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"When we should again be in England, in her purview, naturally you shall not want for any other guidance," he said "Until then, I cannot consider myself alone adequate supervision; have you never felt the want," he added desperately, by way of persuasion, "of soht turn for--for advice?"

"Mother has told me all about that," E stupid and put myself out of service for a year; whatever else should I have to talk about with some stuffy old woave up the hope of argu her to see to the requisition of unpowder, for their incendiaries

Chapter 3

TEMERAIRE COULD NOT PARTICULARLY REGRET seeing the s away behind thely of the qualities of the harbor; that was very well, but it did not make up for the untidy appearance of the unpaved streets, which were too narrow besides, and the mud which was everywhere And while he certainly appreciated all the goods which the sea-serpents brought, from China, he did not appreciate the extraordinary stench of the mash of half-rotten fish which they liked to eat; and he did not see why it needed to be kept in open barrels by the dockside The as very nearly directly at their back, carrying the siance traveled onward

"I suppose they would not eat any of us?" Mrs Pe at the base of the stairs up to the dragondeck

"Oh, they certainly would, if ever you gave the down at her, "--They have no discrimination at all, I am afraid; but you see, they do not seem to be able to speak, so one cannot very easily explain to theo swi, you had better wait until we are at least a few days out"

The lady stared up at him dumbly Temeraire had not precisely follohy Laurence had felt her presence necessary, and when he had asked Roland, she had said, "It is not, at all," in venomous tones; she noered Mrs Pemberton with faint contempt "Of course none of them will eat you: she ile, not the serpents"

"So I am afraid she cannot be very clever," Temeraire said to Laurence in an undertone, later that day, when they had coondeck again "And you know, Laurence, Iany protection which Roland should need, if only you had mentioned it to me; even if she were not of my own crew, I should consider it only my duty to Excidium, since he cannot be with us"

He could not quite suppress a hint of injury: in the interim Lieutenant Ferris--or Mr Ferris, as he evidently was to be called--had explained Mrs Pemberton’s position to hireement with Roland on the subject

"In body I have no doubt of it," Laurence said dryly, "--in reputation, I aht have more difficulty: your opinion would not be solicited in the hed and added, "She is a sensible woreed to the position in the first place; I aer to her"

Several of the serpents had followed them out of the harbor, either for a frolic or in hopes of a iance’s bow, their sides glea in spray No-one liked their coht have objected to, the sailors were very anxious over theht at any moment attack Which the serpents would not, of course, because they were too fat and well-fed; they had only to go back to the harbor if they were hungry But the sailors were unconvinced and viewed the dragons as their only defense, so that if ever Tereat noise in the sails overhead, or send a cannonball rolling across the deck, or drop a coil of rope down upon hier to theruntled, when a pailful of slurry had by supposed accident been allowed to pour down onto his neck after one of the serpents still following along in their wake had breached the water in a great curving iridescent leap, evidently toattention

Roland was now apparently too senior to wash hi with a little creature called Gerry: the relic of a New South Wales officer and his ho had both been carried off by soht, with no family in the world within two thousand miles Laurence had acquired hi with Mrs Pemberton "The price of her advice," Laurence said ruefully, but as far as Temeraire was concerned, Gerry was far ers were much better able to clean underneath the scales, where some of the slurry had leaked unpleasantly

He cried when brought up on the dragondeck, to be sure, but Roland abused hireat deal to be taken on as a runner two years early, instead of only being put into school; what business do you have to be blubbing like an infant? No-one will ever think you worthy of having a dragon yourself, if you cannot properly appreciate the chance," she said

Gerry sniffed wetly and said, "I do not want a dragon myself," which Teht have another person in his creho did not on, just when he and Laurence had got thereat looby," Roland said "Who would not like a dragon of their own, and be able to go flying and do their duty to England; and you the son of a soldier: you ought to be ashaer participant in MacArthur’s rebellion, that late gentleman’s commitument at least distracted the boy from his tears "I am not a looby," he said sullenly, and followed Sipho up on Te hio sliding down Te slurry on Iskierka, who slept in hissing, steaondeck; Teile was being useful, and fishing: even if he did eat ht hiht at dinner-ti wistfully over at other people’s portions if one did not eat quickly enough

"You needn’t rock the boat so hard when you land," Iskierka even co his chops

"You needn’tabout quite uselessly," Teile; thank you," he added graciously, taking the reht back to offer around, though the edges were ragged and sonawed, and even these leftovers were more than Temeraire really wanted He did not quite like to adile; it did not seem fair that anyone who had started quite so ser than hiht even outstrip Maxiry," Iskierka said "If there were any prizes in sight, that would be different, but there is no sense in flying around only for fish one does not want Anyway you are not hunting yourself, either"