convinced, though he was certainly shaken; he said he should be very glad to see any evidence, particularly that inculpating those who had been in correspondence with the French, our common enemies; he expressed some surprise that the substance of these documents had not been communicated to him before; but that was easily accounted for by the extreme slowness of British official procedures.'
Blaine took off his shoes and stockings, shifted a little forward on the grass and dangled his feet in the stream. 'Oh what a relief,' he said. 'Maturin, I have had a most hellish journey from Corunna - sleeping in the coach - jolting over vile roads - eight and even ten mules scarcely enough sometimes - the heat, the dust, the dreadful inns - wheels coming off, axles breaking - brigands, large desperate isolated bodies of French and their unpaid mercenaries - our own army pushing us off the road on to by-ways, blind alleys, mountain tracks - a furious French advance that came very near to cutting us off - goat's milk in the coffee, goat's milk in the tea - but above all the perpetual hurry, perpetual weariness and heat - the flies! Forgive me again for being so stupid about Carrick; forgive me if my account of the situation is out of sequence, patchy, disordered - a clear mind is wanted for such complexity, not one that has just been trundled over rocks and deserts that would be a disgrace to Ethiopia.'
'No doubt there were good reasons why you did not take the packet or one of the Admiralty yachts.'
'Two excellent reasons. The first, that although the packet did in fact reach Lisbon long before me, there was no guaranteeing that it would not be windbound for a month, whereas once I was on Spanish soil I could be sure that perseverance would get me to Portugal within certain limits of time, if I survived. The second, that purgatorial though the journey was, I preferred it to a voyage by sea. I am most horribly seasick, and I should certainly have lost essential elements in my grasp of the situation.' He sat stirring his feet in the water and rehearsing the order of events in his mind, and presently he said, 'You will already have perceived that this most damaging information can have reached the Spaniards only through one of the very few men who knew about your mission, almost certainly the man who protected Wray and Ledward and allowed them to get out of the country.Warren and I suspected that the report would be sent, and that is why I particularly insisted upon your calling at Lisbon.'
'I had imagined that to be your motive. In the same way I had understood from the beginning that our journey to South America was also intended to counteract Buonapartist influence there; and your earliest reference to the Diane made it even more certain. From my own, personal point of view this conflict with the French was of the first importance.'
'Of course it was; and will be again, in the same region, I hope. But for the moment we must utterly demolish the report and discredit the source of information. The Surprise must carry on with her voyage, ostentatiously privateering and avoiding all contact with the supporters of independence.'
There was a pause, and Stephen observed that Blaine was looking at him with a quizzical eye, his head cocked on one side; but he made no observation and after the cool breeze had wafted through the leaves for a while Blaine went on, 'But although you and Aubrey will not be fully employed in that hemisphere, I trust that if you agree to my plan you will be even more so in another. The French have learnt, probably through this same source, Ledward's protector, that except on paper we are extremely weak in Java and the East Indies in general. They have therefore sent a mission to the Sultan of Pulo Prabang, one of the piratical Malay states in the South China Sea, urging him to become their ally and to build and equip vessels large enough to capture our East Indiamen on their way to and from Canton, thus cutting
Blaine took off his shoes and stockings, shifted a little forward on the grass and dangled his feet in the stream. 'Oh what a relief,' he said. 'Maturin, I have had a most hellish journey from Corunna - sleeping in the coach - jolting over vile roads - eight and even ten mules scarcely enough sometimes - the heat, the dust, the dreadful inns - wheels coming off, axles breaking - brigands, large desperate isolated bodies of French and their unpaid mercenaries - our own army pushing us off the road on to by-ways, blind alleys, mountain tracks - a furious French advance that came very near to cutting us off - goat's milk in the coffee, goat's milk in the tea - but above all the perpetual hurry, perpetual weariness and heat - the flies! Forgive me again for being so stupid about Carrick; forgive me if my account of the situation is out of sequence, patchy, disordered - a clear mind is wanted for such complexity, not one that has just been trundled over rocks and deserts that would be a disgrace to Ethiopia.'
'No doubt there were good reasons why you did not take the packet or one of the Admiralty yachts.'
'Two excellent reasons. The first, that although the packet did in fact reach Lisbon long before me, there was no guaranteeing that it would not be windbound for a month, whereas once I was on Spanish soil I could be sure that perseverance would get me to Portugal within certain limits of time, if I survived. The second, that purgatorial though the journey was, I preferred it to a voyage by sea. I am most horribly seasick, and I should certainly have lost essential elements in my grasp of the situation.' He sat stirring his feet in the water and rehearsing the order of events in his mind, and presently he said, 'You will already have perceived that this most damaging information can have reached the Spaniards only through one of the very few men who knew about your mission, almost certainly the man who protected Wray and Ledward and allowed them to get out of the country.Warren and I suspected that the report would be sent, and that is why I particularly insisted upon your calling at Lisbon.'
'I had imagined that to be your motive. In the same way I had understood from the beginning that our journey to South America was also intended to counteract Buonapartist influence there; and your earliest reference to the Diane made it even more certain. From my own, personal point of view this conflict with the French was of the first importance.'
'Of course it was; and will be again, in the same region, I hope. But for the moment we must utterly demolish the report and discredit the source of information. The Surprise must carry on with her voyage, ostentatiously privateering and avoiding all contact with the supporters of independence.'
There was a pause, and Stephen observed that Blaine was looking at him with a quizzical eye, his head cocked on one side; but he made no observation and after the cool breeze had wafted through the leaves for a while Blaine went on, 'But although you and Aubrey will not be fully employed in that hemisphere, I trust that if you agree to my plan you will be even more so in another. The French have learnt, probably through this same source, Ledward's protector, that except on paper we are extremely weak in Java and the East Indies in general. They have therefore sent a mission to the Sultan of Pulo Prabang, one of the piratical Malay states in the South China Sea, urging him to become their ally and to build and equip vessels large enough to capture our East Indiamen on their way to and from Canton, thus cutting
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