner on board. But the cutter can return to its own ship.'
'Most of the men on board, including those at the oars, are witnesses,'' Ramage murmured.'If this sort of thing goes on, I shall have a long list of protests to make to the president of the court, with a copy sent to the commander-in-chief.'
