‘The number. If you travelled in pairs it would be safer, but there is the language problem if you split up. You and the American, for instance; that would be all right because you can do the talking and if you met with difficulties would understand what was happening. But the Italian - his French is not sufficient, and if they found a translator to question him in Italian, I doubt if he could tell a convincing enough story of travelling up from Genoa.'
Louis was only echoing the doubts that had beset Ramage since he first heard the Corporal's proud boasts: he had too many men. He needed Stafford in Amiens, but he dare not leave Rossi and Jackson behind here at the Chapeau Rouge in Boulogne: if they were questioned they would give themselves away. Unless they hid on board the Marie, ready to sail to England with his reports! He was angry with himself for not -
'You need the man who is the picklock,' Louis said. 'If you could leave the other two behind, Dyson can hide them on board the Marie: they can be his crew if he has to go to the rendezvous. If you need a third man in case of trouble, I know the road well enough ..."
Ramage stared at the Frenchman. 'But the risk for you would be enormous! I can't -'
'No greater than the risk you are taking,' Louis interrupted, 'One can be guillotined only once. I -'
'Once is enough,' Ramage said sharply.
Louis shook his head. 'I am content to share the risks that you take. We agree that our interests are similar - the smugglers' and the British Admiralty's - and I've just told you of Ça Ira. So listen to an idea which I'm sure will work and which is based on just you, the man Stafford and myself going to Amiens. You are an Italian who owns a large shipyard in Genoa. At the request of the French authorities there you came to Boulogne with your foreman to make arrangements to bring up all your carpenters and shipwrights - a score of them - and their tools.
'Very well, you arrived in Boulogne, made your inspection, and decided you and your men can help build the barges and gunboats - even improve and speed up the methods being used. But you are not satisfied with the wages or conditions you have been offered, so you want to return to Paris - you came by that route - to visit the Ministry of Marine and negotiate better terms.
'Now, we have to account for my presence. I am -' Louis's mouth curved down in a wry smile, 'I am a representative of the Committee for Public Safety, making sure you do not get up to mischief! Of course you do not know I am your guardian; you think I am a representative of the Ministry of Marine. Yes, that story would go down well with the gendarmes; I wink at them confidentially and show my papers and whisper a few words about Italians so they think they are helping the Committee. Well, how do you like my little plot?'
'Well enough,' Ramage said slowly, 'except that it will not stand up to a moment's investigation in Boulogne or Paris. If the gendarmes checked with the shipyard -'
‘No arrangement we can make will stand such checking,' Louis said emphatically. The best we can do is to have such a good story that they accept it the moment we tell it, and accept our papers. There is no problem about papers, and our whole purpose is to have a story that is slightly unusual yet completely probable: something only just outside the limits of their experience, yet well within their comprehension. There is not a man between here and Paris who wouldn't understand and believe the story I am suggesting.'
'Supposing we met someone who knew you?' Ramage said doubtfully.
'What if we did! That is the advantage of choosing the Committee of Public Safety for me: they work secretly and use the most unlikely people - Joseph Le Bon was once a priest! And we have the papers' - he pointed to the packet he had put on the beds - 'with the correct heading and stamps.'
'You certainly have a variety of stationery.'
‘We need it. Although the French government does not harass us when we smuggle French goods to England - they are only too glad to get English currency - they do not approve of us smuggling English goods into France. They demand a heavy Customs duty. So we pay enough to keep people quiet, but for the rest we need documents so we can deliver our goods without difficulties. A mason with a cartload of stone, a charcoal burner with logs, a farmer selling a load of hay - they all need documents, and if they are going to another town they need passports so that the cases of whisky and bales of wool underneath will not be discovered. Liberty, Fraternity, Bureaucracy - they were the watchwords of the Revolution. The pen is mightier than the sword,' he said sarcastically.
He picked up the quill pen and tapped his teeth with it. 'Now, how does my plan sound to you?'
'It sounds excellent,' Ramage said, 'but you're taking an enormous risk!'
'If anything goes wrong,' Louis said cheerfully, 'we'll all ride in the same tumbril, and can cheer each other up.'
Ramage thought for a moment. 'We'll be away several days. The Marie from Folkestone will be going to the rendezvous each night ... I'd better send a report to England. I've found out how many vessels there are in Boulogne, and what eachtype can carry. It's little enough, but I'd better -'
'You'd better pass over every important scrap of information as you get it,' Louis interrupted grimly. 'It'll give Dyson and your two men something to do with the Marie. But be careful of giving too many details of our proposed journey, just in case...’
'I’ll just mention that I have to leave Boulogne for a few days. Look, I'll write it now, and you tell Dyson that Jackson and Rossi will be down to join him in the morning, and they are to sail for the rendezvous tomorrow night.'
Louis nodded. 'Who actually delivers the report in England?'
'Jackson. He can transfer to the Folkestone Marie, deliver it, sail in her the following night and be back here in Dyson's boat the next morning.'
'Very well,' Louis said, 'it was fortunate I brought a pen! Now, let's get these passports and other documents completed, then I'll leave you to write your report,'
CHAPTER TEN
The two-wheeled postchaise normally carried only two people, with plenty of room for their luggage. There were grubby but comfortable cushions should they wish to sleep, and many pockets in the faded green leather upholstery in which could be stowed flasks, warm clothing, books for those hardy enough to read, and the cautious traveller's pistol, still the most reliable insurance against highwaymen and footpads. Louis had slipped all their travel documents into one such pocket, explaining later that French people were so accustomed to having a lot of papers that they became blasé.
Although the carriage, a cabriolet, was open in the front so that the passengers had a good view of the road and countryside, it smelled stuffy, a mixture of mildew and boiled cabbage. Louis sat on one side and Ramage on the other, with Stafford in the middle, so that no matter which side an inquiring gendarme opened the door, Stafford would not be expected to speak. Having told the coachman all about the two Italian passengers - with suitable winks and hints - Louis ensured that he would be able to describe various things of interest along the road without arousing suspicion,
The number of shops and houses that had been damaged or destroyed in the town of Boulogne had not been obvious in Ramage's walk round the port area. He assumed at first that it was the result of bombardment by British ships; then he saw that much of the damage could not have been caused by gunfire from seaward because other buildings or hills were in the way.
As the carriage rattled along the narrow cobbled streets and out through the town gates, Louis explained that it had happened in the early days of the Revolution: houses and shops owned by people accused of being anti-Revolutionary or pro-British were looted and then destroyed. Both Boulogne and Calais had suffered for their age-old association with the British, Louis said in a low voice, careful that the coachman could not hear. Even the shouted accusation of a jealous rival was enough to start the mob burning a shop or warehouse. And churches, convents, charitable institutions - all were wrecked in the first few weeks of Revolutionary enthusiasm.