Read Online Swords From the Sea by Harold Lamb - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Harold Lamb
Tags: Fiction, Suspense, Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Short Stories, Sea stories, Short Stories (Single Author), Adventure stories, Adventure fiction
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without their aid, but he found that their countryman Renard, advisor to Princess Mary, was taking the leadership from him. Stratford knew there was in England at that time a man who was called the Fox by those who had dealings with him; who had caused to be slain secretly some of the nobles who opposed Mary. And he suspected that this Fox was Renard the philosopher.
Stratford knew that another conspiracy was in the wind. Durforth, who had in past years been a merchant of Flanders and the North Sea, had been seen in company with Renard. Durforth, alone of the navigators, knew the coast of Norway. So he had been chosen by the council of Cabot's merchant-adventurers to go with Sir Hugh Willoughby as master of one of the three ships.
Of traffic and discoveries my lord of Stratford recked little. He wondered fleetingly why D'Alaber and Renard set such importance on the voyage of Sir Hugh. He had spoken truly to Ralph Thorne when he declared that the Spaniards would like to make an end of Sir Hugh and his ships. And why were they giving letters to Durforth to bear upon this voyage?
Aloud he said to the merchant-
"Your dallying here hath aroused no suspicion?"
"Not a jot," responded Durforth with his usual bluntness, "thanks to gaffer Cabot. The old cockatrice was afire to sail with Sir Hugh as far as Orfordnesse. So I yielded my place to him and will strike across the country to that haven with D'Alaber."
"Who will return to London," put in Stratford meaningly, "in the train of Princess-shall we say, Queen Mary?"
D'Alaber's dark eyes lighted with some amusement.
"Senores, porque se tardo tanto-why this beating about the bush? Nay, it shall be Mary future wife of Philip of Spain, King of England."
"What?" cried the nobleman, the blood rushing to his brow. "Now by my soul and honor, that will never be. Your emperor's dark-faced brat will not be King of England!"
"Mary," made answer D'Alaber, heedless of the other's surprise and wrath, "is ill favored and shrewish. She hath overpassed thirty years and dotes on Philip, who is yet willing to have her for his bride. I see no hindrance to the match."
"But the men of England-Parliament-"
"Will not take kindly at first to a nobler monarch than the Tudor lineage can show. But Mary will have her way, and you of the court have ,,one too far to draw back, unless you would care to make your excuses to the Fox."
"'Tis the fable of Master Aesop come true," grunted Durforth, who cared little about matters of state, so he was permitted to trade as he listed. "The gentry who were weary of King Log called for King Stork and had sorrow thereby."
"Por estas honradas barbas!" cried D'Alaber, drawing himself up in his first flash of temper. "You rovers* and cloth peddlers have no wit to see where power lies. Philip will be monarch of Spain before many years."
He swept his hand about the bare rush-floored chamber of his host. "Instead of on this filth, you will walk on the carpets of Araby, and these foul walls will be covered with the silks of Cathay. Your table will bear its spices, which now it lacks. For-" his eloquent voice rang with the arrogance of one schooled in a militant and conquering court-"you will be allied to the master of Christiandom, to Charles, Emperor of the Romans, King of Spain, Germany, and the Two Sicilies. Lord of Jerusalem and Hungary, Archduke of Austria, and Duke of Burgundy and Brabant, Earl of Flanders, and-"
One finger, bearing rings set with flawless blue diamonds, tapped the table before the stricken nobleman.
"-and sole monarch of the New World, with all its riches."
His words, sinking into the spirit of my lord of Stratford, left the man silent, sucking in his thin lips. D'Alaber, who had dealt with defeated noblemen before now, glanced at him as a physician might study a patient in convalescence and took Durforth's arm.
"Sir, I leave you to the meditations of prudence and I count upon your pledged aid. Send post to Orfordnesse if Edward nears the end,
Stratford knew that another conspiracy was in the wind. Durforth, who had in past years been a merchant of Flanders and the North Sea, had been seen in company with Renard. Durforth, alone of the navigators, knew the coast of Norway. So he had been chosen by the council of Cabot's merchant-adventurers to go with Sir Hugh Willoughby as master of one of the three ships.
Of traffic and discoveries my lord of Stratford recked little. He wondered fleetingly why D'Alaber and Renard set such importance on the voyage of Sir Hugh. He had spoken truly to Ralph Thorne when he declared that the Spaniards would like to make an end of Sir Hugh and his ships. And why were they giving letters to Durforth to bear upon this voyage?
Aloud he said to the merchant-
"Your dallying here hath aroused no suspicion?"
"Not a jot," responded Durforth with his usual bluntness, "thanks to gaffer Cabot. The old cockatrice was afire to sail with Sir Hugh as far as Orfordnesse. So I yielded my place to him and will strike across the country to that haven with D'Alaber."
"Who will return to London," put in Stratford meaningly, "in the train of Princess-shall we say, Queen Mary?"
D'Alaber's dark eyes lighted with some amusement.
"Senores, porque se tardo tanto-why this beating about the bush? Nay, it shall be Mary future wife of Philip of Spain, King of England."
"What?" cried the nobleman, the blood rushing to his brow. "Now by my soul and honor, that will never be. Your emperor's dark-faced brat will not be King of England!"
"Mary," made answer D'Alaber, heedless of the other's surprise and wrath, "is ill favored and shrewish. She hath overpassed thirty years and dotes on Philip, who is yet willing to have her for his bride. I see no hindrance to the match."
"But the men of England-Parliament-"
"Will not take kindly at first to a nobler monarch than the Tudor lineage can show. But Mary will have her way, and you of the court have ,,one too far to draw back, unless you would care to make your excuses to the Fox."
"'Tis the fable of Master Aesop come true," grunted Durforth, who cared little about matters of state, so he was permitted to trade as he listed. "The gentry who were weary of King Log called for King Stork and had sorrow thereby."
"Por estas honradas barbas!" cried D'Alaber, drawing himself up in his first flash of temper. "You rovers* and cloth peddlers have no wit to see where power lies. Philip will be monarch of Spain before many years."
He swept his hand about the bare rush-floored chamber of his host. "Instead of on this filth, you will walk on the carpets of Araby, and these foul walls will be covered with the silks of Cathay. Your table will bear its spices, which now it lacks. For-" his eloquent voice rang with the arrogance of one schooled in a militant and conquering court-"you will be allied to the master of Christiandom, to Charles, Emperor of the Romans, King of Spain, Germany, and the Two Sicilies. Lord of Jerusalem and Hungary, Archduke of Austria, and Duke of Burgundy and Brabant, Earl of Flanders, and-"
One finger, bearing rings set with flawless blue diamonds, tapped the table before the stricken nobleman.
"-and sole monarch of the New World, with all its riches."
His words, sinking into the spirit of my lord of Stratford, left the man silent, sucking in his thin lips. D'Alaber, who had dealt with defeated noblemen before now, glanced at him as a physician might study a patient in convalescence and took Durforth's arm.
"Sir, I leave you to the meditations of prudence and I count upon your pledged aid. Send post to Orfordnesse if Edward nears the end,
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