his messmates (he had very nearly been expelled from their society) smiled, winked and nodded at him in the cabin and slapped him on the back as he travelled to and from the galley.
Good humour is a charmingly infectious state anywhere, particularly aboard a ship that has recently had a very rough time of it and that is now in port, moored fore and aft. Conversation at table very soon rose to a fine volume of sound, and Mr Wright had to strain his quavering old voice to give Stephen an account of the many mathematical calculations and even advanced physical studies in a current of strongly-flowing water, to determine the effect of the narwhal horn’s spirals and tori on the animal’s progress, all to no effect - to no effect yet: but so important a process must have a function, almost certainly a hydrodynamic function, and either plodding science or one of those beautiful intuitions - or perhaps Mr Wright should say sudden illuminations - would give the solution. Harding and the Admiral’s secretary agreed very well; and although the Royal Marine found it difficult to get beyond ‘An uncommon fine day, sir’ to William Reade on his left, they somehow discovered that they had both been at Mr Willis’s school together when they were little boys; and from that moment on, except when common good manners required that they should say something to their other neighbours or drink a glass of wine with an acquaintance on the other side of the table, it was a series of ‘Old Thomas and the mad bulldog, of how kindly the maids would hand out yesterday’s cold suet pudding from the back windows of the kitchen, of the famous thrashing Smith major had given Hubble’. The Admiral had known Jack time out of mind, and they had a great deal of naval news and recollection to exchange, while Jacob and the politico got along reasonably well together, once they had established a neutral ground which they could speak with no fear of compromising anybody at all and where no unguarded word could do harm.
‘God love us,’ said Joe Plaice, taking his ease on the quarter-deck, a little abaft the wheel, ‘what a din they do make, to be sure. You would think it was the snuggery of the William at Shelmerston of a Saturday night.’
‘Never mind, mate,’ said his cousin Bonden, ‘the port decanters are just putting on the table, and once they have drunk the King, they will be quieter. They have eaten two whole sucking-pigs, which weigh on the stomach.’
There was indeed a pause after all present had murmured ‘God bless him’ and drunk their wine; and when the talk had regained a moderate pitch Jacob said to the politico, ‘I believe my colleague is anxious to have a word with you.’
‘And I with him, as you may ‘imagine: we have had hardly any news from the other side since the sea went mad.’
In a reasonably subtle manner which other people - their neighbours and the servants standing behind their chairs - would not understand, they arranged for a private meeting somevrhat later in the day: but their professional cunning was cast away entirely, when the party came to an end and the Admiral quite openly asked Stephen to come with him and speak about his experiences on the Barbary coast and the present state of affairs in Algiers itself.
This he did, in as plain and straightforward manner as he could, and Admiral Fanshawe listened gravely, with close attention, never interrupting. ‘Well,’ he said when Stephen had finished, ‘I am sorry for Omar Pasha: he was a likeable ruffian. But that is one of the risks a Dey must run: and from the political point of view I think the Commander-inChief will think that we gain from the change. Ali Bey has always been more in our favour than otherwise, and many English merchantmen have had reason to be grateful for his moderation, and indeed his kindness on occasion. But I am afraid you must have had but a weary time of it, over there.’
‘Well, sir, that too is one of the risks of my calling: and I did see some very glorious spectacles in the Atlas. The only thing I really did regret, and regret most bitterly, was the spectacle of Surprise’s tender trying in vain to beat against that shocking wind when I needed so desperately to bring my news to Mahon. Yet even that extreme vexation of spirit faded when Captain Aubrey assured me that the same blast must necessarily have confined the Moorish galley to her port, so that my anguish had no real basis.’
‘It was a shocking blast indeed. All the East India and Turkey ships were blocked in Lisbon, and Lord Barmouth only just managed to get into Gibraltar.’
‘Lord Barmouth, sir?’
‘Why, yes: he has superseded Lord Keith, and it is to him that you will have to address your report.’
‘Lord Barmouth,’ cried Stephen, startled out of his usual equanimity. ‘Oh yes. I remember Lady Keith telling Captain Aubrey that her husband did not wish for a long tenure, but that they should retire to a house near the Governor’s cottage until the weather in England grew more tolerable. But I had not expected it so soon. Nor had I expected Lord Barmouth.’
‘You are displeased, Dr Maturin?’ asked the Admiral, smiling.
‘I beg pardon, sir,’ said Stephen. ‘I have not the slightest right to an opinion on the matter: but I did know that Lord and Lady Keith had a long-standing friendship for Captain Aubrey, and I had hoped that the Admiral would do everything possible and impossible to reinforce his scattered squadron, to make the capture of the Arzila galley more probable.’
‘Oh, I am sure that Lord Barmouth will do his utmost,’
