Truth and Beauty 3-9

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“Three cheers for Captain O’Brian,” said the sub-lieutenant, once Jack was read in.

The captain blushed, but managed to restrain a smile. “Very good, Lieutenant Greensteet, you may dismiss the men,” he said. Once this was done he continued, “I’ll need to synch my sextant, so perhaps our next stop should be my cabin - er - quarters, and from there we may go round the brig.”

* * *

The captain’s quarters were at Roth’s stern: a great cabin all the way aft, with two smaller cabins forward of that, side by side and separated by a narrow passage. With its deal planking and the noble spread of the stern windows (no stern gallery in anything less than a carrier or a liner), the great cabin was the grandest room in the Roth. Besides the captain’s coach and sleeping cabin, two quarter galleries opened off it; the one to starboard housing his private toilet and sink, and the one to port his private shower. Piping and ductwork, decently shrouded by more deal, hung from the quarterdeck overhead, but in most places Jack found that he could stand up straight.

His day bag sat on a chair in front of a fall-front desk, with a midshipman’s hat on top of it. Jack frowned at the hat, moving it to a table and then ignoring it for the time being. He pulled his sextant from the bag, opened the desk, then plugged the sextant into the cable he found there. Once the synch app successfully launched, he turned back to Lieutenant Greenstreet. “Let us go round the brig,” he said.

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