Book 4 - The Mauritius Command

by Patrick O'Brian

  'Magicienne and the Kite and Solebay transports must go and support him at once,' said Jack. 'The rest of the squadron will stay here, in case the sea goes down by the morning.' Colonel Keating agreed: he seemed glad of the authoritative statement, and Stephen had the impression that he had lost his sense of being in control of the situation—that this impossibility of communicating with the visible shore was something outside his experience.

  Throughout this time Stephen and Farquhar had stood by the hances, out of the way, two figures as unregarded as they had been at the time of the military councils, where they sat virtually mute, dim among the splendid uniforms; but now, after a hurried consultation with Farquhar, Stephen said to Jack, 'We are agreed that if Colonel Fraser has a firm footing on the other side of the island, I should be put ashore there.'

  'Very well,' said Jack. 'Mr Fellowes, a bosun's chair, there. Pass the word for my coxswain. Bonden, you go aboard Magicienne with the Doctor.'

  What remained of this anxious day off the Rivière des Pluies was taken up with watching the surf. A little before sunset half an hour's downpour of a violence rare even for those latitudes deadened the white water of the breakers so that the channel was a little clearer, and a subaltern of the 56th, born in the West Indies and accustomed to surf from his childhood, volunteered to swim ashore with Colonel Keating's orders to Colonel McLeod. He launched himself into the rollers with the confidence of a seal, vanished, and reappeared on the crest of a wave that set him neatly on his feet at high-water-mark: shortly afterwards McLeod, covering the subaltern's nakedness with a plaid, marched off at the head of his men to seize the little post at Sainte-Marie, deserted by its occupants, to hoist the British colours, and to regale upon the stores left by the sergeant's guard.

  Yet darkness fell with its usual suddenness in the tropics, and it was impossible to send boats in through the reviving turmoil. The ships stood off and on all night, and in the morning the combers were still roaring up the beach. There might, Jack agreed, be a slight improvement, but it was nothing like enough; and his strongly-held opinion was that they should proceed at once to Grande-Chaloupe to reinforce the troops landed from the Sirius and Magicienne, leaving the Iphigenia and some transports to land at the Rivière des Pluies later in the day if the sea went down. Happily Colonel Keating shared this opinion to the full, and the Boadicea made sail, passed Saint-Denis, where the soldiers swore they could distinguish gunfire on the far side of the town, rounded Cape Bernard, and stretched south-south-west under a cloud of canvas for the beach of Grande-Chaloupe, obvious from miles away by the congregation of shipping and the now unmistakeable gunfire in the hills above.

  They stood in, and here, on the leeward side of the island, what a different state of things was seen! Calm beaches, lapping billows, boats plying to and fro: and up in the hills companies of redcoats regularly formed; companies of turbans; guns at work, and still more guns being dragged up by ant-like lines of seamen.

  The Colonel and his staff raced ashore, all weariness forgotten; troops, guns, heavy equipment began to pour from the frigate. Jack's duty bound him to the ship, however, and he stood watching through his telescope. 'This is a damned poor way of being present at a battle,' he said to Mr Farquhar. 'How I envy Keating.'

  Colonel Keating, provided with a captured horse on the beach itself, spurred his mount up the paths to Colonel Fraser's forward post, where they both surveyed the scene. 'You have a charmingly regular attack here,' said Keating with great satisfaction, directing his spy-glass right and left. 'And a most judicious defence: the French have made a very proper disposition of their forces.'

  'Yes, sir. It is as regular as one could wish, except for the blue-jackets. They will rush forward and take outworks before they are due to fall: though I must confess, they have done wonders in getting the howitzers up. But on the whole it is pretty regular: over on the right, sir, beyond the signal-post, Campbell and his sepoys have made the prettiest set of approaches. They are only waiting for the word to charge: that will carry us two hundred yards nearer their demi-lune.'

  'Then why don't you give it, Mother of God? They have clearly outflanked the enemy already. Where is your galloper?'

  'He is just behind you, sir. But if you will forgive me, there is a parley in train. The political gentleman from the ship came up with a clergyman and a party of tars and said he must speak to the French commanding officer. So knowing he was the governor's adviser, we beat a chamade and sent him across with a flag of truce. It seemed to me proper; and yet now I half regret it . . . Can he be quite right in the head, sir? He desired me to to keep this bone for him, saying he would not trust it to the French for the world.'

  'Oh, these politicoes, you know, Fraser . . .' said Colonel Keating. 'It will come to nothing, however. They are very strongly entrenched on the hill; and even if McLeod comes up from the east, it will take us a good week of regular approaches to press them to their main works.'

  They were studying the main works with great attention through their telescopes when an aide-de-camp said, 'I beg your pardon, sir, but Dr Maturin is approaching with a French officer and a couple of civilians.'

  Colonel Keating walked forward to meet them. Stephen said, 'Colonel Keating, this is Colonel Saint-Susanne, who commands the French forces on the island. These gentlemen represent the civil administration.' The two soldiers saluted one another: the civilians bowed. Stephen went on, 'From a desire to avert the effusion of human blood, they wish to know the terms upon which you will grant a capitulation covering the whole island: and I have taken it upon myself to assure them that the terms will be honourable.'

  'Certainly, sir,' said Colonel Keating, with an icy glare at Stephen. 'Gentlemen, pray step this way.'

  Jack and Farquhar, prosaically eating an early elevenses and wondering vaguely, repetitively, why there was no longer any firing in the hills, were interrupted first by cheering on the shore and then by an ensign bearing a scribbled note. 'Forgive me, sir,' said Jack; and he read, 'My dear Commodore—Your friend has disappointed us—he has done us out of our battle, as neat a battle as you could wish to see. We had driven in their piquets—outflanked their right wing—and then quite out of order a capitulation is proposed, to avert the effusion of human blood forsooth—they accept the usual terms—honours of war, side-arms and baggage, personal effects and so on—so if you are satisfied, please come ashore to sign together with your obliged humble servant, H. Keating, Lieut.-Col.'

  The Commodore laughed aloud, beat his massive thigh, held out his hand and said, 'Governor, I give you joy. They have surrendered, and your kingdom awaits you. Or this island of it, at the least.'

  Chapter Seven

  His Excellency the Governor of La Réunion sat at the head of his council table: he now wore a uniform as splendid as that of the gold and scarlet colonels on his left hand, more splendid by far than the weather-worn blue of the sea-officers on his right; and now there was no question of his sitting mute. Yet there was no trace of hauteur to be seen on his eager, intelligent face as he tried to guide the meeting towards a unanimous approval of the Commodore's revolutionary scheme, his plan of an instant attack upon Mauritius, with simultaneous landings from Flat Island off Port-Louis and in the neighbourhood of Port South-East at the other end of the island. Colonel Keating had been with him from the first; but a distinct inclination to enjoy the fruits of victory for a while, 'to allow the men a little rest', and, more creditably, a desire to prepare the campaign with due deliberation, so that mortars for example did not arrive without their shells, had yet to be overcome; for if so ambitious and risky an operation as this were to fall, the attempt could be justified only by a unanimous vote.

  'I shall echo the Commodore's words, gentlemen,' said Mr Farquhar, 'and cry 'Lose not a moment'. This is the moment at which we have a superiority of five to three in frigates, when we possess a fleet of transports, troops in the first flush of victory, and exact intelligence of the enemy's strength and dispositions on the Mauritius, supp
lied by their own records here.'

  'Hear him, hear him,' said Colonel Keating.

  'With command of the sea we may concentrate our forces wherever we choose. Furthermore, my colleague'—bowing to Stephen at the far end of the table—'assures me that at this juncture, this very favourable juncture, our efforts at sapping the enemy's morale are more than likely to be crowned with success; and we are all aware of Dr Maturin's powers in that direction.' It was not the most fortunate stroke: some of the colonels who had toiled and sweated extremely in the hope of glory turned a sombre gaze upon Dr Maturin. Feeling this, Mr Farquhar hurried on, 'And perhaps even more important, this is the moment at which our hands are free. The Leopard has taken our despatches to the Cape: she will not return. No orders from any authority unacquainted with the exact state of local conditions can take the guidance of operations from the hands of those who are acquainted with them—no new set of staff officers can, for the moment, arrive with a plan of campaign matured in Bombay, Fort William, or Whitehall. This is a state of affairs that cannot last.'

  'Hear him, hear him,' said Colonel Keating, Colonel McLeod and Colonel Fraser; and the fatter, more cautious staff-officers exchanged uneasy glances.

  'Far be it from me to decry patient laborious staff-work,' said the Governor. 'We have seen its gratifying results on this island: but, gentlemen, time and tide wait for no man; and I must remind you that Fortune is bald behind.'

  Walking away from the Residence through streets placarded with the Governor's proclamation, Jack said to Stephen, 'What is this that Farquhar tells us about Fortune? Is she supposed to have the mange?'

  'I conceive he was referring to the old tag—his meaning was, that she must be seized by the forelock, since once she is passed there is no clapping on to her hair, at all. In the figure she ships none abaft the ears, if you follow me.'

  'Oh, I see. Rather well put: though I doubt those heavy-sided lobsters will smoke the simile.' He paused, considering, and said, 'It don't sound very eligible, bald behind; but, however, it is all figurative, all figurative . . .' He gazed with benign approval at a strikingly elegant woman accompanied by an even more willowy black slave-girl, stepped into the gutter to let them pass, they looked haughty, unconscious, a thousand miles away, and continued, 'Still, I am glad they have come to see reason. But Lord, Stephen, what an infernal waste of time these councils are! If it had dragged on another day the squadron would have been dispersed—Sirius is gone already—and I should have had to follow my own scheme. My first duty is to the sea, and I must get at Hamelin before the Bellone and Minerve are back. But as it is, I can combine the two. Pullings!' he exclaimed.

  On the other side of the street Pullings cast off the girl at his side and crossed, blushing a reddish mahogany yet beaming too. 'Did you find anything you liked, Pullings?' asked Jack. 'I mean, in the professional line?'

  'Oh, yes, sir—I was only looking after her for a minute, for Mr—for another officer, sir—but I don't suppose you will let me have her, sir—far too pretty, except for a trifle of worm in her futtocks, her ground futtocks.' Pullings, had been sent to St Paul's in the Sirius when the frigate tore down immediately after the capitulation to snap up all the shipping in the road; he had been told to make his own choice of a replacement for the Groper, and he had done himself as proud as Pontius Pilate. They watched the young woman attach herself to the arm of Mr Joyce of the Kite transport, and as they walked along, Pullings, more coherent now that he was relieved of a sense of guilt—for very strangely his officers looked upon Jack Aubrey as a moral figure, in spite of all proofs to the contrary—expatiated on the merits of his prize, a privateer schooner, copper-fastened, wonderfully well-found.

  At the gates of the government stable-yard they parted, and while Bonden led forth a powerful black horse, once the pride of the French garrison, Stephen said, 'This is not the moment to ask how you mean to combine the two schemes; yet I admit that I am curious to know. Bonden, I advise you, in your own best interest, not to stand behind that creature's heels.'

  'If you will ride over to St Paul's with me,' said Jack, 'I will tell you.'

  'Alas, I have an audience of the Bishop in half an hour, and then an appointment at the printing-shop.'

  'Maybe it is just as well. Things will be clearer in the morning. Bonden, cast off afore.'

  Things were indeed clearer in the morning: the Commodore had seen all the officers concerned; he had all the facts distinctly arranged; and he received Stephen in a room filled with charts and maps.

  'Here, do you see,' he said, pointing to an island three or four miles off Port South-East, 'is the Ile de la Passe. It lies on the reef at the very edge of the only deep-water channel into the port: a devilish channel, narrow, with a double dog-leg and any number of banks and rocks in its bed. The island is pretty strongly held—it mounts about twenty heavy guns—but the town is not. They expect us in the north, where we have been blockading all this while, and most of their forces are around Port-Louis: so if we knock out the Ile de la Passe—and a couple of frigates should be able to manage it—'

  'In spite of the intricate navigation? These are very alarming shoals, brother. I see two and three fathoms marked for a couple of miles inside the reef; and here is a vast area with the words Canoe-passage at high-tide; while your channel is a mere serpent; a lean serpent at the best. But I am not to be teaching you your business.'

  'It can be done. Clonfert and his black pilot know these waters perfectly. Look, here is the Jacotet anchorage just at hand, where he cut out the American. Yes, they should manage it well enough; though of course it must be done by boats and in the night; ships could not stand in against that fire, without being sadly mauled. Then once the island is seized, the French cannot easily retake it: their batteries cannot reach across the inner bay and since they have no ship of force in Port South-East, nor even gunboats, they have no means of getting their artillery any nearer. Nor can they starve it out, so long as we victual it from the sea. So if we hold the Ile de la Passe we deny the French their best harbour after Port-Louis; we have a base for our landing; and we open up all the country out of range of the batteries for your handing-out of broadsheets and culling simples. For their little garrisons in the town and along the coast will scarcely stir outside the reach of their own guns.'

  'This is a very beautiful plan,' said Stephen.

  'Ain't it?' said Jack. 'Keating has already sent some Bombay gunners and European troops into the Néréide, to garrison the place when we have taken it: for obviously the Néréide possesses more local knowledge than all the rest of the squadron put together.'

  'You do not feel that Clonfert's oversetting of the little ship off the Rivière des Pluies throws a certain shade on his qualifications?'

  'No, I do not. It could have happened to anyone in those circumstances, with the soldiers ready to call us shy. I should have tried it myself. But I am not going to give him his head at the Ile de la Passe; I do not want him to be coming it the Cochrane: Pym shall command. Pym may not be very wise, but he is a good, sound man, as regular as a clock; so Néréide, Iphigenia and perhaps Staunch—'

  'What is this Staunch?'

  'She is a brig: came in last night from Bombay. A useful little brig, and in excellent order. Narborough has her, a most officer-like cove: you remember Narborough, Stephen?' Stephen shook his head. 'Of course you do,' cried Jack. 'Lord Narborough, a big black man with a Newfoundland dog, third of the Surprise.'

  'You mean Garron,' said Stephen.

  'Garron, of course: you are quite right. Garron he was then, but his father died last year, and now he is called Narborough. So Néréide, Iphigenia, and perhaps Staunch if she can get her water in quick enough, are to run up to Port-Louis, where Pym is watching Hamelin's motions. lphigema will stay, and Sirius and Néréide will come south for the Ile de la Passe.'

  'The Néréide is not to come back here, so?'

  'To wait for the dark of the moon, you mean? No; we cannot afford the time.'


  'Then in that case I had better go aboard her now. There is a great deal to be done in the Mauritius, and the sooner I get there the better. For I tell you, my dear, that though they are less lethal, my broadsheets are as effective as your—as your roundshot.'

  'Stephen,' said Jack, 'I am convinced of it.'

  'I had almost said, as effective as your broadsides, but I was afraid the miserable play upon words might offend an embryonic baronet; for Farquhar tells me that if this second campaign should succeed as well as the first the happy commander will certainly be so honoured. Should you not like to be a baronet, Jack?'

  'Why, as to that,' said Jack, 'I don't know that I should much care for it. The Jack Aubrey of King James's time paid a thumping fine not to be a baronet, you know. Not that I mean the least fling against men who have won a great fleet action—it is right and proper that they should be peers—but when you look at the mass of titles, tradesmen, dirty politicians, moneylenders . . . why, I had as soon be plain Jack Aubrey—Captain Jack Aubrey, for I am as proud as Nebuchadnezzar of my service rank, and if ever I hoist my flag, I shall paint here lives Admiral Aubrey on the front of Ashgrove Cottage in huge letters. Do not think I am one of your wild democratical Jacobins, Stephen—do not run away with that notion—but different people look at these things in different lights.' He paused, and said with a grin, 'I'll tell you of one chap who would give his eye-teeth to be a baronet, and this is Admiral Bertie. He puts it down to Mrs Bertie, but the whole service knows how he plotted and planned for the Bath. Lord,' he said, laughing heartily, 'to think of crawling about St James's for a ribbon when you are an ancient man, past sixty. Though to be sure, perhaps I might think differently if I had a son: but I doubt it.'

  In the afternoon of the next day, Dr Maturin, preceded by two bales of hand bills, proclamations and broadsheets, some printed in Cape Town and others so recently struck off in Saint-Denis that they were still damp from the press, came alongside the Néréide, six hours late. But the Néréide were not used to his ways; they were in a fuming hurry to be off in pursuit of the Iphigenia, which had sailed at crack of dawn; and they let him drop between the boat and the ship's side. In his fall he struck his head and back on the boat's gunwale, cracking two ribs and sinking stunned down through the warm clear water: the frigate was already under way, and although she heaved to at once not a man aboard did anything more valuable than run about shouting for some minutes, and by the time she had dropped her stern-boat Stephen would have been dead if one of the bale-carrying black men had not dived in and fetched him out.