Sacred Hunger - Barry Unsworth [90]
McGann, from his position beside the brazier, exposed appalling teeth in a grin which contained no smallest element of sympathy. ‘Get your misbegot backs into it,’ he said in what seemed an attempt to imitate the boatswain’s menacing utterance.
‘Who is the black spy when he is at home?’ Cavana said. ‘Are you talking about that pissfire Haines?’
‘I’m talkin’ about the divil,’ Sullivan said. ‘All he needs is a poker an’ tongs.’
‘I have sworn to cripple the bastid,’ Wilson said.
‘No use nursin’ a grudge,’ Sullivan said. ‘I know Haines got you a floggin’ but broodin’ on it will only shorten your life. I niver bear a grudge meself. They took me clothes off me against me will but I don’t let it darken me days. Haines took six brass buttons off me coat, an’ that is property we are talkin’ of now. A floggin’ heals up, but thim brass buttons is worth money, it comes under a different headin’ intirely. One o’ these days I am goin’ to walk up an’ ask him what he done with thim buttons. I am waitin’ for the right moment.’
McGann raised himself to look towards the land. ‘That smoke is comin’ from inside, by the look of it,’ he said. ‘They hae got slaves there for sure. The captain will be sendin’ the boat up-river, like as not. But you are better off stayin’ aboard if you can. It is killin’ hot inside there, out the wind.’
The first to see the shore fires had been Hughes. He reported it to Simmonds, who went with the news to the stateroom where captain and first mate were checking trade goods. Thurso nodded, without change of expression. ‘Send someone up to the mainmast trestles,’ he said, in his hoarse and penetrating voice. ‘Send Hughes. Tell him to keep his eyes peeled. I want to know the moment they put out from shore. Those two men in irons, Blair and Libby, they can be released now. I don’t want men in irons sitting about the deck when any of these local chiefs come aboard. It gives a bad impression. They don’t understand any process of law or proper punishment, they think it is all done on a whim, as they do things. I know these people, Simmonds.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘And you may tell Blair and Libby that they are lucky to get off so lightly. They can do their blood-letting on shore. If there is any more of it on board my ship I will take the skin off their backs.’
‘Aye-aye, sir.’
‘That little ’un is a goer,’ Barton remarked, as soon as the second mate had left. ‘He landed one or two good’uns on Libby.’
‘Why do you talk to me of that?’ Thurso said, turning sharply upon him. ‘What is it to me? They will be here shortly. We have hit upon a good moment. There are no other ships anywhere in the offing or to seaward of us, which cannot long be the case. I believe they will have prime slaves in their pens there. We shall have to do what trade we can as speedily as may be. But hark you, Barton, I will not pay over the odds for them.’
‘No, Captain.’
‘I will not go a penny over the market.’
Barton raised a thin and cautious face among the bales of brightly coloured fabrics and the shining rows of pans and kettles. The captain was becoming a talker these days. He glanced with accustomed stealthy dislike at Thurso’s impassive face and raw-looking blue eyes. Barton was sensitive to impressions and it seemed to him now that the captain was making assurances to somebody not in the room at all. ‘It would not do to pay over the odds, sir,’ he said softly.
‘I am up to their tricks,’ Thurso said. ‘There isn’t a man knows these waters better, nor the quality of the blacks here. They are rascals but I will be too much for them as I have always been before. They will find Saul Thurso always a jump ahead. I have never sold my owners short and I am not going to begin now, with the last one. He sends his nephew to spy on me, but I will do my best