Fay looked at him and smiled, but it was a doubtful smile. “My husband the philosopher.”
“Your husband the luckiest man alive, just because he is your husband,” Barney said, and reached for her hand, squeezing it.
The first glass of whiskey had eased some of the tension from Solly Loeb; the second had furthered that relaxation. He well knew that Barney Barnato could be vindictive; look what Barney had done to J. R. Robinson’s Central Mine properties in Kimberley when his cousin Jack Joel had had to leave town to avoid prosecution as an illegal diamond dealer. Others might doubt that Barney had a hand in that explosion at the Big Hole, and Barney might deny it even within the family until he was blue in the face, but Solly was sure. No, Barney Barnato could be very vindictive when he wanted to be, there was no doubt of that.
But on the other hand, look what else Barney had done in that very same instance: he had smuggled Jack out of the country, not only at the cost of the considerable bail he had deposited with the court, but undoubtedly also at a considerable loss of influence in the community, because the stigma of illicit diamond dealing still stuck faintly, even after all these years. So there was no doubt that Barney Barnato had a very soft spot in his heart where family was concerned; it had been demonstrated a hundred times. No; before the journey to England was over, Solly was sure that Barney would have changed his mind about dragging Solly’s name in the dirt. Solly’s mother was, after all, the eldest of the Isaacs children, while Barney was the youngest, and Barney had always shown that Solly’s mother was his favorite of them all. Would Barney hurt his sister by harming her only child, the apple of her eye? It was difficult to imagine. No; all of Solly’s previous worries were needless. His uncle was simply trying to give him a skrik, a fright, to teach him a lesson. Once this was all over, Barney would probably suggest a combine, an amalgamation between Barnato Investment and Reef…
Of course. Of course! That was what Barney had been after all along! How foolish of Solly not to have seen it before! Barney wasn’t interested in punishing him; his prime reason for all this foolishness wasn’t even to give him a fright. It was to get control of Reef Investment as easily and as cheaply as possible! Foxy old Barney Barnato! Well, old foxy would find it wasn’t all that easy, wresting control of his company from him; he hadn’t exactly been born yesterday. They would dicker, of course; it was the East End Jew in Barney that made dickering a vital part of any negotiation, Solly thought with an inner sneer, whether the dickering was essential to the outcome or not. Well, when the dickering was over, old Foxy Barnato would have discovered he had met not only his equal but his superior where dickering was concerned. Properly handled, he, Solly, could even end up ahead, possibly not only in control of Reef, but of Barnato Investment, as well. Oh, there would have to be concessions made, that was obvious, and possibly even a major concession for him having been smart enough to milk Barnato Investment while establishing Reef Investment. But really, the stockholders ought to give him a medal for that, rather than condemning him. Maybe, when the full story came out, and the profits from the combine were made public in the form of dividends, they would at that. He smiled at the thought.
Should he go to Barney’s cabin at once, invite him up to the saloon bar for a drink, and put the entire matter to the other man? Bring it out in the open? There was no sense in spending the entire voyage under the strain of pretending that Barney was serious in his threat to expose Solly, to ruin him, to make him pay back huge sums of money. They might as well discuss it early on, make their deal consolidating the two companies, and then both of them would be able to relax and enjoy the voyage. He could picture the embarrassed smile on Barney’s face when he learned that his ploy had been properly analyzed and interpreted; it might teach him a bit more respect for his nephew and his ability in matters relating to business.
But it might be better to wait awhile. Solly recognized that he had had a few drinks, and that his thinking, while still excellent — as witness his analysis of Barney’s motives — might not be as clear as it ought to be for serious bargaining. I’ll hit him up in a week or so, Solly thought, once I get my sea legs. I’ll go to him after lunch one day; Barney is always more mellow with a good meal under his belt. I’ll take him into the bar, sit him down in a corner where we can talk privately, get him a proper brandy, tell him I know exactly what he’s thinking as far as Reef Investment is concerned — leading up to the subject carefully, of course, which should prove to him I’m no child in these matters — and see what he says. There’s very little he can say if he wants Reef as badly as I’m sure he does. And after that, it’ll be my terms or there won’t be any deal. I’ll admit he had me frightened there for a few days, but only for a few days, until I had the time to think it over. Now that I think about it, it should have been obvious from the start what his purpose was. No; Barney Barnato seldom met his match, but on the other hand he seldom had an opponent as intelligent as Solly Loeb. And to think the foxy old bastard really had me wondering there for a bit! I won’t say worrying, because I wasn’t really worried at all; but it’s only fair to admit I did wonder…
Solly Loeb smiled at the thought of his coming victory, and poured himself another drink.
Carl Luckner, stripped to the waist and wearing a seaman’s cap pulled low over his brow, was working forward near the anchor-chain capstan, greasing the heavy chain as it took a bight about the capstan and then dropped into the chain well belowdecks as the steam-driven capstan slowly raised the dripping anchor. The single-screw of the steam launch Scott churned the water sluggishly as the captain on the bridge waited for the anchor to be firmed against the ship’s prow and the chain stored before signaling the engine room for more power to send them on their way.
Above the crew working forward, lining the rail, the passengers watched the ship prepare to leave the roadstead, studying the customs men in their small hand-propelled dinghy pull for shore, seeing the beauty of Cape Town as the ship finally turned and steamed for England, the white buildings slowly receding against the evening dusk, leaving majestic Table Mountain, at last, as the lone shadow on the night sky. Luckner finished the final links of the now stationary chain, rubbing the grease through the links still on the capstan, and then glanced up. From under the peak of his concealing cap he could see Barney Barnato standing at the rail just above him, Fay beside him, neither paying the slightest attention to the men working below; the two were taking in the last of Cape Town as it slowly faded into the night, the last of its lights flickering into oblivion. Let the bastard enjoy himself, Luckner said to himself with a cruel twist to his lips. Let him go on thinking he’s king of the hill for a few more days, anyway. Him up there with everything his fortune can buy — some of which money is rightfully mine — and me down here as broke as a sixty-year-old tart with the pox, mucking about in filthy grease! And her, his wife, big as a house with the coming kid, but not a bad piece for all of that. Beautiful face with golden hair a man’d want to run his fingers through, blue eyes to drive a man crazy, a wide mouth made for kissing, and lovely tits for nursing a baby or exciting a man!
He wiped his hands on a bit of waste, unconsciously flexing his muscles as he did so, and climbed down the companionway to the ’neath-decks and further chores connected with the sailing. The mills grind slow, he reminded himself, but they grind exceeding fine. Well, the day was coming, and not too far away, when Barney Barnato was going to learn the bitter truth of that old saying. And maybe, in England after the kid was born and Barney long forgotten, that lovely Fay will realize the difference between a real man and a short, runty, half-blind Jew, and decide to be sensible for the first time in her life…