Rather than distress them by remaining in the top, Jack vanished over the seaward side and returned to his cabin, where once again he studied what O’Higgins had brought in the way of charts, views and town-plans of Valdivia. The charts were of consequence only to the seamen, but those of the views that could be rolled up he tucked into his bosom and a fairly large panorama could be carried on deck by hand. There, he saw Daniel and Hanson taking the bearings of many a peak. Hanson, by this time, was one of the nimblest topmen in the ship and Jack said to him, ‘Mr. Hanson, be so good as to sling this over your back and deliver it to the gentlemen in the top: if you take the windward shrouds I will take the leeward.’
At present O’Higgins and Valdes were a good deal easier in their minds, and since this was country they both knew quite well they pointed out many of the small villages and churches along the shore.
‘It will not be long now,’ said the Director looking eagerly southwards. Nor was it. One small cape: another, and there was the half-ring of fortifications guarding the port of Valdivia: the whole of it and the more distant town brilliantly lit by the lowering sun.
Jack called down a low order and a backed forecourse reduced the ship’s way quite remarkably. The two Chileans searched port and town with their telescopes: a port empty but for some smacks and a trading brig; moderate activity on the far side of the fortification.
The Director-general and Colonel Valdes had seen a great deal of fighting, conventional and otherwise, and when Valdes named two hundred and fifty men as the force he thought adequate for taking the place, Jack believed him – though it seemed trifling for such an expanse of solid masonry and embrasures for so many guns on the massive dark walls.
‘Sir,’ said O’Higgins, turning towards him, ‘may I ask your opinion? I dare say you have had more experience of attacking fortified ports than we.’
‘Well, sir,’ said Jack, ‘the seaward approach is obviously quite different from the way soldiers might envisage the affair on land. I have been looking at that important fortress, the outermost part of the defensive chain, with some people walking about in front of it. It
occurs to me that if its defenders are not uncommonly seasoned and courageous the place ought to be taken by a two-sided attack; and if that fort were taken, the two arcs of the semi-circle would find it extremely difficult to cooperate, to mount a counter-attack.
Look at the slope of the shore.’
They discussed this for some little while, the Chileans, who knew the quality of the troops in Valdivia, clearly coming round to Jack’s view of the matter.
‘Very well,’ said O’Higgins, in his decisive way, ‘I shall beg Captain Aubrey to carry us back to Concepcion as quickly as possible – could the ship hold two hundred and fifty men?’ he asked, turning to Jack.
‘Not in any comfort, sir: but if this beautiful wind lasts, and I think it will, they will not have to suffer long. And there is always the Ringle to take a score or so. Furthermore, I may add that I can contribute at least a hundred thoroughly experienced able-seamen, accustomed to the naval side of the attack I have in mind.’
‘That would indeed be a very welcome contribution, most gratefully accepted.’
‘Very handsome, upon my word,’ said Valdes.
‘Now,’ went on O’Higgins, ‘if we can but get down on deck in safety, and if the ship can slip quietly away towards Concepcion, I should be most obliged if you would give us your general notion of a combined plan of attack by sea and land.’
‘Very good, sir: I think that for the actual descent, Colonel Valdes should take precedence.’ And raising his voice to its usual pitch. ‘Pass the word for my coxswain and Davies.’ Then some seconds later. ‘Lay aloft, lay aloft, there, and guide the gentleman’s feet. Now, Colonel, this is the lubber’s hole, and if you will lower yourself through it, powerful hands will guide your feet to the horizontal cords that act as steps.’
Valdes made no audible reply but he bowed and very cautiously let himself half-way down. ‘Handsomely, now, handsomely,’ called Jack and the look of extreme anxiety faded from the Colonel’s face as competent hands seized his ankles and set his feet on the ratlines.
‘Now, Excellency, it is your turn,’ said Jack, ‘and may I suggest that when you have rested and looked at the charts again, we should sup and then discuss the possibilities?’
‘Very happy,’ replied O’Higgins, with a face even graver, more concerned than the Colonel’s.
However, they were both cheerful, seriously cheerful, when the supper table was cleared and they sat with charts and views spread out before them, and coffee at their sides with brandy for those that liked it.
‘Now, sir,’ said Jack, ‘since you have asked me to begin, I shall start by saying that the gunner and I have overhauled his stores and that materially the scheme that I shall propose is feasible. In essence it is this: having embarked your men at Concepcion – they will be men picked for courage, agility and freedom from seasickness – we, the schooner and the frigate, will return a little before dawn, landing all the soldiers and the seamen accustomed to mining, blowing up and destroying gun emplacements, at this point, Cala Alta. The boats will return to the ship, which will then make sail and proceed to a station off the fort, which she will most deliberately bombard from ranges suited to the accuracy of the defenders. But at no time will she fire on the great gate leading to the mole. During this bombardment the soldiers and seamen will advance along the path on the inland side, and I think the intensity and the noise of the bombardment will prevent the defenders – the
comparatively unseasoned and inexperienced defenders, as Colonel Valdes tells me –
from noticing their approach. But whether or no, the seamen’s task is to fire rockets and stinkpots into all embrasures, filling the whole place with vile, unbreathable fumes and stench, and to mine all emplacements with guns in them. All this time the soldiers will keep up a steady fire, shrieking and bawling like fiends . . .’
‘What is fiends?’ whispered Valdes in Stephen’s ear.
‘Demonios.’
Then followed a whispered Spanish conversation in which Valdes described a pillar in a cathedral of his childhood which showed devils tormenting the damned in Hell, uttering shrieks as they did so.
When this was over, Stephen’s closer attention returned to Jack Aubrey’s discourse: ‘. . .
and my reason for leaving the northern wall and its gate-house untouched is that I am convinced that the defenders, unless they are hardened grenadiers, will very quickly sicken of the bombardment and the sulphurous fumes and stench, and seek to escape by rushing out of the gate and running along the mole to the next strong-point or the one beyond if not to the town itself, or at least to the store-houses, and as they flee we can pepper them with the grape and then pursue …”
He paused: the Chileans looked at one another, and O’Higgins, sure of the reply, said,
‘Colonel, may we hear your opinion?’
‘Excellence,’ said Valdes, ‘it seems to me an eminently feasible operation.’
‘I entirely agree. Dear Captain Aubrey, may I beg you to desire your people to sail the ship back to Concepcion as rapidly as may be convenient?’
‘By all means, sir. But as I believe you noticed, we altered the frigate’s appearance –
remarkable to any seaman – and to return to Concepcion with any speed we must restore her mainmast. The one in the middle,’ he added.
‘Certainly: the central mast – can it indeed be changed at sea?’
‘With a strong crew and a moderate sea, yes: but it takes time, and you might think it prudent to send your orders in to Concepcion by the schooner. She will get there much sooner: and when we arrive, if all goes well, your men should be waiting on the quay.’
‘They shall be written at once, in emphatic words suited to the meanest intelligence: and as I recall the men are to be picked for courage, agility and freedom from seasickness.
‘Exactly so, sir: and as soon as they are written, I shall entrust them to Mr. Reade, who commands the schooner, with orders to proceed to Concepcion without the loss of a minute, there to embark the troops named in the margin, and to return with the utmost despatch. And as soon as he is under way, it may interest you to see a brutish, stump-masted, unmemorable frigate transformed into something truly glorious by the towering mainmast of a thirty-six-gun ship! And then when all is a-tanto and belayed we shall set out with a press of sail for Concepcion.’