Southwick was already shouting to the two cutters to return to the ship, his voice echoing back from the cliff face. With the Juno now moored fore and aft parallel with the cliff and forty yards from it, there was little more to do until Aitken arrived at the top of the Rock - the top of the cliff, rather, Ramage corrected himself, remembering the double slope back from the cliff top to the peak of the Rock.
The Master was bustling round amidships, checking the cable that was going to be the jackstay, glaring at the voyol block as though it was an unruly dog, kicking at the five-inch rope that would eventually be rove through the two single blocks to make a gun tackle. Watching him, Ramage knew that he was worried about his next job. It took a lot to ruffle Southwick - many French broadsides, boarding enemy ships, and a full hurricane had so far failed, to Ramage's certain knowledge. No, Southwick was worried now because he was faced with a tricky task that was far beyond the scope of ordinary seamanship: he and his Captain were planning by guess rather than knowledge, and Southwick's only fear was that the whole jackstay system might not work; that they would fail to get the guns to the top of the Rock. Well, Ramage thought, the old man must know that his Captain is keeping him company; in fact they should be holding hands and comforting each other.
For the next half an hour he and Southwick had the men adjusting the three cables, veering a little on the starboard anchor cable and taking in a little on the larboard, so the Juno edged over a little more towards the cliff, and then taking up on the stern anchor so that she came away again. When they were ready, veering the stern cable would give the final adjustment.
They had just finished that when they heard a hail from high above and saw Aitken's tiny figure waving a speaking trumpet. A few moments later he was joined by other men, and Southwick shouted for a crew to man the jolly boat, which had returned to the ship an hour earlier.
Ramage watched Aitken and his men through a telescope. They were holding a small object and securing a line to it. A rock, no doubt, to make sure the line they were going to lower as a messenger would not blow in the wind and snag on a bush or a jutting piece of rock.
He saw Aitken suddenly bend back and then jerk forward, and a moment later a black speck began falling through the air, down towards the Juno's deck, trailing behind it what seemed from this distance to be a black thread. It fell into the sea half-way between the ship and the cliff and the jolly boat leapt forward to grab it before it swung back through the water against the foot of the cliff, and brought it back to the Juno.
The jackstay was very heavy, so much so that the Juno's capstan would be needed to hoist it up the cliff. The only way to do that, Ramage had calculated, was to use the tackle that would eventually haul the gun up the jackstay. But to begin with, until the tackle was completely rigged, Aitken's men were going to have to pull the first block and rope up to the top of the cliff.
Southwick supervised the men securing the block and rope to the line thrown down from the cliff, and then took the speaking trumpet and gave a stentorian bellow to Aitken. The line tautened and seamen eased the block and the heavier rope over the side and slowly, agonizingly slowly it seemed to Ramage, it began to rise as Aitken's men hauled away. Their task aloft was made harder by the need to keep some tension on the heavier rope to make sure that it did not swing into the cliff, where the block might jam in one of the fissures.
Finally the block and the heavier rope reached the top and Ramage watched through the telescope as men reached out to grab it. Quickly they took off the light line and made the block fast round a protruding rock, the three parts of the rope forming the upper end of the purchase leading back down in a gentle curve to the Juno's deck.
Southwick came up, rubbing his hands. 'Well, so much for the tackle, sir. The block is made up to the cable, and we can start hoisting whenever you give the word.'
Ramage looked forward to see that the hauling part, or fall, of the tackle was now led through a snatch block and then round the capstan and that men were waiting at the bars. The moment he gave the word they would start turning and the tackle would slowly hoist the heavy cable for the jackstay up towards Aitken.
'It's going to be easy getting the cable up,' Ramage said doubtfully, 'but I'm wondering how we are going to get the block at our end down again. They'll secure a heavy rock to it, I know, but if it starts twisting or jams against something on the cliff face -'
He did not complete the sentence because Southwick knew the risk. It was gun tackle pure and simple, and excellent so long as there was a strain on the block at either end. But once the strain was released the parts of the rope tended to twist, and in doing so spun any block that was not secure, in this case the lower one that had to be brought down to the Juno's deck again once the cable had been hoisted to the top.
'Leave it to Aitken, sir,' Southwick said. 'If he can get himself and his men up there, I'm sure he'll get that block down!'
Ramage nodded ruefully: it was not hard to make a decision because there was no choice, and for once he was thankful. 'Very well, let's see those men stepping out round the capstan!'
The capstan combined with the mechanical advantage of the gun tackle made the men's task easier, but before they finished they would have hoisted the best part of a ton up the cliff, since a hundred fathoms of ten-inch cable-laid rope weighed nineteen hundredweight. But a tackle was one of the best examples that Ramage knew of the old adage that 'You never get anything for nothing'. The three parts of the purchase reduced the amount of effort required to lift the cable, but it also meant that the lower block moved upwards much more slowly. The cable crawled and before it was a quarter of the way up the cliff face Ramage would have sworn it was not moving if he had not seen the seamen amidships hauling the rope clear as it came off the capstan and coiling it down.
'You must be hungry, sir,' Southwick said tactfully. 'It'll be an hour before there's much sign of progress here: more than time for you to have some breakfast'
Ramage's stomach was so knotted from the strain he had been under since dawn that it would be hard to force down any food, but he remembered the contempt he had felt, as a very young lieutenant, when he saw nervous captains fussing round on deck unnecessarily. Well, he had to admit that Nicolas Ramage was giving a very good imitation of a nervous captain, and Southwick's reminder that he had not eaten for many hours gave him a good excuse to go below.
A sharp rapping on the door woke him and Southwick came into the cabin. When he saw Ramage sprawled on the settee and rubbing his eyes he said apologetically: 'Sorry, sir, I didn't know you were asleep.'
'Just dozed off,' Ramage said blearily. 'I sat down for a moment and -' he took out his watch. 'Why, that was an hour ago!'
'You've had less sleep than any of us,' Southwick commented sympathetically. 'Anyway, sir, the jackstay is rigged! Aitken has his end of the cable secure round a rock and our end is led to the capstan ready. We're just waiting for Aitken to send down the block of the gun tackle.'
With that the Master left the cabin and Ramage went through to the bed place to wash his face. The cabin was hot and stuffy since there was little or no wind and the sun was getting high with some strength in it. He paused for a moment as he dried his face. They had taken two hours up to now, and judging by the time needed to get the jackstay up the cliff it would require three or four hours to sway up the first gun. If they finished by nightfall there would be tomorrow morning to get up the second gun and both carriages. After that, with the Juno safely back at her original anchorage, they were going to have to get another gun to the ledge half-way up the Rock on the other side. Could it be done before the French convoy arrived? If the French arrived too soon, all this work would be in vain. He shrugged his shoulders and finished drying his face. Admiral Davis might also arrive too soon and, if he disapproved, bring everything to a stop...