Choundas is. And where he shall be in a few months' time.' Twigg looked about the damp and gloomy room, a wood and thatch imposture of a proper building, letting the stirring and chattering of their excitement swell and recede like a breaking wave of adulation before continuing.
'Shaken as the French survivors were, it was fairly simple to play upon their fears, catch them out when they were at their weakest,' Twigg explained. 'Have we a good chart of the South China Seas, Captain Ayscough? Could it be hung where all could see it? Good.'
'Here, gentlemen. In the Spratly Islands.' Twigg chuckled.
'Pretty far lost and gone from anywhere,' Ayscough commented.
'But located so nicely for piracy, sirs,' Twigg informed them. 'Flat, tiny, and worth nothing to anyone. As our sailing master may attest?'
Brainard stood to address the assembly, flushing a bit at being before so many people. 'There's water enough, wild goats and pigs to eat. Sea-birds and their eggs. Nobody lives there, though, not permanent. Too small to farm. Too low to make 'em safe durin'
Brainard shrugged and reddened, trying to think of what else he might impart, but Twigg waved him off, which Brainard accepted with a whoosh of relieved breath.
'The Spratlys are two-hundred-fifty miles southeast of the Annamese shores, three hundred miles northwest of Borneo, right in the middle of the mouth of the South China Sea,' Twigg related. 'A ship, or ships, working out of here could control the shipping trade in time of war, especially if one were to be allied with native pirates who could patrol in their
'And did we discover with whom Choundas and Sicard were in league, Mister Twigg?' Lieutenant Choate asked. 'Would some of our prisoners be there still that we might rescue?'
'As to the last part of your question, I'm afraid the answer is no, Mister Choate,' Twigg replied, frowning while rubbing the bridge of his nose as though in pain. 'There is little chance that any Englishmen survived capture for very long. Especially if it was the native pirates who did it. Should they have, they'd have been taken east to Sulu Island and sold in the great slave markets there. And it would take a fleet to sail in there and free those unfortunates. As to the first part, we now know that the French are allied with the blood-thirstiest of the lot. The Lanun Rovers, from the Illana Lagoon on Mindanao.'
'Oh, stap me!' Brainard hissed with alarm. 'More likely, our people are skulls adorning their bloody
'Goddamn French!' Ayscough spat. 'Trust them to take hands with those devils. Not just as allies, but friends!'
'Well, not for very much longer, sir,' Twigg said, chuckling dryly. 'I propose we strike the Spratlys sometime after mid-June. When Choundas and his piratical crew will be there. When the Lanun Rovers will spend the summer with him. We may catch them all in one fell swoop!'
'And just where is your pirate now, sir?' Sir Hugo asked.
'He left Canton in late November, Sir Hugo. As I told you, I suspect he waited downriver at Macao for at least a week or so, to see if we would pursue him. When we didn't, he most likely stopped in at the Spratlys, then sailed for the French possessions in the Indian Ocean. We have information that his first stop would be lie de France, to have a refit in the yards there. Those same yards service the Royal French Navy, I might remind you. His usual course of action, his
'And he didn't sell any out of Macao, as I recall, sir,' Captain Ayscough stuck in.
'Indeed not, sir,' Twigg agreed. 'Part of his innocent pose is to deplore the opium trade. And a man so high- minded as to forgo the profits of opium could never, ever be suspected of anything so vile as piracy, now could he, hmm?' Which set them all into ironic laughter. 'Then, he and Captain Sicard of
'To put the bulk of their combined crews into
'Exactly so, Mister Percival.' Twigg beamed at him like a fond daddy. 'Exactly as you surmised. Right, then! Here's Choundas, waiting in Pondichery for Sicard and
'It strikes me, though, Mister Twigg,' Lewrie spoke up, 'that even the most valuable goods such as silver and opium take up a fair amount of cargo space. Surely,
'A great deal of it would end up in the market at Sulu, sir,' Twigg countered. 'Brasswares, copper, Indian cotton goods, all of it would be just as valuable among the pirate bands as it would in Canton. No, it'll be Choundas on his own this year, I'll wager. Driven by desperation to take more risks than before.'
'If he's any brains at all, he'll know the game's over, sir,' Lieutenant Choate insisted. 'Time to lay low for a season. Or sail home for France and let someone else take over for him for a while.'
'Ah, but he can't do that, Mister Choate,' Twigg insisted.
'If he leaves the Indian Ocean, he loses everything he's built up out here. No rendezvous with the pirates in the Spratlys, say. Then what pirate would ever trust another Frenchman to keep his word? He'd not only be discarding his present alliances, he'd be ruining a chance for anyone who follows. The French Ministry of Marine who dreamed up his dirty business would never stand for that, oh no! Why, they'd break Choundas to common seaman if he simply sailed away. And, I don't think our lad is the sort to cave in so quickly. He's an ambitious little Breton peasant, a jumped-up
'So we should get
'And be back here toward the end of May, to pick up Sir Hugo's battalion and escort the
There was a lot of cheering that ringing speech. Cheers for a chance for action after festering at Bencoolen in sodden heat and agues, for final retribution against the hated French who had outmaneuvered them during the winter, for a chance that this whole affair would end and