Ramage 15 - Ramage's Challenge by Dudley Pope

Author:Dudley Pope
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-04-26T23:00:00+00:00

Gilbert turned toRamage.In a few moments the whole position had changed. Was the commandant still half asleep? It was worth a chance.Ramagestepped forward and began speaking to the commandant in Italian, mixing in enough halting French that Gilbert would be able to repeat once he had grasped the idea.

"The orders.. .theysaid a frigate with other hostages would-how do you say-collect your hostages to take them all away, to Toulon. Look!" He turned and, with as much drama as he could summon without laughing, gestured towards Aitken and his men. "There you have some of the cream of the English aristocracy who were in Italy when the Emperor went to war again, and whom I'm exercising. You have some here. At Toulon are many more caught inFrance. I do not know what the Emperor intends, but he wants them all assembled in Toulon.

"Which is why we arrived in the frigate.Clearly you have not even noticed that a frigate waits just off the harbour. Where are your sentries-asleep in the clouds?"

The commandant had understood perhaps a quarter of whatRamagehad said and looked appealingly at Gilbert, who repeated everything in rapid French.

The commandant finally took his hat from the corporal and put it on. "Major, I have not received any orders, but we are a long way from Florence and it is not unknown for messengers to be delayed. But I understand what the Emperor intends, and I will prepare my hostages at once for the voyage. You won't want provisions for them, will you?"

Gilbert, seeing the man's greedy eyes already calculating for how much he could sell the food to the villagers, shook his head. "No, we have provisions enough on board."

"It is hot out here,"Ramagegrumbled in Italian. "Let us get into the shade. A drink would be welcome."

Gilbert translated, and the commandant led the way into the square. The streets were narrow with the houses crowding each other. It was,Ramagesaw, still a medieval town:nothing had changed in the last four or five centuries, except the stucco peeled and was never repaired, paint flaked off. Tiles were replaced after a storm-though judging from a few houses some people did not bother. On one side of the square there was a shallow stone bath used as the laundry place;close by, a well had a cranked handle for winding up the bucket, which looked worn enough to be the original. Beside many doorways were eyebolts for tethering donkeys and, he guessed, where there were no piles of manure, the owners of the houses owned strips of land on the slopes.

There was the butcher's shop, an open-fronted house with two strings of dead wild birds hanging up for sale.Birds whose feathers were red and black, green and yellow, their beaks revealing they were finches and caught in traps. Two doors further down was theverdura, but not much produce was on display-half a dozen cabbages, the outer leaves yellowing, and strings of garlic (regarded by Italians as the best protection against the Evil Eye). At the

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