He turned slightly to look aft, and across the length of the ship he saw Herrick, watching him from the quarterdeck. The lieutenant gave him a brief nod of recognition before returning to his own contemplation, and Allday suddenly remembered that moment on the crumbling cliff when he had stopped Herrick from falling to the rocks below. In spite of his original intention to stay apart from internal affairs in the Phalarope, and to keep clear of loyalty to either faction, Allday was beginning to realise that such neutrality was impossible, even dangerous.

Allday liked Herrick, and recognised what he was trying to do. He was always ready to listen to complaints from his division, and was never quick to award punishment. But he was no fool, and few took advantage of his humane manner a second time.

Allday could see the captain still pacing the quarterdeck at the weather rail, coatless with his shirt open to his chest and his dark hair pulled back to the nape of his neck. He was a harder man to know, Allday thought, but it was strangely reassuring to see him back at his familiar place on the poop. Allday, perhaps better than most, knew the reputation of the Bolitho family. On his visits to Falmouth he had often heard them discussed in the taverns, and had even seen the house which was the captain’s home. It was strange to realise that he had a brother fighting on the other side. Allday wondered how he would have felt. Not only that, but Bolitho’s brother was said to have deserted from the Navy, a crime which could only be wiped out at the end of a rope.

He came back from his thoughts as Ferguson climbed up from the main deck and walked across to the rail. He looked strained and self-conscious in his clean clothes, a marked contrast to the tired and sweating seamen who had once been his companions.

Ferguson fidgeted for a few moments and then said, “Do you think we will see any more fighting?”

Pochin turned his head and growled, “You should know! Aren’t you in the captain’s pocket?”

Allday grinned. “Don’t pay any attention to Nick.” He dropped his voice. “Has Onslow been after you again?”

He saw Ferguson’s pale eyes flicker.

“Not much. He just passes the time with me sometimes.”

“Well, remember my warning, Bryan!” Allday studied him closely. “I’ve not told a living soul aboard, but I believe he had a lot to do with Mathias’s death.” He saw the disbelief in Ferguson’s face and added sharply, “In fact, I’m sure he had!”

“Why should he do a thing like that?” Ferguson tried to smile, but his mouth remained slack.

“He’s a bad one. He knows no other life but this. He came to the fleet as a child. His world is bounded by the sides of a wooden hull.” He ran his hands along the carved cathead. “I’ve met a few of his kind before Bryan. They’re as dangerous as wolves!”