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Spanish Town, Jamaica

June 1761

There was a snake on the drawing-room table A small snake, but still Lord John Grey wondered whether to say anything about it

The governor, appearing quite oblivious of the coiled reptile’s presence, picked up a cut-crystal decanter that stood not six inches from the snake Perhaps it was a pet, or perhaps the residents of Ja a ta fro the ship, this was sensible—though this particular snake didn’t appear large enough to take on even your average mouse

The as decent, but served at body heat, and it seeullet and into his blood He’d had nothing to eat since before dawn and felt the le and relax He put the glass down; he wanted a clear head

‘I cannot tell you, sir, how happy I alass, empty ‘The position is acute’

‘So you said in your letter to Lord North The situation has not changed appreciably since then?’ It had been nearly three e in three months

He thought Governor Warren shuddered, despite the temperature in the room

‘It has beco up the decanter ‘Much worse’

Grey felt his shoulders tense, but spoke calmly

‘In ay? Have there been ht word ‘More de of cane fields, the looting of plantations, and the wholesale liberation of slaves

Warren gave a hollow laugh His handso with sweat There was a crumpled handkerchief on the arm of his chair, and he picked it up to —or, quite possibly, yesterday; Grey could hear the faint rasp of his dark whiskers on the cloth

‘Yes More destruction They burnt a sugar press last h still in the re dry lips as he poured lass, but Grey shook his head

‘They’ve begun to ston,’ Warren said ‘It’s deliberate; you can see it One plantation after another, in a line cohed ‘I shouldn’t say straight Nothing in this bloody place is straight, starting with the landscape’

That was true enough; Grey had adreen peaks that soared up froly blue lagoon and the white-sand shore

‘People are terrified,’ Warren went on, seeain slimy with sweat, and his hand shook on the decanter It occurred to Grey, with a slight shock, that the governor was terrified ‘I have , de protection from the blacks’

‘Well, you may assure the as reassuring as possible He had half a battalion with him—three hundred infantry troops and a coh to defend Kingston, if necessary But his brief from Lord North was notof Kingston and Spanish Town—nor even to provide protection to the larger sugar plantations He was charged with putting down the slave rebellion entirely Rounding up the ringleaders and stopping the violence altogether

The snake on the table uid un to think it was a decorative sculpture It was exquisite: only seven or eight inches long and a beautiful pale yellow marked with brown, a faint iridescence in its scales like the glow of good Rhenish wine

‘It’s gone further now, though,’ Warren was going on ‘It’s not just burning and property destruction Now it’s come to murder’

That brought Grey back with a jerk

‘Who has been murdered?’ he demanded

‘A planter named Abernathy Murdered in his own house, last week His throat cut’

‘Was the house burnt?’

‘No, it wasn’t The maroons ransacked it but were driven off by Abernathy’s own slaves before they could set fire to the place His wife survived by sub behind the house, concealed by a patch of reeds’

‘I see’ He could iine the scene all too well ‘Where is the plantation?’

‘About ten ston Rose Hall, it’s called Why?’ A bloodshot eye swivelled in Grey’s direction, and he realised that the glass of wine the governor had invited him to share had not been his first of the day Nor, likely, his fifth

Was the man a natural sot? he wondered Or was it only the pressure of the current situation that had caused him to take to the bottle in such a blatant overnor covertly; the man was perhaps in his late thirties and, while plainly drunk at the ence He ell built and attractive; no bloat, no soft belly straining at his silk waistcoat, no broken veins in cheeks or nose …

Spanish Town, Jamaica

June 1761

There was a snake on the drawing-room table A small snake, but still Lord John Grey wondered whether to say anything about it

The governor, appearing quite oblivious of the coiled reptile’s presence, picked up a cut-crystal decanter that stood not six inches from the snake Perhaps it was a pet, or perhaps the residents of Ja a ta fro the ship, this was sensible—though this particular snake didn’t appear large enough to take on even your average mouse

The as decent, but served at body heat, and it seeullet and into his blood He’d had nothing to eat since before dawn and felt the le and relax He put the glass down; he wanted a clear head

‘I cannot tell you, sir, how happy I alass, empty ‘The position is acute’

‘So you said in your letter to Lord North The situation has not changed appreciably since then?’ It had been nearly three e in three months

He thought Governor Warren shuddered, despite the temperature in the room

‘It has beco up the decanter ‘Much worse’

Grey felt his shoulders tense, but spoke calmly

‘In ay? Have there been ht word ‘More de of cane fields, the looting of plantations, and the wholesale liberation of slaves

Warren gave a hollow laugh His handso with sweat There was a crumpled handkerchief on the arm of his chair, and he picked it up to —or, quite possibly, yesterday; Grey could hear the faint rasp of his dark whiskers on the cloth

‘Yes More destruction They burnt a sugar press last h still in the re dry lips as he poured lass, but Grey shook his head

‘They’ve begun to ston,’ Warren said ‘It’s deliberate; you can see it One plantation after another, in a line cohed ‘I shouldn’t say straight Nothing in this bloody place is straight, starting with the landscape’

That was true enough; Grey had adreen peaks that soared up froly blue lagoon and the white-sand shore