Disorderly Knights - Dorothy Dunnett [32]
In a lightning movement involving his nose, his thumbs and his breast, the pirate ratified the data. ‘And other things too. It’s a bargain,’ he said.
‘Thompson, you’re a great friend,’ said Lymond soberly, and shook him by the hand. ‘It’s just that my other wives would object. Come and meet M. de Villegagnon of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, who nearly blew your cannon into sawdust a moment ago.’ And the man of commerce and the man of God, united in their devotion to chicanery at sea, clasped willing hands.
Much later, as the two ships, moving side by side, flawed a faultless opaline sea at the end of the long, hot day, and the masthead light pricked yellow in the invisible shrouds, the pirate Thompson scrubbed his full stomach, sighed, and said, ‘Francis Crawford and I, we learned our seamanship the hard way, chained to the same rowing bench in a French ship, Brother. But we bear ye no ill will for that, him and me. Them that put him there … they’ve paid for their mistake. And me—I’ve taken full payment too for the slight to my name.’
‘Thompson, boy; no man living has a worse reputation, or better deserves it,’ said Lymond calmly. ‘Spanish ships; Portugese ships; Venetian ships; Flemish ships … hovering round the Head of Howth; waiting for a galleass with malmsey or silver to run into Waterford.… How often have you been in Waterford jail, man?’
Grinning, the pirate shook his head while Lymond continued his disquisition. ‘And Cork: we heard about that. He sailed into Cork on Christmas Day with a full cargo of wines and figs and sugar and sold them.… Where in God’s name did you pick those figs, Tamsín? The Mayor and Council of Cork must be simple.’
‘They asked the Lord Deputy’s permission, and the Lord Deputy said they could buy, so long as the goods didna seem to be stolen,’ explained Thompson.
‘This,’ said Lymond to de Villegagnon, ‘was after he and Stephenson his mate had been jailed a dozen times for piracy—Where’s Stephenson?’
‘On board. He’s sailing the old tub,’ said Thompson. ‘The secret was, it was Christmas Day, man. Peace upon earth, ye ken; and grannie coming for supper. They fairly needed those figs. Ye havena heard the great thing I’m starting with Cormac O’Connor?’
The silence lasted no more than a breath, and Lymond did not move, but it was enough to make Nicholas Durand de Villegagnon look up from his seat and say, ‘Cormac O’Connor’s just been at the French Court. You’re talking of the big Irishman, heir to Offaly, whose father’s been in London Tower for rebellion against the English?’
‘The same. Ah, he would be in France all right,’ said Thompson cheerfully. ‘He’s dead keen to persuade someone to chase the English out of Ireland for him. That’s what he wants the money for.’
‘What money?’ said Lymond. ‘Remembering that M. de Villegagnon is a pillar of the Church, and ought not to have more laid on his conscience than you’ve put there already.’
‘Och, away,’ said Thompson comfortably. ‘It’s only the insurance brokers that lose, and they’re the lads who can afford it, anyway.’
‘Oh God,’ said Lymond. ‘Don’t tell me. O’Connor approaches a circle of merchants, insures their cargoes against loss by pirates at double the proper value; the ships are duly waylaid and emptied by you, and the merchants claim the insurance while you and O’Connor share the cargo.’
‘You’ve got your ear to the ground all right,’ said the pirate without rancour. ‘Just that. O’Connor’s man George Paris does the travelling, and we market the cargoes. I bartered the last one for a grand lassie in Algiers … but I told ye about that. And where’s Cormac now?’
‘Lying incapable, I am happy to say, at Châteaubriant,’ said Lymond briefly. ‘He had an accident.’
‘I heard about that,’ said de Villegagnon. ‘Over that black-haired mistress, I understand.’
‘Oonagh? Had he Oonagh O’Dwyer with him?’ Thompson was interested, but not surprised. ‘I told him she’d be his death one day.’
‘Unhappily,’ said Lymond, ‘she was not. She has left him; and I hope the string and clapper