Page 5 (1/2)

Chapter 5

TEMERAIRE’S SPIRITS HAD BEEN equal to the challenge of thinking Laurence swept overboard and flung onto the shore, even in the face of general doubt and disagreean to find it difficult to sustain his confidence, knowing Laurence in such dreadful circue country, alone, but with every hand against hion

Te himself to choke down more than a fes of soup and rice to share room in his belly with the lu, though Granby and Roland had spoken to him several times that afternoon, anxiously, and re Ferris also had co scowled at him and then only stammered out his own attempt--which no-one wanted, anyway; but in neither case could Temeraire raise much of either satisfaction or irritation He lay unhappy upon the dragondeck, watching the harbor traffic more from a dull consciousness of duty than from any real interest

The Japanese boats which crowded the harbor, though not large, ell-handled: fisheres Besides these and the Chinese ships, the Dutch ship stood out in the harbor: a clipper, with a long and narrow draught for her three uely He did not er, as she was all alone, and would scarcely have made a threat to the Potentate even without aerial support He could not see that she had any guns at all

She did have a dragon: at least, she had put out a pontoon-platform for one to rest upon, and he wore harness, so he was a Western dragon, surely, although his harness was a little strange and looked like nothing so ht-weight, a little bigger than Dulcia, and not very dangerous-looking: a very ordinary sort of brown speckled with crea and narrow snout and broad forehead Certainly he did not look anything like the sea-dragon; if anything he looked h he was not feathered, of course

He did not stay at the ship for very long at any one time, but flew busily back and forth to the shore several ti substantial parcels away from the ship, which the crew delivered to hi them to the shore, where he held several conversations with some party, whom Te to his own ship

On the fourth pass, Temeraire suddenly picked up his head "Roland," he said, "that ship there, that is Dutch; she is lawful prize, is she not?"

"Oh?" Iskierka said interrogatively, waiting with interest for the answer

"Oh," Roland said, looking sidelong, "well, I suppose she is, as she is under Dutch colors; but--"

"No, no," Temeraire said, "I do not mean to take her--"

"Whyever not!" Iskierka interrupted

Temeraire snorted at her "Because we have , at present! But if she is lawful prize, then I suppose she is quite afraid of us; they are taking those parcels to shore, so we should not get them if we decide to de his neck around and over Iskierka, to peer aardly at hion there, and invite him to come and have a cup of tea with us, if you please?"

"But," Nitidus said, "but you don’t suppose they will shoot at me?"

"Of course they will not shoot at you," Temeraire said "We are all here, quite ready to coainst you; but if you like," he added, "youof truce, so they are not worried when you come"

Roland looked a little anxious, and ventured that she o; but Captain Warren and the others were at dinner: Haed that all the captains should eat together that evening, as his guests He only wanted to better argue with theive anyone an excuse for refusing when Ha’s envoy, no matter how rude his own behavior or late the invitation

"Besides, I a to have a conversation," Teo over, Nitidus," and he was persuaded to go, carrying a scrap of white sailcloth strea away

Temeraire watched the encounter anxiously: he was quite sure they would not fire on Nitidus, he hoped; but even so, perhaps the other dragon would not like to colish or French, which was all that Nitidus could do, although in such a case he hoped there ht be a translator aboard the ship But Nitidus was received, if not with visible pleasure, at least with no hostility; the brown dragon politely made room for him to land on the platfore, as did severalwith ear-trued the others beside hi open place for him to land on the deck That was no easy feat--Captain Blaise did not like to put out their own pontoons when their position was so uncertain, and so they were very sadly crowded yet--but with a great deal of squiron leapt aloft, following Nitidus, and ca as he ca and Ferris, "we are to have a guest: pray tellhi to eat? I should be happy to see us offer that last goat, which I believe isyou to put a word in the ears of the cook," he added Of course it was not really suitable, to Gong Su’s proper rank, to ask him to cook anymore; but it was a sad fact that none of the British cooks seeon other than the plainest roastedas he should put theof a personal favor, no sha Su bowed deeply "I will make inquiries, and see what can be done, of course," he said, and instantly went;better to do than to staondeck and say, "Look, Te aith the enemy"

"How absurd," Temeraire said with scorn, "only look how small he is! An ene to have a conversation with him Hammond was closeted for hours with the Dutch commissioner, so I do not see why I should not have a chat with this fellow"

Ferris was trying to catch Forthing by the ar up his spirits at all--"

Forthing shook hi tones, "I know very well your ree of license whatsoever--" and Ferris flushed angrily, but Temeraire could not pay attention to theuest as he caon’s harness was odd indeed, as it came into closer view: it was indeed made up of almost pouches of some ordinary fabric, broool perhaps, and these were overlaid upon and attached to a fine mesh which covered him nearly from the base of his neck to his tail alold, Teht upon theh almost entirely concealed by the dull fabric

"But ould anyone wear gold chains in such a here you can hardly tell they are golden," he whispered doubtfully to Iskierka; they certainly would not be very handy, in a fight

They could not discuss it: the dragon landed with an easy flip upon the deck before the opened place, while Nitidus landed on Temeraire’s back andhis head "How do you do? I a; and I am very pleased to "

"Well, it’s kind of you to ask h broadly accented "And I a, of Salem, Massachusetts, at your service," and he bowed his own head politely as well

Temeraire said, a little uncertainly, "But surely that is not in Holland?" He was not perfectly sure of the geography of that nation, but there had been a great many places around Capetohich had possessed Dutch names, and that did not sound in the least like any of theon said, "I aave a flip of his tail in the direction of the Dutch vessel "She is only under Dutch colors because we have been hired to bring in a cargo, since you have that Bonaparte fellow s in Europe"

"Oh, I see," Teh he did not, at all: Bonaparte had conquered the Dutch, he was quite sure "But is he not their eed "The fellow in charge here don’t like to think hio for uess what he says is good enough for o," Temeraire said, a little perplexed, "and your ship--do yousaid "No; I paid to have her built, and I bought the wool cloth and the other trade goods in her belly Well," he amended, "if you like to be precise, my fir: but as Devereux is in India, at present, and Pick the store, you ered, and looked at the rather son with new respect: he ell aware that to outfit a ship, even quite a little one, was a very serious undertaking--thousands and thousands of pounds, at the least, and Wa out the o besides "I do not suppose," he ventured, "--would it be quite rude of ot the funds?"

"Fro said "I have been to the South Seas half-a-dozen times, and to India; we do a pretty brisk business in tea, I can tell you"

"Yes, but where did you get the ently "--your capital, I suppose I inal purpose for long, but he felt he could scarcely overlook such an opportunity as Wa a way to restore Laurence’s fortunes A gauzy and splendid vision hung before him: Laurence rescued, Laurence back aboard the ship with hiain, and very offhand, very casually, when they were alone on deck with the ocean slipping by Teht you back your ten thousand pounds which I lost you, and I hope you will put thehtaway"

Of course it could be done with prize-taking--Te after finding some, but Laurence did not really approve of that A prize taken legitiht was very well; hunting after prizes for their own sake he frowned upon Laurence would not be satisfied, if he were to ask where Telu prizes And Temeraire had forfeited his own share of the perfectly correct prizes which he and his co the invasion of Britain, when he had been transported aith Laurence; those had all gone to building pavilions, back in Britain

"I had a good bit froht out; but of course they would not go in with me until I showed I could raise so some cross-country carrier work, for other firoing to go haring off with soave ent on one of his Indiamen, with two points of interest When I had realized my share from that journey, the tribe went in with me, and Devereux’s third son, and Pickman, to outfit our first ship; and we have done pretty well for ourselves since"

"Cross-country," Te on to the first part of this nearly incomprehensible narrative, "--across your own country?"

"Fro confiron-back instead of sailing all the way round" Then he sat back and looked at Te a dullard? Are you looking for work? There’s not quite so , as the cost of your feed is difficult to make back; but there is a particularly fine tihtfellow aboard"

"Why," Te a flight is it?"

"Not above asaid, "once you are in Kwaikutl lands: that is three , from here"

"Oh," Temeraire said, "I do not suppose I can: we cannot leave the war for four et back," he added, and sighed a sht have known that it could be no easy matter to build up a fortune, or else everyone would have done it already before now

"But anyone can do this?" Dulcia ventured, fro raptly

"If you know your book-keeping, so you cannot be cheated; and will do steady work," Waain, and you are steady about avoiding fights and trouble and fuss, and showing away," rapidly di the luster of the enterprise as he went on

"An empty belly?" Maximus said, and snorted "That is not for me: anye do very well, Temeraire We do have pay now, you know, and it stacks up quite agreeably, when you ask to see it in coin"

"No--yes--I suppose," Teenerous of you to offer," he added to Wa, "and I am very flattered, I areat relief that Gong Su was coalley cooks, the ship’s boys carrying handso cauldrons of food, and upon a rack dripping over porridge the roasted goat, hat sive it so said "If I a you out: I can see you are crowded a bit," a sad understatement: Maximus was curled over all of the deck where Temeraire was not, and all the others heaped atop the

"We do very well, pray do not think anything of it," Temeraire said, of course

"I suppose you fellows have coland? Have you the latest news of the war?" Waun to eat: there was of course fish and rice, to eke out the goat, but Teile--that Wa received a haunch entirely for hiuest

"We have come from Brazil," Temeraire said, "and we have only a little news from there: the Incan Eone to France with hih this part of the story, and added, "But far more importantly, the Tswana have quite cast him off--they have made peace, in Brazil, and they do not er"

He finished on this, as the best note of triuh the situation in Brazil had by no means been quite so settled as all that at their departure The Portuguese owners had been as laggard as they could in freeing many of their slaves, and those released had not all been perfectly happy to find theons, however ement had held, at least in name; they had remained in Brazil several ent wish to be on the way to China, and Temeraire counted it yet as a success

"Why, that is very interesting, there," Wah not as iht have liked by the news from Brazil, and rather , "Do they have so old and silver as they are supposed to do?"

"Heaps," Iskierka said, with a resentful and significant eye on Temeraire: she had not ceased to mutter quietly, where Granby could not hear, howshould have been if he had married the Incan Ee Temeraire paid her no mind Granby had not wanted to marry the Empress at all

"I must try and lay in so said, which Teh he was too polite to say so; but Kulingile was not so shy of asking, and Waly explained, "Why, cotton will be cheaper soon, with this peace with the Tswana: the South shan’t be looking to the sea-lanes and fearing to send out any ships, and gold and silver won’t buy asaround I will buy ten thousand dollars’ worth of silk now, if I can get the Japanese to give it to ave a very decided nod