'Would you just repeat briefly, Your Excellency, exactly what you are proposing. Slowly, because I want Mr Aitken to write it down, so that we have a record for my admiral.'

Van Someren was almost thankful because for the captain's own sake he ought to have something in writing to show his senior officer - indeed, he would have been much wiser to have demanded a document from the Dutch. Yet, van Someren realized, if surrender terms are agreed and signed, Ramage will have no use for such a document. He thought how satisfying that his English was coming back to him. Talking English and French to Maria when she was a young girl had done wonders for her command of both languages, and he bad to admit it had been good for him, too. Now, to choose the words, words for naval officers, not diplomatists . . .

'As Governor of Curacao, I wish to surrender this island, with all its people, fortifications, troops, stores, vessels and armaments, to His Britannic Majesty - ' he paused when Aitken raised a hand for him to go more slowly - 'in return for His Britannic Majesty's guarantee of protection of the island and its people.'

'A straight exchange,' Ramage said. 'We get the island, you get defended against these republicans. These rebels, rather.'

One has to smile at such bluntness. A diplomatist would have taken five minutes to say the same thing. "Yes, reduced to its simplest terms, that is so.'

'And, Your Excellency, you give your word of honour that the situation in the island is as you have described it?'

'You ask a great deal! I cannot possibly give you my word of honour about that because I have had to rely on the reports of patrols, and they have now been called in. In all honesty I cannot say what the island's position is at this moment I can give you my word - and I do - that what I have told you is truly the position as I understand it.'

One had to be honest with this young man. He was not guileless; far from it. But obviously he had no time for all the tact, vagaries and deceptions normally used by diplomatists: if he accepted the surrender of the island, clearly he wanted to know exactly what obligations it brought him.

'You want a guarantee that the island and its people will be defended by the British?'

'Yes.'

In face of such a simple question one could give only a simple answer and the question and the answer were critical: this Lord Ramage might lack (or spurn) the approach of the diplomatist, but he had a sharp enough mind to distil what really mattered.

And now he is shaking his head. His lieutenant has put down his pen and Lausser gives a muffled sigh which is quite unnecessary and tactless: there is no point in revealing disappointment to this young man. Disappointment! Hardly the word to use when a man shaking his head means your eventual execution, and God knows what treatment of your wife and daughter . . . But one must smile. One must remain cheerful. One must bluff, too.

The prospect of reporting to your commander-in-chief that you have captured the island of Curasao does not appeal to you, My Lord? I would have thought that it would be - how do you say, "a feather in your cap".'

The idea appeals to me, Your Excellency, but you ask for a guarantee that the British defend the island. I am the person who - for the time being, and that is the only time that really matters - has to give that guarantee.'

'But I can see no difficulty .. .'

'Your Excellency - ' the voice was crisp now, van Someren noted - 'I have about two hundred seamen and forty Marines. How can I possibly guarantee to defend you with such a small force?'

There are my own troops as well! Together they make a strong force.'

Again he shook his head. 'You assume that because I have two hundred and forty men I can land them all like a few companies of infantry. But only the Marines have any training as soldiers. The seamen have been barefooted for months, and if they put on boots or shoes I'm afraid their feet would be blistered within an hour. And I need to keep fifty men on board.'

'Very well, if you don't want to fight. . .'

Again those eyes. It was an insulting thing to say, and not really meant: the words were only a measure of the disappointment at realizing that the Calypso would be sailing out of Amsterdam within - well, a few hours.

'Your Excellency, you should not assume that because we captured a French frigate yesterday without firing a shot we did not want to fight'

'Accept my apologies, please.' It was the only way, and one wanted this young man's respect. 'But is there no way you can help us? Have I not shown you that the French are now as much our enemies as yours?'

'I may be able to help you, Your Excellency, but not on your terms.'

What is he offering? Is he a sly fellow after all? Have I misjudged him? No, it is not possible. Anyway, words cost nothing except time. They can always be denied or twisted.

'But I have not insisted on any terms 1'

'You offer to surrender, Your Excellency, on one condition. Perhaps I should have said "condition", not ''terms",'

'Please explain more fully.' There might be some hope yet 'I cannot guarantee to defend the island. I can accept the island's surrender and hope that my commander-in-chief will agree to send troops and ships for its defence. But four weeks or more would pass before they arrive, even if my admiral agrees, and that would be much too late. The next four days are the critical ones for you. If you can survive the next - four days you will be safe for more than four weeks.'

'But we can't'

'No, I don't think you can. Your Excellency.'

'And you refuse to help us?'

'As things stand, I can't At the moment you are our enemy - you forget we are here under a flag of truce. If I helped you, I would be guilty of treason, of helping the enemy.'

And of course he is quite right; this Ramage has not let himself be dazzled by the idea of taking the surrender of an island. 'So, My Lord, we reach stalemate?'

He is shaking his head; quite a definite movement But has he an alternative proposal after all? His lieutenant is looking round at him, obviously surprised. Lausser is sitting rigidly in his chair. 'What do you propose, then?' The words sound strangled, but Ramage seems not to notice.

That you surrender without conditions, Your Excellency.'

'But, My Lord, you cannot expect me - why, you could sign the instrument and just sail away, leaving us to be slaughtered by these rebels.'

'I could.' And now he looks me straight in the eye. 'But then all I would have would be a worthless sheet of paper, not an island, so do you think I would?'

'No, I do not' In all honesty one has to admit that 'But why do"you reject my condition?'

'Your Excellency, I have told you. I can't sign a document guaranteeing you something which cannot be guaranteed. Some men would sign a document guaranteeing to make the sun rise in the west I am not one of them.'

"What do you suggest we do?' And here at last in the sixty - third year of my life, I, Gottlieb van Someren, Governor of Curacao, once honoured with several titles which had been held by many forebears but now officially addressed as 'Citizen', am asking a young British frigate captain what he suggests I do with the island I govern. The ironies of wars and revolution - and of Nature's delays too: where is the Delft? 'You have only one choice, Your Excellency. I think you know what it is.'

'I prefer to hear it from you.'

'Surrender the island without any condition, and put yourself under the protection of His Britannic Majesty. I repeat the last part - "put yourself under the protection of His Britannic Majesty". You get no guarantee about anything.'

'How will that help me or my people?'

Now he gives a boyish grin; not an artful or sly grin, but one of satisfaction.