Bolitho replied evenly, “But you always did, didn’t you.”

“Those days are past.” He pointed at a chart spread across another table. “We are sailing for St Kitts. We will make a landfall before night.” He watched the doubt in Bolitho’s eyes. “I know you so well, Richard. I can see the same old look of mistrust there!” He laughed. “St Kitts has already fallen to our ally. Sir Samuel Hood has pulled out to lick his wounds!” He waved across the chart. “It will soon be over. Whether your government believes it or not, America will be an independent nation, perhaps sooner than they think!”

Bolitho felt his fingers locking together behind his back. While he was here being confronted with his past, his own world was falling apart. St Kitts gone. Perhaps the French were already massing for an attack elsewhere. But where? They had the whole Caribbean to choose from.

His brother said quietly, “If you are trying to make some scheme to foil my own plans you can forget it, Richard! For you the war is over.” He tapped the table with his fingertips. “Unless?”

“Unless what?”

Hugh Bolitho walked round the table and stared him in the face. “Unless you come in with us, Richard! I am well considered by the French. I am sure they would give you a ship of sorts! After what you did at Mola Island I am sure they would not deny your tenacity!” He smiled at some secret thought. “It might even be the Phalarope.”

He studied Bolitho’s unsmiling face and then walked back to the window. “These are our waters now. We get our intelligence from many sources. Fishermen, trading boats, even slavers when we get the chance. With St Kitts fallen your ships will draw further south to Antigua and beyond. There are not many patrols in this area now. It is too wasteful for your admiral, am I right?” He smiled sadly. “Just one ship perhaps. Just one.”

Bolitho thought of the Phalarope and tried to imagine what Vibart would do.

“Your ship, Richard. The Phalarope! We need every frigate we can get. It is the same in all navies. And I have made sure that your admiral, that pompous fool, Sir Robert Napier, will be informed of our movements. I am quite sure that he will be so drunk with your success at Mola Island that he will soon despatch the Phalarope to find us! The admiral will surely be eager to avenge the loss of the Andiron from his command, eh?”

“You must be mad!” Bolitho watched his brother coldly.

“Mad? I think not, Richard. I have interrogated your men. They have told me how their ship was punished by Admiral Napier for letting Andiron escape. They told me also of the trouble there was aboard before you took command.” He spread his hands. “I am afraid that most of your men have thrown in their lot with me. But do not distress yourself, it was wise of them. There is a whole new world opening up out here, and they will be part of it. When the war is over I will sail for England just to claim my inheritance, Richard. Then I will return to America. I have proved my worth out here. The past holds nothing for me.”