delicto (which seems to be his way of life) and an allegedly pregnant housemaid, Lewrie takes service in the Far East in the eighty-gun 3rd Rate ship of the line Telesto, now disguised as an independent trader, or "country ship." Voyage to Cape Town, Calcutta and Canton, China, as 4th Officer, where Telesto hunts down and eventually destroys the French privateer captain Guillaume Choundas (a right bastard if ever there was one!) and bis Mindanao pirate allies the Lanun Rovers. Whilst in India, he remade the acquaintance of his father Sir Hugo, now on service with the land forces of The Honourable East India Company to avoid creditors at home. They reconcile as much as they are able, and participate in the final battles together. Ends up with some pirate loot as his personal pelf and sails for England, the secret task complete, in February of 1786. See The King's Privateer.

Lieutenant Lewrie, RN, is now looking forward to the prospect of a peaceful three-year commission in command of a small vessel with the Bahamas Squadron, at least as much as an unwilling Navy officer may "look forward" to continued active service.

But then, with Alan Lewrie's singular inability to keep his breeches buttoned, his hands out of the honey pot, his smarmy wit to himself, or his mouth properly shut, there is the distinct possibility that he's going to come a cropper. Again. And, judging from his own catastrophic past, we may rest assured that somewhere along the line, he simply cannot help getting into both peril and mischief!

Now that we have all this out of the way, then, let us proceed with the continuing chronicle of our ne'er-do-well rakehell.

I

"Sed tamen, nymphae, cavete, quod Cupido

pulcher est:

totus est in armis idem, quando nudus est

Amor.

Cras amet qui numquam amavit,

quique amavit eras amet!"

"Yet take heed, nymphs, for Cupid is