Nizams Daughters

‘Welsh venison, you say? I had not supposed anyone might be so particular in choosing their game.’ And he took a large gulp of wine.

Peto smiled — not triumphantly, for that would have been to overvalue his success, but certainly with a degree of satisfaction that alerted Hervey to another imminent revelation of his innocence of the ways of the ‘wooden world’. ‘My dear Hervey, know you not that prime eight-tooth mutton — wether mutton — fuddled and rubbed with allspice and claret, may be ate with as much satisfaction as the King’s own fallow deer?’

It was not as disconcerting a revelation as might be supposed, and Hervey professed himself most pleasantly surprised by the discovery. ‘Especially so since I come from a county with a great many more sheep than people. I have scarce dined so well, ever, as I have aboard your ship,’ he concluded.

Peto seemed more than happy to leave weightier matters aside for the moment. ‘I have, I fancy, one of the best cooks in the fleet. He was in the service of the Duke of Northumberland until there was some… misunderstanding. My coxswain found him adrift in some alehouse on the Tyne. He has been with me over a year and seems content. But here, some more burgundy: what do you think of it?’

‘I think very much of it,’ he replied, feeling its warmth reach the extremities.

‘I am glad, for it is one of my best — a Romanee-Conti. So much so-called burgundy has been passed off during this war. Any old sugared red wine laced with brandy seems to take the name. And nauseous it is — frequently poisonous, too. Ever to be avoided, Hervey — ever.’ He took another large draught. ‘But I am careful of its taking: it is a very manly warmth that a Nuits-Saint-Georges brings — invigorating, whereas claret merely… enlivens.’

Hervey chuckled. ‘I am astonished that, with such good provender, you avoid any tendency to stoutness. I fear much for my own figure these coming months.’

They both laughed, vigorously.

‘But what of this commission of yours?’ demanded Peto, though his manner was now thoroughly congenial. ‘Why must you go in advance of the duke to India — before, indeed, his appointment has been made?’

Hervey was wondering how best he might explain, when the door opened again. The silence continued as Flowerdew cleared away the remains of the pudding, returning at once with an even larger tray, from which, with considerable ceremony, he placed on the table a greengage tart, an almond cheesecake, several custards and a bowl of figs. Hervey made more appreciative — and despairing — noises, and Peto again reached for the decanter of Madeira. But before he could remove the stopper — or Hervey begin his explanation of his early passage — there was a knock at the door.

‘Come!’ called Peto, as Hervey sliced large into the cheesecake.

The first lieutenant entered, his fresh face and fair curls making an even greater impression of youth than before. ‘I beg your pardon, sir: I had not thought you were dining. The carpenter is knocking up a stall for Captain Hervey’s horse in the waist. Might I ask him to approve the dimensions when it is convenient?’

Peto looked at Hervey.

‘If you will permit me, sir, I shall do so at once,’ he replied, rising (and none too steadily). ‘My groom should be here with her before the evening.’

The Marines sentry at the doorway presented arms as Peto emerged. Hervey took the opportunity to speak to the first lieutenant, whose acquaintance he had made only briefly during the crossing a week before, while Peto bantered with the sentry about some amiable business of the shore. ‘Mr Belben, we have not yet been able to exchange more than formalities. I hope I have not made impossible demands. No doubt it would have been better for me to seek passage for my horse on a ship of higher rate.’

‘Not at all sir: unusual demands, perhaps, but not impossible. Nor indeed would a first-rate have been any more commodious — quite the reverse, in fact.’ Hervey looked at Peto, puzzled by the notion that a frigate offered as much space as a ship-of-the-line. ‘That is so,’ the captain affirmed. ‘The biggest first-rate is two thousand and three-fifty tons, with a complement of nigh eight-fifty. She has less than three tons per man, whereas we are a thousand tons and two-fifty.’

‘It sounds as though I might have brought my second charger,’ tried Hervey, and he was pleasurably surprised to see Belben smile.

‘Captain Hervey, we are at your disposal,’ said Peto from behind, smiling equally. ‘However, in the event of our having to clear for action then I am very much afraid that your charger will go overboard!’

At this Hervey looked plainly ill, and said no more. Lieutenant Belben led them along the waist towards the forecastle and stopped between the third and fourth gunports on the larboard side. ‘I thought we might construct the stall here, sir, between numbers three and four guns,’ he said to the captain.

Hervey looked worried. ‘Between the guns, Mr Belben? But that will give about eight feet at most.’

The lieutenant looked puzzled. ‘I cannot very well move the guns, Captain Hervey. How much room does your horse need?’

‘She must have twelve feet square, with a good strong bar to shorten it into a standing stall if the sea gets too high.’

‘Twelve feet!’ said Belben with dismay; ‘I only get eight, sir!’

‘Yes, but you at least have freedom to exercise over the rest of the ship. My mare will be confined thus for six months.’

‘Mr Belben,’ said Peto, wishing to bring the issue to a resolution, ‘dismount number four gun and be ready to remount it if we clear for action. The crew can take turns to exercise on another.’

‘Ay, ay, Captain!’ replied the lieutenant. There was no dissent: he was not responsible for the captain’s decisions, only for implementing them.

‘And might some padding be fastened here?’ asked Hervey, touching the beam above. ‘Her head will be —’

‘Mr Belben, canvas and straw, if you please,’ sighed Peto. ‘We addle enough men’s brains with timber; let us not have a cavalry charger strike its head too.’

And with stabling thus arranged, Peto and Hervey returned to the cabin and the table — and began on the plum tart with renewed appetite. However, Hervey was still troubled by the captain’s warning of Jessye’s fate should they clear for action.

‘Do not distress yourself,’ replied Peto reassuringly as he took another slice of the greengage; ‘the most that could disturb us is a pirate or two, and we shall be standing too far to the west to encounter those who swarm from the Barbary Coast. And in any case, there is not a pirate afloat who — in his right mind — would tangle with a frigate!’

Hervey was now reassured.

‘So, as we were saying, what is the imperative behind your early despatch to the Indies?’ Peto was not to be deflected from any course, once set.

‘Well,’ sighed Hervey, ‘as you recall, the duke expects that the government will shortly replace Lord Moira and appoint him in his place to carry through the policies of his brother in the decade before. The duke is especially keen to know the condition of the forces of the state of Haidarabad, which he regards as crucial to any enterprise by the Company. I am therefore to make a tour of that place in order to be able to report to the duke immediately on his arrival in Calcutta.’

Peto’s brow furrowed again. ‘Do not mistake me, Hervey, but is there not an official of the Company’s in Haidarabad? Would he not be infinitely better placed to render such intelligence? I hazard a guess that at this moment you would be hard pressed to point to where is Haidarabad on a map!’

Hervey nodded and simply raised his eyebrows. The ancillary duty in Chintal was not something he intended to divulge, for it was in his judgement of little moment to the mission as a whole.

‘Doubtless the duke knows his business,’ tutted Peto, ‘but treating with Mussulmen is a risky enterprise at the best of times.’ He poured himself another glass of wine.

‘You have experience?’

‘Indeed I have — at both ends of the Mediterranean! But that is of no consequence. The material point is that the nizam’s religion is alien to the continent of Hindoostan. The importation of the Mughal invaders — and not so many centuries ago at that. As I understand, it does not go well with the native Hindoos, and there is ever a restiveness. You must be at great pains to avoid its worst effects, Hervey.’