Tai-Pan (59 page)

“I’m sorry. It’s just that—well, yes, I’d like to be friends. I never expected that—well, that you’d have an open mind.”

“There, you see? That be my whole point, by God. We baint never said more’n four words in our whole lives, yet you’ve been thinking I hate thy guts. Ridikulus.”

“Yes.”

“It baint easy, what we be atrying. Doan forget, we come from different lives. My school were a ship. I was afore the mast at ten. So you’ve to go easy with my manners and talk. Even so, I knowed more about the China trade than most, and I’m the best seaman in these waters. ’Cepting my da’—an’ that bastard Orlov.”

“Is Orlov that good?”

“Yes. That bugger were sired by a shark and whelped by a mermaid.” Gorth picked up some salt that had been spilled and superstitiously threw it over his shoulder. “That bugger give me the creeps.”

“Me too,” Culum agreed.

Gorth was silent for a moment and then he said, “Our da’s baint liking it a bit if we be friends.”

“Yes. I know.”

“I be straight with you, Struan. It were Tess what sayed tonight were a good time to talk privy with you. Weren’t my idea first off. To talk open tonight. But I be right glad it be sayed. What do you say? Let’s give it a try, eh? Here’s my hand on’t.”

Culum shook the proffered hand gladly.

Glessing was irritably drinking brandy across the floor, waiting impatiently. He had been on the verge of interrupting Horatio and Culum when Mauss had called him over. What are you so damned nervous about? he asked himself. I’m not. Just anxious to have it said. By Jove, Mary looks stunning. Absolutely stunning.

“Excuse me, Captain Glessing,” Major Turnbull said crisply, coming up to him. He was a gray-eyed, meticulously neat man, who took his appointment as chief magistrate of Hong Kong very seriously. “Good party, what?”

“Yes.”

“I think now’s the time, if you’ve a mind. His Excellency’s free. We’d better catch him while we’ve the opportunity.”

“All right.” Glessing automatically adjusted his sword belt and followed Turnbull through the tables until they intercepted Longstaff.

“Could we have a moment, Your Excellency?” Turn-bull said.

“Certainly.”

“Sorry to bring up official matters at a social affair, but it’s somewhat important. One of our patrol frigates has captured a bunch of scalawag pirates.”

“Excellent. Open-and-shut case?”

“Yes, Your Excellency. The navy caught the buggers on the south side, off Aberdeen. They were pirating a junk. Murdered the crew.”

“Damned swine,” Longstaff said. “Have you tried them yet?”

“That’s the problem,” Turnbull said. “Captain Glessing thinks it should be an Admiralty court—I think it’s a civil trial. But my authority doesn’t cover anything but minor crimes and certainly not capital crimes of any sort. This case should have a proper judge, jury, and rightly belong in an assize.”

“True. But we can’t have a judge till we’re officially a colony. That’ll take months yet. We can’t leave anyone accused of any crime in jail without a quick, fair trial—that’s illegal.” Longstaff thought a moment. “I’d say it’s a civilian matter. If the jury convicts, send me the papers and I’ll confirm the sentence. You’d better erect the gibbet outside the jail.”

“I can’t do that, Your Excellency. It wouldn’t be legal. The law’s very clear—only a proper judge can try such a case.”

“Well, we can’t have men accused of crimes locked up indefinitely without giving them an open and fair trial. What do you suggest?”

“I don’t know, sir.”

“Damned annoying!” Longstaff said. “You’re right, of course.”

“Perhaps we should hand them over to the Chinese authorities to deal with,” Glessing said, eager to have the matter settled so that he could talk to Horatio.

“I disapprove of that,” Turnbull said sharply. “The crime was committed in British waters.”

“I quite agree,” Longstaff said. “For the moment hold all such accused, and I’ll send an urgent dispatch to the Foreign Office and ask for a ruling.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.” Turnbull paused. “Then I’d like to draw funds to extend the jail. I’ve dozens of cases of robbery with violence and one breaking and entering with a deadly weapon.”

“Very well,” Longstaff said languidly. “Let’s discuss it tomorrow.”

“Perhaps I could have an appointment tomorrow, Your Excellency,” Glessing said. “I’ve got to have some money to hire pilots, and we should settle harbor dues and wharfage, and I want authority to requisition some fast pirate hunters. There’s strong rumors that that devil Wu Fang Choi’s got a fleet north. Also I’ll need authority to extend jurisdiction over all the Hong Kong waters. There’s an urgent need to standardize port clearances and allied matters.”

“Very well, Captain,” Longstaff said. “At noon.” And then to Turnbull, “Nine o’clock?”

“Thank you, Your Excellency.”

To Glessing’s chagrin, Longstaff turned away and walked toward Horatio. Good Lord, he thought, I’ll never get him alone tonight.

Struan was watching the ships at anchor, and checking the sky. Good weather, he told himself.

“A beautiful harbor, Mr. Struan,” Zergeyev said amiably, wandering up to him.

“Aye. It’s good to have our own waters at long last.” Struan was on guard, but his manner was relaxed. “Hong Kong will be a perfect jewel in the queen’s crown, eventually.”

“Let’s walk a little, shall we?”

Struan fell into step as the archduke strolled down toward the surf.

“I understand you’ve only had the island a little over two months.” The archduke waved a hand at the beginnings of buildings all over Happy Valley. “Yet you’ve almost a town. Your energy and industry are astounding.”

“Well, Your Highness, if there’s something to be done, there’s nae use waiting, is there?”

“No. But I find it curious, with China so weak, that you take only a barren rock. There must be many more important prizes.”

“We’re na after prizes in China. Just a small base where we can careen and refit our ships. I’d say a nation of three hundred millions is hardly weak.”

“Then with the war unfinished, I presume you’re expecting substantial reinforcements. Armies, not a few thousand men. Fleets—not thirty or so ships.”

“His Excellency would know more about that than I. But I’d say that any Power that takes on China would have a very long struggle on its hands. Without the necessary plans and the necessary men.” Struan motioned at the mainland across the harbor. “The land’s limitless.”

“Russia’s limitless,” Zergeyev said. “But only in symbolic terms. Actually, even Russia is bounded. By the Arctic and the Himalayas. By the Baltic and the Pacific.”

“You’ve taken lands north?” Struan tried to keep the astonishment out of his voice. Where, for the love of God? North of Manchuria? Manchuria? Or China, my China?

“Mother Russia stretches from sea to sea. Under God, Tai-Pan,” Zergeyev said simply. “You should see the earth of Mother Russia to understand what I mean. It is black and rich and filled with life. Yet we laid waste fifteen hundred miles of it to contain Bonaparte and his 
Grande Armee.
 You belong to the sea. But I belong to the land. I bequeath you the sea, Tai-Pan.” Zergeyev’s eyes seemed to cloud over. “That was a great battle this afternoon. And an interesting wager. Most interesting.”

The lines on Struan’s cheeks deepened with his smile. “A pity it was a draw. Now we’ll never know—will we, Your Highness?—who was the better man.”

“I like you, Mr. Struan. I would like to be your friend. We could be of great service to each other.”

“I’d be honored to assist in any way.”

Zergeyev laughed, his teeth brilliant white. “There’s time enough. One advantage Asia has over Europe is its appreciation of time. My family comes from Karaganda. That’s this side of the Urals, so perhaps, in part, I am Asian. We are Kazaki. Some people call us ‘Cossacks.’ ”

“I dinna understand. The Urals?”

“A mountain chain that runs from the Arctic to the Caspian Sea. It splits Russia into east and west.”

“I know so little about Russia—or Europe, for that matter,” Struan said.

“You should come to Russia. Give me six months of your time and let me be your host. There is much to see, cities—and seas of grass. It could be a very profitable experience. Huge markets for tea and for silks and all manner of trade goods.” His eyes twinkled. “And the women are most beautiful.”

“I’m a little busy this week, but perhaps next?”

“Now, let us not joke but be a little serious. Please consider it. Next year, the year after. I think it’s very important. For you and your country and the future. Russia and Britain have never warred on each other. For centuries we’ve been allies, and we’re both at odds with France, our hereditary enemy. Russia has huge land resources and millions of people, strong people. You’re land-poor, so you need your Empire and we favor that. You rule the seas and we favor that. You have your astounding industrial power and the wealth it brings. We are greatly pleased. You have trade goods and the means to deliver them and we have markets. But we also have trade goods 
you
 can use; the raw materials that you need to feed your incredible machines, and food for your astonishing people. Together we’re unbeatable. Together we can dominate France. And the Holy Roman Empire, Prussia and the infidel Turk. Together we can keep the peace. And grow and prosper to the benefit of all.”

“Aye,” Struan said, as seriously. “I’m for that. But you’re talking on a national level. From a historical point of view. That’s na practical. And I dinna think you can blame Frenchmen for the ambition of her kings. Or justify changing Turks into Christians by the use of the sword. I had my say at lunch. On an international level, without some form of control over kings—and queens—we’ll always have wars. His Excellency said it very well. Kings—and any form of leader—spill other people’s blood. To be practical, there’s little I can do. I dinna operate on a national level—and I’ve no real power in Parliament, as you well know.”

“But about Asia your opinion is carefully listened to. And I have great power in St. Petersburg.”

Struan took a long pull on his cigar and then he exhaled. “What do you want in Asia?”

“What do you want in China?”

“Trade,” Struan said immediately, but very much on guard and careful not to reveal his true aim. There’s a devil of a difference, he said to himself, between Asia and China.

“I could, perhaps, see that The Noble House was granted an exclusive tea-import license for the market for all the Russias. And outward bound, all the fur exports and grain of all the Russias.”

“In return for what?” Struan said, overwhelmed by the enormousness of the offer. Such a monopoly would mean millions. And such a position of power would stand him in good stead in English political circles and give him enormous face.

“Friendship,” Zergeyev said.

“That word covers a multitude of meanings, Your Highness.”

“It has only one meaning, Mr. Struan. Of course there are many ways a friend may help a friend.”

“What specific help would you specifically want in return for a specific trade agreement with my company?”

Zergeyev laughed. “Those are too many specifics for one evening, Mr. Struan. But it is worth thinking about and worth considering. And discussing at a specific time, eh?” He gazed over the harbor and past the ships to the mainland. “You should come to Russia,” he repeated.

“When did you want it translated, Your Excellency?” Horatio looked up from the paper which Loagstaff had handed him.

“Anytime, my dear fellow. In the next few days, what? But put the Chinese characters over the English words, eh?”

“Yes, sir. Should it be sent to someone?”

“No. Just give it back to me. Of course, it’s a private matter.” Longstaff walked off, pleased with the way his scheme was progressing. The letter had said: “His Excellency the English Captain Superintendent of Trade wishes to buy fifty pounds’ weight of mulberry seeds or a thousand saplings, to be delivered as soon as possible.” All he had to do when Horatio returned it translated was substitute “tea” for “mulberry.” He could manage this himself; the Chinese character for tea was written on every box exported. Then he would wait until he had decided who could be trusted enough to receive it.

Standing alone, Horatio reread the letter. Now, why would Longstaff want mulberries? There were tens of thousands of mulberry trees, and their silkworms, in the south of France, and it would be simple to get seeds from there. But not simple to get them from China. Is Longstaff planning to plant a grove of trees here? But why fifty pounds? That’s a fantastic quantity of seeds and he’s no gardener. And why say pointedly, “Of course it’s a private matter”?

“Horatio?”

“Oh, hello, George. How are you?”

“Fine, thank you.”

Horatio noticed that Glessing was perspiring and ill at ease. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. It’s just that, well, there comes a time in every man’s life . . . when he should . . . well, you meet someone who—I’m not putting it right. It’s Mary. I want to marry her and I want your blessing.”

Horatio calmed himself with an effort and said what he had previously decided to say. He had been very conscious of Glessing’s attention to Mary tonight and had remembered the look on his face on that first day. He loathed Glessing for daring to complicate his and Mary’s life, and daring to have the impertinence to think that Mary would consider him for an instant. “I’m most flattered, George. And Mary will be too. But she’s, well, I don’t think she’s ready for marriage yet.”

“But of course she is. And I’ve fine prospects and my grandfather’s going to leave me the manor. I’ll be quite well-off and my service prospects are damned fine and I’ve—”

“Slow down, George. We must consider things very carefully. Have you discussed this with Mary?”

“Good Lord, no. Wanted to have your feeling first. Of course.”

“Well, why don’t you leave it with me? I had no idea your intentions were serious. I’m afraid you must be patient with me—I’ve always thought of Mary as much younger than she is. She is, of course, under the age of consent,” he added carelessly.