Chapter 3

The past four days had been long and hard for Captain Sir Edward Pellew. He'd had reports to write, repairs to initiate and important people to meet. All in all, he would rather have eaten toenails, and would have given a small fortune to have been able to accompany some of his men and officers to a reasonable inn and get thoroughly wasted.

But no.

As was his duty as the captain aboard the ship, he was not allowed to leave until all that needed seeing to was seen to. Now, at last, he was a free man. He had left the ship in the capable hands of his first lieutenant, and was happily sitting in one of the ships boats being taken ashore to try and find someone reasonable to pass the time with.

He had no sooner stepped onto the dock before he knew with a somehow familiar feeing of utter dread that his efforts were in vain.

"Captain Pellew, Sir, just the man I wished to see." Acting Lieutenant Simpson called out upon seeing his Captain.

"The devil's aim is good recently," Pellew muttered to himself. "He's managed to hit me every time…" Painting on a fake smile, Pellew greeted his Acting Lieutenant. "Mr. Simpson, what can I do for you?"

"Captain Pellew, I have become aware of the fact that the examinations for Lieutenant are being held in less that three weeks, Sir, and I was wondering if we should be in port that long."

Pellew stifled a small grin as he replied; "you wish to take your exam, Mr. Simpson?"

Simpson nodded.

"If you are in agreement, Captain."

Pellew barely contained a smirk as he replied "I'm sorry, Mr. Simpson, but I doubt we will be here outside of the fortnight."

We will stay at least four weeks, Pellew decided.

It was true, Mr. Simpson had been an ideal seaman these past two years he had served under Captain Pellew, but there was always…something there, an insolence, and almost mutinous air of contempt and arrogance. And it rubbed Pellew up all the wrong ways, and the fact that he could do nothing to punish Mr. Simpson as he had not committed any actual crime certainly did not help Pellews mood.

"Very good, Sir." Simpson muttered as he tipped his hat and turned to leave.

Oh, how good it can feel to be cruel sometimes, Pellew reveled with glee as his eyes followed Mr. Simpson's departure.

He stopped as Simpson's did, following the other mans gaze to one of the inns on the dock side.

The Four Winds inn.

Outside of it stood two of his best officers, Acting Lieutenant Kennedy and Lieutenant Hornblower, and beside them what appeared to be a large white furred dog of some kind. If Pellew hadn't known better, he would have said it were a wolf.

"Captain Pellew," Hornblower called as he approached his Captain in an attempt to escape a second creature, this one scruffy looking and jet black, and bouncing around with such enthusiasm Pellew entertained the idea the beast might be drunk.

"Lieutenant Hornblower," Pellew greeted. "You are enjoying your shore-leave I trust?"

"Yes, Sir." Horatio answered curtly. "Until Acting Lieutenant Kennedy found himself some new companions," he added nodding towards his friend and the two creatures.

"They aren't his," Horatio assured his Captain. "I actually think it was Styles who first found them. Archie's just being dogged by them," he smiled. "Excuse the pun, sir."

Pellew smiled at the joke as he turned his attention back to Kennedy and the new and too familiar man approaching him.

"Give me a reason, Simpson," Pellew growled under his breath as he watched the man.

"Sir?" Horatio asked in honest confusion. Despite everything, Horatio was not a sailor nor seaman. He knew the ways of the sea well, and would someday make a fine Captain, but for all his intelligence, he was not what you would call a smart man.

Of the two men now stood on the docks watching the nervous exchange between Archie and Jack Simpson, only Pellew recognized Simpson's effect on the younger man.

"Tell me, Mr. Hornblower, you knew Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Simpson aboard the Justinian before you transferred to my command, did you not?" Pellew asked.

Horatio nodded.

"Yes, Sir, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Simpson and I served aboard the Justinian for several weeks before…well, before I transferred to your command."

"Did you ever observe anything in those weeks?"

Horatio turned to his Captain, again confused.

"Sir?"

Pellew turned back to the man beside him and repeated "In the time you knew Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Simpson aboard the Justinian, what would you have described them like?"

Horatio paused, his mouth trying to form an answer although his brain could not.

"Were they friends?" Pellew asked eventually.

"No. Sir." Horatio answered quickly. "Mr. Simpson was a bully aboard the Justinian, and Mr. Kennedy is my own age. He'd been aboard the Justinian for years…"

"And?"

"You are aware of Mr. Kennedy's…affliction?"

Pellew turned his glare on Horatio for a moment before barking "of course I know, man. Every soul on the ship is."

"Mr. Kennedy has always had them, as far as I know. They were something he hated about himself, and something Mr. Simpson used against him."

Pellew opened his mouth to say something else, but as he continued to watch the exchange between his acting Lieutenants, he became very well aware of what Horatio meant.

"Did you ever see Mr. Simpson attack one of the men?"

Horatio pause uncertainly, before he answered "No." Pellew looked at him, doubtful, and eventually Horatio spoke again. "At the time, Sir he was pre-occupied with one person, Sir. A stubborn child who refused to yield to Simpson's bullying."

"And what became of this boy?"

Horatio swallowed hard, refusing to meet his Captains eye and instead choosing to take a renewed interest in Archie and Jack.

"He was beaten almost to death by Mr. Simpson. Mr. Clayton threatened to shoot him if he did not stand off, and Mr. Simpson turned his aggression on Mr. Clayton instead. The boy later transferred to another ship."

Pellew nodded, apparently absorbing the information as he asked; "Who was the new man aboard the ship at the time?"

Horatio paused a moment, but was bound by his honor to reply.

"It was myself, Sir."

Pellew nodded, and turned his attention back to the spot where Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Simpson had been standing just a few moments before.

"Did you see where they went, Mr. Hornblower?" Pellew asked as he glanced down both paths of the street in search of his lost Acting Lieutenants.

A moment later, both men uneasily shrugged off the disappearance of the two men and parted ways, Captain Pellew towards the nearest reasonable looking inn and Horatio back to his ship in the row boat Pellew had just abandoned.