Syme looked round, as if half expecting someone to challenge it.
"This is addressed to Harold Syme, esquire," he added pompously.
Napier nodded, and the man reached down for another page.
Napier was a tall man with iron-grey hair, an aquiline nose and eyes revealing a shrewd sense of humour. He had an indefinable air of authority and Ramage guessed that he was a man who commanded without ever raising his voice.
Syme began reading again, this time the seven names, listed in seniority beginning with Napier, of the men forming the court. He glanced to the left or right as he reached each name; Captain Lockyer, a plump, fatherly man who reminded Ramage of Southwick, sat on the President's left, and Captain Robinson, sandy-haired, red-faced and looking young despite his seniority, sat on his right. Woodgate sat next to him and Hamilton sat next to Lockyer. Ramage looked at Hamilton again. He was a nondescript man except for his eyes. They were spaced wide apart and blue and they looked shifty. Ormsby, at the end of the table on the President's left, was young and obviously flustered. The single epaulet on his right shoulder showed he had less than three years' seniority. Innes, opposite him, also had less than three years' seniority and was a plump young man who looked as if he was more at home astride a horse on the hunting field than commanding a ship of war.
Now Syme picked up the Bible and walked round the table to Napier. Putting the Bible in front of him he said, his voice taking on a monotone in deference to the solemn occasion:
"Place your right hand on the Holy Evangelist and repeat your Christian and surnames."
Napier stood and said: "James Royston Napier."
Syme then read out, phrase by phrase, the oath by which Napier swore "I will duly administer justice according to my conscience, the best of my understanding and the custom of the Navy in like cases..."
After Syme had administered the same oath to the other six captains, Napier administered an oath of secrecy to Syme, who then went back to his seat.
As Napier looked round the cabin, he had as much moral authority over its occupants as a judge.
"Read the charges, Mr Syme, slowly and audibly."
Syme looked up indignantly, stung by the instruction, but he obeyed. As he read, Ramage looked across at Goddard. The man wiped his face once, then sat with his hands clasped, staring at the deck a few feet in front of him.
Ramage saw a squalid opportunist grasping plump hands together like an ingratiating undertaker. The man had risen quickly in the Navy and had enormous "interest". One day he might well achieve the highest rank - providing he never had to lead a Fleet into action. He was not a man that lowly lieutenants would choose as an enemy ... But, Ramage thought ruefully, the choice had not been up to this lowly lieutenant; Goddard had chosen him.
Napier turned to Goddard as Syme finished his reading.
"Your first witness, sir?"
Goddard pointed to Croucher.
"All other witnesses leave the court," Napier said, waving to Syme.
Syme motioned Captain Croucher to the chair on his right as the rest of the witnesses left the cabin. A dozen other people, among them the lieutenant whose breezy manner had so cheered Ramage at the gangway, sat at the back of the cabin.
Croucher gave his name and took the oath without once glancing at Goddard.
Syme looked severely at both Goddard and Croucher, as though they had never attended a court martial before, and said: "You must give me time to write down each question before it is answered. And then give me time to write down the answer."
Goddard gestured to Hobson, who was holding several sheets of paper in his hand.
"The first questions are written down."
Goddard and his cronies seemed to have prepared the case well. If the prosecutor had the questions written on slips of paper which were passed to the deputy judge advocate to read aloud the accused had to answer at once. If the prosecutor spoke the question so the deputy judge advocate could write it down and then address it to the accused, it gave the prisoner time to think about his answer. With the question already written down, the deputy judge advocate need only number it, make a note of the number in his minute of the trial, and ask the question at once.
Hobson went over to stand by Syme, handing him a page with the first question. Before the deputy judge advocate had time to read it, Captain Napier said: "Has the accused all his witnesses available?"
"No, I have only those immediately available."
Ramage had already thought through the probable sequence of question and answer, and now that the court was sitting there was little Goddard could do even if he suspected that there was some sort of a trap behind Ramage's carefully chosen words.
"What do you mean by 'immediately available'?" Napier asked.
"Only those that could attend the court when it opened, sir."
Syme jammed his spectacles back on his nose. "All those on the list you gave me are present," he said angrily.
"Quite," Ramage said.
"What do you mean by that?" Napier asked.
"In view of the gravity of the charges I face, sir - all of them are capital - and my present lack of witnesses, I hope that the court will be indulgent should any other witnesses become available."
Would Napier just leave it at that or demand more details? Ramage tried to look nonchalant.
"Very well. Carry on, Mr Syme."
"I haven't noted all that down yet," Syme said sourly, and Ramage guessed that the deputy judge advocate had been so absorbed in what was being said that he had forgotten to write.
Hobson handed him the first page.
"Were you," he asked Croucher, "commanding the Lion on the eighteenth day of July last when, during an attack upon a ship of the convoy, His Majesty's ship Triton did -"
"Stop!" Napier snapped. "Strike that from the record." He looked directly at the Admiral. "The prosecution is no doubt aware of the meaning of the phrase 'leading question'?"
When Goddard said nothing, Napier said quietly: "The court requires an answer. First," he said to Syme, "note my question in the minutes."
When he saw Syme had written it, he motioned to Goddard.
"The prosecution understands," the Admiral said grudgingly.
"Very well. The deputy judge advocate will read written questions carefully before speaking them aloud. Carry on."
For a moment or two Ramage wondered why Napier was on his side and then realized that he was not. He was just conducting the trial impartially. Ramage's only previous experience of a court martial was the one staged - and "staged" was the right word - by Croucher, in Bastia. There the President had used his position to twist everything in favour of the prosecution.
Goddard decided to abandon the written questions, frame new ones, and speak them aloud.
"What were you doing on the eighteenth day of July?"
"I was commanding His Majesty's ship Lion."
"What were your duties?"
"Flying the flag of the Rear-Admiral and escorting a convoy from Barbados to Jamaica."
"Was there any unusual occurrence that night?"
"Yes, a French privateer attacked one of the ships."
"What was that ship's position in the convoy?"
"Leading the starboard column."
"Where was the Lion at this time?"
"In her proper position ahead of the centre column of the convoy."
"Which of the King's ships was closest to the merchantman that was attacked?"
"The Triton brig."
"Who commanded the Triton!"
"The accused."