Scales of Gold - Dorothy Dunnett [49]
He hoped he had struck the right note but couldn’t be sure. Later, Margot had come down and said, ‘She’s agreed. It was just a little too sudden, losing Julius and Nicholas both. Did you know Nicholas once sent her a farmuk?’
‘A what?’ Godscalc said, and then remembered. A small Turkish toy. He said, ‘She must have been very young.’
‘Yes,’ Margot said. ‘She asked me how dangerous this voyage would be. She is afraid.’
‘There is no need for either of you to be afraid,’ Godscalc had said. ‘Nicholas means to come back, and bring us all with him.’ It was what he believed.
Once at sea, it was usually Gregorio who, as purser and notary, accompanied Nicholas on his business ashore where the sales, he noted, were made in cash, whereas the purchases were not. On the island of Mallorca, he saw for the first time sacks and boxes brought directly from Africa: Barbary wool and Bougie leather and gum arabic. He went with Nicholas and Triadano of Ragusa to look at a collection of charts and brought back on board a Jew Nicholas seemed to have heard of, who stayed a long time and talked Hebrew with Loppe. They met a man who had traded with the Charetty at Bruges, and Gregorio nearly got drunk with him.
On the main Spanish coast at Valencia, everyone knew of the Strozzi and quite a few had heard what Nicholas and his army had done for their King’s nephew Ferrante in Italy. They were given some extremely sporting concessions. After trading, Nicholas found his way innocently to a large, well-run sugar-mill, originally founded by Germans. Now, the manager confided, it was owned by a firm called Vatachino. Their man Martin sometimes called, or a younger lord, David. Neither was in the city at present.
Father Godscalc, attending Mass with his ears open, reported hearty Genoese complaints about Portuguese interference in North Africa. In the days of King John, Portuguese troops had seized the city of Ceuta, opposite the Pillars of Hercules, and bought themselves and their garrison fifty years of permanent trouble, for no visible profit. ‘They say,’ Godscalc said, ‘that the Arabs are trying to retake the town yet again, and a Portuguese fleet has sailed to help with reinforcements from Flanders.’
‘So someone told me,’ Nicholas had said.
‘Did they?’ said Godscalc. And receiving no response, had added tartly, ‘We shall learn more further south, I suppose.’
Further south, the port of Málaga, which belonged to the Kingdom of Granada, had more Genoese in it than Moorish caftans and turbans, and the sight of the loggias, the banks and the benches full of doublets and hats was almost as amazing as the view of the markets and warehouses heaped with ripe Moorish fruit and bright silk, as well as Portuguese sugar and dyestuffs. Nicholas moved from office to office, examining goods, discussing deals, and picking up gossip in both Italian and Arabic.
Here, whatever he got had to be paid for, including the gossip. From Trebizond to Famagusta, the Genoese had little to thank Nicholas for; and the Vatachino had interests everywhere. On shore, six seamen from the Ciaretti accompanied Nicholas and Gregorio wherever they went.
Wherever they went, Gregorio had also come to realise, Nicholas asked the same two questions, one concerning a man, and the other concerning a ship. Mallorca and Valencia had not supplied the answers.
Málaga gave the answer to a different question. Nicholas, returning on board with the scent of Africa clinging still to his clothes, joined Gregorio and Godscalc and Loppe in the great cabin, sat, and spoke. ‘Father Godscalc? Remember the rumour about Ceuta being protected