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Karel leaned forward. 'Assault the fortress?'

The old man, clenching his fists and dreaming of long-gone defeats, ignored him. 'In 1606 we tried to capture that damned place and failed. In 1608 we tried again, and 1623. In 1626 and '27 I myself led the landing parties. We got to the walls but were driven back. During the last four years we've tried to blockade the Straits, starve them out, and always they've laughed at us. Now,' he shouted, banging his frail hand on the table, 'we destroy them.'

'How soon do we sail?'

'Immediately.'

When Karel showed disappointment at missing the siege, where promotions might come quickly, the old man said, 'You'll be back for fighting. We may not attack for at least a year. And remember what your job is. To assure all our neighbors that when we capture Malacca we shall seek no territory for ourselves.'

Another officer said sententiously, 'All we insist upon is trading rights. We'll take the fort but leave the land.'

And then a very large man with a voice that rumbled from much preaching added, 'Explain to them all that if they do business with us, it's only business. An honest deal for all. We will not try to Christianize them, the way the Portuguese have done with their oppressive Catholicism. Mark my words, Van Doorn, your strongest weapon could be religion. Tell them to watch our deportment when we capture Malacca.'

'If we capture it,' someone corrected.

'No!' a dozen voices cried. 'Dr. Steyn is right. When we capture it.'

The minister coughed and continued: 'When we occupy Malacca, nothing is changed. The sultan continues in power, freed of Portuguese influence. Muhammad continues as their God, freed of pressure from the Catholics. The Chinese, Arabians, Persians, Ceylonese, Englishand even the Portuguese traders themselvesanyone with a business in Malacca will continue to own it and operate it as he wishes. All we seek is the right to trade, for all men. Tell the rulers that.'

In four days of concentrated argument this point was hammered until Van Doorn understood better than most of the Lords XVII back in Amsterdam what the practical politics of Jan Compagnie were. The Lords, representing all regions and aspects of Dutch life, had to be cautious, aware that whatever they promulgated enjoyed the force of law; indeed, their decisions were stronger than ordinary law because from them there was no appeal. But the governors in the field, who needed two years to send a query and receive an answer, had to be daring. On their own they could declare war, appropriate an island, or conduct negotiations with a foreign power. The governor-general in Java could order the execution of anyone, slave or free, English or Chinese: 'For stealing property belonging to the Compagnie, he shall be dragged to the port of Batavia and keel-hauled three times beneath the largest vessel. If still living, he shall be burned and his ashes scattered.'

The governor-general, accustomed to exercising these powers, glared at Karel and said, 'We expect you to convince the nations that they have no reason to oppose us when we make our attack.'

'I shall,' Van Doorn assured him.

There was at this time riding at the port of Batavia a trading ship heavily laden with goods for China, Cambodia and the Dutch entrepot on Formosa, and free space for the stowing of such spices and metals as might be picked up in the course of a long journey. To this ship Karel, his brother Willem and their sixteen servants reported. Because of the importance of this mission, the captain had vacated his cabin and assigned it to the brothers, and there, surrounded by books and charts, they started the long voyage to the ancient ports of the East, sailing through waters that Marco Polo had known, past islands that would not be touched by white men for another century.

Wherever they stopped, they assured local leaders that the Dutch had no designs upon their territory, and that Java expected neutrality when the attack came on