Paolo looked round for a senior rating but apart from the man at the wheel the nearest was a Marine.

'General quarters!' he shouted. 'Leave the portlids down, and don't underestimate four 9-pounders. If we add up all the guns in the convoy -'

'They don't come to thirty-six', a cheerful Baxter shouted down from the masthead, 'but they'll make a lot o' smoke, sir, an' perhaps bring tears to the Frogs' eyes!'

Paolo looked astern to avoid laughing: he had dreamed hundreds of times of taking his own ship into action; he had imagined himself at the quarterdeck rail in full uniform, dress sword, telescope under his arm, snapping crisp orders to quartermaster, gunner, first lieutenant, master... But the ship in his dreams had been at least a frigate with a crew of 250, not a bedraggled trading brig of 300 tons with a barnacled bottom, four guns and ten men. But at least the ten men had exercised those four guns ...

At that moment Rossi appeared from below.

'Better we fight that frigate with our tongues than our guns, sir', he said in Italian.

'We may not have the choice, but you have the right idea', Paolo said, sarcastically. 'We must think of the right thing to say to the French. Like "What a bella figura you make standing on your quarterdeck, captain!'"

Rossi chuckled at the thought as he went to Paolo's cabin to get the key to the Caroline's pitifully small magazine.

Rennick in the Matilda had long ago identified the distant ship as French and at this moment had all his men, except for the lookout and the man at the wheel, standing in a circle round him.

'Mr Aitken's order, if the convoy is attacked by an enemy ship, is to disperse', he told the men. 'That means we all sail off in different directions. But one of us is bound to be caught, and if the Frogs put a prize crew on board her quickly enough they can go after another ship. In fact if they're awake they can capture all six of us.'

'Prison', muttered one of the Marines. 'I've 'eard about them French prisons.'

'So have I', Rennick said grimly. 'But you remember what Captain Ramage always says ... Come on, now!'

The men shuffled their feet and sucked their teeth, brows furrowed with concentration, and increasingly embarrassed at Rennick's impatience.

'Come on! Come on!'

'Surprise!' the Marine corporal yelled triumphantly. 'Ye gotta do somefing ter surprise the barstids!'

'Exactly', Rennick said, proud that it was a Marine and not a seaman who had come up with the right answer. 'Do the unexpected. Now, what would that Frenchman not be expecting, eh?'

'Us to attack 'im', a seaman said firmly, as if disposing of that possibility once and for all.

'Exactly!' Rennick said once again, slapping his thigh and laughing with delight. 'Mr Aitken can't give us any orders because of the signalling problems, so we must use our common sense.'

He looked round at the eight men, the man at the wheel and the lookout aloft. Ten, led by himself as the eleventh. Well, it could not be helped. Surprise would have to provide the equivalent of the other 290 men he would prefer to have.

'Our common sense tells us', Rennick said firmly, glaring round him for any sign of dissent, 'that if we can save five ships of the convoy, we'll have won.'

There were enough 'Ahs' and 'S'rights' showing agreement that Rennick promptly seized the moment to tell them his plan.

'So we ram the frigate with the Matilda.'

Without knowing that he was repeating a tactic used by Ramage against a 74 only a few days ago, he explained: 'We go for her jibboom and bowsprit. If we can carry them away we'll send her foremast tumbling by the board.'

'They won't arf be cross wiv us', a Marine muttered gloomily. 'Still', he added, brightening up, 'it'll be quite a sight!'

'Good, good', Rennick said briskly. 'As soon as the Frogs recover they'll board us. We don't fight; we surrender. There'll be no dishonour. We'll be outnumbered about thirty to one, and if her foremast has gone, we've nothing more to do. So we'll be prisoners.

'Now listen carefully. Being taken prisoner means marching to prison, maybe across Spain and halfway across France. So make sure you've got shoes or boots, and put on two pairs of socks if there's room. And wear any thick coat you have. You'll look dam' silly now but later, trying to sleep alongside a mountain track in the snow, you'll be glad of every stitch you've got.

'Roll up blankets so you can put 'em round your neck like a horse collar. The French may steal them, but if they don't ... And if you have any money, get below right now and sew the coins into a thick part of your clothing. You've ten minutes to do that, so dismiss!'

Orsini took one more look at the still distant enemy sail and knew she would never notice any unusual move by the Caroline. The idea had come to him just like that, 'out of the blue', a very good expression the English used. But he needed Mr Aitken's approval before trying it - indeed, there might be a dozen reasons why the French would not fall for the trap, but it was worth suggesting, even if it made Mr Aitken angry.

Fifteen minutes later the Caroline was sailing with her larboard bow only a few yards from the Sarazine's starboard quarter, with Rossi at the wheel. Baxter was perched in the Caroline's foreshrouds carefully watching the Sarazine's quarter, which was close enough for him to lob a biscuit into the muzzle of one of her 9-pounders, and giving helm orders to Rossi, whose forward vision was limited by the fo'c'sle so that he could see only her masts and rigging. Orsini was standing on the Caroline's bulwarks right forward, gripping part of her anchor and waiting to get close enough to Aitken, who was sitting astride the Sarazine's taffrail, the mouthpiece of a speaking trumpet to his ear.

'Can you hear me, sir?'

Aitken waved.

Paolo then explained his proposal, Aitken listening carefully. Finally, putting the speaking trumpet to his lips, Aitken shouted: 'It's a good idea and it might work. Try it. I'll leave the timing to you.' He then shouted a word which Paolo could not understand, but Rossi called: 'Va bene, sir, I know it.'

Aitken gave another wave and shouted: 'Good luck, lads; I'll see you all in Gibraltar!'

Paolo walked back to the wheel, his heart thumping with pride and excitement and his face flushed with pleasure, but he was met with a growl from Rossi. 'For how long we stay in this position, sir? Any minute we lose our bowsprit through hitting the Sarazine!'

With a muttered curse Paolo returned from the dizzy realms of convoy tactics to the mundane problem of getting the Caroline back into her position as the second ship in the starboard column. The French frigate, he noted, was about a mile away and tacking once again in the long zigzag to get up to the convoy. On this tack he estimated she would stretch up to the head of the convoy and pass just across the Golondrina's bow, allowing for the convoy's forward speed remaining the same. Unfortunately there was no chance of any change in the wind's strength or direction; indeed, with the sky blue and dappled with small white clouds and the sun still hot, he was reminded of Trade wind conditions. The Mediterranean weather was being kind when the convoy needed it to be at its most treacherous.

Aitken watched the Caroline dropping back into position and had to admit that Orsini was ingenious, particularly considering his age. Was he sixteen yet? The idea might not save them, but certainly it was their only chance. The French frigate was obviously intent on getting ahead of the convoy, and that made sense because, as Aitken reminded himself, by now her captain would be sure the convoy was French, all the ships flying Tricolours, and would have no suspicions. The convoy knew he was their enemy, but the French captain was just following the usual routine. The only thing that would concern him was the whereabouts of the escort and why the convoy was so far south and steering west. And he would know that whoever was the senior captain of the convoy would probably be in one of the two leading ships. It was a pity, Aitken thought, that there had not been time to have the Golondrina and the Caroline exchange positions.