Birds of Prey - Smith Wilbur (полная версия книги .TXT) 📗
"His excellency is in his office early this morning. Usually we don't see him before noon," Schreuder grunted. "News of your arrival must have reached the residence."
They went up the staircase of the south wing and entered through teak doors with the Company crest carved into them. In the entrance lobby, with its polished yellowwood floors, an aide-de-camp took their hats and swords, and led them through to the antechamber. "I will tell his excellency that you are here," he excused himself, as he backed out of the room. He returned in minutes. "His excellency will see you now."
The Governor's audience room overlooked the bay through narrow slit windows. It was furnished in a strange mixture of heavy Dutch furniture and Oriental artifacts. Flamboyant Chinese rugs covered the polished floors, and the glass-fronted cabinets displayed a collection of delicate ceramic ware in the distinctive and colourful glazes of the Ming dynasty.
Governor Kleinhans was a tall, dyspeptic man in late middle age, his skin yellowed by a life in the tropics and his features creased and wrinkled by the cares of his office. His frame was skeletal, his Adam's apple so prominent as to seem deformed, and his full wig too young in style for the withered features beneath it.
"Colonel Schreuder." He greeted the officer stiffly, with, out taking his faded eyes, in their pouches of jaundiced skin, off the Buzzard. "When I woke this morning and saw your ship was gone I thought you had sailed for home without my leave."
"I beg your pardon, sir. I will give you a full explanation, but may I first introduce the Earl of Cumbrae, an English nobleman." "Scots, not English," the Buzzard growled.
However, Governor Kleinhans was impressed by the title, and switched into good grammatical English, marred only slightly by his guttural accent. "Ah, I bid you welcome to the Cape of Good Hope, my lord. Please be seated. May I offer you a light refreshment a glass of Madeira, perhaps?"
With long-stemmed glasses of the amber wine in their hands, their high-backed chairs drawn up in a circle, the colonel leaned towards Kleinhans and murmured, "Sir, what I have to tell you is a matter of the utmost delicacy," and he glanced at the hovering servants and aide-de-camp. The Governor clapped his hands and they disappeared like smoke on the wind. Intrigued, he inclined his head towards Schreuder. "Now, Colonel, what is this secret you have for me?"
Slowly, as Schreuder talked, the Governor's gloomy features lit with- greed and anticipation, but, when Schreuder had finished his proposition he made a show of reluctance and scepticism. "How do we know that this pirate, Courtney, will still be anchored where last you saw him? "he asked Cumbrae.
"As recently as twelve days ago the stolen galleon, the Standvastigheid, was careened upon the beach with all her cargo unloaded and her mainmast un stepped I am a mariner, and I can assure you that Courtney could not have had her ready for sea again within thirty days. That means that we still have over two weeks in which to make our preparations and to launch our attack upon him," the Buzzard explained.
Kleinhans nodded. "So whereabouts is the anchorage in which this rascal is hiding?" The Governor tried to make the question casual, but his fever-yellowed eyes glinted.
"I can only assure you that he is well concealed." The Buzzard side-stepped the question with a dry smile. "With, out my help your men will not be able to hunt him down."
"I see." With his bony forefinger the Governor picked at his nostril, then inspected the flake of dried snot he had retrieved. Without looking up, he went on,-still casually, "Naturally you would not require a reward for thus performing what is, after all, merely your bounden and moral duty, to root out this pirates" nest."
"I would not ask for a reward, other than a modest amount to compensate me for my time and expenses," Cumbrae agreed.
"One hundredth part of what we are able to recover of the galleon's cargo," Kleinhans suggested.
"Not quite so modest," Cumbrae demurred. "I had in mind a half."
"Half!" Governor Kleinhans sat bolt upright and his complexion turned the colour of old parchment. "You are jesting, surely, sir."
"I assure you, sir, that when it comes to money I seldom jest," said the Buzzard. "Have you considered how grateful the director-general of your company will be when you return his daughter to him unharmed, and without having to make the ransom payment? That alone would be a compelling factor in augmenting your pension, without even taking into account the value of the cargo of spice and bullion."
While Governor Kleinhans considered this he began to excavate his other nostril, and remained silent.
Cumbrae went on persuasively, of course, once van de Velde is released from the clutches of this villain and arrives here, you will be able to hand over your duties to him, and then you will be free to return home to Holland where the rewards of your long and loyal service await you." Colonel Schreuder had remarked on how avidly the Governor was looking forward to his imminent retirement, after thirty years in the Company's service.
Kleinhans stirred at such an inviting prospect, but his voice was harsh. "A tenth of the value of the recovered cargo, but not to include the value of any pirates captured and sold on the slave block. A tenth, and that is my final offer." Cumbrae looked tragic. "I shall have to divide the reward with my crew. I could not consider a lesser figure than a quarter."
"A fifth, "grated Kleinhans.
"I agree," said Cumbrae, well content.
"And, of course, I will need the services of that fine naval frigate anchored in the bay, and three companies of your musketeers with Colonel Schreuder here to command them. And my own vessel needs to be replenished with powder and cartridge, not to mention water and other provisions."
