Page 10 (2/2)

Laurence did appreciate that advantage, but not in the least the high-handed way in which the situation had been thrust upon the in his ears, but he and Mianning had gone through fire together, quite literally, and though the crown prince could not at all be said to have a ed license, Laurence deter your pardon for speaking plainly, but I cannot undertake to commit even myself, th of ti We are certainly not responsible for the resurgence of this native rebellion; we cannot contribute , rather than defy the E, kicking our heels in your back-country There is open war in Europe, and if our party seenificant to that effort, I assure you by the standards of our own nation it is not If you desire this alliance as much as we do, then I must tell you that ill require so, sooner rather than late, if you do not ive it up"

Laurence had no idea how this was received: Mianning heard him out with no evidence of either impatience or sy said only "The situation of your arreat concern to you" Polite enough, but est that you take this opportunity to observe the work of General Chu, and of our jalan: this will afford you opportunity to gain a better understanding of the ement of aerial warfare as its principles are understood by our nation" He did not say outright that he felt their understanding of those principles was far superior to the British, but he hardly needed to

"When we have actually seen scale or tooth of any other dragon in this so-called company," Captain Warren said, with some asperity, when Laurence had recounted his conversation, "it will be soon enough for us to be aainst Boney, even with that Chinese wor advice in his ear If these felloill only give us a few dozen beasts, I will thank theh, and they can keep their principles"

"Pray not so loud," Ha worried over his shoulder: he had nearly suffered an apoplexy at Laurence’s account Mianning and his escort had already departed, but Chu droned in sleep in a warons lay in a neat row against the entry wall Laurence did not think they were in any state to overhear, despite the thin glea slits of their eyes still cracked ajar, but the iered, and he could understand Haentleain on thetheir own beasts; Laurence went first to see how his creere settled A folding screen, pilfered in haste from their quarters in the Imperial palace, made at least the illusion of a private space for Mrs Peh when Laurence tapped and was invited to look in, he discovered that rather in defiance of their respective rôles, Emily had placed herself nearer the open floor, and her hand rested in her sleep upon her unsheathed sword

Mrs Peht of a candle "Yes," she said ruefully, "I am afraid she insisted, and asked what I would do if soive but that I would certainly raise a cry, she told me I could do that perfectly well froht the fellow a sharper lesson"

"I am sorry to subject you to such a journey," Laurence said; she had been swept along in their general pell-ht send her by some escort back to the Potentate Heto endure the hardship

"Emily has offered to teach me how to shoot her pistols, and to reload them," she said, "and I believe I will take her up on the offer if you have no objections, Captain Not that I am truly concerned at present, but as I understand it, we expect to be joined by a large force of soldiers?"

"How large," Laurence said dryly, "remains to be seen"

He bowed and took his leave of her, uard of steady and respectable men for the ladies He had not yet decided what to think of his first officer: it was perhaps the worst of his loss of ment he had to rely; and he was the more disturbed to have so so far seeentleood officer of the Navy could not answer But Laurence knew nothing of hiency

The rest of hisscreen, bundled into rough blankets and bedrolls O’Dea and a few of the ground creere engaged in a s stretched out around them and their deck so worn that the faces could scarcely be distinguished

Baggy was sitting with theht hi to his feet wincing and stifling a yelp "Take his cards, will you, O’Dea?" Laurence said "Sleep well, men; ill do e can tomorrow to see you do not have so cra up the cards, "and two queen in his hand; well, ’tis the wages of sin" He tossed theths, Captain, e are flying into a hive of very iniquitous rebels: the Old Nick can et to hiround crewmen did not look very enthusiastic about this description of their prospects; Laurence sighed inwardly, but only nodded they away "Sir, I didn’t think there were no--any har his head sideways to ease his ear, and trying to peer at Laurence out of the corner of his eye at once

Laurence let hio at his empty bedroll, near the other officers "You have been advanced before the mast, as it were," he said, "so I will make allowances this tiy’s real name "--sir," he substituted "But you are an officer now: you cannot sit to cards with the ground crew at night, with ive you precedence in the lancing over: Junichiro, who shared quarters with the junior officers, was sitting yet awake on his own bedroll; he was looking steadfastly down at his hands, and pretending not to observe the lecture

"You will show Mr Junichiro the ropes," Laurence said abruptly to Baggy, "beginning tomorrow We will put a little more harness on Temeraire, and you will come aboard, as my servants; I dare say the Chinese cannot object to that You will take him above and belohile we are aloft"

"How am I to learn from him?" Junichiro said, with at least some sort of a spark, even if it was of disrae, and he is--" Junichiro hesitated, for lack of the word, but Laurence did not require it said aloud: Baggy was indeed not very prepossessing, and no-one could have called hilish, however uncivilized, before I can seek a commission for you," Laurence said, "that ardless of his ether on the left shoulder, and inquire of ain: you will have to climb over to my position to do so, but it will be as well for you to have that practice" He left the at each other, satisfied himself if they were not At the very least Junichiro would be diverted so inappropriate society; and Laurence relied on the power of boredom to make them learn to talk to each other eventually, trapped aloft for ten hours at a tiht with his very lack of sensibility wear down Junichiro’s resistance

A separate inner chamber of the pavilion had been set aside for Temeraire’s use; but as he had withdrawn to it with Mei after their dinner, Laurence was far froht, however, so tentatively he looked inside To his relief, the two dragons slept already, with their noses only touching; and he found a separate sleeping alcove set aside where his own things had been laid out, the archway leading to it closed off by heavy drapes

He roused early and found theoutside he saw Temeraire at some distance from the pavilion, an enor intently at soround; he looked up when Laurence called his name and came towards him "Pray come and see," he said, "I admire it very much" It was one of the carved nue Laurence could see the white paint lining the sides of each carved channel had in it a great many silvery flecks, polished to a ht or htened the characters thereby

Everyone hen they returned to the pavilion, and rousing for the day "Is there , his eyes half-open

"Pork!" General Chu said, when Tely He bounded across the cha in his jaws one of the tall reeds from the wall, which carried a banner, thwacked hi up, "what does he mean by that? Temeraire, tell that fellow to stop, or I will pin him down"

"Hah! Will he!" General Chu said "Well, if he is awake, then, tell hi for ht our bellies down for a long day of flying, and if he is sleepy and hungry in the air, perhaps that will reulping n!"

With this rejoinder he put down the reed and stalked outside tofroround; he drank thirstily and deeply froush, then thrust his head into the deep pool which it fed, and flinging it back let the water pour off his round Then he flew some short distance to the nearby midden

"It don’t make any sense to me; we’ve always stuffed the any long flying, if there was food to be had," Granby said doubtfully, when Laurence asked his from thin air, and I don’t see any here, so we ood advice or no"

They followed Chu’s exaain, not without soround crewmen, who could see ahead another day of endless cra," Harcourt said, to her own ground-crew master "I don’t mean to use you all so unkind While we fly to-day, piece out the spare leather into belt-harnesses for you all, and beginning tomorroe’ll have you take it in turn to latch on to the back harness yourselves It will be good for the officers to have so since we had maneuvers"

She added to Laurence and Granby afterwards, before they themselves mounted, "But it will slow us down, if they have to be cla all over creation while we fly, with only belt-harness Will there be any ons, any time soon, so we could let the fellows ride?"

That question was answered late that afternoon: beneath the the name of another city was shown, unfa do it, and said soon nodded, with three quick efficient jerks rolled up her banner, handed it on to the second, and wheeling shot away into the upper air and south-easterly, vanishing with almost unbelievable speed

She returned scarcely an hour later, dropping back into place, and took up her banner again They flew on another two hours, and as the sun descended Laurence saw in the distance four dragons, three red and a blue, gathered at a marker up ahead Even as their own company approached, the party leapt aloft to htly above, in a sion at the rear and center The leader, ore a thin flat band of silver about his neck, bobbed his head respectfully to Temeraire and to Chu, but not a as said: they all fleards together

Laurence could crane about to peer at them more closely, at least at their underbellies, and could see the other aviators doing so all aht arether and bound very near the skin; it was heaviest at the pockets where the legs le st them; Laurence had seen a few upon their backs, but those were not visible fro into view

The blue dragon, on the other hand, wore no ar-harness, so nets between those rows bulged with supplies It flew a little below the red dragons, and Laurence realized after a tis in time, the blue beat his at a pace off-set and quicker, three to each stroke of the larger beasts "I wonder if it improves his speed," Laurence said

The next day two roups joined them; the day after, another By the end of the first week, as they crossed the border into the neighboring province, they fleith forty dragons at their back