SUMMARY: The final Horatio Hornblower story tells of Napoleon's plans to invade England . . . Set in 1805, Hornblower and the Crisis finds Horatio Hornblower in possession of confidential dispatches from Bonaparte after a vicious hand-to-hand encounter with a French brig. The admiralty rewards Hornblower by sending him on a dangerous espionage mission that will light the powder trail leading to the battle of Trafalgar . . . Hornblower and the Crisis was unfinished at the time of Forester's death, but the author left notes - included here - telling us how the tale would end. Also included are two further stories - Hornblower and the Widow McCool and The Last Encounter - that tell of Hornblower as a very young and very old man, respectively. This is the final book chronicling the adventures of C. S. Forester's inimitable nautical hero, Horatio Hornblower.

To The Indies is the story of Don Narciso Rich, a lawyer for Their Highnesses of Spain, who is sent on an ocean voyage with Admiral Cristo Columbus himself for further search for the treasures of the Indies and renewed government supervision of the original colonies. He survives not only physical exhaustion and near starvation, but also mental and emotional torture as he watches the horrific treatment of the island natives by the Spanish. His faith and beliefs are challenged as the journey twists and turns, with his discovery of the Orinoco River and the South American continent, which still must be an island near Siam. The greedy conquistadors stop at nothing as they conquer new lands; taking plunder such as gold and pearls, assaulting women, and making slaves of the natives. They find new and exciting food sources as well as wild animals such as the caiman. During these adventures, Narciso discovers that he is stronger and more capable than he ever imagined. He survives kidnapping and being shipwrecked during a hurricane and lives to tell his story.