Sacred Hunger - Barry Unsworth [239]
‘I am delighted at your success,’ he said, ‘and this infant Colony has all my good wishes. With you at the helm, Colonel Campbell, she is set fair. Now that things are satisfactorily concluded here, I shall be able to leave shortly for the south of the peninsula. In fact I shall be ready to go as soon as the troops and guns are made available to me.’
He saw an immediate shadow fall over Campbell’s face. The Governor set down his glass carefully and Erasmus noticed for the first time that the backs of his small, strong hands were covered with wiry-looking reddish hairs. ‘That needs some studying,’ Campbell said. ‘There are the redskins still to be reckoned with.’
‘They will go their separate ways, surely, when the presents have been given out. Think, sir, of the contribution you will be making to the coffers of the new Colony, and just at this time when money is so sorely needed.’
‘You have lost me now.’ A look of alertness had come to Campbell’s face. ‘What contribution do you speak of?’
‘Sir, what would happen if I could not rely on you for the soldiers? I would have to recruit and arm irregulars from Georgia, half the profits would go to a parcel of mercenary rogues who have no ounce or scruple of patriotism among them.’
‘Profits? I am slow tonight,’ Campbell said. ‘Perhaps it is the brandy.’
‘No, sir. As a military man and a servant of the Crown you naturally do not take a view of private advantage. You have not fully considered the implications of this business. If my calculation is right – and my enquiries here have yielded some confirmation – there might be upwards of a hundred down there, in this upstart colony within your own, including women and children. They will have been breeding. The great majority will be black or mulatto. At Charles Town an adult slave in good condition, it makes no difference whether black or mulatto, will fetch fifty pounds for a man and thirty-eight for a woman at current prices. Children over the age of ten fetch good prices in proportion. The cost of transporting the cargo to South Carolina will not be great. It takes no great head for figures to see that there is a lot of money for the man who gets them to market. Now if the capture were made by troops acting on your orders, you could make claim to it – for the royal coffers, of course.’
‘Of course.’
‘And if any of the men are lost in the action, it will be viewed as acceptable in such a cause.’ Erasmus was silent for a short while, then he said, in a thoughtful, reflective tone, ‘I should say there is something like two and a half thousand guineas in it, clear profit.’ He met now the full regard of the Governor’s small, keen eyes, with their misleading twinkle still in evidence.
‘Do I understand you to say that you do not want the money?’ Campbell said, in the softer voice he used for moments of emotion.
‘I did not say that. The negroes were purchased by my father and I will recover some of his investment. I shall expect to reimburse myself for the expense I have been put to. And I shall expect a half share in the proceeds of the sale. I am aware that these are liberal terms, but my interest is not entirely financial. The people of that ship are murderers and thieves, the black men and women and all their offspring are stolen property. I want the former brought to justice and the latter recovered and sold. I have personal reasons – their nature I won’t discuss, but they are compelling. The years have changed nothing, how could they?’
His tone had quickened in speaking. He experienced now a faint shuddering in his lower jaw and realized that he had set his teeth too close in the stress of his feeling. ‘I have money enough,’ he continued more calmly. ‘I would be content to sign over to you one half of my rights in the cargo, subject to a deduction for expenses, say three hundred and fifty pounds, in exchange for your official countenance and your help in the matter of the men and guns. We can see to