Ramage heard footsteps on the companionway and a moment later Southwick knocked and bustled into the cabin, his eyes red-rirnmed, the flesh of his cheeks sagging with weariness, but in good spirits. He sat down in a chair with a groan, massaging his back, then when Ramage looked inquiringly he said hurriedly: 'Don't mention it to Bowen, sir; he'll only want to slap on a mustard plaister, and they don't do a damned bit o' good.'

'Well, how many plaisters does the Surcouf need?'

'None at all, sir,' Sauthwick said with a triumphant grin. 'She's ready to get under way the minute her sails are bent on.'

'Our spare suit - can we alter any of them to make them fit? Cut out some panels or sew on some more? Her yards look shorter than ours.'

'That's just it,' Southwick said gleefully, slapping his knee, 'all her sails are on board! Sails, clewlines, buntlines, blocks - everything! I reckon they were just about to get them up from the sail room when the best of her men and the first lieutenant were taken off and sent to the schooners.'

Ramage gave a sigh of relief. 'What about provisions, powder and water?'

Southwick dug into his pocket and pulled out a grimy sheet of paper, which he carefully smoothed out. I don't know what they intended to do with her, sir, but we know they stripped the other frigate to fit her out, and she's provisioned for three months at our establishment. I know the French usually have a ship's company half as large again as us, but ...’

'Perhaps they were going to send her back to France.'

'Could be, sir. Anyway the water's fresh, and from what the cooper says the casks were well scoured before they were filled. The powder is very good quality - the gunner says its as good as ours. Salt pork and salt beef, a lot o' rice, fresh bread - 1 swear it didn't leave the bakery more than a week ago. Not a weevil in it.'

'Have you made an official inventory yet?' Ramage inquired cautiously.

'Me, sir?' Southwick asked innocently. 'Oh, no, it'd take a week. No, I only had time to have a quick stroll through the ship with the purser, gunner, bos'n, carpenter and cooper. You didn't mention an official inventory. Proper inventories and survey, sir,' he said with an archness that would have done credit to a bishop's wife, take time: two or three days at least.'

'In the meantime,' Ramage said, as though talking to himself, 'any rogues oould go on board and plunder the ship: they could take off provisions, water, powder . . .'

'And rolls of canvas, firewood, new holystones - she has a score or more unused in the bos'n's store - new leather buckets, a complete set of surgical instruments, a dozen live sheep: oh dear me, sir, there's no telling what they could take if the prize crew weren't keeping a sharp lookout.'

It was a great temptation; the Juno could stay at sea for many extra weeks without provisioning; with several tons more fresh water, for instance, she would not have to go down to St Lucia or across to Barbados to fill her casks; the sail-maker would welcome the extra bolts of canvas . . . But it was risky: the problem would be to account for the extra stores in the Juno's books. If she was desperately short of water or powder or provisions, he would be justified in taking what he needed, but Rear-Admiral Davis knew the Juno was well-provisioned, so it became a matter of prize money. Everything on board the Surcouf would be valued, including the ship herself, and the Juno and her Captain would eventually get their share of the prize money, as would Rear-Admiral Davis. It would be a considerable amount, and by a bit of good fortune once the Admiral's eighth was deducted the rest would go to the Junos. Every British ship in sight at the time of the capture had a right to a share, but the only other British ships were the two captured schooners manned by Junos.

He would risk it if he could take all the blame, but it would mean involving too many others who would also be brought to trial if the Admiral wanted to make an issue of it. The Master, the bos'n, purser, gunner, at least two of the lieutenants . . . An idea that had come to him when he saw the Diamond Rock for the first time - and which he had dismissed as absurd almost as soon as it appeared - was gnawing at him again.

'Cheeses, too!' Southwick said as the memory struck him. 'Never seen so much cheese in all my days, sir, and tubs of butter. Seems a pity to let all those provisions go to Barbados when all we have to look forward to for a change of diet is goat's meat from the Diamond ...'

Ramage jumped up, put a paperweight on the letter he had been drafting, grabbed his hat and said to Southwick: 'Come on, we're going for a short cruise in the cutter.'

An hour later the cutter had completed a circuit of Diamond Rock and the men were resting at the oars with the boat drifting twenty yards from a flat, rocky ledge behind which was an enormous cave, its entrance yawning black-mouthed and, as Southwick commented, looking as if a great dragon would emerge at any moment, breathing fire and smoke. There was very little swell as it was too early for the Trade wind to have set in.

'This is the only possible landing place,' Ramage said. 'We'll chance it and inspect the big cave - and the others, if we have time.'

Ramage pointed to the ledge. 'Put us on shore there,' he told Jackson. 'Go in stern first and hold the boat there just long enough for Mr Southwick and me to jump on to the rock, then stand off.'

'Aye, aye, sir,' Jackson said. 'Rossi and I can give you a hand and Stafford can take the boat out until -'

'Mr Southwick and I can take care of ourselves,' Ramage snapped. 'You stay in the boat, and while you're standing off make sure you note any odd rocks: you might be coming back here a few times.'

The men bent to the oars while Ramage and Southwick scrambled across to the stern. 'Looks slippery, sir,' Southwick warned. That green weed ...'

A few moments later Ramage jumped, landed safely and turned to give Southwick a hand. 'Welcome to the Diamond,' he said, and stood watching for a moment as the oarsmen rowed steadily to get clear.

The Rock towered above them almost vertically. Apart from the wide ledge on which they stood and a flat section beyond, it was a home for goats and precious little else. But the cave was enormous, with several more smaller ones nearby and ones higher up the rock face. Ramage eyed the ledge, which formed a projecting point and gave a little shelter to the cove. A gun mounted here would protect it very well, and the surface of the rock was flat enough to allow for the recoil.

He turned towards the cave and saw Southwick about to enter it, the sheer size of the gaping hole dwarfing him. A moment later the Master vanished. Ramage heard him shouting and began running, thinking he had fallen in the darkness and hurt himself. As he heard the echoes, he realized that Southwick was using his voice to get some idea how far back the cave ran into the Rock. It was like entering an enormous cathedral and as his eyes became used to the darkness he saw the long stalactites pointing down from the roof. Yet the air was dry and it was dry underfoot: he had been expecting it to be dank, the sides running with water and green with moss.

Southwick loomed up beside him. 'Big enough to stow a complete frigate,' he said, and there was no mistaking his meaning.

sIf anyone could sway a couple of 12-pounders up to the top of the Rock, they'd need a magazine, and this cave is dry enough,' Ramage murmured, obviously doing little more than thinking aloud. 'They'd need a place to store provisions and water. The guns' crews would stand a couple of days' watch aloft while the others were down here; then they'd change over. I don't know how they'd get to the top - rig a jackstay, most probably ... It would be easier to work that out from the Juno, using a telescope: you can't see a damned thing just staring up from the ledge.'