Sea Robber (14 page)

‘True. There aren’t as many as before.’

A small flock of doves, perhaps a dozen birds, fed on some low bushes ahead of them. They ignored the two men until they were almost within touching distance, then flew up, circled and slanted down again to land no more than a couple of yards away.

‘Look at that,’ said the Miskito. ‘They are half tame. The birds never saw humans before we came, so they would even perch on our hats. That was before our men took to shooting them with their muskets for sport. Now the creatures are a little more wary, though you can still knock them down with a stick when you’re hungry.’

They walked on until they came to the edge of a small glen. Here was more ground cover, mostly weeds and small shrubs, and three or four stunted trees spread their branches to provide some shade. Dan turned aside, and Hector thought it was to stop and rest, for it was now midday under a clear sky and, despite the breeze from the sea, he felt the heat of the tropical sun.

Dan pointed to several large, brownish-grey boulders in the shadow of the trees. As Hector approached, the nearest boulder slowly began to lift itself from the ground, using four scaly grey legs.

Astonished, Hector watched a long, serpent-like neck extrude from a cavity. The head that turned to face him was extraordinarily ugly. It reminded him of a very old, toothless, bald man with small holes for nostrils.

He stepped back in alarm before realizing that he was confronted by a giant tortoise.

Dan gave an amused chuckle. ‘That is why I don’t have to go striking turtle,’ he said. ‘This island is full of these creatures. Their flesh tastes like chicken.’

The tortoise advanced with agonizing slowness, clearly annoyed. It opened its slit of a mouth and gave a loud, angry hiss.

‘Does it bite?’ Hector asked.

‘It is harmless. The creature feeds on leaves and grass, and its jaws are only useful for nipping,’ said the Miskito. He stepped forward, threw a leg over the creature’s back and rode the animal as it inched forward, still making a sound like escaping steam.

‘There are not many this big left,’ he said. ‘The men carry them back to the ships as food. It can take four men at a time to lift one. Aboard ship the creatures keep alive and well. Jacques would get a good twenty pounds of fine oil off this one. He likes to flavour our breakfast dumplings with it.’

He dismounted from the back of the tortoise. ‘A child could locate and capture these creatures. But there is something else I want to show you.’

Another half-hour’s tramping brought them to the end of the island. Here they crunched across loose plates of rock that shifted and clattered under their feet, before they arrived at a small rocky promontory, which sloped down to a reef where the sea was breaking in regular bursts of spray.

Dan found a convenient outcrop on which to sit. ‘This is where I come when I need some peace,’ he said.

Hector sat down beside his friend. ‘I know what you mean. When I was a captive in Valdivia, I used to go down to the harbour to get away by myself.’

‘You have not told me what it was like to be a prisoner of the Spanish.’

Hector paused for a moment before replying. ‘It’s made me see things differently. I was well treated. The Governor of Valdivia was a decent man, and I can’t say I relish the thought of plundering Spaniards once again.’

‘Maybe that is because your mother was from that country,’ said Dan. ‘It would be the same among the Miskito. When someone has a parent from another tribe, it is difficult to go fighting them.’

The two men sat silently for a while, watching a frigate bird as it wheeled and swooped, harrying a pair of gulls, bullying them to disgorge the fish they had caught.

Eventually Dan broke the silence. ‘What about Maria?’ he asked. ‘Have you found out anything about her?’

Hector felt the familiar hopelessness creep over him. ‘Maria is no longer in Peru. I brought you and the others on a futile quest.’

‘Where is she?’

Hector nodded towards the horizon. ‘Somewhere out there. Her employer was transferred to a post in the Ladrones.’ His voice was dull and flat.

‘I never heard of them. I thought the Encantadas were as far out in the ocean as you can go.’

‘The Ladrones are much, much farther, nearly all the way to Asia.’

Dan seemed unconcerned. ‘And do you still want to find her?’

Hector shrugged. ‘There’s no point. Maria is out of reach.’

Dan was persistent. ‘These Ladrones, how many days would it take to sail there?’

‘I don’t know. Maybe six or seven weeks in a well-found ship.’

‘The
Nicholas
is a well-found ship, and with a nice clean hull.’

Hector looked at his friend, astonished. ‘What on earth are you talking about? Why would Captain Eaton want to go sailing off across the Pacific?’

‘Captain Eaton might not want to, but his crew could be persuaded.’ Dan picked up a loose piece of rock and threw it, waiting for the splash as it hit the sea. ‘Remember how Cook and his men took the
Carlsborg
on the Guinea coast? You and I, Jezreel and Jacques had little choice but to go along.’

‘Of course.’

‘Well, we could do the same and take the
Nicholas
.’

‘That’s preposterous. The four of us could never handle such a ship.’

‘I don’t mean to steal her. Just to use her for what we want. I think that can be arranged.’

Suddenly the Miskito pointed downwards to where the foam was frothing on the rocks. ‘See there. That is another thing that bewilders me on these islands.’

It took Hector several seconds to pick out what Dan had spotted. Crawling up the nearly vertical weed-covered rocks were three or four lizard-like creatures nearly as long as his arm and shining wet. They had just emerged from the water.

‘They’re iguanas, aren’t they? Like the ones we used to catch and eat back on the Main.’

‘Yes, but we never saw iguanas swimming in the sea. Here they behave like seals.’ The Miskito got to his feet. ‘Come, Hector. There will be plenty of time to tell me more of Valdivia once we are aboard the
Nicholas
and she is heading across the Pacific. Right now we must get back to camp so that I can speak with Jacques and Jezreel. I need to put matters in hand before everyone at Jacques’ barbecue is too drunk and the food has all been eaten.’

Hector was confused and continued to sit looking out to sea. ‘It’s no good, Dan. Whatever your plan is, I don’t want to go back to a life of piracy, sailing with men who think of nothing but plunder and prize.’

Dan touched him on the shoulder and pointed into the air. ‘Hector, look at those frigate birds up there. See how they behave, robbers in the sky. That is their nature. Just as man’s nature is to thieve when he can. You cannot change that. Just turn it to your advantage.’

N
EXT MORNING
Hector was awakened by a foot nudging him in the ribs. He was lying face down on sand, head cradled in the crook of his elbow, and a voice above him said insistently, ‘I wish to speak with you, mynheer.’ He turned his head sideways and blearily opened his eyes. In the half-darkness he could make out the glow of a camp fire and thought briefly it was the same fire that he and Dan had found when they returned to the beach the previous evening. Jacques and the other cooks had served up a feast, and the men from the
Cygnet
and the
Delight
had gathered round, eating and drinking. Hector had joined them and, after filling his belly, had stretched out on the sand, still mystified by Dan’s intentions.

The foot nudged his ribs again, more firmly this time. ‘Wake up, Gods vloek,’ the voice said with some sort of foreign accent. Hector realized the fire couldn’t be the one Jacques had used to grill strips of tortoise meat last night. It was too close to where the
Nicholas
was careened. He rolled over and looked up at the man who had roused him. He couldn’t distinguish his features against the sky, for the sun had not yet risen. But in the half-light Hector could see he was barrel-chested and powerful. He wore no hat and had shaved his head. Hector had also identified the accent. The man spoke with the unmistakable guttural vowels of a Hollander.

‘What do you want?’ Hector asked peevishly. It was his first night ashore, and he did not appreciate being woken so early.

‘They say you can navigate,’ said the Hollander.

‘Maybe I can, but what’s that to you?’

‘Come. Your friends say you might help us,’ responded the Dutchman. Thankfully, he had stopped prodding with his foot.

Carefully Hector stood upright. He had drunk only a single glass of wine the previous night. It had been poor-quality vinegary stuff looted from some Peruvian ship. Several empty jars lay nearby, as well as at least a dozen sailors sprawled motionless on the ground. They looked little better than discarded bundles of rags. Clearly not everyone had been abstemious.

‘My name is Piet Arianz. I’m quartermaster of the
Nicholas
. We have something to discuss with you.’

‘So early?’ asked Hector.

‘We must tar and tallow before high water.’

Hector accompanied the Hollander along the beach to a score of men gathered around a fire of blazing driftwood. They watched over a large iron cauldron in which lumps of pitch were melting. Looking at the men, Hector guessed they formed the majority of the crew of the
Nicholas
. He recognized none of them individually, but they seemed to be of several different nationalities. A half-dozen olive-skinned men with thin faces and dark hair looked to be either Corsicans or Greeks, while a big blond-headed ruffian with pale china-blue eyes was probably a countryman of Piet’s. That was not unusual. The men from the Low Countries were often exceptionally competent seamen and could be found on many buccaneer ships. To Hector’s surprise, Jezreel also stood at the fire, and Dan.

There was an air of guarded curiosity among the waiting group. At once the quartermaster made it clear that he acted as spokesman for the rest. ‘Would you be able to bring the
Nicholas
safely across the ocean to Manila or the Spice Islands?’ he asked loudly enough to be heard by the entire group.

From the other side of the fire, Jezreel quickly added, ‘Hector, I told them you’ve been the navigator on several longdistance voyages.’

The crew of the
Nicholas
looked at Hector, awaiting his answer. He realized from Jezreel’s remark what might be expected of him, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to go along with whatever scheme might next be proposed. So he replied cautiously, ‘I can navigate. But I have no charts or instruments or almanacs, and have never sailed in those waters.’

‘Instruments can be found,’ said Arianz in his throaty accent. It sounded like a statement of fact.

‘How many weeks to reach Manila?’ demanded an older man. The daylight was getting stronger and Hector could see that his questioner had a fringe of grey hair around a bald pate tanned the colour of toffee.

‘Without a chart to calculate, I can’t say. But given fair conditions, I would guess it would take at least fifty days.’

‘And is this the right season to make such a long crossing?’ The older man sounded dubious.

Again Jezreel intervened. ‘The ocean is called what it is because the weather is so calm.’

‘Maybe too calm,’ the old man whined. ‘We could have no wind, and drift until we ran out of water, or the scurvy took us down. Calling it “the Pacific” means nothing.’ He had the querulous tone of someone who always found fault.

Arianz brushed aside the objection. ‘The French cook says there will be no problem taking aboard enough supplies to last the journey.’

It was becoming increasingly clear to Hector what sort of scheme Dan had hatched with Jacques and Jezreel. His three friends intended to take him to the Ladrones and Maria. They must have talked with the crew of the
Nicholas
during the previous evening’s feasting, and planted in their minds the idea of a surprise raid on the Spanish colony in Manila on the far side of the Pacific. He had to admit that adding the lure of the Spice Islands was a nice touch. That would particularly appeal to Piet Arianz and his straw-haired countryman. The Dutch East India Company jealously guarded their lucrative trade with the Spice Islands and shut out all outsiders, including their own countrymen. Hector wondered if Arianz and his colleague had some reason to settle old scores with the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie.