“Mr. Hobbs?”
“That may be ‘is name, sir. ‘E said, ‘Cap’n’s orders, and guard turn out.’ So I turns out the guard, sir, an’ there’s the cap’n with Wade, the sentry I’d posted. ‘E ‘ad pistols in ‘is ‘ands, sir.”
“Who—Wade?”
“No, sir, the cap’n, sir.”
“What was his manner like?” demanded Hornblower.
“Well, sir—” The corporal did not want to offer any criticism of a captain, not even to a lieutenant.
“Belay that, then. Carry on.”
“Cap’n says, sir, ‘e says ‘e says, sir, ‘Follow me’; an’ then ‘e says to the gennelman, ‘e says, ‘Do your duty, Mr. Hobbs.’ So Mr. Hobbs, ‘e goes one way, sir, and we comes with the captain down ‘ere, sir. ‘There’s mutiny brewing,’ says the cap’n, ‘black bloody mutiny. We’ve got to catch the mutineers. Catch ‘em red’anded,’ says the cap’n.”
The surgeon’s head appeared in the hatchway.
“Give me another of those lanterns,” he said.