The 23rd of June: that was the day before yesterday, Ramage realized, but La Perla had been delayed by the wait for her troops to come back from the mountains. They had returned to Santa Cruz yesterday; they were due to board today. The Captain-General would know all that, and would expect La Perla to sail for La Guaira by noon.

 Suddenly he awoke with a start, realizing that he had been half asleep while reading. Slowly he repeated to himself what the letter was telling him: a merchant ship loaded with "a particular cargo" important enough to involve the Viceroy and described by the Captain-General as "valuable" was at anchor at La Guaira waiting for La Perla to arrive to escort her to Havana.

 He reached up to the rack of charts overhead, selected the one showing the coast from Santa Cruz to west of La Guaira, and unrolled it on the desk, hurriedly weighting it down with an inkwell at one end and his hat at the other.

 His hand was trembling slightly as he reached for the dividers and measured off the distance between Santa Cruz and La Guaira. Just over two hundred miles in a direct line, but the road ran like a snake over mountain ridges and across valleys, skirting round a great gulf ... A messenger on horseback would have to cover a good three hundred miles, and much of the way must be simply mule tracks climbing over the great saddle of mountains to Caracas, some peaks of which were 9000 feet high. The chart showed few villages and only two small towns on the way, so changing horses would be difficult. No messenger from Santa Cruz with the warning that La Perla had been captured could reach La Guaira or Caracas by land in less than thirty hours - probably more like forty-eight. La Perla herself - the Jocasta, he corrected himself - might make it in twenty-four.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

 Ramage rolled up the chart and told the three men standing round the desk to sit down. All of them were physically weary, worn out by the mental strain of the past few hours and the lack of sleep, but the news that Ramage had just given them had brought a gleam to their eyes.

 "I wonder what 'a particular cargo' means, " Southwick said. "It could be anything."

 "The Captain-General refers to it later as 'valuable', " Ramage commented. "And I can't believe the Viceroy of the Indies would concern himself personally with something unimportant."

 "Ah, you know what these Spaniards are like, sir. It's probably some gift to a minister; a bribe to get something. Or a present for the King."

 Aitken looked up: "It's valuable enough for the Viceroy to want a frigate to escort it."

 "Bulky, though, " Southwick said. "The letter says 'coasting vessels' were bringing it round from Cartagena. Not one vessel, but several."

 "He might have wanted to spread the risk, " Aitken pointed out. "A small amount in several vessels."

 Ramage laughed dryly. "The three of you are dreaming of gold bars and pieces of eight! "

 "Why not, sir?" Wagstaffe asked. "The Dons mine enough gold and silver! "

 "Not along the Main. That comes from Peru and they send it up to Panama. And from Mexico, of course, and that is sent out through Vera Cruz."

 Wagstaffe looked puzzled. "The Spanish Main, sir - I thought this was where Sir Harry Morgan and the buccaneers were always raiding. Along this coast and beyond Cartagena."

 "They raided it, true enough, but as far as I know they usually made their money by ransoming a town's leading citizens. The only time Morgan found a lot of gold was when he marched across the Isthmus to Panama."

 "If the Viceroy is so worried about this cargo, sir, " Aitken said cautiously, "why didn't he send it direct to Havana from Cartagena? Sending it round to La Guaira means an extra six or seven hundred miles . . ."

 "That puzzled me, " Ramage admitted, "but the obvious explanation is probably correct: they just don't have the ships. Probably there was one merchant ship in La Guaira and none in Cartagena. There were coasting vessels in Cartagena capable of the voyage round to La Guaira, but none that could be relied upon - or spared - to get to Havana. It was easier to have the 'one particular cargo' from La Guaira loaded on board in La Guaira itself, with the other one from Cartagena being sent round.

 "The Jocasta's arrival a couple of years ago must have seemed like a miracle: she's the only frigate on the whole coast. Apart from her, the Santa Barbara is probably the only ship o' war they have along the Main."

 "I can believe that, " Southwick said. "We certainly never hear of anything being sighted, or captured."

 "That was why Their Lordships were anxious to get the Jocasta back, " Ramage pointed out. "They didn't want the Dons to have her."

 "But the Dons never used her, " Southwick protested.

 "Blame that on the quill-pushers in Caracas. The Captain-General has been arguing with the man who holds the purse-strings, and they have no money anyway. But make no mistake, they want her desperately."

 "What was she going to do, sir?" Wagstaffe asked. "I mean, before she was ordered to Spain."

 "They were going to send her to sea as a privateer - I think the Captain-General hoped she'd pay for herself with prize money. They couldn't afford to pay enough seamen; that's why they were using soldiers: they are paid by Madrid."

 "So just as she's ready to sail as a privateer, they get orders to send her to Spain, " Southwick commented. "They must be hard up for ships over there; I'd have thought she'd have done more good out here."

 Ramage nodded; he had given that a lot of thought while reading the letters. "I think Madrid has always regarded the Indies simply as a gold mine. As soon as there's enough bullion ready, they send a small fleet to escort it to Cadiz. In between times the Indies have to look after themselves."

 "Pity we don't have gold mines, " Aitken said. "When you want to build another dozen ships of the line you just send to the Indies for some more gold."

 "Hasn't done 'em much good in the past, " Southwick said contemptuously. "They've been digging out gold for nearly 250 years, and neither their fleet nor their army is worth a tinker's cuss."

 There was a knock on the door and Ramage's clerk came in holding several sheets of paper: "The orders, sir, for your signature."

 Ramage took them and sat at the desk. He glanced through the top page, signed it and gave it to Wagstaffe.

 "There you are. Now you are in command of the Calypso, and you send fifty men back to the Jocasta. You're sure you can handle her with the rest?"

 "Quite sure, sir. Sixty men are more than enough."

 "Very well. The rendezvous is given: wait three days and if we don't meet you before then, make your way to English Harbour and give the report to Admiral Davis."

 Ramage signed the report addressed to the Admiral, and gave it to the clerk to take away and seal.

 "I'm sorry to bring you back from the Calypso" Ramage told Aitken.

 The young Scot grinned cheerfully. "I'm glad to be back in the Jocasta, sir. It's not often we get a chance of cutting out ships. I'm getting a taste for it! "

 Ramage turned back to Wagstaffe. "You are satisfied with Baker and Kenton? It looks as though it's going to be watch-and-watch-about for you for a week or two."

 "We'll be all right, sir, although I think they were looking forward to taking the Santa Barbara back to English Harbour."

 "I'm sorry to disappoint them, but if you take a prize on the way back they can toss up for the honour of commanding her."

 The clerk brought back the report for Admiral Davis, and Ramage, after inspecting the seal, gave it to Wagstaffe. He listened to the movement on deck for a few moments. "I think the last of the prisoners are ready to be taken over to the Santa Barbara. Southwick, you'd better send Velasquez to see me."