announced to the wardroom that it seemed both himself and Lieutenant Kydd were invited to the home of the commissioner for lands, Mr Lawrence Greaves.
'Ah, as this eminent gentleman no doubt wishes to honour
The boat landed them next to the careening wharf where a carriage waited. The stone steps of the landing- place were reasonably dry, but when they moved forward the hems of their boat-cloaks brushed the snow- mush.
On leaving the dockyard area they turned north, away from the town, and had their first glimpses of a new land. Kydd marvelled at the rugged appeal of the snow-patched raw slopes, the countless spruce and jack-pine— and the silence.
At their destination a gravel track led to a mansion, and as they drew up their Falmouth acquaintance came to the door. 'This is most kind in you,' Renzi said, with a bow. 'May I present Lieutenant Gervase Adams, sir, who cannot be denied in his desire to learn more of your remarkable realm.'
Greaves acknowledged him with a bow and slight smile. 'Calm seas and a prosperous voyage indeed, gentlemen. Your brisk action at the outset of our voyage has been particularly remarked.'
They settled inside by the large fire. 'Calibogus?' Greaves offered. At the puzzled looks he smiled, 'A Nova Scotian cure for the wind's chill—spruce beer stiffened with rum. I believe we will have King's calibogus, which is taken hot, and is a sovereign remedy.'
Mrs Greaves joined them. 'To an English eye, our country may appear outlandish, gentlemen, but to us it is an Arcadia indeed,' she said proudly.
'With the fisheries to bring wealth and substance to your being,' Renzi replied.
'The cod kingdom you will find in the north, in Newfoundland. Here we glory in trade—you have seen our convoys, hundreds of ships and sailing almost every month . . .'
'Such a crowd of shipping—all from Nova Scotia?' Adams asked, puzzled.
'Ah, no, sir,' Greaves said. 'This is the trade of the North American continent—not only Canada but the United States as well. The seas are alive with privateers and other vermin, and without a navy of their own Cousin Jonathan likes to consign his goods here for safe passage across the ocean.'
Renzi rubbed his hands as the generous pinewood fire blazed, warming and cheering. 'This is spring,' he ventured. 'I believe in truth it may be said your winter is worse?'
'It can be a sad trial at times,' Greaves replied, 'but when the snows come and the great St Lawrence freezes a hundred miles from bank to bank, Halifax with its fine harbour is always free for navigation.'
His wife added gravely, 'Last winter was dreadful, very severe. Our roads were impossible with ice and snow and we ran uncommonly short of the daily necessaries—the Army could get no beef and the common people were being found frozen in the street! Goodness knows how the maroons survive.'
In his surprise Kydd forgot himself and interjected, 'Maroons— you mean black men fr'm Jamaica?'
'Yes! Can you conceive? They were in rebellion and given settlement here. It quite touches my heart to see their poor dark faces among all the snow and icy winds.' Kydd remembered his times in the West Indies as Master of the King's Negroes. Could even the noble and powerful Juba have survived in this wilderness?
'To be sure, m' dear!' Greaves said. 'Yet in their Maroon Hall you will see some of our best workers, and you remember that when they were offered passage back to Africa, only a few accepted. In my opinion they're much to be preferred to that homeless riff-raff on the waterfront.'
Adams stirred restlessly and leaned forward. 'The Prince. How do you find having a prince o' the blood among you all?'
'A fine man. He has done much for Halifax, I believe.'
'Did not King George, his father, send him here into exile, and is he not now living in sin with his mistress Julie?'
'We do not speak of such matters,' Greaves said coldly. 'When His Royal Highness arrived, this place was raw and contemptible. Now it has stature and grace, with buildings worthy of a new civilisation, and is strong enough I fancy to secure all Canada from a descent.'
'Sir, I didn't mean . . .'
'Do you care to see the town, perhaps? We have time to make a visit and return for dinner.'
'You are very obliging, sir.'
Halifax consisted of one vast rampart, an imposing hill overlooking the harbour. It sloped down to the shoreline, with a massive fortification dominating the crest—the citadel with its enormous flag. There, the party stepped out to admire the view. Greaves had provided fur coats against the chill bluster of the winds, which under lead-coloured skies intermittently drove icy spicules of snow against Kydd's skin. He shivered at the raw cold.
Around them was broad open ground, cleared to give the citadel a good field of fire. The vegetation emerging from snow-melt was bleached a drab light-brown and mud splashes showed where others had walked before. But the view was impressive: the expanse of harbour below stretched out in the distance, the sea a sombre dark grey. Model-like ships lay at anchor, black and still. And the rugged country, blanketed by the monotonous low black- green of subarctic forest, extended like a dark shadow as far as the eye could see.
Kydd caught Renzi's eye. His friend was rapt: 'This is a land like no other!' he breathed. 'One we might say is in perpetual thrall to the kingdom of the north. There is an unknown boreal fastness here that lies for countless miles to the interior, which has its own bleak beauty that dares men . . .'
Greaves smiled as they tramped back to the carriage. 'You could not be visiting us at a worse time of the year,' he said, 'after the snow, and before the green-up. You may find it hardly credible, but in no more than a month there will be delicate blooms of wild pear, and trees all along Argyle Street that will surprise you with the green of old England.'
Just below the citadel the first buildings began, substantial, stone structures that would not have been out of
