Ramage and the Dido Read Free

was killed,’ Sarah pointed out.
    ‘Yes,’ the earl agreed soberly, ‘but he would insist on wearing all his orders and decorations. He was an obvious target for French sharpshooters. Captain Hardy, who was walking the deck with him, was not scratched.’
    ‘But Nicholas has been wounded so many times: it doesn’t seem fair!’
    Ramage said lightly: ‘The important thing is that I’ve survived!’
    ‘Does being given a ship of the line mean you won’t be away for such long periods?’ Sarah asked.
    ‘Probably. Ships of the line are usually attached to fleets, and fleets are not usually at sea for such long periods. Unless I get put on the blockade of Brest – blockade work usually means being at sea for a long time. Still, we don’t keep such a close blockade now…’
    Hanson came into the room again and said apologetically: ‘There’s another messenger from the Admiralty, sir: it is a question of you signing the man’s receipt book.’
    Impatiently Ramage got up from the table and went to the front door. He came back with the letter, picked up the paper-knife and slid it under the seal. ‘Their Lordships are keeping the clerks busy this morning,’ he commented. ‘They’d save on messengers if they wrote letters at the same time as they wrote commissions.’
    ‘Well, what does it say?’ demanded Sarah. ‘They may have changed their minds about giving you the Dido.’
    Ramage unfolded the sheet of paper and began to read. Sarah was watching his face and was surprised to see a look of pleasure. The trouble was, she knew, that at the moment Nicholas was more absorbed in his new command than in the fact that his leave was likely to be cut short.
    ‘I’ve never heard of that before,’ Ramage commented, passing the letter to his father. He turned to Sarah and shook his head disbelievingly.
    ‘I’m not saying goodbye to the Calypsos after all. She is going to be paid off in Portsmouth before a thorough refit, and orders are being sent to Aitken to take all the officers and ship’s company to the Dido. Nepean says that their Lordships have decided that in recognition of their past services, the commission, warrant and petty officers are transferred to the Dido without change in rank. So Aitken is my first lieutenant and I have Southwick as master!’
    ‘Does that mean you still have Jackson and Stafford and Rossi, and the Frenchmen?’
    ‘All of them,’ Ramage said jubilantly. Then his face fell. ‘It means I still have that damned gunner, too. Well, this time I am going to the Board of Ordnance to have him replaced. We could get by when he was responsible for only thirty-two guns, but now we shall have seventy-four, plus eight or a dozen carronades, and that is too many for that fool!’
    ‘Eight or a dozen carronades? I don’t understand,’ Sarah said. ‘I thought you said you have seventy-four guns.’
    ‘I have,’ Ramage explained patiently, ‘but carronades are extra. For some reason I’ve never understood, carronades are not included in the total number of guns a ship carries. It doesn’t matter if she’s a frigate or a first rate. Carronades are a sort of bonus.’
    Sarah shrugged her shoulders. ‘It doesn’t make sense – after all, a gun is a gun – it can kill people, even if it is a carronade.’
    ‘I agree, darling, but even father can’t explain the quirks of the Admiralty. Anyway, the main thing is that I’ve got my Calypsos.’
    ‘Their Lordships are being very kind to you,’ the earl said, folding the letter. ‘I hope you realise that they’re granting you an extreme favour. I’ve never heard of a similar case.’
    ‘Nicholas deserves it,’ Sarah said defensively. ‘He’s been in so many actions, and he’s only just been given a seventy-four.’
    ‘Whoa,’ Ramage exclaimed with a grin, ‘I’m still very young to get a seventy-four. You talk as if I’m an old man. I think I’m still younger than Lord Nelson was when he was given his first third rate.