Scales of Gold - Dorothy Dunnett [193]
Chapter 28
‘HOW MUCH is A little?’ said Diniz the next day. They were in a chamber of their own residence, discussing their audience. ‘They said they had some gold in store. We could go now. We could get back home now.’
‘And spend it,’ said Nicholas. His colour was back, and his grasp. He always recovered quickly, once the weakness caused by the high fever had left him. He said, ‘Don’t you trust Gregorio? He has leave to borrow everything you need for your business, once the Bank’s affairs have been settled. The Ghost carried enough to do that.’
‘If she got home,’ Gelis said. Today she was properly clothed, if more lightly than usual. It was a statement. In his turn Nicholas, who had shunned her after the night of delirium, was treating her now with all the pleasant informality he used towards Diniz and Umar, which was another statement. Bel, watching, had sometimes had to escape from the room.
Godscalc said nothing. The point at issue, he knew very well, was whether or not they were going to Ethiopia, and hence miss the spring sailing. Diniz wanted to go home rich to his mother, and pay out Simon, and start becoming a Nicholas. Gelis wanted Nicholas to go home, he thought: he was not quite sure why. On the other hand, Nicholas had given him a promise, and had made it possible to keep it, by ensuring that the Timbuktu-Koy would let them stay.
Umar said, ‘A little, by the Koy’s standards, means a reasonable consignment of gold. But if you stay until the autumn, there will be much more. And the Fortado will have gone.’
Godscalc had forgotten the Fortado, with Mick Crackbene on board, waiting patiently at the mouth of the Gambia. He wondered if the child Tati was there, or had been got rid of, or had even gone with Doria, poor creature, and died. He said, ‘They don’t know Doria and the others are dead.’
‘They will,’ Umar said. ‘They will hear Raffaelo Doria lost his life, and that there is no secret map of the gold mines to wait for. And then they will leave.’
‘When?’ said Nicholas. ‘We took nearly two months to come here.’
‘Filipe will tell him,’ said Bel.
They looked at her. Then Nicholas said, ’Of course. The boy who escaped from the slaughter of Jorge’s other wretched gold-hunters. But he would try to follow us. Or go back to the Niccolò.
‘Would he?’ said Bel.
‘No. You’re right. He mightn’t,’ Nicholas said. He looked at her thoughtfully. ‘So when might the news reach the Fortado, if he ran very hard? Perhaps within the next week? Umar, would the drums take the news quicker than that?’
‘Not in detail,’ Umar said. ‘Crackbene would not sail until he was sure.’
‘Could he sail?’ Diniz said. ‘How many men has he left?’
‘Nine. Just one more than the Niccolò. Yes, he could sail,’ Nicholas said. ‘He could be in Madeira by the last days of April.’
‘Handing over his cargo to Simon,’ said Diniz, shifting irritably. ‘I think we should go.’
‘I think we are discussing this far too early,’ Nicholas said. ‘We have at least two weeks in hand before the river starts to dry back. If the Fortado is going to leave, we might as well give her time to do it. And I should like to see the salt caravan coming in. Because of us, the Wangara gold wasn’t sold last time. If there is enough salt to make it worth while, the next market might bring gold well worth waiting for.’
‘You mean we don’t buy it direct?’ Diniz said.
Nicholas gazed at him. Gelis said, ‘Not unless you want And-Agh-Muhammed to wear your whistle too. In any case, I doubt if the Wangara gold-miners want spectacles.’
‘You have shell-money,’ Umar said. ‘But the demoiselle is right. You need the goodwill of the merchants: you must not steal their primary trade. This will make the gold dearer to buy, although it will still bring you great profit. Do you have enough money, or spectacles?’
‘Yes,’ said Diniz. ‘If we took away the existing gold now, and sent back the San Niccolò with a cargo.’
‘But then,’ Umar said, ‘you could not go to Ethiopia.’
It was like a dance, Godscalc thought: each of the innocent proposals represented a hidden interest; no one acting