Ramage's Diamond

'Very well,' Ramage said, a little mollified. 'But this fellow with the cutlass wound?'

'Didn't Orsini report that incident to you, sir?' Bowen asked cautiously. 'What incident?'

‘Oh dear, sir, I seem to be getting into deep water. I don't want to get Orsini into trouble ...'

'Out with it,' Ramage ordered, 'otherwise I'll send for Orsini. I'll have to anyway, if it is something he should have reported.'

'Well, sir, apparently the boarders from the cutter came over the starboard side of the fo'c'sle and those from the launch over the larboard side. Both parties began boarding at the same time, and when they met on the fo'c'sle one man from each party began quarrelling about who was first on board. I'm sorry to say they came to blows.'

'With cutlasses?' Ramage asked incredulously.

Bowen nodded. 'One of them was cut and they only stopped slashing at each other when Orsini jumped between them. It was a very brave act on the part of the boy,' he added.

'Very foolish if you ask me. Were the men drunk?'

'No, just excited. You see, sir, they're so proud of the ship now that they're all trying to outdo each other and be first at everything. I'm surprised –‘

When the Surgeon broke off, Ramage said, 'Well, go on, man!'

'I was going to say, if you'll excuse the boldness, sir, that I was surprised you had not noticed it. All the lieutenants have been commenting on it for some time, and Southwick is most gratified ...'

'Proud, are they?' Ramage exclaimed. 'Well, after that farce last night they ought to be thoroughly ashamed. I assure you, Bowen, that I am heartily ashamed that I command a ship which is incapable of sending off boarding parties that don't spend their time shooting at each other.'

He gave the list back to Bowen. 'It's your job to treat these men, Bowen, but have you ever thought what a captain feels? I'm trying to train them so they stand the best possible chance of carrying out any orders I give them without u

Bowen nodded and folded the list. 'I understand, sir,' he said quietly. 'If you'll just sign the entry in my journals . . . I'll have these men back on their feet as soon as possible.'

Ramage went to the desk and took out pen and ink from the rack. He glanced down the names and was thankful to note that none of them was a former Triton. Under the 'Disease and symptoms' column he saw that the gunshot wounds were comparatively slight. The cutlass wound was a gash on the forearm. He scribbled his signature and gave the journal back to the Surgeon.

Bowen hesitated for a moment and then said cautiously: 'Orsini's failure to report the episode, sir ...'

Ramage raised his eyebrows. 'Orsini?'

The Surgeon gri

An hour after sunrise the Juno tacked off Pointe des Salines at the south end of Martinique and steered northwards along the coast, keeping as close in to the shore as Southwick's sketchy charts allowed. Jackson was aloft at the foretopmasthead with strict orders to watch for any signs of shoals, and the Master had the chart spread out on the bi

The Juno's guns were loaded and run out, the lieutenants stood by on the maindeck, watching their own divisions, and Ramage stood aft beside the quartermaster, a speaking trumpet on the deck beside him and a telescope in his hand.

The land here was flat but rising slightly towards Pointe Dunkerque. That was a good place for a battery, to cover one side of the deep but narrow bay forming the anchorage of St A

The Pointe soon drew round on to the Juno's quarter as Ramage took her over towards the headland on the northern side of the entrance. He now saw it would make more sense to place a battery on that side because any vessel beating into the bay, which ran north-east, would have to pass within a hundred yards of it to avoid shoals on the other side.

He lifted the speaking trumpet and shouted the order that would brace the yards and trim the sheets as he gave the quartermaster instructions to steer a point more to starboard. Through the telescope he examined the headland, nearly a mile distant. There was a hint of a pathway leading up to an old stone wall partly overgrown with bushes. Then he noticed that the bushes round the wall were withered; the leaves were brown while those shrubs nearby were a living green. Was that some movement beyond the wall? It was hard to tell at this range.

Suddenly two red eyes seemed to wink in the wall and a moment later two spurts of smoke changed into a billowing puff drifting away in the wind. 'Just west of the top of the point,' he shouted at Aitken and glanced round to look for the fall of shot. Two thin columns of water leapt up into the air a hundred yards short of the Juno and well ahead.

There was little chance of doing the battery much damage, and opening ineffective fire would show the French gu

'Mr Aitken - a single round to try the range!'

The Juno's 12-pounders could reach the battery, but the frigate was rolling just enough to make aiming difficult for the gun captains.

The aftermost 12-pounder - the one in his cabin - grunted and rumbled back in recoil. More marks on the painted canvas from those damned trucks. A moment before smoke swirled up from the port Ramage saw several spurts of dust just below the battery as the shot hit twenty yards below the wall and ricocheted up the slope. He managed to stop himself calling down to Aitken: the First Lieutenant knew what to do, and even now men with handspikes would be lifting the breech of the next gun and sliding out the wedge-shaped quoin a fraction to increase the gun's elevation.

'One more round to be sure,' Ramage shouted and the gun fired almost immediately. Through his telescope Ramage saw stones thrown outwards at the same level as the battery but apparently just to the right of it. Then he saw that it had in fact hit the wall.

'That's better,' he shouted, making sure all the men at the starboard side guns heard him. 'Now, every gun to fire as it bears - gun captains take their time and don't waste shot!'

Southwick, completely unconcerned with the thunder and smoke of the Juno's guns, was crouched over the compass, taking bearings of the tip of the Point and the battery. He straightened up and went to the chart on the bi

Much of the wall had been demolished; through the glass Ramage caught sight of men in blue jackets scurrying about. Again a red eye winked and there was a spurt of smoke. He did not bother to look for the fall of shot - gu