Patrick O'Brian - The Mauritius Command

He took the frigate some way to windward and there heaved to. In the brilliant sunlight he could see the French ships perfectly, the people on their decks, even the state of their rigging. Sitting on the slide of the aftermost carronade he contemplated the scene; for this was a time for contemplation. No sudden decisions were called for at this point, nor would they be required for some considerable time. The Astree was a formidable ship; she was undamaged; she had disentangled herself from the Iphigenia and had worn clear at last; the sea between her and the Boadicea was clear. Yet she did not come on. Her shivering foretopsail--her deliberately shivering foretopsail -told him a great deal about her commander, and a score of less obvious details told him more: a competent seaman, no doubt, but he did not mean to fight. He no more meant to fight than Hamelin, at an even greater advantage, had meant to fight; neither this man nor his commodore chose to risk the throw. The conviction, growing stronger as he watched, filled him with grave Joy.

On the other hand, said his reason as it compelled his heart to be quiet, the Astree carried a great broadside weight of metal, her gunnery was accurate, and although she was not faster than the Boadicea she could haul closer to the wind: then again, attack and defence were two different things; in a close action the Astree would do tolerably well, and although the Iphigenia was handled by a nincompoop, tackling the two of them together by daylight would be unjustifiable in the present balance. Yet he must necessarily retake the the Atiicame . . .

"On deck, there," hailed the lookout. "Two sail right to windward, sir. I think it's Staunch and Otter." Some minutes later, "Yes, sir: Staunch and Otter." With this wind it would take them two or three hours to reach him: very well. He stood up smiling and looked across to the lee side, where his first lieutenant, the carpenter and the bosun were waiting to report.

"Three wounded, sir," said Seymour, "and of course poor Mr Buchan." The carpenter had only four shotholes and eight inches of water in the well: Fellowes gave an account of a fair amount of damage to the sails and rigging forward. "I reckon an hour will see it to rights, sir," he added.

"As smartly as ever you can, Mr Fellowes," said Jack. "Mr Seymour, let the hands go to breakfast; and the watch below must have some rest."

He went down into the orlop, where he found Stephen reading in a small book, holding it up to the lantern.

"Are you hurt?" asked Stephen.

"No, not at all, I thank you: I am come down to look at the wounded. How are they coming along?"

"Colley, the depressed cranial fracture, I will not answer for: he is comatose, as you see. We must operate as soon as we have peace and quiet and light- the sooner the better. The two splinter-wounds will do very well. Your breeches are covered with blood."

"It is the master's. He lost the number of his mess right by me, poor fellow." Jack went over to the patients, asked them how they felt, told them that things looked very well on deck, that Staunch and Otter were coming up hand over fist, and that presently the Frenchmen might be served out for what they did to the Africaine. Returning to Stephen he said, "Killick has a little spirit stove on the go, if you could fancy breakfast."

And standing by the stern-window while the coffee flowed into them by the pint, he explained the situation, pointing out just how the French lay now and how they had lain at different stages. "I know you will think it illogical," he said, his hand firmly gripping the wooden frame, "and maybe even superstitious, but I have a feeling that the tide has turned. I do not mean to tempt fate, God forbid, but I believe that when the Staunch and Otter join, we shall retake the Africaine. We might even snap up the Iphigenia: she is shy; I think we may have hit her hard--look at the people over her side; and the captain of the Astree don't trust her. But I will not go so far as that: the Nereide will be enough."

On deck once more, and a surprisingly respectable deck, with the knotting and splicing almost finished, the swabbers of the afterguard washing the last pale smears from by the wheel, the davits righted, a new foretopsail bent: over the water the French boats were still removing prisoners from the Africaine, the Iphigenia's pumps were going hard, and from the look of the feverish activity among the parties inboard and outboard of her, she would be in no way to get under sail for some time. The Astree had moved into a better position to cover her and the Africaine: her captain might be no fire eater, but clearly he meant to cling to his prize if he possibly could. But now from the deck the Staunch and Otter could be seen hull up; and the breeze was blowing fresher.

An early dinner, cold, and the grog cut by half; yet there was no grumbling. The Commodore's look of contained pleasure, his certainty, the indefinable change that had come over him, had spread a feeling of total confidence throughout the ship. The hands ate their good biscuit and their execrable cheese, wetted with more watered lime-juice than rum, and they looked at him, they looked at the Frenchmen in their uneasy heap to leeward, they looked at the two ships coming closer every minute, and they talked in low cheerful voices: there was a good deal of quiet laughter in the waist and on the forecastle.

With a piece of chalk the Commodore drew his plan of attack on the deck: the captains of the sloop and the brig watched attentively. The three were to run down in line abreast, the Boadicea in the middle, and they were to endeavour to separate the two French frigates; there were many possibilities, depending on the movements of the Astree, and Jack explained them clearly. "But at all events, gentlemen," he said, "in case of the unforeseen, you will not go far wrong by closing with the Iphigenia, ahead and astern, and leaving the Astree to me."

With the wind three points abaft the beam, and under topsails alone for freedom of manoeuvre, they bore down, the brig looking pitifully small on the Boadicea's starboard beam and the sloop a mere wisp to port. Jack had given them plenty of time to feed and rest their hands; he knew that they were thoroughly prepared and well manned, and that their commanders understood his intentions beyond any sort of doubt.

He had foreseen a great many possibilities, and he stood on with a confidence that he had rarely felt so strongly before, a steady rising of his heart; but he had not foreseen what in fact took place. They were still a mile and a half away when the Astree passed the Iphigenia a towline and both frigates made sail. Abandoning the Africaine, they gathered away, packed on more sail and still more, hauled their wind and stretched to the eastwards as fast as they could go, the fine-sailing Astree keeping the Iphigenia's head right up to the wind, closer than ever the Boadicea could lie.

By coming to instantly it was conceivable that since she was somewhat to windward the Boadicea might bring

them to action at the end of a very long converging chase, in spite of the Astree's superiority on a bowline; but neither the Otter nor the Staunch could possibly keep up, and in the meanwhile it was probable that Hamelin's reinforcement, brought by the French brig, would be down for the Africaine. No: this, alas, was a time for discretion, and the Boadicea stood quietly on for the sad dismantled hulk, which lay wallowing on the swell with no more than her ensign-staff to show the French colours.

The Boadicea came alongside: the Africaine fired two guns to leeward and the French colours came down, to the sound of immense cheering from the prisoners still aboard her. "Mr Seymour," said Jack, with a feeling of anticlimax, yet with a deep glowing satisfaction beneath it, "be so good as to take possession. What the devil is this?"