comparatively minor mission, one suited to a twenty-two-year-old commander on his first independent assignment. He had thought never again to be troubled with it once the victory was won.

But it had been present fifteen years later when the combined fleets had chased him to the haven of Genoa; and again, two years thereafter, when he had planted the Captain between two enemy vessels and blasted them both to defeat.

Four times more he felt its sickness seize his vitals—at Cadiz, where he had first been wounded in a disastrous combined operations assault; in Aboukir Bay, where the foe had let him sink their warships one by one, like sheep awaiting helplessly the wolf; in the Kattegatt, and at Kronstadt, where for once no shot had been fired.

Now he felt its grip and his restless fighter's soul demanded some sort of action to prevent it from controlling him entirely. It was odd that he should feel it so keenly, for once action was joined, only icy water flowed in his veins.

He rose then, adapting his motions to the roll of the Atlantic beneath his ship like the veteran sailor he was. A short, angular, indomitable figure, he strode across his cabin to the admiral's walk aft. He was an admiral, was he not? Who had a better right to use it?

The sky was cloudy above the restless black velvet of the sea, and the shipboard sounds were clearer. Somewhere below one horizon lay the coast of Spain and the port of Cadiz where he had suffered the anguish of a shattered elbow. And somewhere below the other horizon lay the foe, the elusive foe he had pursued so long and so vainly.

It was a chase that had begun in January, just nine months before to the day. It had crossed the ocean twice, from Toulon to Cadiz, from Cadiz to Martinique, from Martinique to Cape Finisterre, from Finisterre back to Cadiz.

And now at last that he was within reach of his quarry, he feared their strength, for they outnumbered him by twenty-five per cent in capital ships alone. He wondered how best to overcome this advantage, for if he let them slip he might never get another chance as good.

He saw then that the ship behind his own was out of line and frowned. Were blunders by individual commanders, the bane of all fleet admirals, to begin already? And then he saw that not only the next ship but those behind it were well to starboard as he stood.

His own ship 

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