Captain Caution (24 page)

Marvin nodded. "He was a slave captain, and slave captains cannot live except by bribery. He was an enemy to everybody and everything that would keep him from getting what he wanted;

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and the thing he wanted most" Marvin hesitated momentarily "was money."

Souville looked hard at Marvin and then at Argandeau. "All in all, then," he said, "you consider him a dangerous man?"

Argandeau laughed angrily. "Dangerous! He should have a knife in the back; or if you are too squeamish for that, he should be hustled to Verdun and placed in the dungeons for the remainder of this little wart Tell us where he is, my friend!"

Souville seemed suddenly enlightened.

"Ah, I did not understand," he said. "In wartime it is impossible to tell. It might have been that you were in sympathy with the man. Now you shall have everything from me, frankly and freely. We will remove ourselves from this wet, eh, and go aboard my Renard, where we can speak quietly over a bottle of the best brandy."

He turned abruptly, no longer anything of helplessness or indecision about him, swaggered to the companionway of the tall schooner, and led the way over her side and to the after hatch. Marvin, bringing up the rear of the small procession, paused for a moment at the bulwarks to study the bows of the squat brig beyond the Regards stern; then continued, whistling softly, downward into Souville's quarters.

From the dark stains on the floor, as well as from the red paint on the patched sheathing, Marvin saw that the Renard's barren cabin had often been used as a hospital during engagements; and Souville, rummaging in a chest for a bottle, while the others settled themselves on benches, replied volubly to Marvin's unspoken thoughts.

"You think there is small comfort here, eh? Well, that is sol My Renard, she goes always on business; and the quicker the business is done, the quicker we return home, eh? Therefore, I want little here for the making of splinters; little that must be thrown overboard before an engagement; for any such throwing would take time. In three months I shall have a larger vessel, with more comforts, perhaps; but I am wise to keep my Renard clear and clean like the boudoir of a young girl, eh?" He poured brandy into small glasses, squinted through one of them, touched the glass to his lips; then rolled his eyes ecstatically. "I drink your health and good fortune, gentlemen! The Americans, they are our dear friends and brothers against a common enemy."

"We came here to speak of Slade," Marvin reminded him.

"Yes, yes," Souville said. "Now I tell youl I see how you have suffered through this Slade, so I tell you everything! When this Slade left your barque, he went to England, where he sold information

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to the Admiralty for a large amount of money, perhaps fifteen thousand pounds; and he went then to certain merchants of Bristol who are engaged in the slave trade contrary to law, and threatened them with exposure unless they provided him with an armed vessel a fast armed vessel."

Argandeau bounced from his bench, stamped twice on the floor, spat violently through a stern window and threw himself heavily on the bench again.

"An armed vessel?" Marvin asked slowly. "What sort of vessel?"

Souville shrugged his shoulders. "I have not heard, but probably a brig. The fastest ones are brigs. Later I shall know surely."

Marvin sighed gently. "Then he hasn't got it yet. Thank Godl"

Souville shook his head. "No, and I am told that another month must pass before he gets it, but he had money from these Englishmen a deal of money and when he left England to return to Roscoff, he wrangled with the ah with the young woman who had accompanied him on his travels a young woman who came to me with the tale. An interesting man, this Slade. He had promised to pay this young woman fifty pounds for favors received, but on leaving he would give her no more than twenty."

"There was a traveling companion, indeedI" Argandeau remarked.

Newton wagged his head in simulated admiration. "He'll bear watching, Slade will. He'd go far in politics or financial"

"You say Slade returned from England," Marvin reminded Souville. "What then?"

"Why," Souville said, "then he went straight to Morlaix and to Paris. As soon as we had word from England of his activities, we traced him carefully." He frowned. "If only we had known two days earlier, we would have had him and there would have been one more enemy safe in the dungeons of Verdure He moves quickly, this Slade of yoursl Three days he spends in Paris; then he is gone, like a puff of smoke, back to England back to his dear friends in Bristol. We have lost him, I fear. I hope it is not so, but I fear it."

"Back to Englandl" Marvin said. "He went back to EnglandI" He groaned, and moved to the stern windows of the Renard, to stand staring down at the brig whose long jib-boom rose above the RenardRs taffrail; then turned suddenly to eye the small and pompous Souville. Surprisingly, he laughed. "I'll tell you what I'll do, Captain: I'll capture Slade myself and make some money for you in the bargain, if you'll supply me with the means of doing it."

Souville looked at him blankly. "Supply you? I do not understand!"

Marvin set down his glass and tapped the table with his forefinger.

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"Captain," he said, "you're playing a dangerous game with your Renard. She's fast, I know; but what happens to her, fast as she is, if you're caught by a frigate on a lee shore some foggy morning? At the worst, she's torn to pieces and you're killed. At the best, the English take her. Then you and your men go back to the hell of an orlop deck on a British hulk, and the fevers and bloody fluxes and black pneumonias that make the hulks as rotten as the meat they give you to gag on. You know what they are better than I do."

Souville smiled comfortably. "You talk like my wife."

"I drink to her wisdom," Marvin replied. "It's the truth. What's more, you'll catch a Tartar some day somebody who knows how to shoot better than you do. Look at this brig you just brought inl Shot to pieces in her yards and sails and rigging, but not a shot in her hulll If you hadn't been able to take her by boarding, you wouldn't have got her at all. Isn't that so?"

"Never!" Souville declared indignantly. "It is not so."

Marvin rose again, went to the side of the cabin and rapped his knuckles against the sheathing. "An egg-shell," he said, "like so many French private vessels. Everything sacrificed to speedl A little bad luck, and she'd crumple under you. You wouldn't have got the brig if she'd shot straight and cleared your deck of boarders."

"But you would like to have this egg-shell of mine," Souville observed complacently.

"Ah," Marvin said, "but I've made a discovery that would make her safer I've learned how to lie off at a safe distance and batter a vessel to pieces with a long gun. I've learned how to lay guns in smoke with a raw crew."

"And never miss, eh?" Souville scoffed.

"And seldom miss," Marvin said gravely. "That's the discovery."

"There is no way to do it," Souville said.

"Yes," Marvin insisted. "I've invented a way. It can be done with a pendulum a gangway pendulum."

Souville, plucking at an end of his small mustache, seemed to mull over the word; then slapped his knee and laughed until his mirth ended in a spasm of coughing. "A gangway pendulum! A gangway pendulum, indeed! And what happens with your gangway pendulum? Perhaps your enemies mistake you for a clock, afloat on the ocean, and never beat to quarters until they are under your gunsl"

"It's nothing to laugh about," Marvin assured him, "unless you're in the habit of laughing at something that will put money in your own pocket and at the same time damage England."

"A gangway pendulum!" Souville repeated, wiping the tears from

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his eyes. "And what do you expect me to do about this gangway pendulum?"

"I'm offering you the opportunity to benefit by it," Marvin said. "Sell me two-thirds of your Renard and keep one-third for yourself, and you'll have a prime investment."

Souville became instantly serious. "You have the moneyY'

"How much are you asking?"

"My Renard is a fortunate vessel," Souville said slowly. "If I sold her, I would require a good price. If it were not that I am building another, I would not consider it at all not at any price. For selling two-thirds of my Renard I would require" he contemplated the ceiling of the barren cabin "I would require one hundred thousand francs, gold."

Argandeau whistled, a faint, long-drawn-out whistle, while Newton, clasping his brow, murmured, "She must be sheathed with silver!"

Marvin studied the knuckles of his left hand, scarred from his battle with Little White. "That would be possible, if one-half could be paid at the termination of my first cruise, and the other half "

"No, no," Souville interrupted quickly. "I do nothing in that wayl I know nothing about you or your seamanship! You pay me one hundred thousand francs in gold, and I gamble on you, because I am a friend of America and you are my brother in arms."

"But," Marvin said patiently, "I am offering you my gangway pendulum - "

Souville expelled his breath explosively and waved his hand before his face as if freeing himself of cobwebs. "It is something fantastic, this pendulum! I have heard of no such thing, ever, and to me it has no valuer"

"I think you make a mistake," Argandeau protested. "My dear Marvin has said something to me of this pendulum; and if he says it has a high value, then it has a high value. I tell you he has a flair for making strange discoveries."

Souville sighed. "No, it is something I cannot consider. And now, my good friend, the morning passes and I must attend to the repairs on this small brig."

"One hundred thousand francs," Marvin said, almost to himself, "seems to me somewhat high for two-thirds of an armed schooner. I'll venture to say I could get a brig, and a good one, too, for a quarter of that sum."

"Of course," Souville agreed, "but she would not be my Renard."

"No," Marvin said, "but she'd be as good as this captured brig of

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yours better. Yes, sirl I could buy a better brig than that captured brig for twenty thousand francs."

"It is possible," Souville admitted politely, "but the twenty thousand francs would have to be in money, and not in conversation about a gangway pendulum! And I think you will find that even though you have money, you will be obliged to pay at least twenty-five thousand francs. Certainly I would not sell this brig here for less than twenty-five thousand."

"You will insist on twenty-five thousand?" Marvin persisted.

Souville smiled. "Francs, you understand. Not pendulums."

Marvin walked again to the stern windows and studied the vessel carefully. "It's not a bad price, twenty-five thousand francs," he said. "Not bad, if you sell her as she is. Shall you sell her as she stands, long guns and all?"

Souville nodded.

Marvin drew his bench to the table, felt in an inner pocket and brought out a small heap of yellow coins. "You've sold your brig for twenty-five thousand francs," he said, "and I've bought her, and here's a little English gold to bind the bargain. I'll put Newton and Steven aboard today to take possession, and leave tonight with Argandeau to find the balance of the money. If you'll make out a bill of sale, these gentlemen can witness it."

Souville stared doubtfully at Marvin, then moved slowly to a small chest and fumbled in it for paper and quills. "You Americansl" he said. "I think you are becrazedl Can I believe it was this brig you desired from the first moment, and that you had no desire at all for my RenardP"

Marvin stopped in the counting of his gold pieces to look blankly into Souville's face. "You're laughing at me againl" he said. "I'm buying the brig only so you'll feel obligated to keep me informed of Slade's movements."

With the eye farthest removed from Souville he winked faintly at Newton; while Souville, frowning, pocketed the gold pieces before him and went to driving his quill with thoughtful delicacy across a flimsy sheet of pale blue paper.

When he had finished, Marvin took the paper from him and read it carefully. Then he drew Newton to the stern windows of the Renard and pointed to the clumsy brig.

"She's ballasted with rock," he said. "Her center of gravity's too high, and the sail she'll carry wouldn't make petticoats for my grandmother. Throw out the rock and ballast her with scrap iron. Her yards are stout enough for wharf piling. Sway 'em down and fine 'em out.

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Scrape 'em till they bleed. Then she'll carry royals and skysails. Knock out the sheathing inside the bulwarks; it's no good except to make a splinter bucket out of her. Spend your money and spend it fast." He picked up his hat and eyed Newton warningly. "Trust nothing to chance. Be careful. Keep an eye on everything and be sure everything is right. We may have to sail into hell after Mr. Slade, and I want this vessel fast enough to make the trip without scorching herself or anyone aboard."

XXIV

MARVIN followed by Argandeau, came out from the avenue that tunneled through the forest of brown-leafed chestnuts, and stood staring across terraces and gardens to the gates of the Chateau of Valen,cay, and to the enormous pile of pallid stone beyond, looming against the blue November sky as dangerously as a cliff rising abruptly from a lee shore.

They studied the two round towers at either end of the chateau's long grey bulk towers topped with shining rounded domes, so that there was a hint about them of gigantic warning lighthouses; then, having studied them, they fell suddenly to brushing their garments and arranging their cravats in the shelter of the lofty boxwood hedge that stood between them and the gardens of the chateau.

Argandeau sighed and shook his head. "It is possible that the thing may be accomplished," he said, "but not unless I tell them loudly that you are an American and therefore insanel You must remember the French do not do things in this way! They do not try to walk in to see a great man as if he were no more than a black cook in a forecastle! Nol They write him a letter, and his secretary and mistress read it, and at the end of three months they may be promised an appointment which will not be kept. I tell you I think it would be well to have a letter written, in case this man is thrown into a rage because you come calling on him as if you were Metternich or Marshal Soult. I tell you he is a prince and a duke and a bishop, and nearly as great a man as Bonaparte himself."