The King`s Coat

then questions would be raised as to where he had gotten so much foreign coin, not to mention so many English guineas.

Once a week for the last year and a half, first Captain Bales, then Lieutenant Kenyon, and now Commander Treghues had read the Articles out at Divisions, and by now Alan could almost quote Article Eight verbatim: ' No person in or belonging to the Fleet shall take out of any Prize, or Ship seized for Prize, any Money, Plate or Goods, unless it shall be necessary for the better securing thereof, or for the necessary Use and Service of any of his Majesty's Ships or Vessels of War, before the same be adjudged lawful Prize in some Admiralty Court; but the full and entire Account of the Whole, without Embezzlement, shall be brought in, and Judgment passed entirely upon the Whole without Fraud; upon pain that every Person offending herein shall forfeit or lose his Share of the Capture, and suffer such further Punishment as shall be imposed by a Court-Martial, or such Court of Admiralty, according to the Nature and Degree of the Offence.’

That was pretty clear. If they catch me I'd be flogged around the fleet. Rodney would have me hung up in tar and chains until my bones fall apart. But…

He got to his feet and went to peer up at the poop deck skylight. It was closed. He listened intently for any sound from above, scared someone like Toliver might have been peeking on him. He decided that all anyone could see from the best angle with the skylight shut was the forward edge of the desk, not as far back as the transom settee and that dirty, great chest. He went back aft and sat beside the chest, hefting several of the bags of gold coins. He took up a rouleau of coins in his fist and pondered on the possible repercussions. ’Money is the root of all evil,' he recited, remembering his nursery school days, the catechism of good behavior that had been lashed into him at Harrow (and other schools). One hundred twenty-five pounds is nothing to turn your nose up at. But then… neither is this little rouleau of one-guinea pieces… That was Ј105 he held in his fist, equal his yearly allowance from Pilchard, and who knew how long that bequest would last. And this small box that held two hundred two-guinea coins was worth Ј420! He pawed through the contents, setting aside rouleaus and boxes of mostly two-guinea coins, quickly making up a sum of over 11,000.

Call it a finder's fee, he told himself, claiming a final roll of one-guinea coins. He rose and went to his sea-chest, which had been stored along the after bulkhead near the coach. Using his dirty shirt as a screen. he opened the chest, pawed down through his belongings to a secure depth, and stashed his find, emerging with a clean shirt that he made a great production of shaking out and inspecting for serviceability for the morning. He closed his chest and went aft, laying the shirt out on the desk. ’This has to go,' he whispered, staring at the inventory list. He shredded it as he stepped out onto the stem gallery into the wind, fed the tiny pieces into the wake, hoping that they were too small to be legible if blown onto the poop deck or officer's gallery below. Once back in the cabin he restowed the contents of the chest, still a mind-numbing mass of yellow metal. He checked carefully that there was no other accounting of the chest's contents. He read all the business and personal letters, found no mention of the gold in any of them.

Only then did he relock the chest and stagger back into the necessary closet with it, sliding it back into its niche and closing the secret panel on it with a wooden click of hidden latches. He slid the keys back into the desk, then had to search it all for any paper that might explain the presence of the gold.

God, was it mentioned in those papers Railsford has? he suddenly asked himself. 'If it was money for Rochambeau or Lafayette, De Grasse would have mentioned it, might have given an accounting.”

Alan had planned to 'accidentally' discover the chest in the morning and take it over to Amphion, but now he was not sure. If he pretended to find it, and some of it turned up missing, he would be blamed for any shortage.

In that case I should take more of the guineas, he told himself. What if no one ever finds it? Then nearly Ј78,000 goes to waste until this ship is scrapped or lost.

No, it was too much of a risk to take more, especially foreign or large-denomination coins he could never explain. And he could not 'discover' it.

God, how awful, he thought. What a hellish dilemma I've put myself in. I should put those guineas back and hope for the best part of my legal share. But he didn't, of course.

'Stand by, the anchor party,' Lewrie shouted as Ephegenie rounded up into the wind. Shorthanded as they were, they barely sailed farther into English Harbor than under the guns on the point, a single jib standing, and courses already brailed up, and only one tops'l set to draw wind. She was sluggish to turn, barely under steerage-way, but they were home-free. ’Back your tops'l,' Lewrie ordered. 'Keep her on the eye of the wind, quartermaster. ’

‘No helm, sir,' the man said, idling the spokes of the wheel back and forth. 'Let go.' The bower cable roared out the hawse and the anchor splashed into the harbor. 'Let go braces and veer out a full cable. ’

‘Done fine, sir,' Toliver said quietly in encouragement, and Alan felt a relief so great that it was almost like a sexual release. For a week he had been nervous as a cat, unable to sleep with the secret knowledge of the gold, unable to relax with the prize so poorly manned, afraid of making a mistake in managing the ship or losing her to a sudden squall. They had run into rising winds for two days, which had kept him wide awake and mostly on deck. They had run through rain and the threat of foul weather, until the skies had cleared and the Trades had settled down to balmy behavior once more.

Now Ephegenie lay as still as a stone bridge in the lee of the capes, her anchor firm on the bottom, and a boat-full of dockyard men pulling strongly for them to take charge of her. ’I never knew running a ship would be so hard,' Alan confessed to Toliver. 'Shorthanded as we were, it was, sir,' Toliver said but with an assuring tone. 'With a full crew, it's all claret an' prize money. ’

‘We were fortunate.' Alan flinched. Did he know…? 'Average sort 0' passage. But I reckon we'd have done just as good in a full gale, sir… Busy damned place, ain't it?’

‘What Railsford carried to Hood must have stirred up the Fleet.' The harbor was working alive with rowing boats servicing the needs of the many warships anchored in the outer roads. There were several ships of the line that Alan knew had been based on St. Lucia to the south. There were three 3rd Rates in a row warping themselves out of the inner harbor up the row of pilings getting ready for sea, an entire fleet of fourteen sail-ofthe-line, preparing for something.

And here was a midshipman with twenty dockyard hands from the Admiralty Court. Were they there to arrest him for theft? The midshipman was elegantly turned out, his breeches and waistcoat and shirt as white as a harnmockman could bleach them, his mien serious and superior, and Alan recognized himself from times before with a grin. ’Who is in charge of the prize, may I ask?' the midshipman asked with a lofty accent. 'I am,' Alan said firmly, almost swaggering in his stained and faded uniform. 'I expect you want the manifests and ship's papers. I have them aft. ’

‘Very well,' the other man said. He was a full man, over twenty and possibly passed for lieutenant already, or an aristocratic coxcomb too stupid to pass it. 'Much bother?’

‘Not after we took her.' Lewrie shrugged. 'Hard fight.’

Alan led him to the master's cabins, made generous with the claret while the other midshipman went through the papers. 'Has the Desperate frigate come in'!' Alan asked casually. ’Is she still here? I should like to rejoin my ship if possible. ’

‘Yes, she's here, farther up the roads,' the midshipman said as he mumbled his way through the French manifests. 'If you would sign this I shall take possession of the prize for the Court of Admiralty and you may leave her. You may use my boat and crew to remove your people.’

’Gladly.’

’Much of a fight?' the other asked, trying not to sound too curious but itching to know, in spite of how much it might irk. 'A company of line infantry from a French regiment… Soissonois. A full battery of artillerymen, plus her crew, of course. Hot work for a while, our captain wounded and already nearly forty hands short from other prizes,' Alan said with ease, as though it were an everyday occurrence. 'There're big doings up in the Americas. Might be a big land battle soon, and Hood seems to be getting ready to face DeGrasse, too.’

The other midshipman by then was looking crushed to be a shore stallion, resentful of being denied the chance to live such a grand life. ’Is that all you need from me?' Alan asked with a wave. 'Yes… quite.’

’Then I shall take my leave of you. I'd like a brace of hands to help with my chest, if you don't mind.’

’Certainly!' the other said through pursed lips.

It was a delight to climb through the entry port and doff his hat to Lieutenant Railsford, to see all the familiar