Ramage At Trafalgar by Dudley Pope Read Free Book Online Page B

have kept her alive…”
    Nelson nodded understandingly. “It’s the not knowing…but anyway, she is safe. And a beautiful woman. You’re a lucky fellow. And I hear from your father you’ve just inherited a fine estate down in Kent. What more can you want, eh?”
    “Oh, nothing sir. I have everything.”
    Nelson smiled knowingly. “Except, of course, that the Calypso frigate is always at the back of your mind, and you wonder what action you are missing at sea…”
    This man can see through a thick plank, Ramage thought. “Well, yes sir, in a way. I’m happy enough at the moment, but I know the feeling will creep in.”
    “Like mist rising at the foot of those chalky Kentish Downs, eh? Well now, what’s wrong with the Calypso ?”
    “Oh, nothing actually wrong with her, sir: too many months’ service in the West Indies and the Mediterranean without shipwrights having a chance to set a few things to rights. Anyway, now she’s at Chatham and they are busy with her.”
    “Doing what exactly?”
    “Replacing a sprung bowsprit and jib-boom, two topsail yards and all three topgallants; putting in new wood at the taffrail – they found some rot. Some new deck planking in way of the guns – where it had been badly scored by the trucks. New copper sheeting in the hanging magazine; replacing some woodwork in the bread-room… Replacing all the copper sheathing forward of the foremast – you know how it becomes paper-thin along the waterline at the stem… That’s about all, sir. New sails, and replacing some of the guns…”
    Nelson examined the nails of his left hand. “When will she be ready for sea?”
    “The last I heard (the day before yesterday), in about two weeks, sir.”
    “You’ve still got that same master? What was his name, Southwell, South – ah yes, Southwick?”
    “Yes, sir. He”ll be flattered that you remember his name.”
    “Ah, he’s a good man. Master of the Kathleen cutter when I put you in command, I remember. I see you make a point of always mentioning him in your Gazette letters. He must be one of the most famous frigate masters in the Service. One of the richest, too,” Nelson added. “You’ve done well with prize money. Have you kept mostly the same ship’s company?”
    “When Ramage nodded, the admiral commented: “They will be wealthy men. Some of your ordinary seamen could probably buy me out,” he said without malice. “I haven’t had much luck with prize money.”
    And here we are talking about prize money and I’m almost faint with wondering why you asked me to call, Ramage thought. It wasn’t to yarn about old times nor discuss the tactics at Copenhagen, nor display your remarkable memory of men.
    Did Nelson sense Ramage’s train of thought? He looked up at Ramage and grinned. A boyish grin, one which stripped fifteen years from his lined face. “You wonder why I asked your father to tell you to call on me, eh? Isn’t it enough that you meet Lady Hamilton and Horatia?”
    “Yes, sir,” Ramage said, and added shrewdly, “but they’re in the drawing room and we are here!”
    “And you, my dear Ramage, have had independent commands for too long. If you had served any time in a fleet, you’d know it’s more important to please the admiral than handle your ship well.”
    “Not in your fleet,” Ramage said bluntly, the words spilling out before he could stop them.
    Nelson grinned again. “I take that as a compliment. How would you like to serve with me?”
    Ramage looked so startled that Nelson laughed. “The idea doesn’t seem to appeal to you.”
    “It isn’t that, sir…” Ramage stammered.
    “Had you been serving with me, you might at this moment be tacking back and forth in front of a French or Spanish port, keeping an eye on the Combined Fleets of France and Spain. You find that idea daunting?”
    Hell-fire and damnation, Ramage thought: if in a dream (the only circumstances in which it could happen) Lord Barham had asked Ramage what