Behind this ill-matched pair sat a host of courtiers and officers, all richly dressed. Before the Prince knelt a translator who, his forehead pressed to the ground, was trying to keep up with the Buzzard's flood of invective.
The Buzzard stood before the Prince with his fists bunched on his hips. On his head was his beribboned bonnet, and his beard was more bushy and fiery than the dyed, barbered curls that covered El Grang's chin. He wore half armour above his plaid. He turned with relief when Schreuder entered the tent and made deep and respectful obeisance, first to the Prince and then to El Grang.
"Jesus love you, Colonel. I need you now to talk some sense into these two lovely laddies. This ape." " Curnbrae spurned the grovelling translator with his boot. "This ape is blethering away, and making a nonsense of what I'm telling them." He knew that Schreuder had spent many years in the Orient, and that Arabic was one of the languages in which he was fluent.
"Tell them that I came here to take prizes, not to match my Gull against a ship of equal force and have her shot away beneath my feed" the Buzzard instructed him. "They want me to do battle with the Golden Bough."
"Explain the matter to me more fully," Schreuder invited. "That way I may be able to assist you."
"The Golden Bough has arrived in these waters we must presume under the command of young Courtney," the Buzzard told him.
Schreuder's face darkened at the name. "Will we never be rid of him?"
"It seems not." Cumbrae chuckled. "In any event, he is flying the white cross of the Empire, and whaling into El Grang's transports with a vengeance. He has sunk and captured twenty-three sail in the last week, and no Mussulman captains will put out to sea while he is in the offing. Single-handed he is blockading the entire coast of Ethiopia." He shook his head in reluctant admiration. "From the Cliffs above Tenwera, I watched him fall upon a flotilla of El Grang's war dhows. He cut them to pieces. By Jesus, he handles his ship as well as Franky ever could. He sailed circles around those Mussulmen and shot them out of the water. The entire fleet of Allah the All Merciful is all bottled up in port, and El Grang is starved of reinforcements and stores. The Mussulmen call young Courtney El Tam, the Barracuda, and not one will go out to face him."
Then his grin faded and he looked lugubrious. "The Golden Bough is bright and clean of weed. My Gulf has been at sea for nigh on three years. Her timbers are riddled with shipworm. I would guess that, even on my best point of sailing, the Golden Bough has at least three knots of speed on me."
"What do you want me "to tell his highness!" Schreuder asked scornfully. "That you are afraid to meet young Courtney?" , "I am afraid of no man living or dead, for that matter. But there is no profit in it for me. Hal Courtney has nothing I want, but if it comes to a single-ship fight, he could do me and my Gull fearful damage. If they want me to fight him they will have to sweeten my cup a little."
Schreuder turned back to the Prince and explained this to him in carefully chosen diplomatic terms. Sadiq Khan Jahan stroked his falcon as he listened expressionlessly, and the bird ruffled out its feathers and hooded its yellow eyes. When Schreuder had finished, the Prince turned to El Grang. "What did you say they called this red-bearded braggart?"
"They call him the Buzzard, your highness," El Grang replied hoarsely.
"A name well chosen, for it seems he prefers to pick out the eyes of the weak and the dying and scavenge the leavings of fiercer creatures rather than to kill for himself. He is no falcon."
El Grang nodded agreement, and the Prince turned back to Schreuder. "Ask this noble bird of prey what payment he demands for fighting El Tazar."
"Tell the pretty boy I want a lakh of rupees in gold coin, and I want it in my hands before I leave port," Cumbrae replied, and even Schreuder gasped at the audacity. One lakh was a hundred thousand rupees. The Buzzard went on amiably, "You see, I have got the Prince with his bum in the air and his pantaloons round his ankles. I intend to tup him full length, but not the way he likes it."
Schreuder listened to the Prince's reply, then turned back to Cumbrae. "He says that you could build twenty ships like the Gull for a lakh."
"That may be so, but it won't buy me a pair of balls to replace the ones that Hal Courtney shoots away."
The Prince smiled at this response. "Tell the Buzzard he must have lost them long ago, but he makes a fine eunuch. I could always find a place for him in my harem."
The Buzzard guffawed at the insult, but shook his head. "Tell the pretty pederast, no gold and the Buzzard flies away."
The Prince and El Grang whispered to each other, gesticulating. At last, they seemed to reach a decision.
"I have another proposition that the bold captain might find more to his taste. The risk he takes will not be so great, but he will receive the lakh he demands." The Prince rose to his feet, and all his court fell upon their knees and pressed their foreheads to the ground. "I will leave Sultan Ahmed El Grang to explain this to you in secrecy."
He retired through the curtains at the back of the tent, and all his retinue went with him, leaving only the two Europeans and the Sultan in the cavern of silk.
El Grang gestured to both men to come closer and to sit in front of him. "What I have to say is for the ears of no other living soul." While he arranged his thoughts, he fingered the old lance wound that ran in a ridge of raised scar tissue from below his ear, down under the high collar of his tunic. half his vocal cords had been severed by that old injury. He began to speak, in his hoarse, wheezing voice. "The Emperor was slain before Suakin and his infant son Iyasu has inherited the crown of Prester John. His armies were in disarray when there arose a female prophet who proclaimed that she had been chosen by the Christian God to lead his armies. She came down from the mountains leading fifty thousand fighting men and carrying before her a religious talisman that they call the Tabernacle of Mary. Her armies, inspired by religious fanaticism, were able to check us at Mitsiwa."