He picked up his hat. "I would that it were under better circumstances." He thrust out his hand. "But thank you. Yours is no easy role. I know from experience."
A bell tinkled somewhere, and the flag lieutenant seemed to make up his mind.
"Unrivalled will be docked, sir. But the reports have made it very clear that it will not be a quick overhaul like the last one."
Adam almost smiled. "The last two? He touched his arm as they walked to the door; it reminded him of the court-martial after Anemone had been sunk. Prisoner and escort.
"Then I am not being replaced?"
The lieutenant swallowed hard. He had already gone too far.
He answered, "My late father had a saying, sir, when things seemed against him. "Look to a new horizon"." He flushed as Adam turned to face him. He would never forget that expression.
He called, "Captain Adam Bolitho, Sir Robert! "
Adam gripped the old sword and pressed it against his thigh. The reminder. He was not alone.
Luke Jago, the captain's coxswain, walked to the edge of the jetty and kicked a pebble into the water. He was restless, unsure of his feelings and unable to think clearly, which was almost unknown for him.
He was the captain's right-hand man, trusted by him, a position he had come to value more than he would ever have believed. It was sometimes hard to recall how it had been before that day, the handshake which had changed everything. The anger and bitterness were part of another life. He had been unjustly flogged at the order of a very different captain; even though an officer had spoken up for him and proved his innocence, it had been too late to prevent the punishment. There had been apologies, but the stripes of the 'cat' would remain on his back until the day he died. It was Jago's nature to mistrust officers, and the younger they were the harder it became to overcome it. Green young midshipmen who might listen to his advice, tricks learned after his years at sea in one kind of ship or another, could suddenly turn and snap like spoiled puppies when they found their feet.