Throne of Jade Page 0,67

the hopeless uneven struggle of that day before Temeraire had turned the tide. To be meekly surrendering Temeraire and his extraordinary abilities seemed to Laurence a willful blindness, and he did not believe the Chinese would yield to any of Hammond's requests at all.

But "We have our orders" was all he said; even if Riley and Hammond had been of like mind with him, Laurence knew very well this would scarcely be accepted by the Ministry as even a thin excuse for violating their standing orders. "I am sorry," he added, seeing that Temeraire was inclined to be unhappy, "but come; here is Mr. Keynes, to see if you can be allowed to take some exercise on shore; let us clear away and let him make his examination."

"Truly it does not pain me at all," Temeraire said anxiously, peering down at himself as Keynes at last stepped back from his chest. "I am sure I am ready to fly again, and I will only go a short way."

Keynes shook his head. "Another week perhaps. No; do not set up a howl at me," he said sternly, as Temeraire sat up to protest. "It is not a question of the length of the flight; launching is the difficulty," he added, to Laurence, by way of grudging explanation. "The strain of getting aloft will be the most dangerous moment, and I am not confident the muscles are yet prepared to bear it."

"But I am so very tired of only lying on deck," Temeraire said disconsolately, almost a wail. "I cannot even turn around properly."

"It will only be another week, and perhaps less," Laurence said, trying to comfort him; he was already regretting that he had ever made the proposal and raised Temeraire's hopes only to see them dashed. "I am very sorry; but Mr. Keynes's opinion is worth more than either of ours on the subject, and we had better listen to him."

Temeraire was not so easily appeased. "I do not see why his opinion should be worth more than mine. It is my muscle, after all."

Keynes folded his arms and said coolly, "I am not going to argue with a patient. If you want to do yourself an injury and spend another two months lying about instead, by all means go jumping about as much as you like."

Temeraire snorted back at this reply, and Laurence, annoyed, hurried to dismiss Keynes before the surgeon could be any more provoking: he had every confidence in the man's skill, but his tact could have stood much improvement, and though Temeraire was by no means contrary by nature, this was a hard disappointment to bear.

"I have a little better news, at least," he told Temeraire, trying to rally his spirits. "Mr. Pollitt was kind enough to bring me several new books from his visit ashore; shall I not fetch one now?"

Temeraire made only a grumble for answer, head unhappily drooping over the edge of the ship and gazing towards the denied shore. Laurence went down for the book, hoping that the interest of the material would rouse him, but while he was still in his cabin, the ship abruptly rocked, and an enormous splash outside sent water flying in through the opened round windows and onto the floor; Laurence ran to look through the nearest porthole, hastily rescuing his dampened letters, and saw Temeraire, with an expression at once guilty and self-satisfied, bobbing up and down in the water.

He dashed back up to the deck; Granby and Ferris were peering over the side in alarm, and the small boats that had been crowding around the sides of the ship, full of whores and enterprising fishermen, were already making frantic haste away and back to the security of the harbor, with much shrieking and splashing of oars. Temeraire rather abashedly looked after them in dismay. "I did not mean to frighten them," he said. "There is no need to run away," he called, but the boats did not pause for an instant. The sailors, deprived of their entertainments, glared disapprovingly; Laurence was more concerned for Temeraire's health.

"Well, I have never seen anything so ridiculous in my life, but it is not likely to hurt him. The air-sacs will keep him afloat, and salt water never hurt a wound," Keynes said, having been summoned back to the deck. "But how we will ever get him back aboard, I have not the least idea."

Temeraire plunged for a moment under the surface and came almost shooting up again, propelled