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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 isthat 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