1815
Chapter 32
The EstatePetroc was glad he had elected to drive himself from Exeter. Though the road to Bideford was busy, it gave him the opportunity to see the state of the land and the activity in the towns as they crossed from Devon into Cornwall, and then the Dartmoor en route to the north coast. Bude on the River Neet and the adjoining Westward Ho had been thronged with shipping, most of it fishing craft, but there was a pair of Revenue cutters swinging to their anchors and a number of coasting vessels as well. Petroc had elected to continue the journey, despite the fact that it was growing late, but finally stopped for the night and a change of horses at Tregole.
“Any of your former shipmates in evidence, Brin?” he asked as they crested a hill and began the southwesterly descen
