Part 24 (1/2)
”But - nom de Dieu! - it is your concern, I suppose, that we cannot award you more than one tenth share” M de Rivarol smote the table in exasperation This pirate was too infernally skillful a fencer
”You are quite certain of that, M le Baron - that you cannot?”
”I aed, and looked down his nose ”In that case,” said he, ”it but remains for me to present my little account for our disbursement, and to fix the sum at which we should be co hither That settled, we can part friends, M le Baron No harm has been done”
”What the devil do youforward across the table
”Is it possible that I am obscure? My French, perhaps, is not of the purest, but”
”Oh, your French is fluent enough; too fluent at moments, if I may permit myself the observation Now, look you here, M le filibustier, I am not a man hom it is safe to play the fool, as youof France - you and your men; you hold the rank and draw the pay of a Capitaine de Vaisseau, and these your officers hold the rank of lieutenants These ranks carry obligations which you would do well to study, and penalties for failing to discharge the severe The first obligation of an officer is obedience I commend it to your attention You are not to conceive yourselves, as you appear to be doing, my allies in the enterprises I have in view, but my subordinates In me you behold a commander to lead you, not a companion or an equal You understand me, I hope”
”Oh, be sure that I understand,” Captain Blood laughed He was recovering his nor sti that marred his enjoyet nothing, I assure you, et, for instance, as you appear to be doing, that the articles we signed are the condition of our service; and the articles provide that we receive one-fifth share Refuse us that, and you cancel the articles; cancel the articles, and you cancel our services with them From that moment we cease to have the honour to hold rank in the navies of the King of France”
There was more than a lared at the ti,” the Baron flashed on hilad to have sos of his irritation ”You should be broke for it You bring the King's service into disrepute; you force me, His Majesty's representative, into an impossible position”
”Is it impossible to award us the one-fifth share?” quoth Captain Blood silkily ”In that case, there is no need for beat or for injuries to M de Cussy M de Cussy knows that ould not have coain upon your assurance that you cannot award us s are as they would have been if M de Cussy had adhered rigidly to his instructions I have proved, I hope, to your satisfaction, M le Baron, that if you repudiate the articles you can neither claim our services nor hinder our departure - not in honour”
”Not in honour, sir? To the devil with your insolence! Do you imply that any course that were not in honour would be possible to me?”
”I do not imply it, because it would not be possible,” said Captain Blood ”We should see to that It is, my General, for you to say whether the articles are repudiated”
The Baron sat down ”I will consider the matter,” he said sullenly ”You shall be advised of my resolve”
Captain Blood rose, his officers rose with him Captain Blood bowed
”M le Baron!” said he
Then he and his buccaneers reust and irate presence of the General of the King's Armies by Land and Sea in America
You conceive that there followed for M de Cussy an extremely bad quarter of an hour M de Cussy, in fact, deserves your syhty M de Rivarol, as down fro's Armies abused him - this man as Governor of Hispaniola - as if he were a lackey M de Cussy defended hi that Captain Blood had so aded already on his behalf - that if the terms he had made with the buccaneers were not confirmed there was no harm done M de Rivarol bullied and browbeat hi exhausted abuse, the Baron proceeded to indignities Since he accounted that M de Cussy had proved himself unworthy of the post he held, M de Rivarol took over the responsibilities of that post for as long as he an by bringing soldiers frouard in M de Cussy's castle
Out of this, trouble followed quickly Wolverstone coarb that he affected, his head swathed in a coloured handkerchief, was jeered at by an officer of the newly landed French troops Not accustomed to derision, Wolverstone replied in kind and with interest The officer passed to insult, and Wolverstone struck him a blow that felled him, and left him only the half of his poor senses Within the hour the matter was reported to M de Rivarol, and before noon, by M de Rivarol's orders, Wolverstone was under arrest in the castle
The Baron had just sat down to dinner with M de Cussy when the negro aited on them announced Captain Blood Peevishly M de Rivarol bade him be admitted, and there entered now into his presence a spruce and entleman, dressed with care and sombre richness in black and silver, his swarthy, clear-cut face scrupulously shaven, his long black hair in ringlets that fell to a collar of fine point In his right hand the gentleman carried a broad black hat with a scarlet ostrich-plus were of silk, a bunch of ribbons arters, and the black rosettes on his shoes were finely edged with gold
For a nize hier by ten years than yesterday But the vivid blue eyes under their level black broere not to be forgotten, and they proclaimed him for the man announced even before he had spoken His resurrected pride had demanded that he should put himself on an equality with the baron and advertise that equality by his exterior
”I coies My business could not wait It concerns, M de Cussy, Captain Wolverstone of the Lachesis, whom you have placed under arrest”
”It was I who placed him under arrest,” said M de Rivarol
”Indeed! But I thought that M de Cussy was Governor of Hispaniola”
”Whilst I am here, monsieur, I am the supreme authority It is as well that you should understand it”
”Perfectly But it is not possible that you are aware of the mistake that has been made”
”Mistake, do you say?”
”I say mistake On the whole, it is polite of me to use that word Also it is expedient It will save discussions Your people have arrested the wrong man, M de Rivarol Instead of the French officer, who used the grossest provocation, they have arrested Captain Wolverstone It is ayou to reverse without delay”
M de Rivarol's hawk-face flaed
”Sir, you you are insolent! But of an insolence that is intolerable!” Normally a man of the utmost self-possession he was so rudely shaken now that he actually stammered
”M le Baron, you waste words This is the New World It is not merely new; it is novel to one reared amid the superstitions of the Old That novelty you have not yet had time, perhaps, to realize; therefore I overlook the offensive epithet you have used But justice is justice in the New World as in the Old, and injustice as intolerable here as there Now justice deement of my officer and the arrest and punishment of yours That justice I invite you, with submission, to administer”
”With submission?” snorted the Baron in furious scorn
”With the utmost submission, monsieur But at the same tiht hundred; your troops five hundred; and M de Cussy will infor fact that any one buccaneer is equal in action to at least three soldiers of the line I am perfectly frank with you, monsieur, to save time and hard words Either Captain Wolverstone is instantly set at liberty, or we must take measures to set hi But it is as you please, M le Baron You are the supreme authority It is for you to say”
M de Rivarol hite to the lips In all his life he had never been so bearded and defied But he controlled himself
”You will do me the favour to wait in the ante-room, M le Capitaine I desire a ith M de Cussy You shall presently be informed of my decision”
When the door had closed, the baron loosed his fury upon the head of M de Cussy
”So, these are the 's service, the men who are to serve under me - men who do not serve, but dictate, and this before the enterprise that has brought me from France is even under way! What explanations do you offer me, M de Cussy? I warn you that I am not pleased with you I ary”
The Governor seemed to shed his chubbiness He drew hiive you the right to rebuke me; nor do the facts I have enlisted for you the men that you desired me to enlist It is not my fault if you do not kno to handle them better As Captain Blood has told you, this is the New World”
”So, so!” M de Rivarol snantly ”Not only do you offer no explanation, but you venture to putAlmost I admire your temerity But there!” he waved the matter aside He was supremely sardonic ”It is, you tell me, the New World, and - neorlds, new manners, I suppose In time I may conform my ideas to this neorld, or Ion that ”For the moment I must accept what I find It ree by-ways, to advise me out of that experience how to act”
”M le Baron, it was a folly to have arrested the buccaneer captain It would be madness to persist We have not the forces to meet force”
”In that case, ard to the future Am I to submit at every turn to the dictates of this man Blood? Is the enterprise upon which we are embarked to be conducted as he decrees? A's representative in America, to be at the mercy of these rascals?”