She winked. “Ornery as ever and a constant reminder of ye.”
He’d gifted her Hermes after sailing to South America five years before. Eccentric as she was, she’d taken to the creature immediately, even teaching it tricks, to the amusement of the watermen who frequented her establishment.
“How goes it at York?” she asked, petting Hermes’s long tail. “Norfolk, rather.”
“Busy. Crowded.” He took a drink. “Full of itself.”
She laughed, her wrinkles collapsing in mirth. “Everything Indigo Island isn’t.”
He took another drink and willed the memory of Esmée away as he’d done a decade or better. Leaving him to his ponderings, Mistress Saltonstall moved on as Cyprian and the ship’s drummer appeared, intent on his table.
“Hats off, lads,” he said with a slight smile. Their land manners had yet to catch up with them.
They grabbed their caps and sat opposite him, eager as schoolboys.
“Where to next, sir?” they asked in unison.
“I know not.” Port Royal was their hope. Or the lucrative Windward Passage between Cuba and Haiti. “How goes the careening?”
Cyprian grimaced. “Full of ship’s worms as she is, we’ll have to winter over right here.” He looked at his tarred breeches. “The masts—or parts of ’em—had to be removed. We’ve not finished scraping ’er down.”
“When that’s done, I’ll set you to work on the light,” Henri said. “A stonemason has been hired and will be here shortly.”
Their expressions brightened. This was far preferable to scraping down a worm-ridden vessel, truly. They began to chatter as Henri’s gaze stretched beyond them to the ordinary’s entrance. His four most trusted men ducked beneath the door’s lintel—the Africans Tarbonde and Udo, his sailing master and quartermaster, followed by the Englishmen, sea chaplain Ned Autrey and ship surgeon Alistair Southack.
Hermes screeched at their entrance and fled behind the bar. Henri’s two youngest crew followed suit and scurried out a side door, their seats left vacant for their superiors.
“Welcome back, sir,” Tarbonde said with a grin, the country marks or tribal scars across his cheeks a perpetual reminder of just how far he was from his Ghanaian home.
More ale was served, but Henri waited till they’d quenched their thirst before satisfying their curiosity about his time on the mainland.
“You were missed,” Southack said after a long sip. “Some of the crew respect no man’s authority but yours.”
“Other than a small tussle or two, all has been the doldrums.” Udo took a long drink. “I trust your time in York was eventful since you tarried awhile.”
Henri nodded, sharing the high points. “I got my bearings. Attended a ball. Was thrown from a horse.”
They chuckled. Horsemanship was not one of his strengths. He’d been too long at sea.
“There’s a great deal of war talk,” he told them. “I spoke at length with Virginia officials.”
“Ah, at last we get to the meat of the matter.” Southack leaned in, eyes alive with anticipation.
Henri nodded. But how to condense hours of conversation? “The British are commissioning seamen to prey upon and plunder French ships, thereby cutting supply lines to enemy allies on the frontier.”
Udo toyed with his pewter tankard. “Commit acts of freebooting?”
“Aye, all in the name of establishing English dominance on the high seas as well as North America and the Caribbean.”
“’Tis a war, aye, or soon will be,” Tarbonde said. “A contest over who wins America and other foreign interests.”
“And the plunder?” Southack’s gaze never left Henri. “If we risk our lives as privateers under an official letter of marque? Are all prizes taken given over to the British government?”
“A great many questions remain unanswered. And I’ve made no promises as to our involvement.” Henri ran a hand over his unshaven face. “Closer to home, Virginia’s government is desperate for reinforcements to protect Chesapeake Bay from pirates. This from the lord commissioner for trade and plantations and the secretary of state.”
Udo frowned. “When will you learn more, sir?”
Henri looked out the window toward York. “In a sennight I’m to attend a meeting in Williamsburg. A gathering of officials and certain mariners of note, including Admiral Barnabas Shaw.”
