Hats firmly under arms, the two officers strolled along the deck forward. In favoured positions on the gratings, against the sunnier bulwark or simply sprawled out on the planking, men got on with the serious business of gossip and yarn-spinning while they skilfully stitched away. They fell silent as Kydd approached but, in the custom of the sea, off-watch this was their territory, and once the two had passed they resumed chatting.
The Teazers seemed in good heart; Kydd knew the telltale signs of disaffection and saw none. He had a suspicion, however, that much of their contentment stemmed from the prospects of a proven prize-taker being in command—but who knew what lay ahead?
Kydd went to a carronade and lifted the lead apron protecting the gunlock bed. The weapon gleamed with attention from lampblack and linseed oil, but when he peered more closely he saw that the fire-channel between vent and pan shone with equal lustre. The gun had probably not been fired since his own time.
Further forward there were other giveaway signs of a ship that had been prepared more for a flag-officer's inspection than war, but with growing satisfaction he noted there was nothing wrong with Teazer that a good first lieutenant could not bring to order in quick time.
As dusk fell Renzi came aboard, Kydd's closest friend and one to whom he owed his present felicity. It had been Renzi who had uncovered the truth behind the conspiracy to ruin him, but he had not wanted to go into details. From long experience Kydd knew not to press his friend until he was ready to talk.
"M' very dear Nicholas! Let's strike your dunnage down and my apologies to ye, the ship being all ahoo like this. We'll sup together tonight."
It was a brave showing. The great cabin had a dining table in the form of a grating on mess tubs, tastefully concealed beneath borrowed wardroom linen and quite passable in the golden candlelight.
"I fear it could be short canny t'night," Kydd said, as they entered. "Tysoe has been ashore an' not had time for my cabin stores." It was a small price to pay for his return to his ship.
"Shall you . . . ?" Renzi hesitated before the carpenter's canvas easy-chair—or was it to be the boatswain's stout high-back, which was said to be proof even against the frenzied movement of a fresh gale?
Kydd settled into the boatswain's chair and nodded to the awed purser's steward, tasked with the honours of the evening in Tysoe's absence. A light claret was forthcoming, glasses charged, and the two friends toasted their new situation with feeling.
"Nicholas, you must have something in your philosophies as should prepare a man for fortune's sport," Kydd remarked.
Renzi shook his head with a smile. "As to that, dear fellow, who can say? Let us seize the hour and reck not the reasons. The workings of Fate are not to be comprehended by mortals, I'm persuaded."
Renzi looked gaunt, his eyes deep-set and lines in his face adding years to his age. Kydd regarded him with concern. At their lowest ebb, Renzi had travelled to Jersey and found menial employment with a titled foreign émigré. "You've suffered, m' friend. That rogue y' prince has worked ye near to death! I've a mind to say—"
"Let it rest, brother," Renzi said firmly. "I've a notion that the certainties of the daily round in dear old Teazer will set me up in prime kelter before long. What piques my curiosity at this time is whether my good friend Tom Kydd will be changed at all by wealth."
Kydd laughed. "Aye, it's a grand thing not to worry at laying out for a new coat, or an evening with the ladies. But you should know as while I have m' prospects, that scrovy prize-agent has his fee an' then there's y'r pettifoggers who feel free to take their fill o' guineas afore ever I see 'em. I'm t' settle a fair sum on my parents, I've decided, but the rest I'm putting away. Not in a bank as might fail, but the Funds. Consols at three per cent."
"You'll want to prettify Teazer handsomely, I believe," Renzi murmured.
"The ship'll have her gingerbread, it's true, and m' quarters are to be congenial. Topping it the swell at sea is t' no account, though—'twould soon turn me soft as a milkmaid. No, Nicholas, your friend'll not be changed by his circumstances."
"I'm gratified to hear it, brother."
Kydd grew thoughtful. "There is a one more matter—one o' delicacy."
"Oh?"
"I'd surely want to see my dear friend right in th' article o' pewter as—"
"Thank you, but my needs are few and my modest income sufficient unto the day," Renzi said, with finality. "Your riches were honestly gained and by your own hand. Do rejoice in them. If—if I should come by some misfortune, you can be assured that I shall indeed remember you."
A cautious knock sounded on the door. "Come!" Kydd called.
It was Hallum with some papers. He took in of their dinner setting and made to leave, but Kydd motioned for him to join them at the "table." "Pray don't stand on ceremony, Mr. Hallum. Here, where is y'r glass, sir? Oh—I'm forgetting my manners. This is Mr. Renzi, a philosophical gentleman takin' passage with us, for the sake of his studies. He's obliging enough to act as our ship's clerk while aboard."
Hallum was mature with a hint of grey about him and an air of deliberation. "From Diomede, I believe?" Kydd prodded. It would have been something of a shock for him to be told with just hours' notice to move from the tranquil backwater of the old flagship to a prime fighting vessel like Teazer.
"I am, sir. I'll have my baggage aboard tomorrow and then be ready for duty."
"Have ye had experience in a sloop?"
"As a midshipman before the war, yes, sir."
"An' where was that?"
"In Leith," he said uncomfortably. "Scotland."
"Any interesting service?" Kydd asked encouragingly.
The man appeared to be considering what to say. "A frigate, Pegasus, for two years in the North Sea in 'ninety-eight." He looked at Kydd as though seeking approval for his disclosure.
"North Sea Squadron?"
"Er, no, sir. Timber convoys from the Baltic, mostly."
Kydd nodded pleasantly, privately reflecting that if this was the extent of his "interesting service" then his time in Teazer was no doubt set to prove an eye-opening experience.
Several steaming dishes arrived. "Do tell, Mr. Hallum—from what part of the kingdom do you hail?" Renzi asked politely.
By the first remove it was discovered that Hallum's family was noted in Suffolk for its sea connections and that he himself had made several trading voyages to Norway as a youngster. Over the port Kydd had a measure of his lieutenant: solidly reliable but with little ambition and less imagination. "Then let's raise a glass to Teazer an' her company," he said warmly. "I've a fancy we're in for exciting times. The admiral says as how he wants to put us to the test right quickly."
CHAPTER 2
KYDD SIGHED DEEPLY as he took in the understated splendour of his great cabin—its dark polished bulkhead across at the forward end and the brightness of whitened sides and deck-head, which seemed to increase the apparent area to a gratifying size. With a black-and-white chequered floor covering and a deeply polished table in the centre, it was almost intimidating, and Tysoe moved about with a lordly air in his silent ministrations.
On deck the whole sweep of the interior of the bulwarks was now a rousing scarlet with black and gold finishings about the scrollwork. The yards were a deep black against the varnished masts and Kydd had willingly parted with the necessary funds to ensure that the band of yellow between the gunports was shown at its best by a liberal mixing of white pigment in the paint. The carronade tompions had been picked out in crimson and green, and from the sweet intricacies of the miniature stern gallery aft to the dainty white figurehead forward, with flecks of blue and gold, Teazer had never looked so bewitching.