Here he paused, shook his head, and walked up and down the room, glancing at his watch. Up and down: it was most unlike Jack Aubrey to be late, and although the Indian runner did not mean to set out much before dawn, he was uneasy.
He sat down again, returning to his letter. ‘But now, my dear, I grieve to say that our joy has diminished to something not very far from grief. The triumph at Valdivia, after the first explosion of popular joy, gave way to a singular but ever-increasing jealousy and resentment. It was the victory of what is seen as the English and of O’Higgins, the one the hereditary enemy of Spaniards (and republicans or royalists the mass of Chileans are essentially Spanish) either as buccaneers or raiders like Drake and national enemies in times of war, and the other disliked, even hated, by many of the leading men in the various juntas for curbing their pretensions, for his love of law and order, and for his opposition to a dominant Church. To some degree this growing resentment unites the juntas, but just to what extent I do not know because Jacob is away, gathering information: yet it is a fact that the treasure we captured has not been shared out, the
seamen have not been paid, and that for some days past I for one have met with open rudeness in the streets of Valparaiso. O’Higgins, his personal friends and guard have retired to Santiago or perhaps beyond: and we have no news. What is more, and perhaps worse, is that Sir David Lindsay, resenting an incivility, has been challenged by one of his own officers: they are now on the ground.’
‘I am losing my wits entirely,’ he murmured to himself, drawing a careful line round those parts of his letter that were suitable only for Sir Joseph, and in encoded form: the line was not finished before he heard a step, a knock, and he called out, ‘Come in.’
It was Hanson. ‘Oh sir,’ he cried, much upset. ‘He was hit. The Captain sent me: the surgeon said there was no hope.’
There was indeed no hope. ‘Aorta,’ said the Chilean medical man, motioning towards the great dark pool under Lind-say’s body.
‘No hope?’ asked Jack, and when Stephen shook his head, ‘Mr. Hanson, double up to the ship again and tell Mr. Hard-ing that I should like four stout hands and a stretcher to carry Sir David’s body down: and a sheet to cover him.’ To Stephen. ‘We shall bury him Navy-fashion, the way he is used to.’
This caused a movement of uneasiness among Lindsay’s remaining Chilean friends – his opponent and the seconds apart from Jack had disappeared – and one of them said to Stephen, ‘The Prefect of the port will have to view the body, and approve the burial.’
‘It is the custom,’ said Stephen with grave emphasis. ‘The ancient naval custom.’ The word had such force for the Spaniards that their murmuring ceased: they stayed until the stretcher came up from the port and then when Lindsay was laid on it and covered, the military men and sailors saluted as he was carried away, while the few civilians took off their hats: though one, standing next to Stephen, murmured that this would no doubt offend the prefect extremely.
Jack told Harding to slip his moorings and to take the ship to twenty fathom water outside the mole. There, when he had taken everything that should go to Lindsay’s family, he called for the sailmaker and two round shot and when Lindsay was shrouded Navy-fashion, Jack buried him before the assembled crew with the full ceremony and honours due to his former rank, saying the ritual words as he went over the side.
Then the Surprise, doing away with the formal signs of mourning, returned to the harbour, returned to her former place. ‘In almost any breeze this allows me to get out to sea,’ he said privately to Stephen, ‘I have already seen enough to make me uneasy, and I have no doubt you have seen much more.’
‘Yes,’ said Stephen, ‘and I am only waiting for Jacob to come back with fuller information about the southern juntas to know whether I should officially advise you to withdraw from the political enterprise entirely and devote yourself to pure hydrography or not. The Chonos Archipelago is virtually unknown.’ And who knows what unknown wonders its flora and fauna may reveal, he added inwardly.
They were in the cabin, drinking tea, and after a long silence Jack said, ‘Stephen, what I am going to say will probably sound sentimental to you, but several of those young fellows I have been training show every sign of becoming first-rate seamen, and for this reason among a host of others, I have been turning a plan over and over in my head. As you know, it was only the treasure of Valdivia that like a fool I handed over to the authorities: the naval stores we turned to our own uses, as far as our needs went, and the barky is now almost entirely new-rigged, stuffed with powder and shot, worn cables replaced,
sailcloth to clothe a ship of the line, prime victuals overflowing. So my plan is to attack Callao and to cut out Esmemlda. I put it to Lindsay but he said it was impossible: the fortresses would sink us before ever we came to grips. And coming to grips with a massively built 5O-gun frigate was no task for aS-gun Surprise, even supported by the Asp. He was fundamentally opposed to the plan – called it foolhardy, which surprised me, knowing how many times he had been out. But I shall say no more about him, poor soul.’
‘God rest him.’
‘No more … So that, Stephen, is what I mean to do. Do you like my plan?’
‘My dear, I am tolerably good at carrying out a suprapubic cystotomy. You are an expert in maritime warfare. Your opinion in the first case would not be worth a straw: nor would mine in the second. If you are content, I am content.’
Nevertheless Captain Aubrey went on arguing his case. ‘It was true that Peru was a neutral state, a Spanish colony: but Peru had repeatedly invaded the independent republic of Chile, and if the Spanish viceroy succeeded next time, the infant Chilean navy (so promising and zealous) would be wiped out. There was everything to be said for . . .’
‘Beg pardon, sir,’ said a midshipman, ‘but with Mr. Somers’ duty the Lisbon packet is rounding the cape with someone very like Dr. Jacob waving a red handkerchief in the bows.’
‘Thank you, Mr. Glover: pray tell him that I should like a signal thrown out inviting her to come alongside.’
Jack went on prosing away about the advantages of surprise, almost certainly superior gunnery and attention to duty until at last they heard the gentle glancing impact of the packet against the fender, the usual shrieks and cries of those throwing and catching ropes, and Jacob appeared. ‘By God, sir,’ he cried, addressing Jack, ‘now the fat is in the fire! The burying of poor Sir David – God rest his soul -before an official enquiry was perfectly illegal and has given the prefect just the excuse he wanted: the ship will be impounded at nightfall – it is known as far down as Villa-nueva, where the local junta has handed out arms.’
‘Has the order to seize the ship been given?’
‘I believe so.’
Jack rang the bell, said, ‘Pass the word for Mr. Harding,’ and to the lieutenant he said, ‘Mr.
Harding, there will be no shore-leave whatsoever this evening; and if any boats approach, they are to be denied admission. And I am going aboard the packet.’
‘But sir,’ cried Jacob, ‘I have been too hasty – first I should have said that Colonel Valdes is marching his troops back from Concepcion and messengers have already been sent to the Supreme Director.’
‘Even so,’ said Jack, ‘I shall carry on with my plan.’ He left them there, went on deck and dropped down into the packet. ‘Gentlemen,’ he said to the company of Fellows, ‘may I beg for five minutes of your time?’
They all murmured agreement, and Austin Dobson invited him below. ‘Am I right in supposing that you are now heading for Panama?’
‘We are indeed,’ said Dobson. ‘Sclater and Bewick’ – nodding towards the two ornithologists – ‘are eager to cross the isthmus quite soon, there being the possibility of no fewer than three ships leaving for England in the third week of the month, and they would like a few days with the terns on the Pacific side.’
‘In that case, dear colleagues,” said Jack, ‘you can, if you choose, do me and Maturin an essential service. You are all acquainted, I believe, with the very delicate state of this country and the likelihood of O’Higgins being overthrown and the consequent anarchy and an inevitable Peruvian invasion?’ They nodded; and an entomologist murmured, ‘Those vile juntas.”