‘Gage has done everything possible to appease them,’ Makepeace said. ‘I cannot see him making an exception for one merchant master.’
‘Then my money is wasted.’
Makepeace nodded. ‘I fear it may well be. What will you do?’
‘Keep my own counsel.’
‘You don’t change, Uncle William.’
‘A man only has his character, Harry. It may prove his best friend or his worst.’
‘Ah, now you sermonise.’
‘What’s the news of your mother and Katherine?’ Kite asked, changing the subject.
‘They are well, despite your abandonment,’ Makepeace responded without malice, ‘though you were kind to sister Kate, I own. She prospers and is engaged to Doctor Bennett…’
‘Ah, that is good news and it does not entirely surprise me. And your mother?’
‘She has married Frith. I thought you knew, from your earlier remark.’
‘No, but I suspected it. And Charles?’
‘Ah, my sober and upstanding brother. He has come down from Cambridge with an eye on chambers in Lincoln’s Inn and a seat in the House.’ Makepeace paused. ‘Truth to tell, Uncle, he would make a better fist of it than myself.’
‘And what of you? Will you follow a military career?’
Makepeace shook his head and refilled his glass. ‘Frith thought military experience would stand me in good stead at the hustings so, here I am, eager to serve my King and Country.’
‘That is very good of you, Harry. I hope his Majesty appreciates your devotion.’
Makepeace grinned. ‘I hope that General Gage gives me something useful to do, otherwise my invaluable military experience will consist entirely of gambling, wenching and drinking. Which of the three would you recommend?’
‘Ah, there you have me, Harry. I have only ever gambled in business, when I came out evens overall, I suppose. As to wenching, I did little of it, taking up with Puella and remaining faithful to her until her death. Now I have Sarah…’
‘Whom I must meet. Where is she now?’
‘Calling upon friends…’
‘And of course you don’t drink.’
‘Not to the excess that qualifies me for an opinion, no.’
Makepeace drained his glass and stood. ‘You are dull, Uncle William, but rich and therefore admirable in your own way.’
‘I am not rich, Harry, I have lost a great deal in America.’ Kite stood and faced the young officer, holding out his hand.
‘I shall remember that when I lead by soldiers to attack the confounded rebels,’ he said as they shook hands. ‘Which I suppose we must do eventually.’
‘I am content to seek my own revenge, Harry.’
‘I am sure you are, Uncle Will, but do not let that famous character of yours mislead you. Remember your stout masts break in a storm while the gull wafts away to leeward.’
‘Most poetic, Harry,’ Kite said smiling and putting on his hat as Makepeace led the way out into the hot sunshine.
‘Most philosophic, Uncle Will,’ Makepeace corrected. The two men were about to part when Makepeace hesitated. ‘There is something…’
Kite noticed a troubled look cross the young man’s face. ‘Yes? What concerns you.’
Makepeace looked straight at Kite. ‘I had every reason to dislike you, Uncle William. Frith was strong in his language when referring to you, but Kate said his opinion was prejudiced so I am entrusting you…’ Makepeace drew a signet ring from his right hand and handed it to Kite. ‘Give this to my brother, will you? There’s a good fellow.’
And then he was gone. Kite stood a moment watching him return for his horse. He felt a chill despite the heat of the sun and shuddered. Then he admonished himself for falling foul of the spirits Puella would have said hung about the young man’s departing figure.
Looking down at the ring he slipped it into his waistcoat pocket. ‘Bloody fool,’ he muttered of himself and turning went in search of his wife.
Chapter Twelve
Boston
During the next two days Kite waited in vain for his letter of marque. Despite Hayward’s remark that he might discharge his cargo, he waited upon events, in case he might yet require its value as a bargaining counter. He called daily at Gage’s headquarters at Province House but never succeeded in seeing Hayward again, despite sending in messages. Nor did he catch Harry Makepeace bringing in the muster lists of the 59th Foot and he gradually gave up any hopes of legitimising his meditated vengeance. On the morning of the 16th June, having spent the night on board Spitfire he had himself pulled ashore and landed on the Long Wharf at the foot of King Street. Instead of making for Province House as had become usual, he turned right and headed for the lodgings in Hanover Street where he had installed Sarah so that she might enjoy a little society while he fretted about the vessel.
Breaking his fast with her he announcing his mind made up. ‘I am growing weary with waiting, my dear. I do not wish to languish twice in this God-forsaken place and am considering acting entirely on my own account.’ He looked across the table at her, anxious to know what she would say.
‘Entirely upon your own account?’
He nodded. ‘It seems I must. The rebels have made of this a civil war and I am not minded to let them cruise in the Wentworth without doing something about it. Today I am intending to sell the cargo to the highest bidder, for it is clear that the military have forgot all about me.’
‘Well, I have some news for you, William, which I think you will account good.’
‘Oh? Please, do tell me.’
‘Yesterday evening, after you had left me to return to the Spitfire, I received this letter. You have the knack of inspiring loyalty, Captain Kite.’
‘I do?’ Smiling at her Kite took the paper Sarah held out to him and read it.
Dear Madam,
Having seen Notice of the Arrival of the Spitfire, Schooner, under Your Husband’s Command and having made it My Business to Acquaint Myself of Your Lodgings, I should be Obliged if you would Make Known to Captain Kite that I and Six or Seven other Stout Fellows are Desirous of Joining Him should He find Employment for us. I shall say no more save that a Matter Touching Your Recent Misfortunes is Known to Me and that, Notwithstanding any future Acquaintanceship or Employments, I am Most Desirous to Make Known certain Facts to Captain Kite or to Yourself. Please send Word at Your Earliest Convenience to,
Your Humble Servant, Ma’am,
Zachariah Harper
At the Sign of the Bear
Fish Street, Boston
Nine of the Clock Post Meridian, this 15th June 1775.
‘Well, well. Zachariah Harper. I had almost forgotten him. He speaks of six or seven stout fellows. I shall send word for him shortly but I must first settle things with you…’
‘I know what you are going to say William, but I am not going to be left here in Boston. You have just called it a God-forsaken place and I do not think it will improve; rather otherwise, I guess, so I wish to make it quite clear that nothing is going to persuade me otherwise than to keep my word and accompany you wherever you go. My happiness is not to be found anywhere other than by your side.’
‘I am overwhelmed.’
‘I have not been idle these past two days. I have not told you before because I knew we should dispute the matter, but now it is too late for disagreement. You have no option but to fall in with my wishes.’
‘I have no wish to quarrel, Sarah.’
‘That is as well.’ She smiled at him and he was moved by the radiance of her expression. ‘I have almost completed my trousseau and will be ready to join you this evening.’
‘Your trousseau?’ Kite grinned, utterly puzzled. He had long expected that Sarah would not sit supinely ashore and, truth to tell, he had no great desire to leave her behind. The strategy had not worked with Puella and was even less likely to do so with the headstrong Sarah. Besides, he would rather she threw her lot in with him entirely, for he had ceased to think of life
as a preparation for tomorrow, but a matter for today.
Sarah shrugged. ‘Perhaps I should say my traps, or my dunnage. I forget the nautical noun. In any event I have acquired some boots and breeches and will look as pretty as these British subalterns I see mincing about the streets… By the by have you noticed there is a lot of activity in the streets today?’
‘You mean military activity?’
‘Yes.’
‘I cannot say that I noticed, but perhaps you are right.’
‘Well, you will fill your head with freight rates and stowage factors, so I suppose I cannot expect you to be observant as well.’
‘I have been filling my head with other matters, but I suppose today I must think of obtaining ballast.’ Kite drew the napkin off his lap, wiped his mouth, rose and leaned over his wife. ‘Do you see if you can buy a dozen bottles of oporto, a decent cheese or two, a dozen laying hens and do the duty of a wife at least for today before you pull on breeches.’
‘Very well,’ Sarah said, rising in a sussuration of silk, ‘though they will cost a great deal.’
‘No matter.’
‘Very well. I shall be ready to leave before sunset.’
‘I shall try and come for you myself, otherwise the boat will wait by Woodman’s wharf.’
‘You may send Zachariah. I should like to see his mis-shaped countenance again.’
‘Then I must go and seek him out.’
Zachariah Harper was not at the Sign of the Bear, so Kite took himself to the Custom House and found the clerk who had performed his inwards clearance.
‘I think you are too late, Captain,’ the man responded when Kite raised the issue of discharging his cargo.
‘What d’you mean?’
‘Would you care to borrow the long glass, sir.’ The clerk indicated a large telescope resting on a rack secured to the wall.
Kite picked it up, went to one of the several windows that overlooked the harbour and levelled it on his schooner. A lighter lay alongside and, conspicuous in the sunshine, the scarlet uniform of a British officer told its own story.
‘They have requisitioned it, by God!’ he exclaimed, lowering the glass and turning to the clerk who nodded.
‘I did emphasise the necessity of acting in haste, Captain,’ he observed dolefully.
Kite closed the glass with a snap and returned it to its resting place. ‘A plague on both your houses,’ he said, half to himself.
‘I beg your pardon, Captain?’
‘No good will come of any of this, you know.’
‘Any of what, exactly, Captain?’
‘Civil war,’ he said.
‘D’you think it will come to that?’ the clerk asked, his face no longer wearing the bland expression of bureaucratic time-serving, but the concern of a Crown official in a position of obvious and potentially unpopular faction if the rebels took Boston.
‘It’s my experience that it already has,’ Kite said, picking up his hat.
He was about to leave when the clerk asked, ‘would you care for your outward clearance now, Captain. It might help you later.’
The appeal for help, the laying Kite under at least a technical obligation to aid the clerk if and when events warranted it, was transparent. But the offer also played into Kite’s hands. ‘Very well,’ he said, waiting impatiently while the clerk made it out.
He walked from the Custom House in a fury at losing his cargo, but his boat was no-where to be seen and he recalled he had sent it back to the Spitfire, intending to remain ashore until after noon. Now, unless he hired a boat, he was marooned while the military authorities seized the cargo of flour for their own purposes. He calmed himself. The troops had been pushed to the limit of their endurance in Boston and he should not so far forget his own humble origins to begrudge them their daily bread. Besides, it would be utterly futile to protest against the removal of his cargo and while he wondered, for a self-deluding instant, if Hayward had actually organised the drawing up of a letter of marque, he doubted it. In short, he wished for no further delay. Calming himself he decided to accept the fact that he could not easily reach his ship. There were no obvious boats plying for hire and he recalled the authorities had been busy requisitioning them too, so he abandoned any notion of rushing out to the Spitfire and involving himself in a tedious row he could never win. Having met Hayward and his military methods, he believed that like the situation he had found himself in at Liverpool, it was sometimes better to cut and run, keeping a distant but more important objective in mind. Suddenly resolved, he headed at a brisk walk for the Sign of the Bear.
Harper was not at his lodgings but, just as he wheeled away to seek a cargo of shingle for ballast, another familiar face hove in sight. ‘Jacob!’
The big negro turned and recognised his old commander. ‘Cap’n Kite! Why, sah, ’tis wonderful to see you.’ Jacob’s grin heartened Kite. ‘Massah Harper has all the men mustered and we was thinking of taking a boat out to your little schooner. Why sah, she look damn fast!’
‘Well, Jacob, she scoons with the best of them, that’s a certainty.’ Kite smiled and nodded his pleasure at seeing Jacob. ‘It is good to see you. Tell me where is Mr Harper now?’
‘He sent me back here to the tavern, to pick up his portmanteau. He’s with the other men at Hutchinson’s Wharf.’
‘Has he had any success at finding a boat, Jacob?’ Kite asked.
‘Seems to be some difficulty, sah, but if you stand fast but a moment, Cap’n, I’ll be right back…’
The sun was hot on Kite’s back as he waited for Jacob to return. Sarah was right, there was an increase in military activity this morning. Some of the boats from the men-of-war anchored off the town, the Glasgow, Somerset and Lively, were assembling in the dock south of the North Battery, as though some movement were being meditated. Kite stared south across the sparkling waters of the harbour to where Dorchester Heights rose. Was Gage intending to occupy the elevated position? Is that why all the boats were being requisitioned? It made sense, of course, for if the rebels raised batteries upon the eminences, they would command the anchorage and thus reinforce the besieging works about the town. Boston and its harbour would become untenable and what that meant to the position of the Crown authorities was unthinkable. It was surely something to be avoided at all costs, even by the appeasing Gage.
‘Captain Kite!’
Kite turned to see Harper approaching, his hand held out and his ugly faced cracked by a smile of genuine pleasure.
‘Zachariah!’ They shook hands and Kite said, ‘I thought you were at Hutchinson’s Wharf, I have just met Jacob.’
‘Ah, well there are no boats to be had, so I thought that I would come back here and save Jacob the labour of carting my gear.’
‘I have my own boat coming alongside in an hour or so,’ Kite explained, ‘so we can take her, but tell me how you are.’
They exchanged pleasantries and Kite learned that although most of the Wentworth’s crew had dispersed, the passage of time had brought half a dozen back to Boston all of whom were willing to ship out again with Captain Kite.
‘Why me, Zachariah?’
‘They trust you, sir, and the experience of being kicked out of the Wentworth has turned them against the rebels. Besides, most have no life ashore here, being from the Antilles, and seek only employment afloat.’
‘Come,’ said Kite, ‘let us walk a little and I will explain our situation.’ The two men walked along the quays, heading north along Fish Street, in the direction of Ship Street and the North Battery. Kite explained his failure to obtain a letter of marque but his intention to attempt the recapture of the Wentworth, the presence of Sarah and Johnstone as gunner, and his need of men willing to risk their lives in their commander’s interests. ‘I make no bones about it, Zachariah, I want only willing volunteers. I have yet to put this proposition to the men on board, but I would be obliged if you would tell me whether you think your men will serve under such terms.’
‘If you take t
he Wentworth sir,’ Harper asked, ‘she will be restored to you. What then is the inducement for the men?’
‘Good pay for four months and a bonus if I take the Wentworth.’
‘We could be adjudged pirates…’
‘I think not, unless by the rebels in some court of their own creation. I am willing to risk that.’
‘You have every confidence in your enterprise.’
Kite stopped and confronted Harper. ‘I may fail, Zachariah, but I shall not give up because the British Governor of this province has not the wit to protect the rule of law.’ He paused, then asked, ‘well, what about you yourself?’
‘Me?’ Harper looked surprised. ‘Oh, I’m your man, sir. Don’t fret, I’m certain the rest will be too, but I’ll sound them out.’
‘And try and be discreet. I doubt we can keep the matter secret in this place. It would be better if we wait until we are all on board.’
‘Aye, aye. I shall see to it.’
‘Very well,’ said Kite, satisfied. ‘Now, do you bring your men to Woodman’s Wharf while I shall try and find a cargo of ballast and I will meet you and your volunteers there in, say,’ Kite looked at his watch, ‘an hour.’
Kite had no luck in securing any ballast. The siege had halted all outward trade and although some of the ships lying in the harbour had secured ballast, many still required it before they would be able to sail to seek a homeward cargo elsewhere along the coast. The chances of this were diminishing daily for the news arriving in Boston by every hour, indicated that far from the rebellion being confined to New England, there were signs of colonial truculence everywhere. In short the normal flow of American exports was falling off. This further frustration only served to worsen Kite’s temper when he returned to the rendezvous where he found Harper and his men waiting.
Explaining the situation to Harper, Kite expressed his annoyance. ‘It puts paid to a swift departure,’ he said.
‘We can get our own, sir.’
‘I had thought of that, but any landing hereabouts will attract the attention of the rebels.’
‘Then we can land on one of the islands in the outer harbour.’
The Privateersman Page 19