Birds of Prey (27 page)

The Colonel returned his bow stiffly, and Cumbrae went on, ‘It gives me pleasure to return your sword to you. You fought like a warrior and a true gentleman.’ The Colonel bowed a
little more graciously. ‘I will give orders to have the crew of this ship released at once. You are, of course, free to return to Table Bay and to continue your voyage from there. Whither
were you bound, sir?’ he asked politely.

‘We were on the point of sailing for Amsterdam before your intervention, sir. I was carrying letters of ransom to the council of the VOC on behalf of the Governor designate of the Cape of
Good Hope who, together with his saintly wife, was captured by another English pirate, or rather,’ he corrected himself, ‘by another English privateer.’

Cumbrae stared at him. ‘Was your Governor designate named Petrus van de Velde, and was he captured on board the company ship the
Standvastigheid
?’ he asked. ‘And was his
captor an Englishman, Sir Francis Courtney?’

Colonel Schreuder looked startled. ‘He was indeed, sir. But how do you know these details?’

‘I will answer your question in due course, Colonel, but first I must know. Are you aware that the
Standvastigheid
was captured
after
the peace treaty was signed by our two
countries?’

‘My lord, I was a passenger on board the
Standvastigheid
when she was captured. Certainly I am aware that she was an illegal prize.’

‘One last question, Colonel. Would not your reputation and professional standing be greatly enhanced if you were able to capture this pirate Courtney, to secure by force of arms the
release of Governor van de Velde and his wife, and to return to the treasury of the Dutch East India Company the valuable cargo of the
Standvastigheid
?’

The Colonel was struck speechless by such a magnificent prospect. That image of violet-coloured eyes and hair like sunshine, which since he had last looked upon it had never been far from his
mind, now returned to him in every vivid detail. The promise that those sweet red lips had made him outweighed even the treasure of spice and bullion that was at stake. How grateful the lady
Katinka would be for her release, and her father also, who was president of the governing board of the VOC. This might be the most significant stroke of fortune that would ever come his way.

He was so moved that he could barely manage a stiff nod of agreement to the Buzzard’s proposition.

‘Then, sir, I do believe that you and I have matters to discuss that might redound to our mutual advantage,’ said the Buzzard, with an expansive smile.

The following morning the
Gull
and the
Swallow
sailed in company back into Table Bay, and as soon as they had anchored under the guns of the fort the Colonel and Cumbrae went
ashore. They landed through the surf, where a party of slaves and convicts waded out shoulder deep to drag their boat up the beach before the next wave could capsize it, and stepped out onto dry
land without wetting their boots. As they strode together towards the gates of the fort they made a striking and unusual pair: Schreuder was in full uniform, his sashes, ribbons and the plumes in
his hat fluttering in the sou’-easter. Cumbrae was resplendent in his plaid of red, russet, yellow and black. The population of this remote way-station had never seen a man dressedin such
garb and crowded to the verge of the unpaved parade ground to gape at him.

Some of the doll-like Javanese slave girls caught Cumbrae’s attention, for he had been at sea for months without the solace of feminine company. Their skin shone like polished ivory, and
their dark eyes were languid. Many had been dolled up in European style by their owners, and their small, neat bosoms were jaunty under their lacy bodices.

Cumbrae acknowledged their admiration like royalty on a progress, lifting his beribboned bonnet to the youngest and prettiest of the girls, reducing them to titters and blushes with the bold
stare of his blue eyes over the fiery bush of his whiskers.

The sentries at the gates of the fort saluted Schreuder, who was well known to them, and they went through into the interior courtyard. Cumbrae glanced around him with a penetrating eye,
assessing the strength of the defences. It might be peace now, but who could tell what might transpire a few years from now? One day he might be leading a siege against these walls.

He saw that the fortifications were laid out in the shape of a five-pointed star. Clearly they had as their model the new fortress of Antwerp, which had been the first to adopt this innovative
ground-plan. Each of the five points was crowned by a redoubt, the salient angles of which made it possible for the defenders to lay down a covering fire on the curtain walls of the fort, which
before would have been dead ground, and indefensible. Once the massive outer walls of masonry were completed, the fort would be wellnigh impregnable to anything other than an elaborate siege. It
might take many months to sap and mine the walls before they could be breached.

However, the work was far from finished. Gangs of hundreds of slaves and convicts were labouring in the moat and on top of the half-raised walls. Many of the cannon were stored in the courtyard
and had not yet been sited in their redoubts atop the walls overlooking the bay.

‘An opportunity lost!’ the Buzzard wailed. This intelligence had come to him too late to be of profit.‘With another few Knights of the Order to help me – Richard Lister,
and even Franky Courtney, before we fell out – I could have taken this fort and sacked the town. If we had combined our forces, the three of us could have sat here in comfort, commanding the
entire southern Atlantic and snapping up every Dutch galleon that tried to round the Cape.’

As he looked around the courtyard, he saw that part of the fort was also used as a prison. A file of convicts and slaves in leg-irons was being led up from the dungeons under the northern wall.
Barracks for the military garrison had been built above these foundations.

Although piles of masonry and scaffolding littered the courtyard, a company of musketeers in the green and gold doublets of the VOC was drilling in the only open space in front of the
armoury.

Ox-drawn wagons, heavily laden with lumber and stone, rumbled in and out of the gates or cluttered the yard, and a coach, standing in splendid isolation, waited outside the entrance to the south
wing of the building. The horses were a matching team of greys, groomed so that their hides gleamed in the sunlight. The coachman and footmen were in the green and gold Company livery.

‘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, without 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 unstepped. 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. ‘Without 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.’

As Cumbrae watched them march out through the gates, in their flat black caps, green doublets and white cross belts, their muskets carried at the trail, he remarked sourly, ‘I hope they
fight as prettily as they march, but I think they may be in for a wee surprise when they meet Franky’s sea-rats.’

He could carry only a single company with all its baggage on board the
Gull
. Even then her decks would be crowded and uncomfortable, especially if they ran into heavy weather on the
way.

The other two companies of infantry went on board the naval frigate. They would have the easier passage, for
De Sonnevogel
,the
Sun Bird
, was a fast and commodious vessel. She had
been captured from Oliver Cromwell’s fleet by the Dutch Admiral de Ruyter during the battle of the Kentish Knock, and had been in de Ruyter’s squadron during his raid up the Thames only
months previously to her arrival off the Cape. She was sleek and lovely in her glossy black paint, and snowy-white trim. It was easy to see that her sails had been renewed before she sailed from
Holland, and all her sheets and rigging were spanking new. Her crew were mostly veterans of the two recent wars with England, prime battle-hardened warriors.