Pieces of Eight. John Drake

time for Danny Bentham and there was much muttering in corners as Hercules rolled onwards and left Niña de Cuba behind.

      Facing mutiny, a more honest captain than Bentham would have told the truth and trusted his men, while a more sinister captain would have terrified them. But Bentham was only his modest self, and aside from a talent for skewering men with a rapier, his only real gift was to cut a dash. So he put on some good clothes, and told all hands what he was going to do next, by heaven, and he uttered great lies and swore fat promises. And what with O’Byrne and Parry and the other survivors wanting never to hear of Isabel Island again…he got away with it.

      So, no black spots were made nor passed into Cap’n Danny’s hands. But he knew that he was humiliated, and that one more failure would see him rising to the yardarm, his hands tied behind him.

      Danny Bentham needed a success. He needed one badly.

       Chapter 12

       10 a.m., 12th November 1752 Half Moon Bastion, Bay Street Charlestown, South Carolina

      Captain Flint was surprised. He was surprised because Mr Meshod Pimenta had finally said something surprising.

      So far this morning, Joe Flint, Charley Neal and Selena had toured–in succession–the Ashley Bastion, The Pallisades, Granville’s Bastion, a bastion whose name Flint had forgotten, and had gazed upon a twelve-foot moat. All the while, Pimenta had refused to discuss business, lecturing instead on the enormous, concrete-faced earthworks and the great numbers of guns that made the walled city of Charlestown one of the most powerful fortifications in the entire British colonies. When he was not doing that, he was praising the city for its energy and resourcefulness in recovering from the hurricane, which–he said–had thrown it flat on its back in September.

      Charley Neal had arranged the meeting and Flint was in his shore-going rig: plain hat and coat and no weapons–at least none visible. He’d insisted on having Selena in tow, dressed in some plain but respectable women’s clothes he’d found for her, because he was jealous of Van Oosterhout and Cowdray and wouldn’t leave her on the ship with them. He’d even acquired a nice respectable name for the occasion; in Charlestown he was Captain Garland, that being Uncle Peter’s name, who’d first taken him to sea, and his mother’s maiden name besides. Pimenta, though, knew exactly who he was.

      To make matters worse, it was a horrible day: grey, cold, drizzling with rain, and the waters of the Cooper River flowing dark and dismal. Flint, unused to tolerating fools, was heavy with dull rage with Pimenta’s endless prattle about the great world war that was coming, the war which according to him would be the conclusion of all previous colonial wars: King George’s War, Queen Anne’s War, and the rest.

      Pimenta said this would be the final fight for the North American continent. He said the Catholic French would march down from Montreal with beating drums. He said the Catholic Spaniards would march up from Florida with banners flying. He said the heathen Indians would fall upon the loser with scalping knives.

      Flint was bored. War between various combinations of Britain, France and Spain was the natural condition of the world he knew. He could imagine no other state of affairs. All he cared about was raising a loan so he could hire ships and men to re-take his island. But Pimenta spoke only of war…until Neal and Selena hung back to look at one of the big rampart guns, which she then proceeded to explain to him, Selena now being knowledgeable about such things where he was not, to his considerable amusement and admiration.

      Then Pimenta surprised Flint.

      The short, fat young man, in his expensive, untidy clothes, stuck a finger under his hat, ran it through his curly black hair, scratched his head, and stopped talking. He stared at Selena, and sidled up to Flint, coming far closer than Flint liked. He took Flint’s arm and whispered: