The King

Lewrie was not enthused, though. Troubling questions had their way with his imaginings. While he was most junior naval officer there, he knew he had to speak them aloud, before the conference ended. Later would look like croakum, and Twigg would not change his mind once they had settled on the plan, unless forced to, and afterthoughts would not be force enough.

'Excuse me again, Mister Twigg,' he said, clearing his throat to draw silence enough in which to speak his piece, 'but Choundas has had four months' freedom to refit. He's lost profits from this year's work, but there's no telling how much they earned the first two years. He could outfit another ship to work with him, hire a new crew to replace what he lost aboard La Malouine. And there's nothing to prevent him from already being in the Spratly Islands. We didn't peek in to see if anyone held the islands for his return, or if these Lanun Rovers were already there waiting for him. We have no idea what we're to sail into, really, and he has all the time in the world.'

'Because I did not want to alert anyone who might have been in those islands until we were in all respects ready to strike when the basket was full, so to speak, Mister Lewrie,' Twigg sneered in objection. 'And, as I have just related, I have it on the very best authority that Choundas will sail to Pondichery first, waiting for Sicard to return and join him. That is his usual wont.'

Twigg looked as if he'd enjoy picking up a 'barker' and firing a pistol ball right through Lewrie's heart. The durbar had been going so wonderfully well, and his plan had carried, when up popped Lewrie with his morale-eroding carping!

'His usual style, sir,' Lewrie replied, smiling. 'But things aren't the usual this year. He has us to worry about. What the survivors of his crew remembered him doing in the past don't signify. He could have looked into the Spratlys and left some men behind as a garrison this time. Hired hands to man Pois-son D'Or with the hopes of meeting us on our way back to Calcutta, with La Malouine tailing us to make it two against one. He could be up in the Nicobars or the Straits of Malacca waiting for that this instant. Or rush back to the Spratlys ahead of last year's schedule while we have to sail for Calcutta and back, to gain a march on us. Seems to me, sir, if we wait 'til June we either hit an empty bag, or walk right into a bloody fleet of pirates and wide-awake Frogs.'

He turned to his father, who was scowling at his audacity to speak to authority like that. 'As my dear father may tell you, sir, his troops would do us no good aboard their transport if Choundas is ready for us. His men would stand no chance at all.'

'And what would you suggest, my lad?' Sir Hugo inquired, stifling any objections that Twigg was more than ready to raise.

'That we hit the Spratlys now, sir,' Alan stated. 'That we do not allow Choundas to form a combination against us, with pirates of another cartel ship. Or hire another French captain to side with him. We're here, even against the nor'easterlies, two weeks' sail away, with nearly a full battalion of troops trained for shore landings and equipped to fight. Land our cargo here in Bencoolen for the nonce if we have to. Even if you have to sail to Calcutta and back afterward, we would hold the island before Choundas even knows Sicard is lost.'

'Oh, God,' Twigg sighed, shaking his head as though at the fire-eating impetuosity of youth. 'Mister Lewrie, I thought better of you. If we do take the Spratlys, and Choundas arrives earlier, as you say, then he escapes before we're ready to strike him, and God knows what secret lair he establishes next. I'll not spend all this summer and all of '86 chasing him 'round the Great South Seas! And if we do take two precious weeks to delay our refit in Calcutta, we lose any chance of pursuing him.'

'The Spratlys are a healthier climate for my father's men than Bencoolen, sir,' Alan rejoined. 'And we would not have to depend solely upon Telesto for support. If you could dispatch another well- armed country ship to our aid, once we're ashore…'

'And where, pray, do we find funds enough to do that, sir?' Twigg fumed.

'Why, from the profits of this year's trading season, sir,' Lewrie responded. 'That's what they're for, surely.'

Twigg's jaw dropped open for a brief moment at the suggestion. And before he could put a refuting argument into play, Sir Hugo stood up and cleared his throat, wandering to the map to peer at it.

'Sounds like a good idea to me,' he announced. 'Does it not to you as well, as the senior Navy man, Captain Ayscough? Does your sailing master think a battalion could find decent provender there for a period of some months? Would it be healthier for my men?'

'If the place may swarm with pirates and Frogs, Sir Hugo, it'd support them decent enough,' Brainard allowed. 'And you have salt-meat and such for rations here, and in the transport. You could hold out long enough for us to get to Calcutta and back with more. And there's goats, pigs and fowl enough here in Bencoolen to take with you. As to the climate, it's be not near as hot, and a lot drier. Sea breeze'd make it seem ten degrees cooler.'

'And there is the possibility that this Choundas fellow's pirates might already be there, could they not?' Sir Hugo speculated. 'I don't know much about 'em, but it seems to me it'd be better to fight them now, before they could ally with French artillery and trained gunners. A battalion of well-drilled troops'd make mincemeat of 'em once we're ashore. Why wait until your foe is lined up and ready to fire, I say? My officers'll agree with me; the way to defeat a larger foe is chew 'em up into penny packets first. Then boot hell out of the remainder. Knacker the buggers bit at a time.'

'Gentlemen, we…' Twigg tried to object.

'Lewrie's right, I think,' Ayscough stuck in, enthused from his torpor. 'As you are, Sir Hugo. Take them on in manageable portions, is the best way. Let's also allow as how Mister Lewrie could be correct in thinking that there's much too much booty for only one or two ships to carry. We might discover another Frog cartel ship such as La Malouine there. Hamstring the bastard even more.'

'I might point out,' Twigg griped, 'that it is nearly two thousand miles back to the Spratlys, sirs. Fifteen days' sail against the prevailing northeasterlies at this season? Say three more to load the troops aboard the Lady Charlotte. Then nearly a month from there back to Calcutta. 'Tis the third week of March, now. First week of April would put us here, off the Spratlys. Then three weeks back to Calcutta would be the first of May. Not enough time to refit Telesto and clean her bottom, and make it back to the Spratlys before Choundas arrives. It simply cannot be done, sirs. But from here to Calcutta is only ten days! A week to unload cargo, lighten ship and careen her, a week to set her to rights again, and be back here to escort Lady Charlotte and the troops to our destination. By the end of May, sirs. By the first week of June, at worst. When Choundas most certainly shall be there, and may be confronted. And defeated.'

'Then by all means sail to Calcutta direct from here,' Sir Hugo said. 'But let me take my battalion north now. The same argument obtains. We take the islands and the harbor, defeat what pirates we encounter, destroy or commandeer what works the French have built and await your return, snugly ashore and entrenched, as soldiers best understand, sir. And you don't wait until your ship is ready to put to sea. Do what… do what my son suggested. Charter or purchase a fast, well-armed ship and crew to come reinforce us.'

'There'll not be half a dozen suitable vessels in the Hooghly to choose from, sir. The bulk of the country ships andEast Indiamen will still be in Macao, or on passage still,' Twigg snarled.

'The slow ones will, sir,' Lewrie stuck in. 'But we don't want anything to do with a slow ship. Like that Rebel privateer John Paul Jones said, 'Give me a fast ship, for I intend to go in harm's way,' did he not?'

'And what's even harder to find in the East Indies than trained European soldiers, are trained European seamen and gunners,' Twigg said in reply.

'I…' Captain Ayscough began, 'that is, you and I, Mister Twigg, have writ from the Crown to commandeer or recruit as we will. The Lady Charlotte's crew for one. The crews of the patrol cutters and small brigs here in Bencoolen. Why, they'd trample each other to get out of this pesthole and see some action! A fair amount of any merchantman's crew have Navy experience. Who knows what loot there is to be found among those pirates? Enough lure of loot, anyway, to get any number of hands to sign aboard. It's not like we were meant to show a profit out of our voyages. The earnings were to help support our work, not line our pockets, or end up surplus Droits of the Crown. And here's another thought for you. If you gentlemen would join me here at this window, such as it is?'

The assembly of infantry officers, Navy officers and civilian experts was drawn by Ayscough's prompting away from the table and the maps, to gather by the window and stare out through the rains and the water guttering off the thatch and bamboo roof.