'Judging from the condition of the Alerte,'Aitken said, 'it could be both. I've seldom seen so much stretched rigging and bare wood. They must be getting desperately short of all sorts of stores. But sending the yards down doesn't make it seem they expect a convoy within the next few days.'

'I wonder what the Achille does when a convoy is due. Does she sail and meet the convoy a few hundred miles out in the Atlantic? Or wait ten miles or so offshore and just escort the convoy in for the last part? Or does she wait off Cabrit Island, at the south end of Martinique? It's hard to know - the convoy could be a couple of weeks late: perhaps more.'

'Do you propose to sail out and wait, if he shows signs of getting ready for sea?'

'No - we'll follow him and wait. He and the convoy are bound to meet somewhere and some time, and that's where we'll tackle him, I think.'

'It all sounds rather hit or miss, as far as the French are concerned.'

'They don't have much choice,' Ramage said. 'That's the trouble with being blockaded. From the French point of view the blockade isn't - or wasn't, before we arrived - being imposed here. Oh no, it is our cruisers off the coast of France that are making it dangerous for that convoy. It has got to escape them to get here, and it might well accidentally meet one of our ships of the line which just happens to be on passage. And now Admiral Cameron has the ship of the line he wanted - us, in other words - he can impose a close blockade of the island.'

'Well, we made a good start by taking the Alerte!'

'Yes, but we mustn't let the Achille slip through our fingers. The French may have another ship of the line escorting the convoy. So we might find we have to tackle two ships of the line before we can get at the merchantmen.'

'It doesn't give the Achille much time to get under way, unless she has a rendezvous at a certain date.'

'Perhaps the convoy will send a frigate ahead, to warn the Achille to sail and meet them,' Ramage said. 'That's quite likely.'

Aitken grinned cheerfully and said: 'That might give us yet another frigate to snap up!'

'Certainly I doubt if she'll expect to find a British seventy-four waiting for her. I think we have had just a frigate or a brig keeping an eye on Fort Royal for a long time. I had the impression from Admiral Cameron that he couldn't spare a seventy-four, until we arrived.'

'I get the impression, sir,' Aitken said, 'that we have not been taking the blockade of Martinique very seriously.'

Ramage nodded. 'I think you're right; but put yourself in the admiral's place. You're very short of all types of ships, and you know a convoy rarely comes to Martinique. Are you going to keep a ship of the line off Fort Royal - if you have a spare one - or are you just going to keep an eye on the place using a frigate or a brig?'

Aitken thought for a few moments and then said: 'One forgets he has responsibility for Trinidad, Grenada, St Vincent and St Lucia, quite apart from the Main coast and Martinique.'

'Yes. He's lucky that Guadeloupe comes under the Leeward Islands station, otherwise he'd be even more hard pressed.'

'We seem to be sympathizing with admirals,' Aitken said ruefully, it must be because we're in a ship of the line now, not a frigate!'

'It's probably old age,' Ramage said. 'We're getting on in years and we're growing benevolent.'

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The Scourge came in sight just seven days after leaving for Barbados, and in reply to the signal for her captain, Lieutenant Bennett arrived on board the Dido just as the men were being piped to dinner.

He brought a letter from Admiral Cameron congratulating Ramage on the capture of the two frigates, and Bennett told him what had happened to the mangoes. It turned out that Cameron had served in India and knew the fruit well, and thought it a good idea to try to plant them in the West Indies. He was therefore planting half the trees in Barbados and sending the other half to Jamaica.

More important, as far as Ramage was concerned, the Scourge had brought back every man who had formed the prize crews for the Alerte and the Volage. As soon as Bennett told him this, Ramage gave instructions to Aitken to send the Dido's boats to collect them.

Ramage then gave Bennett his orders: he was to resume his patrol off Fort Royal, and the Dido would move further south, to cruise off Diamond Rock. If the Scourge saw any sign that the Achille was preparing to sail she should make the signal to the Dido, which would immediately move north to see what was happening. If, on the other hand, the Dido sighted a convoy coming round the south end of Martinique she would engage immediately.

Bennett had just left to rejoin the Scourge when Kenton and Orsini arrived back on board the Dido, both excited at being back.

'What sort of trip did you have in the Alerte?'Ramage asked.

'Fine, sir: she's a fast ship. Very like the Calypso. Her bottom was very foul, so she didn't go to windward too well.'

'Did you see Admiral Cameron?'

'Yes, sir. I gave him your despatch. He was delighted. He remembered that he had complained to you about the shortage of frigates, and made some joke about appreciating that you had listened to what he had said. He was very friendly, sir. And he knows about mangoes.'

'Yes, Bennett told me. Well, if the trees take well, perhaps we can sample the fruit the next time we go to Barbados.'

'We'll have to be out here for a long time, sir; I don't think those trees will fruit for two or three years.'

'A pity, mangoes are beginning to intrigue me. I hope they'll make a welcome change from pawpaw and oranges!'

'I'd give anything for a good apple,' Kenton said. 'You can't get your teeth into any of these West Indian fruits, they're far too soft.'

'Yes, it's a pity apples and pears don't grow out here. I've never understood why olives don't thrive, either: they grow in the hottest and driest spots in the Mediterranean, so I don't see why they don't grow here. After all, the Spaniards brought the orange here from Seville, and the banana from the Canary Islands. Who'd have thought they'd flourish in this climate?'

'By the way, sir,' Kenton said, 'the admiral is going to plant a couple of mangoes in his garden. He says he won't gain much by it but his successors will be grateful - providing the mango likes the West Indies!'

Shortly after dawn four days later Ramage was walking up and down the quarterdeck, soon after the lookouts had been sent aloft, when there was a hail. The Scourge was steering down towards them from the north, the lookout reported. 'What the devil does he want?' Kenton muttered, talking to himself.

The Dido was two miles to the westwards of Diamond Rock and the brig was off Cap Salomon, about four miles away, when she was sighted coming clear of the land.

Did Bennett have something special to report? Ramage wondered. That seemed the only explanation of why she would leave her cruising station, unless they were short of water, and wanted some casks from the Dido.

'We'll steer up to meet her,' Ramage told Kenton. The wind was light, from the east, the sea was calm, and it looked as if it was going to be a typical hazy July day, punctuated by showers and weak sunshine. July was almost always a rather depressing month, starting off the hurricane season. It was unusual to have fully fledged hurricanes this early; instead, at three- or four-day intervals, there were these days of plain dull weather, sometimes with a brisk wind but always the dull cloud scudding through from the east. It would be different in August and September, when this sort of weather could quickly turn into a hurricane, or at least a storm, and a ship had to find shelter or make an offing, well clear of land, where she could ride out the hurricane.