He would risk it if he could take all the blame, but it would mean involving too many others who would also be brought to trial if the Admiral wanted to make an issue of it. The Master, the bos'n, purser, gunner, at least two of the lieutenants . . . An idea that had come to him when he saw the Diamond Rock for the first time - and which he had dismissed as absurd almost as soon as it appeared - was gnawing at him again.
'Cheeses, too!' Southwick said as the memory struck him. 'Never seen so much cheese in all my days, sir, and tubs of butter. Seems a pity to let all those provisions go to Barbados when all we have to look forward to for a change of diet is goat's meat from the Diamond ...'
Ramage jumped up, put a paperweight on the letter he had been drafting, grabbed his hat and said to Southwick: 'Come on, we're going for a short cruise in the cutter.'
An hour later the cutter had completed a circuit of Diamond Rock and the men were resting at the oars with the boat drifting twenty yards from a flat, rocky ledge behind which was an enormous cave, its entrance yawning black-mouthed and, as Southwick commented, looking as if a great dragon would emerge at any moment, breathing fire and smoke. There was very little swell as it was too early for the Trade wind to have set in.
'This is the only possible landing place,' Ramage said. 'We'll chance it and inspect the big cave - and the others, if we have time.'
Ramage pointed to the ledge. 'Put us on shore there,' he told Jackson. 'Go in stern first and hold the boat there just long enough for Mr Southwick and me to jump on to the rock, then stand off.'
'Aye, aye, sir,' Jackson said. 'Rossi and I can give you a hand and Stafford can take the boat out until -'
'Mr Southwick and I can take care of ourselves,' Ramage snapped. 'You stay in the boat, and while you're standing off make sure you note any odd rocks: you might be coming back here a few times.'
The men bent to the oars while Ramage and Southwick scrambled across to the stern. 'Looks slippery, sir,' Southwick warned. That green weed ...'
A few moments later Ramage jumped, landed safely and turned to give Southwick a hand. 'Welcome to the Diamond,' he said, and stood watching for a moment as the oarsmen rowed steadily to get clear.
The Rock towered above them almost vertically. Apart from the wide ledge on which they stood and a flat section beyond, it was a home for goats and precious little else. But the cave was enormous, with several more smaller ones nearby and ones higher up the rock face. Ramage eyed the ledge, which formed a projecting point and gave a little shelter to the cove. A gun mounted here would protect it very well, and the surface of the rock was flat enough to allow for the recoil.
He turned towards the cave and saw Southwick about to enter it, the sheer size of the gaping hole dwarfing him. A moment later the Master vanished. Ramage heard him shouting and began running, thinking he had fallen in the darkness and hurt himself. As he heard the echoes, he realized that Southwick was using his voice to get some idea how far back the cave ran into the Rock. It was like entering an enormous cathedral and as his eyes became used to the darkness he saw the long stalactites pointing down from the roof. Yet the air was dry and it was dry underfoot: he had been expecting it to be dank, the sides running with water and green with moss.
Southwick loomed up beside him. 'Big enough to stow a complete frigate,' he said, and there was no mistaking his meaning.
sIf anyone could sway a couple of 12-pounders up to the top of the Rock, they'd need a magazine, and this cave is dry enough,' Ramage murmured, obviously doing little more than thinking aloud. 'They'd need a place to store provisions and water. The guns' crews would stand a couple of days' watch aloft while the others were down here; then they'd change over. I don't know how they'd get to the top - rig a jackstay, most probably ... It would be easier to work that out from the Juno, using a telescope: you can't see a damned thing just staring up from the ledge.'
'There's another ledge on the north side, two thirds of the way up,' Southwick said. 'It looks as though something took a big bite out of the rock. I think there's a cave at the back of it. It'd make another fine battery to cover the Fours Channel. A 12-pounder could probably reach the Grande Anse du Diamant. No ship could sneak through the channel without a gun there giving it a hot time. With a pair of guns right at the top - goodness me, nearly six hundred feet high: just think of the extra range - and plunging fire!' Even in the darkness Ramage sensed the old man's increasing excitement as he went on: 'That would give us three guns to cover the channel, and two of those, the pair at the top, can probably fire all round - north, west, south and east. And the lookouts could see all the way down to the southern tip of Martinique! Rig up a mast and they could hoist flag signals which the Juno would see while she was up to the north-west. Have to keep out to the west so the Diamond is clear of the land, but just think, a frigate off Fort Royal Bay would know what's going on right down at Pointe des Salines, twenty miles away! Why -'
'Easy now,' Ramage said mildly, 'you don't have to convince me: I've had something like this in mind ever since we first sailed past the place. But don't get too carried away; swaying a pair of 12-pounders nearly six hundred feet up to the top of this Rock will be more than a morning's work, if it can be done at all.'
They walked out of the cave and stood blinking in the bright sunlight, and then walked along looking into the smaller caves. Southwick kicked at the broad-bladed grass. The men will like this for making sennet hats.' He pointed to the caves. 'The whole place looks like that cheese with holes in it.'
'Gruyère,' Ramage said. 'And the big cave is where a mouse had a feast'
'More likely a rat,' Southwick said. 'It's the biggest cave I've ever seen, let alone walked into. Those spiky things hanging down from the roof make it look like a portcullis, I hope none of them drop off!'
They looked into the cave aad Ramage turned to seaward and waved to the boat. 'Come on, these caves remind me of witches' cauldrons and bats and vampires . . .'
Back on board the Juno Ramage silenced all Southwick's attempts to discuss the Diamond Rock; instead he took him down to his cabin, tossed his hat on to the settee and sat down at the desk. Taking out the pen and ink, he added a single paragraph to the draft of his letter to Admiral Davis.
After calling to the sentry to pass the word for his clerk, he began a letter addressed to 'The Agent for Transport and Prisoners of War'. The clerk arrived and was told to take the draft of the letter to Admiral Davis and make a fair copy, and bring it back when it was ready. 'Don't waste time copying it into the Captain's Letter Book,' Ramage told him. 'Make the entry afterwards from my draft.'
Ramage then finished a brief letter to the Agent, describing how he had landed the prisoners because he was unable to guard them, and saying that he was enclosing a list of their names and the signature of the surviving French commanding officer agreeing that the men should not serve against the British again until the exchange had been regularized. Ramage knew there would be a fuss, but he had covered the point in his letter to the Admiral. The letter to the Agent was a formality to cover the list he was sending.