Ramage and the Dido by Dudley Pope Read Free Book Online

none here.’
    ‘Yes, I need lamps. Two for this cabin, and one each for the coach and bedplace. And plates and cups and so on.’
    ‘Yes, I noted them down with the glasses and cutlery. Sheets for the cot?’
    ‘Yes, four pairs. Silkin can’t get them all washed at the right time if we have much rainy weather.’
    ‘So you still have Silkin?’
    ‘Yes. He’s not the ideal captain’s steward, but he knows my ways now, which is half the battle with having a steward.’
    ‘And pillow cases?’
    ‘What? Oh yes, four of them.’
    Ramage looked carefully round the cabin, trying to think of other things he needed, but they seemed to have listed everything. In any case, there would still be time to get anything they had forgotten.
    ‘Come on,’ he said, ‘let’s show you the rest of the ship, and you can meet your old friends.’
    The tour soon turned into something of a triumphal procession. Sarah met Martin and Kenton on the quarterdeck and stopped for a chat with them, frankly admitting to Martin that she had forgotten to bring him any music for his flute. ‘Can you buy any in Portsmouth?’ she asked.
    ‘Yes, there is one shop in the High Street m’lady, and I’ve got a good selection now.’
    Jackson and Stafford were squatting on the gangway, splicing rigging, and they put down their fids and stood up when Sarah came along. After the usual greetings, Sarah asked: ‘Any regrets at leaving the Calypso ? ’
    Both men nodded their heads. ‘You get used to a ship,’ Stafford said. ‘I ‘spect we’ll get used to the Dido in time, but there’s so much more to her.’ He pointed to the coil of rope he was splicing and grinned. ‘And so much more work to do!’
    ‘And what about you, Jackson?’
    ‘Well, the Calypso was small enough to be cosy. With a ship’s company three times as big, we’re going to lose some of that.’
    ‘Come now,’ Ramage said. ‘You’ve got to help train the new men and that way you’ll get to know them. You’ll soon like having some fresh faces around.’
    ‘More likely the place will be littered with clodhoppers, sir, with respect,’ Jackson said. ‘The ship will be a nursery, teaching them to knot and splice. They won’t know a long splice from a long drink of water.’
    ‘There are a couple of convoys due in, so we might get some prime seamen.’
    Jackson sighed. ‘That means we’ll hear dozens of stories of how they’ve been cheated out of their wages by the masters of their ships.’
    ‘Well, do your best with the new men,’ Ramage said. ‘I don’t want the new and the old to split into two camps: that always means trouble.’
    The four Frenchmen whom Sarah had got to know during their escape from Brest, when the war had broken out again while she and Nicholas were on their honeymoon in France, were on the fo’c’sle, splicing some standing rigging for the foremast. All four men were excited at seeing Sarah again.
    ‘Well, Gilbert,’ Sarah said, ‘how do you find life in the Royal Navy after being the Count of Rennes’ valet?’
    Gilbert, who spoke very good English, grinned. ‘It’s different, my lady, but I like it. I like the comradeship. And always something new.’
    She looked at Louis, who had started as a fisherman but, when his boat had been confiscated at the beginning of the Revolution, had become a gardener. ‘How about you?’
    ‘I prefer it to planting cabbages and fighting weeds, my lady, but I wish I was back fishing, my own master.’
    Sarah nodded understandingly. ‘Still, you are free of the Revolution.’
    Louis nodded his head vigorously. ‘The Royal Navy has no guillotine, and we eat regularly.’
    Albert, who with Auguste had sold vegetables in the market at Brest before escaping, laughed and said: ‘We eat regularly, yes, but always the same thing. I miss the fresh vegetables we used to sell.’
    Sarah looked at Auguste. ‘You feel the same?’
    The Frenchman nodded. ‘I am happy enough serving with his Lordship, but it