The next morning the lookout bawled down to the deck that there was a big man o'war hull up three points off the starboard beam.

"They've got the weather gage of us, Mr. Hornblower," Captain Pellew bellowed. "All hands to quarters and clear for action. We'll give them a run and then come about. We'll board and carry her, make no mistake about that."

"She's running up signals, sir!" the lookout called.

"Well, read 'em out to me, or must I send up a midshipman?"

"A small, dark square, sir. 'Tis all. What do it mean, Capt'n?"

"A black jack? Hi, ho! Only one man uses that signal, and he runs his ship man o'war fashion. Lucky Black Jack Aubrey."

Hornblower whispered excitedly, "Royal Navy, sir?"

"Not any more, Mr. Hornblower. Aubrey was dropped from the list for buggerin' an admiral's favorite midshipman."

"A pirate like us then, sir?"

"He's a smuggler, Hornblower. And, I wonder what he's got in his hold today? Barrels of poppy juice? Bales of coca leaf? French postcards? Spanish leather undergarments?"

"Then we've nothing to fear from him, sir?"

"Oh, he'll eat us up in an instant, my pet. The Awful is the sweetest sailor on a bowline, trim, taut, and most of all well-manned. Afterwards, he'll simply go on about his smuggling business and return home to his kingdom in South America."

Hornblower blinked, licked his beautiful lips thoughtfully and asked, "Captain, then we should attack him first. Don't you agree, sir?"

Pellew smiled and shook his head. "I don't think so. I plan to invite him to dinner. His particular friend too."

"You mean his lover, sir?"

"I doubt it. Dr. Estefan Maudelin is an animal lover. Sleeps with a wombat, I'm told."

Whoratio's eyes grew wider than usual. He gasped, "A wombat? A blood sucking sort of vampire bat? Eeeew!"

"Nothing of the kind, my dear boy! A marsupial, I'm told."

"Oh sir, I can only imagine its tendencies," Whoratio said, swallowing noisily.

Pellew patted his lieutenant's fine tight backside and they waited for the Awful to close. Then, not an hour later, a gorgeously polished mahogany gig bumped the accommodation ladder of the Relentless. The handsome bargemen in black and silver uniforms smartly raised their oars and saluted as their captain stood up and tugged on the straining man ropes. The entire ship's company of Relentless was assembled in the waist. Ship's boys in white gloves, midshipmen and handsome lieutenants in a row, even the two recently captured prisoners stood in gaping awe as the enormous visitor lumber like a sea elephant, one foot in the boat and the other on the ship's ladder.

Pellew whistled when he saw Black Jack Aubrey step onto the accommodation ladder. Then he grabbed for the taffrail as the Relentless heeled to starboard, dipping more than two feet downward. Pellew remembered the famous Captain Aubrey as a big man but now he seemed the size of a Welsh cob, not an ear of corn, mind you, but a large pony.

After his weight departed the gig, the small craft bobbed high in the water. It was suddenly so frisky that it threw a smaller man into the water as he tried to follow the captain on board Relentless. The thin, little man sank like a stone into the calm sea leaving only his wig floating on the surface.

"Ahoy!" shouted Pellew. "Man overboard!"

Black Jack turned to look, a frown of immense impatience wrinkling his features. Then, without a warning, he dove like Leviathan, down under the counter of Relentless. The surging, crystal splash of his dive soaked Pellew on the quarterdeck. Relentless rocked like a hobby horse gone wild and the wave nearly upset the gig too, since every man in Aubrey's boat crew leaped to his aid all at once.

Whoratio had the presence of mind to throw a thick hawser over the side. Lucky Jack grabbed it and heaved himself up out of the water carrying his small friend who had to be the famous Doctor Maudelin. Whoratio couldn't see any small creatures attached to the animal loving doctor. Yet, the prospect of viewing one made the lieutenant shudder. Even so, Whoratio was attentive to his duty and helped the visitors gain the deck.

"Double shots of rum all around, if you please," shouted Pellew to Mr. Hornblower, pointing at the guests and the boat's crew.  

"Aye, aye, Capt'n," he roared in return.

As the rum was served out, Kennedy and the young midshipmen ran forward with blankets for the shivering doctor. Black Jack Aubrey declined the offer slipping off his sodden coat and handing it to Jackie Simpson. When the lad turned to take it below, Aubrey pinched the boy's bottom causing him to scurry away quickly.  

Whoratio raised his eyebrow at the lewd behavior. Pellew gave him a smirk and pinched his lieutenant's bottom so he wouldn't feel left out. He then clapped him on the shoulder and invited him to supper in the dining cabin. Smartly turned out, too, he added.

Nodding, Whoratio made his way to the forward hatchway. Ponderous Aubrey was being eased down the ladder nearest Pellew's cabin followed by his small friend. Below in the galley, all manner of endangered species of animals were being cooked at that very minute for the wonderful feast.

Last updated 29 November 1999 This page presented by: