‘Nothing to touch theirs, sir, I do assure you: the three galleys that Pomone destroyed or cut in two would have manned a heavy frigate.’ ; Killick uttered a theatrical cough and when Jack turned, he said, ‘Beg pardon, sir: which coffee is up, and a little relish.’
The relish consisted of Gibraltar crabs, lobsters, crayfish, prawns and shrimps and the captains ate them with the keen appetite of those who had had a long, wearisome, and ultimately extremely dangerous voyage on short commons from Cape Town on. They looked upon their host with more
than usual benevolence, and with the intention of making an obliging remark one of them said he was very glad that Commodore Aubrey should have suffered so little, in what might have been a most bloody engagement.
‘It is true, as the gentleman observes, that we lost few men,’ replied Jack, ‘but then we had very few men to lose. The squadron is sadly short of hands, Pomone above all; and I will tell you frankly that before I knew of your plight I had intended that her boats should have visited you in the hope of some right seamen. And for my own part I should be thankful for two or three upper-yard hands and above all for a steady, reliable master’s mate. When you sailed none of you can have known that the war had broken out again, so I dare say there are two or three score men in the convoy who would like to enter voluntarily and take the bounty.’
In the short pause that followed the captains looked at their chief with a studied want of expression: but he, knowing them well, gathered the sense of the company –
everyone present knew that Jack could press if he chose – everyone knew how much they owed him – and he replied, ‘I am sure you are right, sir; and I am sure that none of us would be so wanting in his duty as to make the slightest difficulty. Word will be passed in all ships belonging to the convoy, together with a promise that any man joining you will have his pay-docket to the present date countersigned by me. As for your two or three active young upper-yard men, I shall certainly send you four of my own. But where master’s mates are concerned, we are all very poor indeed – guinea-pigs by the dozen, but nothing that would answer for you, sir. On the other hand, I could offer you a bright, well-qualified, gentlemanly purser. As a volunteer, sir,’ he added, seeing the doubt in the Commodore’s eye, a doubt caused not only by the strangeness of the offer but even more so (for the offer in itself was by no means unwelcome, though inexplicable) by the countless formalities surrounding the appointment of a purser in a ship of the Royal Navy –
the sureties,
61the guarantees, the verbiage, the paper-work. ‘Purely as a volunteer, just for a few months or so if so desired; or at least until his domestic affairs are settled. There is a question of children born when he was on a three-year China voyage. The first he heard of it was at the Cape on the way back, and he does not like to go home until the lawyers have dealt with it all: he cannot face going into his own house with the little bastards running about in it, if I may so express myself without offence. He is used to the Navy, sir: was captain’s clerk in Hebe, then purser in Dryad and Hermione, before joining the Company, where his brother has a China ship.’
For the hydrographical voyage Jack had intended to act as his own purser: yet even by Funchal he had found it a very wearisome task indeed, and now that he had this present command some relief was essential. Three times he had meant to speak of it aboard the Royal Sovereign and three times he had lost the opportunity.
‘Do you guarantee your man?’ he asked.
‘Without the least reserve, sir.’
‘Then I should be happy to see him; and his fellows, of course. Now for my part, I do not believe for a moment that those villains are going to lie in Sallee wringing their hands and lamenting their loss. So in case they come out again when the squadron is gone, I shall send Dover to strengthen your escort. They will not face your artillery again, backed up with that of a thirty-two gun frigate. And there is always the possibility of French privateers or even men-of-war in the Channel.’
‘Very good – hear him – hear him,’ cried the captains, beating on the table.
When they had buried their dead – an expeditious matter at such a time – and repaired the worst of their damage, the convoy and squadron parted on the best of terms, the Indiamen and their escort steering north-west and the squadron beating up tack upon tack for Gibraltar.
Stephen and Jacob had some very seriously injured patients as well as the routine strains, common fractures, contusions and powder-burns; and it was now that Dr Maturin came to appreciate the full value of good female nursing. Both Poll Skeeping and Mrs Cheal had that devotion peculiar perhaps to their sex and a lightness of hand, a dexterity where dressings were concerned that he had not seen equalled outside a
religious order. He was busy, but not desperately so (as he had been after some much bloodier fights), and he was quite able to accept Jack’s invitation to dine with several of the captains and other officers. He was placed between Hugh Pomfret and Mr Woodbine, the master, an old acquaintance who was eagerly engaged in an argument with Captain Cartwright of Ganymede about lunar observations, an argument that had started before dinner and that did not interest Stephen in the least. Captain Pomfret, though obviously unwell and in very low spirits, was a civilized man and he provided a proper amount of conversation; yet their end of the table could hardly have been described as outstandingly cheerful or amusing and it did not surprise Stephen when, as the party broke up, Pomfret asked in a low voice whether he might beg for a consultation, a medical or quasi-medical consultation, at any time that suited Dr Maturin.
‘Certainly you may,’ said Stephen, who very much liked what he had seen of the young man and who knew the limits of Pomone’s surgeon. ‘But only with the concurrence of Mr Glover.’
‘Mr Glover is no doubt a very clever doctor,’ said Pomfret, ‘but unhappily we are barely on speaking terms, and this is a wholly personal, confidential matter.’
‘Let us take a turn upon deck.’
There under the open sky, with the ship close-hauled on the larboard tack, he explained the rudiments of medical etiquette. ‘I quite take your point,’ said Pomfret, ‘but this is more what might be called a moral or spiritual rather than a physical matter – not wholly unlike the distinction between right and wrong.’
‘If you would be a little more specific, I might perhaps tell you whether I could properly be of any use.’
‘My trouble is this: Pomone, under my orders, beat one Moorish galley to pieces by gunfire and deliberately rode down two others in the mêlée, cutting them in half so that they sank within the minute. And I perpetually see those scores of men, Christian slaves chained to their oars, looking up in horror, looking up perhaps for mercy; and I sailed on to destroy another. Is it right? Can it be right? I cannot sleep for those faces gazing, straining up. Have I mistaken my profession?’
‘On the face of it,’ said Stephen, ‘I do not think you have. I feel extremely for your very great distress, but . . . no, I should have to summon more powers than I can call upon at present, to justify a war, even a war against a dictatorial system, an open denial of freedom; and I shall only say that I feel it must be fought. And since it has to be fought it is better that it should be fought, at least on one side, with what humanity war does allow, and by officers of your kind. I shall play the doctor so far as to send you a box of pills that will give you two nights’ heavy sleep. If, having slept, you wish to hear my reasons, I hope I shall have them fairly well arranged; and after that you must be your own physician.’
Chapter Three
That night the wind backed steadily until by two bells in the graveyard watch it was a little south of west, where it steadied, strengthened and carried them right through the Strait –
no more piping of all hands every other glass or two, but a sweet passage to the Rock itself and their accustomed moorings.