Part 14 (1/2)
I am told they weighed anchor at nightfall. Do English vessels customarily sail without their captain?”
”When they have reason to do so.” Hawksworth fixed him squarely, wondering if he was really almost blind or if he merely wanted to appear so.
”And what, Captain . . . Hawksworth, brings you and your contentious wars.h.i.+ps to our port? It is not often our friends the Portuguese permit their fellow Christians to visit us.”
”Our s.h.i.+ps are traders of England's East India Company.”
”Do not squander my time telling me what I already know.” The Shahbandar suddenly seemed to erupt. ”They have never before come to India. Why are you here now?”
Hawksworth sensed suddenly that the Shahbandar had been merely toying with him. That he knew full well why they had come and had already decided what to do. He recalled the words of Karim, declaring the Shahbandar had his own private system of spies.
”We are here for the same reason we have visited the islands. To trade the goods of Europe.”
”But we already do trade with Europeans. The Portuguese. Who also protect our seas.”
”Have you found profit in it?”
”Enough. But it is not your place to question me, Captain Hawksworth.”
”Then you may wish to profit through English trade as well.”
”And your merchants, I a.s.sume, also expect to profit here.”
”That's the normal basis of trade.” Hawksworth s.h.i.+fted, easing his leg.
The Shahbandar glanced downward, but without removing his lips from the tube of the hookah. ”I notice you have a wound, Captain Hawksworth.
Yours would seem a perilous profession.”
”It's sometimes even more perilous for our enemies.”
”I presume you mean the Portuguese.” The Shahbandar cursed the servant anew and called for a new taper to fire the hookah. ”But their perils are over. Yours have only begun. Surely you do not expect they will allow you to trade here.”
”Trade here is a matter between England and India. It does not involve the Portugals.”
The Shahbandar smiled. ”But we have a trade agreement with the Portuguese, a _firman_ signed by His Majesty, the Moghul of India, allowing them free access to our ports. We have no such agreement with England.”
”Then we were mistaken. We believed the port of Surat belonged to India, not to the Portugals.” Hawksworth felt his palms moisten at the growing game of nerves. ”India, you would say, has no ports of her own.
No authority to trade with whom she will.”
”You come to our door with warfare and insolence, Captain Hawksworth.
Perhaps I would have been surprised if you had done otherwise.” The Shahbandar paused to draw thoughtfully on the smoking mouthpiece. ”Why should I expect this? Although you would not ask, let me a.s.sume you have. The reputation of English sea dogs is not unknown in the Indies.”
”And I can easily guess who brought you these libelous reports of England. Perhaps you should examine their motives.”
”We have received guidance in our judgment from those we have trusted for many years.” The Shahbandar waved aside the hookah and fixed Hawksworth with a hard gaze.
Hawksworth returned the unblinking stare for a moment while an idea formed in his mind. ”I believe it once was written, 'There are those who purchase error at the price of guidance, so their commerce does not prosper. Neither are they guided.'”
A sudden hush enveloped the room as the Shahbandar examined Hawksworth with uncharacteristic surprise. For a moment his eyes seemed lost in concentration, then they quickly regained their focus. ”The Holy Quran-- Surah II, if I have not lost the lessons of my youth.” He stopped and smiled in disbelief. ”It's impossible a _topiwallah_ should know the words of the Merciful Prophet, on whom be peace. You are a man of curious parts, English captain.” Again he paused. ”And you dissemble with all the guile of a _mullah_.”