Sorry about the long, long time MIA. I had my hands full with Zoology and a bunch of idiots in my lab session. There were eleven boys and four girls in the class, and the girls had no problem with the dissections. the boys, on the other hand, were the biggest bunch of squeamish babies I've ever seen. What the heck are people like that doing taking Zoology?

Rant over. I'm not fully recovered yet from my hellish summer session, but I'm getting there.

The Admiral and the Commodore

The Phoebe and the Tenerife, fitted with prize crews and with the pirates imprisoned in their own brig, sailed off for Kingston. Together, the Gallant and the Surprise turned towards Nassau and made fine time with the snapping trade winds that heralded the onset of hurricane season in the Caribbean. Young Christopher Stirling went back to his ship to attend his duties, and poor Rose took to spending half the day lying abed and stopped eating breakfast altogether. When she came up on deck, she sat silent and morose in her usual place watching the sea rush past and lost in her own thoughts. Stephen sometimes spoke to her about a certain bird or sea creature he saw, but her mood was so foul that they often sat in silence for hours and hours. Because she looked terribly pale and wretched, Stephen asked to examine her for some kind of island fever. This resulted in such a savage response that he felt as if the lady had nearly snapped his head off.

Now and then, Pullings would come and sit with her, and his presence seemed to cheer her a bit. If it could be called cheering, Stephen thought as he watched them one day. No, not exactly cheering, but he seemed to have the ability to draw her from her melancholy, if only a little. To Stephen's surprise, though, he heard them one day talking a bit together, and although he was certainly not eavesdropping and was actually trying to ignore what was said, he could not fail to understand what was passing between them. Tom was insisting that they be married in Nassau, and Rose agreed with one condition: that the wedding occur after Colonel Pitt had been taken into custody and when they were all safe.

Thus, the days passed in a kind of bright daze, for the dog days of summer were upon them and the sun was intense, but the lady's serious melancholy cast a pall over the ship. The one good aspect of the voyage was that they were making cracking good time.

The Bahamas, located in the balmy southernmost waters of the North Atlantic rather than the Caribbean, had thousands of little islands and cays, most of them either uninhabited or home only to the natives. As the Surprise followed the Gallant through the mazelike intricacies of the waters around and between them, Jack muttered tersely to Stephen that he hoped "that daredevil", meaning Captain Hawkes, knew where he was going.

It was with some surprise and not a little relief that they came upon a sheltered inlet, deep and quite invisible from the open sea, where another ship was waiting – the Coventry, a 74-gun ship of the line, which was supposed to be, by all reports, currently in the South Pacific.

"I'll be damned, sir," said Pullings to Jack as he lowered his spyglass. "They're flying an admiralty flag above the commodore's"

"Damn that bastard, Hawkes," said Jack to Stephen. "Why didn't he tell me?"

"Are you sure he is entirely trustworthy?"

At first, Jack glared at him, but then he shrugged. "I believe he is intensely loyal, but I don't necessarily trust him."

"Is he really the admiral's son?" Stephen pressed.

"Yes, certainly. It is hardly an open secret." He fixed the smaller man with a pointed look. "You think he's hiding something?"

"That is hard to say," he began slowly, "however, he certainly knows Rose much better than she originally said."

"Well, the woman feeds us information with teaspoons, yet she has proven herself, I'd say."

Commodore Bellows sent his compliments and asked Captain Aubrey to come aboard for a meeting along with his passenger and the papers they were carrying. Jack sent back word that Dr. Maturin and Lieutenant Pullings would also be joining them, for they had key information to share.

Rose's bad mood lifted slightly with the promise of seeing her elder son again. She still looked pallid and weary and made no opposition to being sent over on the bosun's chair whereas Stephen complained bitterly of being subjected to such an indignity.

On deck of the Coventry, he found them all waiting as Captain Hawkes, looking as arrogant and devil-may-care as ever, climbed up from his own launch; however, his grin disappeared when he caught sight of Rose.

"Are you ill?" he asked. "You look like shite."

"How charming of you to notice," she replied in an icy voice, hardly sparing him a glance as her eyes swept the deck and the rigging for a certain crewmember that she seemed not to find.

As soon as Stephen was free of the dratted device, a junior officer led them all down to the commodore's cabin. The gentlemen stood aside to let the lady enter first, and she smiled and embraced both of the men who waited there. "Sir, how happy I am that you are here. Theo, it is good to see you. Where is Silvester?"

"Attending his duties, one would hope," replied Commodore Bellows. He was a trifle shorter than Rose, on the portly side, with fair colored hair, prominent features, and bright, calculating grey eyes.

"You are not looking your best, my dear," said the admiral with a frank look of concern. He was taller than the commodore by a few inches and had darker eyes; otherwise, his son was his image.

"So I've been told," she sighed with an arch look at Hawkes.

"Have you been ill?" he pressed.

"A little, but I am on the mend." There was a finality to her tone that made it clear that there would be no more talk about her appearance. "Can I not see Silvester?"

"Presently," said the commodore as he approached the other men. "David," he said by way of greeting to Hawkes. "Jack."

They bowed, and Jack introduced Stephen and Tom Pullings to both Commodore Bellows and the admiral, and very shortly, they were all settled around the table with glasses of wine.

"Can I not even say hello to him? Just for a moment?" pressed Rose.

"As I said," replied the commodore with a slight hint of impatience in his voice. "Shortly."

"Oh, for God's sake," swore Hawkes in that rough and golden way of his. "Let her see the lad. The poor thing's been out of her mind with worry these months."

Before the commodore could answer, the admiral agreed with Hawkes. "Let her see the boy for five minutes," he said. "Then we shall talk."

Only for a fraction of a second was there any hesitation. "Of course, of course." said the younger Bellows as the door opened to admit the marines who were bringing in the wooden chest containing Flint's papers. "Come along, Rose, and see him."

"Thank you," she said to the admiral before leaving with his son.

When they were gone and the marines had withdrawn, Jack opened the chest and began to pull out the sealskin pouches. "We have not opened but one, but it seems to be letters and other documents protected against the weather in sealskin. There's also the account book." He placed a small, bound leather volume on the table.

Old Bellows looked at it with a frown for a long moment and them picked it up and thumbed through it. Almost immediately, he set it down and fixed his gaze on Jack. "Well, Aubrey, you've done well."

"Yes, sir, but with your permission – we've had more than our share of trouble."

The admiral looked at the four men and nodded. "Where that young lady is concerned, I can imagine you have. Now, you had best start from the beginning."