“We made use of the man’s almost messianic view of LaTour to draw more useful information from him,” Weyland said. “Incidentally, he told us that LaTour does in fact hold a regular commission in the French Navy. His letter of marque is held only for the benefit of his men, who are employed in an auxiliary fashion.”

Allison shook his head. “I need only have you recall the damage those ‘auxiliaries’ caused with a single broadside when we met them at sea off Antigua to reiterate my previous warning. Even so, the facts you give stand to reason and confirm something we’ve all but suspected up to this point. What else?”

Caldwell picked up the narrative. “LaTour is a figure who, by all accounts, places great importance upon putting himself in the public eye for reasons he himself might refer to as esprit de corps – morale of the whole. However, much as he purposefully strode along Saint-Pierre’s streets in the past, gifting shopkeepers and citizens with the odd item of value, these activiti