‘Fed?’ they cried automatically; but then Stephen, who had known Jack’s iron constitution for many years, said, ‘Thin gruel will not set you a-going. An egg, beaten up with milk, should make a splendid dispatch.’
‘Lord, how well that went down,’ said Jack some minutes later. ‘Killick, pass the word for Mr. Harding.’
‘Which he is aboard the prize, sir,’ said Killick, exulting. ‘But we will hail her.’
‘Of course you will. Stephen, pray heave me up. I cannot dictate an official letter lying flat on my back. You have already washed my face, I find. Thank you. Killick, there: pass the word for Mr. Adams.’ And when his clerk came in, ‘Mr. Adams, a good morning to you. I am about to write an official letter, so let us have excellent paper, excellent pens, and right black ink – Mr. Harding, there you are.’
‘I will take my leave,’ said Jacob. ‘Once again, sir, many, many congratulations.’
‘Thank you very much – Stephen, pray do not stir. Mr. Harding, a very good morning to you. How does Esmeralda swim?’
‘Like a swan, sir: very easy indeed.’
‘Not much damage?’
‘Well, her larboard upper works are tolerably battered, her mizzen shot half through just under the top and I have had to strike three guns down into the hold: and I am afraid the fore part of her magazine is a wreck. But she is dry – no damage beneath the water-line –
and with single-reefed courses and topsails she goes along very well.’
‘I am very happy to hear it. Now I have to write the official letter, so please let me have the butcher’s bill for both sides and the usual details. You are happy to sail her to Valparaiso, I take it?’
‘Oh Lord, yes: and all the way home, with some moderate patching, if you choose. But I am afraid their losses, with that dam – that horrible explosion in the magazine, were very heavy. Yet the officers are a decent lot: most of them wounded, and very grateful to Dr.
Jacob for his care. And the hands are much the same now: their bosun and the carpenter’s mate – the carpenter himself was killed – have done what can be done to her mizzen until she can go alongside a sheer-hulk. Our losses were fairly light; but there were some good seamen who will be sadly missed. I thought you would need it, sir, so I have scribbled an exact list on our side, and just approximate numbers on theirs: though I did put their captain’s name.’
‘Thank you very much, Mr. Harding. I shall get my letter off as soon as I can, to Panama with the packet and so straight to London. Is there anyone you would particularly wish to be mentioned?’
‘Well, sir, there was Linklatter, carpenter’s crew, who made us fast to her bows at the cost of his arm; and of course there was Mr. Hanson who stood over you when you were pistolled by the main hatchway and who gave some shrewd blows: but I daresay you remember that.’
‘Indeed I do, though I was half-stunned for a moment. And I shall certainly remember Linklatter. Thank you, Mr. Harding. By the way, where is Ringle lying?’
‘About half a mile on our larboard quarter, sir.’
‘And the packet?’
‘Perhaps another half mile beyond her.’
‘I could not ask better.’ And when Harding was gone, ‘Stephen, I should not like to lose a moment having this letter fair-copied, so I shall say it slowly, deliberately; and if you hear anything that is low or bad grammar or just plain wrong, pray hold up your hand and we will mend it before Adams has time to write it down.’
‘Brother,’ said Stephen after a moment’s hesitation, ‘you have reflected upon the peculiar difficulties of this letter, sure?’
‘Oh, this is not the first I have wrote, you know: dear me, with guardian angels hovering about me like a pack of rooks I have been blessed with occasion to write a dozen at least, some of them printed in the Register. They are difficult, of course, and there are certain forms you have to learn: I generally begin with a usual and quite proper opening: Sir (or My Lord, as the case may be), it is with the greatest satisfaction that I have the honour to acquaint you, for the information of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that…. and so on, always taking care to get your position, your latitude and longitude, just so.’
A pause, and Stephen said, ‘My dear, you are forgetting that this is not an ordinary matter for the Board. You, in command of Surprise, formerly a vessel belonging to the Royal Navy, brought her here on a hydrographical expedition with the added, but I think not expressed, condition that you should help the independent and republican Chileans to form a navy. It is true that some one of the many juntas appointed Lindsay, but since his death I think it can be assumed that you command what naval force there is to be commanded: and it is surely to the rulers of this country that your letter should be addressed – to don Ber-nardo O’Higgins, the Director Supremo, or his successor. After all, as I understand it, you mean to take the Esmeralda back to Valparaiso: and the possession of that very considerable man-of-war, together with what the Chileans already possess, absolutely guarantees the independence of their country. Everything depended on naval superiority: and now it is ours.’ With infinite concern he had been seeing Jack age before his eyes: it was not that he grew pale – he could not have been much paler –
but all the living joy had drained out of his face; and now it was that of the Jack Aubrey of seventy or even more. ‘Never grieve, brother,’ Stephen went on. ‘The essence of the matter is unchanged: only the appearance has seemed to alter. All this has been entirely in line with the Ministry’s intentions: but they cannot yet be publicly expressed, far less avowed in print. Believe me, Jack, the Admiralty will be as pleased with this victory as if it had been won over an acknowledged enemy; and I do not doubt that they will take as much notice of your recommendations, while I am very sure that the Supreme Director, on hearing the more than happy outcome will absolutely assert that you did not exceed local orders given in a great emergency – Peru was actively preparing to invade the country.
Dear Jack, I know about these things. Let me write a private letter to Sir Joseph, send it over by our brethren in the packet, and then a Spanish piece, announcing the Chilean victory that confirms the country’s independence to San Martin and O’Higgins, thanking them and their colleagues for their directions and their unfailing support. This, when you have signed it, will go racing on before us to Valparaiso.’
Jack smiled – a smile that was neither forced nor constrained but that betrayed an immense weariness – and said, ‘I do beg your pardon, Stephen. My wits were astray and I was forgetting my real status: I should be most grateful if you would write both. And in Sir Joseph’s letter, if you think proper, pray mention Horatio’s conduct: after all he did unmoor Esmeralda and sail her out under very heavy fire.’
‘I shall do that. And my Valparaiso letter will go by Ringle, with all her amazing speed, for if I do not mistake, we and our prize must carry on at this sober pace. But Jack, my dear, you have lost a terrible lot of blood; your mind is sadly agitated – far more agitated than the situation warrants -and it is my considered opinion that you must eat as large a quantity of chicken soup as you can hold, and then take the comfortable draught that I shall mix you while the bird is preparing.’
* * *
All this time the Surprise had been filled with the innumerable sounds of a ship being brought back to a state of high perfection, having been battered out of it, the continuous thump of caulkers’ mallets all along the frigate’s engaged side being the most obvious of the great variety: surprisingly great, since a good half of the ship’s company were aboard the crippled prize, which had been hit very hard not only in the naval battle but also by the fortress’s thirty-six-pounders. And it took Stephen some little time to find Killick, who was furtively smoking on the seat of ease: but when, with some vexation of spirit, Stephen at last had the nourishing broth in preparation, he and Jacob set themselves to composing and encoding the singularly difficult letter to Sir Joseph.
At something very near the most critical point a knock on the door almost wrecked their tense concentration. ‘Beg pardon, sir,’ said Killick, timidly now, although he was backed by Maggie Tyler. ‘Which Poll says the broth is ready.’