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CAPTAIN," KEYNES SAID, "I ae up a bullet-wound, and a gorned in on in Britain when the quarantine-coverts are full of the sick"
"I perfectly understand, Mr Keynes, and you need say nothing more," Laurence said "Will you not fly with us as far as Dover?"
"No; Victoriatus will not last the week, and I ait and attend the dissection with Dr Harrow," Keynes said, with a brutal sort of practicality thatof the characteristics of the disease So; one will carry eon&039;s hand "I hope we shall see you with us again soon"
"I hope you will not," Keynes said, in his usual acerbicfor patients, which from the course of this disease will mean they are all dead"
Laurence could hardly say his spirits were lowered; they had already been reduced so far as to on-surgeons were not by and large near so incompetent as the naval breed, and despite Keynes&039;s words Laurence did not fear his eventual successor, but to lose a good e and sense proven and his eccentricities knoas never pleasant; and Temeraire would not like it
"He is not hurt?" Temeraire pressed "He is not sick?"
"No, Temeraire; but he is needed elsewhere," Laurence said "He is a senior surgeon; I am sure you would not deny his attentions to those of your co from this illness"
"Well, if Maximus or Lily should need hiround "Shall I see theain soon? I aon I have ever seen, even though we have been to China; he is sure to recover quickly"
"No, my dear," Laurence said uneasily, and broke the worst of the news - "The sick have none of theo anywhere near the quarantine-grounds"
"But I do not understand," Temeraire said "If they do not recover, then - " He paused
Laurence only looked away Teons were hardy creatures, and ht have justly expected to know Maxier than a man&039;s lifetime, if the war had not taken the almost bewildered, Temeraire said, "But I have so ht learn that dragons s other than fight"
"I rite a letter for you, which we can send to thes, and they will be happier to know you well and safe froion than for your company," Laurence said Temeraire did not answer; he was very still, and his head bowed deeply to his chest "We will be near-by," Laurence went on, after a moment, "and you may write to them every day, if you wish; e have finished our work"
"Patrolling, I suppose," Temeraire said, with a very unusual note of bitterness, "and more stupid for"
Laurence looked down, into his lap, where their new orders lay amid the oilcloth packet of all his papers, and had no comfort to offer: brusque instructions for their immediate removal to Dover, where Temeraire&039;s expectations were likely to be answered in every particular
He was not encouraged, on reporting to the headquarters at Dover directly they had landed, by being left to cool his heels in the hall outside the new ad to voices by no nized Jane Roland, shouting; the voices that answered her were unfa as the door was flung open A talland expression both disordered, his lower cheeks low under his sideburns; he did not pause, but threw Laurence a furious glare before he left
"Come in, Laurence; co with the adly in a black frock coat and knee-breeches with buckled shoes
"You have not , I think," Jane said "Sir, this is Captain Laurence, of Te deep to cover his confusion and disons were in quarantine, to put the covert in the charge of a physician was the sort of thing which ht make sense to landsmen, as with the notion advanced to hi his influence on behalf of a less-fortunate relation, to advance a surgeon - not even a naval surgeon - to the command of a hospital ship
"Captain, I a said "Ad been the cause of so unpleasant a scene"
"Nonsense; those rascals at the Victualing Board are a pack of unhanged scoundrels, and I aood day to you Would you credit, Laurence," Jane said, as Wapping closed the door behind himself, "that those wretches are not content that the poor creatures eat scarcely enough to feed a bird anymore, but they must send us diseased stock and scrawny?
"But this is a way to welcoht him by the shoulders and kissed hiht; whatever has happened to your coat? Will you have a glass of wine?" She poured for the his answer; he took it in a sort of appalled blankness "I have all your letters, so I have a tolerable notion what you have been doing, and you ivethan to leave out the only matter of any importance"
"No; that is, yes, of course," he said, and sat doith her at the fire Her coat was thrown over the arm of her chair; now that he looked, he saw the admiral&039;s fourth bar on the shoulders, and the front ed with braid Her face, too, was altered but not for the better; she had lost a stone of weight at least, he thought, and her dark hair, cropped short, was shot with grey
"Well, I ahed away his apologies "No, we are all of us decaying, Laurence; there is no denying it You have seen poor Lenton, I suppose He held up like a hero for three weeks after she died, but then we found him on the floor of his bedroom in an apoplexy; for a week he could not speak without slurring He caood ways afterwards, but still he has been a shade of hih I drink to your proed it without a stutter
"I thank you, dear fellow," she said "I would be et up with pride, I suppose, if matters were otherwise, and if it were not one annoyance after another We glide along tolerably hen left to our own devices, but I must deal with these idiotish creatures froain, and still they will sionback before they were out of dresses, and then they stare if I dress the like kiss-my-hand squires"
"I suppose they find it a difficult adjustment," Laurence said, with private sympathy "I wonder the Ad he was treading on obscure and dangerous ground One could not very well quarrel with pursuing whatever s, perhaps Britain&039;s most deadly breed, to service, and as the beasts would accept none but female handlers, some must be offered theently born wohtful society and into harm&039;s way, but at least they were raised up to it And where necessary, they had perforce to act as fors; but this was a far cry froest covert in Britain, and perhaps the ive it to me, but they had precious little choice," Jane said "Portland would not coe any a cake of hioes off into corners and weeps like a wo: a veteran of nine fleet actions, if you would credit it" Then she ran her hand through her disordered crop and sighed "Never mind, you are not to listen to me, Laurence; I am impatient, and his Animosia does poorly"
"And Excidiuh old bird, and he kno to husband his strength: has the sense to eat, even though he has no appetite He will ood while yet, and you know, he has close on a century of service; e have already shot therounds" She smiled; it was not whole-hearted "There; I have been brave Let us to pleasanter things: you have brought ons, and by God do I have a use for theo and see them"
"She is a handful and a half," Granby adth of Iskierka&039;s body, faint threads of stea from the many needle-like spikes upon her body, "and I haven&039;t ridden herd on her, sir, I am sorry"
Iskierka had already established herself to her own satisfaction, if no one else&039;s, by clawing out a deep pit in the clearing next to Te it with ash: this acquired fro trees which she had unceremoniously uprooted and burnt up inside her pit She had then added to the powdery grey mixture a collection of boulders, which she fired to ato sleep, co smolder were visible for some distance, even to the farmhouses nearest the covert, and a few hours past her arrival had already produced several coh keeping her harnessed out in the countryside, without a head of cattle to your na Iskierka&039;s side a pat "They may bleat to me all they like, for a fire-breather, and you may be sure the Navy will cheer your name when they hear we have our own at last Well done; well done indeed, and I am happy to confirm you in your rank, Captain Granby Should you like to do the honors, Laurence?"
Most of Laurence&039;s crew had already been e out the stray enite all the covert if left unchecked Ash-dusty and tired as they all were, they had none of the consciously without the need of any announce Lieutenant Ferris to watch Laurence pin the second pair of gold bars upon Granby&039;s shoulders
"Gentleave a cheek-flushed Granby three huzzahs, whole-hearted if a little subdued, and Ferris and Riggs stepped over to shake hi you a crew, though it is early days yet with her," Jane said, after the ceremony had dispersed, and they proceeded on to e of men now, more&039;s the pity Feed her twice daily, see if we cannot rowth she may have been shorted, and whenever she is awake I will start you on Longwing maneuvers I don&039;t know if she can scorch herself, as they can with their own acid, but we needn&039;t find out by trial"
Granby nodded; he see to her Neither did Tharkay, who had been persuaded to stay on at least a little longer, as one of the few of them with any influence upon the ferals at all He rather looked lance which he had first cast at Laurence: as Jane had insisted upon being taken to the newcoive Tharkay a private caution in advance of theirHe did not reveal any surprise, however, but only made her a polite bow, and performed the introductions quite calmly
Arkady and his band had s than Iskierka, preferring to knock down all the trees between and cluster together in a great heap The chill of the December air did not trouble theions of the Paly of the da that here before them was the senior officer of the covert, at once de of the promised cows, one apiece daily, by which they had been lured into service
"They make the position that if they do not happen to eat the cows upon a given day, still they are owed the cattle, which theyJane&039;s deep laugh
"Tell them they shall have as much as they like to eat on any occasion, and if they are too suspicious for that to satisfy them, we shall s they have knocked about over to the feeding pens, and mark it when they take a cow," Jane said, otiations "Pray ask will they agree to a rate of exchange, two hogs for a cow, or two sheep, should we bring in soether and st themselves, in a cacophony e, and finally Arkady turned back and professed hireeoats should be three to a cow, they having some contempt for that animal, more easily obtained in their former homeland and likely there to be scrawny
Jane bowed to hiement, and he bobbed his head back, his expression deeply satisfied, and rendered all the rel color which covered one of his eyes and spilled down his neck "They are a gang of ruffians and make no mistake," Jane said, as she led them back towards her offices, "but I have no doubt of their flying, at any rate: with that sort of wiry ht-class, or over it, and I am happy to stuff their bellies for them"
"No, sir; there&039;ll be no trouble," the steward of the headquarters said, rather low, of finding roo as they had out of nowhere and without notice Most of the captains and officers were encaons, despite the cold and wet, and the building was queerly deserted: hushed and silent, as it had not been even at the low-ebb of the days before Trafalgar, when nearly all the for down the French and Spanish fleets