HORNBLOWER DURING THE CRISIS <i> by C. S. Forester (Little, Brown: $8.95) </i>

C. S. Forester died while writing this last, fragmentary adventure for his popular character, Horatio Hornblower. The story is set midway through the valiant seaman’s career, when he was still just a promising young officer. After capturing important documents from a French warship, Hornblower formulates an ingenious plan that would take him into Napoleon’s France, carrying false orders to Adm. Villeneuve--a ruse that would have led to the decisive battle at Trafalgar. Rounding out the collection are two short stories, including “The Last Encounter,” in which the aged Hornblower unknowingly assists Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte’s rise to the throne as Emperor Napoleon III. It’s surprising that there are no Hollywood adaptations of these beloved swashbucklers in the works: Cary Elwes (“The Princess Bride”) would make an excellent Hornblower.