"Pope, Dudley - Ramage - Ramage and the Freebooters" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pope Dudley)

'I'm afraid you misunderstood me: I meant I couldn't force a ship's company / didn't know to do what I wanted. But if I may ask a favour...'

'Go on, man!'

'Well sir, I was thinking of my Kathleens------'

1--But she's sunk! They're distributed among Lord Vincent's squadron.'

'No, sir, Twenty-five of them were sent to the Lively with me--she was short of men--and came back to England.'

'Good men?'

'The best, sir! I chose them myself.'

'But the Lively's at Portsmouth or Spithead; she's probably affected.'

'I know, sir,' Ramage persisted, 'but if half the Triton's present complement could be exchanged for the twenty-five ex-Kathleens in the Lively, at least I'd have halved the odds by having nearly half a ship's company who've--well, who've------'

'Followed you because you're you...' Spencer said with a grimace. 'Very well, a messenger will take the orders to Portsmouth within an hour. That'll give the men plenty of time to settle in before you arrive.'

'May I ask one more favour, sir.'

Spencer nodded.

'The Master, sir. I'm sure the Triton's present one is a good man, but the former Master of the Kathleen, Henry Southwick, might help me turn the trick with me men.'

'Very well Anything else?'

'No sir. The rest is up to me.'

'Good. But look here, Ramage, I must make one thing clear. You know as well as I do that until you reach the West Indies and come under Admiral Robinson's command, you'll be a private ship. But don't go chasing after prizes just because there's no admiral to take his eighth share.'

Ramage's resentment must have shown in his face much as he tried to control it, because Spencer said coolly:

'You're a deuced touchy youngster. I didn't mean you'd go after the money; just telling you the Admiralty can't and don't approve of your habit of going your own way. I'd be i poor friend of your family if I didn't warn you not to make a habit of it. It's like duelling. Someone challenges and wins a duel. Very well--perhaps it was a matter of honour. But sometimes a man develops a taste for duelling: before long he's constantly looking for an imagined insult to justify a challenge. By men he's no better than a murderer.'

'I understand, sir.'

'Good. Now, you'll leave for Portsmouth tonight. We'd better spend half an hour going over the details of what's been happening at Spithead and how the Admiralty and Parliament view it, so that you can answer any questions from the admirals. Here, pen and paper and ink: make notes as I talk.'




CHAPTER TWO

Dusty and weary after a night's journey in the post-chaise from London to Portsmouth, Ramage walked through the great dockyard after visiting the Admiral Superintendent's office with as much enthusiasm for the task ahead as a condemned man going to the wall to face a firing squad.

Normally there was more bustle in the streets of Portsmouth than in the City of London; normally the dockyard was busier than Billingsgate Fishmarket, and the language riper, and one had to keep a weather eye open for fear of being run down by an exuberant crowd of shipwrights' apprentices hurrying along with a handcart of wood.