"Quarters, sir. Eleven minutes flat even in this confusion."
"Very well," Moffett answered his first lieutenant.
"Now, Mr. Herrod, put a couple of boats in the water if you will. I want to be warned if that contraption comes toward Warrior. I'll not have Lord Anthony's flagship destroyed in harbour by some devilish boat only Satan would conjure up."
Chapter One
It was nearing dawn. His Majesty's Brigantine SeaWolf was fighting a light wind as she tried to make Barbados before nightfall. Dawkins had laid out his captain's clothes. Today, as everyday when not in port, his boyish captain dressed in sailor's slops. Added always to this were his sea boots and coat. Hot or cold he wore the coat. He might take it off after his first appearance on deck but he always put it on. He rarely wore his hat other than as required by duty.
The captain's hair was jet black with a bit of wave. Well not exactly jet black. The youthful captain had a strip of gray on the right side. A bullet had creased his scalp and when the hair grew back there was a gray furrow. Dawkins watched as his captain stared at his defect. Lady Anthony had said it made young Gabe more mysterious and romantic to the ladies. Dawkins had not known the captain to lack attention from the ladies, and he had known his young captain several years now. The captain, though only a Lieutenant by rank, was a midshipman when they met.
In fact had it not been for the then midshipman Anthony countermanding an order to fire a cannon in gun drill, Dawkins would have lost a leg when the cannon recoiled after being fired. That had created a stir, ending only when Lieutenant Witz had gone