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Authors: David Donachie
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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 theyhad 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 hadat 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
‘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 theyhad 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 hadat 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
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