“See you at supper, the middle of the Second Dog,” Lewrie told him, rising to see him out.

“Anything else, sir?” Pettus asked.

“Lay the table, set out the wines on the sideboard, and have an eye towards my best-dress uniform for the morning, with all of the frippery attached,” Lewrie instructed with a slight sneer. “Commodore Popham don’t like me showin’ up without ’em, as if I’m a pauper. Make sure Chalky doesn’t get at it before I put it on, though. Commodore Popham most-like doesn’t care for cat hair, either.”

“Aye, sir,” Pettus said with a smile.

He sure as Hell didn’t care for my appearance when he met me ashore, Lewrie thought; He didn’t even like my borrowed horse!

As soon as Fort Knocke had been surrendered and taken over by General Baird’s troops, and the eastern end of Cape Town was safely in British hands, the Commodore had come ashore to take part in the negotiations for the Cape Colony’s complete surrender, natty in a dress uniform complete with sash and star of his own knighthood, his boots blackened and polished to a high gleam, with a fore-and-aft bicorne hat adrip with gold lace. A Dutch senior officer’s horse had been provided him at once, a glossy blooded hunter, and he had ridden the bounds of the fort and nearby environs with Baird and his staff as grandly as King George taking the air in Hyde Park.

Then he met Lewrie—he whose boots were still filthy, with begrimed breeches, stained with saddle leather, dust, spent gunpowder smoke, and the juices of roast game meat, whose shirt collars and neck-stock were sweat-stained and loose, whose waist-coat also bore the mark of rough feeding, and whose older-style cocked hat had turned tannish with African dust, and lacked its “dog’s vane” cockade, which had been shot off. At the moment, Lewrie was in need of a shave, to boot.

“Good God, sir!” Popham had grimaced. “You must send to your ship for better uniform at once, Lewrie. What will the Dutch think of us to see our officers so … scruffy?”

To which Lewrie had replied, “They’ll be studyin’ the toes of their shoes, sir, in shame of their defeat, rather than lookin’ at us.”

And when the Dutch governor had formalised the surrender, and the British had marched into the town to take possession of it and the seaward fortress, Popham, in the vanguard of the parade, looking as if he would wave to expected cheers from the conquered, barely had more than a dis-believing glance at Lewrie, who had stubbornly stayed in his shabby condition.

“Clean hands and fingernails, Jessop,” Lewrie said, coming back from that rather sweet reverie.

“Right, sir … if I must,” the lad answered.

“Must and shall, you scamp,” Lewrie shot back, grinning. “For now, I think I’ll take a wee nap in a soft bed, for a change.”

“It does make a nice change, sir,” Pettus agreed. “Same as I’m looking forward to my hammock tonight, after all that hard ground, and all the bugs.”

“Sorry I put you through that,” Lewrie apologised, yawning.

“Oh no, sir!” his cabin steward exclaimed. “Why, I wouldn’t have missed it for anything, and I’m glad you took me along, for it was a grand adventure, and a rare thing to see! The beasts, the scenery, and the battle? Even if we didn’t see any elephants.”

“Well, I’m glad someone liked it,” Lewrie said with a laugh. “And, do we spend much time anchored in Table Bay, you may see your elephants yet. Wake me one hour before the supper. Here, Chalky! I need pesterin’!”

He rolled into his swaying bed-cot, plumped up the damp and mildew-smelling pillows, and was out to the world within a minute, oblivious to his cat’s wee mews for more attention. Chalky tried pawing, to no avail. Finally, he padded up to the pillows and lay down nose-to-nose and employed the intent, concentrated stare that made humans uncomfortable enough to wake. But no, even that did not work this time. Chalky gave up and slinked round to cuddle against his master’s chest, closed his eyes, and waited for later.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Pettus, and the rest of Reliant’s crew, got to see their elephants, and a great many other beasts, on their shore liberties, and got a few hours of perfect ease in Cape Town’s public houses, eateries, and brothels. As important as Cape Town was as a mid-way stop-over point for the rich China and East Indies trade, though, it was not all that large a place, so liberty had to be rationed. At least half of General Baird’s five thousand soldiers garrisoned the fortresses with the rest out scouting and mapping at any given time, so they placed a heavy burden on the taverns, eateries, and whores, so shore liberty had to be given to only one watch of each ship in turn, to the two-decker warships first, which ate up several days before the frigates were allowed to send only half their crews ashore in rotation on any given day.

Officers were another matter, of course, since they did not stand Harbour Watches in port, and they were allowed ashore by their captains as often as they wished, barring demands of the service. It was safe enough to allow shore leave, even in what had been a hostile foreign harbour, for Cape Town and its environs were well-patrolled by the Army, and the terms of surrender offered to the Dutch were of so mild a nature that most locals simply shrugged their shoulders and submitted to new masters with little ill will.

The Dutch army of around five thousand men had lost seven hundred in killed and wounded, and perhaps two or three hundred more who had just ridden off and disappeared before the formal surrender; local militia men who would not leave their families and lands. What uniforms they had worn they had shed, and had melted back into the back country, some to hitch their waggons, gather their cattle, their horses, and their Hottentot slaves, and trek off for the wild frontiers of Cape Colony. The bulk of them, though, were offered return to Holland in British transports, at British expense, after giving their parole not to take arms against Great Britain ’til properly exchanged for British prisoners of equal rank. And, since the British Army and the Dutch Army had not faced each other in the field since the disastrous expedition into the Low Countries in 1798, those returnees would be twiddling their thumbs on parole for a long time to come!

Lewrie and his officers enjoyed their jaunts ashore, as well. There were hunting parties with proper tents and camp equipment, this time, and lots of game meat wolfed down round blazing campfires, with selected seamen accompanying them. They organised sports competitions, watch against watch, and ship against ship, in open fields out past Fort Knocke. Lt. Westcott sketched and painted everything in sight—when he wasn’t chasing quim—and Lt. Spendlove satisfied his curiosity about Africa’s exotic flora and fauna, whilst Lt. Merriman and Marine Lt. Simcock revelled in galloping rented horses ’til they and their mounts were worn quite out and soaked in sweat, returning to the ship still whooping their triumphs at races against the officers of the 34th or the 20th Light Dragoons, or the local equivalent of steeplechasing.

For a time, Lewrie hoped that he would be assigned to escort the Dutch back to Europe; in point of fact he was sure that Reliant would be given the task by the odd way that Commodore Popham looked at him whenever they met face-to-face. Popham was “hail fellow, well met” with almost everyone he dealt with, but Lewrie sensed a faint distaste towards him. The odd, lifted brow, the tongue-in-cheek comments anent his shore adventures, and the way Popham would cock his head and leer in his direction amongst the meetings and supper parties made Lewrie certain that Popham almost resented him for his favourable mentions in General Baird’s despatches to London!

Is he jealous, by God? Lewrie was forced to wonder; Did I shine too bright for his liking? Steal some of his lustre from his victory? Which made Lewrie recall Popham’s early comment about how someone in the Navy would, must, become as famous as the late Admiral Nelson—was Popham aspiring to that title, and worried that others might beat him to the punch? Whatever the reason, Lewrie got the impression that Popham would be happy to see him and Reliant gone.