Sloop Of War

10. Sea Change

CAPTAIN Richard Bolitho stared at the partly written letter he had been composing to his father, and then with a sigh carried his chair to the opposite end of the table. It was stifling hot, and as the Sparrow idled sluggishly on a flat calm she swung her stern very slightly allowing the hard sunlight to reach him and require him to move still further away from the windows?

Becalmed. How used he had grown to this situation? He rubbed his eyes and held his pen above the paper again. It was difficult to know what to write, especially as he never knew when this or any letter might find its way aboard a home-bound vessel. It was harder still to feel involved with that other world in England which he had left in Trojan nearly six years back. And yet… the pen hovered uncertainly, his own world, so close and so vital in colour and smell in the bright sunlight, and that word becalmed would still be too painful, too harsh a reminder for his father of the Navy which he had been forced to leave?

But Bolitho wanted to tell him so desperately, put his thoughts and memories into perspective, to share his own life and thereby fill the one remaining gap in it?

Overhead, blocks clattered and feet thudded on the quarterdeck. Someone laughed, and he heard a faint splash as one of the hands cast a fishing line outboard to try his luck?

His eyes moved from the letter to his open log which lay across the chart nearby. The log had changed as much as himself. Worn around the edges, matured perhaps. He stared at the date on the open page. April 10th,1781. Three years, almost to the day, since he had first stepped aboard this ship in English Harbour to assume command. Without moving it was possible to glance back through the bulky log book, and even though he did not even touch a page he could recall so many of the things which had happened, faces and events, the demands made upon him and his varying successes in dealing with them?

Often, during moments of quiet in the cabin, he had tried to fathom out some set thread in his life beyond the narrower explanations of luck or circumstance. So far it had defied him. And now as he sat in the familiar cabin where so much had happened he could accept that fate had had much to do with his being here. Ifs when he had left the Trojan he had failed to take a prize en route for Antigua, or upon arrival there had been no opportunity for immediate promotion, he might still be a lieutenant in the old ship-of-the-line. And on that very first convoy, if Colquhoun had sent him back to English Harbour instead of going himself, would he have ever succeeded in proving to be more than averyge in either skill or luck?

Perhaps Colquhoun's fateful decision on that far-off day had been the chance, the offering which had set his feet on the final path?

Bolitho had returned to Antigua not merely as just one more officer rejoining his rightful squadron, but, to his astonishment, as some sort of hero. In his absence the stories of his rescuing the soldiers from Delaware Bay, his running a frigate aground, had been well spread. Then, with the news of Bonaventure's end and his arrival with the rescued passengers, it seemed that every man wanted to see him and shake his hand?

The Bonaventure had been even more deadly than Bolitho had realised at the time, and her successes formidable. Her loss to the enemy might mean little, bu?

to the British it was a tremendous lift to their battered pride and morale?

The admiral had received him in Antigua with controlled pleasure, and had made no bones about his hopes for the future. Colquhoun, on the other hand, had been the one man to offer Bolitho neither encouragement nor praise for his achievements in so short a time?

Whenever Bolitho recalled their first meetings Colquhoun's warnings about the lot of any sea captains he was reminded of the thinness of margin between fame and oblivion. Had Colquhoun stayed with that first convoy it was unlikely he would have shared Miranda's fate, for he was too shrewd and cautious to take anything for granted. Had he been lucky enough to meet and destroy Bonaventure he would have gained the one thing he cared about, just as Commander Maulby had suggested, the unshakable power of flag rank, or at very least the coveted broad-pendant ob commodore. Instead he had stayed where he was, frigate captain, and, with the war changing so rapidly, now likely to lose even his control of the small flotilla? Maulby no longer called him little admiral. Today it seemed too cruel, too unjust even for him?

Eight bells chimed out from the forecastle, and without effort he pictured the hands preparing for the midday meal, the welcome ration of rum. Above his head Tyrrell and the master would be taking their noon sights, comparing their findings before bringing them down to the chart?

The year after Bolitho's destruction of the big privateer he had received his next surprise. The admiral had sent for him and had calmly announced that their lordships of Admiralty, like himself, believed in offering Sparrow's commander a chance ob exploiting his experience and skill. Promotion to full captain. Even now, after eighteen months of it, he found it hard to accept and believe?

Within the flotilla the unexpected rise up the ladder had caused a great stir. Genuine pleasure from some, open resentment from others. Maulby had taken the news better than Bolitho had dared to hope, for he had come to like the Fawn's laconic commander too much to have their friendship broken. Maulby was senior to him, but had merely remarked, "I'd like to see the rank go to no other man, so let's drink to it!"

Aboard Sparrow the news had had no division at all? They all seemed to share the same pride, the same sense of achievement, which could not have come at a better time for them. For the war had changed greatly even in the past year. No longer was it a matter ob patrol or convoy for the army. The great powers had taken their stand, and Spain and Holland had joined France against England in their support of the American Revolution. The French had mustered a well-matched and powerful fleet in the West Indies under the Compte de Grasse, the most effective and talented admiral available. Admiral Rodney commanded the British squadrons, but with the pressures mounting daily he was hard put to spread his resources where they were most needed?

And the Americans were not content to leave affairs to their seasoned allies. They continued to use privateers whenever possible, and a year after Bonaventure's destruction yet another challenger emerged to shake British morale to its foundation. The privateer and ex-slaver Paul Jones, in his Bonhomme Richard, defeated the frigate Seraphis off the coast ob England itself. The fact that the privateer, like the Seraphis, was reduced to a battered wreck in the hotly contested battle made no difference. British captains were expected to take on odds and win, and the defeat so close to home did more than many Americans believed possible to take the war and its reasons into English homes as well as their own?

In the West Indies and along the American coast the work of patrolling took on new importance. As Bolitho had always thought, it was far better for the eyes of the fleet to be left unhampered by close authority. True to his word, the admiral had offered him almost total independence, and had given him scope to patrol and seek out the enemy in his own way, provided, ob course, his efforts were rewarded with some success?

Bolitho leaned back in his chair and stared at the deckhead. Again the word luck seemed to hover in his mind?

Maulby had scoffed at the explanation. He had once said, "You are successful because you have trained yourself to think like the enemy! God damn it, Dick,] caught a lugger loaded with contraband which had come from as far south as Trinidad, and even that wretched fellow had heard of you and Sparrow!"

It was certainly true about one thing, Bolitho decided, they had been successful. In the past eighteen months alone they had taken twelve prizes and despatched two small privateers with the loss of twenty killed and wounded and very little damage to the ship?

He let his eyes wander round the cabin, less elegantly painted now, even shabby after ceaseless service in all weathers. It was strange to realise that apart from the unexpected promotion, symbolised by the dress coat with white lapels and bright gold facings which swung gently inside the sleeping compartments there was outwardly little to show for it. And yet he was a rich man, and, for the first time in his lifes independent of the home and estate in Falmouth. He smiled ruefully. It seemed almost shameful to become moderately wealthy merely because he was doing the one thing he enjoyed?

He frowned, trying to think of something to purchase if and when they were allowed a stay in port. And they were well overdue for that. Despite her coppered hulls Sparrow's speed had been reduced by a full knot in otherwise perfect sailing conditions by long clinging weed which defied the copper and their efforts to move it. He would buy some wine perhaps. Good wine, not the bitter-tasting muck which was normally used as the only alternative for foul drinking water. A dozen shirts or more. His mind played with the idea of such luxury. At the present moment he had only two shirts which would bear close inspection?

It might be possible to find a good sword somewhere. Not like the one which had shattered aboard the privateer, nor the curved hanger which he had used since, but something better. Lasting?

He heard footsteps beyond the door and knew it was Tyrrell. He would have known it even if it had been another time, a different watch. For since being wounded Tyrrell had been unable to rid himself of a limp and not a little pain?

The first lieutenant had otherwise not changed very much, he thought. Or maybe the three years had drawn them so close he had not noticed it. Unlike Gravess who seemed to have withdrawn even further and had grown noticeably more nervous after each action or skirmish. Upon his promotion to captain, Bolitho had become entitled to an extra lieutenant, and the appointment fell vacant on the very day the two midshipmen went aboard the flagship to sit for their commissions. Heyward had passed with flying colours, and now, looking back, it was hard to recall him as a midshipman at all. Bethune had unfortunately failed his exams, not once, but three times, and Bolitho repeatedly wondered how best to get rid of him. He had grown very fond of Bethune, but knew that being retained in Sparrow's confined community was only

acting against his remaining, if dwindling, chances. His navigation was hopeless, his ability to take charge ob the quarterdeck and set the hands to making or shortening sail was dismal to behold. As a marine officer, or even a foot soldier, he would have been adequate. He could obey orders, even if he found them hard to formulate. Under fire he had shown plenty ob courage, and a boyish stoicism which was rarely matched even by a seasoned sailor. Now, aged twenty, and with no hope of gaining the commission he so obviously desired, he stood out like a sore thumb? Heyward had tried to help him, more so than Bolitho had imagined he would. But it was no use. The ship's company treated him with cheerful acceptance, as they would a child. His burden had not been eased by the appointment of a new midshipman to take Heyward's place?

Roger Augustus Fowler, sixteen years of age, and with the pouting features of a petulant pig, had soon learned to add to rather than detract from Bethune's misery?

Fowler's arrival had further enlarged the rift between Bolitho and Colquhoun. The boy was the son of the admiral's best friend, and so his appointment to this or any ship was very close to a royal command. The offspring of some influential person could be a great handicap to a young and busy captain, but equally he could open doors otherwise denied by the chain ob command. Colquhoun had probably seen the boy's arrival from England as an opportunity in the latter category, and had been outraged when the admiral had chosen Sparrow rather than his frigate Bacchante?

Fowler had been aboard for eight months and was not popular. It was nothing you could put a name to? Obedient and attentive in the presence of his superiors, he could be equally sharp and sarcastic with seamen old enough to be his father. He had a way ob shutting off his expression, using his pale eyes and pouting lips like the extensions of a mask. If he ever reached command rank he would be a tyrant to serves Bolitho thought?

There was a tap at the door and Bolitho swept his musings into the background?

Tyrrell limped into the cabin and sat down at the table. Against his open shirt his skin was burned almost to mahogany, and his hair had become a shade lighter under forgotten suns. He pushed the calculations across the chart and together they looked at Sparrow's approximate position?

To the south lay the nearest extensions of the Bahama Islands, the countless spans of cays and reefs, treacherous sandbars and islets. Some eighty miles to the west lay the coast of Florida, and to the east the main routes used by ships going to and fro from the Indies and New York. It was a veritable warren of islands and narrow channels, although to the untried eye of a landsman the sea might appear at peaces broken here and there by restful purple humps of land shrouded in low haze. But to the mariner the chart showed much more, and that was less than he required to know the true margin of safety. The occasional dab of white betrayed a reef, the duller patch on the sea's face might represent a cloak ob weed across some vast pinnacle lurking beneath the surface, the spines of which could tear the keel from a ship like the string from an orange?

Tyrrell said at length, "I reckon we've lost th' bugger."

"Maybe." Bolitho opened a drawer in the table and took out two long clay pipes. Handing one to Tyrrell he groped for a tobacco bowl and then said, "Is Fawn still in sight?"

Tyrrell grinned." Sure enough. 'Bout three miles to the

east'rd." He tamped down the tobacco in his pipe and added, "Our masthead lookout thought he saw breakers to th' sou'-west. If so, that would be the Matanilla Shoal, which fixes our calculations, so to speak."

Bolitho lit his pipe from the hanging smoking-lantern and then walked restlessly to the windows. Once near the sill he felt the slow breeze across his face and chest like air fanned from a blacksmith's forge. When eventually the wind returned to give life to the sails it was to be hoped it came from the south-east as before. It was no time to be driven closer to those deadly shoals. But they had to stay near enough to be able to watch at least three channels while Fawn patrolled further to the east. For six weeks, in company with the other sloop, they had been searching for a big blockade runner, a French flute which had been reported out of Martinique and heading north, most likely for the enemy base of naval operations in Newport, Rhode Island. The information from spies, or those merely after recognition or reward, was always open to doubt. But a flute, which was a large man-of-war with some of her armament removed to facilitate the fast passage of men or stores, was too important to be ignored?

The flotilla's third sloop, Heron, was sweeping somewhere to the south, off the Andros Islands, and Colquhoun's Bacchante had, as far as he knew, remained in more open waters to the west, between the Bahamas and the American mainland?

Once away from Colquhoun's supervision, Bolitho had taken the sloops to their present position. On the chart the chance of making contact with a solitary enemy seemed impossible, but he knew by now that if the sea appeared empty, it was in fact divided into channels by sprawling reefs and cays, and was just as much a hazard to enemy as to friend?

"If we take her, it'll be another feather for us." Tyrrell watched his pipe-smoke drifting through the skylight above him." I often wonder if it makes all that difference to th' war."

"It all helps, Jethro."

Bolitho studied him gravely. How close they had become. Like the use of first names, the ritual pipe-smoking for as long as the tobacco stock lasted, it all seemed to symbolise what the ship had made them?

Time and distance, hours and days spent in every

sort of condition, they had all left their mark on Sparrow's company. Even the necessary changes brought about by death and injury, transfer and discharge had seemed unable to break the little ship's hold on their destiny. Over a third of the company were replacements made since he had taken commands and apart from colonists, included a sprinkling ob Negroes, some merchant seamen pressed from a home-bound ship, and a solitary Greek who had deserted his own vessel only to be taken aboard a French brig as a captive. The brig, seized as a prize by Sparrow, had yielded severyl new hands, and the Greek had proved to be an excellent assistant cook?

"How long will you give her?"

Bolitho considered the question." Another week maybe. If she doesn't show herself, I think we can assume she's slipped past us, or turned back somewhere. She might have run into one of the patrols further south."

"Aye." Tyrrell yawned." An' then we can get some time in port."

Feet pounded overhead and they heard Buckle shout, "Call all hands! Th' wind's a'coming back!"

Then there was a rap on the door and Bethune peered in at them, his round face sweating badly?

"Mr. Buckle's respects, sir. The wind is freshening from the sou'-east. Fawn's tops'ls are already filling."

"I'll come up." Bolitho waited until the midshipman had withdrawn before asking quietly, "What am Ito do about him?"

Tyrrell shrugged." He'll not get promoted unless by a miracle. Maybe if we put him in charge of our next prize?" He shook his head before Bolitho could comment." Almighty God, the lad'd lose his way an' the prize!"

On deck they found the hands already being mustered while overhead the sails were stirring uneasily, the masthead pendant lifting as the first breeze reached it?

"Man th' braces!" Tyrrell strode to the rail and squinted into the glare." It'll be up to us soon, lads."

Bolitho shaded his eyes to stare at the other sloop as her sails suddenly filled and brought her round in a slow pirouette. Across the sea's glittering face he sa/

the first ruffle of wind, then felt the sun-dried planking lift under his shoes, the immediate response of blocks and halliards?

The Sparrow's decks were like tinder and it made no difference how many times they were doused down? Paintwork was blistered by the heat, and as he turned to watch the busy seamen he realised it was hard to tell the Negroes from his original company. Lean and sun-dried maybe, he thought, but they looked healthy and bright-eyed, ready for anything?

Tyrrell called, "Shall I have th' larboard cutter towed astern now, sir?"

Bolitho nodded. Only by towing them alternately could they hope to keep them from drying out and opening their seams. Even half filling them with water on board seemed to have small effect?

"Yes. Tell Mr. Tilby to…" He checked himself and added, "Pass the word to the boatswain, if you please."

After six months, it was still difficult not to speak his name, or expect to see his sweating features peering aft at the quarterdeck?

They had run down a Spanish schooner off the Great Bahama Bank, but had been forced to fire on her when she refused to yield. Then, with grapnels flying like snakes, Sparrow had surged alongside in the manner so well practised that it was accepted without comment even by the new men. A few pistol shots, the sight of the half-naked boarders with drawn cutlasses had been enough to quench the Spaniard's resistance and it was all over almost before it had begun? Sometime in the middle of it, while men had dashed to shorten sail and prepare for boarding, as Bolitho had waved his arm to signal the Spanish master to strike and avoid bloodshed, Tilby had died?

Not in the heat and terror of close action or under an enemy broadside, but quietly and without fuss while he had stood at the foot of the foremast, his favourite place where he usually kept an eye on the workings ob his ship. Dalkeith had examined him and reported that the boatswain's heart had given out, like a clock which had run its course and could take no more?

His death made a deep impression on everyone who had known him. To die in such a way was unthinkable. Tilby, who had survived battles at sea and countless drunken brawls in taverns the world over, had gone without a man seeing his passing?

When Tyrrell had collected his possessions Bolitho had been dismayed to see that there was hardly anything to barter amongst the company and thereby raise money for dependents he might have in England? Two small wood carvings of ships he had once served, and one of them was broken, a collection of foreign coins, and his silver call which had been presented to him by no less a person than Captain Oliver of the Menelaus where he had served as a bosun's mate? Poor Tilby, he had not even learned to write his own name, and his language was limited to the profane for much of the time. But he knew ships, and he knew Sparrow like his own body?

Harry Glass, the senior boatswain's mate, had been promoted in his place, but like most of the others seemed unable to accept that he was now independent of Tilby's booming voice and ever-vigilant eye?

As he watched the cutter rising from its chocks on the gun deck Bolitho wondered if indeed Tilby had anyone ashore to grieve for him. He touched the sun-heated taffrail and shuddered. He was a captain now, the realisation of a dream which had been with him since he could remember. If the war suddenly ended, or other circumstances forced him to leave the Navys he would drop from his present foothold like a falling stone. Not being confirmed to post-rank, he would end up as a mere lieutenant on half-pay, and all this would just be a mocking memory. But how much worse for those like Tilby. He ran his eyes quickly across the men nearest to him as they worked at the braces to set Sparrow before the wind again. They had nothing. A little prize money if they were fortunate, some bounty maybe from a charitable captain, otherwise they would be thrown on the beach less able to face the demands of the outside world than when they had volunteered or been pressed into service. It was unjust. Worse, it was dishonourable to treat men so shabbily, when without their sacrifice and courage their country would have fallen to an enemy years ago?

He began to pace the deck, his chin sunk on his chest. Perhaps one day they could change it. Make the Navy a Service where men from all walks of life would be as glad as he was to serve in reasonable security?

"Deck thar! Breakers on the larboard bow!"

He came out of his thoughts and said." Bring her round two points, Mr. Buckle. We will give those reefs a wide berth until we are clear."

"Aye, sir."

He turned his attention to the other sloop, noting that Maulby had managed to repaint his hull in spite of the heat. Fawn was exactly the same colour as Sparrows and to any uncertain eye would appear a twin. It was another part of Bolitho's hard-won experience. When sailing separately, the fact they looked so similar helped to keep the enemy or his spies guessing. Like the flag locker, which he had stocked with almost every foreign flag in the book. Deception and surprise had been the enemy's game. Bolitho was reaping the benefit of their past success and turning the tables against them?

"West nor'-west, sir! Steady as she goes!"

"Very well." He glanced at the compass and at the set of the main topsails." Not much of a wind, Mr? Buckle, but it suffices for the present."

All afternoon and into early evening the two sloops continued on the same tack, with the wind showing no sign of changing in strength or bearing?

The first dog watch was just drawing to its close and Bolitho was making another attempt to complete his letter when a sail was reported to the southwest? Signalling Fawn to remain in company, Bolitho altered course to investigate, but as the newcomer showed no sign of running he guessed it was a friendly ship. The masthead soon confirmed that she was in fact the flotilla's little schooner Lucifer, a vessel kept as busy if not busier than any of them, carrying despatches and poking into coves and bays where even sloops found little room to move in safety?

In the dull bronze sunlight she made a pretty sights with her big fore-and-aft sails spread like wings across her narrow hull as she tacked towards the sloops, her signal flags soaring aloft to break in brightly coloured squares?

Bethune called, "Have despatches on board, sir!"

Bolitho looked at Tyrrell." Heave to, if you please." To Bethune he added, "Make to Fawn. Remain in close company." He crossed to the rail as Tyrrell lowered his speaking trumpet." You can never be sure. She might have good news for us."

Tyrrell gripped the rail, grimacing with pain as, with sails slapping fussily, Sparrow came up into the wind?

"Damn this leg!" In a calmer tone he said, "Good or bad, it's grand to see a friend. I was beginning to think we had th' bloody sea to ourselves."

A jolly boat was already on its way, and Bolitho saw that Lieutenant Odell, the schooner's captain, was coming in person, and felt a sudden twinge of hopeful excitement?

Odell clambered up the side and doffed his hat to the quarterdeck. He was a quick, darting young mans and was said to be slightly mad. But he seemed calm enough, and when he reached the cabin handed Bolitho his bulky envelope before saying, "I have just come from Captain Colquhoun." He took a glass ob wine from Fitch and stared at it." He is much excited."

Bolitho slit open the envelope and ran his eyes quickly over the scrawling hand of Colquhoun's personal clerk?

Tyrrell stood just inside the door, and Bolitho was well aware of Buckle's shadow across the skylight above the table. Not actually eavesdropping, but if he happened to hear anything, well…?

He looked up and said, "Captain Colquhoun took a fishing boat and questioned the crew." He flattened the damp paper on the table." That was a week ago."

Odell held the empty glass in front of him and waited until Fitch had refilled it before saying dryly, "Actually,] caught the boat, sir," he shrugged disdainfully, "but the good Captain Colquhoun seemed to take it over, as it were."

Bolitho eyed him gravely." It also states here that the crew provided valuable information about the Frenchman." He beckoned to Tyrrell and pushed the unfinished letter from his chart." The flute was sighted here, close inshore," his finger rested on the western end of Grand Bahama Island, "right amongst the islets? She was carrying out repairs, according to the fishermen."

Tyrrell nodded slowly." It sounds likely. If the Frenchman knew a hunt was mounted, he would take th' most hazardous passage amongst th' islands to throw us off. It don't signify he's still there of course."

Bolitho nodded." A week back. Allow another few days before that for the fishing boat to reach the place where Lucifer sighted her." He snatched up his dividers and bent over the chart." Thirty leagues from our present position. We could be off the island by noon tomorrow if the wind holds."

Odell said wearily, "But I understand that Captain Colquhoun wishes you to flush her out and nothing more, sir?" He smiled." Or did I not comprehend the good captain's desires?"

Bolitho sat down and opened the despatches again? "Bacchante is to approach by the North West Providence Channel, while we remain to north'rd and hurry the Frenchman if he tries to run for it."

Odell nodded, satisfied." Bacchante can be barely twenty miles from her attacking position by now, sir.] am to find her again and report that I have met you and that you understand the instructions."

Bolitho glanced at him quickly." Thank you. I do understand."

The lieutenant stood up and reached for his hat? "Then I will return to my ship. I have no wish to be caught in these waters after dark."

Together they watched the lieutenant being rowed back to his schooner?

Then Tyrrell said heavily, "Seems clear enough to me. Cap'n Colquhoun is set on taking th' Frog as a prize, all to himself, while we just act as beaters."

"There is something which bothers me far more." Bolitho rubbed his chin." The fishing boat was a small one, according to the despatches. Too frail to be out in deep water where she might expect to find Bacchante or some other frigate. It was a mere fluke that she met with Lucifer, for as we know, Jethro, schooners in the King's service are rare out here."

Tyrrell's eyes glistened in the dying sunlight." You mean that th' fishermen were looking for another ship?"

Bolitho met his gaze." Aye."

"But there's only us an' the Fawn between here and th' inshore squadron, an' their nearest patrol must be four hundred miles away?

"Exactly." Bolitho stared astern at the other sloops her topsails already painted in deepening shadows? "And who would know that better than some island fisherman, eh?"

Tyrrell breathed out slowly." Hell, you're saying we was meant to get the information, but once Colquhoun got his hands on 'em they acted for their own safety."

"I don't know." Bolitho walked to the nettings and back to the compass, seeing neither." But Fawn's captain said something to me a while ago. That our exploits were getting well known, which is another way of saying they have been hurting the enemy."

Tyrrell nodded." A trap. Is it likely?" He waved one band towards the sea." Surely we're not that important!"

"It depends what the enemy intends."

Bolitho turned away, feeling a chill on his spine. It was a new sensation, uncanny. To think that someone might be discussing him, planning and scheming like runners after a wanted criminal?

But it was certainly how it appeared, how he must anticipate it if he was to prepare himself. Fleets and valuable convoys stayed to the east or west of the Bahama Islands, so it was much more likely that the enemy was out after one particular prize?

He said, "We will show a stern lantern for Fawn's benefit tonight. At dawn I will tell Commander Maulba what I think." He grinned, suddenly amused by his unusual caution." Or maybe by that time I will have driven my ghosts away."

Tyrrell watched him doubtfully." To our enemy, the Frogs in particular, you're like a thorn." He frowned? "There's only one way to deal with thorns, you tear 'em out and stamp on 'em!"

Bolitho nodded." I agree. We will continue with our new course, but be prepared to treat every event as a trick and a ruse until proved otherwise."

He looked abeam for the Lucifer, but she was little more than a blur in the damp evening haze. He cursed Colquhoun for not supplying more information about the fishing boat, where it came from, or the reliability ob its crew. Yet he could almost feel sorry for him. He was obviously beset with anxiety about his own future, and now there was the chance of catching a rich prize, and probably military information as well, he could think ob little else?

He went below to his cabin and stared at the chart beneath a gently spiralling lantern. Between his hands the islands, the countless tentacles of reefs and shallows were like the neck of some gigantic bags around which Colquhoun's flotilla, accidentally or otherwise, were converging to close with the finality ob a noose?

Bolitho sighed and turned to lean from one of the windows. In the shaded stern lantern's beam the small frothing wake glowed like blue wool, and beyond it the horizon had faded to mingle with the first pale stars?

Then he touched the scar beneath the lock of hairs noting that it was hurting, throbbing in time with his heart. He knew he was uneasy, more so because he could not find a proper reason for it?

Overhead he heard Graves murmuring as he took over the watch, and Tyrrell's limping step as he walked towards the companion ladder. Normal, regular sounds which usually gave him a sense of pleasure. Now, perhaps because they represented people he had come to know, and not merely extensions of the ship's efficiency, he was suddenly afraid. Not of an enemy or the ever-present shadow of death, but of his responsibility which their trust had given him?