Ramage And The Drum Beat (3 page)

‘If the Earl still has enemies among the admirals, Nicholas will always be in danger,’ reflected Antonio. ‘You can always put someone in the wrong if you want to… Nicholas realizes that?’

‘Yes I’m sure he does, though he’s never mentioned it to me. But I often sensed, when he was making some important decision, that – well, he knew that even if there were only two alternatives, his father’s enemies would say whichever he chose was the wrong one. It never affected his decisions – just that I felt there was always something lurking in the shadows, threatening him. As if he knew he had the Evil Eye on him…’

‘You’ve discovered a lot about Nicholas in a month!’

‘Jackson told me some things, and so did the Commodore.’

‘This seaman Jackson – isn’t he an American?’

‘Yes – a strange man. No one knows much about him, but he has a great respect for Nicholas – even though he’s twice his age. It’s curious – when they’re in danger they seem to be able to read each other’s thoughts.’

‘Well, he saved my life,’ said Antonio, ‘and that’s enough for me!’

Just then a shrill warbling note of a bosun’s call echoed through the ship, followed by shouted orders. ‘Time for church,’ Antonio grinned. ‘Your Nicholas makes a good priest!’

Southwick was glad the inspection and Divine Service was over, and watching a handful of men dancing on the fo’c’sle as John Smith the Second perched on the barrel of the windlass scratching at his fiddle, he was thankful the Kathleen had such a good ship’s company. Out of the sixty-three men on board he’d like to change only a couple, whereas most ships he’d previously served in had only a couple of really good men out of five score.

But trust Mr Ramage to spot something, he thought ruefully. Every captain he’d ever served under looked for brick-dust, sand, dirty coppers or a bit of mildewed biscuit in a bread barge. But not Mr Ramage. Out of nearly two hundred round shot in the racks beside the carronades he’d spotted two that had sufficient rust scale under the black paint to make them no longer completely spherical, so that they might stick in the barrel while being loaded and also wouldn’t fly true. The man who noticed that without passing each one through a shot gauge could see through a four-inch plank. Yet Southwick readily admitted, although he was only a youngster, Mr Ramage was the first captain he’d ever served under who was more concerned with the way a ship could fight than the way it could be scrubbed and polished, and that was a dam’ good thing since there was a war on. And in twenty-six years at sea he never thought he’d ever daily see men actually enjoying three solid hours of gun drill in the hot sun of the forenoon followed by two more before hammocks were piped down. Still, a lot of it was due to the Marchesa. Southwick didn’t know whether it was her idea or Mr Ramage’s, but having her standing there with Mr Ramage’s watch in her hand timing them certainly kept the men on their toes. And it rounded off the day nicely when she awarded the prize tots of Mr Ramage’s brandy to the crew of the gun that had been first to report ‘Ready to Fire!’ the most times.

But Southwick was certain the Kathleen was a happy and efficient ship simply because, young as he was, every man on board trusted Mr Ramage as their captain. His twenty-six years at sea had taught the Master that that was the only thing that mattered. Certainly, under the regulations they had to salute the captain and call him ‘Sir’; but they’d have done so anyway. Although he was quick enough to rub ’em down for slack sail-handling or slowness in running out the guns, the ship’s company knew Mr Ramage could do most things better than they and he had a happy knack of proving it when necessary with a matter-of-fact smile on his face, so that the men, far from being resentful, took it as, well, a sort of challenge.

Suddenly remembering he was still holding his quadrant, Southwick picked up the slate and went down to his cabin to work out the noon sight he had just taken. Mr Ramage would soon be calling for the day’s reckoning, since at sea the new day began at noon.

Ramage felt like singing. He’d watched a tiny wind shadow dancing over the sea to the north; then more appeared and closed with the Kathleen. Within a minute or two he had the men cheering as they heaved down on the halyards, hoisting the great mainsail, then the largest of the cutter’s jibs and foresails. A few moments later the maintopsail was set, followed by the jib topsail, and while the men afted the sheets under Southwick’s orders, Ramage looked at his watch and then at the luffs of the sails.

When the Master saw the last sail trimmed properly, he bawled ‘Belay that’ to the sheetmen and swung round to Ramage, an inquiring look on his face. Ramage, noticing the men had also stopped to look at him, put his watch back in his pocket with deliberate slowness and shook his head.

Southwick looked crestfallen and he sensed the men’s genuine disappointment so that he was slightly ashamed of his deception and called with a grin, ‘All right, all right, you’ve just beaten the record – by half a minute!’

Southwick slapped his knee with delight – he’d obviously been thinking of a few seconds – and the men were laughing as the Master dismissed them. Southwick and all except those on watch went below. Ramage, disappointed Gianna did not stay on deck now the Kathleen was under way once again, decided against sending for her to enjoy the breeze with him because she might be sleeping. Then for no apparent reason he suddenly felt uneasy, and he remembered how his mother sometimes shivered and said, ‘Someone’s walking over my grave!’

When he was sober, John Smith the Second looked sly and foxy, an impression heightened by his small, wiry body; but once he had sunk his tot of rum – and any others he’d won by gambling – his features softened and the shifty eyes settled down so his drink-mottled face had the blissful look of a poacher after a successful night’s raid on the squire’s game preserves. Rated in the muster book as an able seaman, and listed as ‘the Second’ to distinguish him from another seaman of the same name, Smith was also the Kathleen’s band. He had a fiddle which, as long as he was not sober, he enjoyed playing, and Sunday was his busy day. He played hymns for the service in the forenoon, and in the afternoon sat on the barrel of the windlass scraping away as the men danced.

Ramage had been on watch for half an hour and although he valued Smith both as a seaman and a means of keeping the men happy, the sawing of the fiddle was an outrage to a musical ear; so much so that Ramage felt he could cheerfully shoot the fiddle out of John Smith the Second’s nimble fingers.

Suddenly he remembered the case of duelling pistols which the Viceroy of Corsica, Sir Gilbert Elliot, an old friend of his family, had sent on board at Bastia as a present when he heard Ramage had been given his first command. He had not yet had time to try them out, and now was a good opportunity. He passed the word and a few moments later Jackson had the brass-edged mahogany case open on the cabin skylight, wiping off the protective film of oil from both the pistols. They were a beautiful matched pair made by Joseph Manton, whose lion and unicorn label was stuck inside the lid of the case. Each gun had a long hexagonal barrel and a rich-grained walnut stock.

Ramage picked up one of them. It was perfectly balanced. The stock fitted into his palm as though the pistol was a natural extension of his arm; his index finger curled round the trigger as if the gun had been specially made for his hand. And the mahogany case was fitted with a mould for casting shot, a stamp for cutting out wads, flasks of powder and a box of extra flints. The set was, Ramage thought, a credit to the gun maker of Hanover Square, and he richly deserved the proud announcement on the label, ‘Gun Maker to His Majesty’.

In the meantime Jackson had loaded the other pistol.

‘It’s a lovely piece, sir,’ he said, handing it to Ramage. ‘I’ll go down and get some bits of wood from the carpenter’s mate to use as targets.’

‘And pass the word to ignore the sound of shots!’ Ramage said.

A few minutes later Jackson was back with a bundle of wood under his arm. Ramage, who had loaded the second pistol, climbed up on to the breech of the aftermost carronade, balancing himself against the roll of the ship. He sighted with the pistol in his right hand, then tried the left.

‘Right, Jackson, throw over the largest piece!’

The wood arched up into the air and splashed into the sea several yards off and began drawing away as the ship sailed on.

Ramage had cocked the pistol and brought up his right arm straight from his side, sighted along the flat top of the barrel, and squeezed the trigger. A tiny plume of water, like a feather, jumped up two yards beyond the piece of wood.

‘All right for traverse but too much elevation sir!’ Jackson called.

Almost at once Ramage fired the second pistol with his left hand. The wood jumped and the shot whined off in ricochet.

‘Phew,’ commented Jackson. ‘Left-handed, too!’

Ramage grinned. It had been a lucky shot because usually he had a tendency to pull a pistol to the left when firing with his left hand.

He gave both pistols back to Jackson to re-load and as he jumped down from the carronade he saw Gianna coming up the companionway.

‘Accidente!’ she exclaimed. ‘Are the enemy in sight?’

‘Target practice – I’m trying out the pistols Sir Gilbert gave me.’

Southwick came up, and then Antonio joined them and watched Jackson as he rammed the shot home.

‘Duelling pistols, Nico? Surely they’re rather long in the barrel for use in a ship?’

‘Yes – but a pleasant change. Our Sea Service models are so heavy on the trigger you need to jam the muzzle in a man’s stomach to be sure of hitting him. But these – just a touch on the trigger.’

Gianna took the pistol Jackson had loaded.

‘Careful,’ Ramage warned.

She looked at him scornfully, lifted her skirts and scrambled on to the carronade.

‘Look, you see that bit of weed? I’ll hit it! You’ll wager me?’

‘One cestesimo.’

‘More. Two – hurry!’

Without waiting for a reply she cocked the pistol and fired. The shot sent up a tiny spurt of water several feet beyond the piece of floating weed.

‘The ship moved!’

‘You didn’t allow for the roll!’

‘It’s not fair. I do not pay. Let’s have a proper match. You and your knife and me with this pistol.’

‘Match or duel?’ Ramage asked wrily.

‘Match – to begin with.’

‘Be careful, Nico,’ warned Antonio. ‘Don’t forget her mother wanted a son and brought her up as a boy! She shoots like a hunter, rides like a jockey and gambles like a fool!’

Gianna gave a mock curtsy from atop the carronade. ‘Thank-you, cousin Antionio. You see, Nico how close are the family ties among Italians!’

‘Tell me, Nico,’ interrupted Antonio, ‘surely throwing a knife isn’t part of a sailor’s training?’

Ramage laughed. ‘No – that’s Italian training! When my parents lived in Italy – they did for a few years – we had a Sicilian coachman. He taught me.’

‘Come on,’ Gianna exclaimed impatiently. ‘Jackson will throw something into the sea and I hit it at the count of ten. You, Nico,’ she looked round, ‘you have to hit the mast with your knife while standing by that steering stick thing.’

‘The tiller.’

‘Yes, the tiller. That’s fair, I think. And the stakes?’

‘Un cestesimo.’

‘You are a gambler. Can’t you afford more?’

‘I’m only a poor lieutenant, Ma’am!’

‘You can afford more, though.’

Although her voice was still bantering he knew she was not joking. He looked puzzled and she pointed to his left hand. When he lifted it she indicated the gold signet ring with the rampant griffin crest on his little finger.

‘All right, then,’ he said reluctantly, ‘my signet ring against–’

Still holding the pistol, she had turned her right hand just enough to let him see the heavy gold ring she was wearing on the middle finger.

‘–against the ring you are wearing.’

‘Oh no!’ she exclaimed. ‘That’s not fair!’

He knew her too well. ‘That or no match.’

Shrugging her shoulders with apparent ill grace she said, ‘Very well. But if you win the first time you give me another chance.’

Ramage was just going to refuse when he realized her subtlety: if she lost and then won, they could exchange rings without anyone knowing. It was childish but he felt elated: their secret was a secret yet they took pleasure in almost flaunting it.

‘All right, but Antonio must hold the stakes,’ he said, pulling off his signet ring. He turned to call for Jackson and saw he and Southwick were standing nearby, Southwick holding a small wooden cask.

‘This do as a target, sir?’

‘If it’s half full of water, yes.’

‘It’s empty, sir.’

‘So it floats high in the water, eh? Has the Marchesa bribed you?’

‘Deck there! Deck there!’

The shout from aloft suddenly reminded them that for the last fifteen minutes everyone except the lookout and the two men at the helm had forgotten the Kathleen was a ship of war.

‘Deck here,’ bellowed Southwick.

‘There’s a hulk or summat – maybe a small island – fine on the starboard bow, sir.’

‘What d’you mean, a hulk?’

‘Well, sir, no masts nor nothin’, yet looks like a hull. S’just lifting over the horizing, sir.’

Southwick handed his telescope to Jackson. ‘Here, get aloft with this bring-’em-near and see what you make of it.’

This aspect of commanding a ship annoyed Ramage: a few weeks ago when he was junior lieutenant in a frigate he’d have been up the ratlines in a moment, having a look for himself. Now, as captain of the tiny Kathleen but with the same powers of life and death over his crew as the captain of a great three-decker, he had to maintain an appearance of calm detachment – at least, he thought ruefully, he would if Gianna was not on board, cheerfully turning a dull voyage into a fête.

The lanky, sandy-haired American ran up the ratlines as effortlessly as if hauled up by an invisible halyard. Once astride the cro’jack yard he paused to pull out the tubes of the telescope and then looked in the direction the lookout was pointing.