Challenge of Antares

Chapter four

Chapter fourI, Dray Prescot, Second Lieutenant of his Britannic Majesty’s thirty-two gun frigate Aventure, put a quick hand to my head as the blinding pains lanced through my brain. The world went black. These damn pains had been drilling into my head for some time now and I had absolutely no idea why.

Taking a measured breath I held very still, waiting for the agony to cease. Slowly the world brightened, the pain dribbled away, I could see again and my brain — my whole body — felt like a wrung-out dishcloth.

Aventure was in the process of picking up her buoy in the roadstead and in short order I’d be instructed to take the longboat and proceed to the arsenal. Across the calm water the busy activity of the port went on, the usual forest of masts and yards serrating the skyline. Smells of