"If he knew, " Edwards said.
"He knew all right." Marden's voice was harsh now and his face drawn by strong emotion. "Most of us who've been out here a few years had heard enough stories about Wallis. Now we know they were true. Not only true, but worse than we suspected. Far worse. And Sir Hyde knew; he's seen Wallis's journals with the figures for flogging. I only wish we had the latest one."
"Well, everything we say here is secret, " Edwards said, "and just as well. However, " he added quietly, "we should guard our tongues."
He looked across at Gowers. "We'll consider our verdicts in a moment, but don't write your fair copy of the minutes until I give you the word." Then he asked the captains: "Have you any questions? Do you want Gowers to read the minutes of today's evidence? How about you, Teal?"
"I wish I was away on a cruise, " Teal muttered, as though the words forced their way from his mouth. "I wish I'd never heard a word of all this. I'll never trust a ship's company again! "
"Steady now! " Marden said. "Do you flog your men like Wallis did?"
"Of course not. A dozen lashes a month at most, and that's the same man who always gets regularly drunk: hoards his tot, knows he'll get a dozen if he's discovered, and regularly swills it down and then sits on the fo'c'sle in the lee of the belfry and sings bawdy songs at the bosun."
"Nothing wrong with a man who sings bawdy songs at a bosun, " Edwards muttered. "Now, Banks, we haven't heard much from you. Any legal questions?"
Banks, junior of all the captains except for Ramage, shook his head. He was a shy man and not a little overawed by Edwards. "I'm like Teaclass="underline" it's hard to believe what we've just been hearing."
"You, Ramage, " Edwards said. "If you'd had any you'd have spoken up, eh?"
"Yes, sir. Some of my questions were aimed at helping me with the next operation."
"I noticed that. You'll have a copy of the minutes, though, and the Admiral's going to let you see the minutes of the other trials. We thought it wiser not to let you see them until we've reached a verdict on this one. Now, gentlemen, are you all ready to deliver your votes?"
A naval court martial was like the trial of a peer before the House of Lords, or the decision of the Privy Counciclass="underline" the junior voted first, followed by the rest in order of seniority, so that Edwards's vote would come last. The court's verdict would represent the majority of votes, and the system, so long a tradition, was intended to avoid a junior officer being influenced by a senior.
The four captains agreed they were ready.
"Read the charges again, Gowers, " Edwards said.
As soon as the deputy judge advocate had finished, the president said: "I shall first name the accused man and then you give your vote. This will be on all the charges, unless you choose to divide them up. Now, Ramage, I'll start with you. Do you find George Weaver guilty or not guilty?"
"Not guilty, sir."
"Do you find Albert Summers guilty or not guilty?"
"Guilty on all the charges." Guilty, Ramage thought, but not entirely responsible. Wallis had murdered himself; he had baited the men beyond endurance. He had killed some; the survivors had killed him. Yet the verdict provided only two choices, guilty or not guilty . . .
"Henry Perry?"
"Guilty on all the charges."
"Henry Harris?"
"Guilty on all the charges."
Gowers noted down Ramage's vote, and the next to be asked was Captain Teal, who hesitated over the first name. "Weaver admits he was guilty of 'concealing a mutinous design'."
Edwards shrugged his shoulders. "You are one of the judges, " he said. "Vote as your conscience tells you."
Ramage had already given a lot of thought to that single charge, but Weaver had turned King's evidence anyway. In a strict court of law the man was guilty of concealment, but he had no choice; Ramage believed him when he said his throat would have been cut if he raised the alarm.
"Not guilty, sir, " Teal said.
"Not guilty on all the charges, you mean."
"Not guilty on all the charges, sir."
The other captains voted in the same way - Weaver not guilty and the other three guilty - and after Captain Edwards had cast his vote he said formally: "The sentences for the three guilty men are covered by the Articles of War. They are mandatory and we can't change them. We all know the wording but Gowers had better read them out." He glanced at a paper in front of him. "They are Articles number three, fifteen, sixteen, nineteen, twenty-eight and thirty-six."
Gowers picked up a slim volume containing the Articles and began reading: "Article number three. If any officer, Marine, soldier or other person of the Fleet shall give, hold, or entertain intelligence with any enemy or rebel without leave from the King's Majesty ... or his commanding officer, every such person . . . shall be punished with death.
"Article number fifteen. Every person . . . who shall desert to the enemy, pirate or rebel, or run away with any of His Majesty's ships ... or any ordnance, ammunition, stores or provisions ... or yield up the same cowardly or treacherously . . . shall suffer death . . .
"Sixteen. Every person . . . who shall desert or entice others so to do, shall suffer death or such other punishment as the circumstances . . . shall deserve. . . . Nineteen. If any person . . . shall make . . . any mutinous assembly . . . and being convicted . . . shall suffer death . . .
"Twenty-eight. All murders committed by any person in the Fleet shall be punished with death . . . Thirty-six. All other crimes not capital . . . which are not mentioned in this Act . . . shall be punished according to the laws and customs in such cases used at sea."
As Gowers had read the Articles, Ramage had been making some notes. Four of the six Articles gave the court no choice: anyone found guilty had to be sentenced to death. The fifth gave death "or such other punishment"; the sixth, the Captain's Cloak, left it to the court. The five captains had found three of the men guilty; the law said, four times, that the sole penalty was death. There was no alternative.
"Bring in the prisoners, " Edwards said. "We need not prolong things, although all of them, except Weaver, know what to expect."
CHAPTER EIGHT
Next morning Ramage was rowed over to the Invincible. He had no stomach for questioning three men who, within a day or two, would be hoisted by the neck to the foreyardarm of the flagship, but it might eventually save lives on board the Calypso.
He was taken to Captain Edwards and found him gloomy, his face as dark as his cabin was light from the early sun. "Sit down, Ramage. I have the minutes of the other Jocasta trials here and you can read 'em before you talk to the prisoners. Are you feeling all right?" he asked suddenly.
"I don't enjoy this sort of thing very much, sir, " Ramage admitted.
Edwards glanced up, startled. "What do you mean - cutting out the Jocasta?”
"No, sir! Courts martial and questioning condemned men."
"That's reasonable enough. Nastiest trial I've ever seen - although I'd warned the Admiral, he was badly shaken when he read the minutes. Badly shaken, " he repeated. "He's worried in case we might have taken the questioning too far, where Wallis was concerned. I must admit he has a point. It didn't seem so at the time, but when you read the minutes . . ."
"I'd have thought it was unavoidable, sir."
Edwards shrugged his shoulders. "A case like this isn't straightforward, you know. Anyone reading those minutes - Their Lordships, for instance - are going to ask why Wallis wasn't warned to ease up . . ."
"Perhaps Sir Hyde didn't know."
Edwards stared at Ramage. "What do you really think, eh? Man to man . . ."