Ramage's Signal

The rope tails of the tackles all led to the ground at the middle of the eastern side and were made up separately on large cleats, each of which had numbers from one to five painted on it corresponding to the shutter it controlled. One series of numbers was in red; the other in yellow. Ramage was puzzled for a moment, and then realized that a signal to Aspet would have to be reversed, as though seen in a mirror, for Le Chesne to read it properly.

The three seamen and Orsini were examining the ropes and the shutters, and Ramage pointed out the reason for the different positions for the red numbers and the yellow. Then Orsini found a ladder fixed to the framework and leading up to the small platform which, as the sun rose, they could now see quite clearly fixed on top. Orsini scrambled up and a minute or two later called down: 'There's a small flagpole and a couple of flags bundled up, one red and the other yellow. Just as the book says.'

'Stay up there', Ramage said. 'You have the telescope. Can you see the tower to the east yet?'

'Yes, sir, but I wouldn't be able to distinguish the flag.'

Ramage looked at his watch. 'What about the one to the west, Aspet?'

'I can make out the tower clearly, sir, but the flags would be difficult. Both towers have high land behind them in the distance. It won't affect seeing the shutters, but a waving flag ...'

'Very well. We'd better try out these shutters before the other towers start their watch. You stay up there and keep a lookout', he told Orsini. 'You' - he pointed at Stafford and Jackson - 'haul on the purchase marked in yellow with "1".'

The two men gave a prodigious heave, there was a heavy thud and Rennick, who was standing farther back and was looking up, shouted: 'That's the top one - you're showing "A", but remember you're only hoisting up a light shutter, not a maintopyard!'

'Lower gently', Ramage added. 'We don't want to spend the rest of the morning doing repairs.'

'Flag, sir!' Orsini yelled, 'from Aspet.'

'Hoist your yellow one', Ramage called, 'only don't be too quick about it.'

After Orsini had it hoisted Ramage said: 'Are you ready with your telescope and the crib for the alphabet? Very well, lower your flag and call down the signal letter by letter.'

'C...I...N...PQ...' Orsini called . 'Now a space - ah, it starts again, UVW.. .A.. .I.. .S.. .S.. .E.. .A.. .U VW.. .XYZ ... S.. .O.. .N.. .T... .A.. .R.. .R.. .I.. .U VW.. .E.. .S..., space, figures signal, 3.. .4. Now the flag hoisted and dipped twice, so it's the end of the message.'

'Hoist your yellow one once', Ramage said, turning to Jackson. 'Well, that's an easy signal for you to start with. "Cinq vaisseaux sont arrivés", Barcelona is telling Toulon "Five ships have now arrived", and don't forget the "34", which identifies the station. You saw how the single signals PQ and UVW were used for the Q in "cinq" and the V in "arrivés"?'

'Yes, sir, and they don't seem to hurry, do they?'

'Just as well', Ramage said, and called up to Paolo: 'Hoist your red flag and watch for Le Chesne to answer.'

A full five minutes elapsed before an exasperated Paolo shouted: 'They're answering now; they've just hoisted a yellow.'

'Lower yours', Ramage said, and to Jackson he said: 'Have you the correct halyard for "C"?' Then, before Jackson had time to answer he shouted to Orsini: 'Did Aspet's shutters open simultaneously when there was more than one?'

'It varied, sir. A very slack crowd over there.'

Maybe so, Ramage thought, but Foix is not suddenly going to become the fastest station in the whole chain. He walked back a few paces and joined Rennick, looking up at the shutters.

'Very well, let's have "C".'

The shutter slid up and opened at the bottom right-hand corner.

'Now "I".'

Ramage noticed that the pattern for 'I' was the opposite of 'F' - the top one and the upper of the two on the left.

Jackson and his team had just finished 'vaisseaux' when Ramage looked at his watch.

'Slow down, you're sending twice as fast as Aspet.'

The American laughed at some comment from Stafford. 'I was just telling Staff, sir, that this is a good way to teach him how to spell, and he was saying it was too fast.'

Ramage took a small book from the leather pouch and handed it to Rennick. 'Give that to Orsini when he's finished: that's his signal log. All messages to be signed and the time of receipt and sending noted down. And make sure he records whether the signal is going east or west.'

With that he looked round to see Aitken coming up to the mound, having just finished his inspection of the camp. Although Ramage did not know whether the seamen and Marines would be occupying them for a few hours, days or weeks, he wanted to examine the huts and, confident that Paolo and Jackson would be able to transmit the message, walked with Aitken towards the nearest hut, the most westerly, and the nearest to where the gig had landed.

Almost at once he noticed a well-cultivated garden, fifteen yards square and with a big cask at one corner and a watering can beside it. Some vegetable that Ramage did not recognize was growing in neat rows.

'The lieutenant said they provided everything for themselves except dried goods', Ramage commented. 'They must enjoy gardening.'

'There are four plots like this, sir', Aitken said. 'And the well is thirty or forty yards along the track past the guardhouse. Three cows live in a fenced-in meadow along with the powder magazine.'

Ramage was not sure whether Aitken saw any irony in that. It was not that the Scot lacked a sense of humour; rather that it took a lot to surprise him.

By now they had reached the first hut, walking along a roughly paved path, and Aitken held open the door. The building, the lower half stone and the upper wood, but substantial and cool, held six beds. This must be the quarters of the signalmen. There was a locker beside each bed, and Ramage remembered the French lieutenant saying that the chief signalman kept the station's telescope under lock and key.

He glanced at the windows and door to determine which was the coolest bed, looked at the padlock on its locker and then noted that none of the other lockers could be secured.

He saw Aitken was wearing a cutlass. 'Prise off the door, please', he said, and the startled Scot slid the blade into the gap on the hinge side of the door while Ramage held the locker steady between his knees. The door flung open with a crash and Ramage, without looking down, said: 'Take out the telescope. If it's better than the one Orsini has, let him have it.'

Aitken grinned as he examined the glass. 'You'd make a good magician, sir.' He noted the tripod fitting, pulled out the tubes, adjusted the focus by looking out through the door and up at Orsini perched on his platform, and then slid them shut with a snap. 'It's a very good glass; much better than the one the boy has.'

He tucked it under his arm as Ramage finished inspecting the room. The beds were strong but crude, the mattresses were stuffed with straw, and there was a table and two long forms.

'I was thinking about these gardens, sir', Aitken said cautiously.

'You feel like an hour's weeding?' Ramage joked.

'No, sir, but if we're not staying long we might as well collect the fresh vegetables, and milk the cows, and if we're staying a mite longer, it'd be worth watering the plants.'

'I've no idea', Ramage said, but went to the door, followed by Aitken, and pointed up to wispy clouds which were beginning to come in from the northeast. 'I have a feeling the mistral will be blowing in a few hours, and all this low land over there to the northwest isn't going to give the Calypso a scrap of shelter.'

'I'd spotted the clouds but that's the first sign of a mistral I've ever seen', Aitken said. 'It's a strong wind, isn't it?'