I need is your introduction to other high-class people. And passage to France."
"To France! Aren't you aware that England is at war with France?"
"You have been ever since Napoleon conquered Austria and Spain. What's that to me?"
"In other words, reaching England doesn't mean I'll be rid of you."
"That's right," said Calvin.
"So why don't I just kill myself now and spare myself all this adventure before you send me to an early grave?"
"Because them as is my friends will prosper in this world and there ain't nothing much bad that can happen to them."
"And all I have to do is maintain my status as your friend, is that it?"
Calvin nodded.
"But someday, isn't it going to occur to you that if the only reason I'm kind to you is out of terror that you'll destroy my ship, I'm not really your friend at all?"
Calvin smiled. "That just means you'll have to try extra hard to convince me that you really mean it."
The officer who had first heard Calvin's message now approached the captain diffidently. "Captain Fitzroy," he said. "The leaking seems to have stopped, sir."
"I know," said the captain.
"Thank you sir," said the officer.
"Get everyone back to work, Benson," said the captain.
"Some of the American stevedores and sailors won't get back on that ship no matter what we say, sir."
"Pay them off and hire others," said the captain. "That will be all, Benson."
"Yes sir." Benson turned around and headed back toward the gangplank.
Calvin, in the meantime, had heard the air of crisp command in Captain Fitzroy's voice and wondered how a man could learn to use his voice like a sharp hot knife, slicing through other men's will like warm butter.
"I would say you've already caused me more trouble than you're worth," said Captain Fitzroy. "And I personally doubt that you have it in you to learn to be a gentleman, though heaven knows there are plenty that have the title who are every bit as ignorant and boorish as you. But I will accept your coercive agreement, in part because I find you fascinating as well as despicable."
"I don't know what all them words mean, Captain Fitzroy, but I know this - Taleswapper once told us how when kings have bastards, the babies get the last name 'Fitzroy.' So no matter what I am, your name says you're a son of a bitch."
"In my case, the great-great-grandson of a bitch. The second Charles sowed his wild oats. My great-great-grandmother, a noted actress of semi-noble origins, entered into a liaison with him and managed to get her child recognized as royal before the parliament deprived him of his head. My family has had its ups and downs since the end of the monarchy, and there have been Lords Protector who thought that our association with the royal family made us dangerous. But we managed to survive and even, in recent years, prosper. Unfortunately, I'm the younger son of a younger son, so I had the choice of the church or the army or the sea. Until meeting you, I did not regret my choice. Do you have a name, my young extortionist?"
"Calvin," he said.
"And are you of such a benighted family that you have but the one name to spend as your patrimony?"
"Maker," said Calvin. "Calvin Maker."
"How deliciously vague. Maker. A general term that can be construed in many ways while promising no particular skill. A Calvin of all trades. And master of none?"
"Master of rats," said Calvin, smiling. "And leaks."
"As we have seen," said Captain Fitzroy. "I will have your name enrolled as part of the ship's company. Have your gear aboard by nightfall."
"If you have someone follow me to kill me, your ship - "
"Will dissolve into sawdust, yes, the threat has already been made," said Fitzroy. "Now you only have to worry about how much I actually care for my ship."
With that, Fitzroy turned his back on Calvin and headed up the gangplank. Calvin almost made him slip and take a pratfall, just to pierce that dignity. But there was a limit, he knew, to how far he could push this man. Especially since Calvin hadn't the slightest idea how to carry out his threat to make the ship fall apart if they killed him. Either he could make the ship leak or stop leaking, but either way he had to be there and alive to do it. If Fitzroy ever realized that his worst threats were pure bluff, how long would he let Calvin live?
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