'It is indeed. I have known first lieutenants go grey-haired because they could not woo, press or bribe enough hands even to work their ships out of port.'

At the prescribed time the doors were opened and Trojan's officers, excluding the midshipmen and junior warrant officers, filed into the great cabin.

It was a rare event, and took a good deal of time to get them into proper order, and for Foley and Hogg, the captain's coxswain, to find the right number of chairs.

It gave Pears time to watch their varying reactions, to see if their presence in strength would make any sort of difference.

Probyn, relieved from his duties by a master's mate, was flushed and very bright-eyed. just too steady to be true.

Sparke, prim in his severity, and young Dalyell, were seated beside the sixth and junior lieutenant, Quinn, who just five months ago had been a midshipman.

Then there was Erasmus Bunce, the master. He was called the Sage behind his back, and was certainly impressive. In his special trade, which produced more characters and outstanding seaman than any other, Bunce was one to turn any man's head, He was well over six feet tall, deep-chested, and had long, straggly grey hair. But his eyes, deep-set and clear, were almost as black as the thick brows above them. A sage indeed.

Pears watched the master ducking between the overhead beams and was reassured.

Bunce liked his rum, but he loved the ship like a woman. With him to guide her she had little to fear.

Molesworth, the purser, a pale man with a nervous blink, which Pears suspected was due to some undiscovered guilt. Thorndike, the surgeon, who always seemed to be smiling. More like an actor than a man of blood and bones. Two bright patches of scarlet by the larboard side, the marine officers, D'Esterre and Lieutenant Raye, and of course Cairns, completed the gathering. It did not include all the other warrant officers and specialists. The boatswain, and gunner, the master's mates, and the carpenters, Pears knew them all by sight, sound and quality.