The bargemen came aboard and received a warm welcome from the men of the lower decks. They got out stolen bottles of rum and brandy, sharing with their guests like the jolly tars they all were. They laughed together and sang songs. Compliments were exchanged along with refreshments. A few of the crew of the Relentless were British whalers and they likened the Awful's captain to the finest behemoth that ever waved a fluke. Aubrey's coxswain, a man by the name of Barrette Bondan, because a pretty jeweled clasp gathered his long chestnut braid, praised the captain of the Relentless. Only a truly brave man would invite Black Jack Aubrey to dinner!

All through the quiet afternoon, the two ships wallowed in the calm seas. Music played and men danced on the forecastle after a filling dish of pease pudding. Down below, knives and forks in capable hands and mouths like tiger sharks made quick work of sea pies, turtle soup, roasted blue winged teal, half a dozen snow geese, a great albatross stuffed with brine shrimp, lobsters and tuna, spotted dog, drowned baby and plum duff.

Finally, Pellew pushed his chair back from the table, thoroughly beaten by his guest who swilled down dish after dish of food, and glass after glass of whatever was in the crystal decanters. Halfway through the meal, Aubrey cracked open his own bottles, brought from Awful as a gift for his host. One bottle turned out to be a specimen jar. The twice refined spirits were delicious if one didn't look too closely at the amazingly deformed hand inside the jar.

Only a few men at the table ate sparingly. Hornblower was one, always careful of his narrow waist and firm buttocks. Another was the Doctor. If Aubrey ate like a ravenous shark, then Maudelin ate like a timid deer. He nibbled a corner of biscuit. He tasted a morsel of fish. Yet, he did sample many of the wines and emptied a pot of coffee at his elbow. It was no wonder he was so thin. His favorite food seemed to be a little ball of dried leaves that he chewed, as contentedly as a dairy cow, throughout the meal.

Not having his mouth stuffed as often as Captain Aubrey, Maudelin was a masterful conversationalist, in half a dozen languages which he used simultaneously without regard for the native tongue of his listener. A sentence starting in Latin might well end in Greek or Hindi. Whoratio tried to engage him in a discussion of mathematics but to no avail until he let it slip that his father had been a country doctor. After that, Maudelin discussed a variety of ailments common to farmers, sailors, and daughter's of Aphrodite, some of which were particularly ugly and unpleasant conversation during dinner.

So, when Whoratio seemed a suitable shade of pale green, Maudelin offered to take the young lieutenant up into the fresh air on deck for a well-deserved medical examination. The Doctor said he desperately wanted to palpate the lad's spleen and check him for hernias. Happy to amuse a guest, Whoratio appealed to his captain for permission to leave the table. Pellew nodded and Whoratio practically ran up the ladders to the open air of the quarterdeck, the small doctor, hot on his heels.

Off came the splendid jacket first. Next, the rough linen shirt. Never bashful in front of his men, Hornblower disrobed casually for the Doctor's scrutiny. The small man's hands flew like birds over the snowy hills of the young man's shoulders and down the smooth curve of his back.

"A few scars, I see," the Doctor said, tracing one or two fine lines with warm fingers down the youth's sleek torso, raising the coral buds tipping the nascent pectoral muscles.

Hornblower said softly, "Archie gave me the one on my left shoulder."

"The marks are of teeth then? I was wondering..." the Doctor replied.

With a far-off gaze, Whoratio added, "I shiver remembering it, sir."

The Doctor pressed against Whoratio's chest. "Lean back against the rail, my dear, if you please. Now, look up. Your eyes are very clear."

Maudelin felt the young man's neck. He lifted each arm and pressed his fingers into the sensitive pits. He traced the muscle groups and nodded profoundly.

Then he said, "I must palpate your abdomen. How do your bowels move?"

"Oh! That surprised me."

"The prodding or the question, for all love?"

"The pressing, sir," Hornblower said, gazing warmly at the Doctor. "It has raised a tingling inside my whole body."

"Then, I must press on, my dear boy. I may have discovered something serious. Moreover, we must find a place of privacy. You must disrobe completely."

"My cabin should suffice. Kennedy will be drinking brandy with our Captains, I believe."

"Lead the way then, Lieutenant. There is not a moment to be lost!"

Down the ladders and down again to the Gunroom, Hornblower and Maudelin pressed on. Britches dropped, and soon the Doctor's probing finger searched Whoratio's most tender channel. A half minute of internal teasing woke with a violent twitching the young man's somnolent serpent which fattened before their shining eyes.

Then the Doctor lifted the wrinkled sack, cradling the heavy orbs in his hands. Gently, he squeezed and Whoratio sucked in a tense breath. Pure crystal drops exuded from Whoratio's organ. Whoratio sighed and gazed longingly at the Doctor. Slicking the slippery liquid over the rosy head, Maudelin stretched back the foreskin of the young man's cock and Whoratio moaned.

"'Tis as I feared, lad. A gross imbalance of the bodily humors. You must be relieved at once."

This page presented by: