Part 34 (1/2)
”These times call for daring, Governor. Without it we shall drown in a river of blood.”
”A river of blood. Yes, perhaps. Very well, say I accept your idea in principle, exactly what is it you wish me to do?”
”First, convince London to accept the rangers. Get a promise they'll abide by what they're told about how to fight here.”
”That's the easy part, Mr. Hale. A few battles won will convince them. I take it that my second task is to secure a promise that after victory, we will not permit English settlement to extend into the lands now occupied by the French. That's what you have in mind, isn't it?”
Quent nodded.
”Remarkable,” De Lancey murmured. ”And considerably more difficult to do.”
The acting governor's mind was racing, trying to blend this extraordinary proposal with what he already knew-and to see how both sets of intelligence could be made to work to his advantage.
De Lancey's most trusted source had told him that a new commander for the military here in America had already been appointed, that he had been instructed to operate under Braddock's original plan of attack, and that he was to be sent over with two understrength regiments and the authority to raise four thousandman battalions here in the colonies. In other words, to do what was asked of him, this new man-John Campbell, earl of Loudoun, a Scot-would require thousands of American volunteers. Young men accustomed to the freedom of the vast American wilderness where they called no man master, and to farms where, however humble the holding, the farmer was a freeman not a tenant; boys raised on the give-and-take of town meetings and raucous colonial a.s.semblies-such lads as these were expected to voluntarily submit themselves in the thousands to service in the British regulars where discipline was paramount and the lash ruled. It was a notion more insane than anything De Lancey had heard from Quentin Hale. John Campbell, earl of Loudoun would need to be a worker of miracles to put it into action.
Moreover, neither Britain nor France had yet declared war. Instead the French had made a great show of withdrawing their amba.s.sador from London, claiming to have been attacked without provocation on the Monongahela; never mind that they had won. That diplomatic ruse would give them ample time to build up their navy and send over enough men and arms to protect Canada, as well as threaten every American colony from New Hamps.h.i.+re to North Carolina. Meanwhile William Pitt, the one man in England who might have brought some sense to this madness, was despised by the king and made an outcast by his enemies.
The silence continued for some time, broken only by the sounds of the crackling fire and the rain hitting the windows. Quent did not think it in his best interests to be the first to speak Take as long as you need, Governor. You've only two rather simple ideas to get straight. We a.s.sign woodsmen to teach the b.l.o.o.d.y redcoats how to fight in America, and in return for not fighting with the French, we offer the Indians all of Canada once the battle's won. An end to war for both sides. You're not likely to hear a more audacious plan. And I doubt you've heard a better one. What remains to be seen is the size of the b.a.l.l.s in those white satin breeches.
”Mr. Hale, I apologize if I seem to be changing the subject, but do you know the name William Pitt?”
Quent shook his head. ”No. Should I?”
”No, perhaps not.” You and Pitt ... a pair of visionaries, who knows what you might have accomplished together? It's an intriguing thought. But Pitt's not really in charge in parliament, and you, sir, are a landless second son with only one advantage-the ability to make the Indians listen to you-and that is prized litde by our masters in London. Still, your ideas are best not dismissed out of hand.
De Lancey got up and went to the window. They had been talking for nearly two hours, and it was almost eleven. The rain had let up some and the governor could see a bit of the fort and the harbor beyond it, and more of the grand houses across from his in this most fas.h.i.+onable part of the city. Many of the windows still had lighted candelabra glowing behind the curtains. They did not retire early here on the Broad Way in what they called the court part of town. ”Remarkable,” he murmured again. ”Uko Nyakwai will deliver the red men and the woodsmen if ...” De Lancey spun round and faced his visitor. ”What else, Mr. Hale?”
”Why should there be anything else?”
”Because it has suddenly dawned on me that a piece of the puzzle is missing. What do you get in return for all this effort?”
”Oh, that.” Quent sat back, stretching his long legs in their buckskin trousers toward the glow of the governor's fire.
”Yes, that,” De Lancey said.
”Nothing that will cost you a farthing, Governor. I wish only to return to the status quo ante, for things to be as they were.”
De Lancey had gotten over his amazement at a buckskin-dad woodsman who spoke like an educated man and knew one kind of malmsey from another. That he could also quote Latin was not a surprise. ”What things?”
”The Hale Patent,” Quent said. ”My brother has made over to yours-”
”Which of my brothers?” De Lancey interrupted. ”Oliver?”
”Oliver De Lancey, yes.”
”I should have imagined as much. Very well, please continue, Mr. Hale. Made over what?”
”Certain lands that belong to us, and have always-”
”Lake George. That's what you're talking about, isn't it?”
”Bright Fish Water.” Quent insisted on giving the lake its proper name. ”I understand its strategic value, and that of the Great Carrying Place and the surrounding lands.” Poor old Thoyanoguin being killed up by Bright Fish Water was a bad thing, but useful. The Kahniankehaka would not easily forgive the way it had happened, not in battle but at the hands of women and boys. They'd want revenge. Easy to get them to agree to fight with the English if they were handled correctly. Never mind. He'd deal with the Kahniankehaka later. Now was the time for convincing James De Lancey. ”Use Bright Fish Water and the Great Carrying Place for the duration of this conflict, Governor. I understand the necessity-”
”I've heard we took an important captive up at Lake George.”
Quent at once recognized the test. How much did he really know? How good was his information? ”Baron Dieskau, yes, that's what I hear as well.”
”It's true, then?” De Lancey prodded.
”It's true.”
”A remarkable victory, wouldn't you say? Shows that we aren't getting everything wrong, despite what you say.”
What it shows, Quent thought, is that despite his Kahniankehaka adoption and his Kahniankehaka wife, William Johnson is still more Cmokman than Anis.h.i.+nabeg. Thoyanoguin's braves were incensed about the way he died. They stood outside the fort where Johnson was holding Dieskau and jeered and cursed and promised revenge. The only sensible thing to do was to hand the baron over, but Johnson wouldn't do it. ”General Johnson is doing what you'd expect a gentleman to do,” Quent said. ”Keeping his prisoner safe. But there may be a price to pay for that, Governor.”
”What kind of a price?”
”I can't say exactly. But the Kahniankehaka, the Mohawk, they have a pretty strong sense of honor of their own. It's been violated.”
De Lancey already knew one price being paid for the capture of Dieskau. Just yesterday he'd heard that the man the French were sending to replace the baron was an even more formidable soldier. ”Louis Joseph, marquis de Montcalm,” he said. ”Ever heard of him.”
Quent shook his head. ”No, I have not. Governor-”
De Lancey knew he'd pushed as far as he could. Time to stop trying to get more information, or anything else for that matter, any kind of real commitment. Not without having the price spelled out and plain between them. ”As you were saying, Mr. Hale?”
”Simply that I ask for your solemn word that when this is done and the French are defeated, you will make the Patent whole according to the original Royal Grant.”
De Lancey was still standing at the window. He nodded, but the gesture was not agreement, simply a mark of understanding. Both men saw it as such. ”What else?” he asked.
From the moment he was shown into De Lancey's study, Quent had known this would be the most difficult of the difficult things he had come to say. Time to play the final card. ”John Hale and Oliver De Lancey have entered into an agreement to exchange the Patent for cane land in the Islands.”
”I see. Cane land in return for the Hale Patent. It's an intriguing idea.” And one that would give Oliver entirely too much power in the province. I wonder, Quentin Hale, for all your devotion to the place, do you have any notion what a piece of land like the Hale Patent could be if the French threat to the north were removed? ”Mr. Hale, perhaps I've misunderstood and you can enlighten me ... Surely only the owner of the property could enter into such an agreement. Is John not the elder son, the legal owner of Shadowbrook since your father's death?”
”He is.”
”Well, then?”
”A man can do what is legal and still not do what is right, Governor.”
”Indeed, Mr. Hale. Very well, I take your point. But I don't see how I-”
”I believe your brother and two of his friends are to share in the arrangement in return for putting it in place. I expect their reward is to be part owners.h.i.+p of the sugar plantation.”
I'm sure that's what Oliver wants them to believe. But compared to sole owners.h.i.+p of the Hale Patent ... Don't be a fool. No, De Lancey corrected himself, do be a fool. That suits my purposes. ”Yes, that sounds entirely plausible.” The governor left his place beside the window and returned to his seat. ”And you do not wish this ... arrangement, as you called it, to come to fruition?”
”I do not.”