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As the topmen raced up the ratlines to the yards Ramage shouted two orders rarely heard in a frigate because it was unusual for such a ship to be using mooring buoys while in commission.
"Let go forward! "
A splash and then a shout from the fo'c'sle told Ramage that the buoy had been dropped to starboard.
"Let go aft! "
A call from Southwick told him the buoy and buoy pendants were clear of the rudder. Now the wind was begi
"Trice up - lay out! "
In the darkness the men scrambled out along the yards, their hands feeling for the gaskets, the canvas strips securing the furled sails, while the studding sail booms were triced up out of the way.
The next order was to the afterguard down on deck: "Man the topsail sheets! " Again the speaking trumpet was pointed up at the yards: "Let fall! " The topsails flopped down and at the same instant Ramage snapped: "Sheet home! " The wind slowly pressed out the creases in the canvas; then the sheets put a curve into the sails.
Ramage gave the final orders to the topmen. The studding sail booms were lowered back into position; then came: "Down from aloft! "
But the topsails were still far from being ready to draw. "Man the topsail halyards, " he shouted, and as soon as the seamen were ready: "Haul taut! "
A shout had the men ready at the braces, but first came: "Hoist the topsails! "
The yards were hoisted several feet up the masts and then Ramage gave the orders which turned the Jocasta’s wheel to head her two points to larboard, braced the yards round and trimmed the sails on the new course.
Ramage could hear the water bubbling along the frigate's side as she picked up speed. The lagoon was almost mirror smooth, and the moon, higher now and showing the wind shadows, outlined the cha
Southwick stood beside Ramage ahead of the bi
"Doubt it. I'll bet they're chattering about it though."
"I'm glad I'm not the commandant. Just imagine it: the two frigates he's supposed to be protecting suddenly get under way."
"Aye - does he open fire or doesn't he?" Southwick said.
"And he's fairly certain that it's all a mistake. Someone – the Mayor or the Port Captain - notified him that they would be getting under way, but the letter went astray."
"That's true, sir: no Spaniard trusts his own folk with paperwork; he knows the things that can go wrong."
Ramage turned to Jackson and gave him a new course. The Jocasta turned slightly to larboard and then Ramage saw all the way up the cha
Then the Jocasta was in the cha
The Santa Barbara was back in the middle of the cha
"That Re
"The only way would be for a roundshot to take it off, " Ramage said. "He's calm enough."
"Aye, sir, but -"
"We'll soon see, " Ramage said shortly. "Just inspect the men at quarters."
The guns had been loaded and run out, and although their 12-pound shot would make little impression on the forts they might keep the Jocastas happy if they came under fire. He knew from experience there was nothing more demoralizing than being shot at without being able to fire back.
He saw that the Calypso was now in the cha
Ramage picked up the nightglass and looked forward. One of the irritations of using a nightglass was that it gave an inverted picture, and he could see the Santa Barbara sailing along upside down with the sea in place of the sky. However there was no doubt that she was under way; another fifty yards or so and she would be abreast the two forts, while another fifty yards would bring her to the open sea. And there were her boats, hauled up on the narrow strip of beach on each side of the cha
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Re
Every one of the Marines had looked carefully at the hills and the forts as the Santa Barbara had sailed in: half of them had watched to larboard studying San Antonio, half to starboard had watched El Pilar. Re
Re
Now the seamen stopped rowing and the keel of the boat scraped on some coral before ru
He listened intently, but there was no crack of wood or metal hitting wood: the men were being careful with their cutlasses and pikes. That kind of noise carried a long way on a night like this. A moment later he was vaulting out of the boat, squelching through the water and then up the sharp slope of the beach.