"The bleeding," Bowen said with a wink, "I've got to stop it or he'll die."
"Hear that, Bosun?" Ramage said. "You're quite right; you are bleeding to death. Five minutes, from the look of it."
The man groaned again and Ramage said crisply, "Stand back, Bowen. Now, what's happened to the Marchesa?"
"Oh God, I'm dying - the pain, sir ... I've got a wife and two children..."
"The sentry had three children. Who hit him?"
But Bowen was a surgeon with scruples, and he said emphatically, "Sir, I can't be responsible for what happens if -"
"You're not responsible," Ramage snarled as he knelt beside the Bosun again, turning the man's face so he could not avoid Ramage's eyes. "If I'm not mistaken you now have about three minutes before you go. What's happened to the Marchesa?"
"You're murdering me ... If I tell ... oh, the pain ... if I tell, will you let the Surgeon..."
"Yes," Ramage said, and added bitterly, "I'll save you for the hangman's noose."
"T'was Harris," the man whispered. "He gagged her and dragged her out and passed her over to the rest of them. They were supposed to take her forward."
"Who killed the sentry?"
"Harris, sir. I just caught him as he fell."
Ramage picked up the two pistols the Bosun had been carrying, checked that they were loaded, and gestured to Bowen. "Carry on."
He waved to Yorke. "I'm going to find out what's happening on deck. Are you coming?"
Yorke picked up Harris's pistol, which Ramage had pitched on to the settee. "Delighted," he said. Captain Wilson, still in his nightshirt and with his moustache drooping, waited cheerfully at the door, a pistol in each hand, and followed them.
At the top of the companionway Ramage paused for a few moments while his eyes adapted to the darkness; then he saw Much and Southwick standing beside a man at the wheel, with another - was it Stafford? - holding a pair of pistols aimed at three bodies sprawled by the binnacle. A group of men waiting at the taffrail were presumably the rest of the Tritons.
Suddenly Jackson was at his elbow. "Mr Southwick said to wait before we winkle out the packetsmen, sir. Says they've kidnapped the Marchesa."
He was speaking in the dull monotone which Ramage had heard only once or twice before but knew was the warning that the American was sufficiently roused to kill without compunction. We are a pair, Ramage thought sourly; maybe it is the quietness that misleads people.
"Stand by me a moment," he said, and did a quick sum. The Bosun, Harris and three men by the binnacle: five accounted for. One of the packetsmen had been killed when the privateer arrived. That left six packetsmen below, and a couple of boys.
One Triton was dead, one was there at the wheel, two were guarding Harris and one guarding the three packetsmen. Two more were needed as lookouts. That left five Tritons plus Yorke and Wilson. He needed Southwick to handle the ship, and Much would have to act as quartermaster and help at the wheel if it became too much for one man.
Seven men against six packetsmen holding Gianna as a hostage. Think, he told himself savagely: a few moments of clear thought now may save her life; the slightest mistake will kill her. He gripped the pistol butts as though trying to crush them.
Very well, try to guess what the packetsmen - the mutineers, rather - planned. Obviously they intended to use Gianna and me as hostages to force Southwick to hand over the ship. Or perhaps, since they could not be sure they could make prisoners of the Tritons, force him to sail the Arabella to a Spanish port - only a few hours' sailing from here. Right, now they have lost the Bosun and Harris. Does that leave them without a leader? Probably: with such a small group of comparatively unintelligent men, the leader would carry out the most difficult part of a plan, taking the most reliable man with him. That pointed to Harris, because the Bosun was genuinely terrified of him.
Right, six mutineers are down below holding Gianna. Presumably Harris handed Gianna to them before coming to my cabin. Those six men heard a shot. They still don't know who fired it: all they do know is that Harris and the Bosun haven't returned, and the ship is still under our control.
Their only offensive weapon is Gianna, and Gianna alive. And their only defence, too. If they kill her they know they'll never get control of the ship: we will simply guard the hatch and sail the ship into Plymouth with six mutineers trapped down on the messdeck.
The six of them are probably arguing about that now. Even the most stupid of them must know Gianna has to stay alive to be of any use. Can I be sure of that? I have to be; it's a risk I must take because Harris is the man with the answers and I need ten minutes to make him talk. If I try to loosen the Bosun's tongue, I will have Bowen protesting. Yet the Bosun's tongue will be easier to loosen than Harris's. So I'm going to start with the Bosun, and if Bowen wants to get soft-hearted about it he can go and sit by the belfry for an hour or two: my questions and the Bosun's answers may be the only things that will save Gianna's life.
Have I forgotten anything? Gianna's face keeps getting in the way of the thoughts.
Ramage walked over to the binnacle and gestured to Southwick, Yorke, Much and Wilson to gather round. Quickly he told them what little he guessed and then gave his orders.
"Southwick, you have the conn and keep Much with you and one man at the wheel. I want two lookouts, one forward and one aft. These men" - he motioned to the three packetsmen lying by the binnacle, covered by a Triton with pistols -"put them in irons: we can't spare a man to guard them. I'm taking Jackson and Stafford with me and I want Rossi. Maxton can guard Harris. Pick two men to help Captain Wilson. Keep the rest with you.
"Now, Wilson: I want you to cover the forehatch with a couple of men. Take musketoons but be carefuclass="underline" I don't want any shooting. They may send up someone to talk with us, but don't let more than one man on deck at a time. Is all that clear? Very well, carry on."
He tapped Jackson on the arm. "Fetch Rossi and tell Maxton to keep a close watch on Harris. If he gives any trouble, he can knock him out, but I want that man kept alive..."
Turning to Yorke, Ramage said quietly, "Have I forgotten anything?"
"Not that I've spotted. I reckon you've got half an hour before those mutineers make up their minds what to do next. Shall we go down and have a chat with the Bosun?"
As Ramage hesitated, Yorke thought: he's a cool one. The Marchesa is down on the messdeck, probably with a mutineer's pistol stuck in her ribs, and he's as calm as if she was still in Cornwall. But he's changed in the last few minutes: now he's as cold and supple as a rapier blade.
Then Ramage looked straight at him and said, "I'm taking Rossi and Stafford down with me. Either the Bosun or Harris are going to talk. It might be-"
"A trifle messy," Yorke interrupted. "I should hope so!"
They found the wounded Bosun lying on the table in the saloon, secured by lines across his chest and hips against the rolling of the ship. The big gimballed lamp swung with the roll of the ship and weird shadows slipped back and forth across the saloon. Bowen was standing over the man's leg, the table holding him against the lee roll.
He glanced up as they came in and Ramage saw his face was dripping with perspiration. "Ah - just too late to lend me a hand. I'm about finished. Then perhaps I can have a couple of men to lift him into a cot; he'll be more comfortable swinging; the rolling makes the leg jerk on this table."
" 'Swinging' is the right word," Ramage said sourly. "Have you stitched him up?"
"Yes, both sides."
"Both sides?"
"Yes, sir; the shot went right through, of course. Missed the bone and the femoral artery: if that had been severed, he'd have been dead in a few minutes. At first I feared it was - the light is bad in your cabin, sir," he explained.