'None of your affair, my man,' he repeated firmly, 'you just confine your h'activities to the starboard gangway.'
'But sergeant, what happens when we've done 'em all in on the starboard gangway? Don't seem fair that the fo'c'sle and the quarterdeck men and the rest of 'em get a bigger share than us. After all, we are Marines.'
Ware, Ferris suddenly remembered. In Hertfordshire. That was where Hart came from. 'Where?' 'Ware.' Yes, Ferris could remember that puzzling conversation with Marine Hart years ago.
But for once Hart was asking a good question. Once they'd cleared the gangway, were they expected just to stand there? Toss bodies over the side? Or what? Anyway, it gave him a chance to encourage Hart.
'That is a very pertinent question, my good man, and I'll raise it with Mr Wagstaffe.'
'Oh sergeant,' Hart said hastily, 'I wasn't trying to be pertinent: it just seemed we was being discrimbulated against.'
Not being pertinent? Ferris's brow wrinkled. He had never seen Hart so apologetic. What was wrong with 'pertinent'? It was a sergeant's word, like 'my man' was a sergeant's phrase. Suddenly he added two letters and saw the reason for Hart's apology.
'H'oh no, "pertinent" and "impertinent" are two h'utterly different words. "Pertinent" means - well, it's a good question. "Impertinent" is being rude to someone of a higher station, like a sergeant, or a lieutenant.'
That left 'discrimbulated'. Who would dare discrimbulate against Sergeant Ferris's party of men? That would risk a flogging. At least, it sounded as if it would. But ... well, that word had a sort of left-handed sound about it. Then Ferris sighed.
'Hart, my good man, you mean "discriminate". Believe me, no one's trying to discriminate against us. Mr Renwick was there when Mr Ramage drew a diagram of the ship's deck h'on a sheet of paper, and he divided it h'up into fo'c'sle, maindeck, starboard gangway, and larboard, quarterdeck and lowerdeck. Obviously most people are going to be on the maindeck, so four parties go there, one to the fo'c'sle, one to the quarterdeck, and one to each gangway: eight parties, one hundred and sixty men, plus a few under Midshipman Orsini to rescue the Royalists.'
'If you say so, sergeant,' Hart said. He did not understand, he was not convinced, nor, Ferris firmly believed, did the big ox want to be convinced. Like a bull giving an occasional bellow for no reason, and not because of any bad temper, Hart had these mild attacks from time to time.
On board the Calypso, Ramage filled in the last couple of lines of the day's entry in his journal. He had a strange 'someone-else-is-writing-this' sensation when he noted the Calypso's position, under the 'Bearings and distance at noon' column as 'Western extremity of Île Royale bearing north by east ¾ east five cables'. Nor was it often one could be so exact, but here in the lee of the islands the sea was calm and the wind steady, and as the French pilot book gave the heights of the three islands Paolo had been set to work with sextant and tables working out the distance. His first two attempts put Île Royale eleven and then seven miles away, but by the fifth sextant reading and set of calculations his answer coincided with Southwick's.
Ramage usually left the 'Remarkable Observations and Accidents' column empty, and the events of today, the first complete day after they had arrived and anchored, were so far unimportant, but if there was a court-martial the record might be important. He made an abbreviated entry:
'French pilot's canoe came within hail mid-afternoon inquiring number of déportés on board both frigates and intended for island. Told sixty-two and more due in third frigate. Told that Governor's orders are for both frigates and third when she arrives to remain at anchor in quarantine for six weeks after death or complete recovery of last case of cholera. Lieutenants Martin and Kenton returned on board until L'Espoir arrives. Ships' companies employed A.T.S.R.'
He hated the initials for 'As the Service required' but at this rate he would soon run out of space. There was no need to describe it as meaning scrubbing decks, setting up or replacing rigging and whippings, mending sails, and all the thousand and one jobs a sailor in a ship of war (or any ship for that matter) was heir to. And the sudden torrential rains that seemed to arrive out of a reasonably clear sky at three-hourly intervals meant that the quarterdeck awning was stretched with one corner dropped to catch water. If they could fill butts at the present rate each man would have something like a gallon of fresh water a day - something he had never experienced before. He could drink as much as he wanted; more important, he could rinse his clothes properly. Using the urine collected in the tubs in the head gave enough ammonia to bleach clothing, but rinsing in salt water always meant that everything dried only to get damp on a humid day.
It would soon be necessary to send a boat to the mainland one night: the purser was complaining that he had only nineteen wreaths of twigs left for the cook to light the galley fire, and there was precious little wood left. So a wooding party would have to be sent out. And green wood needed more twigs to get it burning ... Curious how planning the rescue of the Count of Rennes was built on the foundations of wreaths of twigs. 'Wreaths' was an absurd name, yet in the Navy Board's list of 'Tonnage with respect to stowage', forty wreaths of twigs were noted as weighing a ton. Out of curiosity he searched through a drawer and found the list - yes, six jars of oil, forty bushels of oatmeal, 252 gallons of wine, 1,800 pounds of cheese in casks, 450 pieces of beef, 900 pieces of pork, 200 empty sacks, wooden hoops for 420 hogshead or 600 kilderkins, 240 gallons of vinegar, forty wreaths of twigs ... each item weighed a ton. Wreaths - did the gypsies call them that when they went from door to door in towns selling kindling?
He looked at his watch. By now the Calypso's parties of men should be waiting on the lowerdeck. Wagstaffe had just arrived on board from La Robuste and Aitken, Kenton, Martin and Renwick would be ready. Very well, aux armes, citoyens.
It was hot down on the lowerdeck but eighty seamen and Marines stood to attention as Aitken barked an order when Ramage came down the ladder, once again wearing his French trousers and a white shirt - with a powerful glass it was possible for anyone on the hill of Île Royale to inspect the ship's deck, so neither Marines nor officers could wear anything but what would be usual on board a French ship of war. Ramage was delighted that his stockings, breeches and coat were back in the trunks, and Silkin was now busy stitching up white duck bought from the purser into shirts and trousers. It was not seemly, Silkin had complained, that the captain should be wearing trousers cobbled up from 'pusser's duck'.
Ramage looked round at all the faces and found most of them were grinning. He had never before had such a large group muster on the lowerdeck, and the presence of the lieutenants and the ship's present position accounted for the air of excitement which was as heady as the smell of hops to leeward of a brewery.
'Fall out the officers,' Ramage said, 'and all of you make yourselves comfortable.' Unaware of Sergeant Ferris's problem he added: 'I am going through all this once. Then if there's anything someone doesn't understand, ask questions.'