Captain Caution

by Kenneth Roberts

  "Why," Souville said, "then he went straight to Morlaix and to Paris. As soon as we had word from England of his activities, we traced him carefully." He frowned. "If only we had known two days earlier, we would have had him and there would have been one more enemy safe in the dungeons of Verdure He moves quickly, this Slade of yoursl Three days he spends in Paris; then he is gone, like a puff of smoke, back to England back to his dear friends in Bristol. We have lost him, I fear. I hope it is not so, but I fear it."

  "Back to Englandl" Marvin said. "He went back to EnglandI" He groaned, and moved to the stern windows of the Renard, to stand staring down at the brig whose long jib-boom rose above the RenardRs taffrail; then turned suddenly to eye the small and pompous Souville. Surprisingly, he laughed. "I'll tell you what I'll do, Captain: I'll capture Slade myself and make some money for you in the bargain, if you'll supply me with the means of doing it."

  Souville looked at him blankly. "Supply you? I do not understand!"

  Marvin set down his glass and tapped the table with his forefinger.

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  "Captain," he said, "you're playing a dangerous game with your Renard. She's fast, I know; but what happens to her, fast as she is, if you're caught by a frigate on a lee shore some foggy morning? At the worst, she's torn to pieces and you're killed. At the best, the English take her. Then you and your men go back to the hell of an orlop deck on a British hulk, and the fevers and bloody fluxes and black pneumonias that make the hulks as rotten as the meat they give you to gag on. You know what they are better than I do."

  Souville smiled comfortably. "You talk like my wife."

  "I drink to her wisdom," Marvin replied. "It's the truth. What's more, you'll catch a Tartar some day somebody who knows how to shoot better than you do. Look at this brig you just brought inl Shot to pieces in her yards and sails and rigging, but not a shot in her hulll If you hadn't been able to take her by boarding, you wouldn't have got her at all. Isn't that so?"

  "Never!" Souville declared indignantly. "It is not so."

  Marvin rose again, went to the side of the cabin and rapped his knuckles against the sheathing. "An egg-shell," he said, "like so many French private vessels. Everything sacrificed to speedl A little bad luck, and she'd crumple under you. You wouldn't have got the brig if she'd shot straight and cleared your deck of boarders."

  "But you would like to have this egg-shell of mine," Souville observed complacently.

  "Ah," Marvin said, "but I've made a discovery that would make her safer I've learned how to lie off at a safe distance and batter a vessel to pieces with a long gun. I've learned how to lay guns in smoke with a raw crew."

  "And never miss, eh?" Souville scoffed.

  "And seldom miss," Marvin said gravely. "That's the discovery."

  "There is no way to do it," Souville said.

  "Yes," Marvin insisted. "I've invented a way. It can be done with a pendulum a gangway pendulum."

  Souville, plucking at an end of his small mustache, seemed to mull over the word; then slapped his knee and laughed until his mirth ended in a spasm of coughing. "A gangway pendulum! A gangway pendulum, indeed! And what happens with your gangway pendulum? Perhaps your enemies mistake you for a clock, afloat on the ocean, and never beat to quarters until they are under your gunsl"

  "It's nothing to laugh about," Marvin assured him, "unless you're in the habit of laughing at something that will put money in your own pocket and at the same time damage England."

  "A gangway pendulum!" Souville repeated, wiping the tears from

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  his eyes. "And what do you expect me to do about this gangway pendulum?"

  "I'm offering you the opportunity to benefit by it," Marvin said. "Sell me two-thirds of your Renard and keep one-third for yourself, and you'll have a prime investment."

  Souville became instantly serious. "You have the moneyY'

  "How much are you asking?"

  "My Renard is a fortunate vessel," Souville said slowly. "If I sold her, I would require a good price. If it were not that I am building another, I would not consider it at all not at any price. For selling two-thirds of my Renard I would require" he contemplated the ceiling of the barren cabin "I would require one hundred thousand francs, gold."

  Argandeau whistled, a faint, long-drawn-out whistle, while Newton, clasping his brow, murmured, "She must be sheathed with silver!"

  Marvin studied the knuckles of his left hand, scarred from his battle with Little White. "That would be possible, if one-half could be paid at the termination of my first cruise, and the other half "

  "No, no," Souville interrupted quickly. "I do nothing in that wayl I know nothing about you or your seamanship! You pay me one hundred thousand francs in gold, and I gamble on you, because I am a friend of America and you are my brother in arms."

  "But," Marvin said patiently, "I am offering you my gangway pendulum - "

  Souville expelled his breath explosively and waved his hand before his face as if freeing himself of cobwebs. "It is something fantastic, this pendulum! I have heard of no such thing, ever, and to me it has no valuer"

  "I think you make a mistake," Argandeau protested. "My dear Marvin has said something to me of this pendulum; and if he says it has a high value, then it has a high value. I tell you he has a flair for making strange discoveries."

  Souville sighed. "No, it is something I cannot consider. And now, my good friend, the morning passes and I must attend to the repairs on this small brig."

  "One hundred thousand francs," Marvin said, almost to himself, "seems to me somewhat high for two-thirds of an armed schooner. I'll venture to say I could get a brig, and a good one, too, for a quarter of that sum."

  "Of course," Souville agreed, "but she would not be my Renard."

  "No," Marvin said, "but she'd be as good as this captured brig of

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  yours better. Yes, sirl I could buy a better brig than that captured brig for twenty thousand francs."

  "It is possible," Souville admitted politely, "but the twenty thousand francs would have to be in money, and not in conversation about a gangway pendulum! And I think you will find that even though you have money, you will be obliged to pay at least twenty-five thousand francs. Certainly I would not sell this brig here for less than twenty-five thousand."

  "You will insist on twenty-five thousand?" Marvin persisted.

  Souville smiled. "Francs, you understand. Not pendulums."

  Marvin walked again to the stern windows and studied the vessel carefully. "It's not a bad price, twenty-five thousand francs," he said. "Not bad, if you sell her as she is. Shall you sell her as she stands, long guns and all?"

  Souville nodded.

  Marvin drew his bench to the table, felt in an inner pocket and brought out a small heap of yellow coins. "You've sold your brig for twenty-five thousand francs," he said, "and I've bought her, and here's a little English gold to bind the bargain. I'll put Newton and Steven aboard today to take possession, and leave tonight with Argandeau to find the balance of the money. If you'll make out a bill of sale, these gentlemen can witness it."

  Souville stared doubtfully at Marvin, then moved slowly to a small chest and fumbled in it for paper and quills. "You Americansl" he said. "I think you are becrazedl Can I believe it was this brig you desired from the first moment, and that you had no desire at all for my RenardP"

  Marvin stopped in the counting of his gold pieces to look blankly into Souville's face. "You're laughing at me againl" he said. "I'm buying the brig only so you'll feel obligated to keep me informed of Slade's movements."

  With the eye farthest removed from Souville he winked faintly at Newton; while Souville, frowning, pocketed the gold pieces before him and went to driving his quill with thoughtful delicacy across a flimsy sheet of pale blue paper.

  When he had finished, Marvin took the paper from him and read it carefully. Then he drew Newton to the stern windows of the Renard and pointe
d to the clumsy brig.

  "She's ballasted with rock," he said. "Her center of gravity's too high, and the sail she'll carry wouldn't make petticoats for my grandmother. Throw out the rock and ballast her with scrap iron. Her yards are stout enough for wharf piling. Sway 'em down and fine 'em out.

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  Scrape 'em till they bleed. Then she'll carry royals and skysails. Knock out the sheathing inside the bulwarks; it's no good except to make a splinter bucket out of her. Spend your money and spend it fast." He picked up his hat and eyed Newton warningly. "Trust nothing to chance. Be careful. Keep an eye on everything and be sure everything is right. We may have to sail into hell after Mr. Slade, and I want this vessel fast enough to make the trip without scorching herself or anyone aboard."

  XXIV

  MARVIN followed by Argandeau, came out from the avenue that tunneled through the forest of brown-leafed chestnuts, and stood staring across terraces and gardens to the gates of the Chateau of Valen,cay, and to the enormous pile of pallid stone beyond, looming against the blue November sky as dangerously as a cliff rising abruptly from a lee shore.

  They studied the two round towers at either end of the chateau's long grey bulk towers topped with shining rounded domes, so that there was a hint about them of gigantic warning lighthouses; then, having studied them, they fell suddenly to brushing their garments and arranging their cravats in the shelter of the lofty boxwood hedge that stood between them and the gardens of the chateau.

  Argandeau sighed and shook his head. "It is possible that the thing may be accomplished," he said, "but not unless I tell them loudly that you are an American and therefore insanel You must remember the French do not do things in this way! They do not try to walk in to see a great man as if he were no more than a black cook in a forecastle! Nol They write him a letter, and his secretary and mistress read it, and at the end of three months they may be promised an appointment which will not be kept. I tell you I think it would be well to have a letter written, in case this man is thrown into a rage because you come calling on him as if you were Metternich or Marshal Soult. I tell you he is a prince and a duke and a bishop, and nearly as great a man as Bonaparte himself."

  "I'm glad to hear it," Marvin said. "He owes my father eleven dollars."

  Argandeau examined Marvin carefully from head to foot. "EIeven dollars, now that we have spent everything on your clothes, is a great deal, and I wish we had it; but it is true that your clothes were worth the price. If you were older, with a red face and a puffy nose and a swollen stomach, you would look like a general or an admiral yourself, or a duke maybe. It is a pity you are not seeking help from a beautiful woman rather than from this great gentleman, who is able to talk anyone into thinking that black is white, or that it is possible to live without money. My Spanish rabbit, she had a proverb about

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  such an affair. 'There are some men,' she said, 'who would not loan you fifty pesetas even though they were offered the Alhambra as security; but almost any woman, provided she is over ten and under ninety-eight, will lend you all she possesses on no greater security than a mouthful of lies about love.'"

  Marvin rubbed the dust from his boots with a wisp of grass, carefully brushed the tight dark-blue trousers that were strapped beneath them, ran his finger around the inside of the high stock that rose above his frilled shirt, and examined his snugly fitting, long-tailed coat for blemishes. "Look here," he told Argandeau. "Look at me carefully. Be sure there is nothing about me to prevent this great man from listening attentively to what I say."

  He placed his cocked hat a little on the side of his head, thumped his gold-topped cane in the dust of the road, rested one hand on his hip and stared almost defiantly at his companion.

  Argandeau walked slowly around him. "It is perfect," he insisted. "Perfect! The seals of your watch, they look entirely real. There is nobody who would think the head of your cane was anything but gold. Also you carry this cane with an air, and the shoulders of your coat are narrow, so that you have a look of delicacy almost nothing at all like a man who could put Little White under hatches in three rounds."

  "Then try to find the door of this building and get me into it," Marvin told him, "so I can forget my clothes and do what I've come for."

  He took off his hat, placed it, folded, under his arm, nourished his cane experimentally and glanced expectantly at Argandeau. Argandeau, however, seemed to have forgotten his existence; for he was staring, with eyes as large and round as plums, at the boxwood hedge that bordered the avenue.

  Turning quickly, Marvin saw, above the clipped top of the hedge, a woman's face. In the very moment that he turned, an expression of annoyance crossed it, and it sank slowly from sight, leaving in his mind's eye a picture of black hair piled in a high knot, a pointed chin and large blue eyes beneath black brows as curved and slender as a bent hunting bow.

  From beyond the hedge there came the sound of soft-voiced expostulation, followed by rapid protestations in the voice of another woman.

  "Two rabbits!" Argandeau murmured. "One held up the other to look over, but let her slip."

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  "Sir from Americal" called the soft voice from beyond the hedge. "It is the duke you visit?"

  Marvin cleared his throat. "Talleyrand, ma'am."

  "Yes," the soft voice continued. "You walk straight ahead through the great gates into the cour d~honneur. Across the court, on the right, is the perron of the vestibule. Do not go beneath the arch, or you will lose yourself."

  "Thank you, ma'am," Marvin said. "I've been afraid I might not find him." He took Argandeau by the arm and set off up the avenue toward the imposing bulk of carved grey stone.

  "Wait one moment!" the soft voice called. Then, closer to them, it added: "It may be you meet delay if you go to the vestibule. M. de Talleyrand is amused to see Americans, always; but he is here not often; and since you arrive on foot, the guards at the vestibule might neglect, you understand. The King of Spain, he is detained here, and so there are guards. Walk to the gates, therefore, and wait. I take you to another entrance, more quick."

  "Thank you, ma'am," Marvin said again. He moved quickly to the opposite side of the avenue, drawing Argandeau after him. Argandeau skipped a little, and blew a kiss toward the sky. "Two rabbits!" he whispered ecstatically. "It was a proverb with my Spanish rabbit: 'Push Lucien Argandeau into a gutter and he will come out sweet with muskl'"

  "You fooll" Marvin said. "You'd want to talk about women if you were caught in the breakers and next door to deathl God knows what harm you've done us with your gabbler Get back to the inn and wait there for mel"

  "But there are two of theml" Argandeau protested. "While you are engaged with one, it may be that I can secure the cost of our lodgings from the other. Have you forgotten that we have not one sou in the world? Not one son among the pair of us?"

  His protests, however, were vain; for Marvin, his cane swinging jauntily and his cocked hat somewhat aslant, went briskly from him toward the distant gates without a backward glance.

  The two women came through an opening in the boxwood hedge, chattering to each other as if they could never find time to finish what they were saying; and to Marvin it seemed they were little more than girls, pretending, with youthful coquetry, to have forgotten he was to wait for them at the gates. Yet there was nothing of coquetry in the glance the black-haired girl turned suddenly toward him; only inquiry and something of puzzlement.

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  "The other," she asked. "He does not wish to visit the duke alsoY' Marvin shook his head. "He came to keep me company. He went back to the inn."

  "Le Roi d'EspagneP" she asked. "You are remaining at Le Roi d'EspagneP You will be uncomfortable, I think."

  When he was silent, she turned from him and slipped her arm in that of her companion, saying over her shoulder: "You come with us, please. We take you to the tower, where the duke sits in the afternoon." She chattered a little to her co
mpanion, a round, brown girl whose brown hair was piled in a knot even higher and more pointed than that of the black-haired girl; then to Marvin, as if to put him at his ease, she said: "How far have you come?"

  "From Calais," he told her. "From Calais since Tuesday."

  "Then you have good horses," she said, "but I fear you break all your springs."

  "No, ma'am. We came on foot."

  The black-haired girl halted her companion and spoke rapidly to her; then stared at Marvin. "What is this you say? You walk from Calais to Valen,cay? And since Tuesday? Is it possible that a man can do this? I think no horse could do ill"

  "No, ma'am," Marvin agreed, "but it was more important for me than it would be for any horse."

  Again the black-haired girl spoke volubly to her companion, whereupon the two of them scrutinised Marvin as if in search of something about him that had hitherto escaped them. "It must be indeed important," the black-haired girl said. "Do you come direct from America to this place?"

  "No, ma'am. From England."

  "From Englandl But you are at war with Then I ask you, do you come direct to England from America?"

  "No, ma'am. From China."

  "From China? I do not know where ah, la Chinel Ah-hahl Then it is important because you are diplomatique, eh? Nol That is not so! If you were diplomatique, you would come here in a coach, and drive about this court with a great fracas, cracking the whip and blowing the horn and frightening the sparrows for two daysl You cannot be diplomatiquel But still the matter is important! Now I must think what it is so important as to bring a gentleman on foot from Calais to Valen,cay. Either it must be - " She stopped and eyed Marvin absently. At length, still silent, she drew her companion onward once more and, followed by Marvin, continued through the

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  formal gardens that lay between the court of honorand the squat, round-topped tower in which the chateau ended.

  At the angle between the tower and the main wall of this vast grey building there was a small door; and at the door the round, brown girl turned away, running lightly toward the main entrance. The black-haired girl looked gravely at Marvin. "Now you go in to see M. de Talleyrand. Perhaps you like better to tell everything to me, so that I help you with him?"