"Sidi Rezegh itself is just an outpost in the sand, with a small fort. Just a harbour with a L-shaped breakwater made up of great rocks. Originally a Roman port, I understand. There are five or six other galleys left there. The men were taken off to a barracks; the women are kept in a big building which is the brothel."

"You seem to know a lot about the place," the Admiral commented.

"It was hard to stop the men we released from talking about it and the plague: they just wanted to share their experiences - and their woes about their women."

"Quite so, quite so," Rudd said sympathetically. "It's just as well they did."

There was a tone in the Admiral's voice that made Ramage look up quickly. "How so, sir?"

"The King wants those men, and the women in the brothels, rescued, .and he has made the request to the British Minister, who has passed it on to me as an order. You are obviously the man for the job."

"It's a bit of a task for a single ship, sir," Ramage observed. "Unless you can let me have two or three hundred soldiers."

"I have in mind something better than that," Rudd said expansively. "I propose giving you a frigate and two sloops, and I have arranged for you to have three hundred soldiers, which you can split up among the ships in any way you choose."

"Thank you, sir," Ramage said, reflecting that a King and a Minister meant a lot of pressure applied to the Admiral (and to the general commanding the British troops). Obviously, the Admiral considered it an important part of his future to be able in time to report to the Minister that the King's wishes had been carried out. There would be honours for the Admiral, too, and Ramage could imagine the self-serving despatch the Admiral would send to their Lordships at the Admiralty. He would begin with clearing out the Saracens from the southern ports of Sicily, emphasize how pleased was the King of the Two Sicilies, and then go on to describe how all the prisoners, men and women, had then been released from Sidi Rezegh. And it would all seem to be the Admiral's idea, and their Lordships would be suitably impressed. The role of Captain Ramage would, of course, be mentioned but, Ramage guessed, the person who received most credit for the rescue would be the captain of the other frigate: the man who was obviously the Admiral's favourite but who was, equally obviously, junior to Ramage on the Post List, so he could not be given command of the little force.

Oh what a tangled story it all was; it angered Ramage that it was rare to be involved in any operation without favouritism entering the story. Favouritism? Why not call it nepotism?

This fellow Rudd was as guilty as any other admiral: he had sent off two/favourite captains in their 74s to deal with the Frenchmen on Capraia, but it had fallen through. The favourite frigate captain had not been sent off to deal with the Saracens along the Sicilian coast because there was every likelihood of failure. No, the Calypso had been sent off, so that the scapegoat for any failure would be this newly arrived Captain Ramage, not the Admiral's favourite.

Now the Admiral's favourite was having to go on the Sidi Rezegh expedition because the Admiral dare not risk any failure, so he was sending all the ships he could spare, two frigates and two sloops. If the expedition failed, the fault was obviously Captain Ramage's, since he would be in command of the whole affair. If the expedition succeeded, well, much of the credit was due to the favourite, who conducted himself with great skill . . . Ramage could see the copperplate writing of the Admiral's despatch to the Admiralty.

Very well, that was the way things were done, and the only thing to do was to smile gracefully and do one's best - and, if one was honest, pray for the day when one became the favourite of a powerful admiral.

Suddenly Ramage felt almost ashamed of his thoughts: he had been something of the favourite of the late Lord Nelson; he must have aroused jealousy in other captains less favoured. Now he was out of luck but, if he was fair, that was no reason to get cross with this other wretched frigate captain. If you succeed, he told himself, no one can blame you, just as his recent success against the Saracens had made Admiral Rudd change his tune - to some extent, anyway.

"Yes," Rudd said judiciously, "another frigate and two sloops-and three hundred troops - should do the job. The troops will be a major's command, Major Henry Golightly, but of course he will be told that he takes his orders from you. The frigate will be the Amalie, Captain Herbert Roper, and the sloops the Betty, master and commander Jason King, and the Rose, master and commander William Payne. Your orders will be delivered by noon tomorrow, and by that time the others will have received theirs, and know that they are under your orders. The troops will embark tomorrow evening, by which time you should have let them know in which ships they are embarking. Now, is there anything else you want to know?"

Ramage thought for a few moments. "No, sir. I have to water and provision the Calypso, and it would be better if the other ships were watered and provisioned for three months."

Rudd nodded. "Very well, but do you expect to be away so long?"

"No, sir; but we shall be taking on five or six hundred men and women at Sidi Rezegh, all being well, as well as three hundred soldiers, so we shall need extra water and provisions."

"Quite so, quite so," Rudd said, revealing that he had not thought of it. "As many people as that?"

"They took around a hundred and fifty men and women from each port, sir. And I presume that if I find slaves taken from ships I should release them as well?"

"Yes, of course. But if any are French . . . ?" Obviously Rudd was doubtful about freeing any of the King's enemies, but Ramage was certain.

"If they are French they'll still be our prisoners. We can't leave them chained up for the rest of their lives in the hands of those heathens."

"No, of course not," Rudd said hastily. "But if there is any haste, the Italians have priority: you do understand that, don't you?"

"Of course, sir. There's just one other thing: I'd like to call at all the ports from which prisoners were taken - those places where we delivered men we freed from those two galleys - so that I can question the men more fully."

Rudd frowned. "Why do you want to do that?"

"Well, sir, I am going to attack a port I have never seen and for which I have no charts. Nor do I know where the slaves and the women are kept, except that they are in barracks somewhere there. These men know all the answers. After some questioning, I should be able to draw a serviceable chart to work with."

"Of course, of course," Rudd said impatiently, as though it was his idea originally and Ramage was questioning it. "It's most important that you have a good chart. And make sure it shows the barracks, or whatever it is, that the slaves are kept in. And the brothel."

"Yes, sir, I will," Ramage said, hard put to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "I'll pay particular attention to that."