Ramage's Diamond

'I was thinking of my ship's company,' Ramage said, then realized that he could hardly have made a more tactless remark added: ‘I mean, sir, that -'

'I know what you mean,' the Admiral said, obviously enjoying Ramage's embarrassment. 'I was a young frigate captain once. I doubt there are any tricks you'll contrive that I don't know about.'

He had gone on to tell Ramage that the Juno frigate was lying at Portsmouth; that Ramage was replacing a captain removed from his command by sentence of court martial; that the ship's company wanted licking into shape, and that all the officers and midshipmen were being transferred to give the new captain a chance.

'Discipline had become too slack,' the Admiral growled. 'I can't give you more than a few days to get a round turn on them because Admiral Davis needs a frigate in Barbados to carry out the instructions you will be taking with you.'

His Lordship was notoriously a man who disliked questions, but Ramage could not resist asking, 'May I take it, sir, that the instructions refer to some - er, some mission for me?'

'That depends on Admiral Davis. The Juno is to join his command. My instructions for him concern a particular service, but whether he chooses you or one of his own captains is up to him.' His eyes twinkled. 'Nothing to stop him sending off one of his own frigates, and using you and the Juno for convoy work. Plenty of that, you know; very essential work, too, up and down the Windward and Leeward Islands. Just the thing for keeping a ship's company taut: plenty of sail handling, anchoring and weighing ...’

His Lordship had finally sat back in his chair and said: 'Your father keeps well?'

When Ramage said that he did, the First Lord commented: 'He will be pleased at your promotion. It hasn't gone u

He had stood up and held out his hand. As Ramage shook it the old man said: 'I'm no believer in rapid promotion. At each step fewer men are chosen, and it is part of my job to make sure they are the best. This is going to be a long war, and if we are to win it, our captains must be the finest in the world.'

Ramage had left the Admiralty walking a foot above the ground. A post captain with a frigate! But he had not crossed the cobbled courtyard to pass through the gateway into Whitehall before the exhilaration subsided, and he pictured himself doing convoy work in the Caribbean, work only slightly less dreary than shepherding Atlantic convoys.

He picked up the pen and for the next hour wrote rapidly, rarely crossing out. Then he put the pen down and read through the Orders from start to finish. They were longer than he intended, but luckily they were still shorter - crisper, anyway - than many he had read in the past. He would let Southwick go through them before the clerk made a fair copy.

That put an end to paperwork for a day or two, though there would be a mountain waiting for him on board the Juno. The stores and equipment had to be signed for, certifying that they were on board, quite apart from the papers needed for getting to sea. The whole damned Navy floated on a sea of paper ...

He went over and picked up the case of pistols. They were not as ornate as Gia

A quiet knock on the door interrupted his thoughts and Gia

'A messenger just brought this: your father signed the receipt,' she said without expression. 'I hope it doesn't . . .' she did not finish the sentence but Ramage knew what she meant. The letter might say he was not to have the Juno after all. Gia

He broke the seal and opened the letter. It was from the Board Secretary, Evan Nepean, and began with the usual time-honoured phrase, 'I am directed by My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty ...’ He read through to the end. It took five lines of flowing prose to say that he was to leave for Portsmouth in time to arrive on board the Juno by noon on Wednesday, take command according to the commission already in his possession, and be under way by Friday. Why the Admiralty should suddenly decide to order him on board two days earlier Ramage was not told.

'Stop making faces and shrugging your shoulders,' Gia

'I must leave for Portsmouth first thing tomorrow –‘

'But that is two days early!'

"Something must have happened.'

'Nonsense, it is just that some silly man in the Admiralty is impatient and thoughtless - why, you've had only a few days' rest after carrying out those last terrible orders. Lord St Vincent should be -'

'Cara mia' he interrupted, 'there are hundreds of captains but only a few frigates. I am very lucky.'

He heard his father's heavy tread outside and the Admiral, a worried look on his face, came into the room. 'They haven't changed their minds, have they?'

Ramage gave him the letter and when he read it the Admiral shook his head. 'You have trouble down there, my boy. I don't think Admiral Ma

Ramage nodded and Gia