Page 7 (1/2)

Chapter 7

"I BEG YOUR PARDON," LAURENCE said, interrupting, "but if you please, Captain, I would be grateful if you would begin earlier: the last--" He paused, not liking to give it voice, and then forced his way onwards "The last I recall very clearly is in the year four"

"Oh, Lord," Captain Granby said He was the captain of the fire-breather, an officer of twenty-and-nine years; tall and somewhat battered, short one arly informal in his manners and his dress of peculiar ostentation: Laurence had not seen so old on an admiral of the fleet "Well, I know you took the A was on it--that neas all over the Corps; but as for the rest of that year, or how you came to be there, I haven’t the faintest notion I suppose Riley could have told us--"

"Riley?" Laurence said, with relief for a nanized: his second lieutenant "Toht write hiret halted him, even before Granby spoke

So Riley was dead--his ship the Allegiance lost Laurence rose and went to stand by the stern s, to breathe in the sea-air in great gulps Granby was silent where he sat at the table, but Laurence felt his eyes upon his back

There was a dreadful strangeness to sit across from a man who called him Will, a man who had been his first lieutenant, and yet have his facebeen all alone and adrift Granby had been all that was kind--they had all been so, and visibly gladdened by his return Deposited on the deck, Laurence had been eers before he had been able tobut the enerous anxiety for his health--an anxiety, however, which reminded him at every turn that he was ill, wounded, and in such a ht never recover from it

Outside the , near the harbor on’s body where it dozed nearly hidden beneath the waves, its presence a warning Their own dragons were on the deck, and on a few pontoon-rafts floating about the ship; he did not, at the on Te in low voices with the ship’s surgeon, a Mr Pettiforth, behind his back "I must insist we halt this interview, Captain Granby," Pettiforth said "You can see for yourself the inimical effects of only this one shock There can be no question that any further strain on an already-weakened erous You must withdraw I eon had vociferously argued froainst any atte the events of the intervening years, as ood "I consider it a most unique species of brain-fever," Pettiforth had said "I have heard of only a few similar instances described; indeed, I am sure the Royal Society will be deeply interested, should I have an opportunity to set down the facts of the case--"

But Laurence had disence, of knowledge His feet had been bathed and bandaged; a night’s rest had seen hi any further He turned back "Sir, I cannot deny this news is an unpleasant shock, but I am by no means prepared to halt Captain Granby, if you please--"

"I beg your pardon," Mr Ha your pardon most extremely, Captain, but I think we must abide by Mr Pettiforth’s advice for the iveso--consider it the course most consistent with your duty"

"I can scarcely perform the least duty," Laurence said, "when I do not knohat that duty is, sir: so far as I knew before yesterday evening, I was a sea-captain, not an aviator"

"At present," Ha need is for your continued health You can do nothing if you have been prostrated by an aggravation of your--your injury, and your presence is vital--utterly vital--to all the hopes of our ’s envoy, and evidently in charge of their reat weight "Thank Heavens that you have not lost your facility with the Chinese language--I must credit," Hammond added, "the extent of our practice, the several e--your dedication there, Captain, has been very co else can be in at once to review the likely cere, the for to the crown prince, and to the Eive hiht it would be the programme of etiquette study which Hammond laid out, which would have been a punishment even if spread over the course of three years How he intended to touch upon all its parts in the space of ti harbor, Laurence had not the least notion

"All the more need, sir," Mr Pettiforth interjected, "not to add any additional strain upon your nerves Avoiding any particular, any notable shock," he looked at Granby with a hard, ful look, which Laurence could not interpret, "must be of the utmost importance"

Granby looked at Laurence helplessly; Laurence drew and released a deep breath "Very well," he said, grientleone the study, and closeted himself with Granby until he knew every detail that could be obtained of the last eight years from one who had been his close companion in nearly all of that time, from what he understood But he could not refuse Haered their cause--it was incuht to assist a ency was evident

Britain’s situation, and that of all Europe, was more desperate than he had feared at the worst Granby had, to his great comfort, been able to assure hiood could be said The story of the invasion of Britain, of which he until now had received only the faintest outlines, had filled Laurence with horror: Nelson dead--Nelson, and fourteen ships-of-the-line sunk Even so complete a victory over Napoleon as had been achieved could scarcely compensate for such a loss

Indeed, Laurence was forced to give some credence to Pettiforth’s concerns: if there had been more such disasters, in the years he had lost, he did wonder hoell heof h at least to carry the but we ons must be exercised, surely? Captain Granby, who is the senior officer of our coood hand "It has been all in the air, anyway--Harcourt has coned to her, or she to either of us, and--oh, damn it all," hesaid, "look, Ha"

But even when Granby had explained, appallingly, that Longwings insisted on fe that beast was indeed a wooes by the beasts, you know," he said "It’s noton cerest themselves; it don’t matter if a Winchester’s captain has twenty years on ives a snort, you can be sure"

With four heavy-weights and a Longwing aboard, such a policy must surely have kept the command in a state of peculiar confusion: all the olden creature called Kulingile, was scarcely more than a boy, and not British at all but froine how he had been appointed to his post "Well, he wasn’t," Granby said, "Demane is from Capetown, you took hi his lip "You took theap behind him, "as your runners, and he picked up the beast when no-one else would have it: came out of the shell deformed, and not the size of a laile did not seem inclined to assert his precedence particularly; and even after what little tist the that the other beasts seeive way to Teht well himself be the senior officer, by such a measure, and his injury all the more potentially disastrous: better in so this peculiar mix of competence and confusion

But he did not press Granby further for explanation To have worked through an accounting of eight years all together would have been difficult enough, but it was still worse to acquire piecemeal details, and see the aard hesitation on Granby’s face as he tried to explain first one and then another chain of events, yet without conveying any infor the narrative at every turn He faltered too often, and with a look alh he hoped Laurence would suddenly be recalled to himself: even while that same hope, privately but deeply held, quietly died away in Laurence’s own breast

"So far as the command is concerned, then, I will defer to you, Captain Granby, at present," he said, cutting short the attempt, "and I trust you will feel not the least hesitation at correcting me in any failure to carry out my necessary duties For the rest, my health has scarcely had a chance to recover, after the exertions of , it may restore my memory with it"

It was an eh Granby seized upon it with eager relief and Hah Mr Pettiforth murmured quietly to hieneration ought to be expected, if anything I ression--"

Laurence saw theh housed anize: even his sea-chest was unfah-hewn, a cheap construction which ht in desperation and which should shortly have to be replaced; a green creeping stain was already to be seen growing upon the underside The chest was full of books, though he had never been a great reader: Principia Mathees were smooth where he evidently liked to turn them There were only two pieces of correspondence: one letter from his mother, another, with the direction very badly scribbled and nearly unreadable, from the Peninsula: from a fellow-officer, then

"Well," he said aloud, "I ht be dead, or in a prison," and threw the-book, which he also had not opened He was resolved not to succumb to despair He had the use of his limbs, and his reason; he had lost less than many another man in the service

He belted his sword back on, went up to the dragondeck, and found Te for hi to keep Te in a loud voice, which could surely be heard across all the ship, "It is of the utmost importance that Captain Laurence be spared any unnecessary shock, whichyou to attend me, Temeraire! I assure you that we have every reason to expect his memory to return shortly, if you will only have a care not to--"

"Yes, yes, of course," Te at hier note in his resonant voice, whichup in a ested to Laurence his excitement "Laurence, how much more yourself you look: you must be better, I am sure," he said, when Laurence had mounted to the deck There was an anxious question in the words, however Teathered, by some mishap in the rescue of the ship; and his spirits had been badly beset by the belief of Laurence’s own death

It seeile in any way The head bending towards hi in the jaws larger than his hand, serrated along their back edges and hard ivory Strangely Laurence felt no fear, no instinct of alarht to; he had seen, only last night, what appalling devastation ht by this beast

But even without fear, it was difficult to think of Temeraire as vulnerable--and yet perhaps not so difficult: a first-rate off a lee-shore, and his the duty to keep her off the rocks Laurence still did not wholly understand how he had come to harness the beast, to becoht have i But for the h to know that he had done so: that he had given up his naval rank, his ship, and all his hard-won prospects No need to wonder, either, what had become of Edith Galman She had surely wed another, a man who could offer her a respectable holad of it; she deserved as much and more

Duty remained: his country’s need stood above his own concerns "I a you have no concern for me How is your own health?"

"Oh!" Temeraire said, "I am perfectly well, now; I have been a little ill, but that is quite done with; I a hisat him with one anxious slitted eye, "of course you know that I would have co to interfere--if it had not been for the egg I am so dreadfully sorry"

The rest of the afternoon was consuon insisted on Laurence’s being taken below, on the crate and all its careful packing being undone to display the egg It ree of passionate interest which Teave it, and not only he: the fire-breather, evidently the dam, roused herself and watched with equal attention, so that Laurence could scarcelyone enorht

He was invited to touch the shell, with great care and an open palm: a tender softness not unlike the head of his nine-day-old nephehen that child had been laid carefully in his hands by a watchfulpressed for his opinion, he used very much the sa," he said, "perfectly hearty, and the size prodigious: I congratulate you both extremely, and I am sure it will do very well; extraordinarily well" He ine the worth to England of such a cross-breed His effusions could not have satisfied Temeraire, however, if they had been ten tiradually caon’s anxiety was to be sure that Laurence did not bla come to his rescue

"You could scarcely have found me, if you had tried," Laurence said "I do not think I had been on shore half-an-hour before I was taken up"

"I would have contrived, somehow," Temeraire said "I found you in Africa, after all, when--oh; I am not meant to speak of that, a as you are satisfied--so long as you do not suppose I would have allowed any lesser cause to weigh with me"

Laurence was not entirely satisfied: the lesser causes had evidently included abandoning the ship, theiroff a ith Japan: all for his sake, and here was Tes He began to feel there was an almost dreadful responsibility inherent in the rôle, a rôle for which nothing had prepared him, and which he felt wholly unsuited to carry out The distance between this and a ship’s coulf

But he could not chide the dragon for his affection; particularly not when Tereat a strain, its evidence on’s eyes: his eyelids were heavy again already Laurence lay his hand against Te hide, its peculiar combination of resilience and softness at once familiar and not so "I have been restored to you in defiance of all expectation and without, I hope, any evil consequence to our mission; weyou believe hed deeply, and lowered his head to his forelegs "I alad to hear you say so," he said "I was sure, Laurence, that you would not think it right of --that you would tell me, if you were here, that it was my own responsibility, and I could not leave it to others nofor you, not when the egg was not perfectly safe I was quite sure, but oh! It was dreadful nonetheless, and I did fear that perhaps I had judged wrongly"

"You did not, at all," Laurence said, with a good deal of relief: so a dragon need not be insensate to duty at all And then he was at a loss: what ought he do else, for the beast? Should he order aerial exercises? He did not see the other dragons engaged in such work, and indeed it ht have been a provocation to the Japanese, to do so in harbor; besides this, he knew nothing of what his duties should be

He looked for one of the ship’s boys: a sondeck, head full of yellow curls and in a patched green coat When Laurence caught hi voice, "Aye, Captain?"

"Light along to -book, if you please," Laurence said, and pausing added, "And tell ain"

"Gerry, sir," the little boy said, giving hihed inwardly and iven hiht he would read it over, and learn the daily routine thereby; perhaps he ht thus advise himself

"What a splendid notion," Te his head; his eyes had brightened "Of course that h I -book has not been very interesting at all It has been nothing but fish and wind, these six months, before we ran into that storm We have not seen a battle anywhere, since we had to run froretful Laurence’s own thought: the Inca? And hard on that, it belatedly dawned upon hion himself, unlike a horse, or even a recalcitrant landsht be relied upon to tell him of their work "Temeraire," he said, "do you know the names of the rest of your crew?"

"Of course," Teood officer to know all the names of his officers and his crew"

"So it is," Laurence said grimly "Pray will you tell me them, one after another?"

"He is alreadyfor confirmation "I know it is quite odd, when he does not re which happened in front of him, and quite lately; but you cannot say he is not better"

"Of course he is better," Maxi jaws from his share of the cod stew "I dare say he will remember all the rest of it in a week or so, Temeraire; no need to fuss"