trade and marine to annihilation, if he is rash enough to commit the most trifling act of hostility against the persons or property of his Majesty's subjects; to expose the acts and intrigues of the French agents and Jewish merchants who conduct the trade of Mascara and Zambra; or to embark Mr Consul Eliot, his suite and baggage, with any British subjects and their property who may wish to make their retreat.
In your conference with the Dey, it will be absolutely necessary to preserve your temper, although he should show the most violent and indecent passion, but not to give way to the absurd positions he may lay down, or to admit that his Majesty's ships have, on any occasion, committed a breach of neutrality; and, finding all remonstrances ineffectual, and that his Highness persists in his exorbitant demands, and carries the threats notified to Mr Consul Eliot into execution, by offering any insult to his Majesty's flag, or other flagrant violations of the treaties subsisting between the two governments, you are to make known to his Highness that from the instant such an act of hostility should be committed by his orders, that war will be declared between Great Britain and Mascara, and that you have my instruction to punish the injustice and temerity of his Highness, by seizing, burning, sinking, or otherwise destroying, all ships bearing the Mascarine flag; and to block up the ports of his Highness, and to cut off all commerce and navigation between them and the ports of other nations; and having fulfilled the object of your mission, you are to lose no time in reporting to me the event thereof at Gibraltar.
'Have you any questions?' asked Fellowes.
'I think not, sir,' said Jack. 'It seems to me quite a straightforward mission.'
'Then I am to say that on the political side you will seek the advice of Dr Maturin, and that in your passage to Zambra you will sail with the Pollux, carrying Admiral Harte. It is not contemplated that the Admiral should take any part in the negotiations: apart from other considerations, a ship of the line and a flag-officer would give the Dey and the other local rules an exaggerated sense of their own importance and lead to undesirable consequences. But a knowledge of his presence in those waters would have a favourable influence. Furthermore, it is probable that some Frenchmen got out of Toulon in the recent blow, and mutual support may possibly be called for.'
'Is Admiral Harte fully aware that Surprise alone is to carry out the negotiations?' They eyes met, each knowing that Harte was notoriously given to interfering and that his recently-inherited wealth had very greatly increased his persuasion that he knew best.
'I believe so,' said Fellowes, and after a significant pause, 'These are notes on the situation in Mascara compiled by Mr Pocock for the information of Dr Maturin. Have you your statement of condition?'
'Yes, sir,' said Jack, taking the notes and passing the summary that showed the present number of hands aboard the Surprise, her degree of seaworthiness, and quantities of powder and shot, naval stores and provisions of every kind.
'You are short of water,' observed Fellowes.
'Yes, sir,' said Jack. 'We had to start the upper tier to catch our prize. But if you wish us to get under way directly we can very well complete at Zambra: there is no difficulty about that - water immediately at hand.'
'Perhaps that would be the best solution: Pollux is to sail early in the morning. You are acquainted with Zambra, Aubrey?'
'Oh Lord, yes, sir. I was third of the Eurotas when she stuck on the Brothers, well inside the bay. It took us a great while to heave her off, and we had to wait for supplies to come from Mahon, so when work was at a stand the master and I surveyed every inch of the northern part and most of the rest. The watering-place is wonderfully convenient, a spring at the foot of a cliff right on the shore, not a biscuit-toss from the boats.'
'Very well. Let us make it so. Now I see you are rather short-handed, too, and at Sir Francis's particular desire I have recovered several of the men who were drafted from Surprise during her repair.'
'I am very much obliged to you, sir,' said Jack, to whom this would have been an inestimable blessing if only his ship and his ship's company were not to be broken up in a few weeks' time.
'Not at all. They will come aboard first thing: you are alongside Thompson's Jetty, of course? Heavens,' he said in an unofficial voice as even heavier rain drove furiously against the window, 'how it does come down. You will stay and sup with me and my daughter, Aubrey? It is not a fit night out for man or beast.'
At last, at last, Lesueur said they could wait no longer. 'It will have to be Paolo. I am sorry for it, in a way. You must insist on speed - efficiency, painless efficiency- a lightning-flash.'
The doors closed behind them: Stephen uncocked his pistol and sheathed his knife. A few minutes later, so few that they might almost have met in the street, Laura came home. He heard the door give its usual shriek, saw the lantern shining in the doorway and herself thanking the people who had accompanied her, and there she was, running across the court with a cloak held over her head.
'Laura,' he called.
'Stephen!' she cried, throwing the cloak aside and embracing him. 'Oh how glad I am to see you- is Surprise arrived?- I never knew- how did you get in? - why, the key, of course - and have you been sitting in the dark? - come, let us strike a light and have a boiled egg together.'
'Where is Ponto?' he asked when they were in the kitchen.
Instantly her face changed from surprised happiness to pain and grief. 'He died,' she said, and the tears came directly. 'He died suddenly this morning and the charcoal-man helped me bury him in the court.'
'Where was Giovanna?'
'She had to go to Gozo. She was very strange -frightened.'
'Listen, my dear. Your husband has escaped from his prison: he has been out of their hands nearly three months now. That is why those letters were so out of tune - forged, of course, do you see? He is aboard the Nymphe off Trieste at this moment.'
'He is not hurt? He is quite well?'
'Quite well.'
'Thank God, thank God, thank God. But why -?'
'Listen,' said Stephen, waving her question aside. 'The Dryad came in from the Adriatic before us: they know about his escape. The French agents know that the news will reach you any moment and that then they will have no hold over you. They mean to put it out of your power to give them away. They have already killed your dog and
