Greenbeard (9781935259220) by Richard James Bentley Page B

curse!” muttered Israel Feet, becoming piratical again as he mastered his surprise.
    â€œI got summat that might be just the thing for a night-cap,” said Bill, getting up from his settle. While he was away from the wardroom Blue Peter and Israel Feet sat in silence, thinking of two thousand guineas. From the galley came the sound of voices, Bulbous Bill’s squeaky tones among them, then the sound of a slap, and a shriek. Bill returned to the wardroom with a tray.
    â€œCap’n ‘as decreed that all shall get at least a single share, even the young ‘uns. Jack Nastyface were overcome by the thought o’ that gold, got so giddy I had to give him a slap,” said Bulbous Bill complacently. “He be alright now, mind.” He passed out porcelain mugs. They drank.
    â€œWhat on earth is this?” said Blue Peter, his eyebrows raised. “I have never tasted the like, yet it is exceedingly good!”
    â€œDenzil got it from one o’ his indian pals,” said Bill. “Them’s little beans. Yer a-roasts ‘em, then yer grinds ‘em to powder, then yer chucks ‘em into boiling water and stirs like buggery. Bit o’ sugar. Bit o’ cream. It be called chocolatl , in the indian lingo.”
    They sipped from their mugs.
    â€œThis has been a day of wonders, it has, an yer may skewer me with a marlinspike, else!” said the First Mate.

    The Ark de Triomphe cut cleanly through the ocean. The wind was brisk, slightly gusting, on the larboard beam, and the sea was choppy. The frigate was making eight knots on the log, and the sun was shining.
    â€œIt itches a trifle, is the only thing,” said Captain Sylvestre de Greybagges, pacing the quarter deck.
    â€œEven in the bright day it is impossible to tell,” said Blue Peter Ceteshwayoo. “Even where the boot-polish has been rubbed off slightly. The glint of green just looks like a trick of the light.” He examined the captain’s newly-brown beard critically. “No, it is very convincing. Fine rig, too!”
    Captain Greybagges was dressed in the powder-blue uniform of a kapitein van schip in the Dutch East India Company, with gold epaulettes and frogging, and a bicorne hat with gilt edging. Blue Peter was wearing the more-sober blue uniform of a luitenant , Bulbous Bill the black-and-tan broadcloth of a bootsman as he stood at the wheel. The crew were in VOC matrozenpak slops, the red and grey wijde jurk en broek .
    â€œWhere did you obtain such an abundance of apparel?” asked Blue Peter.
    â€œFrom the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie itself,” said the Captain. “Slight seconds and part-worn. Bid on them at auction in Rotterdam, through an agent.”
    â€œYou speak the language well. I have no Dutch myself.”
    â€œI was a year in Den Haag as a lawyer. The Dutch are the great masters of the law. The French think that they are, but they are just Creation’s greatest wranglers, which is why they have so many skilled in the arithmetic, the geometry and the algebra. The Dutch realise that the law is the work of men, and so can be challenged and altered, which is how the the Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Provinciën - the United Provinces - can function perfectly well without a king. The French have le Roi Soleil , who believes that he is king by the grace of God, so there the law is perceived as an illuminating light shining from Louis’ bumhole. If anybody challenges the law in France then soldiers are billeted upon them until they recant of their heresy, such a punishment is called a dragonnade .”

    â€œBecause it is alike to having a dragon in one’s house, I presume?”
    â€œIt may well be, but it is so-named because the soldiers are dragoons.”
    â€œThey are indeed a rough bunch of fellows, by reputation.”
    â€œThey are. Louis is not worried about the peasants rebelling - they are too starved to fight - nor the aristocrats