The Scent of Betrayal (6 page)

‘The form of government don’t matter much, just as long as it’s French. I half suspect that if Spain doesn’t give it to them they’ll try and take it back by force, then ask Paris for recognition.’

‘And what will the Americans do then?’ Harry asked, with just a trace of malice. Pollock looked at him keenly. ‘Come along, Oliver. The solution is obvious. The last thing you would welcome, after all the trouble it caused us, is France back on your borders. And what about the Mississippi delta? When we still controlled the colonies there was many a voice raised on both sides of the Atlantic, advocating that New Orleans should be taken by assault.’

‘That’s speculation,’ he replied sharply, ‘which I won’t indulge in. Right now there’s no need for such talk. Things have improved since Senator Pinckney signed the recent treaty. The Dons have given us free navigation and rights of deposit at New Orleans for twenty-five years. They make more money and, given a method of shipping their goods out of the interior, we hear less from the frontier states about secession from the Union.’

‘Secession?’ said James. ‘According to Matthew, they’ve only just joined your great enterprise.’

‘Games. The Kentuckians in particular play the Spaniards off against us, all intended to extract some concessions from somebody. A trading privilege from the Dons or a bit more Indian land
grabbed with the approval of Congress. They are, without doubt, the most ill-bred set of low-lifes it has been my misfortune to encounter. They drink to excess, fight without any cause other than an ill-timed look, and seem to have affection for only one thing, their damned long rifles. If there’s one thing worse than a French Creole, it’s those godforsaken Kentuckians.’

THE CONVERSATION
moved on, since any talk about Louisiana seemed to upset Pollock. They speculated for a while on what the Royal Navy would do about Hugues, and then moved on to the question of whether the Spanish, having made peace with France, would stay out of the war.

‘Rumour has it they’re talking of a pact already,’ said Pollock. ‘After all, Harry, they’ve allied themselves with France against Britain most of this century.’

‘A different France,’ observed James.

Cabot pulled a wry face. ‘They trust John Bull less, Mr Ludlow. And given the way your politicoes behave, who can blame them?’

‘Not to mention your naval officers,’ added Matthew Caufield.

‘Might I remind you,’ said Harry, smiling, ‘that this is a British ship.’

‘Not with all those Frenchmen aboard it ain’t,’ said Pollock. ‘Since I can’t see you keeping them as guests, what do you plan to do with them?’

‘It’s not up to me, Oliver. They will choose.’

‘Kinda drops you in a quandary though, Harry. Having fetched them out of St Croix you’ve taken on the responsibility.’

Harry replied thoughtfully: ‘That’s not as much of a problem as it first appears. They have several options.’

‘What did you mean when you said they had a fortune?’

‘Not a fortune, Oliver. I said good fortune.’ Pollock’s eyes narrowed, as though what he’d heard didn’t square with what he
knew. ‘It’s a long story, Oliver, which I won’t bore you with.’

‘There was a buzz around the harbour, gossip that you and those men had been engaged in a bit of no good. That they’d made a pile, which you had a share in, by less than honest means. I paid it no heed, since I don’t see you that way. Perhaps I was wrong to do that?’

The way Harry ignored that was both blatant and somewhat insulting. He carried on as if Pollock hadn’t asked anything about piracy or gold. And what he said was offensive in its own right.

‘I didn’t say this before but I’ve been advising them that since they can’t decide on Europe or Canada, they’d be better off heading for Louisiana, quite possibly New Orleans.’

‘What!’ Pollock snapped.

‘All, I must say, due to your glowing description of the place, which I was happy to pass on. The language is right and I think the climate will suit them.’

‘You’re proposing to take Frenchmen to New Orleans?’ asked Cabot.

Since Pollock still looked unhappy Harry spoke to him. ‘Thirty new colonists won’t make any difference, Oliver.’

‘They will to me, Harry. And let’s get back to this good fortune you seem so keen to avoid talking about. Just how much of that particular commodity have they enjoyed?’

Harry waved a hand airily. ‘A few thousand of your American dollars. I’m not certain of the exact amount, but it’s no more than that, I’m sure. Enough to ensure that they’re no burden to anyone when they land.’

James had to turn away at that point, so Pollock wouldn’t see his smile. He’d seen this trait in Harry before. Sometimes it angered him. At other times, like now, it was a cause of much amusement. Harry had been quite vocal about his liking for this particular American. Yet even with people he purported to trust and admire he was inclined to dissimulate, never telling them a truth they didn’t absolutely need to hear.

‘I rather fear that after what I’d already said they were going
there anyway once their ship was repaired. Now that they are in my care, I don’t see that I have much choice.’

‘You do, Harry,’ said Pollock, coldly.

‘We can hardly take them back home with us,’ said James.

‘I don’t think you understand, sir,’ Pollock replied. ‘The Spanish are the most nervous race on God’s earth. They have as much love for French colonists as I have. And I might add that the sight of an armed British ship at a time like this in the Mississippi delta won’t help cheer them either.’

‘But we’re not their enemies,’ James added. ‘They’re neutral.’

‘Can any English ship be truly neutral to the Dons?’ said Cabot.

‘That is a truth that is particularly relevant in this part of the world,’ added Pollock. ‘They still scare their children with tales of
El Draco!
’

‘Drake and Hawkins are long dead,’ said Harry, with a pleading look in his eye. ‘And if that’s where they want to go, either I take them there or I hire someone to do so.’

‘You were going to ask me?’ said the American quickly.

‘It had occurred to me, yes.’

The sarcasm was very thinly veiled as Pollock replied. ‘Much as I’d like to oblige you, my business precludes it.’

‘But you live in New Orleans, Oliver. You must be going there. And the sight of your ship must be familiar to the Dons. They won’t even ask who you’ve got aboard.’

‘The
Daredevil
doesn’t hail from New Orleans,’ said Cabot. That remark earned him a sharp look from Pollock that made the Captain flush with embarrassment.

‘They still know you, Oliver.’

Harry saw the same look as Pollock turned to face him. But it disappeared swiftly, to be replaced by a blank expression. ‘True. But I don’t know when I’ll return. Captain Cabot and I are heading for Chesapeake Bay. I have places to go and people to see.’

‘Pity.’

‘Harry,’ said Pollock, leaning forward eagerly, a friendly smile on his face, ‘do me a favour. Take them somewhere else.’

‘I’ll see what I can do, Oliver.’

‘Thank you,’ the American replied, his smile turning grim. He must have been aware from Harry’s tone that his efforts to deflect the Frenchmen to another destination would be limited. Did he understand that it wasn’t entirely his choice now?

‘So, who are you off to see, Oliver?’

Pollock’s eyes narrowed slightly, and the smile on his face became still harder. ‘Tell me, Harry Ludlow. How would you like it if someone started quizzing you about your business?’

Harry’s face reddened just a touch. ‘Forgive me. I had no intention of prying.’

Having put Harry firmly in his place, Pollock’s voice softened. ‘Truth is, I don’t know where I’m going. Business is like that, which is something I don’t have to say to you. And I have learned over the years never to discuss my doings with anyone. I’ve seen too many propositions fail because the man contemplating them talked too loud.’

‘You must forgive Harry, Mr Pollock,’ said James, with wicked and evident pleasure. ‘His curiosity is endemic. And your tone of apology is quite wasted. If ever I’ve known a man who was reluctant to show his cards it is my brother. Not even I am privy to his innermost thoughts.’

They watched the
Daredevil
depart with mixed feelings. James and the Caufields were still full of gratitude for the American ship’s intervention, but Harry was subject to different emotions. He would have laughed at anyone who even intimated that he was wounded. Yet Oliver Pollock’s behaviour had troubled him. The close companionship of St Croix had quite evaporated. But emotion, of necessity, was soon put aside, as he began to contemplate the needs of his ship.
Bucephalas
couldn’t go anywhere without wood and water. Then there was food, which presented more of a problem. Harry’s men were sailors to their fingertips, and they
had a very strict idea of what they should be fed. He needed salt pork and beef, flour in the sack, ship’s biscuit in the cask, gallons of beer and kegs of rum. Since Tortola was not over-endowed in the chandling department, time was spent as the stores were gathered from the nearby islands. Nathan and Matthew Caufield, who’d decided to leave the ship and head home, agreed to organise the supplies, as a small recompense for the way he’d helped them in the past.

What he didn’t realise, as they went ashore to find accommodation in Tortola, was that in Nathan Caufield he’d lost his main interlocutor with his passengers. James, who might have taken his place, having a limited love of shipboard life, went ashore with them. Initially Harry welcomed this as an opportunity to get on closer terms with his Frenchmen, the main object finding a way of ridding himself of them. There was nothing personal in this, just the need to regain his freedom of action. Since their Captain had been killed he’d maintained limited contact: they’d stayed in the main aboard their own ship, while he was on
Bucephalas
, so they were very nearly strangers. The only two men he’d dealt with on St Croix, Lampin and Couvruer, spoke some English and were pleasant enough. It was to them he’d imparted Pollock’s glowing account of Louisiana life. Lampin was of medium height, balding, with a lively expression, bright blue eyes, and an almost permanent smile. Couvruer was taller and darker, with deep brown eyes that rarely left Harry’s face, clear evidence that he listened intently to what was said.

Asking them to come to his cabin, Harry quickly discovered that there was still no consensus at all amongst the group about where they should go next: Europe, Quebec or Louisiana. And thanks to Pender, he was soon made aware that his own crew were less than enamoured of the Frenchmen’s presence aboard ship. It was impossible, in a vessel the size of
Bucephalas
, to keep the two groups apart, and since he didn’t call upon his passengers to undertake any tasks to do with running the ship, they were quickly labelled as idle loafers. Added to that, since most of his men had
at one time in their lives served on men-of-war, and had fought the French as the enemy, they were ill disposed to suddenly accept them as friends and equals. This didn’t apply to all the crew, of course, but it only took a few, aiming well-rehearsed insults, to infuse both parties with a mutual antipathy, that, unchecked, could lead to violence.

Nothing demonstrated this more than the second meeting Harry had with Lampin and Couvruer. No doubt suspected of being too soft on the
Rosbifs
, they were accompanied by two other men, neither of whom deigned to give his name. They were a surly pair who insisted on the conversation’s being carried out in French. Their first demand was that their brass-bound chest be transferred from Harry’s cabin to the section of the berthing deck where they messed. This Harry flatly refused to do. In vain, he tried to point out that a chest known to be full of gold and silver coins in plain view of his crew would do nothing to ease the tension. Privateers’ ships were not manned by people of a saintly disposition. Quite the reverse. Harry had recruited them to fight, and if necessary kill, and while the selection had been careful, leaving out sodomites and hard bargains, they were as greedy as any other crew, quite possibly more so. Clearly Lampin and Couvruer, just by their expressions, agreed, but could do nothing in the face of their fellow-countrymen’s intransigence. They clearly didn’t trust the Ludlow brothers with their wealth, or, it seemed, their future. The meeting, when it broke up, left him in a foul mood.

‘It’s damned galling,’ said Harry. ‘If we hadn’t take care of them they’d be rotting at the end of a gallows’ rope in English Harbour.’

‘I don’t see why you don’t just sling them ashore here, your honour,’ said Pender. ‘Let’s face it, they’ve got the means to survive.’

‘I started to suggest that very thing, but then I was reminded of my own undertaking. I’m hoist upon a promise I made to see them to their destination. The one thing they’re adamant about is
that they don’t want to stay in the Caribbean.’ He noticed Pender frown. ‘It seemed a simple thing to do, since they were underwriting the repairs to
Bucephalas
.’

‘Well, I’ve said it more’n once, Capt’n. If’n you don’t get them off the barky quick, one of ’em might get a knife in the guts.’

‘It doesn’t help,’ Harry snapped, ‘to have you adopting that attitude.’

Pender grinned, not in the least bit cowed by Harry’s outburst. He might be termed a servant, but both the Ludlow brothers, and Pender himself, knew he was more than that. To Harry, especially, he was a friend and confidant, as well as a man who could on occasion act as his master’s conscience.

‘I don’t care one way or the other, Capt’n. But I don’t want to see you in the post of judge and jury over one of our crew. Specially since, if one man gets hurt, others are bound to follow. An’ there ain’t no good pretending it won’t go that way. Them Frogs is no better than our lot.’

‘Do you think I should put them to work?’

‘That’d just make things worse. The baiting will get louder the more they see of each other. At least half the day the Crapauds are out of sight.’

‘I’ll have to talk to the crew,’ said Harry wearily.

‘In the main they don’t need it, your honour. It’s only the odd one that hates them Frenchmen enough to bait them. And you could talk to them till your face turns blue an’ it wouldn’t make an ounce of difference.’

‘Then, damn it, I’ll lock them up.’

‘Which will upset the rest of the crew. No, Capt’n, the only way is to get them ashore as soon as you can.’

James, accompanying some stores that the Caufields had gathered, was quizzed for his opinion.

‘And, brother,’ said Harry, gravely, ‘if Pender says it’s that bad it cannot be anything less than serious.’

‘Then I suggest you get them to make up their minds, Harry.’

‘Easier said than achieved. If I try to give them advice it’s likely to rebound on me. Apart from Lampin and Couvruer I doubt any of them trust us at all.’

‘That cannot be the case with thirty men. Most of them will be sheep, with two sets of views vying for their support. And even if they are sheep they’re not necessarily without the wit to see that it will be them who suffer if matters come to a head.’

‘You’re suggesting that I talk to them directly?’

James nodded. ‘Give them the options, Harry. Point out that the more time they spend aboard
Bucephalas
the more likely it is that one of them will end up as a victim. Then list the different distances between their various choices.’

‘You think they’ll plump for New Orleans?’

‘I can’t say that with certainty. But if you put it the right way then I think you’ll get the result you want.’

‘I have no interest in the result, James,’ said Harry.

‘That is not true. Unless you harbour a deep desire to satisfy the reservations of Oliver Pollock regarding French colonists.’