bad, he may have lost the confidence of his people.
He said, 'Gibraltar is closed, sir.' He laid a heavy envelope on the table and they all looked at it as he added, 'Fever. It has struck down half the garrison.'
Bolitho walked across the cabin and back again. The Rock was notorious for outbreaks of fever, but what a time for this to happen.
'There is no deadlier enemy.' He looked at Keen. 'We shall have to stand offshore until we know what is happening.' To Lapish he said, 'Return to your ship.' He wanted to share his pain, to commiserate with him. Instead he closed his mind and said sharply, 'Think yourself fortunate to have a ship left to command.'
Keen left to see the crestfallen Lapish over the side.
Fever. Bolitho shivered. Just the word brought back the nightmare, when he had nearly died of it. It might still return.
He shook himself and tried to consider how the news would affect them. With Gibraltar closed to them he would have to decide for himself what to do.
He smiled grimly. He was no longer just an onlooker.
4. BAIT
WITH THE crash of a salute lingering in the air the small squadron came round into the wind and anchored in succession.
Bolitho stood by the nettings and saw the relief on Keen's face. The manoeuvre was executed well despite so many new hands throughout the ships.
He turned and looked up at the great towering mass of Gibraltar. In the past it had always been a refuge, a safe anchorage; now it seemed edged with menace.
There were few men-of-war present, and they were moored clear of the jetty near the other convict ship Philomela and some local craft. Several guard-boats plied slowly back and forth. Bolitho saw that they carried redcoats and each mounted at least one swivel. It was as bad as that.
'We call the other captains aboard today.'
He saw Keen training his telescope on one of the boats which was pulling towards the flagship. 'Aye, sir. I think we have a visitor.'
The boat paused, the oars backing water below the main-chains while the crew stared up at the two-decker as if she was part of another world.
A post-captain stood in the sternsheets and squinted up at the quarterdeck.
'I cannot come aboard, Sir Richard! I have to tell you that the Governor has taken charge here; the admiral is ill.' He kept his voice unhurried and level as if well aware of the countless ears and eyes which were gauging the danger.
Bolitho walked to the entry port and stood looking down at the boat. Each man in it would probably give all he owned to be allowed on board, even though he might bring the fever with him.
The sunburned captain in the boat called, 'I have sent a courier brig, Firefly, to Lord Nelson.'
It was strange that only Inch had ever met the little admiral and had rarely ceased to tell of it. Now Adam might meet him.
The captain added, 'I understand that officers' wives are taking passage in your squadron, Sir Richard. I have to tell you that if they land, they must do so now. It is their right to be with their husbands if they so wish. But they cannot leave until this fever is broken.'
Bolitho saw the Orontes swinging to her anchor, a guard-boat idling nearby to deter anyone from trying to swim ashore.
It would require a lot of planning. Water, supplies, repairs. The squadron would need them all and more.
'I have despatches from the Governor, Sir Richard.' A satchel was being lifted to the main-chains on a boat- hook. Bolitho saw Carcaud, the lanky surgeon's mate, leaning down to seize it in a flannel bag. Tuson was taking no chances even with that.
Bolitho felt Keen watching him as he called, 'All the ladies are astern of me in Helicon. I have one woman aboard my ship.'
The captain shrugged apologetically. 'If she is not of the garrison, Sir Richard, I am ordered to inform you no other person can be landed.'
The boat began to move away, the oars stirring unwillingly. The captain raised his hat. 'I shall collect the ladies now, sir!' The contact was broken.
Keen lowered his voice. 'You did not tell him that the girl is a prisoner, sir?'
Bolitho watched the flannel bag being carried aft.
'I do not recall that he asked, Val.' He left a patch of shade and stared up at the Rock, its ancient Moorish castle shrouded in heat haze.
'The Governor might easily have shut her in a cell, Val. He has raised a state of seige here, one girl more or less would stand no chance.'
Keen stared after him, knowing that his lieutenants were waiting with their demands and lists.
Bolitho had to search through his despatches and compare them with his instructions from the Admiralty. It was a great responsibility to his ships and his men. But he had still found time to think about the girl named Zenoria. It was unnerving.
He turned and looked at his officers. 'Well, Mr Paget, where shall we begin?' His face was quite calm; he was the flag-captain again. If one hint of this matter reached higher authority Bolitho's name would be smeared too. And yet he had not hesitated.
By the boat tier Allday peered up at the green-painted barge and frowned. It would not be lowered, here at Gib anyway. He climbed up to peer into the sleek hull, biting his lip as if he expected the hot pain to surge through his chest again. The boat was half filled with water. The seams would not open in the sunlight. He glanced down at Bankart and grinned.
'You've made a good start, lad.' He was pleased although still dazed by the change of events which had given him a son. That was the strange thing. They spoke a lot with each other, but apart from Bankart's dead mother they had nothing in common except the Navy. But he was a pleasant lad and did not abuse his small authority of second coxswain as some might.
Allday dropped to the deck and said, 'Time for a wet. We'll not be needed just now.' He glanced aft. 'The admiral's too busy for chatter.'
Bankart ducked beneath a gangway and asked, 'What is he like? I've heard tell you've been with him since-'
Allday eyed him fondly. 'Since around the day you was born, I reckon. A fine man. Brave, an' loyal to his mates.'
He thought of the girl in midshipman's clothing. All bloody hell would break if Keen wasn't careful. He had heard some of the seamen laying odds on whether the captain had had his way with her. 'All right for the officers, eh, lads? Poor Jack is the one to suffer!' Allday had silenced that one with his fist, but there would be plenty more who thought as much.
He said, 'I'll take you with me to the house when we gets home. It's a grand place, but they found room for me like one o' their own.'
The mention of Falmouth made him suddenly uneasy. He had seen Bolitho's dismay change to resentment over something Lady Belinda had said or done.
Allday would back Bolitho anywhere against all odds, but he felt sympathy for his lovely wife. It could not be a smooth passage to follow in Cheney's shadow. Bolitho would have to accept this. There was no going back.
He shook himself out of his mood as he caught the heady aroma of rum.
'A good wet, that's what we need.'
The surgeon was standing just inside the door of the makeshift cabin, wiping his strong fingers on a cloth, as Keen appeared. Keen glanced at the Royal Marine sentry and saw that his blank face was wet with sweat, for
