'It is what you came for, surely.' He smiled. 'Speak out.'

Cairns thrust his hands behind him, his eyes very bright.

'You have heard the master's views on the chance of fog, sir?'

Pears nodded. 'I know these waters well. Fog is common enough, though I would not dare to make such a bold prediction this time.' He pushed the cheese aside. 'But if the master says a thing it is usually right.'

'Well, sir, we will have to lie to until it clears.'

'I have already taken that into account, damn it.'

'But so too will our watchdog. Both for his own safety and for fear of losing us. The fog might be an ally to us.' He hesitated, sensing the captain's mood. 'If we could find her and take her by boarding-' He got no further.

'In God's name, Mr Cairns, what are you saying? That I should put boats down, fill them with trained hands and send them off into a damned fog? Hell's teeth, sir, they would be going to certain death!'

'There is a chance there may be another vessel in company.' Cairns spoke with sudden stubbornness. 'They will display lights. With good care and the use of a boat's compass, I think an attack has a good chance.' He waited, seeing the doubts and arguments in Pears' eyes. 'It would give us an extra vessel, and maybe more. Information, news of what the privateers are doing.'

Pears sat back and stared at him grimly. 'You are a man of ideas, I'll give you that.'

Cairns said, 'The fourth lieutenant put the thought in my mind, sir.'

'Might have guessed it.' Pears stood up and walked towards the windows, his thickset frame angled to the deck. 'Damned Cornishmen. Pirates and wreckers for the most part. Did you know that?'

Cairns kept his face stiff. 'I understood that Falmouth, Mr Bolitho's home, was the last place to hold out for King Charles against Cromwell and Parliament, sir?'

Pears gave a tight grin. 'Well said. But this idea is a dangerous thing. We might never find the boats again, and they may not discover the enemy, let alone seize her.'