Ramage & the Guillotine Read Online Free PDF Page B

that no one reading it could guess. It’d be a death sentence for him if it was intercepted.”
    â€œVery well,” the Secretary of State said reluctantly, glancing at the page. When he had finished reading it he said querulously: “The more I read it, the less it seems to tell me!”
    â€œThere are two separate items,” St Vincent said patiently, controlling his notoriously short temper. “First, the troops. The fact that another 50,000 men are at this moment marching towards Boulogne and Calais means a considerable reinforcement: we know Bonaparte has 100,000 there already.”
    â€œBut is that
likely?”
    â€œWhy not? Since he signed the Treaty of Luneville and put the Austrians out of business, Bonaparte isn’t fighting anyone on the Continent of Europe—”
    â€œI know that,” Lord Hawkesbury interrupted impatiently.
    â€œI know you know that,” St Vincent said calmly, “i mention it as a foundation for the point I am about to make, not as fresh news.”
    â€œâ€˜Pologies,” Hawkesbury said, “i’ve had a tiring day.”
    â€œWell, Bonaparte has had three or four months to re-equip his armies and make new plans—”
    â€œAnd he’s decided Great Britain is his last enemy,” Hawkes-bury said in a return of his impatient autocratic manner.
    â€œThat’s reasonably obvious,” the First Lord said, clearly controlling himself with difficulty, “but until now, until the early summer, he lacked allies.”
    â€œWhat allies?” Hawkesbury was puzzled, as St Vincent had intended him to be.
    â€œThe east wind and a calm sea,” St Vincent said grimly, “and a new moon.”
    â€œWhen can you anticipate that trio coinciding?”
    â€œThe new moon is predictable enough—three weeks’ time. The east wind—anyone’s guess. We’ve always anticipated that Bonaparte would have to pick a new moon period, but we need more specific intelligence, otherwise we’d have to bring the Channel Fleet up to the Strait of Dover once a month.”
    â€œAn east wind, eh?” Hawkesbury mused. “What if Bonaparte can’t wait for it? Can he risk sailing his invasion Flotilla in a west wind?”
    â€œHe could, but ideally he wants if not an east wind then some wind with east in it, because his barges won’t go windward. They need a following wind.”
    â€œAre you saying we’re safe with a west wind? I’ve never heard that view before.”
    â€œA
strong
wind with any west in it will keep ‘em in port; but we aren’t completely safe in a light west wind or a calm; the small barges and gunboats could be rowed across. Hard work but possible.”
    â€œA long row, eh? That’ll give your frigates and line-of-battle ships a chance to get amongst them!”
    St Vincent shook his head. “I’m afraid a sea as calm as that would mean no wind, so the fleet and the frigates would be becalmed.”
    â€œOf course,” Hawkesbury snapped, annoyed with himself for not realizing that. “Very well, the agent hasn’t told us much, then.”
    â€œWe’ve only discussed the first item,” St Vincent said sourly, “which is that 50,000 extra troops are making for Boulogne. The second item—” he picked up the paper, “says less but tells us more: Bonaparte is about to ask Bruix—he’s the Admiral commanding the Invasion Flotilla, as you know—how soon the flotilla can sail.”
    â€œHmm—I can’t see
that
tells us much,” Hawkesbury said.
    St Vincent folded the paper with great deliberation and put it down on the table. “On the face of it, it tells us that Bonaparte the General considers the Army is ready to cross the Channel, and he’s asking Bruix the Admiral for the earliest date the Flotilla can embark it. The question is urgent only if the Flotilla can be made ready fairly