Napier turned to Goddard and said crisply: "Everyone is still on oath; call your next witness, please."
Goddard lurched to his feet. "Call Sydney Yorke," he whispered.
Yorke walked in, as debonair and nonchalant as the day Ramage first saw him on board the Lion at Barbados, and as he took the oath Ramage wondered what questions Goddard could ask him that would back up any part of Croucher's evidence.
Ramage guessed that Yorke's attitude would be offhand and flippant. This always angered Goddard, and making the Admiral lose his temper was the best way of provoking him into some damaging admission, or throwing him off his stride.
He looked at Goddard curiously. There was something strange about the man now that he was standing: his movements, such as they were, seemed jerky, like a wooden soldier. His eyes were remote, almost glassy, as though staring at alarming sights beyond the confines of this stuffy cabin. He looked like a man paralysed by fear.
Napier asked patiently: "The prosecution is ready?" When Goddard remained silent, he went on: "The court has some questions to ask. We might take those first."
Yorke bowed, unaware of what had happened, but obviously puzzled by Goddard's behaviour.
"You were the master of the Topaz merchantman?"
"Master and owner."
"You were commanding her in a convoy escorted by the Lion and the Triton brig on the eighteenth of July last?"
"I was."
"Tell the court what happened that night."
"My ship was attacked by a French privateer, the Peacock, which was sailing in the convoy and masquerading as a merchant ship. Fortunately Lieutenant Ramage had suspected this ship because of something she had done the previous night. The result was that he was able to board the French ship before she could capture us."
"Where was the Peacock at this time?"
"Almost alongside the Topaz. Or, rather, the Triton ran aboard her a few moments before she ran aboard the Topaz"
"Could you have beaten off the attack without assistance?"
"Indeed not!" Yorke exclaimed. "The Peacock had more than a hundred men on board - quite apart from a hundred or so on another ship she had captured the night before. We had no warning, so there was only the usual watch on deck."
"We haven't questioned you about the other ship: please confine your answers to the questions asked."
Yorke bowed.
"You went on board the flagship the next day?"
"Yes."
"Tell the court the purpose of the visit."
"To protest to the Admiral about his carelessness in allowing a French privateer to join the convoy openly; to protest that this privateer had been allowed to capture another merchant ship and, while she was still in the convoy, turn her into another privateer; to tell -"
Syme was waving frantically, "Give me time to write!"
Yorke waited until he saw the man's pen stop.
"-to tell the Admiral that in the view of the Duc de Bretagne, whose care was his special responsibility-"
"Do you know that for a fact?"
"I suppose that's hearsay," Yorke said cheerfully, "but it's easy enough to check."
"Confine yourself to fact, please."
"Very well. To convey M. le Duc's protest to the Admiral and to inform the Admiral that it was M. le Duc's intention to make sure that Lieutenant Ramage's gallantry was given the highest reward - by writing to the King. That letter is written, incidentally, and ready for the post."
"Tell the court how you came to be here." Goddard had found his voice at last.
Yorke shrugged his shoulders. "The Topaz was dismasted in the hurricane at the same time as the Triton. By good fortune, the two ships managed to stay together. Eventually they drifted onto a reef."
"And then?" Napier prompted.
"Lieutenant Ramage managed to get everyone on shore by rafts."
"What land was this?"
"Snake Island, at the eastern end of Puerto Rico."
"What happened to the ships?" Goddard asked harshly.
"They were abandoned."
"Badly damaged?"
"Dismasted, certainly, and stranded. But not badly damaged."
"You saw the wreck of the Triton with your own eyes?"
"Yes."
"Did the accused destroy her to prevent her falling into Spanish hands?"
"No," Yorke said cheerfully. "In fact he decided not to set fire to either ship."
"Do you know why?"
"He didn't want to alarm any Spanish garrison there might be on Snake Island."
"Was there such a garrison?"
"Oh yes, a dozen men, and a lieutenant."
"And the brig wasn't destroyed for fear of a dozen Spanish soldiers?"
"Well, not exactly," Yorke said vaguely. "We captured the soldiers. But the smoke might have been seen from Puerto Rico where I assume there are a few thousand soldiers. It was the treasure as much as anything else that made us think the Spanish would be vigilant."
"The treasure?"
"Yes, you see, the garrison was digging these holes all over the place."
"Holes?"
"Well, trenches, really," Yorke said in an offhand voice. "They looked like graves. There was one big grave, too. Lots of skeletons."
"Skeletons, Mr Yorke?"
"Yes. Dead people. They'd been murdered, you know. I found it all most depressing - you would have too, I'm sure. All shot in the back of the head. A bullet makes a frightful mess of the cranium, you know."
"But who were they?" Goddard stammered.
"No idea, I'm afraid. All in a circle, like signs of the zodiac. Pirates ... slaves ... who knows? Their hands had been tied together. Perhaps to stop them dipping into the treasure."
"The treasure!" Goddard exclaimed, as if suddenly remembering it after being diverted by the skeletons. "What is this nonsense about treasure?"
Napier interrupted: "Pray, what has all this to do with the charges against the accused?"
"Dunno!" Yorke said blithely. "The accused went off on a treasure hunt, and I thought Admiral Goddard seemed interested."
Napier looked at Goddard. "Do you think this forms part of the prosecution's case?"
"How do I know!" Goddard said angrily. "If it pleases the court, I think the matter should be investigated."
"Very well ... The court will inquire. Mr Yorke, what led you to think there was treasure on the island?"
"Not me, Mr Ramage."
"Describe the events in your own words."
Yorke glanced at Ramage, who gave an almost imperceptible nod.
"The Spanish soldiers were guarding slaves who were digging trenches all over the island. Lieutenant Ramage, who speaks Spanish, discovered they were looking for treasure."
"Did they have some sort of chart showing where it might be?"
"No, there was just a poem, a sort of riddle, which was supposed to give clues to its whereabouts."
"Did you manage to solve the riddle?"
"Mr Ramage did."
"And then what happened?"
"We set the men to work digging."
"With no success, it would seem?"
"Oh no," Yorke said languidly, "I think it was quite productive really. We found various boxes of treasure: old Spanish coins, metal ornaments and plates - that sort of thing."
"Of no great value, then?"
"They seemed valuable to me, but then I'm a poor man! It weighs very many hundredweights and was mostly gold."
There was a silence in the cabin until Napier asked, in an awed voice: "Where is it now?"