Munro had never been so moved before by anything; neither had his friend the first lieutenant.

Poland 's voice cut through his thoughts like a dirk.

"Mr Munro! I would trouble you to cast an eye over those idle roughknots who are supposed to be working on the second cutter-they seem more intent on gaping at the horizon than using their skills! Maybe they should not be blamed if the officer-of-the-watch is day-dreaming, what?"

Mr Hull bared his teeth in an unfeeling grin.

"Got eyes everywhere, 'e 'as! " He swung on the midshipmen to cover Munro's embarrassment. "An' wot d'you think you're a-doin' of? Gawd, you'll never make lieutenants, nary a one o' ye! "

Bolitho heard all of it, but his mind was elsewhere. He often thought of Catherine's despairing anger. How much of what she said was true? He knew he had made enemies down the years, and many had tried to hurt and damage him because of his dead brother, Hugh, who had gone over to the other side during the American

Revolution. Later they had used young Adam for the same purpose, so it was likely that the enemies were truly there, and not merely in his mind.

Did they really need him to come to the Cape so urgently; or was it true that Nelson's victory over the Combined Fleet had changed strategy out of all recognition? France and Spain had lost many ships, destroyed or taken as prizes. But England 's fleet had been badly battered, and the essential blockading squadrons outside enemy ports were stretched to the limit. Napoleon would never give up his vision of a mighty empire. He would need more ships, like the ones which were building at Toulon and along the Channel coast, vessels of which Nelson had spoken many times in his written duels with the Admiralty But until then, Napoleon might look elsewhere – perhaps to France's old ally, America?