"Do sit down again, Ramage; there is no need to bother the Admiral over a small point like this!"

"That's why I want to speak to him: to me it is not a small point. in fact it concerns the whole aim of the operation."

"Now, now, Ramage," said Arbuthnot, "tell me what is bothering you. Do you want some troops to command?"

"The troops are your concern," Ramage said, determined not to fall into that trap. "I am just saying that my orders are to show you where I landed the French. I can't be expectecd - nor am I ordered - to comb the island looking for the French: that is why you are carrying five hundred troops, quite apart from your Marines."

Clearly Arbuthnot did not want the question referred to Rear-Admiral Rudd: obviously his own orders from the Admiral were more in line with how Ramage saw the situation.

"Very well, Ramage, you point out the landing areas and the troops will be landed to round up these fellows," he said. "Mind you, I shall expect you to co-operate as best you can."

"I assure you I will," Ramage said. "It's simply that I can't search an island the size of Capraia, with all those mountains, with a handful of Marines and a score of seamen."

"No, indeed not," Arbuthnot said. "You just carry out your orders from the Admiral and co-operate with me and Captain Slade - he commands the Phoenix." Back in his day cabin on board the Calypso Ramage described the meeting with Arbuthnot to Aitken and Southwick. Aitken, by virtue of being the first lieutenant, was the second-in-command of the frigate and entitled to know what was going on if only because he would take over command if anything happened to Ramage. Southwick, on the other hand, was only a warrant, not a commission officer: he held his rank by warrant, not a commission, and officially he ranked below the fourth lieutenant, the most junior of the commission officers.

Southwick's strength - why he was brought into many discussions to which his rank did not entitle him - was that he had been master of the little Kathleen cutter when Ramage was given her as his first command. Over the following years - when Ramage had been promoted from commanding a cutter to a brig, and then from a brig to a frigate - Southwick had always gone with him as master. Ramage had pulled many strings to arrange it, but to him having Southwick with him was almost as important as the promotion itself.

With his mop of white hair and benign manner of a country parson, Southwick combined common sense and the courage to express it (particularly when his views might not be popular). If Ramage had been asked to describe Southwick's role, he would probably have said he was a benevolent grandfather who, given the chance to board a French ship wielding his great two-handed sword, was given to bouts of violence.

Now, Southwick was comfortably seated in the armchair while Aitken sprawled on the sofa, and Ramage said: "It seems to me that in the end Arbuthnot is going to expect us to find these damned Frenchmen."

"What's he going to do with all those soldiers?" Southwick asked. "We can muster a couple of dozen Marines and a score of sailors: doesn't seem much compared with five hundred soldiers, as well as the Marines from two 74s and a couple of hundred or so seamen."

Aitken said: "I don't think Captain Arbuthnot has any faith in the soldiers."

"That would explain it," Ramage agreed. "He doesn't want to risk his reputation on five hundred men from the 38th Regiment of Foot."

"I can't say I blame him," Southwick admitted. "Those men have been parading round Naples and getting soft. Suddenly they are going to have to scramble over those hills and mountains of Capraia in the heat and the dust. These French seamen will probably be the first enemy they've ever seen."

"At least they're not Neapolitan troops," Ramage said jokingly. "If they were, I could understand Arbuthnot's nervousness."

"Aye," Southwick said with a contemptuous sniff. "I wouldn't match five hundred Neapolitans against fifty French seamen. Fifty unarmed French seamen."

"That's quite a point," Ramage said. "These seamen will be unarmed, unless they've been able to find some old blunderbusses and fowling pieces in the port."

"Did this Captain Arbuthnot strike you as a bit of an old woman, sir?" asked Southwick.

Ramage nodded. "Yes, and querulous too. I'm inclined to think he's suffering from nervousness at the prospect of handling soldiers."

"It'd be a joke," Aitken said, "if we arrive and find out all the Frenchmen had billeted themselves on houses in the village. It's quite likely because they'll all want a roof over their heads, and the only roofs will be in the village."

Ramage laughed and said: "There'll be a few donkey shelters up in the hills. Flea-infested and smelly, but they'd keep the rain out."

"So what do we do, sir?" enquired Aitken.

"If we have to, we'll send out Rennick with one party of Marines and Sergeant Ferris with another, and Martin and Kenton can take a dozen seamen each - the exercise will do them good. Oh yes, and we'll send off Orsini with a dozen men, too. That'll use up some of his surplus energy."

"Two parties of Marines and three of seamen," Aitken said. "Five search parties. They ought to turn up something."

"Orsini should be useful: he speaks Italian and French, so he'll be able to question local people if necessary."

"And bully them, too," Southwick added. "They might want encouraging to talk, even though it's for their own good. Very stubborn, these Italian islanders. They hate everyone not born on their island."

"Very true," Ramage agreed. "They probably put the British in the same category as the French: stranieri, and not to be trusted."

"What with the islanders, the French and Captain Arbuthnot, it seems to me we're in for a busy few hours. And we don't get a penn'orth of head money, either," Southwick grumbled.

"That's the Admiral looking after his favourites," Ramage said bitterly. "It's not the first time something like this has happened and it won't be the last, but it's hard on our chaps."

"It's certainly hard on our chaps," Southwick said, "though thanks to Mr Ramage and prizes, I don't need the money."

"Yes, when are you going to retire?" Ramage asked teasingly, "and live the life of a wealthy country squire?"

"Ah, a few years yet. Live in the country and you get rheumaticks, and I don't want to have to listen to the same parson preaching the same sermon. Gets monotonous, I should reckon. One thing about this life, it doesn't often get monotonous."

"Don't you reckon slogging to windward for a month against a Levanter is monotonous?" asked Aitken sarcastically.

"Oh yes, but then I never did like going to windward," Southwick said. "Going to windward is for fools and those without an option."

"Well spoken," Ramage said. "I'll try and make sure you're never bothered by anything more strenuous than a reach or a run."

"Thank 'ee," Southwick said. "Tell the Admiral, as well!"