themselves, er, honourably.'
'Pity. It would stir the people against them. Gentlemen — friends, we are at a stand. If this catastrophe is allowed to take place I would offer short odds that with the total loss of revenue and credibility this government would fall within a week, and the country would be lost in disorder and rebellion within the month.
'This is now a war - a war of an increasingly personal nature, I'm sorry to say. The mutineers have a malignant genius conducting their affairs, one who seems to sense our motions and moves his forces accordingly.'
'Richard Parker,' murmured Spencer.
'Just so. My conviction, however, is that his origins preclude the notion that he is acting alone. I believe that he is secretly funded and directed by Jacobins.'
There was murmuring around the table, but Pitt went on scornfully, 'This is neither here nor there. They expect to make their move in the next day or two, and just what are we going to do about it?'
Nobody spoke, so Pitt carried on: 'We do nothing. Nothing! Any half-baked move would make us look fools, lose our moral standing as well as our reputations. If they carry out their threat then we suffer. But we let the world know that any mutiny without a cause must have the French at the bottom of it. This is our only hope. That they lose the support of the people, turn them against these knaves. Already they will earn the hatred of common folk for the ruination they will do to honest trade. That it is at the bidding of a Jacobin master will be hard to take.
'Evil must cast out evil. I will ensure the newspapers receive plenty of fuel for their fulminations. Meanwhile I want to clamp a complete hold on their fleet — they are neither to receive nor send any communications other than through channels controlled by us. We smuggle newspapers and tracts to the common seamen so they'll have no doubt what odium the people of England now hold them in and drive wedges between them and their leaders. Tomorrow I shall introduce Bills to the Commons concerning sedition and treason that will treat mutiny with the severity it deserves, and mark out as treasonable any who aid a mutineer.'
Pitt took a long pull at his port. 'This is a fight to the finish. Victory can only go to he who is still standing at the end.'
'Ye mustn't do this thing - I beg of ye, don't!' Even as he spoke Kydd knew that his words were merely a useless echo in his own ears.
'You are asking me to surrender our only real chance? To throw away all we've done so far? You're a sad dog at times, Tom. Now we have real power! Pitt can't stand his taxation revenue stopping or go against the City merchants, it's obvious. Nothing stands in our way now.'
'Dick, till now, we've played it square, kept discipline, and all we c'n be accused of is not doing somethin'. Now we're guttin' the trade o' these islands - don't y' think that we'll lose any feelin' for us we had before?'
'Feeling?' Parker said scornfully. 'Do we take feelings into account? Damn it, we're nearly there! Now if you feel qualmish about putting a halter around Billy Pitt's neck then kindly keep it to yourself. And if you have nothing further to add, then leave me alone, I have work to do. This will bring their lordships here at the run, and I'm going to consolidate our grievances and articles into one, to hand over to them when they get here.' He lowered his head and returned to his writing.
Kydd's anger rose. 'An' if this doesn't bring their lordships, what then? Sail aroun't' Portsmouth an' give the Channel fleet a pepperin'? Fire on y'r—'
Parker looked up, his face venomous. 'This is my concern, not yours. I'm president, not you! If you don't like the way we're proceeding, with democratic votes, then you'd better run.'
Kydd sat in the deserted foretop, his back to the mast, staring out over- the Nore. There had been so little time to stop and consider: he had been carried along by events and was as powerless to affect them as a leaf in a fast stream. The ever-spreading consequences of their actions, the multiplying dire possibilities, the implications for all he held loyal and true, was it too late to turn away?
It had begun with the noblest of motives, and this had held him to the cause. But this had not changed: what had were the stakes. Now it was the mutineers against the world on a numbing scale. Parker placed final victory for the mutiny against distress to the country as a whole, and this was something Kydd could not accept.
But could he desert, and betray the trust and reliance of his shipmates, especially if at this point they might be winning? He knew he could not.
He had respected Parker, even admired his knowledge and learning, but there were troubling flaws in his
