Chapter Ten Summary

The Surprise was accompanied on this portion of its journey by another ship of the British navy, the Dryad. To the delight of Dr. Maturin, they were both escorted by a pod of dolphins. The two ships were traveling together because the Adriatic and Ionian Seas were known to harbor pirates and traveling together made the journey safer. The Dryad was not as agile as the Surprise, and the Surprise had to slow down accordingly. The slow pace provided Dr. Maturin with time to think about how best to handle the situation in Malta. He knew that once news of Mr. Fielding's safe return was public, Laura would be at risk and the French agents would either take decisive action or flee. Aubrey decided that as soon as he reached shore he would reveal his knowledge and inform both the Admiral...