‘I think not. Father has taken steps to prevent that.’
‘But-’
Renzi interrupted him, ‘I am happy with my lot.’
Laughton hesitated. ‘There are other concerns, brother.’
‘Which are?’
‘May I know if there might be, as who should say, a lady in your life?’
‘There is.’
‘Ah. Do I know the family? The north, possibly – or is it to be your London beauty?’
Renzi shot a warning glance at Kydd. ‘Neither,’ he said curtly.
‘Come, come, sir, it is of some interest to us all, a good marriage bringing families of lineage together. Have you reached a settlement with the father?’
‘I take that as impertinence, sir. This is entirely a personal matter.’
‘Nicholas, if you marry beneath yourself it’s most certainly a matter for me.’
Kydd bristled, but managed to say politely, ‘Richard, I happen to know your brother hasn’t even asked the lady.’
‘Is this so?’
‘My heart is entirely taken by the woman. I will marry no other.’
‘Then?’
‘Then … it were better we changed the subject.’ Renzi took up his glass and looked stubbornly away.
Kydd glanced at him in concern, then turned to his brother. ‘You mentioned you had your vexations, Richard. How can that be in such a fine country?’
Laughton eased into a reluctant smile. ‘Since you ask it, Mr Sailorman, it’s surely our losses to privateers. Let me tell you that a ship making for the Barbados convoy carries in her hold much of the season’s hard-won yield. What you probably don’t know is that we’re financed in our operation by advances on London against that crop. If this is taken it’s a calamity impossible to contemplate, so we must insure with Lloyd’s. As the losses go up, so does the insurance premium – which, believe it or no, now stands above six per centum.’
Kydd made a sympathetic murmur.
‘And I’ll remind you that’s a cost in wartime always to be added to our operating expenses, or a sum to be subtracted from our profits, each and every time.’
Acknowledging this with a nod, Kydd interjected drily, ‘I’m no man of business, m’ friend, but even I can see that if the French are driven from the seas then they’ll not get their own crop to market, and the sugar price must surely rise handsomely. I dare to say this goes some way towards compensating for the inconvenience.’
‘You’re in the right of it, Thomas,’ chuckled Laughton. ‘But spare a thought for our other worries. For instance, here on a tropical isle we find the soil’s quickly wearied, exhausted. Without notice a field will throw up stunted, pitiable growths no good to man or beast.’
‘Is there no help for it?’
‘Yes, for those whose study it is to ’ware the signs. Guinea grass answers, sown promiscuous, on which we raise useful numbers of cattle and sheep, their manure a sovereign cure. And our new Bourbon cane strain, which-’
‘So sugar might be accounted a profitable and reliable business for you, brother?’
Renzi’s question made Laughton pause before he answered. ‘Shall we say I lose no sleep b’ nights in torment that my produce will not find a market?’
He waited while their glasses were refilled, then continued, ‘As some facts of a domestic nature will best illuminate. Take your Hannah Glasse, much cried up for her family cookery. Her receipt for seed-cake in the Spanish way demands an entire three pounds of moist sugar, while for your common marmalade it’s at the rate of one pound on every four oranges. And when the modern taste in tea scorns anything less than fourteen pounds of best refined for each pound of leaves, and with a population to be reckoned in millions, you’ll see why I rest easy.’
‘Some might say it’s all on the backs of your slaves.’
Laughton’s smile disappeared. ‘Pray what is your meaning, Nicholas? Are you to be numbered with the Abolitionists?’
‘Do not be concerned, Richard. I merely point out what I’m told is to be heard on all sides these days in London Town.’
‘Then to them I’d say the same thing. These creatures are brought from the most savage and benighted region on the planet. Here they’re exposed to a mode of living, three full meals a day and accommodation that they in their rude huts and ignorance couldn’t even dream of. They are like children and require firm structure in handling, and even educating in the notion of work in return for the necessities of life.’
‘Under the threat of the whip?’
‘Does not your child respond to a flogging if driven to it by necessity? Nicholas, I’m an enlightened owner. I rule with justice and mercy, not to say kindness. Not only do I clothe and feed them but have given over my own land to them for their growing of greenstuffs for the market – but I’d never be fool enough to believe they’re anything but savages at heart.’
‘It seems a pity that-’
Laughton’s face hardened. ‘If by this you’re saying I should free all my slaves then, by the same business logic, I face an impossible situation.’
‘Impossible?’
‘Quite. For by this action I would be utterly unable to compete with the produce of other nations that do retain labour without cost. And that applies to all of us – and then where is your government revenue stream? No, brother, accept if you please that slavery is a regrettable necessity in these modern times.’
At Renzi’s look he added, ‘Was it not your sainted William Cowper who said it best -
‘I pity them greatly, but I must be mum,
For how could we do without sugar and rum?’
‘Ha! There’s no arguing with that, Nicholas.’ Kydd laughed. ‘Let me tell you, Richard, your brother’s an odd fish at times. I do remember when-’
‘Yes. Well, no offence taken, old fellow. Now, I’ve been giving some thought to your social event …’
‘Well, gentlemen, time to earn our salt.’ Kydd looked encouragingly at his officers. ‘And in what our brothers in a sail-of-the-line would die for, an independent cruise, and should we fall in with a prize on the way, then Admiral Dacres declares he would not take it amiss.’
He was met with expressions ranging from the naked cupidity of Gilbey to the guarded interest of Curzon and the near hero-worship of Buckle, now no longer under threat of removal.
‘Our orders are plain and direct: to rid the seas of any who would prey on our trade.’
They all knew that. It was how he proposed to go about it that had their attention. L’Aurore was in prime condition now. Port Royal had gone to work on her defects so frayed lines, stretched canvas and strained timbers were things of the past. Whatever her captain decided, she would be ready.
Kydd carried on, ‘Any old Caribbee hands will know that for a frigate the regular way is to keep deep-water guard over the main passages into the Caribbean, they being choke-points for sea traffic of all nations, rather than aimless wandering about the seas, looking for distraction.
‘I’ve a different notion. If I were a privateer …’ in this company he could never admit that once he had been one ‘… I’d be looking to skulk somewhere close to a shipping lane to dart out and snap up, then make away briskly.’
He flipped open the main chart of the Caribbean and found Jamaica. ‘Here are we, and there is Hispaniola,’ he said, indicating the large island to the east. ‘Windward Passage to its west, the Mona Passage to the east. Ocean traders, of course, do use these, but as a privateer I’ve another prospect in mind. Sugar vessels on their way to Barbados to join the England convoy.’
‘Ah – because they’re sailing alone, we not having the escorts,’ Curzon grunted.
‘An’ their track always to be south o’ Hispaniola,’ added Gilbey, thoughtfully. ‘Staying north to pick up the current. In which case …’
‘Yes?’ Kydd said.
Gilbey leaned over and studied the chart. ‘Why, here’s a possibility,’ he murmured, ‘as is right handy for such.’ He indicated a large triangle of land that jutted out from the even east-west line of the south of Hispaniola.