Free The Monsoon by Wilbur Smith

the corsairs.”
    “What terms of prize?” Hal turned his full attention to him.
    “One third to the Crown, one third to the East India Company, and the last third to you and your crew,” Hyde suggested.
    “If I were to go, and there is no guarantee that I shall, I would like to have half to myself and my men.”
    “It is true, then.” Hyde looked miserable.
    “You strike a hard bargain. We can discuss that when you agree to take the commission.”
    “I should like to be able to trade for my own account during the voyage.” It was one of the tenets of Company policy that its captains should not indulge in private trade, and thereby risk a conflict of interest and loyalty. Childs’s face darkened and his jowls wobbled with outrage.
    “Under no circumstances. I cannot agree to that. It would set a dangerous precedent.” Then he saw that Hal had prepared the trap and that he had walked straight into it.
    “Very well,” Hal said quietly.
    “I will forgo that right, if you grant me the half-share of the prize.” Childs gulped and spluttered.
    at his effrontery, but Hyde smiled lugubriously.
    “He has you there, Nicholas. One or the other, which is it to be?
    The prize money or the right to trade?” Childs was thinking furiously.
    The prize money might far outstrip any trading profit that even this cunning and resourceful mariner might garner along the Asian and African coasts, but the right to trade was sacred and reserved to the Company alone.
    “Very well,” he agreed at last.
    “Half the prize but none of the trading profits.” Hal scowled, but was well content. He nodded apparently reluctantly.
    “I will need a week to think on it.”
    “You do not have a week,” Hyde remonstrated.
    “We need your answer this very night. His Majesty needs my reply at the meeting of his cabinet in the morning.”
    “There is too much for me to consider before I can take up the commission.” Hal sat back and folded his arms in a gesture of finality. If he delayed there was a chance he might squeeze other concessions out of them.
    “Henry Courtney, Baron Dartmouth,” Hyde murmured.
    “Does not the title have a satisfying ring?” Hal unfolded his arms and leaned forward, taken so off guard that he allowed his eagerness to light his features. A peerage! He had never before allowed himself to think of it. Yet it was one of the few things in this world he lacked.
    “You mock me, sir?” he murmured.
    “Please make clear your meaning.”
    “Take up the commission we offer immediately, and bring back the head of this Jangiri rogue in a pickle barrel, and I give you my solemn word that a barony is yours.
    What say you, Sir HaV Hal began to grin. He was a commoner, albeit of the highest rank, but this next step up the ladder would enter him into the nobility and the House of Lords.
    “You are the one who drives a hard bargain, my lord. I can no longer resist either your blandishments or my duty.” He raised his glass and the other two followed his example.
    “Fair winds, and a good chase,” he suggested as the toast.
    “Bright gold and glory!” Hyde made a better one and they drained their glasses.
    When they lowered their glasses, Hyde dabbed his lips with his napkin and asked, “You have not yet been presented at court, have you, Sir?”. When Hal shook his head he went on, “If you are one day to become a peer of the realm, we must see to that before you leave London.
    Two of the clock in the afternoon on this coming Friday, at St. James’s Palace. The King is holding a levee before he sails for Ireland to take charge of the campaign against his father-in-law. I shall send a man to your lodgings, to guide you to the palace.” Ifred Wilson was a surprise. With such a name Hal had expected a stalwart English tar with a Yorkshire or Somerset accent. At Hal’s request Childs had released the seaman from wherever he was being held and sent him to Hal at the inn. He stood in the centre of the floor of the