Sacred Hunger (64 page)

“I would be extremely grateful.” Despite his efforts at containment, Erasmus’s voice quivered slightly. He had felt his soul expand with delight at this confirmation of his hopes.

“It means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”’

Erasmus straightened up at this and glanced away.

Only feelings of gratitude to Redwood prevented him from resenting this intimate question more. He felt the eyes of the other man fixed on him still. “I have come from England expressly to see justice done,” he said.

‘Ah, yes, I forgot justice.” Redwood raised his head and smiled and his strong teeth gleamed in the moonlight. It was a careless smile, though with something bitter in it, not the smile of a stupid man.

“Justice is a mighty fine thing,” he said.

Mr George Watson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Southern District, arrived from Savannah on the following afternoon. He was a tall man, rather cadaverous, with a thin, high-bridged nose through which the breath seemed to come with some difficulty or reluctance. There were few men who knew more about the ways of Indians than Watson.

He said as much himself to Erasmus not long after his arrival. In the name of the Great White King he had made deals of one sort or another with them throughout Georgia and the Carolinas, from Pantico Sound to Brunswick. The Tuscarora, the Yamassee, the Choctaw, the Chickasee and the confederate tribes of the Creeks—Watson knew them all. Perhaps because of this long experience his manner had become like theirs: slow and dignified and impassive.

He spent much of the time before the conference closeted with Campbell, deciding on policy, studying maps of the northeast tidewater area, which was where they hoped to obtain the major concessions. Occasionally they emerged to pace together on the terrace or in the gardens behind the house, affording as they did so a remarkable study in contrasts, the wiry, tenacious Governor with his soft voice and emphatic gestures and the dignified, sonorous Agent in his long-skirted coat and old-fashioned, full-bottomed wig.

For the most part, however, Erasmus saw little of either, a circumstance he did not mind, as it left him free to explore the district surrounding Still Augustine and compile his report; he had been perfectly sincere, while at the same time knowing it would be a powerful inducement to Campbell, in what he had said about the possibilities of investments in the colony.

It did not take him very long to see that these were considerable indeed. As he rode about the countryside, he was able to mature his intentions with regard to his renegade cousin while at the same time calculating the profits that could be made here, in advance of the influx of population which must inevitably come, once the Indians had been pacified. These considerations of justice and pecuniary advantage, though one belonged in the moral and the other in the material realm, seemed of the same order to Erasmus, and gave him a similar kind of satisfaction, sanctified equally by law and the dictates of feeling.

There was no doubt that the territory offered much to the colonist. The cold in winter was only sufficient to mark the difference of season, without preventing the growth of vegetables—green peas could be had at Christmas without the aid of fire or glass. The same field could give two crops of Indian corn in a year and Erasmus was reliably informed that indigo, which he knew to be a highly profitable export crop in South Carolina, could here be cut four times a year and need not be planted more often than once in three years. The rivers that ran through the country made the cost of transport negligible.

The Still John River admitted vessels of nine-foot draught for a considerable way—how far he was not able precisely to determine; and there was an excellent harbour at the mouth of the Mosketto. His mind was busy with schemes. Settling accounts with his cousin might keep him in Florida some time yet, but he could send his instructions to London. This was Crown property now and the Crown always needed money.

The land could be purchased through an agent. Then concerted advertising to attract settlement…

He did not speak of these plans to anyone, but he threw off various possibilities when he was alone with the Governor, partly in order to keep him well disposed, but also because he had recognized from the start that Campbell, though highly cautious, had an instinct for commerce which might be turned to good account.

It would be necessary to form a company, with an office in Still Augustine, so as to increase profits by levying a local tax on the resale of the land. Someone of local standing would be needed for this, someone with strong backing, in case of disputes.

However, Campbell was not able to give these matters much of his mind at present. As the day appointed for the conference approached, he grew brusquer and more irascible, though his eyes still held their twinkling light. Things were not going well. The Indians had remained camped on the west bank of the river. It was reported that their supplies of food were running low. A schooner and a pilot-boat were on the way from Georgia, loaded with rum, tobacco, parched corn and a variety of gifts combeads, kettles, mirrors, knives—but unfavourable winds had slowed their passage and they had not yet arrived. Meanwhile, the braves were becoming disgruntled.

“Curse this weather,” Campbell said, not for the first time. “Not having the baubles to distribute sets us off to a bad start. The devils will start raising mischief before much longer. The chiefs can’t control the young men indefinitely. They have got no liquor, heaven be praised.”

“They will not relish being kept long there, at the start of their hunting season,” Watson conceded with his usual gravity.

They were sitting at dinner on the eve of the conference.

At the Agent’s suggestion Erasmus had been invited to attend this as an observer. He could be presented as a special envoy from England, a proof that the Great White Father took an interest in his red children. Such things impressed them, Watson said.

Erasmus had accepted eagerly enough, curious to see how the business would be managed. “These Creeks were our allies in the late wars,” he said now. “Surely that will provide a good foundation for these talks we are entering upon tomorrow?”’

“Allies?”’ Watson’s brows rose without otherwise disturbing the solemn composure of his face. “My dear sir, these fellows have no concept of loyalty, none at all, except in their own clans. They are fickle and they are treacherous, sir, they are wilder than their own ponies. I know them, by God, I have been dealing with redskins for thirty years. They have to be treated as we treat children, with gifts and material inducements. They will not act from a spirit of service, they will do nothing except they see a profit in it for themselves. They fought for us, as you rightly say, but that was more because they wanted the run of the hunting grounds on this side of the river than out of friendship.”

“We were not entirely governed by motives of friendship either, if I remember rightly,” Redwood said, smiling down the table at Watson. “And it might even be thought by some that we had territorial ambitions of our own.”

Campbell had developed a habit, in these anxious days, of glancing aside with a sharp compression of the lips, as at some sudden pain. He did it now. “This habit of sarcasm is growing upon you, Redwood,” he said testily. “You cannot compare the policy of national states with the petty intrigues of these savages.”

“Ah, no, of course not.” Redwood poured himself more wine. He drank a good deal, though without looking much the worse for it.

“Now England is the occupying power, not Spain,” Campbell said, “and it needs little for them to transfer their hostility to us. Aye, by God, very little—a few more days kicking their heels in the woods there might be enough to do it.”

“But you will have told them the ships are on the way,” Erasmus said.

“Sir, they are not like us. If I say to you that there are ships on the way, loaded with the things you want, but they are delayed by weather, and if I give you my hand on it, you will take my word, because we are men of honour. But these people never trust assurances completely. There is some confounded division in their skulls, sir, I know not how to describe it, they are capable of believing a thing and not believing it both at the same time.”

Erasmus nodded, tightening his lips. There could hardly have been anything he found more reprehensible.

He could understand consecutive beliefs that might be contradictory, each filling the mind in its season; but not this appalling confusion. Every promise, every glance, would be tainted by it. It was like believing a man innocent and guilty of the same offence. Madness..

. The memory of an entry in his cousin’s journal came suddenly to him. A dying negro. Death in his eyes and the invincible desire to live. Paris had presided over life and death. Looking up he found the Governor’s twinkling gaze upon him. “That is the savage mind, I suppose,” he said.

“Aye,” Campbell said, “and even when the vessels come in, I cannot be assured that they will be sufficiently stocked to feed the Indians and satisfy their appetite for trade goods until the Treaty of Limits is signed. Nine hundred pounds, sir, that is all the Government has seen fit to grant me for the conduct of this business, which is vital for the future prospects of the Colony. It almost defies belief. I can only think that His Majesty has not been properly informed of what may happen if we fail here. I have made an outlay of seven hundred and six pounds and two shillings on provisioning the ships. It needs not much calculation to see that our margins are perilously slight. I tell you this, sir, in the hope that you may be able to bring some influence to bear on your return to England.”

“I will do what I can,” Erasmus said.

Campbell still thought in terms of a public official, which did not differ much from those of a shopkeeper. It was natural enough—he had to account for every penny. But it was a pitiful waste of labour to solicit a few hundred pounds more from a miserly Exchequer when there were vast profits waiting to be picked up here in the Colony. However, this was not the time to say so. At present, he knew, it was the value to Campbell of his influence in England that held out the best prospect of obtaining the troops and cannon he wanted. “If the matter were represented as a legitimate concern of the Sugar Interest, we might do much,” he said. “And it could be so represented—there is no reason that I can see why sugar should not be grown in Florida. In the meantime, however, while the vessels are delayed, the Indians must be brought to trust our intentions.”

“They do not trust one another’s intentions, let alone ours,” Campbell said.

“That is to our advantage.” Watson’s head turned slowly as he glanced up and down the table.

The wine had brought a flush to the parchment of his cheeks, but his features were as grave and composed as ever. “They will find it easier to trust us than to trust one another,” he said. “I have seen it happen again and again. We may be few but we speak with one voice, whereas among them it is as Terence said, Quot homines tot sententiae, as many opinions as there are men. As for the ships, we differ there, Campbell, the main thing is that they should arrive and be seen to have arrived. Lying there at anchor with their holds full of rum and tobacco and trinkets they will work very powerfully in our favour. I would be opposed to making gifts of any kind until the treaty is safely signed and in our pocket.”

He got to his feet, still nodding solemnly.

He was a tall man and he made an imposing figure as he stood there in his dark suit and full wig, with his deep-set eyes and long, cadaverous face. “I don’t speak of the corn,” he said.

“The red men are hungry, their stocks are low, it is fitting we should give them food. We must on no account appear to them ungenerous. It is a quality they despise above all others.”

“I bow to your judgement in the matter of the presents,” Campbell said. ‘They are better given out after than before.”

Watson smiled slightly. “This giving and withholding is a difficult balance to achieve,” he said. “It calls for judgement. Well, I shall bid you goodnight, gentlemen. It is growing late and there is much to do tomorrow.”

Fort Picolata, the site chosen for the conference, was some twenty miles distant, on the east bank of the Still John River. It was a stone tower within wooden palisades, built by the Spanish during the war as an outpost against the Indians.

Watson and Campbell, accompanied by Erasmus and escorted by a detachment of troops, rode over in the morning. The headmen of the Creeks left their horses on the west bank and crossed the water by canoe with a hundred warriors. An open pine-log pavilion had been put up inside the palisade and the white men awaited their Indian visitors sitting within this. Branches of pine had been laid over the roof and sides to give protection from the sun and there was a long table in the centre to act as a speaker’s podium.

Vari-coloured beads on long strings of leather lay coiled on the table like snakes. On either side poles wrapped round with blankets were laid for the chiefs to sit on.

They did not immediately take up position here, however. The whole company of Indians assembled before the pavilion at a distance of some hundred and fifty yards and formed silent ranks behind their chiefs.

To Erasmus, sitting unobtrusively to one side in the shade of the pavilion, this forming of rank was strangely like a movement—and a stillness—of the sea; the white plumes of the headdresses swayed and came to rest like foam on the eddy of a dark red tide. Within the enclave of the pavilion colour was deepened. The colonel’s high-necked tunic was ruby-coloured, Watson’s wig stood out silver against the dark cloth of his suit and the cheap trade beads on the table glowed like gems of price.

At some signal not perceived by Erasmus the Indians began to move forward at an easy pace.

He saw now that the chiefs leading the two centre files, distinguished by headdresses that fell below the shoulder and beaded armbands, were carrying feathered objects which he took at this distance for dead birds.

They came on for some twenty paces, then rattles sounded among them and a wild, ragged singing, and the whole company broke into a shuffling, lunging dance, raising and lowering their heads and turning their bodies inwards towards the two chiefs carrying the feathered bundles.