You needn't explain to me as though I were a bloody simpleton, Captain. We're making conversation, not giving lessons.

[ for sharpe had been probing for specifics on the naval way, and instead he'd gotten vaguel platitudes about leadership. this leads to an unfortunate misunderstanding: sharpe assumes hornblower is talking this way because he is, in the end, a jumped-up ranker. not a propr officer. ] I have been out of the ranks for a decade. It ain't like I'm green to command.