Pochin persisted. “I was a good ploughman once. I could do it again!”

“Aye, maybe you could.” Onslow watched him closely, his eyes full of contempt. “You can push your furrow for the rest of your stupid life. Until the furrow is deep enough for some fat squire to bury you in!”

Another voice asked cautiously, “Well then? What’s the point of arguing about it?”

“I’ll tell you the point!” Onslow slid from the gunwale like a cat. “Soon we’ll be at sea again. You’ve seen the fleet mustering here. There’ll be no rest for the likes of us. The buggers always need an extra frigate!” He pointed at the Phalarope as she swung gently at her anchor. “There is our chance, lads! The price of our future!” He lowered his voice again. “We could take the ship!” He spoke very slowly to allow each word to sink in. “Then we could use her to bargain for our own price!” He looked around their grim faces. “Just think of it! We could parley with the other side and name our own amount! Then with the money and a free passage we could split up and go our own ways, every one of us richer than he ever thought possible!”

Pochin sat up with a jerk. “That’s mutiny! You mad bugger, we’d all be caught and hanged!”

Onslow grinned. “Never! After the war is over, who will have time to care about us?”

Pook added gleefully, “He’s right! We’d be rich!”

Allday said, “And we’d never see England again!”

“And who cares about that?” Onslow threw back his head. “Do you think we have any chance at present? You saw what they did to Kirk? You’ve seen men die week by week from disease or the lash. From battle or falling from aloft! And if you escape all that, it’s more than likely that you’ll get shipped off in some other ship, as I was!”

Allday felt a chill at his spine as the uneasiness and resentment moved through the boat like a threat. He said quickly, “Do you think Captain Bolitho would stand for your ideas?” He looked at the others. “I’ve been through the mill, but I trust the captain. He’s a brave and fair man. He’ll not let us down!”

Onslow shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He added tightly, “Just so long as you keep your thoughts to yourself, mate! If what I said gets out, we’ll know where to come a’hunting!”

There was a scattered murmur of assent from the boat, and Allday realised with sudden shock that Onslow’s little speech had already gone deep. It was strange that nobody had noticed before how Onslow had persisted in his efforts to rouse the men to mutiny. Perhaps because his words were carefully chosen and without the blind malice of a wronged sailor. The latter was too common to rouse much more than jeers.

He thought, too, of Mathias’s death in the hold and Onslow’s careful manœuvering to get Ferguson the job as captain’s clerk. The pattern was like a slow but deadly disease. When the symptoms came to light the victim was already beyond hope.