It was getting hot in the great cabin: the ship being moored with her stern towards the beach presented her broad transom to the east, and the sun was beating through the sternlights on to their backs. As soon as Gowers finished reading the charges, Captain Edwards signalled the provost marshal to have the curtains drawn. The material was thick - it had to stop light escaping at night when the Admiral was at sea and wanted lanterns in his cabin - and the cabin was soon only dimly lit by sunlight sparkling on the water and reflecting through the four gun ports.
Captain Edwards tapped the table with his gaveclass="underline" "All witnesses save the first will withdraw." He said it with a curious intonation which made Ramage glance up: as far as he knew Aitken was the only witness, yet three officers rose from the chairs behind the prisoners and left the cabin. They left noisily, scraping the chairs, and all the prisoners glanced behind them, alarmed and curious, obviously puzzled over who they could be.
Captain Edwards was obviously going to be a good president of the court: his voice was authoritative but not abrupt, his orders brief without being curt. "Call the first witness, " he said.
"Lieutenant James Aitken, " Gowers said, picking up the Bible and selecting a card, which he handed Aitken. "Place your right hand on the Bible and make the oath written here."
Aitken took the oath and then went to the chair facing the president and only six or eight feet from Ramage.
"You are James Aitken, a lieutenant of the Royal Navy, and formerly the acting commanding officer of the Juno frigate on the fifth of June this year?"
"I am, " Aitken replied, only the broadness of his Scottish burr betraying his nervousness.
Edwards leaned forward, indicating that he was about to take over the questioning: "Relate to the court what happened on the fifth day of June."
"The Juno was on passage from off Martinique to Antigua and we were four leagues west of the north-western tip of Guadeloupe. We sighted a brig to the east of us and gave chase."
"What colours was she flying?"
"None at first, but she soon hoisted an American flag."
"Did she try to avoid you?"
"No, sir. We came up to her and I ordered her to heave-to."
"What was your purpose in doing that?"
"I wanted to see if she had any British subjects in her ship's company, sir."
"Very well, then what happened?"
"I boarded her with ten men. I was short of officers, " he explained. "I took the list of the Jocasta’s ship's company and inspected the American brig's papers."
"Did you find any of the Jocasta's men on board?"
"At first I found one name, Albert Summers. I told the American master that this man was a mutineer from the Jocasta and demanded that he be produced."
"Was he produced?"
"Yes, sir, and at the same time - or, rather a few minutes before, because he was waiting nearby - another man came up to me and said he was from the Jocasta and wanted to give himself up."
"What was his name?"
"He said it was George Weaver."
"Did that name appear on your list?"
"No, sir."
"Point him out."
Aitken indicated the round-faced man at the other end of the line.
"What did you do then?"
"When Albert Summers was brought before me I accused him of being one of the Jocastas and told him I was putting him under an arrest."
"Then what happened?" Edwards asked quietly.
"He became very excited. He admitted he had served in the Jocasta but said he wasn't the only one."
"What did you understand by that?"
"It was a slip of the tongue but I assumed from his manner and gestures that there were others on board the brig using false names. I told him to identify them, but he refused."
"How did you discover them?"
"I asked the American master where his men had been signed on. Weaver and Summers were among the last names in the ship's articles, so I suspected they had been signed on while the ship had been in La Guaira or Barcelona - the log showed they were her last ports."
"What did you do then?"
"I instructed the American master to muster all the men he had signed on in any port on the Main."
"And he did so?"
"He did not agree readily, " Aitken said dryly, "but Weaver offered to point them out - the former Jocastas."
"Did he do so?"
"After a few minutes. He was most savagely attacked by Summers, who tried to strangle him and called him a traitor."
"Point out the prisoner Summers."
Aitken indicated the man nearest to him. Ramage had been speculating which of the men he was, and had finally guessed he was this man who had an air of evil and viciousness about him. Thin-faced with thinning black hair, his eyes too close together and his nose long and thin, the skin over the bridge stretched tight, he was the man that any officer would watch. Shifty, lazy, troublesome, he was typically the worst in a press-gang's harvest. Indeed, Ramage thought, he was probably a jailbird, released from prison into the custody of the press-gang.
Edwards nodded and Aitken resumed his evidence. "We secured Summers and tended Weaver. He then pointed out two more men - the other prisoners, " he said, gesturing to the two standing in the middle of the line. "I asked the American master if he had signed those men on in La Guaira, and he admitted taking on two there and two at Barcelona. That agreed with what was written in the ship's articles."
"Only these four, then?"
"So he said, and Weaver confirmed it, sir. The master signed a document to that effect, and his mate witnessed the signature."
As Aitken produced a paper from his pocket Gowers interrupted: "The witness must speak more slowly. I have to write down every word, and . . ."
The paper was handed over the table to the president, who read it and passed it to Gowers. "This is an exhibit, so keep it safely." Gowers gave a sniff, as though the instruction was a slur on his competence.
"What did you do then?" Edwards asked Aitken.
"I took the four men in custody. The American master demanded a receipt for them, saying he would protest to the American government. I gave him one - and warned him of the dangers of signing on mutineers."
"Very sound advice, " Edwards commented dryly. "That completes your evidence?" When Aitken nodded, Edwards looked up at the prisoners. "Do any of you have any questions to ask this witness?"
Weaver shuffled forward a pace - a move which made one of the Marine sentries swing round to watch him.
"By your leave, sir, I do."
"Carry on, then, but speak slowly so the deputy judge advocate can write it all down."
"I came up to you the moment you boarded, didn't I, sir?" Weaver asked Aitken.
"I think you did, " Aitken answered. "I can't be sure because I was looking for the master. But you were waiting to speak to me, that was obvious."
"Was my name on your list, sir?"
"The name George Weaver was not."
"Did you -" the man paused. The careful way that the president, Gowers and Aitken had been speaking, lapsing from time to time into the jargon of courts martial, was obviously bothering him, and the president said quickly: "Just phrase your questions clearly, as though you were talking to a shipmate."