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Captain Jack Aubrey sets sail for the South China Sea, shepherding a diplomatic mission to prevent links between Bonaparte and the Malay princes. Stephen Maturin climbs the Thousand Steps of the sacred crater of the orangutans; a killer typhoon catches Aubrey and his crew trying to work the Diane off a reef; and at the barbaric court of Pulo Prabang a classic duel of intelligence agents unfolds: the French envoys, well-entrenched in the Sultan's good graces, against the savage cunning of Stephen Maturin.