O'Brian Patrick - Aub-Mat 18 - The Yellow Admiral

The Yellow Admiral

By Patrick O'Brian

Chapter One

Sir Joseph Blaine, a heavy, yellow-faced man in a suit of grey clothes and a flannel

waistcoat, walked down St James's Street, across the park, and so to the Admiralty, which

he entered from behind, opening the private door with a key and making his way to the

large, shabby room in which he had his official being.

He looked over the papers on his desk, nodded, and touched the bell. 'If Mr Needham is in

the way, pray show him up,' he said to the answering clerk. He half rose as Needham

appeared and waved him to a comfortable chair on the other side of the desk. 'Having

finished with poor Delaney,' he said, 'we now come to another gentleman of whom we

have no news: Stephen Maturin. Dr Stephen Maturin, perhaps our most valuable adviser

on Spanish affairs.'

'I do not think I have heard his name.'

'I do not suppose you have: yet you and your people have quite certainly found his cipher

at the foot of many a cogent report. When he is going up and down in the world on our

behalf, as he so often does...' Sir Joseph stifled an 'or did' and carried on, 'he almost

invariably sails with Captain Aubrey, whose name is no doubt familiar.'

'Oh, certainly,' said Needham, who wished to make a good impression on this formidable

figure, but whose talents did not really lie in that direction. 'The gentleman who was so

unfortunate at the Guildhall trial.' This reference to Captain Aubrey's stand in the pillory did

not seem to be well received and to remedy the situation Needham added a knowing 'Son

to the notorious General Aubrey.'

'If you wish,' said Sir Joseph coldly. 'Yet he might also

2be described as the officer who, commanding a fourteen gun brig, took a thirty-two-gun

Spanish xebec-frigate and carried her into Mahon in the year one; who cut out the French

frigate Diane in a boat-attack on the heavily guarded port of Saint-Martin; and who, most

recently, returning with his squadron from a most active cruise against slavery in the Gulf

of Guinea, utterly frustrated the French descent on the south of Ireland, driving a line-of-

battle ship on the rocks, to saying nothing of... Yes, Mr Carling?' - this to a secretary.

'The pardons, sir, engrossed at last,' said Carling, laying them on Sir Joseph's desk.

'Those you asked for particularly are on top.' He made his usual ghost-like exit.

Sir Joseph glanced at their effective date, well before Maturin's departure for Spain,

nodded and went on, 'To revert to Dr Maturin, for whom we here are particularly

concerned, and on behalf of whom we should value any assistance your people can give

us - one of these,' - holding up a parchment - 'refers to him. You probably know more

about the late Duke of Habachtsthal than I do, the kind of men he privately mixed with,

and the creatures he employed for some of his activities.'

'We have a very great deal of material. And the creatures, as you so justly call them, were

the immediate cause of his self-murder.'

'Yes.' Blaine paused, and said, 'I will not make a long story of it, with circumstantial details,

but only observe that he had conceived a hatred for Maturin, who had been the death of

two of the friends in question, putting an end to their traitorous practices; and the

creatures Habachtsthal employed about his revenge found out that before the Irish rising

of ninety-eight he had been a friend of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, that he had committed

some indiscretions in favour of Irish independence, and that with the help of hired Dublin

informers and fresh evidence he might yet be taken up on a capital charge. Furthermore,

he had brought back two transported convicts from Botany Bay before their time and

without leave. Ordinarily I should have dealt with this

3situation much as you dealt with William Hervey's case; but with such high-placed and

influential enmity, I dared not move for fear of making things even worse. Instead, I

advised him to withdraw privately to Spain, together with his protégés and his fortune,

which was liable to forfeiture on such a charge. This he did, adding his little daughter to

the company. Not his wife, who happened to be in Ireland

* I believe there were certain difficulties, since accommodated. All this, you understand,

was before the cruise in the Gulf...'

'Dr Maturin took part in the expedition?'

'Certainly. Not only was it his duty as the Bellona's surgeon but he is passionately

opposed to slavery.' Needham pursed his lips and shrugged. 'He is also an eminent

naturalist, one of our best authorities on comparative anatomy.' In more liberal company

Sir Joseph might have spoken of the paper on pottos, with particular reference to their

anomalous phalanges, that Dr Maturin had read to the Royal Society and the sensation it

had caused among those capable both of hearing what he said and of appreciating the full

import of what they heard: in the present circumstances he carried straight on. This

meeting was wholly necessary from departmental and political points of view, and the files

available to Needham might be of great and immediate value in spite of the man's limited

intelligence; yet the interview was in no way congenial and Sir Joseph could not wish it

prolonged. 'A few days before the returning squadron reached Bantry Bay, Habachtsthal

killed himself: opposition no longer existed and I at once took the necessary steps,

obtaining immediate consent for the pardon. I sent over an express telling him that all was

well and that he might gather his family and wealth as soon as he chose. He came back to

England, accompanied by his wife, and they both set off by the shortest route, Mrs Maturin

being subject to the seasickness, with the intention of posting down to the Groyne to make

arrangements for the transfer of his fortune

* all in gold, by the way - to this country and then of picking up the proteges and the child

at Avila.'

4 'Where is Avila?'

'In Old Castile. Eight days after he left we had information from one of our best agents that

he had been denounced to the Spanish government as the prime mover in the Peruvian

conspiracy - in the Peruvian attempt at declaring themselves independent of Spain.'

'Was there any truth in the denunciation?'

'Yes, there was.'

'Oh,' cried Needham, deeply impressed. And then, 'It very nearly succeeded, according to

our information.'

'Very nearly indeed. A matter of a few hours and we should have been home, home hands

down, but for a silly, busy, prating, enthusiastic fool, a prisoner of war who escaped from

Aubrey's ship and ran up and down in Lima calling out that Maturin was a British agent -

that the revolution was paid for by English gold. At the last moment the cry was taken up

by the French mission, sent there on the same errand but with inadequate funds, and they

made such a noise that the leading general cried off and Maturin had to leave the country.

This wretched Dutourd reached Spain a little while ago - and they asked us for an

explanation.'

'You denied everything, of course?'

Sir Joseph bowed. 'But it was clear they did not believe us. They clapped an embargo on

his money in Corunna and they meant to seize him when he went to collect it. I sent

warnings by three several agents and telegraphed Plymouth for the fastest cutter to take a

message to our man in Corunna itself. We had a few reports of his passage, chiefly from

military intelligence, the last being a dubious account of a wealthy pair with an escort

travelling through Aragon in a coach and four: then nothing. Nothing whatsoever: all traces

lost. And the Aragon report was geographically improbable, since it would have been right

off his route. Then again, although Maturin is a wealthy man, an uncommonly wealthy

man, he never gives that appearance, being habitually threadbare and always

inconspicuous. Your people have some contacts in Spain that we do not as yet possess,

and

5if they can throw any light whatsoever on the subject, we should be most grateful.'

'I shall of course do everything in my power.'

'Many thanks. He has been much on my mind. A pearl of an agent - totally unmercenary -

polyglot - a natural philosopher with innumerable contacts among the learned abroad - a

man with a profession that introduced him everywhere - a physician is welcome

everywhere - and a Catholic, which is such a recommendation in the greater part of the

world.'

'A Roman and trustworthy?' asked Needham, with another worldly look.

'Yes, sir,' said Blaine, touching a private bell under the desk with his foot. 'And in the very

first place I should have said that he utterly abhors all tyranny - Buonaparte's above any.'

The door opened. Carling glided in, and bending respectfully over Sir Joseph he said, 'I do

beg your pardon, sir, but the First Lord particularly desires a word.'

'Is it urgent?'

'I am afraid so, Sir Joseph.'

'Mr Needham, sir, I must crave your indulgence,' said Blaine, rising with something of an

effort. 'But fortunately we have reached a natural term in our most interesting and valuable

conversation. May I hope to hear from you in due course?'

'Certainly, sir: without fail. Tomorrow at the latest.'

Stephen was still in Sir Joseph's mind as he walked back to his house in Shepherd Market

- a walk much insisted upon by Dr Maturin, who distrusted both the colour of Blaine's face

and the eminently palpable state of his liver. Stephen was one of the few men Sir Joseph

cordially liked; it was true that they had many tastes in common - music, entomology, the

Royal Society, excellent wine, and they both hated Napoleon - but there was also that

particular sympathy and mutual respect which transformed such

he hesitated for the word - shared interests, inclinations,

6traits, characteristics - into something of another order entirely. At the corner of St

James's Street the usual crossing-sweeper was waiting to see him across Piccadilly with a

waving broom: 'Thank you, Charles,' he said, handing him his weekly fourpence. On the

other side, by the White Horse, a man was carefully extracting a woman from a carriage, a

very handsome woman indeed; and as Blaine walked along Half Moon Street he found

that he was reflecting on Stephen's marriage. Stephen had married a woman more

handsome by far, the kind of woman Blaine loved to gaze upon - the kind he would have

loved to marry had he met her and had he possessed the courage, the presence, and the

fortune. How Maturin, who possessed even less presence and at that time no fortune

whatsoever, had presumed so far he could not tell . .. yet again and again she had made

him bitterly unhappy, he said inwardly; and as his feet carried him towards his own

doorstep the words 'Handsome is as handsome does' crossed his mind, although he was

very fond of Diana, and greatly admired her spirit.

Musing, he walked with his head bowed. The three wellworn steps came within his field of

vision; he was conscious of a slight form standing at his door itself, and then of Stephen's

face smiling down at him. 'Oh, oh!' he cried in a voice more like that of a startled ewe than

of the Director of Naval Intelligence. 'Stephen, your name was in my mouth. You are as

welcome as the first Red Admiral in spring. How do you do, my dear sir? How do you do?

Walk in, if you please, and tell me how you do.'

Stephen walked in, shepherded with a surprising amount of fuss - surprising in so

reserved and phlegmatic a man as Sir Joseph - .along that familiar corridor to the even

more familiar, comfortable, book-lined, Turkey-carpeted room in which they had so often

sat. A cheerful fire was already burning, and Sir Joseph at once stirred it to a still livelier

blaze. Turning, he shook Stephen's hand again. 'What may I offer you?' he asked. 'A dish

of tea? No, you despise tea. Coffee? A glass of Sillery? No? I will not be importunate.

7You look wonderfully well, if I may be so personal. Wonderfully well. And I had been

seeing you in a Spanish prison, pale, unshaved, thin, ragged, verminous.' He felt the force

of Stephen's pale, questioning eye and went on, 'That reptile Dutourd reached Spain and

denounced you. Gonzalez, who knew something of your activities in Catalonia, believed

him, sequestered your treasure in Corunna and gave orders that you were to be taken up

the moment you came to gather it. This I learned from Wall and other wholly reliable

sources a week after you had left. You cannot imagine the efforts I made to warn you or

the quantities of coca-leaves I devoured to keep my wits active . . . and now to see you

sitting there, apparently perfectly well and quite unmoved, almost makes me feel ill-used,

indignant. Though in parenthesis I must thank you yet again for those blessed leaves: I

have a reliable supply from an apothecary in Greek Street. May I offer you a quid?'

'You are very good, but were I to indulge, the insensibility about my pharynx would persist

until early supper-time, a meal I particularly wish to enjoy. And then I wish to sleep

tonight.'

A pause, and Blaine said, 'I will not be so indiscreet as to ask whether you had other and

earlier sources of information.'

'I had not,' said Stephen, whose mind was yet to grasp the full extent and all the

implications of Sir Joseph's news. 'Faith, I had not. My safety, our safety, depended, under

Providence, Saint Patrick, Stephen the Protomartyr, and Saint Brendan, solely upon my

own ineptitude, my own gross ineptitude: I might even say inefficiency. Will I tell you about

it?'

'If you would be so good,' said Blaine, moving his chair closer.

'It does me no credit at all, at all: but since you have been to such pains I owe you an

account, however bald and inadequate. We landed on a sweet calm day, and Diana

having recovered from what slight remains of the seasickness still hung about her, we

took coach and travelled

westward along the coast. There was a good inn at Laredo, where we ate some hundreds

of new-run infant eels two inches long and took our ease; and when we were arranging

our baggage for the next stage in a fine new carriage that was to take us all the way,

Diana, a far better traveller than I - a more orderly mind where packing is concerned -

suggested that I should make sure that everything was in place for our arrival at Corunna.

Proper clothes for waiting on the governor, hair-powder, my best wig, and above all the

elaborately signed and countersigned acknowledgement that the Bank of the Holy Ghost

and of Commerce had received the specified number of chests containing the stated

weight of gold and would deliver it up on the production of this document. Everything was

in place - satin breeches, redheeled shoes, powder, silver-hilted sword - everything but

this infernal piece of paper. I blush to own it,' said Maturin, his sallow face in fact changing

colour as a pinkness rose from his lower cheeks to his forehead, disappearing under his

wig, a physical bob, 'I am ashamed to say it, but I could not find the wretched thing.'

Against all his principles Blaine cried out, 'You will never tell me you lost the bank's receipt

for all that gold, Stephen? Lost it? I beg your pardon...'

Stephen shook his head. 'I turned over innumerable other sheets - ornithological notes I

had brought for a friend, the Archdeacon of Gijon, and many, many others - turned them

again, formed them into heaps, sorted the heaps - Joseph, the tongue of angels could not

tell you the degree of frustration. And I had not the face to attempt the impossible task of

persuading the Holy Ghost and Commerce to yield that treasure on my mere unsupported

word.'

'No, indeed,' said Blaine, deeply shocked.

'The Dear knows, and you know, that it was in fact all for the best,' said Stephen, 'yet I

was very near cursing the day. But, however, I did not quite do so, because in the course

of the night an inner voice said, as distinctly as the small beast in the Revelation of Saint

John the Divine, "Poor worm: think on Latham", and my mind was at ease

8

9directly - I slept until sunrise, waking with the name Latham still in my ears.'

'Latham of the Synopsis?'

'Just so. Immediately before leaving I had leafed through a magnificently-bound copy of

the Synopsis, the recent gift of-' he was about to say 'of Prince William' but changed it to 'a

grateful patient' and went on '- a sadly muddled piece of work, I am afraid; though as

laborious as Adanson.'

'I have no patience with Latham,' said Sir Joseph.

'I shall love him as long as I live, indifferent ornithologist though he be; for I knew with a

total (and I may add subsequently justified) conviction that my receipt was between the

pages of his General Synopsis of Birds. In the morning, therefore, I saw the mishap as an

uncommonly well disguised blessing: not quite so much of a blessing as I now know from

what you tell me; but a blessing still and all, and a great one. As you know, Diana and her

daughter had not seen one another for some time - there had been certain difficulties. .

Sir Joseph bowed. He was perfectly aware that the child had been thought dumb, mentally

deficient, impervious; and that Diana, unable to bear it, had gone away, leaving Brigid in

the care of Clarissa Oakes. But an inclination of his head, a general murmur seemed the

best form of response.

'And although the child is now living in this world and speaking with perfect fluency it

occurred to me that the meeting would be far better, far easier, if everyone were in a

coach, bounced together, seeing new things, unknown wonders, strange inns however

bad, curious meals, fresh ways of dressing, always something to remark upon, to cry out

at. Furthermore, I had always wanted to show both of them my Catalonia, and to consult

Dr Llers of Barcelona, that eminent physician; though however he could improve the

present Brigid I cannot tell. So since for immediate needs I had plenty of money without

going to Corunna that wet and dismal town the back of my hand to it and all the thieves it

harbours I sent a well-mounted courier away to Segovia,

10where Clarissa Oakes - you remember Clarissa Oakes, my dear?'

'Indeed I do, and the invaluable information she gave us:

oh Heavens, yes. And in any case her formal pardon reached my desk today, together

with yours and Padeen's.'

Stephen smiled and went on, 'To Segovia where Clarissa Oakes and Brigid were staying

with my Alarcdn cousins by way of a holiday. There we picked them up and I do assure

you, Joseph, that I have never made a better-inspired move in my life. Clarissa and Diana

had always agreed very well, and after a little shyness Brigid joined in, so that the coachful

could have been heard talking and laughing a furlong off, particularly as Brigid so very

often leaned out to call up to Padeen behind, desiring him to look at the brindled cow, at

the great yoke of oxen, at the three children on one ass. Such weather we had, and such

wonders we saw! I showed them the great colony of fulvous vultures beyond Llops and a

distant bear on the slope of the Maladetta, bee-eaters by the hundred in the sandy banks

of the Llobregat, and my own place under the Albères, where I brought Jack Aubrey out of

France in '03. And there I found something that may please you. You know, of course, that

in the micaceous schist of those parts the arbutus is a usual sight and that therefore

Charaxes jasius, the Two-Tailed Pasha, is not so rare as he is elsewhere in Europe. It

was the sight of one sailing by that brought you to mind.'

'Sailing by. Yes, indeed. On the few occasions I have seen him I have run with all my

might, net outstretched; but all to no avail. And purchased specimens, though very well for

comparison and study, are by no means the same thing. You might as well buy your

quails and partridges from a game-dealer.'

'I was more fortunate. Behind Recasens, in what I might call my own back-yard, I watched

one emerging from his chrysalis: I placed a bell-jar over him, let him spread his wings,

assume his full glory, and then by night carried him in, cut him short with a painless waft,

and so put him up for you.' Stephen brought a soft packet from his

11bosom, unwrapped it, and passed a small glass case.

After the briefest moment Blaine's happy, eager look changed. He said, 'You would never

make game of me, Stephen? Not on such a subject?'

'Pray look closer. Pray turn him upside down. Pray compare him with those you have.'

Moving slowly, and with backward glances, Sir Joseph moved over to his cabinet, drawer

after drawer of beautifully mounted insects. He held his present over the relevant

specimens, and slowly, in a voice of wonder, he said, 'By God. It is a melanistic Charaxes:

a perfect, wholly melanistic Charaxes jasius.' He turned the orthodox butterflies and his

new acquisition over and over, holding them to the light and murmuring about the exact

repetition of the pattern and the exact reversal. 'I never knew it occurred in Charaxes,

Stephen - no books, no collection has ever recorded it. Oh Stephen, what a treasure! No

wonder you clapped a bell-jar over him. God bless you, my dear friend. You could not

have made me happier. I shall write a paper on him for the Proceedings - such a paper!'

He went slowly back to his chair, privately turning the case in various directions and his

face rosy with contentment.

But the recording part of his mind was still intent upon Stephen's account of this idyllic

ramble through a variety of landscapes, all more or less torn by recent or even actual

warfare. 'How I wish I had a better memory for geography,' he said. 'If we were at the

Admiralty I could follow on a map; but as it is I cannot understand how you escaped from

the raiding parties or foragers of either side, and from the notice of both military

intelligence and our people.'

'It is almost impossible to explain without a chart, since we rarely steered the same course

for more than two watches.' Dr Maturin, as a ship's surgeon, was rather fond of using

nautical expressions, correct nautical expressions on occasion; and this he repeated with

a certain emphasis before going on 'That is to say, we wandered in an unmethodical, even

a whimsical fashion, guided by youthful recollections, by the prospect of a noble forest, by

side-roads

12leading to the houses of remote friends or cousins: but when we have an enormous

atlas before us I will do my best to retrace our journey. For the now, let me only observe

that our path from Laredo to Segovia was far, far south of such dangerous parts as the

neighbourhood of Santander or Pampeluna. To be sure, there were the signs of war in

many a field, many a devastated village or shattered bridge; and it is true that there was a

little trouble from English, Spanish and Portuguese stragglers on occasion, while once we

saw a troop of French hussars pursued into the darkness of the upper Ebro by a

numerous band of dragoons.'

'Were the ladies distressed?'

'Not that I observed.'

'No, on reflection. No, to be sure,' said Blaine, who had seen Diana driving a four-in-hand

along the Stockbridge road and outgalloping the Salisbury Flyer itself, to the cheers of the

passengers aboard, and who knew that Clarissa had been sent to Botany Bay for blowing

a man's head off with a double-barrelled fowling-piece.

'But when we struck north into Catalonia I was among friends, protected by a network of

intelligence. So having consulted dear Dr Llers, we viewed the estuary or rather the

estuaries of the Ebro - such myriads of flamingoes, Joseph, with two spoonbills and a

glossy ibis, all in the course of a single picnic - and so took ship from Valencia to Gibraltar,

where we changed to the packet: as brilliant a voyage as could be imagined. Diana did not

feel even the least uneasiness, and now we are all at the Grapes together, with Mrs Broad

and the black children I brought from the South Sea, Sarah and Emily. Will you not come

and sup with us? You would enjoy the little girls. They are so pleasant together - they play

puss in the corner and hunt the slipper.'

'Ah? Indeed? Unhappily,' said Sir Joseph, 'unhappily I am engaged to supper at Black's.'

'Then let us walk along together. At this time of day it is the best place in London to find a

hackney-coach setting down.'

13 'By all means,' said Blaine, 'but I believe I shall throw a very light greatcoat over my

shoulders. There is a certain bite in the evening air.' He rang for his man-servant. It was

his housekeeper however who answered and a little vexed he asked, 'But where is

Treacher? I rang for Treacher.'

'He is not back yet, Sir Joseph.'

'Well, never mind. Pray fetch me my very light greatcoat. I am going to have supper at the

club.'

'But Sir Joseph, the sweetbreads and asparagus. . .' she began: then checked herself.

They walked along very companionably, talking mostly about beetles, their almost infinite

variety; and passing a house in Arlington Street Blaine said, 'That was where Hammersley

lived, a very great collector. Did you ever meet him?'

'I believe not.'

'Yet he too was a member. We have had several fartravelled, learned members, eminent

entomologists. I wish we had more. And speaking of Black's, have you seen Captain

Aubrey?'

'I ran into him as he was leaving the club, and there was just time for him to tell me that all

was well at home - that he still had the Bellona, now on the Brest blockade - that he had

kept my place aboard her - that they were living at Woolcombe, as handier for Torbay or

Plymouth, and should be happy to see us all for as long as ever we chose to give them

the pleasure - vast great house - whole wings empty. He had just been up for the naval

estimates - must run not to miss the coach - and so vanished, cleaving the throng.'

Blaine shook his head. 'Will you not walk in and take at least a glass of sherry before your

puss in the corner? Some added fortitude, Dutch courage, is essentially called for, where

the ceaseless din of children is concerned.'

'I will not,' said Stephen, 'though I thank you kindly. It is already late for girls of that age,

and we must be up early for the journey into the west.'

'Are you away so soon?'

'A little before the dawn itself.'

14'Shall I not see you again?'

'Oh surely. I come up next week for the meeting of the Royal and to see about the lease of

our house in Half Moon Street. In the present state of affairs we cannot possibly afford to

keep it up: but just now we mean to go down to the Aubreys and stay with them until a

suitable little place can be found in the country: and of course I must rejoin my ship. We

are selling or trying to sell that gaunt cold ili-omened Barham, which will put us in funds

again; and in the meantime I shall borrow a few thousand from Jack Aubrey.'

Blaine gave him a quick look; and a few paces on, when they were almost at the door of

the club, with members going in and out like bees, he took Stephen's elbow, halted him by

the railings and in a low voice he said, 'Do beg your friend to be quiet in the House,

Stephen. On naval estimates he addressed the Ministry as though they were a parcel of

defaulters, and now that he has most unhappily overcome his diffidence as a new member

he does so in a voice calculated to reach the main topmast-head in a hurricane. His

friends do so wish he were not in Parliament; or if he feels he has to be a member (and

indeed there are great potential advantages) that he would rarely attend and then sit mute,

voting as he is told. I dread the moment he gives his voice against the Ministry, in his

dashing, headstrong way. He is very often in town, with a jobbing captain aboard his ship,

doing her no good, nor her reputation. Stephen, do take him to sea and keep him there.'

They were now at the steps leading into Black's. Down them hurried a tall thin member,

pursued by the cry of 'Your Grace, your Grace.'

His Grace turned, and with an anxious look he asked, 'Have I done something wrong?'

O'Brian Patrick - Aub-Mat 18 - The Yellow Admiral

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