is not altogether certain,' Renzi said carefully.
'Why do ye say that, Nicholas?' Kydd said, with some asperity.
'Consider. Trajan and the frigates are away attending to the reduction of San Domingo. They cannot come at our call immediately because they are headed by the winds and current. The garrison here in Guadeloupe is few — we have sent perhaps too many soldiers to San Domingo. The royalists are no trouble and look to seeing out the larger war under our governance, but they may prove unreliable if tested too far. If the Jacobins are energetic and well led, it could be .. .'
Kydd turned to Louise, but her eyes were troubled so he didn't speak.
The following morning there was even worse news. 'It seems that the Terror in Paris has come here at last,' Renzi told Kydd, after listening to a fear-struck visitor as they prepared to leave for their work. There was no need to lower his voice now: there was a hubbub of frantic speculation. 'A guillotine came with the frigate and it is doing its work out there even now.' Renzi looked grave. 'One hundred - maybe as many as three hundred - have perished in a night of blood. This is serious news indeed.'
A torrent of weeping and beseeching from the women greeted the sight of Monsieur Vernou in his ensign of reserves uniform. He made an impassioned speech, then marched out, head held high. The ladies clutched one another. 'The royalists go to preserve their very lives now,' said Renzi quietly.
Kydd wandered out of the house in a daze. If there was anything in what Renzi had said, the Vernous were in grave danger. He tried to suppress the image of Louise's gentle face. His steps led him to the waterfront, and as he turned the last corner he saw soldiers.
'Hey now!' said the sergeant, coming out from behind a beached boat. 'Jack Tar on land still.'
'Still are,' replied Kydd. 'An' you, Sar'nt Hotham, you on y'r way t' stoppin' the Frogs at th' landing?'
Hotham did not reply at first. He looked about, then stepped up to Kydd and spoke quietly. 'No, mate, we're not. Nobody is. See, we just ain't got the numbers to face 'em, so many bein' away in Santa Domingy, so we're fallin' back on the town.'
'C'n you hold 'em if they attack?'
'Yeah, don't worry.'
'An' don't ye worry y'rself,' Kydd said stoudy. 'Navy'll be sendin' their fleet soon, an' that'll settle their account.'
The new day developed into its usual tropical grandeur. The royalist force marched out with English soldiers to meet the revolutionaries, and that night the Vernou family sat up late, debating events. Kydd lay awake for a long time, haunted by an image of Louise strapped to a guillotine, looking up at the blade.
He was awoken in the dark early hours by sounds from below. There was a scuffle outside followed by a furious hammering on the door. He leaped from bed and hurried below, aware that he and Renzi were the only men in the house. Cautiously he unbarred the door.
'Que Dieu nous aide, nous sommes condamnes; a middle-aged lady in mob cap cried as she pushed inside. Renzi, close behind Kydd, tried to pacify her. She thrust a paper at him.
Renzi took a candle from Louise, who had just appeared, and read. The flickering light lit up his face from below. 'The worst!' he said, his expression as grave as Kydd had seen. 'The political leader of these revolutionaries, whose name is Victor Hugues, has made a proclamation, which he has secretly posted throughout the town under cover of night' Kydd felt his bowels tighten.
'He has stated, in effect, that the glorious revolution promised liberty, equality and fraternity, which applies to the slaves of this island. All slaves are now free and owe no obedience to any beke from this moment on.'
'C'est la fin de noire societe telle que nous la connaissons? the woman moaned. Louise stood stock still, pale and staring.
'What does it mean?' Kydd said, but he knew the answer already. He had no specific
