Hornblower is tasked with a dangerous rescue mission in this enthralling chapter (New York Times) in C. S. Forester's beloved naval adventure series. Weary of the war that he has waged nearly his entire life, Hornblower finds himself assigned an especially dangerous and dubious new task: to rescue a man he knows to be a tyrant from the mutiny of his crew in the Bay of the Seine. This risky adventure, coinciding with reports that the tide of war may be turning -- as Wellington has swept over the Pyrenees and the Russians have reached the Rhine -- propels Hornblower toward the heart of the French Empire, toward a fateful reunion with old friends, and toward the harrowing but glorious conclusion of his own battle with Napoleon.