The Scent of Betrayal (27 page)

Harry forced himself to sound uninterested. ‘Did he tell you what else they were carrying?’

‘No. But he did tell me what they didn’t take with them, and that is just as important.’ James opened his mouth to speak, but Saraille held up his hand. ‘No guns or ammunition, except standard rations. No stores of the kind that they would be carrying to an outlying garrison. And, unusually for soldiers, there was no gossip about their destination, or moans about the journey.’

‘That is very interesting, Monsieur.’

‘It will be even more interesting to see how de Carondelet reacts when I pose the question in the
Moniteur
. A mission so secret that I think he hasn’t even told the officers of the army or navy, or the members of his
Cabildo
.’

Harry leant forward. ‘I think you are right. But if I was to say to you, Monsieur Saraille, that should you hold fire I could bring you a much better tale, what would you say?’

‘What kind of tale?’

‘One that would so embarrass the Barón de Carondelet, and so incense his neighbours and his superiors, that the whole edifice of Spanish control in Louisiana could be threatened.’

‘Can you not tell me now?’

‘No. But I can say it is well worth waiting for.’

The pink jowls shook excitedly. ‘When would this be?’

‘Of that I can’t be certain,’ Harry replied, leaning back. ‘It could be a week, or a month.’

‘Will I be the first one to hear it?’

‘Monsieur Saraille, you will be the only one to hear it. Everyone else will have to read it in the
Moniteur
.’

‘What a fine piece of legerdemain, Harry. You’ve got Saraille salivating for a story that you don’t have. He’s going to be very disappointed when he finds out that you’ve misled him.’

‘I think you’re being overly pessimistic.’

‘Even after what Pender observed you believe that McGillivray is telling the truth?’

‘Let’s say that his supposition is the only one that fits all the facts.’

‘Facts! There are no facts, Harry. You have not established one single certainty on which to base a conclusion. If you wish to go dashing up the Mississippi and have a fight with a dozen Royal Walloon Guards on what is probably a wild-goose chase, don’t clothe it in this cloak of false verisimilitude.’

Harry smiled. ‘Is that all I’m doing, James, looking for a fight?’

‘I believe so.’

‘So you will not even admit that I may have the right of it? That there might be two hundred thousand dollars in ingots strapped to those pack-horses?’

‘May and might in the same breath, brother. Not a shred of certainty. I rest my case.’

Harry was grinning now. ‘Let’s go and see if we can get some, shall we?’

‘And where will we do that?’

‘In the Governor’s quarters.’

‘You’re going to ask de Carondelet?’

‘I don’t know, James. I might.’

‘How can you suggest to me, Barón, that I can restore my fortune by locating what you have lost if you will not answer any of the questions I ask you, nor allow me to question anyone?’

‘I have not refused to do so, Captain Ludlow. But the enquiries you pose border on the offensive. And you lard them with direct insults.’

‘I merely asked if you trusted your officers and the magistrates. Let me remind you that the
Gauchos
was intercepted by someone who knew what she was carrying. That implies a betrayal of trust. If only those present knew the secret, then it must be one of them, unless of course …’

Harry’s voice trailed off, as though a solution had suddenly presented itself. James was deliberately looking at de Carondelet’s portrait, trying to avoid participation. But the sharp note in the Governor’s voice made him turn round.

‘Unless what?’ demanded de Carondelet.

‘Does it occur to you that the ingots may not have ever been loaded on the ship?’

De Carondelet turned away abruptly, hiding his face from both men. ‘Don’t be absurd, I supervised it personally.’

‘You mean you actually put the gold and silver in the boxes, then loaded them on board?’

‘No! The task was undertaken by my most trusted subordinate. He filled the boxes in full view of all the people you have mentioned. He then took them down to be loaded aboard the
Gauchos
. Since I accompanied the carts almost to the levee, there can be no doubt that he carried out his task to the letter.’

‘And who, sir, is this officer?’

‘Captain de Guerin, of the Royal Walloon Guards.’

‘I haven’t met him.’

‘He is not in the city at present,’ said the Governor, turning back to face the brothers.

‘That is most unfortunate. When will he be back?’

‘Why?’

‘It would be helpful to have him confirm that the gold was safely stowed aboard.’

‘Are you implying that my word is not good enough?’

‘I am saying that the only person who can say with absolute certainty that those boxes remained untouched before being put into the ship is Captain de Guerin.’

‘Then there can be no doubt. He is a most honourable officer, a man I have known since childhood.’

‘Even the most honourable creature can be tempted by a large sum of money, Excellency,’ said James.

De Carondelet didn’t respond to the gibe, even though, judging by the way his eyes bulged, he understood what James meant.

‘This is an officer I would trust with my life.’

‘That is an irrelevance, Barón,’ Harry snapped. ‘The question is, do you trust him to look after two hundred thousand dollars?’

‘I do.’

‘
IF HE MEANT
the past tense, James, he’d have used it,’ Harry insisted. The three men, Pender slightly to the rear, were walking north, heading back to the Hôtel de la Port d’Orléans. ‘He most definitely used the present.’

‘This is like some kind of religious experience, brother, one of the Papist variety, where a stone Madonna sheds tears. Any enlightened person knows it to be trickery, but thousands are convinced.’

‘We’d have to go after them by boat,’ said Harry, who’d only been half listening. ‘Even riding hard we’d never catch them on horseback.’

‘We could steal the cutter,’ said Pender.

‘It would be missed, and so would the hands that we took to man it. Which would mean trouble for the rest and a warm reception for us when we returned.’

‘I think, right or wrong, you’re guaranteed that,’ said James.

‘We’d be lucky to stay out of the galleys. The cutter is the wrong kind of vessel for the river anyway. It’s too small for the numbers we require, and the wind isn’t likely to favour us so we’d have to row. I can’t see us leaping out of a boat in the right condition to take on an equal force of trained soldiers.’

‘I’m glad to observe, Harry, that you’re not incurably romantic.’

‘James,’ Harry replied testily, ‘if you have nothing positive to add, please remain silent.’

‘You can’t talk to me like that!’

The reply was just as firm. ‘I can and I do. You have done
your best to persuade me against this. Having failed I expect your support, not a constant carping that you suppose, quite erroneously, to be humorous.’

‘When I’m convinced you’re right you shall have it. Until then please allow me to speak as I find.’

James strode ahead, every firm step he took evidence of his anger. Harry, equally upset, didn’t respond to the look he was getting from Pender.

‘Are you saying we need one of the keelboats?’

‘Do you approve of this, Pender?’

‘You keep askin’ that and I keep sayin’, it’s not up to me to one way nor the other, Capt’n.’

‘Nonsense.’

‘Then let’s just say that I know you’re set on the trip, which I’d rather make with you than stay behind. But I won’t say that there ain’t parts of the notion that don’t worry me.’

‘Such as?’

‘Well, it don’t do much good to go upsetting folk when it can be avoided, especially them that’s close. And if we can’t use the men from our own crew, where’s the muscle goin’ to come from to overpower well-armed soldiers? But the real bit that gets me is this. Why should a man like this McGillivray, who seems pretty convinced himself that these soldiers are carrying a fortune, pass the chance to intercept them on to you? Especially when all he has to do, if I’ve got it right, is send one of his savages upriver and he can command an army.’

‘You think he wants me to steal it from the Spanish, so that he can take it off me?’

‘Now that might just make sense.’ Pender lifted his hand to indicate James’s retreating back. ‘As much sense as an apology, Capt’n.’

Harry smiled. ‘Between the two of you it’s hard to keep hold of the idea that I’m Captain of anything.’ He increased his pace, almost running to catch up with James, and came abreast of him just at the bottom of the steps that led up to the main floor of the
hotel. ‘Put it down to frustration, brother. I never was one to remain inactive.’

‘I hadn’t noticed that you’d done that, Harry,’ James replied, indicating the building before them. ‘Given what you’ve been up to these last few days I should have thought frustration was the least appropriate word you could use.’

‘What do you think of Hyacinthe, James? Really think?’

‘She’s young, beautiful, witty, and clever.’ Harry nodded happily. ‘She is also, though of tender years for the title, a madam who runs a bawdy-house. Which is fine here in New Orleans, but would be frowned upon elsewhere.’

‘Like Kent?’ asked Harry, his smile evaporating.

‘I doubt it would even pass in London, Harry.’ James patted him on the arm. ‘I have the feeling that you were hoping for a different opinion. But I cannot do that just to please you.’

‘No. I don’t suppose you can.’

‘Harry, how many ports have you been in, how many women have you known?’

‘It’s not the same.’

‘No,’ James replied sadly. ‘I can see that. Just as I can see that being the kind of person you are, the idea of taking Hyacinthe back to England as a mistress while denying her the opportunity to be respectable is not likely to be one you could subscribe to.’

‘I had rather hoped you’d be less stiff.’

‘Because of my own past?’

Harry nodded. James had been involved with a married woman, and scandalised London by his open relationship with her. Never mind that her noble husband was a drunken rogue, a profligate gambler, and a disreputable rake. Society had its rules, even for noted artists, and James and Lady Farquhar had breached them. Being forced to give her up had reduced James Ludlow to a wreck. Being at sea with Harry had, with time and circumstances, restored his pride and self-esteem.

‘Perhaps it is that very background,’ James continued, ‘that makes me urge caution.’

‘Just caution.’

‘Oh, yes, brother. If the emotion you feel is strong enough to withstand the level of disapproval you’ll encounter, then do as you will. England is not the only place a man can live. Besides, in the years since my own débâcle, I’ve come to know you much better. I’ve learned that disapproval is not something you pay much heed to.’

‘Tucker sold the boat back to him this morning,’ said Hyacinthe. ‘He’s not fond of keelboats. Besides he’s been in New Orleans so long that his own crew have drifted away in ones and twos, so Kavanagh’s boat wasn’t much use to him. He would have done it sooner if the great oaf could have talked any sense. He was feeling guilty, after the way he won it.’

‘He didn’t strike me as someone overburdened with much of that commodity,’ said Harry, all his suspicions regarding Tucker registered in his face.

Hyacinthe smiled. ‘Thankful Tucker is a better man than he appears at first. That’s true of a lot of these Kaintucks, for all their rough ways.’

‘Of course,’ James replied, his face blank. ‘You know them so much better than we do.’

‘What are the chances of buying another one?’ Harry asked, quickly.

‘Poor,’ she replied. ‘They love their boats, ugly though they are. But, Harry, why do you want to buy one?’

Harry shrugged, well aware that James’s eyes were on him and that by providing an answer that was an excuse he would also expose the fact that he didn’t trust her. Yet he realised suddenly that it was true. He hadn’t even told her that the money Carondelet had confiscated wasn’t his. But there was no alternative. If he was going after the soldiers it had to be surrounded with the same level of secrecy as that employed by the Governor.

‘I can’t just sit around and do nothing. Here I am on the edge of a huge and fascinating continent which is begging to be
explored. I’ve even got an invitation to go hunting. Besides, I still feel responsible for those Frenchmen we brought to New Orleans. We promised them so much in the way of land and opportunity. Perhaps, if I take them upriver with me, I can find them somewhere to settle.’

‘Frenchmen would be happier here in the city, I think,’ she replied. There was a look in her eye that made Harry uncomfortable, one that made him think she saw right through his attempt at dissimulation.

‘Maybe,’ he said emphatically. ‘But they should be given the choice. How can I do that when I don’t know what is available?’

The suspicious air disappeared suddenly and Hyacinthe gave him a charming smile. ‘You know, Harry, you are a lot like these Kaintuck men. They are cursed with feet that itch. You too cannot stay in one place too long.’

‘Odd then that Tucker is still here,’ said James.

The floor was as crowded with dancers, the taproom for the riverboatmen just as vociferously noisy as the first night they’d arrived. Hyacinthe moved around the tables dispensing charm and making arrangements for the better class of girls who occupied the upstairs rooms. Lots of her customers had their favourites, for which she’d produce a little book, to write down a name and time. Bernard had the job of collecting the goods from those whose credit did not extend to such transactions and he followed her round assiduously, extracting payment in advance. Given the shortage of coin, it was interesting to see what people used in its place. Whiskey was popular since it could be sold on; tobacco, light in weight, for the same reason. Some preferred to sell goods like knives and musket balls. Few went further than a bale of cloth. Those with a line of credit tended to pledge a proportion of future crops, cotton, sugar, rice, and indigo, and Harry and James knew that since they’d been at the hotel Hyacinthe had acquired a number of horses, two mules, and one cart. Anyone, like them, with real coins to disburse was extremely popular as drinking companions, 
being people who extracted high value for their money.

‘I wonder how much de Coburrabias makes out of his extraneous activities,’ said James idly.

‘Enough,’ Harry replied, ‘considering he never comes near the place. Hyacinthe tells me has has opened a warehouse to stock his goods since the colony ran out of coins.’

‘And what about her, how does she get paid?’

‘No idea.’

‘Do you think she will tell her employer, when you fail to turn up, of your intended trip?’

‘What trip? I’ve no means of making it. I was down on the shoreline all day, getting absolutely nowhere, even with real money. All the rafts, which are useless anyway, are broken up as soon as they arrive. The only thing I could have had for the asking was a fist fight.’

‘That seems like an attempt to evade an answer, Harry.’

‘All right! I don’t know.’

‘What if she does say something to him? He of course knows nothing of de Carondelet’s alleged subterfuge. So, in passing, tucked away in a despatch, he mentions to the Barón that having accepted his invitation to hunt upriver, you have failed to show up. I wonder what happens to
Bucephalas
then.’

Harry opened his mouth to reply, but Thankful Tucker had approached their table unseen. ‘Why, if it isn’t Mr Cuckoo and his brother.’

‘I’m sorry?’ said Harry.

‘You don’t like the nickname, Ludlow.’ Tucker replied. His face was red and his breath heavy with the odour of whiskey. ‘Was a time I was sat at that table. Was a time that Thankful Tucker wasn’t slung out into the street when the lights were dimmed.’

‘Thankful!’

The riverboat Captain turned to face Hyacinthe, swaying slightly. He leant towards her and waved a hand drunkenly.

‘Why there you are, the sweetest flower in the delta.’

‘Then don’t breathe on me so. I’ll wilt.’

‘I was just telling your cuckoo Englishman that possession of that seat he’s occupying tends to be temporary.’ He turned to leer at Harry. ‘And with the seat goes all the other little things that are so pleasant to taste.’

‘You’re drunk, Tucker,’ said Harry.

‘Only a whippersnapper would call this drunk. But then maybe you can’t hold your liquor.’

‘Don’t answer him, Harry,’ said James.

‘That right, Ludlow. Best if you don’t say nothing.’

‘Are you trying to pick a fight with me?’ asked Harry.

Half his attention was on Hyacinthe, the only person with the power to prevent the inevitable. Her eyes seemed excited and her breathing was heavy for someone not actually exerting herself.

‘Pick a fight with you,’ called Tucker, his voice loud enough to be heard at all the surrounding tables. Then he shook his head slowly. ‘You, with your high and mighty English ways, might think I have no dignity. But I have a care only to raise my hands to a man who can stand toe to toe.’

As Harry came slowly to his feet the noise in the tavern died away. His proximity forced Tucker to move slightly backwards. Then he shoved out his left foot and, raising his hands, adopted a pugilist’s defensive stance.

‘If you can look down without falling down, Tucker, I think you’ll observe a toe.’

‘I know what I’m fighting for, Ludlow. How about you?’

‘I believe I’m happy to take you on for the same stake as Kavanagh.’

‘My boat?’

Harry nodded. Tucker smiled slowly, then pulled himself up, his whole manner changing as the air of drunkenness dropped away. His speech changed at the same time, becoming much more clear and precise. ‘I won’t ask what you’d want with a Mississippi galley, Ludlow, but the stake suits me.’

James stood too. ‘I think, Harry, that you’ve just had a mouthful of whiskey blown in your face.’

‘Kentucky rules,’ said Tucker.

‘What are they?’ asked James.

‘Anything goes,’ the American replied.

The musicians stopped playing abruptly. The only noise to be heard, as both men removed jackets and shirts, was the scraping of wood on wood as chairs and tables were hastily dragged out of harm’s way. Bernard appeared on cue, in shirtsleeves, the club that stood as sole referee swinging lazily in his hand. Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw James following Hyacinthe up to the balcony. Was she aware that for Tucker she was the prize in this encounter? That in turn forced Harry to examine his own feelings. If, as he’d implied to James, he was in love with her, he’d not give her up just because he’d lost. Therefore, did what was about to happen make sense? And what of her emotions? If she’d accepted the outcome of his defeat, what did that say about the depth of regard for him?

Such thoughts had to be banished, as Tucker, stripped to the waist, turned to face him. Harry was momentarily puzzled by the glistening state of his torso, then he realised that the Kaintuck, in a fashion that was clearly habitual, had engaged in a little more subterfuge. He’d set out to goad Harry, determined to engineer a fight, something James had spotted as quickly as his brother. As a precaution, he started by greasing his body in advance of his approach. This would mean that any blow Harry landed which wasn’t square on to a fistful of flesh would slide harmlessly to one side, with a subsequent diminution of effect. It was an old pugilist’s trick.