Graves was watching him worriedly." I am afraid that after a ship-of-the-line, sir, you'll find this somewhat cramped."

Bolitho smiled." Have the ship's books brought to me after you have dined, Mr. Graves. I will also want to meet the other officers informally sometime today." He paused, seeing again the caution in his eyes? "Including the first lieutenant."

Graves bowed himself out and Bolitho turned his back to the closed door?

Cramped, after a ship-of-the-line, Graves had said? He hurled his hat across the cabin on to the bench seat below the windows. His sword he unbuckled and dropped in a green velvet chair. He was laughing aloud, and the effort to restrain it was almost painful?

Cramped. He walked, ducking between the beams? It was a palace after the Trojan's wardroom?

He sat down beside his hat and stared around the neat, cheerful-looking cabin?

And it was his own?

2. Freedom

IT WAS late afternoon when Bolitho finally decided he had read all that there was available about the ship around him. Muster and punishment books, watch-bills and ledgers of stores and victualling returns, the list seemed endless. But at no time was he bored. With his new coat hanging on a chairback, his neckcloth loosened and shirt unbuttoned, he found each item fascinating?

His predecessor, Captain Ransome, had kept a smart and well-run ship on the face of things. The punishment book had all the usual culprits and awards for minor misdemeanours. A few for drunkenness, even less for insolence and insubordination, and the worst recorded crime was that of a seaman who had struck a petty officer during gun drill?