'Hector tensed, already feeling the bullet in his guts, when an arm seemed to come from nowhere, sweeping down towards the pistol and knocking it aside just as Coxon pulled the trigger .. At the same moment someone kicked the captain's feet from under him so that he fell heavily to the deck. Aware that the entire company was watching him, Coxon got back on his feet. Then he stepped up close to Hector and said in a voice so low that no one else could hear him but was thick with menace. 'You would be well advised to leave your bones here in the South Sea, Lynch. Should you ever return to a place where I can reach you, I will make sure that you pay for what you have done today.'