To Lie with Lions - Dorothy Dunnett [150]
Someone spoke; someone answered. A ladder came down in the dark and Master Crackbene climbed up it, followed by all the Company men. He was last. He looked over his shoulder and saw that all the strangers were coming aboard too, with their luggage. He stepped into the waist of the ship, and Father Moriz took his arm and steered him aft to where the poop castle should be, and the cabins. A curtain moved, and he was pushed forward into a chamber whose swinging lamp dazzled him.
Shaking hands with M. de Fleury inside was a man with a cynical face and a bundle of frizzled black pelt on his crown which turned out to be hair. ‘Eric Mowat,’ said M. de Fleury, introducing him. ‘Our agent in Denmark and Bergen. All went well?’
‘Never better,’ said the black-haired man, greeting each of them. ‘Not a wheesht has got out. Ye’ll be first at the hallost, never doubt it. Aye, the laddie. Ye’ll need some guid sturdy claidin’ for this one.’
Robin saw he was being addressed. He gave an agreeable smile and cast a hopeful glance at M. de Fleury, who sighed.
‘I promised to tell you.’
‘Can I guess?’ Robin said. ‘The Danzig ship arrived after all, and you hid it.’ Everyone smiled, which was what you risked when you made guesses.
M. de Fleury said, ‘She would have been seen passing through from the Baltic. Besides, this ship isn’t new.’
Now Robin looked about, that was obvious. He said, ‘But she’s beautiful.’
‘She should be,’ said M. de Fleury. ‘A two-year-old two-hundred-ton ship with a caravel hull, built from the finest imported wood and hemp cordage for a Bristol consortium of merchants. Since they were trading mainly in other folks’ goods, no one objected when Crackbene restrained them. He freed the seamen, returned the cargo to its proper owners and ransomed the merchants, retaining the ship for our trouble. Crackbene brought it to Montrose before Christmas.’
It was piracy. It was double piracy. It was wonderful. Robin said buoyantly, ‘To sweep the herring grounds before the Hanse boats trouble to get there!’ He had to shout, against the sound of running feet and calls and clanking outside. The ship trembled.
M. de Fleury said, ‘I’m glad it seems like that. Someone will tell you the rest. John, outside if you will. Moriz, Master Mowat will show where our gear is. Robin, stay out of the way. I want to get out on this tide.’
‘Get out where? To fish?’ Robin said. ‘To stay ahead of the ships from the Baltic?’ He followed him out of the cabin and gazed. Where all had been darkness, now the estuary was filled with small lights, bobbing as the fishing-boats opened their ranks. The moon laddered the sea where they’d been.
M. de Fleury had gone. It was the red-haired engineer who glanced over his shoulder. The engineer said, ‘He’d no business bringing you.’
Robin stopped. The chaplain said, ‘His father allowed it.’
‘To fish for herring,’ said Master le Grant. ‘Can you see Nicholas fishing for herring?’
‘Then what?’ Robin yelped, forgetting his manners.
Father Moriz took him back to the cabin. Mowat went out. The chaplain sat, and drew Robin down with him. The chaplain said, ‘You are bright, but that is a man of exceptional cunning. Don’t think shame you can’t match him. It is true that the Baltic ships don’t know we are here. Neither does Anselm Adorne.’
‘Anselm Adorne! But he’s going home to Bruges.’
‘He couldn’t stay because of his wife. But he has a ship. His nephew Sersanders is going to be with it. And so is Martin their partner, the agent of the Vatachino our rivals. Their vessel is hidden as we are, to keep out of sight of the Hanse.’
Robin was silent. Then he said, ‘Sersanders doesn’t know we are here.’
‘No.’ The priest waited; then said, ‘It was Anselm Adorne who arranged to delay the Bank’s new ship in Danzig. Nicholas would have done the same. There is a rivalry between the two