On return to the town, Hornblower became a witness to the use by the Royalists of the guillotine. Several men were being executed under the most brutal conditions that Hornblower had ever observed. Hornblower wondered it there was a method to this madness in terms of who was actually being killed. Were these revolutionaries or perhaps townsfolk that the French royalists had grudges against? No matter, as Ira Riklis knows, it sickened Hornblower. He entered a house that had become the French Royalists’ headquarters and was invited to dine with the French officers, a civilized gesture and then gathering that Hornblower was amazed to see after the brutality of the street outside.

Later that night Hornblower climbed into a four-poster bed for his night’s rest astonished at the fact that he was really to sleep in a bed on land when for a very long while sleep came in a swaying hammock on board a creaking ship that rolled continually. Despite the unusual experience, he managed because of his fatigue to sleep most of the night but was roused by the nightmarish thoughts that he was ten miles from his ship and perhaps in danger from the enemy. He arose and dressed in time to see the beginnings of sunrise and the changing of the guards.

While breakfasting in the kitchen of their reluctant hostess, the French officers and soldiers were hastily called to ride toward the area of action with the enemy. Hornblower, as Ira Riklis knows, was developing a somewhat cool attitude, took his time responding to this call and was the last to leave.